The future of fandom

[regshoe]

The final snowflake_challenge is to opine on the future of fandom, which is a good thing to think about. snowflake_challenge presents this question in the context of the recent chaos on Twitter, the emergence of new platforms and the resulting 'in flux' feeling of current fandom, and honestly I feel I don't really have much to say about that. I enjoy reading and thinking about debates over online platforms and the wider nature of fandom and so on, but as far as my own fandom life goes I'm quite happy doing my own thing in my tiny fandoms on Dreamwidth, blissfully isolated from the upheavals of megafandoms and commercial social media sites.

I don't think Dreamwidth itself is ever likely to become more of a centre for fandom than it is, though some people will migrate here as other sites collapse. This way of doing fandom isn't a popular one these days, and that's fine; I only hope that the people who are currently in fandom on Twitter and Discord and so on and are unsatisfied with it, and who might be more suited to the slow, text-based, active-interaction-requiring (rather than having likes, reblogs etc.) style of Dreamwidth, manage to find their way here—like I did!

How about some not-too-serious predictions for my own fandom, then? The future of Flight of the Heron/D. K. Broster/wider Jacobites in Classic Fiction fandom...

• One thing FotH fandom hasn't done very much of yet is really wacky changed-/different-setting AUs: different historical setting, genderswaps, m/m marriage exists and now Keith and Ewen have to get married/pretend to be married for reasons, someone is secretly a vampire, non-obvious crossovers. I think we'll start branching out more into these; without going into specifics, I know several people have ideas like this already, and this is a good thing.
• I think at some point we'll rediscover "Mr Rowl" as we have The Wounded Name, and it will result in some really interesting Raoul/Barrington slash fic—a much more fraught and potentially dramatic pairing than Aymar/Laurent and, in some ways, Ewen/Keith.
• More Kidnapped fic will be written, and it will be very good.
• The subtextually-lesbian Jacobite novel of my dreams totally exists and we will discover it! (Or write it, perhaps? either as a genderswap fic or as an original work).

So that's it for the Snowflake Challenge! It's been great fun, if slightly hectic—an opportunity to reflect on and post about things I wouldn't otherwise have written about but that are relevant and interesting to fandom life in general—and I'm very glad I took part. :)

Comments

[muccamukk]

I know the answer to this is obvious, but you have read The Masqueraders right?

[regshoe]

I have not! I vaguely recognise the title, but I didn't know it was about Jacobites—thank you :D Hmm, I badly bounced off the one Heyer novel I tried several years ago, but I'm totally willing to give her another try for the sake of Jacobites. She's mostly a romance author, right—how prominent is the (het) romance element?

[muccamukk]

Everyone gets paired off at the end, but the het romance is background to shenanigans for the most part, and there's some nice 12th night style flirting. I think it's fairly mild for Heyer anti-Semitism, but there is some.

[regshoe]

Shenanigans sound fun! I'll give it a try :D

[luzula]

I know I've read The Masqueraders at some point, but I retain no memory of the Jacobite aspects--I just remember there was a crossdressing sibling pair. Then again, this was before I knew what Jacobites were.

[sanguinity]

I won't swear to it, my memory being hazy, but I think the Jacobite content was minimal -- mostly what pushed the flee-to-England, crossdressing-on-the-way plot into action. But I'm happy to be corrected.

regshoe, re the het romance: again, I won't swear to it, but my memory is that it's prominent, but in the genderqueer Shakespearean crossdressing way.

[muccamukk]

Basically the only element is they're on the run because they took part in it, and they mostly took part in it because of other crime related reasons, rather than being believers in the cause.

It also has some very satisfying emotional h/c because the siblings are us against the world due to their dad being the Actual Worst.

[luzula]

I hope all your predictions come true, they are great! : D

I do have some 'wacky' ideas (such as werewolf Ewen, and sedoretus which include socially accepted same-sex relationships), but in my hands, they are not likely to turn out as actually wacky. I am likely to take them entirely seriously and work hard at integrating them into the historical setting...

[regshoe]

:D

Your werewolf!Ewen idea was one of the ones I was thinking of! And serious, historically-detailed treatment of wacky ideas is great fun.

[edwardianspinsteraunt]

Hee hee, I love the idea of a Ewen/Keith undercover relationship or marriage of convenience AU-- the potential for agonised mutual pining! And I definitely agree with you about preferring the gentle fannish backwaters of small fandoms on DW...

[regshoe]

Exactly—there's so much great tropey potential :D

I've always been in small fandoms, but they've got smaller over time, and really I think tiny DW fandoms are the best ones for me.

[sanguinity]

FotH absolutely needs more wild tropes and settings! I know of several in the works; with luck (and some elbow grease) maybe we'll see some of them on AO3.

[regshoe]

Excellent, I hope so :D

[friendofthejabberwock]

The subtextually-lesbian Jacobite novel of my dreams totally exists and we will discover it! (Or write it, perhaps? either as a genderswap fic or as an original work).
I am so hoping this one comes true!

[regshoe]

Right??? I hope it does :D

[rosemary_green]

I would love to read fic for "Mr Rowl"! :)

[regshoe]

I've had a few ideas for it... well, I hope some is written at some point :)

[lirazel]

I don't think Dreamwidth itself is ever likely to become more of a centre for fandom than it is

I agree. I am forever talking up DW on Tumblr and my Tumblr friends are all like, "Well, that sounds nice, but...nah."

[regshoe]

I've tried to promote DW over there too with similar results! But fair enough that it's not for everyone—it suits me and that's fine :)

[silveradept]

I don't expect Dreamwidth to ever become a giant fandom hub, but I do think it will continue to absorb people that shed from other places, and that hopefully we'll eventually build the community people want here with a nice leisurely pace to it all.

[regshoe]

Yes, I hope so!