Essays · TV

The Creative Side of Fandom

Sure, toxic fandom is destructive, but let’s talk about the other side for a change.
Game Of Thrones Fan Art
By  · Published on June 20th, 2019

For many fic writers and fan artists, this sort of fandom isn’t a fad or a phase, but a fundamental way of approaching and interacting with content. Ashley (ashleyfanfic on AO3) wrote Harry Potter fanfiction for over a decade before switching to Game of ThronesReina (bullheartedbastardblacksmith on Tumblr) writes fanfiction and makes fan graphics (GIFs and GIF sets) and started getting involved in the creative side of fandom 15 years ago. Erika (ayofandomthings on Tumblr) sources her involvement in fanart back to her childhood (“probably something like Pokemon or The Lion King“) as does Amanda (EsthesiaArt on Tumblr), who would draw scenes and characters from her favorite comics and cartoons as a little girl.

But for some, Game of Thrones was their first foray into the more creative side of fandom. Vanessa practiced art all through school, but it had fallen by the wayside in the years since. “Life gets in the way, you get busy with your job, your family,” she says. “I just got away from it for a long time.” But seeing some of the art other Game of Thrones fans were making inspired her to give fanart a try for the first time. She shared her efforts with these various online fan communities, where it was warmly received. “It really got me more invested in working on that.” Yasmin (chillyravenart on Tumblr) had dabbled in drawing since she was a kid, but similarly, it was only with Game of Thrones that she got into drawing fanart and eventually sharing it online.

And then there’s Todd. While Vanessa and Yasmin had long been interested in drawing more before getting involved in fanart, Todd is the first to admit his involvement with fanfiction was a somewhat unexpected turn of events. He views himself as more of a quantitative, analytical, left-brain sort of person (“I’m not a creative writer at all”) who feels more comfortable working in Excel than Word. That said, he’s found his work in private equity actually pairs quite well with his fanfic writing. “It’s actually why I write so much,” he says. “I spend so much time sitting around the office waiting for client calls. If I have an hour to kill I’ll fire up the word processor.” On AO3 he goes by RollTodd and is the author of the epic-length fanfiction “Home” (350,000+ words and counting). Before August 2017 he never even read fanfiction, but then the Season 7 finale aired and it was announced that Season 8 wouldn’t premiere until 2019. Coincidentally, he also finished reading the books around the same time, leaving him in a sudden void of canonical content. So he turned to fan-made works, and inspiration soon struck him to try it out himself. It was just supposed to be a little weekend experiment (“you know, 500 words, see where it goes”) but has since snowballed into a multiple-year effort with 75 chapters and counting. “This has been sort of a plunge in the deep end for me,” he says. “It’s been a lot of fun, but you know, sometimes I hit ‘post without preview’ [on AO3] and I think to myself, ‘what am I doing?’”

Jon Snow Meets Drogon

“Jon Snow Meets Drogon” by Vanessa Cole

Across the board, the fans describe their creative endeavors as a welcome respite from reality. “Fanart for me is a release from the real world. I could just be waiting for the bus or a doctor’s appointment and doodling fanart passes the time,” says Erika, while Ashley notes that writing helps her decompress and keep her stress levels down. Her extensive fanfiction detailing an alternate version of Season 8, “Love on the Brain” (she was listening to the Rihanna song of the same name when she started writing it), has more hits and kudos — the AO3 equivalent of liking a post — than any other work-in-progress Game of Thrones story on the site. “I don’t think there was anything special about my story,” she says of her fic’s popularity, “I just think that I was posting every day and got attention that way.”

Amanda, who works as an artist, notes that fanart is a way for her to enjoy drawing without the deadlines and other stressors involved in the art she does to make a living. “I love drawing just for the fun of it, knowing that maybe it is going to make someone else smile.”

For Reina, the fan-made content surrounding a popular franchise is actually the best part. “Not to belittle a show or book or series’ impact on its own, but it doesn’t matter how invested you are, there’s only so much you can do and create and discuss when it doesn’t have a big following,” she says, elaborating that she thinks fan-generated works play a key role in encouraging a fandom to grow — and grow more invested. “[Fan works] drive and expand the source material. They offer exposure and involve you deeper into the universe created by the author.” However, as some mention, when things end on a low note, this deeper investment can prove… bittersweet.

Another common thread is the idea of fanfiction and fanart as enjoyable skill-building exercises. Meg, for example, knew she wanted to be a writer but found the prospect of sharing her work with others intimidating. “I started writing fanfiction because I wanted to be a writer but I was terrified of sharing what I wrote with people. It’s terrifying putting yourself out there and saying, ‘Here is this thing I made!'” she explains. “I always say I learned more about writing via fanfiction than I ever did in any creative writing course I ever took because feedback is immediate online and no one is worried about hurting your feelings. I’ve had people say wonderfully effusive things about my stories, and I’ve had people say things to me I wouldn’t say to my worst enemy. But all of those comments helped to shape the way I tell a story.”

Frost has also noticed her writing improve exponentially since she started writing Game of Thrones fanfiction. The experience has also given her the confidence to pursue writing original stories, which she hopes to see published someday.

Vanessa describes the benefits of drawing fanart in similar terms, noting how the show’s lush, varied scenery and intricate costumes proved incredibly helpful in improving her technique. “It’s been a real boon to my experience level and my skill level.”

Even Todd, who has no intention of pursuing creative writing outside of as a hobbyist, describes working on “Home” as a learning experience. “The way I have to think about characters and plot in this world has definitely influenced my, sort of, organizational capacities, even in my professional life, with how I approach work.” 

But benefits aside, he compares the fundamental appeal of fanfiction to that of a thought experiment. “I suppose fanfiction asks a pretty central question, and that’s ‘What if?'” he says. “It’s the question everybody asks themselves, whether it’s, you know, you’re standing in the shower and thinking, ‘What if I had said this witty comeback in that argument?’ or the deeper ‘What if?’ questions that everybody asks themselves right before they go to bed, and that’s sort of applied to stories that people come to love and characters. You know, what if they had won this battle? What if they had escaped this catastrophe? What if these two people fell in love? You know, things like that. To me, I find fanfiction enriches the experience. You get to explore these worlds and characters in different ways.”


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Ciara Wardlow is a human being who writes about movies and other things. Sometimes she tries to be funny on Twitter.