The Short

Basics: Female, 20, Australian, Asian

Fandom Experience: 8 Years

Main Occupation: Reading Fanfiction

The Long (or rather, a love letter to fanfiction)

My journey in the world of fandom, in all honesty, has been a long and fulfilling one, when I first discovered this website from another person I was a twelve year old who had just developed an obsession with a certain blonde elf from Lord of the Rings. Since then I've worked my way through a million more fandoms ranging from Musicals to Video Games and even RPS (after becoming enthralled by the television show which was Supernatural) as I encountered each fictional world in real life. Unsuprisingly, the road I've taken in the world of fanfic is pretty much mapped by my favourite stories list on this site, and through the years I've went from favouriting anything that I vaguely enjoyed to being far more picky with what I tick the boxes for.

Fanfiction has been something which accompanied me through all my teenage years, and though it seems odd for me to admit this, I have to say it has had quite a strong influence on my way of thinking, be it in the form of tolerence or patience. From a little girl who couldn't handle any romance at all (and even wrote some ridiculous long-lost-sister fanfic once upon a time), as I discovered more of fandom I became to 'ship' characters together (Renji/Rukia from Bleach, Draco/Hermione from Harry Potter), and progressed from not being able to tolerate any slash-fic whatsoever to tentatively trying it... (in particular Roy/Ed from FMA and Renji/Ichigo from Bleach) and becoming nowadays an avid slash reader where slash-fic makes up for about 90% of the fanfiction I consume.

Similarly, the sheer variety in fanfiction has really exposed me to some fascinating writing styles and genres over the many years. There have been some truly spectacular writers in various fandoms whose writing skills I aspire to match someday. One-shots in particular have been especially amazing to experience, if just for the amount of detail and subtle emotion and implications a writer can fit into just a few thousand words. Fanfic writers deal with a huge variety of subject matter, and the freedom of fanfics, in particularly AUs and future-fics, can connect you to universes you never knew you could enjoy. My favourite characters were old friends who introduced me to new worlds and ideas, and because of fanfiction I've read and enjoyed genres ranging from Harlequin style romances to Westerns to Science-fiction, worlds and genres which without fanfic I would never have have considered trying, or much less enjoyed.

I have to say, that because of fanfiction, I've become a much more open-minded and hopefully understanding individual. As a little girl I was moderately homophobic, or rather, I was never able to understand the existence of homosexuality (or sexuality in general) in such a hetero-dominant society. Not only has fanfiction opened my eyes to the fact that love is just love, regardless of gender, it's also connected me with issues such as child abuse, alcoholism and mental-illness to name but a few. The depth and depravity of thought I've seen expressed on the internet and in fanfiction is something with which traditonal media could never compare for all its censorship and sensibilities.

I admit I'd like to write something someday, and you can see some of my attempts at fanfiction below. However, real motivation is hard to find when there's so many unread masterpieces (and indulgent kinkmemes) out there...

If you like, feel free to drop me a line, I'd be happy to chat anytime. =)

Current Main Fandom: -

Current Main Obsession: -

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