The editors invite submissions of essays by June 1, 2019 on a wide range of topics related
to queerness in Tolkien/Middle-earth Studies.
Topics include but are not limited to: Otherness, the uncanny, the marginalized and
oppressed, liminality, the stranger/outsider, monstrous neighbor, genderqueer, homoeroticism,
homo-amory, homosocial continuum, female queerness, female masculinity,
queer fandom, queer publics/counter publics, transgender queerness, queer gaze, queer
fandoms, film theory, medievalisms, applying theories by Ahmed, Butler, Doty,
Halberstam, Lévinas, Pugh, Zizek, etc.
We are seeking a wide range of academic essays from a range of theoretical and
disciplinary perspectives, including but not limited to:
Queer medievalisms as well as queer modernisms and queer postmodernisms.
Intersectional approaches (race and queerness, class and queerness, nationality
and queerness, etc.).
Bisexual, gay, lesbian, queer, or trans* readings of Tolkien’s or Jackson’s texts.
Bisexual, gay, lesbian, queer, or trans* readings of transformative or derivative
works that queer Tolkien’s or Jackson’s texts.
Reading of non-normative but not clearly marked expressions of gender and
sexuality in Tolkien’s or Jackson’s texts.
June 1, 2019: Final Drafts (5000 words including MLA 8th style bibliography) July 2019: Acceptance/Rejection Letters. September 2019: Submission to publisher
For more on the editors (including contact information), click below.
This month’s challenge is a nonfiction challenge. All nonfiction is welcome, from headcanons to essays to multimedia responses.
There are no claims for this month’s challenge, but if you need some inspiration to get started, check out the list below of member-sourced prompts. You are not required to use one of these questions and may write about anything you would like. If you want to comment on our Dreamwidth with the question or topic you’ll be writing about, feel free; however, please note that since there are no official claims this month, others may choose to respond to the same question. If you suggested a question last month, you are certainly welcome to write for that question if you want to, but you are under no obligation to do so.
Nonfiction Prompt Ideas It bears repeating that you are not required to choose a prompt from this list and may write about any nonfiction topic you choose.
I feel like there should be a better understanding of the different classifications of fan content enjoyment.
Like there’s obviously the “I love this because I basically share the same headcanon” tier and the “this is not my headcanon at all and I hate it” tier.
But there’s also the “Wow, I don’t share this headcanon but it’s really interesting and I enjoy reading about it” tier, which imho doesn’t get acknowledged enough and it’s absolutely valid and encompasses a lot of my personal fandom experience. It’s also closely related to “Wow, this isn’t my headcanon but I wish I thought of it, damn,” which is also common.
There’s also the “I hate this but I’m also morbidly intrigued so I’m just gonna go with it for now” tier.
And the “this is dumb and probably ooc but I kind of love it so fight me” tier.
‘Tis a vast and varied spectrum. I personally REALLY enjoy seeing what other people come up with, even if I don’t agree with it or share the same ideas, and while of COURSE I like seeing stuff that lines up with my personal views, I’m not all that creative, so I like to see what other people do, too. I mean, at the end of the day I’m a fan of the original canon, so even if I’m playing in somebody else’s wacky sandbox, I can always go back to that. I always have my vision and my ideas and my images, but it’s fun to see different interpretations sometimes.
I worry that I sometimes come off as idealizing the past in the Tolkien fanworks community. And there are some things that I worry about, not so much in wanting to go back but wanting to make sure that we don’t lose the good parts that are historically part of our community.
But today, I have been working on a fandom history paper and I found (via an academic source no less!) a 2004 thread that reminds me of everything I don’t miss. (I first began lurking in the Tolkien fanfic community in 2004, and reading this, I marvel that I had the courage to not only delurk but post a story and start a fanfic archive of my own.) I spent about an hour reading through it and am still only about halfway through. I stopped because it was honestly giving me a headache.
For those who weren’t around the fanfic community during the LotR film trilogy and immediately after, this thread will give you a taste of what you missed. Things I won’t miss:
The kinds of people who will argue that an award should be rescinded because they perceive the author has made a canon error.
The kinds of people who tidily define quality Tolkien fanworks by how closely they stick to canon or use other expert references in conjunction with that canon.
The kinds of people who think that there is an objective way to measure quality of fiction, fan fiction or otherwise, and it is a good idea to exclude people and stories on the basis of those dubious criteria.
The words “purple prose.”
People who think the aforementioned purple prose is a sign of sophisticated writing.
Threads stretching over hundreds or thousands of replies that never once discuss canon/characterization choices in terms of their artistic impact or merit. (Everything is canon canon canon! Which is an absolute, unshakeable, nondebatable, black-and-white, right-or-wrong entity.)
People who dismiss a story the moment it uses the words man or woman rather than terms like elleth or hobbit-lass. And those who dismiss entire sites for containing such stories.
A fandom culture that will gleefully participate on a community called fanfic_hate while also complaining that everyone is so meeeeean and point fingers at others for destroying the fandom.
The sorts of people who admit that they lie awake and “pray” for the rejection or failure of another author’s work.
People who compare a fandom award they don’t like to Nazism. (And then, when merely asked to think about the appropriateness of that comparison, flail their hands around and invoke George Orwell.)
People who brag about how hardcore their favorite archive is about deleting stories that don’t fit the “guidelines.” And mean it as a compliment.
Some of the issues under discussion on that thread were very legit, the hurt and anger that people felt was very real, and this thread is probably the best proof I’ve found of the deep-seated distrust and animosity that existed between members of different archives.
And certainly the Tolkien fanworks community today isn’t perfect and isn’t pure nicey-nice … but it is a relief not to have to engage in these kinds of canatic arguments anymore. (Not saying they don’t exist … but these attitudes were mainstream in the early/mid-2000s; it was hard to write fan fiction without routinely encountering them, e.g., a well-meaning friend who advised me to label a story as AU because my Elves slept with their eyes closed, and I could avoid a lot of criticism and rejection of the story on those grounds.) I like feeling that I’m making art, not little replicas of Tolkien’s books; that fan fiction is not a paint-by-numbers kit but a deeply thoughtful, critical genre in which the complexity of Tolkien’s canon is honored, not distilled down to a set of inviolable rules.
And because it’s my nature to find goodness and hope in the midst of almost anything, my research today showed that the Tolkien archives established beginning in 2004–the same time as this thread was ongoing, in fact–were actively inclusive, resisting the idea that a Tolkien archive had to police correct use of the canon and impose penalties on those who broke their laws.
He’d be so tickled to know he’d become the Patron Maia of Filing Systems…
*clears throat*
CAVEAT: THIS IS ABSOLUTELY THE MOST MANUAL, LABORIOUSLY HAND-PICKED WAY OF ARCHIVING. THERE MAY BE A BETTER WAY, THERE MAY BE SOME ONLINE ARCHIVING SERVICES YOU CAN USE, BUT I’M NOT FAMILIAR WITH THAT. THIS IS JUST HOW I DO THINGS, BECAUSE I LIKE TO KEEP MY OWN RECORDS.
With that said:
HOW DO I START:
–If you have any tags for long threads or replies, head there first and pick out the most memorable or lengthy threads. Only you can do this. Only you know what your favorite parts of your blog are, and what you want to keep. I cannot help you in this, you must go alone.
–If you don’t have tags, start by going into your Archive and getting the lay of the land. Even if there isn’t a button on your theme for “archive”, every tumblr blog has one; you can get to it by adding /archive after your url.
–At the top, where it says “Filter by post type”, select for “Text Post”, or “Ask Post”. Start by just looking at the last month’s worth of text posts and pick out the ones that look longer or most relevant. Open each post that looks promising in a new tab, and come back to it later.
–You may be tempted to open EVERY post. This urge will pass. If/When your browser tabs no longer have recognizable first letters on them, you will start to become more discerning about what posts you save. Trust me.
FINDING STUFF:
–Make friends with the Search function. Tumblr lets you search for keywords as well as tags! Typing in people’s usernames is sometimes the only way to find the stuff you’re looking for, if you haven’t been using tags.
– Everything is going to be in reverse chronological order on your blog, and the notes only link to the last known reblog. Finding all the replies and asks that went into a particular conversation or RP is going to a pain in the ass. This is why tagging your threads is important!
–When you come across a long thread with a bunch of replies, the hard part is going to be finding the *beginning* of the thread, so hunt that down before you start copy/pasting.
–You will sometimes have to traverse your treasured mutuals’ blogs in order to find replies. You will begin to have Judgements about other people’s tagging habits and choices of blog theme. Try to remain friends. Take a deep breath. You too have sinned. Cast not the first stone.
SPEAKING OF COPY/PASTE:
–Tumblr formatting is a known bitch
–You can’t just Select All and C/P into a document and have it come out like it is on the website. You have to select the usernames and the posts separately in a lot of cases, and c/p each reply in order while adding your own page breaks.
–Develop a shorthand for this, or keep the usernames on hand so you can quickly c/p them onto new replies, or just add breaks between each reply and then title the whole document “Me_TreasuredMutual01_TheSmutHappens.rtf” or whatever and assume that Future-You will be able to figure out who’s talking by inference.
–If you’ve got reaction gifs/pictures interspersed with your text, you usually have to add those separately, it depends what word processor you’re using.
–You’re probably going to have to deal with a lot of weird web formatting stuff showing up in your word documents. There are ways to deal with this if you want to clean up your text files, but if you don’t have a lot of time to spend on this, just… let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be; whisper words of wisdom, let it beeeeeee…
–YOU CAN ALSO *SCREENCAP*. REMEMBER THIS. IT WILL SAVE YOU.
WHERE DO I PUT THIS SHIT:
–I like to keep separate documents for important threads while slapping all my miscellaneous or one-off replies into one long Misc Document. If you’re less obsessive than I am, you have my permission to just dump everything into one document “MY BLOG CIRCA 2017 LOL.rtf” and move on with your life. This too is acceptable. I won’t tell Sauron.
–I keep a folder for all my blog stuff. You can too! You can make folders by year, by category (”roleplay”, “asks”, “out of character”, ”headcanons”, “discourse™”, etc), or by muse! Or you can, once again, dump everything into “favorites” and forget about it until your grandchildren unearth it while looking for your last will and testament.
WHAT ABOUT TUMBLR CHAT RP?:
–I’m so sorry.
–Just keep scrolling. Don’t get a hand cramp.
–Good fucking luck.
UUUGGGHHHH:
–I know
–You can be as granular or as slapdash as you want to. It doesn’t have to take up your whole life, of even your whole day. Set aside the afternoon and see how far you get. Try starting from the beginning! Seeing old stuff first tends to put the newer stuff in context and help you prioritize what you save.
–It may take way, way less time than you thought. Or, you may find yourself taking a walk down memory lane! You might have a grand old time reliving some classic RPs and fun times. It’s like going through your old year books; it can be kinda fun and kinda cringy and sometimes you’ll find something surprising that you’d totally forgotten about and it’ll be exciting.
–The first time is the worst, but each successive time you only have to catch up to where you left off.
–Just keep in mind what you’d seriously, seriously miss if tumblr stopped working tomorrow. Again, this will help you prioritize what you save. You don’t have to save everything! Some shitposts are just shitposts. Some old headcanons can slip quietly into the dark and be forgotten because you’ve grown and improved as a writer.
I HOPE THIS HELPED! GOOD LUCK AND GODSPEED, MY INTREPID ARCHIVISTS!
I JUST NOW REALIZED THIS SEVERAL MONTHS LATER – BUT ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT HE’S A BEAR IN A MODERN!AU WES!? IS THAT WHAT YOU’RE SAYING!?
Oh man oh man, buckle up children it’s time for a guide to American gay and leather terminology, with a bit of history, here we go:
*the following discussion is safe for work, but deals with sexual subject matter.
SO: you hear me say “bear” and “bara” a lot as a short hand for big hairy dudes. This is fairly lazy of me, actually; “bara” has it’s own specific origins in Japanese gay culture and it’s been sort of misappropriated by Western online communities– it’s moderately controversial, I’ve seen some people say it’s fine, other people say it should be used with caution… I’ve been trying to move away from using it just because I’m not sure where that line is drawn, so my go-to word for Big Hairy Dudes has been “bear”.
BUT: While “Bear” is a great word and describes a type of dude I am interested in, it’s not 100% accurate for my Sauron! :’D He is a big hairy dude! But he just ain’t friend-shaped enough to be described as a “classicbear”, imho.
As a little background: “Bear”, in American gay lingo, describes a body type. It refers to a kind of big, muscular and/or fat gay man who is hairy– the muscle is optional, the hair is not. Once you get passed a certain muscular threshold, you begin to move out of the “bear” category and into something else. (I’ve heard “wolf” used for leaner, muscular hairy guys, and also “otter” to refer to really tall, lean, SUPER hairy guys– but I wouldn’t say these are really in the true canon of the lingo.)
Bears are friend-shaped. Bears are lumberjack-y. They aren’t gym-rats, they don’t have washboard abs or super defined deltoids or whatever.
Like, THIS is a classic bear:
…Good ol’ Brian. I’m sorry the game didn’t let me climb you like a tree.
In adjacent body types we also have:
Cubs! Round and furry like bears, but usually a bit younger (as the name would suggest) and I think mostly identifying as bottoms?
Chubs! Hairiness optional, but thickness mandatory! Big zaftig gay fellas who are round and loving it. Dudes who are looking specifically for chubby dudes as partners are sometimes called Chub-chasers.
ANYWAY–
Admirable-mun, you mention the tags in that bear post:
My explanation here is that I have a couple different Modern!AU versions of my Sauron, and there is in fact one verse where he ends up mortal and aging, and as he gets older and relaxes a bit, he gets a bit of a tummy going on; so in THAT verse, yes, I’d say he qualifies as a bear. 🙂
But for almost all Modern!AUs, he’s less of a Bear, but he’s definitely a Leather top. Possibly even a Leather Sir, because I mean… it’s Thû, right? He’s a traditionalist and he’s into that kinky protocol. But then again he’s absolutely a switch, so maybe not full Sir. Definitely he’d be into that leather-care and service bottoming, but he’s mostly a top, with a shiny, well-organized collection of toys and floggers and probably owns his own dungeon and holds community meet-ups… He’ll be rich as hell so he’s got tons of fancy equipment but he’s also very careful to keep his private life and professional life separate because he’s got a very high-profile job. Depending on what decade I imagine the AU taking place in, he may be very much in the closet about being gay and CERTAINLY not open about his nightlife. He’s all about strict rules and keeping things safe and neat and clean, whereas ‘Kor is a crazy motherfucker who plays on the edge, is a loud and vocal queer activist, has a criminal record and possibly a death wish, and is up for some heavy. duty. messed. up. shit. And Thû loves them so, so much but damn if they ain’t a liability and a threat to themselves and others. This probably all happens in San Francisco, probably in the 80′s… it depends on the AU and whether I go the East-German Refugee Rockstar rout for Kor, or the Extreme Activist And Performance Artist Kor. All of my Modern!AU stuff is kind of nebulous right now, but I think it will still play a part in my finished WesleyVerse headcanons.
BUT WESLEY, WHAT DOES ALL THAT MEAN??
*deep breath* let’s start with:
–My qualifications: I have lived with, played with, and dated folks in the Leather Community. I’ve marched with the Leather contingent in the Seattle Pride Parade once, maybe twice now. I’ve been involved with kink/BDSM communities since just before college and kink/BDSM and leather have almost always been adjacent to each other (except maybe at the very advent of Leather when it was more a macho, motorcycle/military oriented thing for gay men who were pushing back against effeminate stereotypes).
–Caveat: I’m a queer nonbinary AFAB person and my involvement has always been pretty peripheral. Also, I’m under 30, so that puts me in an age bracket WELL below even the youngest members of original leather communities. I was most active in Portland and Seattle areas, but the heart and soul of Leather lives in San Francisco. So, keep that in mind.
…Also it’s been a hot minute since I did anything with this community or any other community or got out of the house in general because I’m a big gay bipolar mess. ALL THIS SHIT MIGHT BE DIFFERENT NOW, IDK.
Leather is a lifestyle, aesthetic, and sexual preference. Bear is a body type. If you’re a Leather Bear, it means you’re big hairy gay dude who’s into leather and probably BDSM. Easy!
Like these fellas attending Folsom East. (Folsom is the big big famous leather street fair in San Francisco, so I’m assuming Folsom East is a similar festival taking place on the East Coast).
But lots of Leathermen aren’t bears! Some are more muscular and into bodybuilding, or into shaving their body hair. Others like the body hair but keep their physique trim! The important part is the leather, not the body type, but there is still an associated “look” for your traditional Leatherman.
We are now entering Tom of Finland territory:
As far as I know, Leather Culture is considered to fall under the BDSM umbrella, though there are probably those who are only into the aesthetic and/or motorcycle-oriented part of it. Leather isn’t strictly gay anymore, but it definitely DEFINITELY started with gay men. There’s also a long, strong tradition of Leatherdykes and BOIs (don’t fuckin’ come for me with ~it’s a slur~ discourse; “dyke” is how they refer to themselves and have since the original clubs in SanFran, respect your elders.) There are regional competitions for Mr. and Mrs. Leather that happen periodically across the USA (I know one or two former Mr/Mrs Leathers). It’s a big community on the West Coast (obviously, we have San Francisco), as well as the East Coast but I’m less familiar with those guys.
There is a pretty big divide between Old Guard Leather and new, next-generation leather. Old Guard Leathermen are where you’re most likely to find men identifying as “Sirs”, and wear “caps” or “covers” and take their protocol VERY seriously; there’s a tradition of being a Boy (usually submissive or subordinate) until you “earn” your way to being a top, there’s specific codes you follow for how much and what kind of leather you’re allowed to wear depending on your standing, how to refer to each other– it’s all very military. (This is not so much my wheelhouse, I would refer to a better source than me if you’re interested in this topic).
Leathermen tops who don’t take the protocol as seriously are sometimes referred to as Leather Daddies. (Leather Daddies are more likely to be Bears! But not necessarily!) This distinction is a little blurry? As far as I understand it, “Daddies” are tops and usually doms but sometimes switches and they are just a little less into strict hierarchies and formalities.
“Next Gen” leather is more relaxed about protocol and has a reputation for being more inclusive and genderqueer-friendly, less about strict role adhesion and performance… it’s all a bit up for debate. The thing you have to remember is that a lot of the Old Guard and original Leather communities lived through the AIDs epidemic– there’s a big difference in attitude between people who survived being sexually active gay adults in the 80′s and those of us who came to the scene well after that.
Also, hey! There are books on this stuff, so you don’t have to take my word for it! 😀 *Reading Rainbow theme plays* Check out Larry Townsend’s The Leatherman’s Handbook, I think that’s considered the definitive tome on the subject of Gay Leather? I haven’t read it myself but it is referenced literally. everywhere.
You should also look up Pat Califia, who’s like the core of leatherdyke and butch/femme BDSM culture and wrote extensively on the topic– he’s also a bisexual trans man and his erotic fiction is just about the hottest thing you’ll ever read, HIGHLY RECOMMEND.
There are more subdivisions of gay Leather/BDSM! This can get very, very granular and maybe not universally recognized! But some include:
Bootblacks! Bootblacks are a very specific type of leather bottom that deal with, you guessed it, boots! Boots and leather care are a big part of service in the Leather community, and it can be more or less a sexual thing. (If you’ve never had your boots blacked and shined by a service bottom, let me tell you, even if that’s not Your Thing, it’s a very sensual experience). Bootblacks can be men or women or NB and they kind of have their own little community that’s known for being a little feisty and eccentric* (*additional sources needed).
Leather Boys/BOIs! They are service-oriented bottoms and/or submissives in the leather community!
“Pigs”! These guys are even MORE friend-shaped than the average bear! Pigs tend to be big ol’ dudes with a raunchy streak who are into more relaxed BDSM and like to get reaaaaaallllll kinky. Particularly into fluids.
“Pups” are generally younger dudes in the kink scene, like Leather Boys, but who are into puppy play! There’s usually a truck full of these happy fellas in the Pride Parade each year and they all have little tail-plugs in! It’s adorable!
And “Ponies”! Into BDSM pony play! They look fucking awesome I love the boots! You see these intrepid kinksters in full pony gear pulling carts and it’s super impressive!
Also, a part of queer culture that seems to be mostly out of style nowadays in the age of grindr and fetlife, but you still encounter in some kinky circles: Flagging! The Hanky Code!
“Flagging” was a way to signal to other queers what your kinks were. The color of the handkerchief signaled what your kink was, and whether it was in your left (top/dom/likes to do) or right (bottom/sub/likes to receive) pocket told people if you were a top or bottom. (There were other ways of flagging with a bandanna too). This could get about as complicated, creative, and subjective as Victorian Flower Language, but there were a bunch that were pretty universally recognized– like black for S&M, red for fisting, yellow for watersports, etc. Which side of your pants you wear your keys on is still a thing I think? Anyway, the left/right thing is still a coded signal in a lot of kink spaces.
THIS HAS BEEN YOUR CRASH COURSE IN GAY LEATHER/BDSM TERMINOLOGY, BROUGHT TO YOU BY ME, WESLEY.
As we sit on the cusp of changes to the Internet, after your other activities to support Internet freedom, archive your
fandom stuff.
Save the electronic files of your favorite online fandom works. Consider print-outs of your favorite online
material. And save paper
ephemera from fandom events.
Why save? Because you put the effort into a fanwork. Because you may be surprised when a fandom stays alive for years, or gets revived, or when an academic asks to cite your work. Because it’s stupidly hard to find items on Tumblr. Because, lo, in ages past, many fandom archives have risen and fallen, taking favorite fics off the ‘Net. Because it made you happy, makes you remember. Because you never know.
What can
you save?
Fanart
Stories you wrote
Epic comments on stories you wrote
Stories you love that other people wrote
Meta and meta-related discussions
Translations others did of your works
Physical items: paper ephemera, clothing, accessories, art prints and drawings.
Behind the cut…saving from Tumblr and AO3, delving into lost web sites, how to save computer files for the long term, and why I’m glad I saved physical fandom items from 10+ years ago.
So I am going to add onto this because there is, in fact, a professional archival interest in preserving fandom as well. I’ve spoken with some people about this before, but here’s the bottom line: PROFESSIONAL ARCHIVISTS WANT TO PRESERVE YOUR STUFF! HELP THEM DO THIS!
There are pre-existing fandom archives. Where are they?
The University of Iowa Special Collections. U o I is partnered with the Organization for Transformative Works (which runs AO3) to help collect and preserve fandom. They’re one of the biggests out there. Here are some of their existing collections
Pete Balestrieri, who curates the collection, is the man to talk to about this. Please consider giving him your stuff!
The Library of Congress has been archiving select webcomics, and now maintains the Web Cultures Archive which includes sites like Cosplay Paradise.
These are the big institutions doing collecting, but the archival profession and fandom need to start talking more. Born digital material is always at risk, and at present, it is mostly Western fandoms being preserved! Moreover, some facets like cosplay are currently overlooked, and that is something that needs better documentation!
About once I year I have a Must Archive Everything Panic, and honestly I think that’s healthy.
I know I’ve usually been the one to try and comfort friends who are discouraged by this unfeeling hellsite; I try to remind them that it is indeed the platform’s fault and not their lack of talent that is making it difficult to accrue an audience or meaningful feedback– BUT TODAY, I AM DISCOURAGED. >:
You know what, I think I answered my own question vis a vis compensation for work done in a fandom economy (and… also about the depression HAHAA, GUESS WHOSE ENTIRE PERCEPTION OF REALITY CHANGES WHEN THEY FORGET TO TAKE THEIR PILLS LOL)
–and thank you for the nice comments everyone you are the wind in my sails the sun on my face the lava in my volcano ❤
Basically I think I’ve just been using my Patreon wrong. Like… -I- am the one giving shit away for free here. I set my own prices. I HAVE a place to put work where the viewer is obliged to compensate me for seeing my art; that’s what Patreon is FOR. But I’ve been using it, instead, as a promise-based platform for future works, rather than a place to put all the things that I’d like direct compensation for. I don’t HAVE to put anything on tumblr for free– and in fact, I think I will stop doing that. 🙂
Like– if Tumblr is good for one thing, it’s drumming up views for fandom content. The community is here, the people thirst for entertainment. It’s where the roleplay and communication happen. So this is the perfect place to RP, make Ask-Blog posts, post sketches, doodles; all that fun stuff that generates views, but is forgotten as soon as it leaves the dash. But I don’t have to put literally EVERYTHING here, especially not the stuff where the reward-to-effort ratio doesn’t work out in my favor. I can put THAT art on my Patreon for the people who are invested enough in seeing my shit that they’ll pay me a buck or more a month, and link it back here so people know it exists.
Might as well reblog this here too– I was having some thoughts about I can maintain my motivation and compensation for fandom work over time.
I’ve been doing this Silmarillion Fandom thing for four years now; I’ve produced a LOT of content, and tumblr makes it very difficult to track what people have and have not seen– and on the flipside, it makes it difficult for viewers to leave feedback or even see content that’s not immediately on their dashes! It’s a tough racket all around. :
Fandom has been the focal point of my interactions and creative output for many, many years, and at the moment it is my sole source of income; I need to start managing my resources here more wisely! :U
HEY it’s been a while since I last harped on about archiving this blog but bear with me:
I’ve got an enormous archive of significant threads and miscellany from MisbehavingMaiar that I’ve been meaning to migrate over to a less volatile platform than tumblr– somewhere less likely to change the…
[appended]
meeedeee answered: I think the “ask if you wnat removed” or opt out method is agood way to go. It is the protocol that the Internet Archive and the Library of Congress use. Note: some fans might not agree that you have no right “reblog outside of tumblr.
Oh my gosh! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! This is pretty much exactly the kind of answer I was hoping to get. :’D
I know some of my followers said they were also interested in making personal backups of their tumblr RPs? I know it’s a goddamn overwhelming project to do by hand, especially now that some of the xkit functions that would have made that slightly easier are now broken… BUT!!!! That Wayback Machine seems like it’ll be the quickest and easiest way to backup of your stuff in case tumblr goes tits up. 🙂
HEY it’s been a while since I last harped on about archiving this blog but bear with me:
I’ve got an enormous archive of significant threads and miscellany from MisbehavingMaiar that I’ve been meaning to migrate over to a less volatile platform than tumblr– somewhere less likely to change the terms of service on me overnight, or install some unannounced update that makes my content unbrowsable, or some other rebranding administrative horseshit that we’ve all come to know and love from our favorite blue aggregate microblogging platform. (In this case I’ve chosen WordPress.)
My main question is: when reposting a roleplay thread, how does one give due credit, and how does one go about obtaining that credit? I’m especially concerned about dead or deleted blogs whose muns are otherwise unreachable. 😦
On one hand, I feel like starting a roleplay thread on tumblr is implicitly giving your partner the right to post and respond to your words on their blog– that is the entire function of the “RE-BLOG”: You are reposting, on your blog, the content written on your partner’s blog. The formatting assures that your username, and a link to your blog, are attached to your words and are separate from the content added by the person reblogging. In that sense, starting a roleplay on tumblr is contingent on being able to repost someone else’s content on your own blog, so posting to a different-different blog shouldn’t be a problem– especially considering that tumblr is a public platform, and ostensibly reposting to somewhere like WordPress is just moving it to a different public platform (one that’s actually considerably less public and fraught with peril than tumblr).
But on the other hand: DUH, you ask for permission before moving someone’s content off-site, dumbass!
But on the other-OTHER hand: jfc how do I even get in contact with so many people, some of whom have vanished from tumblr, and ask them if it’s okay to repost their half of the collaborative material we made together? Material that I’ve already reblogged on my blog– changing nothing they wrote and including all the same crediting information contained in their original post– to an almost identical blog on a different platform?
I’m not so much asking for everyone’s opinion on reposting work so much as I’m looking for an honest-to-god concrete legal or moral line in the sand so I can determine what content I need to get express written permission for, and which content I am already entitled to quote off-site with due credit.
If anyone has any kind of previous experience with archiving fanworks and/or collaborative works, I could really use your help! Is there a resource I can use to look this stuff up? What has been your experience with situations like this? Also: is “contact me if you want your content removed” a legitimate route to take?
#BlacktoSilmWeek is upon us, and I am outrageously excited that this is a thing! Tolkien is often credited with being the origin of High Fantasy as a genre, and unsurprisingly, that entire genre has been desperately in need of diversifying and deconstructing since its inception.
Diversity in fiction is important (I’d argue that it may be MORE important in fiction than in non-fiction), and should be encouraged and celebrated, AND THAT INCLUDES: Diversity in the fandom! What else, and who else, is diversity in fiction for, if not for real people to connect with? Representation matters, and it matters because of fans of color (and queer fans, non-binary fans, etc.), not because tumblr says it’s a hip thing.
SO: take this as an invitation, if you’re comfortable doing so and if you have the time and inclination, to reblog this post if you identify as a person of color and consider yourself a Tolkien fan of any variety! Silmarillion, trilogy, Hobbit, movies, whatever. 🙂 And if you want to, add something about yourself and your experience with Tolkien and/or the fandom! Are you a content creator? Are you a voracious reader of fanfic? What do you enjoy most about the stories? Feel free to toot your own horn a bit; if you’re super proud of something you’ve contributed, or of your expansive storehouse of collected lore, I want to know about it so I can keymash excitedly in your direction!!
Also: shout out to fans of color who have had to deal with not only the racism in the texts, but also in the fandom. Mainstream fantasy is rife with racist, othering bullshit, and if you’re still here you deserve a goddamn medal. And better content. I want to be in your corner, and hopefully we can get some hands raised from others in the same boat.
A while back, an anon mentioned that they were scared to participate in the Silmarillion fandom. People hastened to assure them that we were a nice fandom! Friendly! Full of people to talk too! This is true. I think the problem is, though, that this is not the “Silmarillion” fandom. It’s the HoME fandom. People are expected to know all sorts of things that aren’t in the Silmarillion, whether they create or consume. People have to know that Maedhros has red hair or that Amrod died at Losgar in some versions. People have to know Quenya names and the meaning of those names, as well as basic vocabulary (ata, ammë, elleth, etc), because they’re used often in fic. People have to know about the thorn, about Gil-Galad’s questionable parentage. If you write something that is “wrong”, that is contradicted by something in HoME, people will correct you. Quickly. Kindly, but mercilessly. It’s not enough to have knowledge of just the Silm. It’s frightening. It shuts people out of the fandom, because they have to enter it with a huge amount of knowledge. This is very fun. It’s very interesting and exciting. There is always more to know. Debates and all sorts of interesting headcanons go on. Politics! Economics! Morality! Mathematics! Transhumanism! Fictional theology! These are all very exciting. But the fandom can be intellectually elitist, sometimes. There is no room to really be a beginner. There is so much else going on. lintamande was talking about feeling like an imposter, because she had only been in the fandom two years. I often feel like an imposter, because I haven’t read The Peoples of Middle Earth. I’ve only read eight out of twelve HoME books! I don’t know enough! I have lots of silm thoughts. Many I don’t type up. Some I don’t post. The ones I do post, I never tag. I am afraid that I will make a mistake, and people will Judge Me. I read a story once, with a female Fingon. Her name was given as ” Fingwen”. I was horrified. How could this person do that? Gah! *linguistic sobbing* But really. The fic was good. Should this person be expected to know the elements were “Fin” and “gon” instead of “Fing” “on”? Apparently, yes.
Hahahaha MAN DO I DO THIS. Correct kindly (at least I try) but mercilessly, I do it all the time. But I’m like… happier, when I tell people about some knowledge they haven’t yet? I expand their views! They can be enthusiastic about minor details with me! I don’t even realise if I’m over-correcting. I try to make others see what I see, probably not always succeeding. But hey, sometimes I do. I had at least three people telling me “I hated Feanor but then I read your reply to my post and now I see him under a different light” and my reaction was “HELL YEAH HELL FUCKING YEAH”. I want to get that when I “correct” people.
I probably forgot how it may feel for a beginner. I don’t even know how to fix this issue because you can bet I will go on answering to posts with different theories, new informations and even with disagreement. But if it may help, I am theorically an “imposter” too. I only ever really read the parts of HoME that concern Feanor and the House of Finwe, and some other stuff here and there. The rest… lmao.
OP, that is pretty much the clearest identification of this fandom I’ve yet seen. XD Spot on, well done. Whether we like it or not, this corner of Tumblr really is the Tolkien Apocrypha fandom. More than half the stuff we take for granted as “true” about the Silmarillion was actually gleaned from H.o.M.E. or the Appendices or the exhaustive work of Tolkien scholars from across the decades. I don’t think I even remember finding out some of this stuff– I just absorbed it via tumblr-osmosis.
And OH MAN, Hweanaro said it: I think if you really grilled most of us in the H.O.M.E. fandom, you’ll find that most of us are “imposters” in some way or another. XD MOST of us have a niche. Most of us have an area or areas of expertise that we’ve expanded our knowledge on because we were restless and unsatisfied with the bare-bones information given to us in the Silmarillion-proper. I myself have read every passage that mentions either dark lord, but frequently have to look up the names of elves and UGH QUENYA, WHAT A PAIN I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU’RE SPEAKING YOU’RE ALL ORC PROTOTYPES. But the longer I stay here, the more I get excited about new topics and want to expand my information base, because other fans are super excited about their niches, and make me want to get into them! 🙂
…I’ve made a lot of friends here, and I’ve produced a lot of work here. I love this fandom and the people in it. –But I also know there are huge incompatible rifts in the fandom and all it takes is the “wrong” opinion voiced in front of a certain crowd for this oh-so-polite-and-friendly fandom to turn nasty real quick. We do tend to divide ourselves into different groups based on various polemic issues, some of them based in Tolkien Mythos and “canonicity”, and some of them based in more universal fandom topics like character diversity or female representation or problematic fetishization or responsible exploration of triggery subjects, etc. etc. etc…. THE LIST GOES EVER ON AN ON.
It is, as you say, Tremendous Fun! But it’s a prickly fandom, and the barrier to entry is high. 😦 And I wish it wasn’t! I really, really do try to be as inclusive and approachable as I can– I WANT new fans to come here and explore their ideas while they’re starting their journey, because that’s how we get NEW IDEAS, DAMNIT. And yet, I know that I’ve lost some perspective, just because this has been my exclusive fandom haunt for about two and half years now, and I’ve absorbed so much fandom opinion and canon alike that it’s quite difficult to remember what it was like before knew where all the wobbly steps were.
(…and take all this with a huge grain of salt because not only am I speaking from a limited perspective, but I have not eaten yet today),
If we are shutting out people who have only read the Silmarillion, we have a huge problem. New interpretations don’t come from just finding an Opinion Camp and settling down in it. Getting pounced on for some canonical minutia when you’re just stretching your wings can be imagination death. There HAS TO BE some protective growth-room for new readers who want to share their ideas. If you find yourself getting ready to launch a diatribe against a new reader for an opinion they just formed about a character you’ve been stanning for years, GIVE THEM THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT. And for fuck’s sake, give them TIME.
I managed to avoid the Silm Correction Death by joining the fandom pretty late in the game– I’d done a lot of reading and thinking before I joined. I’d already established a pretty firm idea of what MY Arda looks like, and what’s more, I joined with a very, very concrete goal in mind: I wanted to write and draw my comic, then share my comic, then retire.
…Ahahahaha. BUT SERIOUSLY–
When I want to connect with the material I love and find a new way to explore it, I MUST step away from the fandom. Things like my comic or my drabbles and my own headcanons have to happen with a modicum of isolation, or else they are blown away by the first passing whiff of judgment. (Or… that USED to be true, but now I live in a blissful, fuckless state, where I generally don’t care what people think :D)
An important bit of advice to new fans and old?:
The idea of having a “’Verse” has been crucial to my creative boundaries as a fan. As long as I keep my ideas as safe behind the impenetrable wall of “MY ARDA ‘VERSE”, I don’t have to take any guff from canon OR fanon. It’s My ‘Verse, my rules! And I also feel less inclined to criticize interpretations that don’t jive with mine! It’s their ‘Verse, their rules! It doesn’t infringe on mine.
The Wesley!Verse is a safe place for me to create, and get in touch with what my “original” ideas are– However, what I consider ““my”” Arda ‘Verse is totally riddled with cool ideas that other people have helped me arrive at, whole segments that were developed in tandem with fellow roleplayers, or were borrowed en-masse from someone who had better-developed ideas about certain places or characters than I did! It is GOOD to mingle, if only to break out of your own niche. 🙂 But the permeability of your ‘Verse is yours to decide– how much you want to let other people reach in is up to you.
I think, maybe, we would all benefit from treating each new fandom arrival and fandom veteran alike as a distinct, mutually recognizable, Arda-‘Verse-in-development.
That’s why I think it is important, when new fans ask my opinion on something or want to know if something is “true” or not, to make a clear distinction between what is “canon” and what is “real”; meaning, this is what Tolkien wrote, but whether or not it is “real” in your given ‘Verse is entirely up to you. –Inform when solicited, but don’t “correct”. To “correct” assumes a level of cohesiveness in canon that we really, really don’t have? : And anyway, canon or not, this is collective mythmaking. This is a book series with no agreed-upon visual designs, no Peter Jackson movies, and more contradicting and confusing sets of canon than the New Testament.
While there is a certain pedantic joy in sitting around like a bunch of old rabbis debating whether or not the author meant this-or-that, or whether or not ONE set of books is more canonical than another, or whether or not the editor obscured some passage’s original meaning, those debates are the privilege of people who have had the time/energy/enthusiasm to chew through a whole geological strata of tomes, some of which aren’t even in circulation anymore.
You don’t have to be a HoME veteran to have a really beautiful and unique vision of the text that’s worth sharing, but if we treat the value of a new interpretation based on its understanding of the, frankly, kabbalic expanse of canon, thenwe are doing it wrong. Silm fans -may- actually be different from HoME fans, but WHO CARES, we should NOT BE SCARING THEM AWAY.
I mean… I understand that it can be uncomfortable for someone who’s been in the fandom for years to interact with a fan who is just starting the Silmarillion. It’s like… watching a puppy go up stairs, or else it’s like watching an enthusiastic bull in a china shop: You either want to help them up to the good bits faster, or steer them away from the delicate bits that you worked so hard to arrange. Sometimes the impulse to be a gatekeeper is strong. But what, and who are you keeping out? What are you keeping them from? If all you’re protecting is your sense of superiority, then nah friend, sit down.
Anyway, thank you OP for speaking up about this. I really want there to be a place for everyone in the Tolkien community.
In January 2015, I will be presenting a paper about the Tolkien fan fiction community at the Mythmoot III conference in Baltimore. While other fandoms have been studied in depth, particularly television fandoms, very little study has been done on the Tolkien fandom, and my ten years of experience in this community have caused me to conclude that, while we share some similarities with other fandoms, we also differ in some important regards. I hope, through my Mythmoot presentation, to provide not only background on our community, its history, and its practices for an audience that may not be familiar with the fan fiction community, but also to begin to identify and examine some of the ways that our community differs from how fandom has been understood and presented by scholars.
As part of this, I have put together a survey for participants in the Tolkien fan fiction community. The purpose of the survey is to collect data on the habits, beliefs, and preferences of Tolkien fans who participate in reading and/or writing fan fiction. No identifying information, including IP address, is collected as part of the survey. You may skip any questions you do not want to answer or quit the survey at any time. I estimate that it will take about 15-20 minutes to complete.
If you have ever read or written Tolkien-based fan fiction, you are eligible to participate.
Please feel free to direct any questions, comments, or concerns to me via email (DawnFelagund@gmail.com) or private message. And do feel free to reblog this post or share the link to the survey; I would like to get as many perspectives as possible from as many corners of our community as possible.
Feeling like the community is moving on without me is the worst feeling. I know I have no right to feel like this because my activity is next to zero these days, but it still hurts. There are so many people I miss talking to.
aw hun :’( I want to say that December was a bit of a lull last year too? It was absolutely a lull for roleplaying. But we’ve got BotFA coming out world wide (I haven’t seen it yet) and the new year around the corner; at the very least it’ll be an excuse to recruit some fresh meat into the fandom.
I think of connectedness and connections—of how if we are to thrive inside an existing oppressive structure, we need systems of support. This need means moving away from the narratives that have been fed to us and narratives that feel safe because we recognize their boundaries.
For many of us, the idea of leaving behind the familiar landscape can be scary. If we are entrenched in our ways, adjustment is difficult and challenging. Challenging our own assumptions, questioning our biases, learning to look with a different set of eyes and changing the way we think about people is hard work. Indeed, it’s much easier to carry on down the familiar and beaten track rather than to launch out into the unknown.
On the beaten track, we know how to speak and how to walk and how to be. Walking the unknown means opening ourselves up again and making ourselves vulnerable to possible hurt and misunderstanding.
MisbehavingMaiar: Tumblr Archive 