[ SECRET POST #2280 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2280 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.


__________________________________________________



11.


__________________________________________________



12.


__________________________________________________



13.


__________________________________________________



14.


__________________________________________________



15.


__________________________________________________



















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 080 secrets from Secret Submission Post #326.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

09. http://i.imgur.com/bgilF7Y.png

[quantumreality]

I think that's true of a lot of fanfic writers to some extent, but I think for fic writers in general the fun reward is just in getting fic out there and seeing people critique it and give you warm praise fuzzies or good tips on how to improve your writing. :)

[(Anonymous)]

Trust me, it's overrated. When I achieved that status, I felt like a mannequin on display, and during that brief BNF status, hardly any of the friendships felt genuine. Just my two cents.

[(Anonymous)]

It IS overrated. I've found it stressful, disappointing and not worth it at all, that's why I've been pretty much anon for several years now and it feels fucking fantastic. "So, THIS is how fandom truly feels like!"

When you've reached BNF status, people watch your every move and judge your every post. Every opinion of yours, whether it's fandom related or not, gets judged harshly and repeated/reposted elsewhere in posts. Stuff you've said a year or two ago can pop up in some random thread. Fandom never forgets even the smallest, most inane comments you've ever made. The most innocent comments get misunderstood. People hate you for no reason or because you're a BNF.

Which means you have to watch what you say and do ALL THE TIME. Trust me, fandom isn't so fun, relaxing and "rewarding" anymore when you have to walk on eggshells, filter your words, watch out what you say and to which person, at any given time, basically. Because someone always finds that ONE comment you've made that can be taken out of context and then blown out of proportion as people in fandom learn about it. You constantly attract attention from people you've never talked to before and they think they know all about you and your personal life, based on stuff you've said last year in some unrelated comment in someone's private journal.

I don't know how it's with everyone else but eventually (pretty quickly, rather) I've found I couldn't be myself in fandom at all. And like the other poster said, you question the sincerity of new friendships and even some old friendships, because your BNF status can change and influence relationships. You can never be *entirely* sure your friends won't repost your private, locked posts somewhere down the line, for whatever reason, for all to see.

Even if you've never been rude to anyone in fandom, and even if you're the kindest and perfectly reasonable person, people WILL find something negative about you and spread it around. Trust me. Because that's how fandom works.

"A mannequin on display" is a great way of putting it.

[(Anonymous)]

It should be "I want it so badly." Not taking anything away from your writing since I doubt I've read it, but proper grammar is right up there with things I look for in stories I read.

[(Anonymous)]

Oops posting fail. This should have been in reply of the original secret.

OMFG

[(Anonymous)]

It's a blessing and a curse. Honestly, I was a BNF for a long time, and I ended up hating it.

[(Anonymous)]

I've never engaged in fandom enough to be one, but I can see both sides of that coin. On the one hand, acclaim! Who doesn't want at least some of that? but on the flip side, way too many people paying attention to every little thing you say or do - and that, I don't think I could handle - especially when it all inevitably devolves into some wank-war because you were a friend of a friend who said something bad, or your tongue-in-cheek comment was taking as serious business, or whatever tiny little misstep it takes these days to set off some firestorm of wank.

It just seems like way too much work, with too little reward. So, no thank you, I am happy to be a non-BNF.

[(Anonymous)]

The tone, wording, and pic mix is absolutely perfect. A+ secret composition.

[(Anonymous)]

I'd like to become one too but I wouldn't even know where to start. Given, three of my fics are on the first page of the tag for my otp, my otp just isn't popular enough with the overall fandom. It's pretty much only popular with the tumblr segment, and they don't contribute to fandom via fic at all anymore since one part of our ship has left the show.

[aubry]

Having watched from the sidelines of a dozen fandoms over the years, in my experience the easiest way of becoming a BNF is to just repeatedly act as though you already are one, and speak authoritatively on behalf of your ship or fandom - with great frequency. ;)

[(Anonymous)]

Been there, done that. Write the popular fics, draw the popular art, and interact like your life depends on it. It's not that hard.

But it's also not very fulfilling. And, all things considered, I pretty much regret it.

[(Anonymous)]

Just curious as to why you regret it?

[(Anonymous)]

da but i can tell you why i never want to be a bnf again. 1) i didn't even realize i was one for a long time? but apparently the fact that i was vocal in the main fandom community and produced a ton of fic for a relatively popular pairing that was not the main fandom otp meant that i was. 2) it was awful. one of the most miserable times in my life. people created dupe accounts to get onto my flist just to mock my personal entries behind my back and use facts from my life against me because they disliked that i was "using my power" for a lesser known ship instead of the fandom otp. i was hated for "liking the wrong characters".

and there's no such thing as tone when you're a bnf. for the longest time my twitter bio was a tongue-in-cheek "better than you" (considering all i did was use twitter to live tweet my descent into alcoholism as i dropped out of college I FIGURED THIS WAS OBVIOUSLY A JOKE TO ANYONE WHO VIEWED IT) but no, there were 8 separate threads on the anon meme about it and how i was a bitter slut with an superiority complex. people jumped on anything to try and make me look like a terrible person, while they pretended to be my friends to my face so they could request fic and icons and mixes from me or get me to support the coummnity they were starting by being an active contributing member and advertising it on my flist. (which i gladly provided whenever they asked because well...i thought they were my friends.)

i finally quit that fandom when one of the creators said something offensively homophobic. i commented on the post about it about how i felt disgusted and betrayed as a queer girl, especially because it had become known a segment of the fandom focused around a specific group of characters that creator had been heavily involved in writing/designing, had known about the remark for weeks beforehand on their private lj comm about the group and tried to hide the fact that she had said it because they felt protective of the creator. when the interview with the remark was posted in the main fandom commm, they spent the entire post defending/excusing her homophobia, ripped my comment to shreds and accused me of "being a hysterical child looking to throw a creator under the bus for a little internet validation" before i was dogpiled with hatemail, both anon and not anon over everything i had ever done in that fandom, and my personal details were posted on the anon meme with a caption urging people to find me irl if they lived in nyc.

so yeah. obviously not every bnf has this experience, but i've watched it happen on greater and lesser magnitudes to too many people who became bnfs too many times to ever ever want to be a bnf again. fuck i once saw a girl get run out of fandom who had only ever posted to her personal journal.. never a comm. because the opposing ship group hated what she had posted on her personal journal that damn much.

[(Anonymous)]

No, you don't. Trust me on this.

Fandom is supposed to be fun, but when you're a BNF, it's a second job. Everybody always wants something from you, and there's no way to keep up.

[(Anonymous)]

Agreed. Used to desire it (I was never very popular in school) looked at being a BNF as acceptance and being well liked/respected. Lesson learned!

[(Anonymous)]

As long as you're the good kind of BNF that doesn't start wank and doesn't pit other people of the community against each other as soon as you get a bad review, then go for it.

[badass_tiger]

Pretty sure all you have to do is summarised in this thread already: act like it, write fic/draw art for the popular ship, make your presence known everywhere, it'll happen.

Personally, I wouldn't want it to happen. I prefer to stick to the rarepairs, where there's far less chance of wank exploding.

[(Anonymous)]

I always seem to get into fandoms that are dead or dying, and I just want to be that one person who renews interest, but I'm too shy, and god forbid I take part in an active fandom.

[liberatores]

no you don't. it turns out everyone will hate you behind your back and churn out the most awful vitriol and anger while being pleasant to your face.

why though?

[(Anonymous)]

When you're BNF you're suddenly a huge target-for everything from devotion to hate. I've known people who were somewhat BNF-like in their particular fandom circle. One of them ended up getting a hate blog devoted to them that mocked almost every move they made or thing they said as being pathetic stupid or fake.

Also when you're a BNF , you're on display constantly. If you have a bad day, suddenly you're a snobby bitch. If you don't take every bit of critique someone gives you (or heaven forbid explain why you prefer not to go that direction in your story) you're suddenly butthurt and can't take critcism. If you say the wrong thing , people won't let you forget even if you write an apology essay (especially with the fandom SJW-police)

I sometimes have times where I wish that some of my neglected or ignored drawings got more attention, but for the most part I enjoy being invisible because it means I'm free.

[(Anonymous)]

From what people tell me, I've been/still am a BNF in two of my fandoms - and I didn't even know it. My fandom life didn't change at all.

So OP, sometimes, it just ain't that big a deal.

[(Anonymous)]

I was told I was a BNF in an old fandom, but I don't know. I think it was just that I had a LOT of fanfics, and they were not... well, I guess, not horrible by fandom standards. Plus, they featured the most popular pairing, which was also the pairing that I went crazy over, so that helped. I also was involved in a lot of community discussions. I liked it in the sense that it made me happy to get a lot of feedback on my fics, and they were listed in most fanfiction rec lists, or people otherwise recommended me. And of course when I commented on something and someone answered, "omg, it's you, I love your fics!" It felt good, but it's also like, it's just a fandom. I was in high school at the time, so I guess I needed self esteem boosts wherever I could find them, but now I honestly could not care less about pretend-celebrity status in the geek world. Then again, I'm not emotionally invested in any fandom and haven't been for years, so I guess I just don't care for a number of reasons.

Anyway, if you wanna be a BNF, write/draw/whatever for a popular pairing, do it a LOT (but make sure the content is tweaked and clean), and be active. Honestly, I don't think the fic even have to be that good, they just have to hit the usual buttons for the average fan.

[(Anonymous)]

No, you don't. You really, really don't. Take joy in your anonymity, because once you're a BNF, everything you say and do is scrutinized, and one false move can leave a black mark on you forever.

[(Anonymous)]

While I personally don't want to be a BNF, I think this secret is perfect. Also kind of beautiful.