Writer's inquiry

[mangacat201]

Hey lovely flisties,
I need your help! Deep in the middle of a writing project and I need your person definitions of the terms 'fan' - 'fandom' - 'fanworks'. The goal is not to get one comprehensive definition, but as many different perspectives as possible. They can be as short as a sentence and as long as a paragraph. It would really help me if you could just drop me a comment here, heck invite people over if you want. (you can also only define one of the terms, if you want to)

Comments

[lemanya.livejournal.com]

In my definition, a fan is someone who has an emotional investment in a piece of media (eg tv show, book, movie, comic, song etc) or the producer of that media (the author, poet, singer/band etc). This emotional investment can simply be "liking" the media, to going completely nuts over it. Being a fan however, is a personal measurement- you could like an author's work, but not necessarily be a fan of their work.

Fanworks are the creations related to the media in question, created by a fan of that media. A fanwork can be anything, so long as it's in appreciation of the media, including metas.

Fandom is a bit more complicated to define. It is simultaneously the collection of fanworks (the most obvious example being livejournal), facilitated by access to the internet, because let's face it, fandoms would be very weak without their online prescence, as well as fan-related events (eg. conventions, book clubs, marathon sessions, camping outside stores the night before a release). In essence, it is the prescence of fans that is the basis for a fandom, but there must also be a collection of material that supports a fan for the fandom to exist.

Does that make sense?

[mangacat201.livejournal.com]

Impressive! And thank you for taking the time to answer!

[insane-songbird.livejournal.com]

fan: a person who has an increased positive interest in a certain entertainment article (book, tv-show, movie, actor etc. also articles not necessarily meant to entertain but somehow entertaining the fan) in comparison to other equally valuable options.

fandom: a compiliation of fans of the same entertainment article somehow connected to one entity, e.g. via cummunities, forums, exchange or public expression of being a fan in any kind that other fans can conceive it.

fanworks: a fan's creative effort centered around the thing he/she is a fan of, including (but not exclusively represented by) fanart, fanfiction, fanvideos, memes etc.

[candygramme.livejournal.com]

Fan: To me it's a person that enjoys and is enthusiastic enough about something to actually stand up and be counted.

Fandom: It can be applied both widely and more narrowly to designate a group of fans of a particular entity (sport, person, sound, product) or more widely to include all those enthusiasts who support an entity.

Fanworks: The fan's own offering in support of the entity they support - could be anything from artwork through writing to costume with everything in between.

[mangacat201.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for your contribution! it really helped with the project.

[etoile444.livejournal.com]

I'll write mine without reading the others. A fan is a follower. Someone who follows a particular thing with various amounts of attention. A fandom is the gathering of these folks all of whom tend to be different. For example, some care about details, others care about characters, some cosplay. Fan work is all that the fan is inspired to create.

Sometimes it all becomes an obsession. :)

[mangacat201.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for your contribution! it really helped with the project.