Snowflake Challenge: Day 13

[llaeyro]

Day 13
In your own space, write about a moment in fandom that meant a lot to you. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I'm not sure I have a lot to say about this one. I started reading fanfiction so many years ago, but I've been in for months and out for years. I had a burst of activity in 2012-13, then came back at the end of 2015 and before that/in between, purely lurked. So I missed most of fandom's big moments, basically. I've met up with fandom folks on two occasions. The first, I was very overwhelmed and unsure of myself because of my own issues and not really knowing how to interact with people through LJ. Public comments left on pages were alien to me, compared to the chatrooms and private IM friendships I was used to. Everyone was super, super lovely but I was quiet and ridiculous and everyone was probably thinking 'who even is this person whose name we can't pronounce' *g* The second time was smaller, and I've grown up (in some respects...) and I really clicked with someone =)

That was the moment, actually. Sheltering from the rain outside the tube station, chatting away to ely_baby and neither of us wanting to go even though it was cold and wet! We met up again the very next day, and took a little walking tour of some of my favourite places, mostly revolving around HP and food. We'd never crossed paths before, because we run around in very different parts of fandom yet we have a lot in common when it comes to HP feels and opinions on coffee and fudge =D

Long comments on your works are incredible, especially on the longer ones, or ones you felt a connection to. Even more so when the story is annonymous, and/or when the commenter is someone you admire. I find that, although the general contentment of validation lingers, the comments themselves don't really stay with me, though. It's other people's stories that stay with me. I find myself thinking of their characters, the spells or creatures or situations they crafted for weeks or months or years after reading. Sometimes it's just a moment, a feeling, an image, an atmosphere that comes back to me. Sometimes I can't even place it, but still, you created that. You imprinted that image into my brain. Lessons and morals and witty one-liners come to me from your stories, and affect me day-to-day. They inspire, advise and often educate me. They are part of what continues to shape me, as a writer and as a person.

And that means a lot to me. ♥

Maybe I did have a fair bit to say, after all ;)