Fanwriting Resources

[mesotablar]

Challenge #7: In your own space, tell us about 3 fandom resources, spaces, or communities you use or enjoy.

I wasn't quite sure how to approach this because I tend to find myself in tiny, or winding-down/dead, fandoms. There isn't much specific fandom community outside of the comments on AO3. Reading other people's posts was great! Not only have I figured out what to write, but I've also collected a list of things I need to check out!

1. First I have to mention Fandom/Wikia and Wikipedia. The Fandom/Wikia pages can be hard to navigate, not detailed enough and filled with glaring errors, but I still use them as a go to when I first start out. Wikipedia has information on production schedules (what time of year was it filmed/set) and any general world news, such as controversies or communities who spoke up for/against a portrayal. It is a good starting point to figure out where I should look next.
2. Next are the databases! IMDb, IMCDb (vehicles) and IMFDb (firearms). I'm all for canon accuracy, so I want to know what year that car was released and what gun that is to figure out what damage it would do. The vehicle database is amazing, lots of passionate car people gather to identify even the cars parked on the street in blink-and-you-miss it scenes [it can also just be really fun to see what movies/tv shows your car has been featured in!]. The firearms database is less comprehensive, they will list the weapons in the movie but not tell you who got shot by what gun. So some research is still involved. The IMDb page I tend to save as a reference PDF so I can quickly name check, or check spelling. I trust IMDb much more than the Fandom/Wikia for those sorts of things, especially when there are bloopers, errors or ambiguous name usage. 
3. Last is sort of canon adjacent. It is the soundtrack. Either Youtube, Spotify, or some other site that has it. I am a music person so I absorb the soundtrack as I watch and then I need it to get into the headspace to start writing for it - which means when there are distribution issues like for the UK Skins and that initial musical fingerprint is lost then there is no way I can ever get into the fandom.   

Comments

[goddess47]

Finding new things is the best part of this challenge. Since I'm modding this challenge, I do see all the entries and I have a few pages of 'things to check out'... that's one of the cool things about Snowflake!

The Fandom Wikis are largely a labor of love and for some there's not a lot of checking going on. So I understand about making sure you have another source so you can cross-check your information.

Glad you've found a music source that works for you. I'm (mostly) a classical music person and have the lovely option of a local radio station that plays classical 24x7! So I'm used to that... and often glad I don't have to go searching for music.

Lovely resources and so glad you stopped by today!

[mesotablar]

I feel like I am going to be happy spending hours going through all the replies for this challenge!

I know the Fandom Wikis are a resource for fans by fans and it is amazing what they do, don't get me wrong. The bigger fandoms have more people checking and are generally great, but coming from small fandoms, well, for one of my fandoms the wiki includes a lot of headcanon that has no basis in canon. It is sort of funny how those detailed tangents just slot right in yet are basically fanfic!

The way you phrased that is...is not having a classical music station even a thing? All of Australia gets ABC Classic which is classical 24x7. I can't even comprehend a possibility of not having classical at my fingertips!

[goddess47]

Local classical music stations are more of a rarity than one might hope in the US. Our local station supports a pretty wide geographic area but it's also online so it is available anywhere.

But, sadly, not every large city has a local classical music station... ;-(

[tsuki_no_bara]

i love that there are imdb-ish databases for cars and weapons. so useful!