iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Catching up on Lanterns before this weekend's finale? All of @gavia.bsky.social's recaps are now free to read (or listen to)! fansplaining.com/tag/lanterns/

Production still from Lanterns featuring Hal (Kyle Chandler) in a light shirt and dark jacket, and John (Aaron Pierre) in a dark shirt and dark jacket, standing in front of some kind of greyish corrugated wall/door.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

In our latest, @pokachee.bsky.social talks to Pokémon fangame creators like Pokémon Reborn's Amethyst Liddell about the ways that community fundamentally shapes their fanworks. Read the article or listen to an audio version: fansplaining.com/pokemon-fang...

screenshot of text reading: “I couldn’t have done it well without such a passionate playerbase to engage in the game, give feedback both positive and constructive, and make connections with each other to help sustain the energy between long development times,” Liddell told me. “Because of all of that, it’s difficult to say exactly how the community affected the creation of the game. How does water affect the creation of the ocean? I can hardly separate one from the other.”

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

In her recap of the penultimate episode of HBO's Lanterns, @gavia.bsky.social analyzes the show's uneasy blend of genres—and how its unwillingness to truly commit to any of them undercuts the core story. Read or listen to an audio version: fansplaining.com/lanterns-ins...

Text reading: At its core, this is a story about two men who got screwed over by shitty but well-intentioned parenting, compounded by the insidious influences of toxic masculinity and racism. In another universe, Hal and John might have been friends or allies, but here they’re kept apart by the circumstances that shaped their personalities from childhood. This conflict forms the emotional driving force of the show, but it’s let down by a lack of specificity in the surrounding blend of genres.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

How have the fanfic numbers changed over the past decade? In our latest, fandom stats wizard @destinationtoast.bsky.social writes about their origins in fandom data analysis in 2013—and compares the results of their early stats questions to the same questions today: fansplaining.com/crunching-th...

Side by side bar charts comparing "High-Omegaverse fandoms in 2013" vs 2026. In 2013, SPN RPF leads with 3% of works. In 2026, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms leads by far with 17.3% of works in the fandom.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

In her recap of Lanterns episode 6, @gavia.bsky.social is zeroing in on the show's *real* writing issues: fansplaining.com/lanterns-the...

Text reading: Hal’s funeral is a lonely affair, preceded by a scene that seems designed to annoy me personally: Noah showing up on John’s doorstep with a formal black suit, which he helpfully located so John would have something to wear for the funeral. Is it plausible for a teenage boy to find a suit with John’s Superman-like measurements in a dinky little town like Rushville? No it is not, and it actually would’ve been appropriately uncomfortable to dress John in a suit that doesn’t fit.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

In her recap of Lanterns episode 3, @gavia.bsky.social analyzes John's origin story—and contextualizes it within superhero media more broadly. Read or listen to an audio version: fansplaining.com/lanterns-rai...

Text reading: The idea of “raising a child to be fearless” is obviously nonsense from a psychological perspective. If someone actually enacted the parenting techniques we witness in the coming scenes, the results would be disastrous—more likely to result in persistent paranoia and mistrust of authority than the stoic and confident personality John exhibits in the present day. But in the context of superhero fiction, I’m perfectly happy to pick up what Lanterns is putting down.

There’s something fascinating about the idea of a child being forced to become a superhero. This is a staple trope in other branches of SF/F fiction, but it’s pretty rare in the superhero genre, which is all about characters making a purposeful choice to wield their power in a heroic way—whether that’s power they acquired at birth (like Superman or the X-Men), by accident (like Spider-Man), or by setting out to create a superhero persona (like Batman, although Bruce Wayne’s wealth is also another way of being born into power).

The original Green Lantern mythos wanted us to accept that its heroes deserve the power they receive, but this show is all about critiquing that assumption. As Hal’s behavior has made abundantly clear, fearlessness is not the best criteria for earning a Lantern’s ring. The way the Guardian speaks about genetic potential is also a worrying sign. How can you decide what a months-old baby will be like in thirty years? This whole episode is a thought experiment on the question of nature versus nurture, but I think we can all agree that the Guardian’s judgment of Baby John is absurd.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Large publications like the Times are well known for taking what they want from the little guys with no credit—and we're no exception. The story of two similar pieces on a flashpoint in fandom—with a paper trail—and what the incident says about our beat and industry: fansplaining.com/lessons-from...

Text reading: “To some, this might not seem like a big deal,” Kayti Burt writes. “This is an article about Heated Rivalry fanfiction, not Watergate. But as journalism struggles to figure out how to survive in a shifting internet landscape and in a hostile political environment, I believe it is more important than ever for those of us left hanging on to maintain fair and ethical practices.”

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

In our latest, @mldavies.bsky.social writes about Philip Pullman's Book of Dust Trilogy—which follows His Dark Materials' child protagonist into adulthood—and the "doublethink" fans often employ to hold new installments in their minds alongside beloved originals: fansplaining.com/putting-away...

Text reading: The Book of Dust is different from franchises that expand and change largely due to corporate mandates: these books exist because Pullman couldn’t stop thinking about Lyra and her world. Yet the effect on a dedicated reader is similar. Die-hard fans, who know every detail of Lyra’s quest and world by heart, will understandably be frustrated by the changes Pullman has made to his universe. Though I found myself raising my eyebrows while reading, I also felt able to take these books as they are. This mindset stems from my very different position as a reader and person approaching the new series. I was younger than Lyra reading The Amber Spyglass and looked up to her; I’m now considerably older than she is in The Rose Field. Reading about her crisis of faith, her near-suicidal depression, and her confusion at what her role should be in the increasingly complex wider world reminded me of how I felt in my early twenties, but also resonated with things I feel now at 36.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

In her recap of the first episode of HBO's Lanterns, @gavia.bsky.social considers the True Detective comparisons—and why they might be setting audience expectations a bit too high. Read or listen to an audio version—this first recap is in front of the paywall! fansplaining.com/lanterns-are...

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As for the True Detective connection, the similarities are obvious—including the time jump I’m about to discuss in this episode’s final scene. But I’m not sure it was a smart idea to encourage direct comparisons to one of HBO’s most popular titles. Lanterns and True Detective share a lot of DNA as crime dramas about rural Americana, masculinity, and the fallibility of law enforcement. Both revolve around difficult partnerships between two (kind of) cops on a (kind of) murder investigation, and HBO even attempted to cast Matthew McConaughey as Hal Jordan.

But Lanterns features far less sophisticated characterization and direction than the iconic debut season of True Detective, centering on relatively straightforward reimaginings of John Stewart and Hal Jordan. That doesn’t mean Lanterns is a bad show, but it definitely plays into the inside-baseball media commentary about HBO embracing mainstream franchise material.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Putting the water/blood shower in the center of The Vampire Lestat's tour bus was a true innovation, but please enjoy imagining production designer Andres Cubillan's original concept: Lestat emerging as Venus on his shell. fansplaining.com/inside-the-v...

Text reading: Meanwhile, the initial design for Lestat’s shower was a kind of hidden closet with a truly delightful conceit: “When you open the closet, double doors would open up, and along the walls would be Botticelli’s Venus painting, except there would be no Venus. It would just be Lestat in the shower, standing in a mother-of-pearl wash basin to symbolize the shell. I wanted to give it something campy, and Rolin loved that idea just to have some humor with it, and just to really enhance his cockiness at his sort of rock-star persona.”

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

“He’s no longer hiding himself, his sexuality. I think at the beginning, there’s still some hiding of being a vampire, but barely.” @gavia.bsky.social talks to Vampire Lestat Production designer Andres Cubillan to talk about a wide range of setpieces this season: fansplaining.com/inside-the-v...

Image from TVL featuring Lestat's apartment and Lestat playing on the piano.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

In our latest, Maria Temming reports on fictional constructed language—aka conlang—communities, and the ways those languages can bring fans closer to the source material. Read or listen to an audio version: fansplaining.com/how-fans-mak...

Text reading: Beyond simple aesthetics, someone might be drawn to a conlang because of the worldview built into it. Every language is embedded with the cultural perspectives of its speakers, fictional or otherwise. In Klingon, for instance, there is no verb “to be.” “Klingons don’t say somebody is happy. They say you are going through the experience of happiness,” Lipscombe says. “You are happy-ing. You are sad-ing. That’s a temporary thing. It’s not something you are.” Na’vi performs a similar twist of perspective for English speakers by making the word “tok,” which describes being somewhere, a verb that takes an object. In Na’vi, you do not simply exist in a space—you happen to that place. Those elements of a fictional culture might resonate with someone regardless of their attachment to the fictional characters.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

In her analysis of The Vampire Lestat episode 6, @gavia.bsky.social writes about how when we finally hear Claudia's own words in the seance scene, she obliterates Louis and Lestat's self-centered perceptions of her life and death. Read or listen to an audio version:

Text reading: Throughout this season, we’ve seen how Louis’ grief for Claudia is the deepest wound in his life, sending him down dark paths of violence and delusion. Yet that grief is shaped by selfishness and disrespect, expanding out from his sense of ownership over Claudia to the disaster of his transactional relationship with Regina. Season 2 ended with Louis displaying Claudia’s dress in his home as part of a family shrine. Yet, from Claudia’s perspective, that dress is just another possession that he hangs on his walls alongside his art collection. Finally able to share her own side of the story, all Claudia wants to say is that she hates Louis, hates Lestat, and never wants to hear from them again. Targeting Lestat for his part in the Paris trial, she dismisses the song he wrote in her honor, aligning it as an act of vanity alongside Louis hanging up her dress.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Need to catch up before tonight's penultimate episode of The Vampire Lestat? You can find all of @gavia.bsky.social's recaps up to this point here: fansplaining.com/tag/the-vamp...

Production still of Lestat and Dream!Louis in the recording studio.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

In our latest, @kaytiburt.bsky.social reports on the fallout around an anonymous document that identified remnants of Claude in popular fanfics. While the doc's authors and many of the fics were from Heated Rivalry, it's a far bigger problem than a single fandom: fansplaining.com/heated-rival...

$Text reading: “Fandom Has A Hidden Generative AI Problem” gives shape to a breakdown in a basic social contract for online fandom and all online community and discourse. While fanfiction writing is generally pseudonymous, readers have historically at least been able to rely on the assumption that a fellow human being is writing the story they are reading. With the introduction of AI, that fundamental pact between fic writer and fic reader has been fractured. Fandom is a place for people to be in community together—to bond over shared obsessions in a way that can make us feel a little less alone. Realizing someone has outsourced that connection to a machine can make us feel even more alone.$

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

In our latest, @bookshop.bsky.social reports on growing creative censorship—and criminalization—around the world. In Russia, a writer was sentenced to 18 months of forced labor for writing Stray Kids fic. Aja talks to Russian fans about the current climate of fear: fansplaining.com/the-global-c...

Text reading:

In a different era of Russian fandom, Zhenya volunteered as a Ficbook moderator. She emphasized how different things used to be before the crackdowns in her own country. “When I was a Ficbook mod, I was a teen,” she said. “There weren't any threats of censorship in sight; media and people were so much more free to do whatever they wanted: nobody translated gay couples into cousins, Verka Serduchka (an amazing drag queen) was very much one of the most popular artists among both kids and adults, the process to transition was so much easier than in most places around the world, and at some point I actually thought we were moving towards allowing gay marriage.”

These days, she worries that even posting to sites hosted externally might be criminalized—that, for example, “people who pay Ficbook to promote their fics are putting themselves at risk.”

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

In her analysis of TVL episode 2, @gavia.bsky.social writes about the show's longstanding themes around transactional relationships—and the way Lestat's narratives begin to fracture with the return of Gabriella. Read the article or listen to an audio version: fansplaining.com/the-vampire-...

Screenshot of text reading:

From the opening of season 1, sex work and transactional relationships have been a central theme for this show. Louis’ career as a pimp. Armand’s backstory as a trafficking victim. Daniel referring to himself as Louis’ whore. Blood farms and characters like Dee Pharma, whose role this season is played for laughs, but is honestly very dark. ...

No one here has an uncomplicated sex life or a healthy relationship to their job, a fact which puts a dampener on Lestat’s framing of his elevator threesome last week. Handwaving any potential questions about sexual trauma, he seemed aggressively keen to assure us that a) he’s a fun, horny, casual guy with no hangups whatsoever, and b) sex isn’t as important as blood-drinking, an act of transcendent vampiric intimacy that’s conveniently fine to share with your mom.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

In our latest, @earlhopkins.bsky.social goes deep on Drake's fandom and what his fans expect from him—whether it's addressing claims of cultural appropriation, or taking a stand on political issues. Read the piece or listen to an audio version: fansplaining.com/drake-and-hi...

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He came closest during his battle with Kendrick, when he said Kendrick was “rapping like you bout to get the slaves freed” on the diss, “Family Matters”—yet this moment only amplified Kendrick’s claims that Drake only champions Black culture for profit, and it placed his fans in an uncomfortable spot. “I think more people would be shocked if Drake did speak about something unjust, which is unfortunate,” Gandy said. “It shows where we are today in music. Artists are more interested in what they can take from or gain from music, instead of what they can contribute to the artform.”

Yet Desmarathes pointed out that putting pressure on Drake to speak out on social issues may be unfair. “I would love for him to stand for something, especially as a Black man,” he said. “But I do think when it comes to being an artist, there’s a fine line with that. And if we’re going to judge, then everybody needs to be held accountable as an artist.”

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

We're putting the finishing touches on this week's piece! Here's a hint. 💕

Promotional image for the Thai GL show In Love Forever featuring two women in lacy white wedding type dresses gazing lovingly at each other.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Exciting news: Fansplaining now offers gift subscriptions! Is there any better way to support a fandom-related project than by sharing it with your friends? 💞 Purchase access at any tier for a month or a year, and we'll send a link to pass along to whoever you want! fansplaining.com#/portal/gift

Image of lots of small wrapped presents in shades of pink, purple, tan, and aqua with copper bows.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

In our latest, @soila.bsky.social writes about the complicated ways colonialism and cultural hegemony can separate English (for fanfiction, fun) from non-native speakers' local languages (for Serious Literature, everyday life). Read or listen to an audio version: fansplaining.com/the-elation-...

Screenshot of text reading: Part of why reading fanfiction in our own languages can feel so “cringe” has less to do with the language itself and more to do with who we think owns certain storytelling spaces. Fanfiction, by design, is playful and deeply participatory; it thrives in environments where readers feel free to take apart and rebuild stories. Right now, those environments are overwhelmingly English. Most global fandom platforms operate in English, and that’s where this culture of rewriting, joking, experimenting, and pushing boundaries has already taken root. So English becomes the default language of escapism; it’s where fiction feels fluid and open to play. By contrast, our local languages haven’t been as visible in these fan-driven, low-stakes creative spaces. We’re used to encountering them in more formal, “serious,” or real-life contexts. When they suddenly appear in something as unserious, imaginative, and indulgent as fanfiction, it can feel jarring—not because they don’t belong there, but because we haven’t been taught to see them as languages of play.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Enjoying the work we've published since our relaunch? Become a subscriber! 🎉 We've been thrilled by the enthusiasm around this project, but we have yet to reach a baseline of subscriber revenue to pay writers each month, let alone editors. Help us get more smart fandom writing out in the world!

Image of a banner reading FANSPLAINING and the text "by, for, and about fandom!" beneath it. Green background.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

We're just putting the finishing touches on tomorrow's piece—here's a hint. 😉

Screenshot of an AO3 author's note reading: English is not my first language, so I"m sorry to any gramar mistake, I'll try my best to capture all they gayness and translate it to this colonizer language!

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Most books are written on subjects that would be a non-issue to sheep. You know: Tax fraud, so what? Let’s keep grazing.” @mldavies.bsky.social interviews Leonie Swann, author of Three Bags Full (titled Glennkill in Germany), the source for The Sheep Detectives: fansplaining.com/three-bags-f...

Image of two sheep peering through the window.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

We've mentioned it in a few places, so we can officially say: we're incredibly excited that @gavia.bsky.social is going to be recapping The Vampire Lestat for us next month!! ⚡⚡⚡ Help us pay Gav for her extra-sharp analysis (and all our other great pieces in the works): fansplaining.com#/portal/

Black and white promo image of Lestat onstage (shirtless, wearing leather pants and boots), laying with his back arched as he sings into a microphone.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

We're just putting the finishing touches on tomorrow's piece! Here's a hint: 🐑

Image of some sheep standing on an Irish cliffside.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

In our latest feature, @lincodega.com deconstructs what makes The Pitt such a dynamic fanfiction fandom right now. (More than 1K new fics posted in the past week!) To read or listen to an audio version, become a member of the new Fansplaining site. (It's free!) 💞 fansplaining.com/the-pitt-fan...

Screenshot of text reading: “Fanfic especially thrives in these spaces that canon doesn’t fill in. Beyond The Pitt giving us these brief outlines of characters, it delivers fanfic writers a ‘fruitful void’ to play in. (This is a term coined by Ron Edwards, an influential tabletop roleplaying game designer.) To bastardize tabletop design theory, The Pitt poses unfulfilled questions, tensions, and character interactions, and fanfiction responds. The biggest question the fandom seeks to answer is unreservedly: ‘Who are these people outside of their work?’ There’s no canon answer—thus, a void. A lot of it. Especially when writers don’t necessarily have to worry about being contradicted by canon, because the canon is aggressively contracted, focused on fifteen hours in a single day’s work.”

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

It's the final day of our countdown, because we are going live TOMORROW!!!! Featuring, fittingly, a Pitt-inspired fan to go along with our big launch piece: @lincodega.com on The Pitt's fandom & fanfiction. 😘

Image of a Fansplaining fan with a stethoscope and doctor ID badge

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

The countdown continues! Fansplaining is relaunching in TWO (2) days. Today's countdown fan is a danmei-inspired one—a request, of course, from our editor @bookshop.bsky.social. 🥰

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Start the tape—er, COUNTDOWN. Fansplaining relaunches in THREE (3) days, and we're celebrating by sharing some of the adorable new fandom fans we commissioned from the brilliant @redgoldsparks.bsky.social. Get ready—Fansplaining: The Publication goes live on Wednesday, April 29th! ✨

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

WE HAVE A LAUNCH DATE FOR (NEW) FANSPLAINING! And it is very soon: next Wednesday, April 29th. 🎉🎉🎉 We (@elizabethminkel.bsky.social, @lincodega.com, and @bookshop.bsky.social) are so excited to share everything we've been working on these past few months!!

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

You guessed right! In one final treat before the end of the year, real live priest @fatherflourish.bsky.social returns to Fansplaining to discuss the latest Knives Out installment, WAKE UP DEAD MAN. 🙌🏼 Patrons at $3 and up get access to audio + a full transcript: www.fansplaining.com/episodes/spe...

Production still from Wake Up Dead Man featuring Father Jud and Benoit Blanc walking in the church yard.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

We’ve got one more holiday treat for patrons before the year ends, featuring a special guest star… 🥰 Keep an eye on your inboxes tomorrow!

Photograph of Elizabeth in a floral top and Flourish in their priest collar

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

✨✨✨ Fansplaining's 2025 year in review! ✨✨✨ Over on Tumblr, a few thoughts about the (bleak) state of cultural—and especially fandom-related—coverage in the mainstream media, followed by a full rundown of the fantastic writing we've been able to publish this year: www.tumblr.com/fansplaining...

Composite of six images from Fansplaining pieces.

Top row: Starsky and Hutch sitting next to each other, Kate Sharma from Bridgerton standing on stairs beside a corgi, the Kpop Demon Hunters trio talking to a trio of fans.

Bottom row: Oh Hyun-ji playing the gayageum, a drawing of a figure climbing into many computer windows depicting roleplaying chats and fanart, and Sam Wilson as Captain America.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

In our latest piece, @kaytiburt.bsky.social digs into the motivations behind fandom tourism—and how both entitlement and respect often come from the same emotional place. Read or listen to an audio version: www.fansplaining.com/articles/can...

Screenshot of text reading: Fannish intimacy with a place that is quite literally not our home can make fans rude tourists, but it can also make fans respectful ones—especially when it’s well-directed. Cross-cultural fandom in particular encourages us to learn about cultures outside of our own. It helps us better understand the world and our place in it. In the best cases, fandom makes us better tourists, because travel can be a manifestation of that curiosity and desire for self-expansion.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

We're putting the finishing touches on the final Fansplaining article of the year, by the inimitable @kaytiburt.bsky.social! Out tomorrow—here's a sneak peak. 😘

Image of a BTS book being wrapped in bojagi—here, a silky cloth that's blue on one side and white on the reverse, with small floral patterns.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

We're putting the finishing touches on our November piece: @mossheadlives.bsky.social on fandom text-based roleplaying and gender exploration! ✨ (Plus: Here's a sneak peak of the gorgeous art we commissioned for the piece by @thebeanbaguette.bsky.social.) Out this coming Wednesday!

Drawing of several ships kissing in various computer windows.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

In our latest piece, @megfitz89.bsky.social discusses her new indie comic, MARY SUE, and the evolving conversation around the Mary Sues more broadly. Read the essay or listen to an audio version—and check out a sneak peak of the first issue of the comic: www.fansplaining.com/articles/rec...

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I’m not going to be able to change everyone’s minds on Mary Sues with this book, I know that. Some ideas are solidified as canon, and it’s difficult to convince anyone otherwise. But I don’t write for calcified brains—I write for the next generation of fanfic writers and fan artists and fanvid editors. Mary Sue is a reminder to all creatives that Mary Sues are tools that can be used to explore identity or explore themes, like any other form of literature. They deserve to be met in the ideological space with respect, equal to alliteration, allusions, and meta narrative.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

“I found writing Mary Sues a way to give me the courage I needed to tell a story, to explore themes I was working through, in the safe space of a fictional world I loved.” @megfitz89.bsky.social writes about her new comic, MARY SUE, “a love letter to fandom”: www.fansplaining.com/articles/rec...

Three panels from Mary Sue.

On the left, Cassie sits on her bed in her fandomly decorated room, writing in a notebook.

In the middle, a closeup of Sherlock with excerpts from Cassie’s fic: “Her words were fire in Sherlock’s soul, spurring him on. Sherlock didn’t come all this way for Markus to lose his soul. He didn’t travel through time and space to find the one man who had ever seen him for who he truly was.”

On the end, Markus and Sherlock face to face. Caption says, “He stepped into Markus’s space. The anger burning.” Sherlock says to him, “if you don’t find your way back to the good in your soul…then I will return to the past….and forget all about you.”

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

We're putting the finishing touches on our October piece, an essay from @megfitz89.bsky.social (who's written for DC Comics, Supernatural, and many other fan-favorite properties) about her new indie comic, Mary Sue, which is—you guessed it—about a fic writer! It'll be out on Wednesday! ✨

Two panels from the comic "Mary Sue." In one, Cassie (long brown hair, glasses, black "Riverview" t-shirt) sits on a couch, typing on a laptop, with two speech bubbles: "They not internet friends. They're more than that." and "They're my fandom friends." In the second panel, Cassie stands in white space with three attached speech bubbles: "My fandom friends listen to me." "They support me." and "They like me."

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Your weekend read! 💓 @bookshop.bsky.social digs into the complicated intersections between the skyrocketing Kpop Demon Hunters fandom vs the (real) K-pop industry & fans. As always, if you prefer listening, we've got a full audio version along with the text! www.fansplaining.com/articles/kpo...

Image of the Huntr/x trio from Kpop Demon Hunters at a fan event holding up pens, a stack of books for signing in front of them.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

We're putting the finishing touches on our September piece, which is out tomorrow from (now free agent!!! hire them!!!) @bookshop.bsky.social on....you guessed it: K-Pop Demon Hunters!* And its intersections (or lack thereof) with K-pop fandom itself.

Image of mythical creatures Derpy and Sussie (blue tiger and hat-wearing bird) from K-pop Demon Hunters.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Just putting the finishing touches on our August piece, which will be out tomorrow: a beautiful essay from @tessagratton.bsky.social about the complicated ways they've navigated the fan-pro divide. Here's a sneak preview:

Photograph of a young Tessa dressed as Wicket the Ewok

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

On our SDCC panel, @daphneolive.bsky.social—who went from fandom podcasting to working on TV—talked about the balance the Percy Jackson writers have to strike adapting books that have been so fundamental to younger readers. ✨ Watch or read a full transcript: www.fansplaining.com/articles/sdc...

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I think it is partly maybe because I’m the person who is most recently from a fandom background, but also, maybe it’s because it’s children’s books, not that just children read [Percy Jackson]...it’s a story that’s so essential to some peoples’ sense of self. So I just feel like in some ways, we’re preserving something that is bigger than anyone involved in it...

Yes, we have to tell a good story. Obviously this is an adaptation. Obviously we have to adapt for television—books and television are different. All of those things, but... it’s a sacred text for a lot of people.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

On our recent SDCC panel, @megfitz89.bsky.social talked about how growing up in fandom spaces (ask her about writing "Arwen’s twin sister" 😉) helped her build the collaborative skills she uses working comics, TV, and more. Watch the panel or read a transcript: www.fansplaining.com/articles/sdc...

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[Fandom roleplaying] does give you a lot of tips and tricks to be collaborative...on how to engage with people that come from different life experiences with you, and come from different parts of the planet, maybe different cultures from you.

And having to learn how to communicate in a really positive manner, in a really understanding manner? That’s being in a room. That’s working with editors. That was such a useful skill set that I’m always very encouraging of other people to engage with in fandom culture, is there are so many people who, what brings you together is this love of something. That’s so powerful!

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

On our SDCC panel this year, longtime friend of the podcast @okbjgm.bsky.social diagnosed his own generation of screenwriters with a very particular kind of pop-cultural malaise. 😅 Watch the whole panel or read a full transcript: www.fansplaining.com/articles/sdc...

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Generation X, a lot of men like me—and I’m fully complicit in this—I think we have not outgrown our fandom in a healthy manner. And I think the biggest problem—look, I’ve spent 30 years writing other men’s daddy issues, OK? I’ve also spent 30 years with a generation of writers, and there’s a lot of them who suffer from the disease that their idea of creativity is, we’re just gonna rewrite Star Wars all the time and hope we get called a genius for it.

And at a certain point, Generation X really has had a rough time kind of coming of age from those—we are a generation that has these humongous pop-cultural touchstones. ... We were present at the birth of modern-day scripture. But that doesn’t mean that has to be your identity, you know? And I think that’s one of the biggest issues in terms of being a fan and being a creator right now is getting over it.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

When an audience member asked a question about fanfic bleeding into mainstream publishing during our SDCC panel, @lincodega.com didn't mince words about the Dramione pull-to-publish situation. Watch the panel or read a full transcript: www.fansplaining.com/articles/sdc...

Screenshot of text reading: I have no problem with people taking their fanfic and scraping it and putting it out for traditional publishing. I have a huge issue with using Harry Potter as a marketing tool, especially considering the violent transphobic shit that J. K. Rowling has pulled. It is absolutely unconscionable that traditional publishing is using Dramione as a marketing tool. That is deeply disturbing to me, and also might invite more cultural cachet to be given to a woman who is responsible for legislation that kills people.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

"They try to force books to fit wedges and tags that they do not fit. And it does a disservice to those authors." On our recent SDCC panel, @brentclambert.bsky.social discussed publishers using "AO3-style tags" in marketing. Watch or read a full transcript: www.fansplaining.com/articles/sdc...

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They try to force books to fit wedges and tags that they do not fit. And it does a disservice to those authors ...

They’re like, “Oh, well we have to market it. Oh, we have to get it out there.” And then the book gets out there, and people read it with this expectation, because that’s how it was marketed to them, and then they read the book and it’s not what they thought they were getting—and then the backlash isn’t on the marketing team, it’s the author that has to pay for it ...

And that’s not fanfic writers’ fault at all—that’s the industry’s fault for not understanding what they’re dealing with.

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Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

"Who’s deciding what matters? Who’s deciding what stories are being told? And who’s deciding where the money comes in?" On our SDCC panel, @tessagratton.bsky.social talked about writing other peoples' characters for fun vs for $$. Watch or read a transcript: www.fansplaining.com/articles/sdc...

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The biggest difference is where the power comes from. In fanfiction, the power is pretty much shared in the community. The writers and the readers and the conversations that people are having. … What you just really want to write about, all your little ideas about what your blorbo’s doing, and your best friend in the fandom’s kinks that you really just want to give them a present.

But then when you’re writing for Star Wars, the power comes from the owner of the IP and the publisher. … Who’s deciding what matters? Who’s deciding what stories are being told? And who’s deciding where the money comes in?

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