A journey through fandoms

The recent announcement that a version of Jane Austen's Sanditon will air on PBS next year had me pondering my journey through fandoms. Because White Collar is the first fandom I published any stories for, I'm sure I've given the impression that it was the first fandom I participated in. In reality, I've progressed through many fandoms and fannish activities before I worked up the nerve to participate in a public forum. Let's stroll down memory lane.

My first memory of fannish activity happened when I was around 4 years old. I was a fan of a cartoon series on TV, and decided to send a letter to one of the characters. This consisted of making some drawings and placing them on the shelf under the TV.

A few years later, a new friend suggested that we pretend to be characters from a popular TV show while we were playing.

In 3rd grade I experienced my first un-fandom. I saw the first few minutes of an episode of Star Trek. After multiple rounds of guys in red shirts beaming down to a planet and being killed, I refused to watch any more. I avoided the franchise and even most science fiction -- in part because of a reading program in elementary school that presented only dark and scary sci-fi. That was unfortunate, because I had liked sci-fi before that. I remember reading a story in 1st grade that featured people living on the moon and other planets, and I was very disappointed to learn that wasn't possible yet; however I assumed it was right around the corner and that I'd get to visit those colonies when I grew up.

My exception to the no sci-fi rule happened in 5th grade when a friend convinced me to watch Battlestar Galactica with her. It stuck with me when my family moved in the middle of 6th grade. I spent a lot of time in my head when we settled in a place where I felt like an outsider, and I found comfort in fantasizing that I was part of the Galactica crew looking for a beautiful new homeland. That year my aunt gave me a jacket that reminded me of jackets worn by Galactica characters, and I felt a little braver when I wore it.

When I was in my early teens, my family went on a musical spree. Not only did I learn of my mother's passion for old musicals when a theater scheduled a summer series of movies like Oklahoma, but we also went to live productions of musicals including Annie. Around that same time, a friend who knew of my love of writing requested that I write a story featuring her in her favorite TV show. Influenced by all of the musicals I'd seen that summer, I made it a crossover. The story started with my friend escaping a summer camp run like the orphanage in Annie, and then meeting her TV heartthrob who helped her return home. That same year I joined the drama club in high school, and the initiation event included a costume -- my first cosplay! I went as one of the orphans in Annie -- Pepper, I think.

In my last two years of high school, a friend insisted that Star Trek was actually fun and that I should give it another chance. Because of him, I watched a marathon of Star Trek movies and Star Wars movies the summer between high school and college, read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and started watching Doctor Who. Soon a college friend invited me to join her at a Doctor Who convention. That's when I learned that fanfiction was a thing; I purchased a copy of a Doctor Who and Star Trek crossover. That's also around the time I learned what slash and shipping were -- in the context of Spock and Captain Kirk.

Also in college, I fell in love with Jane Austen's novels. Reaching the end of her published works was so sad, and then... On a visit to a library sale, I found Sanditon by Jane Austen and Another Lady. It was such a joyous occasion to have another Austen novel to read, even if she wrote only the first quarter of it. It wasn't until after finishing college that I explored the wide world of sequels, prequels, and modern versions of Austen novels. I went on a reading spree, got tired of it, then got interested again when Pride & Prejudice & Zombies came out. Recently Pride by Ibi Zoboi and Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal have delighted me. And now my beloved Sanditon is being adapted for television. I've already added it to the list of fandoms I'd like to branch into for a future Chocolate Box story exchange.

So where does White Collar fanfic fit in? It started one summer when I was channel surfing and found the USA Network airing the first half of the first season of Psych. That got me hooked. Eventually I wandered over to YouTube and watched a lot of angsty fan videos. The combination of the actual episodes and the YouTube videos latched onto my mind, and I started spinning increasingly complex stories about the Psych characters in my mind. The promos on the USA Network for the new series White Collar caught my eye, and by the end of the first season I was spinning stories about it, too.

Then Fifty Shades of Grey came along. The media coverage brought my attention to the fact that there are forums where fans can read and post stories. I decided to explore that, using White Collar as the fandom I searched for. After a few months of being a reader I realized I was looking for something in particular I couldn't find, and decided to write it. Next thing I knew, those stories I'd been spinning turned into the Caffrey Conversation AU.

And hundreds of thousands of words later, here we are. I hope your journey into fandoms has been as fun as mine!