Welcome to This Week in Fandom, the OTW’s roundup of things which are happening! Before we start, did you hear that FictionAlley, the Harry Potter fanworks site, is moving to AO3? This was apparently big enough news that The Daily Dot published an article about it. You can check out the official announcement post for more information.
The Mary Sue recently published a delightful article about coffee shop AU fanfiction. The author, Samantha Puc, is actually a coffee shop employee as well as a writer, and the article talks about both why she (still) enjoys coffee shop AUs:
Coffee shops create a wealth of people-watching opportunities; as someone who works in the cafe, both on my laptop and behind the counter making beverages, I firmly believe that coffee shops create the largest possible cross-section of people to inspire fictional stories.
[…] Some of my favorite coffee shop AUs stand out because they seem so normal in the grand scheme of the fandom. […] Coffee shop AUs create interesting spaces to explore social issues… romance, and more.
As well as how the genre is expanding into original fiction while maintaining its fanfic roots:
My favorite new comic series [Moonstruck] takes place primarily in a coffee shop, which honestly adds to the list of reasons why I love it so much. […] The drive for setting Moonstruck in a coffee shop was to take fantastical elements and put them somewhere normal: “It was important that the story take place somewhere that was immediately recognizable and familiar, and I mostly write at coffee shops, so it seemed like a natural setting.”
Given that there are over over 12,000 works tagged as coffee shop AUs on AO3, the genre certainly does seem to be a popular one. Are you a fan?
https://twitter.com/TumblrSimulator/status/1020648204902248449
(Yes, I know this isn’t a “real” tweet, but it’s very fitting.)
Or not so much?
i don't trust people who like coffee shop AUs
— MOVED ‼️ CHECK PINNED TWEET (@maddiebuckIeys) July 31, 2018
On the subject of fanfiction, Bustle has published a summer entertainment issue titled FANGIRLS, which includes “Fanfic It Up,” a section about “all the corners of the fanfiction universe.”
For those of you looking for some non-fanfic light reading, the issue includes an assortment of interesting articles about fandom, including one about Tumblr “imagine” fanfics, one about Cher fandom, and a series of interviews with female comedians.
(Quick reminder: Something being mentioned in TWIF doesn’t mean that the OTW endorses it or agrees with it. Some folks may find it interesting to compare articles from Bustle’s issue with some of OTW’s Legal’s work.)
There have been a couple OTW sightings in the world of podcasts recently. OTW Communications staffer Claudia Rebaza was recently a guest on the podcast Random Fandom in the episode “The OTW, fans for fans.” Go check out how Claudia talks the work the OTW does, and thanks to Random Fandom for hosting that conversation! (No transcript available.)
Elsewhere, yours truly (hi, I’m Janita!) was quoted in the podcast The Watch-Men in the episode “A conversation about toxic fandom.” Go check out my rambling about the appeal of science fiction, and thanks to The Watch-Men for asking me to contribute! (Full disclosure: This podcast is done by friends of mine.) (No transcript available.)
Lastly, the end of an era is approaching, as BronyCon has announced that 2019 will be the last year of the convention, according to The Telegram. Have you ever been to BronyCon? Why not add it to the My Little Pony article on Fanlore?
We want your suggestions! If you have a story you think we should include, please contact us! Suggestions are welcome in all languages. Submitting a story doesn’t guarantee that it will be included in a TWIF post, and inclusion of a story doesn’t mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.