So here’s a post I never thought I’d have to make...
I no longer involve myself in the Doctor Who fandom. No, this isn’t in protest of Jodie Whittaker or Thirteen being a woman -- god help me, she’s a fucking nerd and I love her. I stepped back from this fandom because it’s entirely toxic, and was having an adverse effect on my mental health.
Being a writer in the DW fandom was the worst -- whether anyone wants to admit it or not, this fandom had (probably still has) “favored” writers, and if you weren’t in that group, you were screwed. And that fucked with my head. A lot. And god forbid anyone bring it up -- there are still hateful anons here and there on this blog who gave me crap for wishing people would read or review my stories. I’m not going to get into the whole “writers should write for themselves not for reviews” thing -- I’ve written more than enough about that on this blog.
So why am I here posting about this after like a year of inactivity? Because I am still writing -- I’ve moved on to the Steven Universe fandom ( @aperfectpearl if you want to follow me) and post stories on on AO3, and today I got a “review” on my most recent story asking me if I would be willing to post one of my DW stories there.
That hurt a lot on a couple levels. First off, I was excited to see a review on one of my stories, only to find out that it was someone asking about a dw fic. Second, I’ve purposely separated myself from the DW fandom (I’m holding on to dimensionhoppingrose as my AO3 name out of nostalgia, but I’m seriously considering changing that as well) because most of my experiences in the fandom were Not Good, and I want to forget about it. Sometimes I still get reviews for A Place For Us To Dream and A Journey Through Time, and I won’t lie, that tickles me slightly, but the idea of posting another story in the DW fandom just to get limited reviews/kudos/etc. just.... hurts.
So no, none of my DW stories will be cross-posted to AO3, unless they were posted there pre-mental break (to be fair, it wasn’t just the fandom shit, I was in a bad place at the time, and I’ve gotten a lot better since I started medication, but the fandom is a reminder of all that). And posting a comment on a story just to ask if I’ll post another story that I wrote for a fandom I’m not longer in (because I was ignored so much) hurts. Don’t do that to anyone.
Thank you, and good night.