write it yourself [thoughts]

ive been seeing conversations around 'representation' when it comes to fanfiction and i always have to fight rolling my eyes anytime i hear it. 

Ao3 is not media. its not meant to be consumed the way one does with produced content. The author who writes a fanfic isnt writing it for a wider audience, theyre writing it for themselves. thats the very basis of fanfiction itself. 

The reason 'representation' even exists in media is because its produced, planned, and distributed by companies. i.e publishing corporations for books, music labels for musicians, and media conglomerates for television or movies

each have large portions of control over the content they produce. so its important that those said companies do not skewer the content in their favor, whether it be purposefully creating a negative image around a certain group of people they do not like, or minimizing the existence of a group of people in their media in order to limit their voices. these things have real world impact, and these companies have actual precedent over representation in media. 

fanfiction websites and authors do not. 

i think people are forgetting what fanfiction is and who its for. fanfic, by definition, is any form of written transformative work. transformative works existed long before the internet, because the concept of taking an already existing piece of media and 'transforming' it into something you enjoy is not new nor exclusive to online spaces. to assume the 'transformative' process is meant for an audience of anyone except the person whose making it, completely misunderstands the point. 

no, fanfic authors do not have to write what you enjoy.

no, fanfic authors do not have to write what the fandom enjoys.

no, fanfic authors are not responsible for producing content. 

ao3 is an archive, not a media outlet. fanfiction (and ao3 by extension) is what you make it. want to see more of a ship? want to see more underrated character archetypes?? want more things that you view as accurate representation??? 

write it urself. 

no one is stopping you. the entire point of fanfiction relies on creating the things you want out of the media you like. stop treating ao3 like its a distributor for media, and more like a website meant for people to post what they've written for themselves to see if anyone else would enjoy it too (bcs that literally what its for) 

yes im sure theres a conversation to be had about the fandom and fanfic community; but you're not owed fanfiction the way media outlets owe you representation, so get to writing what you want if you're so desperate.