Fansplaining

@fansplaining

An independent, subscriber-supported publication of reporting, criticism, and more—all by, for, and about fandom. 🎉 fansplaining.com (Plus 9 years as a podcast: 250+ episodes in our back catalog!)

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Fansplaining@fansplaining· 27d

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.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· 29d

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.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Jul 12

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.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Jul 10

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...

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

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Jun 26

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.”

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Jun 16

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.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Jun 13

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...

Screenshot of text reading:

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.”

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Jun 2

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.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· May 22

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.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· May 18

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.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· May 15

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.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· May 12

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!

Fansplaining@fansplaining· May 11

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.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· May 9

lol tumblr

the image of lestat from earlier in this thread with a tumblr content label warning

Fansplaining@fansplaining· May 9

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.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· May 5

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

Image of some sheep standing on an Irish cliffside.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· May 4

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.”

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Apr 28

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

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Apr 27

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. 🥰

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Apr 26

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! ✨

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Apr 23

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!!

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Dec 30

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.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Dec 29

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

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Dec 26

✨✨✨ 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.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Dec 12

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.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Dec 9

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.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Nov 17

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.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Nov 3

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...

Screenshot of text reading:

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.

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Oct 30

“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.”

Fansplaining@fansplaining· Oct 27

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! ✨