What the Beast's Lair means to me
by
, August 6th, 2012 at 08:27 PM (2600 Views)
Next Fic Chapter: Trinity VII: The Twilight
Completion Level: 4 pages (approx. 40%) - obviously, I wasn't as productive today as I'd hoped to be.
Estimated Upload Date: Wednesday at the latest
I recently got into a discussion that caused me to summarise, in effect, what the Beast's Lair means to me. I don't generally keep PMs, so I thought I'd share it here, with all of you. Some alterations have been made to protect my correspondent, and make it flow a little better as an independent statement.
One thing I've always liked is that as a community, we were never vitriolic, or utterly rigid about the way the canon should be. People didn't get torn down for writing Shiki/Ciel or Shiki/Akiha instead of Shiki/Arc, or Shirou/Ayako instead of Saber, Rin, or Sakura. OK, granted, certain people can occasionally seem like an exception, but even they're not the violently psychotic type you might get in, say, the Ranma 1/2 fandom - I've heard stories from other writers who left fanfic writing altogether for the treatment they gave.
Seven years ago, I walked into the original Beast's Lair with almost no Type-Moon knowledge except what I got from the Tsukihime anime, and what I could comprehend from EvoSpace's "Moonlit World" site. I wrote a romance anthology, which I had never done before, and was praised. I developed an original character, and got fan art of her - and when I revealed my grand work as an elaborately-planned self-insert, that most reviled (and understandably so) genre of fanfiction . . . They didn't mind.
I've never forgotten that this place was kind, that it welcomed me - and how deathly afraid I was when I first joined. I don't ever want to let this forum become a place where that's changed.
. . . And so, for that, I say "thank you, all" - and it's why I try to help as many people here as I can, as often as I can, and will continue to do so.