keyy 🐛 anna’s defender

i keep seeing people referring to fic drives as work being shared without “reward” for the author and i have to be honest, it bothers me that people are posting on ao3 with their main motivation being recognition and reward. wanting comments and engagement is natural, but i think framing it as reward or a return for your work is kind of indicative that you don’t really understand why fanfiction exists to begin with. fanfiction exists as a way for authors to express themselves, explore characters and identities and try things out. it’s a creative outlet and you should be writing because you want to do it. not because you want the attention it brings. we lose the culture and motivation behind fandom practices when we commodify them.