So much closer.

[hannah]

Day 13
In your own space, write about a moment in fandom that meant a lot to you. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

The two fics I've written for Deep Space Nine, Stubborn Mouths: Humans In Translation and Woven From Your Brown Hair, both focus on an explicitly autistic Julian Bashir. I wrote them because there wasn't anything else even coming close to approaching the concept in almost twenty years of DS9 fandom - I looked hard - and I didn't want to wait around for another couple of decades for someone else to get the idea when I knew I could roll up my sleeves and get to work right away.

I also knew that if I felt the need for this story to exist so sharply, other people probably wanted to read it, too. And I was correct, as the kudos, comments, and bookmarks bear out.

It wasn't writing stories with fairly good staying power and popularity that mean so much to me. That's nice, but it's not the moment.

The moment's come over and over, and every time it happens I have to look away to collect myself and sometimes hold back some tears. Every time. It's when people say "Here I am" or "I heard myself" or "You helped me see myself and I think I know what I am". And I want to shout I'm sorry! I shouldn't have this much power! I didn't -

But then I stop, and I look back, and I recognize the honor that it is to be the one who gave someone else that moment of their own.

Comments

[akamine_chan]

This is...important.

[venturous]

I loved Bashir! bookmarked your fic. I love that rare moment when something I created touches someone.