On Aug. 7, 2023, acclaimed poet Richard Siken posted on the social media platform previously often known as Twitter. This might not be out of the extraordinary, besides the tweet was about fanfiction — extra particularly, Siken’s personal fanfiction writing expertise.
“I’ve tried it and my Destiel is healthier writing than my Wincest,” wrote Siken, referring to 2 highly regarded Supernatural ships. “My Johnlock is healthier than each.” (Johnlock is the pairing of John Watson and Sherlock Holmes from BBC’s Sherlock.)
Fan Fiction is transgressive. It co-opts the creator’s imaginative and prescient. It steps on it. It’s fiction constructed on fiction. There will be no canon in it. I say do it, have at it. I’ve tried it and my Destiel is healthier writing than my Wincest. My Johnlock is healthier than each. 1/2
— Richard Siken (@richardsiken) August 7, 2023
And throughout Twitter (nicely, X, as CEO Elon Musk just lately rebranded it) and Tumblr, these acquainted with how influential Siken’s work is throughout totally different fandom communities went wild.
You see, Siken’s poetry has lengthy been a basic a part of the fandom expertise, significantly for individuals who are extraordinarily on-line. Followers throughout tons of various TV reveals, films, and video games — significantly these with massive slash (male-male pairings) ships — have added traces from his poetry as captions on their fanart for years, superimposed it on craving gif edits, and even titled their very own fanfiction with it. Seeing the poet not solely acknowledge he is aware of about and approves of fanfiction, but in addition that he actively participates in fandom, was surreal.
This was particularly startling to youthful followers, lots of whom posted to Tumblr and X (née Twitter) expressing their shock that Siken is 1) alive and a pair of) not some man who lived 100 years in the past. Siken needed to observe up with a tweet reminding everybody that he’s, certainly, alive and in addition a twenty first century poet.
Fast observe:
I didn’t die 100 years in the past and I didn’t die 4 years in the past after I had my stroke. It is okay to Google issues, you do not have to make them up. It is also okay to cite an writer, even use their traces, however you must know who they’re and (hopefully) purchase their books.
— Richard Siken (@richardsiken) August 10, 2023
Right here’s the factor: Siken’s fondness for fanfiction isn’t new in any respect. Actually, the poet gave a prolonged interview to The Axe eight years in the past, the place he mentioned all issues Sherlock, Supernatural, and fandom-related. He has been fairly open about what he loves about fanfiction, and about writing his personal fic. Again in 2015, he was energetic on Tumblr, reblogging fan edits of Sherlock that featured his quotes, posting about his newly-made AO3 account, and taking polls about who would prime in a John Watson and Sherlock Holmes smut fic.
However in recent times, he’s been much less energetic on social media, particularly after he had a extreme stroke in 2019 (this might doubtlessly clarify why many youthful followers assumed he was not alive). He solely simply returned to the platform formally often known as Twitter this July, which he says is as a result of Siken Bot, the favored Twitter bot that posted snippets of his poetry, went down and he needed to fill in for it. (Siken Bot is now known as Siken Poems, as a result of it’s now not a bot, however moderately run by somebody who schedules tweets upfront. Siken says they will work collectively).
It solely took Siken just a few weeks to totally dive again into social media and embrace the chaos of fan tradition. The Johnlock and Destiel tweets had been solely the start. He’s now actively replying to folks on X, providing his ideas on different reveals and pairings (as an illustration, Hannigram, the pairing of Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham from Hannibal), and giving writing recommendation, amongst different issues.
First, are we nonetheless doing hashtags? And second, you possibly can take any of my quotes and apply them to any fandom or image and they’re going to work as a result of they’re unhappy and mopey and stuffed with longing. pic.twitter.com/0jE7ULkx8N
— Richard Siken (@richardsiken) August 9, 2023
Siken clearly understands fandom tradition — and he additionally particularly understands what it’s about his poetry that’s so interesting to fan artists and fic writers. He even tweeted that followers can connect traces of his poetry to principally any fandom picture or pairing and it really works, as a result of his poems are “unhappy and mopey and stuffed with longing.” Then, he demonstrated this by recreating a few of his most well-known traces in I Can Has Cheezburger converse and placing them atop footage of cats, inviting others to do the identical.
So, to anybody who has ever used a Richard Siken quote on a gifset, as a fic title, or as a caption on some fanart — and even made a humorous submit about his poetry — there’s a non-zero likelihood he has seen it. However don’t worry; as a result of judging by his angle, there’s additionally a non-zero likelihood he was delighted by it.
