How To Become a BNF

[kerravonsen]

With the recent HP fandom controversy going the rounds, I've been wondering about what makes a BNF, and what you have to have and do in order to become one.

ETA: Please note, I do not want to become a BNF. Note that my "mood" is "cynical".

1. Get in on the ground floor.
You have absolutely no chance of becoming a BNF in a particular fandom unless you are one of the first few people in that fandom. It doesn't help if you're more talented than an already established BNF, because by then it is too late. You have to get in while the fandom is hot, and the number of people required to impress is small -- once you've won them over, they will indoctrinate the latecomers.
This also requires a bit of prescience, since you have to know what fandoms are going to become big fandoms, before they do become big (you can't really be a BNF in a small fandom).

2. Live in the USA.
It isn't that there aren't BNFs outside the USA, but the culture of the USA seems more amenable to BNF-dom, possibly because modesty isn't considered a virtue in the USA.
Also, for fandoms based on US TV, it's easier to do #1 if you live in the USA.

3. Do something admirable.
If you want to be admired, you have to be able to produce something which other fans can admire.
(a) writing or art
This is a common method: "I worship your writing" has been uttered by fans of BNFs. You don't necessarily have to have fantastic talent (fans are easy to please) but you have to have some talent.
(b) connections
Have an "in" with actors/producers/writers of the fandom, and use that to score coups which can be shared with other fans.
(c) Organisation skills
Run a convention or a website, so long as it is the biggest convention ever, or THE website for that fandom. It helps if it's the first convention or website for the fandom (see #1)

4. Be prolific and/or tireless.
It's no good being a good writer or having connections if your work isn't appearing before other fans regularly. This is aided by having a spouse who earns the bread, or possibly having a job which is connected with fandom.
You also have to concentrate all your efforts on that particular fandom -- if you are interested in multiple fandoms, you are doomed, since your efforts are spread out over more than one fandom.

5. Be or know a gatekeeper.
The best way to become a BNF is to not only have the talent, but to also control the information flow to other fans. In the old days, this used to be along the lines of running a club or putting out a popular fanzine. Nowadays it's more along the lines of running a website or moderating a forum/mailing list. To avoid an apparent conflict of interest, it may be better if you yourself aren't the gatekeeper, but your best friend is.

---

All of these demonstrate why I will never become a BNF myself -- I'm interested in far too many fandoms, and I always seem to come in on the fandoms too late. Not to mention that I'm no good at self-promotion.

Comments

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I'm really kind of weirded out by the "it's all about popularity" vibes I keep getting off of random people in fandom lately. Like it somehow proves your worth as a person if you get x number of feedbacks or have x number of people friend your LJ, and that other people daring to draw attention away from you or to convince others to hold a different opinion from yours are doing you some horrible injury equivalent to throwing bricks through your windows. It just leaves me scratching my head.

I occasionally wonder if I'm just old. If maybe there's a difference in perspective between people who got into this stuff pre-internet vs younger people, or what. I just so vividly remember being that lonely geek kid in junior high school, when it absolutely meant the world to me to find three people who actually wanted to talk about the stuff I was interested in, never mind attracting hordes of admirers and being the Fannish Prom Queen. I just honestly don't get why people care about the six billion people who aren't interested in talking to them once they've found the precious handful who are on their same wavelength.

To me, fandom was a place to get away from the stupid popularity games of high school and find people with whom I could have passionate debates about the Prime Directive or whatever. It would never in a zillion years have occurred to me that the goal was to become a BNF, or that there was something unsatisfying about being unknown outside your own personal circle of friends.

[kerravonsen]

It would never in a zillion years have occurred to me that the goal was to become a BNF, or that there was something unsatisfying about being unknown outside your own personal circle of friends.

Oh, I agree -- I guess should have noted that this post is somewhat cynical and sarcastic... because I never considered my goal to be an BNF either. If I did, I'd probably be better at self-promotion.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

No, I didn't think you did, although it was a bit hard to tell from the tone how serious you were intending to be. :)

Most of that wasn't aimed at you, I should clarify. It was just stuff that's been bumping around in my brain, and you apparently hit the button that caused it to spill out.

[kerravonsen]

I occasionally wonder if I'm just old.

Aye.

I think I got over my starry-eyed-ness after I'd been to enough conventions to realize that the Actors were People too. And if the Actors are just normal sods, that goes double for BNFs.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I don't think it ever occurred to me that actors weren't just normal sods. But, I dunno, most people don't seem to think that way...

It has occurred to me that the whole popularity contest and "I wanna be a BNF!" attitudes in fandom are very likely just more manifestations of the whole Cult of Celebrity thing. These days, fame doesn't seem to be about doing something that people like and attracting attention to your work, it seems to be all about building a name for yourself, not about being popular for what you do, but about, as they say, being famous for being famous. Me, I figure, hey, if people like my fic or find me interesting to talk to, yay! But the idea of people wanting to friend me because they think it makes them cool by association or something is just kind of creepy. Not that it's anything I'll ever have to worry about, of course. :)

[kerravonsen]

(derned typos!)

It has occurred to me that the whole popularity contest and "I wanna be a BNF!" attitudes in fandom are very likely just more manifestations of the whole Cult of Celebrity thing.

Yes, I was wondering that myself.
This post by synaesthete7 goes on to explicitly compare the whole thing with, well, idolatry. Which fits.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

It has occurred to me that the whole popularity contest and "I wanna be a BNF!" attitudes in fandom are very likely just more manifestations of the whole Cult of Celebrity thing.

That makes a kind of sense. People who are smitten by the worship of actors may be those who desire that kind of fame themselves.

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I do love this icon :)

[kerravonsen]

8-)

[watervole.livejournal.com]

One of kerravonsen's. Someone just gifted me with a paid account, so I've been out snaffling all my favourite icons.

Right now, I need to find a couple of good Firefly ones...

[labingi.livejournal.com]

Interesting discussion. I think you may be right about a generational thing. In our generation fandom is/was geeky almost by definition. The people who admitted to being into, say, Star Trek didn't expect to be "cool." But I think the internet may have changed that somewhat. Today, it's so easy for so many people to connect with so many others about so many things that it's not just "geeks" doing it anymore, so there may be more of a mainstream popularity vibe. (In a way, it might be analogous to newspaper personals vs. contemporary internet dating.)

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I really do find it utterly impossible to imagine what it's like for young fans growing up with the internet, instead of in isolation the way I did.

I do wonder whether it is that it's not just "geeks" doing it any more, or if it has more to do with the fact that, due to the inernet, the geeks don't ever have the experience of feeling that popularity is impossible for them, because there's always the possibility of finding circles in which their geekiness is cool.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

I don't know about the generational thing. I'm very very new to fandom in general (though I've been a geek all my life, of course), and I am young (26), and still my general reaction to all this popularity stuff is basically a huge WTF?! I like online fandom because I can find people to discuss the things I like, the things that move me, and to share (in essay, fic, or whatever format) my perspective.

I always (yes, I am naive) assumed a BNF was simply someone well known in part of a fandom, probably either because they run a website that everyone uses (*looks at The Leaky Cauldron*) or because they write such good fic that everyone has read and recommended their stories (I would have assumed that synaesthete7 was at least a moderate BNF, given the sheer number of times Darkness & Light comes up in my HP fandom circles).

In other words, that BNFs were well known because they had given a heck of a lot to their fandom and were respected for it.

This crazy worship of them, and the weirdness that is people *actively trying* to become BNFs, I just can't understand it.

the culture of the USA seems more amenable to BNF-dom, possibly because modesty isn't considered a virtue in the USA.

Ouch! I mean, yes, you're being sarcastic, but still, as an American myself--ouch. :-D

(oh, and my icon is directed at crazy fandom peoples, not you, Kat. *g*)

[kerravonsen]

I don't know about the generational thing. I'm very very new to fandom in general (though I've been a geek all my life, of course), and I am young (26), and still my general reaction to all this popularity stuff is basically a huge WTF?!

Hmmm, maybe it's the difference between true geeks and non-geeks? Maybe, maybe not. Though I've gotten the impression that part of the reason geeks and nerds get a hard time in the jungle of the US High School system is because they're simply not interested in playing the popularity game -- and if one isn't interested in playing the popularity game at school, why would one be interested in playing the popularity game in one's fannish life either?

Then one could start postulating hypotheses based on Myers-Briggs personality types, but I'm not going to bother.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

You're right in many ways. If you're thought of as a BNF, then by my definition, you are one. Any many people in that category are people who've put in a lot of hard work because they value their hobby and the friends who share it with them.

It's interesting how it works in lit fandom. THere are definitely BNFs and there is an awareness that it takes a long time to become one, but they don't tend to have the same internet presence (or perhaps I'm unaware of it if they do). That goes back to the sheer age of lit fandom and the fact that it was paper based for so very long.

And writers don't tend to get the kind of adulation that actors do. (Possibly because you don't have to be pretty to be a good writer, so the lust element is removed)

[watervole.livejournal.com]

A question, becasue I'm curious.

I came into B7 fandom late, but I published an awful lot of zines. I had a very large and active web site (still there, but less active these days) and I wrote masses.

Was I a BNF?

I'm currently chair of the 2008 British National Science Fiction convention (though I don't expect most of the attendees to recognise either my name or my face). Am I a BNF now?

I will not be offended by any answer - just curious.

[kerravonsen]

As you say above, if you're thought of as a BNF, you are one...
But as the whole negative HP thing (and other nastinesses that I know of that occurred in B7 fandom) has shown, there seem to be two kinds of BNF: the ones who don't care whether they are a BNF or not, and get well known by the hard work they do, and others, who also do much hard work, but who do care whether they are a BNF and how much they can influence other fans opinions.

Casting my mind back to Deliverance '98, and the promos you folk were doing for the first Redemption ("After Deliverance comes Redemption") and the negativity that was stirred up afterwards, I think Diane Gies percieved you as a threat to her own BNF kingdom -- so she surely considered you to be a rival BNF.

But you are the first sort of BNF -- the kind who works hard and is more interested in getting the job done than how much fame you get. {hugs}

[kerravonsen]

Another thing is, I personally can't tell whether you are a BNF or not, because I know you as my good friend, so I can't tell how much fame you might have to a random fan.

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

You are a BNF. Enjoy!

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

To my eyes - when I tentatively joined the B7 fandom - yes, you were. In fact, the first one I recognised as such :)

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

You certainly seemed to be one to me when I entered the fandom... Probably the most readily identifiable BNF I encountered, really. (Or, in other words, yeah, what Sally said. :))

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Yes, you're a BNF. But by the old-school definition of 'well-known and respected for contributions to fandom', not by the newer one of 'much-hated person with too much clout'. In B7 fandom, I would have to list at least Diane Gies, you, Annie and Leah as BNFs. But B7 fandom is fairly small and close-knit, so there are lots of MNFs, and the BNFs, MNFs, and LNFs all rub shoulders and share a certain kind of egalitarianism.

[kerravonsen]

Well, I would class Diane Gies, Annie and Leah as "much-hated with too much clout" -- if one knows one's fannish history. I'm not so sure that that is a "newer definition", considering how long ago all the stuff with them happened. Or maybe you mean... the connotations of "BNF" are more negative than they used to be?

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Or maybe you mean... the connotations of "BNF" are more negative than they used to be?

Yes, that's exactly what I mean. Any positive connotation of the term is fast disappearing, and most sensible people don't want to be considered BNFs. The nicer BNFs have to deny their BNF-ness. The most you want to be is 'well-known in one corner of fandom'.

[kerravonsen]

Mind you, even the phrase "Big Name Fan" makes me feel uncomfortable, and if I were a BNF I would want to deny being a BNF, or call it something else.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I take it from the context that a BNF is a Big Name Fan? I find all this slightly bewildering as, though I'm a fan of various shows, I'm not really a Fan with a capital F (in the sense of being a member of a fannish community, going to conventions, reading fanzines etc).

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

You're getting there, though, dude. All it takes these days is an LJ. :)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

My name only has 3 letters, I must be a Short Name Fan.

[kerravonsen]

LOL!

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

You've forgotten: friend everybody in your fandom, hoping they'll friend you back, and comment in all their journals frequently--at least until you reach BNF status, at which point your comments must be granted sparingly. ;-)

[kerravonsen]

Well, this sort of comes under point #4...

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

I guess it does, at that. I mentioned it because awhile back there was some tongue-mostly-in-cheek discussion in Buffy fandom about how large a flist you had to have to qualify as a BNF.

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Also, re #1, you don't have to get in on the ground floor of the entire fandom if you can get in at the beginning (or better yet, spearhead) a new movement or sub-group within the fandom. The listmod of the first Redemptionista list is now a BNF, and rahirah is widely considered the Queen of Spuffy. These two didn't get started until S5 of BtVS.

Of course, I'm being pedantic, and you were being cynical, so don't mind me...

[wneleh.livejournal.com]

Um... I consider you a BNF... in a good way, of course!

- Helen

[kerravonsen]

Thanks!

I still don't consider myself one, though.