update: should I put fanfiction on my resume?

by Alison Green on January 11, 2018

Remember the letter-writer in 2016 asking if he should put fanfiction on his resume? Here’s the update.

I didn’t end up putting the fanfiction on my resume. I mentioned in the comments that my mom thought that I should include my fanfiction. I didn’t just want to listen to my mom because she’s my mom. She’s also a very well respected business woman. She thought that it would be fine to include my fanfiction in the sort of seasonal work I was applying for. And it might have been, but I think it’s important to learn about and emulate business norms even in these more laid back entry level positions.

Anyway, I ended up applying for and getting a job as a camp counselor for that summer. It was my first job ever. Unfortunately, upon starting the training many months after I was accepted things quickly fell apart and I was fired for being disabled three months into the position. That was very difficult. I’ve filed a discrimination claim. The legal battle still isn’t over so I can’t say too much more about it.

A few months after my termination I got another job. It wasn’t one I was looking for. It involved fund raising with a non profit that looked very interesting. My boss was very impressed with my professional demeanor and there were no issues with regards to my disability.

However, my health took a nose dive that it’s never quite recovered from. I needed to resign, and left on very good terms. I haven’t been able to work since. I’ll hopefully be getting a service dog shortly after graduating college which would allow me to return to the work force.

It’s been almost two years since I wrote into you. In that time I’ve learned so much about the working world, and standing up for myself, that I could have never learned from simply reading your blog. However, your blog definitely gave me a huge boost in confidence and knowledge that I think really set me ahead of the curve.

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{ 108 comments }

{ 108 comments… read them below }

    1. Shay*

      Thank you! I hope so as well. I just submitted 3 preliminary applications. I submitted to the same 3 places back in October and they all declined me. So far I got back one that declined me, but the other two are still processing, which is a really good sign.

  2. PiggyStardust*

    I’m so sorry you’ve been dealing with so much! I hope the service dog works out.

    I wonder if the camp terminated you because it was a safety issue? Not saying it’s right, just wondering the rationale.

    1. SometimesALurker*

      That’s quite a wild speculation given how little we know of the LW’s disability and of his responsibilities at the camp.

        1. Jesmlet*

          We have absolutely no information on what type of disability, what type of camp, etc. There’s no reason to speculate what the camp’s rationale was and it’s not fair to OP to try to rationalize their justification for his termination. I used to work as a disability hiring advocate (granted it was mental illness focused) but 9 times out of 10, the reason something like this happens is a lot closer to “We don’t want to deal with this” rather than “There is a legitimate safety issue”.

      2. PiggyStardust*

        How is it wild speculation? The OP described the job as a camp counselor. Camp counselors are generally responsible for the campers, regardless of the type of camp. I only brought it up because the letter itself said that things fell apart once OP started the training.

        I’m not saying the situation isn’t shitty.

        1. Jesmlet*

          This is a hot button for me. I’ve mentally erased multiple sentences already. There is absolutely no reason why someone with a disability can’t be responsible for campers. Unless we had more specifics, this is wild speculation. Barring OP being severely mentally or physically incapacitated which seems to not be the case, this is not where your mind should go.

          1. PiggyStardust*

            I have a “hidden” disability. Sometimes I can move just fine, sometimes I can barely walk. Sometimes my hands shake. There have been situations in my life where my own issues put others in harm’s way. I work in the medical field, and my medical condition made me realize that my own limitations meant I couldn’t work on a hospital floor anymore. If a patient coded, I may not be able to move fast enough to help. If my hand started shaking putting in a line, I could miss and give the patient an abscess or blow out their veins. Could I GET a job doing those things? Sure. Would I trust myself? Absolutely not.

            1. Jesmlet*

              I understand where you’re coming from, but respectfully I don’t think it’s applicable to OP’s situation. Saving lives is not on OP’s list of responsibilities and it’s pretty rare in camps that only one adult will be around at any given time so I don’t think safety is a legitimate reason here for termination.

            2. HannahS*

              I also have a hidden disability, and I was accepted into medical school and will be fit to practice once I graduate. Disabled people have a range of function. I’m sorry to hear that you had to leave part of job. If you took your experience and denied me a job as a result of your assumptions about other people’s disabilities, you’d be engaging in discrimination and breaking the law. This kind of thinking–assuming first that Shay is too disabled, and not that she was discriminated against–brings all of us down. Be realistic about your own abilities and trust Shay and me to be realistic about ours.

          2. Shay*

            Thanks for standing up for me!

            A while ago this would have been really upsetting for me too. It’s nice to see how much I’ve grown that I just feel a little vexed.

        2. Elsajeni*

          I mean… OP was there, she saw the work she was being trained to do, she doesn’t say that she wasn’t able to do it, and she does say that she’s filed a discrimination claim over the firing. Saying “I wonder if it was a safety issue?” amounts to telling her “I think it’s fairly likely that you’re either lying or can’t tell what you’re capable of.” It’s insulting.

          1. Shay*

            Thank you for putting this into words! It’s very well explained and rationed and I hope gets others who thought along these lines to take a step back and readjust their perspectives.

        3. Amy*

          Having worked for several years as a camp counselor, I see no reason that a disabled person would be unsafe as a counselor. Most of a counselor’s duties revolve around plain old being there for the kids–helping them deal with social conflict and homesickness, enforcing rules and policies, reminding them to put on sunscreen and bug spray, making sure they’re with the group and not getting lost, helping them to the nurse if they get sick, etc. Even if something were to come up, good camps have enough counselors that there’s always someone else close by, or even running the activity at hand as a pair; even if someone had a sudden inability to perform their duties, there’s always backup close by.

          Obviously we don’t know the specifics of this case, and maybe there’s something really unusual. But in general, people with disabilities are very capable of being good, responsible summer camp counselors, and I find it weird and gross to suggest otherwise.

    2. Hello...ello...ello..ello..llo..llo..lo*

      I’ll admit to wanting to hear the background on the camp job.

      That being said, I also know that it’s only to satisfy my nosy nelly side and that that it would inappropriate and potentially damaging for the LW to expand in this forum.

      1. The Expendable Redshirt*

        Plus there are legal aspects to consider. May the OP win their case with swift justice.

      2. PiggyStardust*

        I have a disability. If I applied to a summer camp as an arts-and-crafts counselor or other role that didn’t require a LOT of physical activity, I’d be fine. But if I went to training and was told that “all camp counselors have to be able to run” I’d be boned. I’d also be pissed, because that wasn’t included as a job requirement.

          1. Close Bracket*

            Reasonable accommodation doesn’t go as far as people think is does. You still have to be able to do the job. If running was an essential job function for the arts and crafts counselor, Hypothetical PiggyStardust could be legally let go.

    3. Willow*

      If the LW writer couldn’t safely perform the job, even with reasonable accommodation, the employer shouldn’t have hired them in the first place. Not waited three months to fire them.

    5. Shay*

      The rational was that I can’t do the job because I’m disabled. They listed several specific points that the later job I had all disprove.

    6. Lady Phoenix*

      Can we not? Like… they did something illegal and they are being sued for it. We don’t need to justify it or explain it away, or we are going to get what happened with this morning’s letter where a good chunk of people tried explaining away LW 2’s issue.

      Fuckers like these people fired disable people they are too stupid/cheap/lazy/all the fucking above to bother finding away to people like OP1 accommodations

    7. Mad Baggins*

      Most summer camps I’ve worked hire 15-year-olds in flip-flops, so is there a really safety risk that can’t be accommodated somehow? Smells like just not wanting to deal with it to me.

    8. Anon anon anon*

      I’ve been fired, denied housing, all kinds of things, for being disabled. When this has happened to me, it’s usually been due to ignorance about the nature of the disability or someone’s personal discomfort with it. When I say ignorabde, I mean the usual stereotypes. I don’t know if it would be productive to list them here, but it usually involves assuming that disabilities have a greater impact than they actually do. Or the opposite – thinking that the person isn’t actually disabled. This is very common. There are also some people who are just very reactive to certain disabilities and instead of working on their own empathy, they choose to avoid or be hostile to disabled people. Again, pretty common.

      This is not to speculate about OP’s situation. But it could have been any number of things, and probably something misguided considering that s/he is taking legal action.

      1. Anon anon anon*

        PS – Please excuse the typo. Autocorrect is doing funny things since I type in multiple languages on this phone.

  4. Not So NewReader*

    Ugh, you have been through so much, OP. The stress alone is huge add in everything else that is going on here and it’s off the charts. I admire your ability to keep trying. I can “hear” the new level of strength you have in your writing here and I am very happy for you. I hope you get your dog very soon. And I wish you the best always.

  5. anon4this*

    I’ve been fired from being disabled, from a camp that was FOR disabled kids. This is unfortunately endemic. Keep up the legal pressure – when it gets tough, remember that you’re not just doing this for you – you’re also doing it for anyone with disabilities who follows you. Thank you.

    2. Anon anon anon*

      Exactly. I’ve been fired and been through all kinds of other things for being disabled. Today, I recognize it as a legal issue. But there was a time when it was so accepted, I didn’t realize I could take action if I wanted to.

      OP, thank you for doing what you’re doing. You’re helping to make the world a better place.

  6. Akcipitrokulo*

    so sorry about the shit you’ve had to deal with… but it sounds like you’ve been really professional throughout and will be a real asset for whoever is lucky enough to employ you when things look up!

  7. Detective Amy Santiago*

    I’m sorry that you’re having such a rough time right now! Are you still writing fanfic? I used to, but have since moved on to text role playing.

    1. Blue Anne*

      Oh man, I used to do so much text role playing! I ran a bunch of Dragon Riders of Pern games on MSN Message Boards back in the day. And then there was that tool for building websites specifically for text based roleplaying, what was that called…

      1. Detective Amy Santiago*

        I have no idea! Mine has all been journal based. I know there are various sites that exist for it too though.

            1. Pathfinder Ryder*

              Very belatedly – maybe not then, as I started on L but moved to D, and have only made a couple of attempts at dabbling on I.

    2. Sassy AE*

      I’m in my 30s and I play rpgs with a group via discord. Playing by post is a great way for me to play rpgs like Dungeons and Dragons (although we’re running a Genesys game right now) without having to specifically clear time off my schedule for it.

    3. SL #2*

      Me too. My RP buddy and I are in a bit of an unspoken/one-way hiatus right now (looooong story there…) but I don’t think I’ve sat down to write fanfic in a few years either.

      OP, I’m glad you didn’t put it on your resume. No one knows about my experience with it except for some close friends (and now all of AAM), but I couldn’t imagine ever putting it on a professional-facing document. I hope life looks up for you soon.

      1. Detective Amy Santiago*

        There aren’t many people in my life who know about my hobby either. Mostly because I know they won’t really understand. If I ever do refer to it, it’s generally “an online collaborative writing group”. But I wouldn’t even mention it in a professional capacity in those terms for fear of being asked too many questions!

        1. SL #2*

          It’s definitely one of those things where like… if you write fanfic or RP yourself, you’ll definitely know when someone talks about it in veiled terms because we’ve used those same veiled terms before too!

        2. Else*

          This sounds so fun – which sites host this now? Back in the day, I did some epistolary rp writing in a yahoogroup, but that’s long been over.

        3. Shay*

          I actually have mentioned is many times with different professors I’ve had. In one experience I was talking about the statue Nike and read a very moving paragraph about James Barnes’ (from Captain America) reaction to it when found in a warehouse they were hiding in in WWII. My teacher really wanted to know what book it was from so I told her it was fanfic. I was really embarrassed and she told me that her brother wrote a lot of fanfic and she was glad I have that community to support me. Ever since then I’ve just found it much easier to start off saying I read it in a fanfic instead of being vague.

          The reliant passage is, “Bucky knows the truth now. It is a deep and insurmountable truth. She has no face. Like the operative whose head he beat in, like the boy who he killed one month into active duty, even like Bucky himself, Nike is faceless. Bucky feels unprepared, or like he should have brought an offering.” from The Thirteen Letters by dropdeaddream and WhatAreFears

    4. Shay*

      Not so much. My health is just getting worse and worse so I really need to focus all my energy on school and doctor’s appointments and just generally staying well. I hope when I get my service dog I’ll be able to do more things, including going back to fanfic. :)

      1. StrikingFalcon*

        I just want to say that I have been in that boat and I hope you get the help you need and that things start to get better for you. It’s a tough place to be, emotionally as well as physically. It’s also a lot of work to keep reaching out to doctors and going through tests and appointments (especially when things are continuing to get worse) and prioritizing your health often involves tough decisions. I think it’s awesome that you are still focusing on school through all of it. I hope you have the support you need, and I wish you stability and relief.

  8. Princess Consuela Banana Hammock*

    Oh, OP, I’m so sorry you’ve been through such a difficult time. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for your service dog and am wishing you peace.

    Health challenges are especially difficult to manage when you’re new-ish to the workforce. As someone who went through a horrific post-grad-first-job-health-blowup experience, all I can say is that although it may feel very dark/uncertain right now, it’s possible to come through it without it wreaking long-term damage on your professional trajectory/ambitions.

    1. Bebe*

      Not OP, but thanks for your sentiment. I am new-ish to the workforce (under 30) and am going through health problems that have kept me out of work for months at a time. I’ve been worried that my career won’t ever really take off after all these setbacks but I’ll try to remember what you said.

      1. Princess Consuela Banana Hammock*

        I’m so so sorry you’re going through this. I went through a period where a health issue took me out of normal human interactions for 6+ months, and no one knew if I’d ever be “normal” again, let alone return to work. I was depressed, despondent, and wracked by anxiety. At the time, it felt like falling into a bottomless abyss, and the terror of not knowing if I would hit bottom was paralyzing.

        It took me a long while to come back. But I can say confidently, now, that I don’t think it held me back professionally in the long-run. Even in the first few years post-recovery, things stabilized for me and reset (in a slightly different but related sector) fairly quickly.

  9. Say what, now?*

    Wow, some people are just plain scum. I’m so sorry to hear that you were fired for your disability especially from a position that would have allowed you to normalize disability with the next generation. I hope the legal battle ends in your favor and that you are able to recover from your latest health issue.

    Good luck in the future finding a job where they are not so short-sighted.

  10. I Coulda Been a Lawyer ;)*

    I would also suggest that you stay with us. As your career unfolds you will go from laughing at situations that couldn’t possibly have really happened in an office, to one day saying, “oh no! AAM SAID this would happen, even to me, some day!!” You have already found out that bad bosses will fire you for illegal reasons, but we all eventually learn that bad bosses and coworkers can turn up anywhere.

  11. Stand Clear of the Door*

    Sorry to hear things aren’t going well for you, LW. I hope you keep writing fanfic. I find it’s a great way to relax at the end of a long day at work.

  12. Penny*

    I’m sorry you’re having a hard time, OP, and wish you the best of luck. But I’m also glad you learned that listening to moms when it comes to jobs is rarely a good idea. :)

  13. Jam Today*

    I’m sorry things have been difficult for you, I hope they get better shortly. I agree that fanfic should be kept off a resume, its not really the sort of thing employers are looking for (unless its a writing job, in which case it *might* be relevant), but its still super fun to write! I write some of my own, although I rarely finish any of the stories I write so i have a whole lot of unfinished story fragments out there (including one script that I have to completely rewrite because I changed my mind on how I want the story to develop.) We can just keep the fanfic writing for “the cool/weird kids club”!

    1. Anonforthis*

      I have gained work through fanfic, but that’s been writing for existing franchises and doing commissioned artwork so it’s still very much in the same general area. If I’d put it on my CV before I was paid for it I’d have just put ‘interest in creative writing’. TBH I’d probably still use vague language like that now as well because my work isn’t suitable for general audiences. However I do know folks who’ve submitted fanfic in successful applications for more complex business writing jobs but that was mostly to show mastery in a second language

      1. Jam Today*

        Yeah I’ll mention fiction writing if it comes up in interview chit-chat, a la “tell me what you do for fun”. I don’t go deep into my 4-season arc of Sleepy Hollow that I mapped out before TPTB blew up that show!

        1. Andraste's Knicker Weasels*

          Is it online anywhere??? I freaking ADORED Sleepy Hollow and TPTB ripped my heart apart with what they did to it. :(

  14. Chatterby*

    With fanfiction, you can include it, but word it carefully. Don’t call it “fanfiction”, for one. The people who know what that is will think you’re childish, and if they don’t, then you have to explain it, and there’s no good way to do that.
    But, you -could- say that you’ve written X number of creative fiction pieces on the internet, with Y number of views/followers. If you write the longer type, rather than ‘one shots’, or do weekly updates, even better. That shows you can complete large, long-term projects. Include that information as well by saying you’ve written X number of novel-length fiction pieces, with weekly updates for the last Q years, with Y number of views/followers.
    I would still caution that you should only include this if 1) you’re actually good/popular (usually indicated by having 10 or more reviews per chapter), 2) are the type to finish works, rather than having dozens of abandoned pieces, and 3) if you want to run the risk of someone at your job finding and reading your slash fics.

    3. anon anon anon*

      Honestly, I don’t think any of the three reasons you listed are even relevant to putting it on the resume.

      “Good/popular” is subjective. There’s a lot of poorly written pieces that have 1K+ comments and amazing pieces that have 10 comments total. And length =/= good. A 100 chapter fic might not be as great as a 10K or 20K word oneshot (and honestly, very long fics are usually a bad sign in fandom of writers who don’t know how to plot, edit, or master a long term project because they don’t know how to finish something). A large fandom gets you more hits and kudos than a small fandom, but it’s not indicative of your quality as a writer, but more indicative that you’re writing for a large fandom.

      1. Lady Phoenix*

        This. Let us also remember subjects and pairings. In my fandom, yaoi (male/male) pairings are the bee’s needs while hetero pairings (especially with original characters) get eye rolls and a passing glance.

        And then you also have smut that is popular (Like “Fifty Shades of Trash”) and whatever else.

        Honestly, unless the piece is truly transformative, using material that has copyright that is NOT yours is a bad idea for portfolio—art, writing, or other.

        1. anon anon anon*

          Yes. And it’s not always just m/m over hetero relationships. Usually anything focusing on women or POC is sidelined, and forget about getting readers for anything that doesn’t have the Fandom Favorite. Canon queer relationships are, in my experience, usually sidelined for fics about two straight dudes getting together instead.

          Case in point: I write canon m/m and f/f pairings in one fandom but those pairings don’t get nearly the same exposure as the non-canon m/m pairing that the majority of fandom loves. It’s all about the pairing or characters you write, not necessarily about the quality of the content.

    4. she was a fast machine*

      10 or more reviews per chapter is still a really low bar for popularity in many of the more well-traveled fandoms. for example, I write in a fandom that was extremely popular for several years recently and was one of the somewhat known authors, especially for a certain type of story, and I often got in excess of twenty reviews/comments on chapters, and more on exceptional one-shots.

      1. Librarygeek*

        Yeah, fandom size dictates a lot. OTOH, some of the tiny fandoms have very dedicated commenters. When it’s just the ten of you, everybody is very excited about new content. It’s just…there’s ten of you.

      2. anon anon anon*

        Yeah. I just checked one of my big fandoms and one of the top fics has 7,000+ comments, 10,000+ kudos, and 175,000+ hits. Numbers like that don’t necessarily mean it’s a well written or good fic, but it’s far more than 10 comments per chapter (and numbers like that would be the rare time I’d say fanfic is worth going on a resume if only for something like a social media position where you need evidence of high numbers).

    5. Nonyme*

      Re: somebody at your job finding your slash fics.

      Honestly, I’d caution against EVER crossing fanfiction and the workplace, regardless of content. Been there, and done that. Not recommended.

      I’ve been writing fanfic since I was a kiddo in the 1980s. I’ve been putting it online since the early 1990s. Before that it was ‘zines.

      Back in the early 1990s, a lot more people used their real names when posting fanfic, and I was one. Since what I was posting under my real name was fairly tame I never really worried about being found. Also, search engines didn’t really exist when I first started posting fic online.

      Fast forward a decade or so. My employer hired a whole bunch of temps and one of the temps met me and immediately and blurted out, “You’re NONYME! YOU WRITE FANFIC!”

      And then he proceeded to tell EVERYONE I worked with that I wrote fanfic, and directed them all to my fic (or they found it through search engines) and he ignored my demands that he drop the subject. It became a thing that I never quite lived down, and which people brought up occasionally. Hell, they probably still talk about the weird chick who wrote fanfic … LOL.

      Pretty sure it cost me at least one promotion, a lot of social standing, and one boss completely freaked out on me because she was sure I was going to be arrested and/or sued into a lifetime of poverty because of the fanfic and/or I could lose my security clearance needed to do my job.

      I never would have predicted those reactions.

      Thank goodness they never found the slash.

      1. Book Lover*

        I have one that was archived without permission that I wasn’t able to get removed. I think it is well buried by now but am too scared to google myself to find out. Partly not wanting to know how quickly it comes up and partly because people say mean things on doctor review sites and I don’t want to know. So I guess I just hope for the best on that, sigh.

        1. Nonyme*

          In theory, you can get stolen stories removed by filing a DMCA request or equivalent depending on jurisdiction. This is “in theory.”

          I have a bunch that I posted to a mailing list twenty-some years ago. At some point the list owner , “Bob,” archived all the stories sent to the mailing list on a web site, which none of us on the list gave permission for … Bob felt because he paid for the listserv he owned any stories sent to the mailing list, and had the right to archive them and do with them as he pleased. The writers involved disagreed. A kerfluffle followed, and Bob stomped off in an offended huff, and twenty years later those stories are still archived on Bob’s website. Bob is still around in fandom (mostly furry, iirc) and reportedly still describes everyone in that fandom in unflattering terms.

          I’ve tried asking him nicely to remove the stories, and I’ve tried sending a DMCA request, and I’ve tried looking up and contacting his host … and it turns out he owns the ISP and neither he nor the machine they’re physically located on reside in the US, so nothing I can do at this point without an international legal case … It’s just not worth it.

          I can only hope his server gets struck by lightning someday.

      2. Trickle*

        I am so sorry you went through that! That new hire showed an astonishing level of lack of tact and professionalism, to the extent I question whether he was trying to sabotage you in some way (carrying on after you asked him to stop). I hope there was some comeback for him on ‘outing’ you like that so loudly and persistently.

    6. TardyTardis*

      Well, I have one piece with nearly 3000 reviews…and it’s waaay too long. And boy, does it have smut, but then, so do my original universe works. You gets what you sees.

  15. Denise*

    I know my experience is dated (15 years ago) but the only people in the fanfic group who put it on their resume were people who were already in the creative writing field. I saw one person in the group actually break into comics as a result of sharpening their chops, another go on to run a webcomic.

    1. Else*

      I think this is still true – I’ve seen established creatives write things on their bios about fanfic, but not others. Also – not published fiction writers. I think if they write fanfic, unless that’s where they got their start (HP, Xena), they hide it.

    2. Librarygeek*

      I mention creative writing if I’m asked about hobbies, but it’s something that is actually relevant to my job. If I’m putting together a library teen group, fanfic and cosplay are part of the territory.

  16. Jaybeetee*

    I’m not sure what it is, but everyone I’ve ever known/met/heard of who’s worked as a camp counselor has had an absolutely miserable or outright illegal experience with it.

    1. Jennifer Thneed*

      Do I count? It wasn’t an overnight camp, so maybe not.

      (Day camp, held in a public park, run by a Jewish community center. I was volunteering as a Jr. Counselor. I loved every minute and I was about 15.)

    2. No thanks*

      You have not accessed a representative sample. Camp jobs commonly have people returning for multiple years. It’s not like the pay is so great; for them the experience is. I was just listening to a podcast about the health benefits of being outside. It is a great job for someone who likes that sort of thing.

    1. knitcrazybooknut*

      I really thought this was a reference to a scenario in your fanfiction and was tilting my head to the side trying to decipher for a really long time until, “Oh! Position!”

  18. OhBehave*

    I am so sorry you’ve had to deal with this. Being fired for a disability is horrible, and to think a company/org thinks it’s ok to do so is mind-boggling.
    My daughter is 23. When she was a baby she had a stroke. That made her right side weaker. She was slowly edged out of two jobs because of this. We think this is the reason because a friend overheard her manager say something about her disability and ‘what to do about it’. Mind you, she never disclosed this because we just don’t think of her as disabled. She doesn’t need any accommodations either. She’s able to do everything a seemingly able-bodied can do. It really ticked us off as we know the law with regards to discrimination.

    I hope you get your pup very soon.

  19. Cat owner*

    People can be the worst over disabilities. It boggles my mind how so many people STILL have such regressive ideas about disability. I hope the discrimination complaint gets resolved swiftly and positively for you!

    I love mums who are supportive of fan fiction. My mum is always bringing up the beta reading I used to do as something she is proud of me doing and telling me to include it in “volunteer work” to show editing experience. I’ve never included it though because it’s not super relevant to my line of work.

    It’s also interesting the line between when to include fandom stuff in professional resumes and profiles. I remember Melissa Anelli from the Harry Potter fandom saying that as a journalist she used to keep her fandom stuff quiet – but then she ended up being able to interview JK Rowling for the publication of Half Blood Prince in a time where JKR was *not* giving interviews through her running of the Leaky Cauldron and suddenly it became the first thing she led with and the thing that impressed the most people. I mean, that is an extreme example but the line interests me to no end.

  20. Angela Z*

    Leaving fanfiction off of the resume was a good call. My first concern wouldn’t be how the hiring company would view it, but what *else* might come up during an internet search for OP’s works. Fanfiction can contain good legitimate stories, but there are a lot of REALLY bad and questionable things in some fics that you wouldn’t want the company to find, let alone associate with you in some way.

    I’m sorry to hear about OP’s health troubles and situation, though it looks like it’s going to improve with the service animal.

  21. Susan*

    Sounds like one day you could do some writing about the difficulty of navigating the workplace when you have a disability. This is an area that needs a lot more visibility, I think!

  22. Close Bracket*

    > I was fired for being disabled

    I am so very sorry for this. I wasn’t fired for being disabled, exactly, but my former employer did find a way to bring my disability into another issue and claim that it interfered with an essential job function (which multiple people could dispute). It sucks pretty hard. I hope you win your suit.

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