Looking to start a FlaynlethWeek hashtag or fanzine on twitter, and need some help and advice

[I Love Flayn]

Everyone else has one. Flayn deserves it too! 💚

I'm hoping to put together a collaborative celebration of the Flayn x Byleth pairing that would include fanart and other works. As mentioned, this would be in the form of either a week-long hashtag or a fanzine. My biggest issue with this though is that I'm neither an artist nor am I very Twitter-savvy, and while I've seen many Byleth-ship hashtags and zines, I don't have much knowledge of what goes into forming, promoting and creating content for them. I'm here to ask for advice on the process and also possibly recruit any artists willing to promote and produce Flaynleth content. This is something I strongly want to make happen, and any form of help with this task would be appreciated!

Also, sorry in advance if this isn't the right forum to post this to. Feel free to move it to wherever appropriate.

[maybe]

that's fuckin weird bro byleth's a grown ass man and flayn looks like she's 12

[Dragoncat]

3 minutes ago, maybe said:

that's fuckin weird bro byleth's a grown ass man and flayn looks like she's 12

Eh, it's not my cup of tea either, but this wasn't necessary when OP was not asking for ship critiques.

I once participated in a zine run by this zine account. Try contacting them, they should help you.

https://twitter.com/cof_zines?lang=en

[I Love Flayn]

7 minutes ago, Dragoncat said:

I once participated in a zine run by this zine account. Try contacting them, they should help you.

https://twitter.com/cof_zines?lang=en

My main concern with zines is that they often mention a purchase of some kind. I'm not interested in making something to sell, so unless I can distribute this for free then perhaps the hashtag idea would work better?

[Dragoncat]

15 minutes ago, LelouchUzumaki said:

My main concern with zines is that they often mention a purchase of some kind. I'm not interested in making something to sell, so unless I can distribute this for free then perhaps the hashtag idea would work better?

The zine I was in was a free PDF. I would try contacting them!

[Armchair General]

Well, you need a lot of actual content in order to get noticed, along with regularly posting new content.

[I Love Flayn]

9 minutes ago, Armchair General said:

Well, you need a lot of actual content in order to get noticed, along with regularly posting new content.

I have a plethora of Flayn x Byleth content, so as long as I can use previously-made material that part shouldn't be an issue. Outside of commissions new content is sadly scarce, though. I'm hoping this will help turn that around if only for a short time.

[Armchair General]

Well, it would help a lot if you're an artist.

After all, it's cheaper (and probably faster) than waiting for new content.

 

[Dragoncat]

46 minutes ago, Armchair General said:

Well, it would help a lot if you're an artist.

After all, it's cheaper (and probably faster) than waiting for new content.

 

Art is hard. My drawings are nowhere near the quality required for zines.

Fics though, those are good! As I told OP, I participated in a zine organized by that twitter account.

[eclipse]

2 hours ago, LelouchUzumaki said:

I have a plethora of Flayn x Byleth content, so as long as I can use previously-made material that part shouldn't be an issue.

Do you know how you're going to piss off a LOT of people?  By doing this without asking their permission to use their work in your fanzine thing.

That being said, be prepared to pay Actual Money for the fanart you want.  Artists have to eat too!

6 hours ago, LelouchUzumaki said:

Everyone else has one. Flayn deserves it too! 💚

 

Where's my Tomas fanzine dammit.

[I Love Flayn]

15 minutes ago, eclipse said:

Do you know how you're going to piss off a LOT of people?  By doing this without asking their permission to use their work in your fanzine thing.

That's why I said "so long as I can use it". I'm on friendly terms with the artists I've commissioned, and of course I would ask their permission. My greater hope though is getting new content produced, not just from them but possibly new artists as well.

19 minutes ago, eclipse said:

That being said, be prepared to pay Actual Money for the fanart you want.  Artists have to eat too!

I've been getting commissions for over a decade, and have lost count on how much I've spent on Flayn alone. I'm well aware of paying artists, thank you.

23 minutes ago, eclipse said:

Where's my Tomas fanzine dammit.

Haha. Good one.

Seriously though, everywhere you look there's a Byleth x 3H girl fanzine or themed week on Twitter. It's right time Flayn gets that same recognition (there was a #FlaynWeek event that ran last year, but it didn't acknowledge ships).

[Dragoncat]

40 minutes ago, eclipse said:

Where's my Tomas fanzine dammit.

This is a joke, but I like the idea of a fanzine about the Agarthan illusion victims. Who they really were and all that. Tomas, we have the least about. We know he was the librarian. That's it. For Monica, we get that DLC paralogue where you fight her dad. For Lord Arundel, we hear about how he used to donate to the church and was a decent uncle to Edelgard. And Cornelia? I'm pretty darn sure she was killed and replaced, but we never get the name of the Agarthan who did so. I'm saying Cleobulus, the datamined Agarthan name that wasn't used. But for her, we hear that she was a court mage. About as much as Tomas, but she gets more screentime.

 

10 minutes ago, LelouchUzumaki said:

That's why I said "so long as I can use it". I'm on friendly terms with the artists I've commissioned, and of course I would ask their permission.

Maybe ask a few of them if they know how you could start this? A lot of them could probably point you to connections to help.

Edited January 15, 2021 by Dragoncat

[eclipse]

2 minutes ago, Dragoncat said:

This is a joke, but I like the idea of a fanzine about the Agarthan illusion victims. Who they really were and all that. Tomas, we have the least about. We know he was the librarian. That's it. For Monica, we get that DLC paralogue where you fight her dad. For Lord Arundel, we hear about how he used to donate to the church and was a decent uncle to Edelgard. And Cornelia? I'm pretty darn sure she was killed and replaced, but we never get the name of the Agarthan who did so. I'm saying Cleobulus, the datamined Agarthan name that wasn't used. But for her, we hear that she was a court mage. About as much as Tomas, but she gets more screentime.

. . .the fact that you think THAT'S the Tomas I'm referring to makes the irony all the more delicious.

(hint: READ MY SIG)

[Dragoncat]

1 hour ago, eclipse said:

. . .the fact that you think THAT'S the Tomas I'm referring to makes the irony all the more delicious.

(hint: READ MY SIG)

OH. There is a Tomas in New Mystery! My bad. In my defense OP was talking about 3H.

[CatManThree]

Good

[------]

11 hours ago, Dragoncat said:

And Cornelia? I'm pretty darn sure she was killed and replaced, but we never get the name of the Agarthan who did so.

I always got the impression that Cornelia was just... Cornelia. The real deal, not killed and replaced. As for why she isn't grey like the other Agarthans, either she made herself look "normal" to fit in or she's not Agarthan at all, just some opportunistic prick who saw working with them as an excuse to raise some hell in the Kingdom.

[kradeelav]

Hey @LelouchUzumaki - may be able to give some feedback. 

Some background: Long time FE fanartist, I sell zines professionally, and have ran/modded/participated in quiiiite a few fan events in the last, oh decade. In the beginning stages of getting a Zihark fan-week going on twitter, natch. (my handle.)

It seems like you do want to do something involving the community and Flayn/Byleth, even if it's a bit nebulous at the moment. Awesome!  I would spend some time thinking about what you, personally, would get The Most Joy out of - whether it be a physical booklet of art of them, or the warm glow of talking with other fans via twitter and getting new content that you specifically didn't have to pay for.  Both require a different way of running the promo campaign, and there's always pros and cons and specific ways to work with the medium. 

Fanweek bits:

• fanweeks imo are a bit harder to get off the ground in terms of a 'it's who you know' stance. Ideally I wouldn't start one unless if there's at least 5-10 artists/writers who I could count on in creating at least one piece the whole week (yourself included).  For me, Zihark's a minor enough character that I know I'm going to have to bust my ass as far as getting any participation, and the only reason I'm considering it is a) somebody else runs a fan twitter and has an outreach that works there, and b)I'm a prolific and obsessed enough fanartist to crank out the art and get a sizeable bit of promotion from that alone. 3H is a hell of a lot more popular, so you may have the advantage there.
• Hard materials you would need: 1-2 promo graphics (minimum one with the list of prompts, and maybe another 'coming soon' one).  The tweets and dedicated twitter account with the followers for it.  Maybe now's the time to reach out to flayn fan twitters for outreach.
• Other things to consider: Prompts, due date (week), who your key people are. 

zine bits:

• there's a lot of different zines out there. I notice a lot of younger fandom folks who don't know the history of punk zines (going back to the 80's) actually refer to the newest genre of 'polished community fan anthologies' as a catch-all for zines, when there's more options.  There's the truly personal punk zine where you straight up throw a collage of art and text into something you print in your basement printer, and have that one copy for yourself.  There's another flavor of personal zine where you can sell or trade a short run (printed by yourself) where you get permission from everyone that contributes to it.  Then there's the polished fan anthologies where you actively recruit artists / writers / creators and y'all all get something out of it whether it be doing it for a charity or it's one of those full kickstarter ones.
• A lot of the appeal of the zines is in the printed physical booklet (that may be me: I'm old school).  However I have seen .pdf zines that tend to be more the anthology type.

Hope that helps.

[I Love Flayn]

That helps tremendously, thank you! At the moment I do have 2-3 artists in tow willing to contribute, and a twitter account with a decent-ish amount of followers. I'm increasingly thinking a fanweek is the best way for me to go with this.

38 minutes ago, kradeelav said:

Maybe now's the time to reach out to flayn fan twitters for outreach.

Twitters? lol, if only *sigh*

[kradeelav]

4 hours ago, LelouchUzumaki said:

That helps tremendously, thank you! At the moment I do have 2-3 artists in tow willing to contribute, and a twitter account with a decent-ish amount of followers. I'm increasingly thinking a fanweek is the best way for me to go with this.

Twitters? lol, if only *sigh*

No problem! Happy to spitball any further questions here~

(and awww i feel you.  loving minor characters is so rewarding yet so hard sometimes, lol)

[I Love Flayn]

I've officially launched #FlaynlethWeek. Prompts and rules have been written and will follow sometime soon.

https://twitter.com/FlaynlethWeek/status/1351771102004072452/

Edited January 20, 2021 by LelouchUzumaki

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

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Edited February 13, 2021 by Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[I Love Flayn]

I just noticed this reply. Thank you for the suggestions and support! I'd certainly love if you could contribute, but even if not, even showing this event to someone who might be interested would mean a lot. 🙂

On 1/28/2021 at 2:10 AM, Deirdre an Bhróin said:

Glad to see the more “unpopular” characters and ships of 3H getting some content, though. Flayn is one of the more unpopular girls (if not the most unpopular, next to another girl like Leonie) and even in the ship crazed 3H fandom, she doesn’t get much paired content, at least on the western side of things.

Now that I think about it, the only Flaynleth fanart I've ever seen not commissioned by me has been from Japanese artists. That really does say a lot -- namely that the western fandom would rather see her as "that fish girl who tags along with Seteth" than a meaningful character and legitimate partner in her own right. And yes, she really is the most unpopular female character in terms of fanbase size (people like to throw up characters like Edelgard whenever I say this, but Edel's fanbase is massive. Controversial =/= unpopular). I'm glad someone is willing to acknowledge this, because it's the very reason this event NEEDS to happen.

On 1/28/2021 at 2:10 AM, Deirdre an Bhróin said:

Don’t be that person, bro.

I know you don’t mean well, nor do I expect you, nor care/mind/whatever for it, but there is a time and place, not meaning “consider the feelings!” or whatever, but meaning: Look at OPs pfp, and the thread itself, being about a fan project for his/her favorite ship. I don’t think you saying this is going to change his/her mind about the ship, much less be like “ah, thank chief, I didn’t know that! I’ll stop right this instant and abandon all my interest” you know? lol

Anyway, it doesn’t have to be your cup of tea, it’s a bunch of drawings, OP specified SFW only, blah blah blah.

We as FE fans don’t make a good case for criticizing morality of ships, we play the loli war crime game after all lol.

Flayn gets disproportionately subjected to all sorts of scrutiny. For example, no one ever thinks to question the morality of Byleth x Seteth, but whenever it's Flayn the question "but isn't it almost like incest?" always seems to find its way in. It's like people are determined to create reasons to STOP others from being fans of Flayn, but that's an entirely separate discussion. Anyway I appreciate your support. 🙂

Edited February 12, 2021 by LelouchUzumaki