Aja

Aja is a blogger and previously primarily a fanfic writer, most notably in the Harry Potter fandom. Being an active and vocal member of fandom, Aja participated and participates in many discussions and has at times been a contentious figure within fandom.
They were formerly a member of the group of Harry Potter BNFs some fans collectively referred to as "The Inner Circle". In the Harry Potter fandom, they co-moderated the mailing list Armchair Slash and were a frequent participator in Veela Inc..
Their primary ship in HP fandom was Harry/Draco. In later years they were more active in Hikaru no Go fandom, shipping Akira/Hikaru, and in Inception fandom, shipping Arthur/Eames.
Aja has participated or moderated a number of convention panels and other appearances involving fandom: the current listing is available on their tumblr.
==Some Short Bios==
From a 2003 bio statement in the Nimbus 2003 convention program book: 
A short autobiography (date unknown, sometime after 2010): 
An 2004 autobiography is at notquiteroyal.
As per their twitter, Aja uses they/them or she/her pronouns.
==Controversies==
* The Inner Circle and interactions with Ivy Blossom and Cassandra Claire 
* trying to burn a t-shirt during Strikethrough
* two different mentions of plagiarism, one by them, one of them
* a Prince of Tennis anon-meme wank
* eating your veggies
* an accusation of being bullied by an OTW member
* controversy regarding Hockey RPF 
* an article about Andy Blake aka Thanfiction
* being a consultant for Fanfiction Syllabus
* involvement in the Kevin Spacey fandom
* Jeff Mangum/Anne Frank RPF
See below for details
== As a Fan==
Their livejournal (as Bookshop) was cited in Livejournal's 10-year-anniversary anthology as "an example of fandom at its best."bookshop. Evernight! + LJ + Whip It. Posted October 9, 2009. (Accessed July 22, 2010.)
Aja was a moderator and BNF in the Kevin Spacey fandom in late 1998/early 1999.Back in the day, I was a member of the Kevin Spacey fandom. Yes, Kevin Spacey has a fandom., bnfshavemorefun, June 24, 2004
As an H/D shipper, their notable contributions to Harry Potter fandom were the longstanding WIP Love Under Willsulky_rhino. Poll: Harry/Draco Fandom Classics - Results. Posted September 18, 2007. (Accessed July 22, 2010.) which was the base of the community Armchair Slash, a player in the RPG Nocturne Alley and creator of its fan community, NrAged, creator of The Eros Affair, an invite-only fic challenge that ran in 2005 and then opened for public contributions, and as co-mod of the original Big Bang challenge, Big Bang, Baby.
In July 2003, Aja made a friends-locked satirical post in diary format about their attempts to beat Ivy Blossom in gaining BNF status in HP fandom and befriending Cassandra Claire. According to Aja, that post was viewed by a third-party who hacked one of the filtered journals which had access to the locked account. The post was then made public without Aja's consent, along with their real full name, which was attached to the post. Ivy Blossom interpreted parts of the clearly tongue-in-cheek post as a death threat, and announced plans to cancel her trip to fan convention Nimbus 2003, which was being held later that month.Fandom Wank Wiki; The Very Secret Diary Of Aja, via Wayback: 14 December 2012. (Accessed 17 March 2015)Referenced by Aja in 2004 at Back in the day, I was a member of the Kevin Spacey fandom. Yes, Kevin Spacey has a fandom. Much discussion ensued.kitty_tahin in fandom_wank: Since there was a request below, the links to the latest HP wank, 08 July 2003. (Accessed 17 March 2015) This and other issues let to some infighting between members of The Inner Circle, a group of BNFs within Harry Potter fandom.Fandom Wank Wiki. Wherein Cassie's Good Name Is Besmirched via Wayback: 19 December 2012. (Accessed 17 March 2015)
In October 2003 Aja and Cassie Claire had a public falling out over numerous interpersonal tensions. According to Aja, they had already de-friended one another on LJ when they disagreed about whether Aja's story Twelfth Night was plagiarizing Cassie's story A Season in Hell. Cassie accused them of passing around spoilers for future plot points of Claire's Draco Veritas.Aja. Me & CC; or, BNFs do not have more fun, 16 June 2006. (Accessed 17 March 2015)Fandom Wank Wiki. (2005-2007) via Wayback: 15 December 2012. (Accessed 17 March 2015) October 20, 2003
In April 2006, Aja announced that they were leaving Harry Potter fandom for the Prince of Tennis.narcissam in fandom_wank: The End of the Inner Circle Wank?, 26 April 2006. (Accessed 17 March 2015) A few months later, Aja hosted an anon-meme, but later deleted it due to concerns that it had become too mean, and also IP addresses of posters could be determined. Some people were unhappy and/or amused about it.snacky in fandom_wank: Oh look! It's time for anonymeme wank! Or, "It's about grief.", 23 August 2006. (Accessed 17 March 2015)Fandom Wank Wiki. Farewell, Panda Porn..., via Wayback: 06 February 2012. (Accessed 17 March 2015)
In the wake of Strikethrough in 2007, Aja demonstrated their repudiation of Livejournal by burning a LJ t-shirt on video.hearsawho. Transcript of the video, 04 August 2007. (Accessed 17 March 2015) However, the t-shirt was robust, and therefore very difficult to ignite.Fandom Wank Wiki. The T-Shirt is Robust, via Wayback: 05 September 2011. (Accessed 17 March 2015) Many viewers were amused.Discussion thread in fandom_wank: Strikethrough Two: Electric Boogaloo - Apologies for trolling but ..., archived, 04 August 2007. (Accessed 17 March 2015)A latter-day anon commentator wrote in fail_fandomanon: "I will never get over that. The fact that the t-shirt didn't light on fire at all, that it was horribly planned out in case it did light on fire (just sitting on her couch holding it with her arm??), and then that she still posted the unedited video online. Wow. Amazing." Re: Aja and Andy, 11 March 2015. (Accessed 17 March 2015)from a fan in 2014: "Oh my god I forgot about the attempt to burn a shirt. What beautiful fuckery that was." from All this leaving tumblr talk is making me hark back to the LJ days of old, man oh man. The original video is no longer on YouTube, but the remix edition (using Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love") is still viewable here. This is thought to be the first Video Flounce. See Burning a T-Shirt. Despite intentions not to post fic to LJ anymore, Aja returned a few months later under the pseudonym ningenfucker to post A Tithe To Hell saying she couldn't format it properly anywhere else.bookshop. my modus operandi is amalgam, 31 December 2007 (accessed 2 February 2017).
In July 2009, they accused another Hikaru no Go fan of plagiarismbookshop. Plagiarism alert!, 28 July 2009. Wayback copy, October 2020. (Accessed 18 March 2015) but there was disagreement in fandom about the evidence and whether it supported the plagiarism claim.ladyofviolets in fandom_wank: You're a plagiarist becase *I SAY SO*!, 30 July 2009. Wayback copy, April 2015. (Accessed 18 March 2015) The accused plagiarist deleted her livejournal and fic and never responded to the accusation.
In January 2010, Aja opined in a post which a nonny described as "flail[ing] and self-flagellat[ing]"Nonny in fail_fandomanon: Re: Wank Repository, 12 March 2015. (Accessed 18 March 2015) about feeling marginalized within slash fandom for appreciating female characters because "I feel like I can't legitimately talk about how much I love certain female characters, because [...], it's seen as just trying to politely include the women for the sake of political correctness." bookshop.The flip side. ("Pickering, why can't a woman be more like a man?"), 13 January 2010. (Accessed 18 March 2015) but then a week later likened writing/valuing female characters to eating one's vegetables and thus creating the fandom phrase "eating your veggies".bookshop. 1. Subtext. 2. Fandom misogyny. 3. coverfail., 22 January 2010. (Accessed 18 March 2015)
Aja volunteered for the Organization for Transformative Works during the OTW 2011 Board Election wank and joined the Development & Membership committee, eventually becoming a co-chair of the Committee. They quit in 2014, a few weeks before the annual October fundraising drive, citing bullying by a Board member., 2 Oct 2014 FFA gossiped about it here and discussed wider structural issues in the OTW that would lead to bullying.
In 2013-2016, Aja was submissions editor for Big Bang Press.Bookshop tumblr "About" page
In 2017 Aja and earlgreytea68 started a project/series known as Shenanigans Universe. Shenanigans is an experimental original fiction series which consists of multiple works that all feature the same cast of original characters, with all the works being separate stories in various alternate universes. "Basically, we set out to write canon, and we ended up just writing a bunch of fic. For a non-existent canon. There is no canon. The author is dead. Have at it."Introducing: Shenanigans by Aja, earlgreytea68 (2017-08-10) Aja and earlgreytea68 co-wrote some of the stories and wrote others alone. All the works were published on AO3. The writers invited any fans of the series to write their own works, which would be considered an extension of the Shenanigans universe. The tag "Shenanigans (Original Universe)" used for the series was synned to AO3's Original Work tag.
In 2018 Aja, collaborating with EarlGreyTea68, released Kaleidotrope, an audio drama rom-com podcast based on fanfiction and romance tropes.
In May 2020, a later-suspended account brought up a 109-word, M-rated Jeff Mangum/Anne Frank fanfiction Aja had written in 2006. Aja defended the fic in a series of deleted tweets, one of which read in part, "If you don't like my 109-word Jeff Mangum/Anne Frank fic, tell Jeff Mangum to stop writing songs about wanting to fuck AF."October 2021 tweet with a screencap of Aja's deleted tweet (Archived) The fic, which remains locked on AO3, and Aja's defense of it 14 years later is sometimes cited along other controversies like The Strange Lives of Andrew Blake when an article of hers goes viral.
===Timeline of Primary Fandoms:===
* 1998 - 1999: Jane Austen, Kevin Spacey RPF
* 2000–present: Harry Potter
* 2005 - 2007: Prince of Tennis
* 2005 - 2009: Hikaru no Go
* 2010–2017: Inception
* 2018: Angels in America/Broadway Actor RPF
* 2020: The Untamed/Mo Dao Zu Shi, The Untamed RPF
Other fandoms Aja has written fic or meta for include K-pop, J-pop, Bones, Death Note, Die Hard, Good Omens, Merlin, Nobuta wo Produce, Dresden Files, and SGA.
===Example Fanworks===
Fanfiction:
* Love Under Will
* Teaching the Indie Kids to Joust Again, Merlin RPF fic
* A Tithe To Hell, Death Note fic
==As a Journalist==
Aja's professional career as a writer on fan issues has provoked many different reactions from fans, not all of them positive. Aja has frequently been a topic of discussion on anonymous community Fail-Fandomanon: a full run-down can be found at the FFA wiki.
In 2011, Aja began writing for geek feminist website The Mary Sue about fandom and other areas of interest to fans. In 2012, they were hired to write for the Daily Dot as a "fandom reporter." Aja has professional experience as a journalist; however, their Daily Dot position drew more on their previous experience and writing about fandom than their previous professional work. Also in 2012, Aja began a column for Manga Bookshelf and was hired as a rotating columnist for AfterElton's new column on slash fandom, "The Shipping News." In April 2016, Aja co-founded a fandom marketing consulting company, Fanspeak Interactive.Otaku Journalist. How to turn your fandom interests into a business. Posted April 19, 2016. (Accessed April 20, 2016.) In April 2016, they started to work for Vox as a culture reporter."It's Aja! I'm a web culture reporter for Vox, and a writer/editor/fandom consultant." -- Bookshop Tumblr
In December 2012, Aja announced their intention to write an article on Hockey RPF fandom. This was not greeted with enthusiasm by fandom members, who objected both to the wider exposure and to Aja themself. For a full run-down of events see Hockey RPF and the Fourth Wall. The debate reopened in October 2013 when Aja pointed to an article published about hockey fic as an example of why fandom stories should be written by people in fandom.fail_fandomanon. Aja v. Hockey Fandom, Round 2 (3? 4?), 10 October 2013. (Accessed 18 March 2015)
In February 2015, Aja published an article on notorious fandom member Andy Blake (aka Thanfiction, Amy Player, Victoria Bitter, Jordan Wood, etc.). Many fandom people found the article to be overly sympathetic to Blake, whose checkered past includes documented fraud and theft, as well as brainwashing and abuse of other people. The article and the events that followed provoked a highly negative reaction from the individuals interviewed for the article, and fandom at large.
:
On 11 March 2015, Vulture.com published an article on fanfiction, It's a Fanmade World. The multipart article included A Fanfiction Syllabus: "Ten classics that cover the history, breadth, and depth of the form, with original custom-designed covers"; Aja Romano is credited as one of the consultants. Many fans criticized the list for being overwhelmingly white, male, and slash-focused. While it was acknowledged that Aja was not the author of the article and did not bear full responsibility for the lack of diversity, Aja's presence as a consultant on the article and as a prominent member of fandom (and reporter thereof) meant that they received a lot of attention following the publication of the article and was a focal point of the discussion that ensued. Aja responded to the criticism herePosted to tumblr on March 12, 2015 with 275 notes as of 11 April 2016. archived and herePosted to tumblr on March 14, 2015 with 19 notes as of 11 April 2016. archived.
:
On November 18, 2020, Vox.com posted an article by Aja titled, "Conspiracy theories, explained: Americans are embracing dangerous conspiratorial beliefs, from QAnon to coronavirus denial"Conspiracy theories, explained Vox.com, 18 Nov 2020 (Accessed Nov 30 2020)
One fan on twitter noted the irony of Aja writing and promoting this article, when they have publicly expressed belief in the Tinhat theory that Wang Yibo & Xiao Zhan, the lead actors in the Chinese web drama The Untamed, are in a secret relationship.is this you jesstieI twitter Nov 25, 2020 3:52 PM (Accessed Nov 30, 2020)
On February 26, 2021, Vox.com published another article by Aja that discussed Sexy Times with Wangxian, titled "The internet’s most beloved fanfiction site is undergoing a reckoning" ] Vox.com, 26 Feb 2021 (Accessed Feb 26 2021)
==Interviews==
* Fan Fiction Oral History Project with Bookshop (2012)
==Meta==
* Dark Harry, as Aja (2002)
* To Fandom, With Love, as Aja (2002)
* OOTP, Harry/Draco, the Damnation of Slytherin, and the right of fans to be upset, as Aja (2003)
* My Letter to J.K. Rowling, as Aja (2003)
* Fandoms I know nothing about as Aja (2003)
* H/D fic, post-OOTP. And how we aren't writing any., as Aja (2004)
* My personal shippers' Manifesto, as Aja (2004)
* On JKR's Latest Interview., as Aja (2004)
* Slash and Gay Rights, as Aja (2004)
* A Reader's Advice on writing good sex. (2004)
* Defining Draco Malfoy., as Aja (2004)
* On Anne Rice, and why we write., as Aja (2004)
* A Reader's Advice on writing good sex., as Aja (2004)
* Fannish spaces, girls, and the culture of silence., as bookshop (May 2010)
* The flip side. ("Pickering, why can't a woman be more like a man?"), as bookshop (January 2010)
* "i know you care for him as much as i do.", as bookshop (January 2010)
* I'm done explaining why fanfic is okay., as bookshop (May 2010)
===The Daily Dot: Some Essays/Meta===
Aja began writing for The Daily Dot where their position drew more on their previous experience and writing about fandom than their previous professional work.
Aja's byline at The Daily Dot includes all articles they wrote for the publication. Some sample articles about fandom written by Aja include:
Years In Review
* These events not only shaped the year in fandom but will continue to impact fans long after 2012. (December 20, 2012)
* (March 11, 2013).
Teen Wolf
* After Entertainment Weekly left a popular same-sex Teen Wolf pairing out of a TV relationship poll, gay-focused pop culture website After Elton started a new poll just for same-sex 'ships.. (August 22, 2012)
* Online arguments about race in MTV's Teen Wolf have gotten so heated that show creator Jeff Davis deleted his Tumblr, but there may be something else driving all the drama. (August 2, 2012)
General Slash
* "They Are Never Ever Gonna Get Together" goes out to all the fans of fictional male/male couples we're probably not going to see on TV or in the movies any time soon. (October 9, 2012)
* Chinese authorities have arrested at least 20 people for the crime of writing male/male fanfic. (April 18, 2014)
Basic Fan Primers
* A comprehensive guide to kinds of fanfiction, pairing terms, and other kinds of fanwork. (August 6, 2012)
* What it is, where to find it, and what's up with making straight men gay? (August 7, 2012).
* "Bandom" isn't just a term for fans of any band. It usually refers to a group of early-2000s rock groups such as Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, and My Chemical Romance. (February 11, 2013)
50 Shades of Grey/FanFic Going Pro
* As the massive popularity of 50 Shades of Grey has proven, readers need more quality, erotic fiction. Here's where to look. (August 17, 2012)
* The author discusses publishing online, her fanbase, the difference between writing fanfic and original work. (about Captive Prince) (February 15, 2013)
Sherlock
* How one piece of slash fan art spawned a Tumblr-wide meme. (August 20, 2012)
* In short, it's a complex and creative crossover in fandom that combines the worlds of Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock. (October 5, 2012)
KPop
* Don't know the difference between TVXQ and EXO? This comprehensive guide should help. (September 3, 2012)
Supernatural
* The post-production team of Teen Wolf shared their office fanart gallery with the rest of us—and enlisted a few Teen Wolf actors to help. (May 21, 2014)
* Was actor Jensen Ackles suddenly stricken with homophobia? Well, this is fandom, and it's a lot more complicated than that. (May 6, 2013)
* Supernatural's success is intrinsically tied to its fandom—so when will it give the fans what they want? (May 19, 2014)
Yuletide
* Instead of traditional presents, thousands of Yuletide participants give original fanfiction to delight fans of obscure movies, books, historical figures and more. (October 1, 2012)
* Moderator elynross opens up about the best and sexiest fanfiction expected this season. (October 3, 2012)
Interactions With TPTB/The Fourth Wall
* by Aja Romano (December 16, 2013).
* The crumbling of the fourth wall: Why fandom shouldn't hide anymore - The Fourth Wall is fandom's way of protecting itself from outsider prying eyes, harsh judgments, and possible real-life repercussions. Here's why we need to stop being ashamed and let the public in. (January 8, 2013)
* Corporate entities have woken up and smelled the fandom. Now they're all over it. (May 27, 2013)
* How author Lev Grossman bridges fandom and fiction The bestselling author of The Magicians discusses Harry Potter, fandom, and how he tries to turn down the trolls. (July 20, 2012)
Tumblr
* "Crying!" "Boom, my ovaries!" "I can't even." Whether they realize it or not, innumerable fans on Tumblr are collectively evolving a 700-year-old poetic tradition. (January 15, 2013)
* (May 24, 2013)
Fandom Meta
* The moderator for LiveJournal's Fail Fandom Anon discusses memes, privacy, and fandom wank. (September 13, 2012)
* MTV apparently looked at Superwholock fandom and saw an opportunity for civil war. (June 19, 2014)
* MTV apparently looked at Superwholock fandom and saw an opportunity for civil war. (June 19, 2014) (July 04, 2015)
*Hamilton is fanfic, and its historical critics are totally missing the point - Fans know exactly what Hamilton is about. Why don't historians? (July 04, 2016)
== See also ==
* Aja article at the fail-fandomanon wiki
* Aja article at the Fandom Wank Wiki
* "fun times with aja" tag at fandom_wank
==References==
Category:Fans
Category:Commentators
Category:Fanwriters