optimal experience (2)

[tigerine]

 The more I read about optimal experience, or flow, the more I realize that doing creative work in a fandom is very touch-and-go with regards to how fulfilled one can feel while doing it. 

There are eight requirements for flow to begin while doing a task: 

• We must confront tasks that we have a chance of completing
• We must be able to concentrate on what we are doing
• Our task must have a clear goal...
• ...and provide immediate feedback
• We must have deep but effortless involvement that removes from awareness the worries and frustrations of everyday life.
• We must be able to exercise a sense of control over our actions
• Concern for the self disappears, but returns stronger. 
• The sense of duration of time is altered. 

Taking part in a fandom might confound this set of requirements in several ways. The one that jumps out is having a sense of control over our actions, but a clear goal and immediate feedback seem difficult as well.

But even as I typed that out, I realized that I was wrong. In order to get satisfaction from fandom work, writing or art, either one, the satisfaction has to be in the making.