Amassment

Shrining for Newbies

You have found out what a shrine is and, maybe, are thinking about how it sounds interesting but are still on the fence. Is making a shrine right for you? What would you do? Where to start? Some of Amassment’s members have top-notch advice for your dilemma.

What Got You Into Shrines?

People start making shrines for many different reasons, and we are so glad that they do! Each person brings their own unique flavor making no two shrines the same. We asked members of Amassment what first got them into making shrines, here’s just a sampling of what they said:

“..I remember I was still into fanlisting quote a lot at the time, and I was rejected for my most favorite female character ever – Yuuko from xxxHolic, so I decided I didn’t need the fanlisting to show how much I love her and stated working on the shrine…”

— Saya of silverblood.net

 

“In 2003, I purchased an issue of a Pokémon fan magazine that contained a review of a nice fansite. I went to check it out, and the world of fansites opened up to me! I guess I just really liked this idea of sharing one’s thoughts and theories on some subject through the means of a website, and soon I found myself starting my first fansite.”

— DubiousDisc of rigelatin.net

 

“I looked online for Animorphs websites to learn more about and to discuss my favorite book series growing up. I discovered fansites to the series, and wanted to create my own.”

— Todd of nightbringer.net

 

“I hail from the fanlistings corner, but fanlistings are on the way out and it made me sad to make sites no one would join. Shrines are another, more personal way to express my love for characters/pairings/series/things, and unlike fanlistings, there are no rules, no update obligations and no restriction on subjects.”

— Nyx of nyxslounge.ca

 

“I was searching for information of Sesshoumaru from Inuyasha and fell upon A Killing Perfection. It was so incredible, the website’s design gorgeous and I wanted to make one too.”

— Camy of dragonebula.net

 

“Before fandom archives were as big as they are today, I started my first fansite so that I would have a place to post my fanfics. After I got into posting on archives such as Deviant Art and Fanfiction Net, I continued making sites as a way to link all the places were I posted and because I enjoyed making layouts. When I joined Amassment I saw that people had sites that were very different from my own with articles rather than fan content. I wasn’t much into it at first, since I mostly browsed sites for characters I already knew and liked, so I wanted to see new things, rather than discussions about what I already knew. Later, I tried to make a site like that by editing some of my blog posts as articles and adding some details to them. I got very positive responses, so I later became motivated to make a few more sites like that. Group events are a big motivation.”

— Mikari of azurelight.net

 

“The number one thing that got me into shrines: lack of information concentrated in one place. Back in the late 90’s, Wikipedia didn’t exist so information was usually sporradic at best and often incorrect. I wanted to gather all the accurate information and media about my favourite characters and provide it in one place for other fans to access. I also wanted to show my love for my favourites too, of course!”

— Laura of genrou.com

 

What is in a Shrine?

Shrines are all different and everyone has their own unique “style” when creating their shrines. An important thing to remember about shrines is that there is no correct way to create a shrine. Content for shrines is based on what you, the creator, want to talk about and want to present about your topic because a shrine does not need to be a wikipedia article or a game guide. A shrine is a personal project to show how much you like a certain topic.

With that being said, we asked Amassment members what “must-haves” they had to have for their own shrines. This list shows what can be contained in a site, what people usually talk about, and may give newcomers some inspiration when thinking about their own shrines!

In addition, we asked these same members what they would want to see in other people’s sites! Take a look:

How Do I Start?

We are glad that you are interested in making your own shrine! Maybe you are now filled with wonderful ideas and want to go and create your new site or maybe you still need some more guidance on the topic? If you are having trouble getting your project off the ground, we would like to introduce you to our Shrine-Starter Package that was put together by Amassment’s members! Get creating and when you are done, be sure to join our community and share your shrine with us!