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Fandom Snowflake Friending Meme
Jan. 16th, 2016 11:19 am
I'm pretty sure anyone who might read this found me through the challenge anyway? But you never know, so, promotion time.I'm pretty sure anyone who might read this found me through the challenge anyway? But you never know, so, promotion time.
Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2016: Day 15
Jan. 15th, 2016 08:34 pmAw, man! It's over. D:
Day 15
In your own space, talk about what you're taking away from this challenge. Did you learn something? Did you interact with new people? Or did you try out different fandoms or formats or relationships? What's changed between Day 1 and Day 15 of this challenge?
I found a ton of new recs, which I have yet to read but promise to get to. Open tabs make me feel guilty. I pretty much lurk the other 50 weeks out of the year so I certainly interacted with new people, all of whom are lovely. ^_^ Although, I've learned not to be so nervous about commenting - again here's the link to an article on how brief comments are OK - so perhaps I'll start to lurk less? No promises but that I'll try.
Day 15
In your own space, talk about what you're taking away from this challenge. Did you learn something? Did you interact with new people? Or did you try out different fandoms or formats or relationships? What's changed between Day 1 and Day 15 of this challenge?
I found a ton of new recs, which I have yet to read but promise to get to. Open tabs make me feel guilty. I pretty much lurk the other 50 weeks out of the year so I certainly interacted with new people, all of whom are lovely. ^_^ Although, I've learned not to be so nervous about commenting - again here's the link to an article on how brief comments are OK - so perhaps I'll start to lurk less? No promises but that I'll try.
Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2016: Day 14
Jan. 14th, 2016 08:34 pmDay 14
In your own space, share your love for something fannish: a trope, cliché, kink, motif, theme, format, or fandom.
Trope: Cosmic Horror Story, definitely. For me this trope works better in print, because in visual medium there's too much of a tendency to show instead of hint and of course any kind of horror is always worse when you have to use your imagination.
Cliché: Love at First Sight, although I prefer it when people fall for each other but we still see them have to work at it to maintain the relationship. Even if the relationship doesn't work out - I mean, just because you don't wind up with someone doesn't mean you didn't love them, it just means things didn't work out, and that's okay. Rough, but okay.
Kink: Long hair, preferably thick and silky. Mmm. Especially on men. Especially loose and flowing down someone's back.
Motif: Fairy tale motifs, the aforementioned Cosmic Horror Story, light surrealism (if it's so surreal you can't follow it I don't usually care for it), people encountering each other through multiple incarnations.
Theme: Works that deal with the balance between good and evil. I also like works that don't have a great overarching stop-the-world-from-ending theme but deal with individual people, such as low fantasy.
Format: I prefer prose over other formats. I've always been attracted to words. I can certainly appreciate other formats, but text is the one I gravitate to first.
In your own space, share your love for something fannish: a trope, cliché, kink, motif, theme, format, or fandom.
Trope: Cosmic Horror Story, definitely. For me this trope works better in print, because in visual medium there's too much of a tendency to show instead of hint and of course any kind of horror is always worse when you have to use your imagination.
Cliché: Love at First Sight, although I prefer it when people fall for each other but we still see them have to work at it to maintain the relationship. Even if the relationship doesn't work out - I mean, just because you don't wind up with someone doesn't mean you didn't love them, it just means things didn't work out, and that's okay. Rough, but okay.
Kink: Long hair, preferably thick and silky. Mmm. Especially on men. Especially loose and flowing down someone's back.
Motif: Fairy tale motifs, the aforementioned Cosmic Horror Story, light surrealism (if it's so surreal you can't follow it I don't usually care for it), people encountering each other through multiple incarnations.
Theme: Works that deal with the balance between good and evil. I also like works that don't have a great overarching stop-the-world-from-ending theme but deal with individual people, such as low fantasy.
Format: I prefer prose over other formats. I've always been attracted to words. I can certainly appreciate other formats, but text is the one I gravitate to first.
Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2016: Day 13
Jan. 13th, 2016 08:10 pm
Day 13In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you did not create. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
Formality by lightningwaltz
Fandom: The Goblin Emperor
Summary: Beshelar is distressed by an attraction to Maia. He's even more aggravated when he realizes the attraction is mutual.
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M
Additional Tags: Pining, Mutual Pining, Loyalty, Resolved Sexual Tension, Power Imbalance, consensual polyamory
I like the additional depth the author gives to Beshelar, and though she only makes a brief appearance, I quite enjoy her Csethiro as well.
Anna Hart's Letters by CenozoicSynapsid
Fandom: The Bone Key
Summary: Old love letters can still be compelling reading. Unfortunately.
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: Gen
Additional Tags: Lost Love
I can't really pin down why I enjoyed this one, but I did.
Ephialtes by Harukami
Fandom: The Doctrine of Labyrinths
Summary: Felix leaves Malkar, but Malkar won't ever leave Felix.
Archive Warnings: Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con. I'm adding physical, mental, and emotional abuse. The Doctrine of Labyrinths series contains a lot of material that could potentially trigger someone. If you're not familiar with it you may want to tread carefully.
Category: M/M
I've always been curious about how, exactly, Felix slipped the bonds of the obligation de sang with Malkar, and this does an excellent job of filling in the missing events. Mind you, it's not an easy read.
I'll also leave a link here to my 2015 recs for the challenge, and here and here for 2014.
Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2016: Day 12
Jan. 12th, 2016 08:18 pm
Day 12What makes you fannish? And by that we mean, what is it about a tv show/movie/book/band/podcast/etc that takes you from, "Yeah, I like that," to "I need MOAR!!!" Is it a character? A plotline? The pretty? Subtext that’s just screaming to be acknowledged?
In your own space, tell us what it is that gets you to cross that line into fandom. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
When it comes to things I want to pursue in a fannish way, good characterization and an engaging plot are definitely driving factors. (Including pretty doesn't hurt, no not at all.) Despite that, it's kind of hard to pin down exactly what attracts me. There are some things that feel like they should and just don't. Being attracted to a tv show/movie/book/band/podcast/etc. is like being attracted to a person: you either are or you aren't and while you have guidelines for what attracts you, there's more too it than that.
Fandom Snowflake Challenge: Day 11
Jan. 11th, 2016 06:20 pm
Day 11In your own space, make a list of at least 3 things that you like about yourself. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
I had a chuckle when I saw this because I saw a career counselor this morning and we went over what I think I'm good at. So this is like a continuation of my day, and a little easier because I'm already in the mindset.
Alright, things I like about me:
- I'm creative, even if I haven't exercisesd it as much recently as I would have liked - hence the goal set in Day 9.
- I'm quite good at coming up with fixes for problems and improvements to processes very quickly. I've solved problems for employers they didn't know they had, and saved them hundreds of work hours with small changes, You're losing out, employers who don't call me back!
- My hair.
- Being able to cook.
Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2016: Day 10
Jan. 10th, 2016 12:18 pm
Day 10In your own space, post a rec for fannish and/or creative resources and spaces. Tell us where you go to dig up canon facts for your fandom, or where you get all the juicy details about your favorite ship. Where do you like to hang out and squee like a squeeing thing? Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
Well, I mostly lurk so here are some resource links.
If this first list looks familiar, yes, it's the one I posted in answer to this question last year. :)
- Wikipedia - I know, I know, but if I just need to check, say, the history of tools or clothing, or the basics of an illness or injury it's good enough.
- TVTropes - In addition to their Useful Notes sections, the pages on the works themselves can be useful if you need to look up something about the material you're working with without having to risk checking it and winding up watching or reading it and not working on what you started out with.
- Google - If Wikipedia doesn't have the information, or the depth of information, I want I head to Google. Someone, somewhere, knows the history of crinolines, or the frequency of inside shutters in old houses and they may not have been interested enough to put it on Wikipedia.
- Fan wikis, if they're available. One of the downsides of smaller fandoms though is they tend not to have large wikis, if at all, and when they have one it's often not been updated recently.
- Pixlr.com - This is an online graphics editor I use for doing simple things, admittedly largely at work but it technically could be used for fan stuff. It's pretty much a Photoshop clone, but not as powerful.
- GIMP - A much more powerful Photoshop clone, it's more complex than Pixlr and needs to be downloaded to be used but it has a lot more features and you can do more with it.
- My husband. No, really. He's a fellow nerd and has an encyclopedic knowledge of whatever fandoms he's interested in. (The trick can, in fact, be getting him to stop.)
- The Domesday Book - Medieval Demographics Made Easy - Put in your kingdom's name, weather type, population density, type of law enforcement etc. and it will generate the demographics for your fictional land! Useful if you're writing original work or trying to figure out how something would work in a fanwork when the author didn't give you exact numbers.
- List of Random Names - Why bother spending hours thinking up names for incidental characters when you can have a tool that does it for you?
- Words - Translate Latin to English - It only lets you translate one word at a time, but it does give you a list with a short description of how that word would be used. For example, I put in 'time' and got not only 'tempus' but that 'tempus' refers to 'time, condition, right time' but 'aevum, aevi: time, time of life, age' plus several more.
- Random Title Generator - Does what it says on the tin. Mind, the titles might not be useable for what you're doing, since you just click a button and don't give it any information but you never know.
- Online Etymology Dictionary - Words come into use at different times, and change meaning through the centuries. This will give you the history of the word, including when it's first attested, and the meanings it had at different times.
- Gode Cookery - Want medieval recipes? An Elizabethan dinner conversation? A description of food in the works of Chaucer? Here you go.
- Georgian Jewelry - Actually a business site not a reference page but it includes clear pictures of the antique and estate jewelry (as far as I can see 'estate' is something like 'gently used') from multiple angles, plus the age of each piece and a little bit of history on it and its style. Plus, it's just lovely to look at. [Edited to add 1/10/16.]
Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2016: Day 9
Jan. 9th, 2016 11:19 am
Oh, man, we're past the halfway point already? :(Day 09
In your own space, set some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
- Get at least 2 more fanworks done than I did last year. I miss being creative.
- Get some original fiction written. I actually did fairly well on that last year, coming in around 40k words in NaNo. The world isn't as developed as I'd like and the plot wasn't strong enough to hold an actual book together, but hey! 40k is nothing to sneeze at.
- Learn to knit socks. I have a sock started, I just got distracted with dice bags. :P They're so easy! Plus, if I can knit socks I can knit stockings and I'd really like a pair or three of pretty, lacy, stockings.
- Find a job. Easier said than done in a province with an unemployment rate hovering around 9%.
- Meet or exceed my Goodreads 2016 challenge. Well on my way so far, but it's early days.
- Get back into scale model building. We've got a workroom and an air booth set up, I really don't have any excuses!
- Be better about commenting.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
just_ann_now linked me to this post on commenting and it made me feel much less nervous about leaving short comments. It's also got suggestions for things you can leave, which is great if you're like me and you go 'but what do I sayyyy!' before losing your nerve and clicking away, vowing to come back - really! Kudos are lovely to get too, mind, but sometimes I want to leave words.
Fandom Snowflake Challenge: Day 8
Jan. 8th, 2016 02:54 pm
Day 08Comment to someone you haven't ever interacted with before or introduce yourself to someone you've interacted with and friend/follow them. Afterwards, leave a comment in this post with the equivalent of "I did it!"
I went through the self-recs from Day 3 and left some comments hither and thither on fics, graphics, and at least 1 craft. (There were a lot, which is wonderful. I'm so pleased to see so many people putting what they're proud of out there!)
Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2016: Day 7
Jan. 7th, 2016 11:47 am
Day 7In your own space, share a favorite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favorite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
Just this past December - as anyone whose read my 'What Am I Reading' entries knows - I fell in love with Jordan l. Hawk's Whyborne & Griffin series. Turn-of the century, Lovecraftian, town-with-a-dark-secret horror? (And sometimes 'temple with a dark secret', 'lost city with a dark secret'...) Sorcerors, evil cults, Old Gods, couples being sweet at each other while overcoming odds, possibly incoming cosmic horror? It's like someone peeked into my psyche, I swear, then dropped this in front of me.
Which is actually kind of like what happened. I'd been looking at these, debating, then
just_ann_now messaged me to let me know book 1 is available free at Smashwords. It took me a while to get to it, seeing as there are a fair number of sex scenes in each book and I was at my in-laws over the holidays. They wouldn't intentionally read over my shoulder and certainly wouldn't go through my ereader but just in case there are some things I'd rather not explain.Here's the author's blurb:
Some things should stay buried.
Repressed scholar Percival Endicott Whyborne has two skills: reading dead languages and hiding in his office at the Ladysmith Museum. After the tragic death of the friend he secretly loved, he’s ruthlessly suppressed any desire for another man.
So when handsome ex-Pinkerton Griffin Flaherty approaches him to translate a mysterious book, Whyborne wants to finish the job and get rid of the detective as quickly as possible. Griffin left the Pinkertons following the death of his partner, hoping to start a new life. But the powerful cult which murdered Glenn has taken root in Widdershins, and only the spells in the book can stop them. Spells the intellectual Whyborne doesn’t believe are real.
As the investigation draws the two men closer, Griffin’s rakish charm threatens to shatter Whyborne’s iron control. When the cult resurrects an evil sorcerer who commands terrifying monsters, can Whyborne overcome his fear and learn to trust? Will Griffin let go of his past and risk falling in love? Or will Griffin’s secrets cost Whyborne both his heart and his life?
The first book is very reminiscent of Sarah Monette's Kyle Murchison Booth short stories - not a copy, mind, just the same feeling - but less dark. And with more sex. It moves away from that feeling in books 2 and 3, though.
If you're curious, here's the link to the free copy of book 1, Widdershins.
Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2016: Day 6
Jan. 6th, 2016 06:29 pmDay 6
In your own space, create your own challenge. What’s something you want to see more people doing in fandom? Is there something you’ve tried that you think other people would enjoy if they gave it a go? Dare your friends to try it out, and have fun with it. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
I'm going to repost my response from last year, just because I think people can use the encouragement to look after themselves, as well as other people. So:
In your own space, create your own challenge. What’s something you want to see more people doing in fandom? Is there something you’ve tried that you think other people would enjoy if they gave it a go? Dare your friends to try it out, and have fun with it. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
I'm going to repost my response from last year, just because I think people can use the encouragement to look after themselves, as well as other people. So:
Every day, give yourself a present. Buy yourself a coffee, pick up a shiny thing, a book, or a new plant for your home or office. It doesn't have to be something you spend money on: check out a new author or fandom, treat yourself to an extra cute (or porny, porn is also cheering) picture, wear that nice outfit in the back of your closet you never get a chance to wear just because you can.
Finished my dice bag for the Day 4 challenge! I've got pictures, too - and apparently haven't dug out my camera in a loooong time since it still has pictures on it from, um, eight years ago. Oops.
( Cut for images and length )
( Cut for images and length )
Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2016: Day 5
Jan. 5th, 2016 08:41 pm
Day 5Leave feedback for a fanwork. Or multiple fanworks. It can be as simple as I liked this to a detailed list of all the things you loved about the fanwork. The key is to leave some sort of feedback.
If you've already left feedback in the course of a previous challenge, it totally counts. But you're free to leave more feedback.
I left a comment on
just_ann_now's Style, which has a lovely use of taste to pin down a character's personality, and mizface's amazing TARDIS cake, which I have to keep in mind next time my Whovian friends come over, Doctor-related reasons or no. Also given a friend praise for an AU they're planning. I think I've left more feedback elsewhere recently, but can't remember where? Kudos on AO3, most likely. Perhaps I should make a resolution to leave at least one instance of feedback (more detailed than likes or kudos) on a fanwork each week? Might help work past the anxiety I sometimes feel about it.Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2016: Day 4
Jan. 4th, 2016 06:42 pm
Day 4In your own space, create a fanwork. Make a drabble, a ficlet, a podfic, or an icon, art or meta or a rec list. Arts and crafts. Draft a critical essay about a particular media. Put together a picspam or a fanmix. Write a review of a Broadway show, a movie, a concert, a poetry reading, a museum trip, a you-should-be-listening-to-this-band essay. Compose some limericks, haikus, free-form poetry, 5-word stories. Document a particular bit of real person canon. Take some pictures. Draw a stick-figure comic. Create something. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
You know, I knew this question was coming and I still didn't prepare for it? Thank goodness for low-pressure challenges with no deadlines! ^_^
I'll...go think of something. Unless the dice bag I knit for my gaming dice counts?
Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2016: Day 3
Jan. 3rd, 2016 02:31 pm
Day 03In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
Some of these are repeats, both because I still like them and because I got a grand total of, um, two fics done since the last Snowflake Challenge. 2015 sucked and from a lot of people's Day 1 posts I see I'm not the only one.
To Chain Together
Fandom: The Doctrine of Labyrinths
Summary: What do you say when someone you never expected to see again shows up to say what you never expected to hear?
This one is was written for
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif){kind=small}
smallfandomfest in 2015. Mostly. The beginning was supposed to be the answer to the 2015 Snowflake Challenge's Day 6 but the opening paragraph wouldn't yield to anything larger. I ended up using it as a jumping-off point for the fic for the challenge just because I liked Mildmay's description of the lighthouse. The rest of it is because I wasn't satisfied with one of the plot threads I felt was left dangling - though to be fair it is the kind of thing that happens in real life - and because, dammit, Felix and Mildmay deserve a happy ending!Well, reasonably. It is Doctrine of Labyrinths, after all. I'm sure something will try to possess or kill them soon.
Decisions
Summary: Erestor decides what to do with his day.
Written for the 2014 February Fanon Busters challenge on
lotr_community. The idea of Erestor spending all his time inside and buried in paperwork never sat right with me: if you're immortal you're probably going to develop process improvement at some point, after all.Honesty
Summary: Cas has his reasons for letting Dean see what he does.
Sad drabble based around Dean and Future!Cas' conversation in the truck during 'The End'. Future!Cas breaks my heart, he's the wreck and ruin of everything Castiel was, and I'm firmly convinced that the entire conversation in question came about because he knows that and wants to change it.
Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2016: Day 2
Jan. 2nd, 2016 11:40 am
Day 2In your own space, create a list of at least three fannish things you'd love to receive, something you've wanted but were afraid to ask for - a fannish wish-list of sorts. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your wish-list if you feel comfortable doing so. Maybe someone will grant a wish. Check out other people's posts. Maybe you will grant a wish. If any wishes are granted, we'd love it if you link them to this post.
Oh, I...don't know. Icons are always good and I wouldn't say no to fan art or fic recs for any of my fandoms. Or heck, even recs for new fandoms! My tags list is here if anyone's curious, or feel free to ask questions in the comments.
Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2016: Day 1
Jan. 1st, 2016 11:15 amIt's back, it's back! :D
Day 01
In your own space, talk about why you are doing the Fandom Snowflake Challenge? What drew you to it as a participant? What do you hope to accomplish by doing these challenges? Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
I first saw a reference to it in 2014, posted in the Site News over on Faerie. I was curious and checked it out, only to find interesting questions and challenges, and many, many, lovely people to be fannish with. :) I like the informal structure: do a challenge or don't, leave a link or don't, come back to a challenge later if you didn't feel like answering it right away. I like the push it gives to be creative, and to interact with other people. Especially this year, where I've been so busy and distracted with personal issues I haven't done nearly as much fannish stuff as I wanted. (New year, new beginning, maybe?)
Day 01In your own space, talk about why you are doing the Fandom Snowflake Challenge? What drew you to it as a participant? What do you hope to accomplish by doing these challenges? Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
I first saw a reference to it in 2014, posted in the Site News over on Faerie. I was curious and checked it out, only to find interesting questions and challenges, and many, many, lovely people to be fannish with. :) I like the informal structure: do a challenge or don't, leave a link or don't, come back to a challenge later if you didn't feel like answering it right away. I like the push it gives to be creative, and to interact with other people. Especially this year, where I've been so busy and distracted with personal issues I haven't done nearly as much fannish stuff as I wanted. (New year, new beginning, maybe?)
