Hours Gone By

Oh, god, I honestly can't believe it's 2017 already. Thank whatever powers might exist that the clusterfuck of 2016 is over - and that's honestly all I want to say about the past year. Pretty sure most people agree with me.

But! Snowflake is back! :D This is honestly one of the highlights for the start of the year and I'm grateful to everyone who stepped up as a new mod because I really needed this. That's definitely not a criticism of akamine_chan and co-runners! I understand they've had a tough year, and I also get that if you don't have the spoons, you don't have the spoons and need to step back and engage in some self-care. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that and whoever tells you otherwise is lying. *hugs for you all*

Day 1

In 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.

I'm still pleased with The Longest Night, a LoTR fanfic I wrote in 2015 for the International Fanworks Day challenge over on lotr_community. It came in 2nd place in the Tree and Flower Awards 2015 for Favorite Story Featuring a New Author, which was a most pleasant surprise!

Honesty, an SPN fanfic that I really need to remember to post on A03, is one I think I include in this challenge every year but it's one of my favorites. It's a drabble based around Dean and Future!Cas' conversation in the truck during 'The End'. Future!Cas breaks my heart, he truly does.

Through the Gates, a Goblin Emperor fanfic written for smallfandomfest Round 19 and based on the prompt 'It's not quite love, but it's not just duty, either.' It's about Maia and Csethiro's developing relationship, because I wanted to see more of that, dammit!

Calling Frequency, a Dead Space fanfic also written for smallfandomfest Round 19 and based on the prompt 'Trapped on Tau Volantis after the events of Dead Space 3, an injured Carver has to rely on Isaac for help.'. This one was challenging because a) I've only played DS3 single-player and thus only really know Carver through cut scenes and b) it's mostly dialogue and I had a hard time remembering to include actions and descriptions and not wind up with something that read like, as How Not to Write a Novel says, two disembodied brains in a jar having a conversation. But I succeeded!

For the curious, previous versions of this challenge are at the following links: 2016, 2015, 2014.

Title: Through the Gates
Author: Hours Gone By
Fandom: Goblin Emperor, The (Katherine Addison)
Pairing/Characters: (use full names rather than initials) Maia/Csethiro
Rating/Category: PG
Prompt: It's not quite love, but it's not just duty, either.
Spoilers: (if applicable) Takes place after the end of The Goblin Emperor.
Summary: It's not quite love, but it's not just duty, either. Maia and Csethiro’s relationship develops.
Notes/Warnings: (if applicable) Fun fact: my spellchecker kept trying to change Csethiro to ‘Cset Hero’ and ‘Csevet’ to ‘Clever’.

Written for smallfandomfest Round 19, June - July 2016.
( Read more... )

As it says on the tin, answer one question about fandom for the next 30 days. The list of questions is below the cut.

( 30 Days of Fandom Questions )

28. Have you ever collaborated with anyone else, whether writing together, or having an artist work on a piece about your fic?

Yes, a couple of times. Did a humour piece for Transformers wayyyy back in the mid-nineties and I've played in a couple of shared universes as well. Never had an artist work on a piece for me, though I wouldn't object if someone did!

22. Have you ever participated in a fest or a Big Bang? If so, write about your favorite experience in relation to one. If not, are there any you've thought about doing? And if not, why not?

To Chain Together was written for Small Fandom Fest earlier this year, and I've done a few challenges through lotr_community and one for snowflchallenge. I've never signed up for a Big Bang, though I did look at yuletide this year. It just looked like too much. I tried NaNoWriMo last year and it ended up falling apart because a) I didn't have the interest to write 1,667 or more words per day and b) the plot didn't make sense to the point the characters started to argue with me.

I don't know that there's a favorite experience. Not to say that fests and Big Bangs and such are bad, but I've been having a problem writing for the past couple of years and have had to pretty much force things out.  I'm hoping increasing my antidepresssant will help again, as it did when I first started them four years ago. Some people find themselves less creative on psych meds and that's completely valid, but it seems to work the opposite way for me. At least, I'm trying NaNo again this year (see the shiny icon!) and so far it seems to be going better. Far too early to tell, though, as we're only 3 days in.

16. Summaries – Do you like them or hate them? How do you come up with them, if you use them?

I don't like summaries, no, but I know how important they can be to help a reader decide what to pick or not pick. (Which is probably why so many people avoid or backbutton away from fic that includes crap like 'lol i suck at summaries'.f you can't be bothered to tell me what it's about why should I be bothered to read it?) When I write summaries I try to come up with a brief description of what happens, without spoilers should they apply.

14. Ratings – how high are you comfortable with going? Have you ever written higher? If you're comfortable with NC-17, have you ever been shocked by finding that the story you're writing is G-rated instead?

Most of what I write is G, with a PG-13 for language and a Mature scattered in there. Given that I'm actually considering giving writing Harlequins (I know, I know, but the job market sucks and there will always be a market for porn, however softcore) I should hope I'd be comfortable with going higher.

Unless I can't stop laughing, which is a distinct possibility.

11. Have you ever attempted an "adaptation" fic of a favorite book or movie but set in a different fandom?

No, but I've helped a friend plot out a few fairy-tale adaptations, and I've enjoyed adaptations others have done. A favorite is Of leaves of Gold and Petals Red by Ithilwen of Himring, a LoTR-style adaptation of Tam Lin. This one also goes back to the question about OCs, in that it features one used to good purpose.

10. Pairings – Have you ever gone outside your comfort zone and written a pairing you liked, but found you couldn't write, or a pairing you didn't like, and found you could?

I once wrote a quick fill for a 'd'Artagnan/Constance, cunnilingus' prompt over on BBC Musketeers Kink. Pretty much what it says on the tin. I don't care for the pairing but I was scrolling through the kmeme, came across it, and the idea just popped into my head. It's completely, totally, PWP so I'm not sure how well it fills the 'found you could' part, but there we go.