a few people irl! some of them are fannish; some of them are like, fan-adjacent. i hang out with a pretty geeky crowd so it’s a little more mainstream, i think. i keep it vaguely on the dl, though, both on the reading and writing front.
42. Name a fic that you wish was longer.
this is a really interesting question. i don’t know that i really have any! uh, i don’t tend to read wips, and i think when i love a fic, part of the reason is definitely the amount of closure it provides upon ending. i can think of a few fics i love that i think could be shorter! i’m not sure i’d make anything longer. (also, given my problems with writing anything long, it’d be fairly hypocritical, anyway, haha.)
47. If you had to introduce someone to fanfiction with a few fics, which would you suggest?
i think i’d ease into it by turns? so first, there is a world of good and, er, legitimate (for the lack of a better term) fanfic: jean rhys’ wide sargasso sea, alice randall’s the wind done gone, neil gaiman’s a study in emerald. i mean, i did a lit theory class once where all the texts were just like, the tempest remixes so there are, honestly, a lot of choices, even setting aside the gimmicky ones like pride and prejudice and zombies.
and then i’d try some gen/gen-ish fic for well-known canons/canons in the public domain, of which there are some great works:
Carpetbaggers by cofax, a narnia fic which picks up at the end of the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe and delves deeply and thoughtfully into what it actually means for the pevensies to start building a nation
The Brain Thief by hollimichelle, a discworld fic chronicling the adventures and misadventures of sam vimes, jr in a tone that would slot neatly into the series
and then maybe move on to fics that are starting to use some concepts that aren’t strictly fannish but fandom often makes good use of:
And is there Honey still for Tea? by tryfanstone, a winnie-the-pooh post-apocalyptic (sort of) fic which is gorgeous and devastating
Under the Table and Dreaming by hollycomb, a toy story fic that does what some fic writers do really well, i.e. take marginal characters from the canon and flesh out their stories. it’s also sid/andy, and like, for better or worse m/m stories make up a lot of my fandom diet, so might as well work that in.
Chance by SallyExactly, an mcu fic that does an incredible amount of work into natasha and clint’s characters in a story that’s just so excellently paced
something like katie forsythe’s canon holmes/watson fics are good here, both for fandom-of-my-heart reasons and because something i personally like to read is fic that is, hmm, maybe a slight intensification of the canon; i basically live in the space of “feels like canon but they also kiss”, and these fics are a great example of that for me
and if my person is STILL INTERESTED IN MORE FIC, i think i’d point them towards some fics that are more irreverent in how they deal with the canon:
Narrative Multiplicity by fairylights, a really lovely sherlock/doctor who crossover
all our errors on repeat by fuzzy-paint, a stunning social network groundhog day au
maybe lightning on the wave’s sacrifices arc, which i find very interesting from a worldbuilding point of view even if the plot tends to like, max drama at all times
and this is like, not at all a representative list, this list is entirely based on where i hang out in fandom, so AT THIS POINT, I WOULD LET THE BB!FAN INTO THE WILD AND DISCOVER WHAT MAKES THEIR HEART SING
they can find like, all the weird porn on their own, okay
bookworm428 replied to your post: Tfw you realize a long-time mutual is no longer...
unless you start reblogging gore I’ll never unfollow you <3 <3
bookworm428 replied to your post: Tfw you realize a long-time mutual is no longer...
you’re awesome!
Awww, thanks, friend! <33 I very much doubt I’m gonna start reblogging tons of gore, so we should be safe there, haha. And same goes for you! There are many people I follow who I have such an attachment to that I can’t imagine unfollowing them unless they spontaneously turned into bigots or something. I know people are moving on to different interests and such all the time on here, but some relationships transcend fandom boundaries! Or at least I like to believe they do.
bookworm428 replied to your chat: my occupational therapist: You know what? I think...
I like to tell my clients to drop their arm/leg/whatever into my hand. Somehow changing my language to saying “drop” helps a lot. I also tell myself in my head to “play dead” in order to relax but that doesn’t go over well with clients �� it’s SO hard to relax isn’t it!
I can definitely see how hearing a different term could help! I’m hearing it in my head now and trying to “drop” my thumb from where it apparently wants to be, in some weird salute/alert position. Omg, relaxing is the haRDEST!
