#fandom snowflake

[thisbluespirit]

Fandom Snowflake Day 6 (to rec at least 3 works not by me).  Some fanfic (+2 pieces of art) for The Shadow of the Tower and Department S, including some crossovers.

[dawnfelagund]

Snowflake Challenge: Day Two

Here, if you missed it. :)

In your own space, share a favorite memory about fandom: the first time you got into fandom, the last time a fanwork touched your heart, crazy times with fellow fans (whether on-line or off-line), a lovely comment you’ve received or have left for someone.

Okay, @heartofoshun will probably kill me because I mentioned this recently and she complained that I will never let her forget it ... but it really is one of my favorite fandom memories!

So Oshun and I presented two years in a row at the New York Tolkien Conference. It seemed like we always got ourselves in trouble there! I always felt like, representing fandom, we were the hillbilly cousins at the family reunion: too loud, too irreverent, and having too much lowbrow fun. (Actually, Oshun presented on a proper scholarly topic the first year, but I presented on fanfiction both times; we co-presented on fanfiction archives the second year.)

Anyway, the first year, we had just sat in on the last paper session, a fascinating paper about Tolkien’s illustrations by Anna Smol. Anna and I had corresponded earlier in the year, so I hung back to say hi. Then we went to the bathroom. Then we schlepped up the stairs to the seventh floor of Baruch College to the closing session. By the time we arrived at the final event for the day, the doors were shut. And locked.

The NYTC had gotten a Tolkien-themed musical act for the final session of the day. They only allowed ten minutes of passing time between the last presentation and the musical performance, and between saying hi to Anna, needing to pee, and then needing to take it slow on the stairs, we missed out. Now me: I have anxiety around inconveniencing people or asking for help or accommodation. I would have sat outside the performance, trying to listen through the door, and felt sorry for myself and missed everything. Not Oshun. She is much ballsier than me, having grown up in a time when women had to kick ass to be heard.

So she knocks on the door. No answer. So she bangs on the door with her fist. By now, I’m mortified. We can hear faint strains of music coming from the lecture hall. I’m pretty sure I was mumbling something like “ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod” into my palm. Eventually, one of the organizers opens the door and hisses at us, “We are in the middle of a musical performance!” but lets us in. (Probably figuring we’ll do less damage if she does.) I make myself as small as I can and find a seat next to Mr. Felagund, who was not late and saved us seats (and told me, “As soon as I heard the banging on the door, I knew it was you!” OMG.)

When we sit down, Oshun leans over and whispers to me, “What do they think this is, the fucking Metropolitan Opera?”

Now that enough time has passed that I am no longer mortified, I find the memory hilarious and it reminds me why I love Oshun so much too. We both tend toward omg!drama in our lives sometimes, but I handle emotional distress by huddling behind my light therapy lamp and writing woebegone journal entries and Oshun goes and kicks doors in. (Some of her irritation with that episode has also worn off on me. Even without the brief social stop and bathroom break, it was highly unlikely that, lacking full mobility as we did that day, we were going to make it on time, and that was cruddy. The next year, to the organizers’ credit, after I pointed this out to them, the passing times were longer.)

The next year, Oshun, @marta-bee, and I got out of a session early, so we were in the hall, pretty much squeeing over fanfiction, and someone popped out of a room and shushed us. It wasn’t as bad as the Door-Banging Incident of 2015, but it did reinforce for me that apparently Tolkienfic writers are incapable of behaving when we get together, even just two of us.

[heartofoshun]

Fandom Snowflake Challenge Day 3

In your own space, post recs for at least three fanworks that you did not create. ​

Where do I begin? So many! I’m a big re-reader too with fanfic!

The Sovereign and the Priest  by DawnFelagund -- Long ago in Valinor, Finrod and Celegorm faced opposing expectations, one a symbol of Eldarin potential and the other abandoned to a life of leisure, and neither fully certain of his place among the Noldor. Essecarmë by Dawn Felagund -- Curufin, the fifth son of Fëanor, is said to have been his favorite. Why did Maedhros get passed over for this honor? All Mustn't Fail or Falter story by Elleth. Artwork by alackofghosts. Tenn' Ambar-metta by Almare --  AU in which the Ainur are a powerful magically/technologically advanced species and Ilúvatar was an invention to aid them in controlling the elves. Be more cruel, Love, and so be kind. by havisham --  All of Caranthir's preconceived notions are turned on their head when he finds himself falling for the most unlikely person possible -- his annoyingly perfect half-cousin, Finrod.

These are so random. I will do more when my head it not splitting in two.

[alexcat45]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Summary:

Steve will always wait for Bucky.

Notes:

Fandom Snowflake #10 - make a fanwork.

[thisbluespirit]

Fandom Snowflake Day 3: guess who’s coming to dinner

[the-wavesinger]

Fandom Snowflake Challenge Day Eleven

In 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.

So, eeeeee. I’ve been avoiding this for way too long, and ‘without caveats’ isn’t helping. But--the more rational part of my brain knows that this is very, very important, for reasons that have been explained by many, many people much better than I could explain them. So (*takes deep breath*) here goes..

01. I’m getting better at commenting! I’m trying to leave comments more--and it’s working! Mostly because, if I love a fic, I force myself to not read another one until I leave a comment, even if it’s just a simple ‘I like this, so thank you, writer!’. And, I’ve found, commenting makes me happy!

02. I’ve gotten better at controlling my temper Screaming at people when I was stressed and then getting depressed about it (to the point of--well, I’m not thinking about that because that part’s still there) used to be a thing, but now I never do it! I’ve noticed that the reduction of screaming correlates directly to my participation in fandom, so yay?

03. I’m good at compartmentalizing And by ‘compartmentalizing’, I mean ‘not thinking about thinking about things’. And no, this isn’t a joke. Compartmentalizing, I’ve found, is actually a good idea as long as I de-compartmentalize later, when I have privacy. It keeps those nasty thoughts (and other nasty, social-life-and-just-plain-life-impairing things) at bay until I have the time and space to deal with them without turning into a mess.

...Eeeep. That was hard. I don’t think I’ve talked about a lot of these things before. Ever.

[the-wavesinger]

Fandom Snowflake Challenge Day Ten

In 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.

The HASA Research Center is my go-to place for timelines, but character bios, all the information you need about Middle-earth places and things--the HASA Research Library is one of the most useful Tolkien resource collections out there. Plus it’s easy to search!

I don’t know what I’d do without the SWG Reference Library. The character bios are lovingly detailed and provide everything you need to know about a specific character, and there are lots more cool resources!

For squee-ing, Tumblr is usually the place I go to--it’s difficult to search, yes, but there’s a lot of yummy goodness here, and, unlike in other fandoms, the Tolkien fen are lovely and very friendly!

[the-wavesinger]

Fandom Snowflake Challenge Day Nine

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. 

01. Finish (or at least make a dent in writing) the bloody Argon fic. This is my very long, very ambitious project--a novel(la--worcount not quite certain yet) in five different POVs, each needing a distinct voice. Something that makes me swear colourfully on a regular basis. It also features gender dysphoria quite prominently, something i, as a non-trans person, have trouble writing but I like making things difficult for myself. This constantly gets put on the backburner in favour gift exchanges and other, less difficult, projects, so I’m determined to make some headway with this by the end of the year.

02. Commenting! I’m working on improving this, upto the point where I leave comments on at least 75% of what I read. Another thing I keep meaning to do is go back to the fics I read when I was very, very new to the fandom and my general line of thought was ‘oh, all these amazing people don’t need my feedback’. Which...they still don’t, but I also know now how much a squee-ing review makes a writer’s day, so I’m trying to go back to old favourites and comment. I want to be done with at least 75% of these, and preferably everything, by the end of the year.

03. Do things other than writing.  I love making manips and fanmixes (and the occasional drawing I’ve never managed to find the courage to share) although they’re terrible but I don’t do this often--my forte is writing, and I tend to stick to my comfort zone. I want to do things other than writing this year! Which leads me to...

04. Write more. And not just when B2MeM and fic exchanges roll around. I want to write more, and consistently, not in bursts of frenzied activity!