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Fandom Snowflake, Day 11

Alright, still playing catch up today. Will I make it? Lets find out!

Day 11

Share a book/song/movie/tv show/fanwork/etc that changed your life. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Nightfall in Middle Earth. If it were not for this album I seriously think I would be a completely different person. This is the album that first really introduced me to metal, without this album I’d probably not be nearly as big of a fangirl over all of these elves as I am now, and really...I don’t think I’d be as involved in fandom at all.

Alright so, I had read Lord of the Rings and even the Silmarillion before ever listening to anything off of Nightfall in Middle Earth. I had some trouble with Tolkien’s writing and wasn’t really used to his style. I liked Lord of the Rings well enough, and thought that Éowyn and Faramir were cool. It wasn’t really something I could see myself picking up again, however. And when I first read the Silmarillion? I’m sorry but...yeah I could barely get through it. I was expecting something far different (and more novel-like) at the time than the history book of an alternate reality that I ended up getting.I just...didn’t get it.

And then, I stumbled across Blind Guardian. I remember reading about the Nightfall in Middle Earth album while going on a wiki-walk through TV Tropes one day. I was looking to put together a new playlist for a fantasy novel I’d started working on, so I figured, eh, why not?

I went on Youtube, I looked up the album, I listened to this song:

And that was it for me. It was...it was amazing. Everything I was looking for in music but never knew I wanted. Dramatic, and intense and near operatic at times and...I was in love. I listened through the entire album. And then I listened again, and again.

This album was based off of that book I had read? The dry history tome that I could barely finish? I decided I needed to pick up the Silmarillion again and give it another read. And now, with those songs playing through my mind, looking at these elves, these characters that had been brought to life in Blind Guardian’s music for me, I was finally getting it. Maybe knowing what I was going into the second time around helped, and without those expectations I had before the book as it was was finally able to speak to me. But had fallen in love. I could see events unfolding in my mind. Fëanor’s confrontation with Fingolfin became an image burned brightly in my mind. The deaths of the trees became something altogether more heartwrending and tragic to me. It hurt me in a way it hadn’t before when Fëanor died. And I found I kind of loved this book? And I wanted to re-read it more and more, and each time I did I discovered something new that I’d missed in other readings. Maglor, Maedhros, Fingon, Finrod, Aredhel, Haleth, Amlach, Azaghal...I fell in love with these characters and soon I couldn’t shut up about them.

By now, music wise I was going on Pandora and discovering new bands by the song: Elvenking, Korpiklaani, Nightwish, Helloweeen, Battlelore... I was becoming obsessed.

I was sucked up into fandom soon after, because...well I needed to find other people who loved these things as much as I did. This year will be the 10th year I have been involved in Silmarillion fandom, and really, fandom in general, and it all started with this album.

#snowflakechallenge2018 #silmarillion #nightfall in middle earth #blind guardian

Fandom Snowflake Day 14

Day 14 In your own space, create your own challenge. I've been thinking and talking a lot lately about commenting on fanworks and why most fic authors I see are constantly unsatisfied with the number of comments they get on their fics. It's something that's important to me bc I'm a fic writer, and also bc I'm a reader who leaves a comment on almost every fic I read. I guess bc of that it's hard for me to understand why more ppl don't comment. From what I've seen from other ppl, it has a lot to do with thinking their comment wouldn't matter or not knowing what to say. But every author appreciates every comment! And any kind of comment (positive, of course) is a good comment! I'd love to be able to encourage ppl to push past those thoughts and leave more comments, bc they're so so important in supporting fandom and building community. All of that to say, I was looking through old posts, and found something about this that I posted on tumblr in 2014. It's specific to fics, but I think it's relevant to all kinds of fanworks. So I'd like to really just use that as my challenge: Back when ffn was the main fic hub and I spent most of my time there, there was a movement going around, at least in the circles I frequented, to leave more reviews/comments on fics. From what I remember, people would put on their profiles something along the lines of “Fic revolution: I resolve to leave a review on every fic I read” and then they presumably would. I know I did this, but fell off the commenting habit pretty soon. I thought it was a great idea because as a fic writer myself, I love getting comments and they are often few and far between compared to hits/like/kudos/favorites/bookmarks. So what I propose is a continuation of this, or at least a resurgence of a similar idea. I propose that if you liked a fic- if it made you laugh or cry or think a little harder, if you thought their characterization was spot on, if the smut was hot, if they included your favorite side character- leave a comment. No matter how small or insignificant your comment may seem, if it’s just an “I love this” or “Great work,” I promise the author will appreciate it. Maybe your comment will make their day or give them the encouragement to work on another fic, you don’t know. But it will mean something to them, and isn’t that great? tl;dr: Try leaving more comments on fics you read, they will be appreciated and help grow fandom!

#snowflakechallenge2018 #Fandom Snowflake Challenge

Day 2: 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.

a lot of memories came surging to mind immediately, to be honest, but I suppose the fact that I’m here at all (in fandom, in slash fandom, writing fic...) is entirely thanks to @seofeng/meiface, whose fujiryo fic I tripped over on ff.net aaaaaaaaaaall the way back in the day.

through her, I discovered LJ (i.e. where fandom used to be before all that crap and we splintered across different platforms /croaky old sigh), the fandom community on LJ, and ... the die was cast.

mei honestly was so welcoming of this weird rando with no sense of social appropriateness commenting all over her posts & fics and brazenly forcing my way into her life that without the amazingly warm and inclusive atmosphere she (and the entire EF <3) created over ten years ago on her LJ and in the fujiryo niche within the larger tenipuri fandom which ...uh ... had ... more than fair share of wank/drama ... I genuinely wouldn’t be the fannish person that I am today. I would not be writing fic the way I write fic today, and I would not be participating in fandom the way that I do today.

she’s literally seen me grow up (I mean I guess we’ve watched each other grow up) as a person and as a fan (not that the two are mutually exclusive), and she definitely played a part in shaping me into who I am today. (pls to bury your face in your cat now mei, fur is good for soaking up tears or something.)

and I guess -- that’s one of my favourite things about fandom, when friendships cross the line from being squee-based to life-based.

SO ANYWAY THANKS MEI, ILUSM2U

#meme #snowflakechallenge2018 #an accurate portrait of the blogger #so many FEELS #this is basically #forochel in fandom: a retrospective

Love Letter to Fandom

For the snowflake challenge, day 15:

Day 15

In your own space, write a love letter to Fandom in general, to a particular fandom, to a trope, a relationship, a character, or to your flist/circle/followers. Share your love and squee as loud as you want to.

Dear fandom

You've been such an important part of my life for so long. I've seen so many changes, many good, some bad. You've helped me develop as a writer. You've given me so many hours of entertainment via fanworks. You've let me make friends, even if they don't always stick around.

I hope the good things and good friends stay. I hope the not so good things lessen. I hope some of the things I miss – more nuanced discussion and thoughtful meta on a platform designed to handle those things – come back.

I hope we can continue to show how much good fandom has done and can do – some of the stories shared during the Snowflake Challenge about fandom experiences have been truly moving. Media can save a life. Friends made through fandom can support it.

The lack of community feeling I've seen happen, that comments have become fewer and even nonexistent in some cases, the shipping wars and sexuality policing with its bisexual and asexual erasure, the idea on who it's okay to ship...I've thought about quitting, more in the last year than in all the years previously, and I've been in fandom when it was zines, not AO3 pages. But I'm still here because I can still find the joy sometimes and I can't quit the good over the bad. I'm finding more places to connect with like-minded people and that helps.

The Snowflake Challenge has reminded me of how much good there is in fandom, and within people. It's been a truly moving experience to be involved in this year.

Thank you to everyone who supports fanwork creators, everyone who has participating in the challenge this year, and to those behind sites like AO3 who make connections possible and protect and preserve fanworks.

You can see other days at the comm or visit @snowflakechallenge

#snowflakechallenge2018 #fandom #community #fannish engagement

Introduction

The Snowflake Challenge is about reminding ourselves why we choose to be part of fannish communities, and embracing what being part of that community means to us, and celebrating who we are. It’s about celebrating our specialness and our talents and what it is that makes each one of us amazing. – kiki_eng Welcome to Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2018! If you’re a veteran Snowflake participant, welcome back; if this is your first year, welcome aboard! All of your mods, old and new, are excited to be bringing you a new round of challenges. Hi. My name is wendelah1 and this is my second year as a moderator. For me, the entire holiday season is a source of stress rather than joy, let alone peace on earth. This past year was one long ordeal, both personally and politically. Now that January is nearly upon us, I am looking forward to the return of snowflake_challenge more than ever. Participating allows me to recharge my fannish batteries for the year to come. Each day from January 1-15, we're going to post a fannish challenge. Some will be simple. The first challenge will be to tell us why you're participating in snowflake_challenge. Some will be a little more complicated. Just follow the instructions to complete the challenge. Sometimes you'll post in your own journal and drop a link in the challenge post. Sometimes all you'll have to do is say, "I did it!" in the comment section of that particular day's post. By the way, you never have to unlock your posts. Just comment to let us know that you completed the day's challenge and we're good. This is meant to be a low stress challenge, not a soul-killing endurance test. You only do the challenges you choose for yourself, the ones you feel comfortable doing. We aren't keeping track, and we aren't going to issue a failing grade if you don't complete a challenge. I got stalled out last year on number 13 myself (I can't remember why). Of course, the goal is to stretch your limits—that's why it's called a challenge—but not to the point of breaking! We're supposed to be having fun here. The snowflake_challenge is for everyone: all fandoms, all media, and all platforms; fandoms of one or ten thousand and one or something in between. You can be focused only on canon, or prefer alternative universes. You can ship real people, strictly fictional characters, or some combination of the two. You don't have to ship anyone at all. I'm a gen person myself. Fandom itself can be your fandom. For the purposes of this challenge, a fanwork is defined as all creative endeavors for a fandom. This can be everything from meta to fic writing to picspamming to hosting a comment-ficathon to running a challenge. Yes to vidding and podficcing and reccing and pretty much anything you can think of. Do we want your crafts, your knitted Wonderwoman dolls, repurposed rubber duckies, and MCU finger puppets? Bring 'em on! Do you write promo posts for your favorites? Fantastic. Star Wars quote lists, Touhou Project wiki entries, Trek canon guides, Lost time-lines, X-Files episode recaps and/or action movie reviews? Excellent. Gifsets. Graphics. Fanart. Yes, yes and yes. Concert write-ups. Filking. Icons. Hello Kitty/Star Trek fusion tattoo designs. Yes, please. The bottom line is this: if you spent your valuable time and emotional energy creating it, it fits under the general heading of "fanwork." Although snowflake_challenge is being hosted on DW, if you don't have an account here, please feel free to comment anonymously and sign your (fan)name. You can also sign in with OpenID, which allows you to use your LJ (and other platform) credentials to comment. We want everyone to be able to participate, regardless of where you hang your fandom hat: LJ or DW, Tumblr or Twitter, dA or Mibba, FanFiction.net or AO3, mailing lists or old-school BBS. Come one, come all to Fandom Snowflake Challenge. Tomorrow the master post for 2018 will be sticky-posted to the top of the community to help us navigate this year's challenges. An introduction to this year's moderators is also in the works. One more thing. An important reason for this challenge is to celebrate fandom itself and the awesome people in it. One way we can do that is by interacting with each other. Some of the challenges are designed to make it easy: leaving feedback on fanworks, creating a love meme, and so on. The other way we can do that is to read individual posts and comment on them. Fandom is about love: love of books and writers, movies and actors, music and musicians, comics and their creators, etc., but it's also about being with and appreciating other fans, and letting them know they matter.

Think of snowflake_challenge as a 15 day love meme to Fandom. Go forth and spread the love!

#snowflakechallenge2018 #Introduction Post

Introduction * Master Post * Day 1 * Day 2 * Day 3 * Day 4 * Day 5 Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

“I create for myself. I don’t need to have people to read/see/listen/appreciate it.” --said no Fan Creator ever. Okay, maybe the first part. A lot of people create fanworks for themselves because it’s an idea they NEED to see through in a story, art or musical interpretation. But, I know of NO ONE who puts their work out there for the world to see and doesn’t want to have any feedback on it. Nothing more lonely then to contribute the only way you know how to a fandom and have nothing but crickets accompany it. Day 6 Leave 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. Afterwards, leave a comment in this post with the equivalent of "I did it!" If you feel so inclined, leave a link to the fanwork you left feedback for so others can check it out. We get it. It’s hard, it takes time, sometimes there are no right words. But, here’s the thing, there are many ways to leave feedback. Don’t stress yourself about the right words, just use a few if that’s all you have. There’s no reward for Best Comment Ever and there are no Comment Police handing out citations for doing it wrong. There is no wrong. ♥

Check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge! Need something to read/view/listen to? Check out the rec posts from Day 3’s Challenge! And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.

Remember that we’re tracking the tag #snowflakechallenge2018 and will reblog any new posts made using that tag.

#snowflakechallenge2018 #day6 #dailychallenge

Snowflake Challenge, day 8

Day 7? What is this Day 7 you speak of? No, but seriously, Yesterdays challenge kinda completely slipped my mind. Yeah...>.> So! Moving on!

Day 8 In 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.

Mmmhhmm...now here’s a tough one. In both of my main fandoms there are so many awesome scenes and instances and choosing one...I mean, even choosing between books is difficult enough xD Today I’m going to talk about Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and I mean, there *is* just so much I love about this book? The atmosphere, the characters, how every story thread comes together in the end of the book so perfectly, and god, the footnotes! I could seriously spend this entire post talking about the footnotes alone and how each one is a glimpse into a world and history beyond the story of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, a world just glimpsed and lying beneath the surface, teasing you with just how little you know and just how much there is to know, much like Magic and Faerie in the book itself.

But actually, speaking of the magic in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, I’d have to say that one of my favorite scenes is at the beginning of Chapter 46, The Sky Spoke To Me:

It was a dark day. A chill wind blew snowflakes against the windows of Mr. Norrell’s library where Childermass sat writing business letters Though it was only ten o’clock in the morning the candles were already lit. The only sounds were the coals being consumed n the grate and the scratch of Childermass’s pen against he paper.

From this first paragraph, the atmosphere of this scene is so clear, so chilling. This is one of the things I love about Clarke’s writing the most, just how atmospheric it is. The fact that it is only mid-morning and yet the candles need to be lit is such a wonderful detail, I can feel the deary shadows hanging over the room, and see the ice and snowflakes being blown against the window, beneath a heavy sky. The quietude of this opening scene and how isolated and alone it feels, with only the sounds of the fire in the grate and Childermass’s pen scratches are soo good too.

and then it only gets better:

Somewhere a bell was tolling, a mournfull sound. It was very far away. Childermass barely noticed it and yet, under the influence of the bell, the room around him grew darker and lonelier...

...The magic will keep the water within the confines of rivers’ customary courses. However Mr Leeves, the young engineer employed by the Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk to assess the strength of the present bridges and other structures adjacent to the rivers has expressed some doubts...

The image of a dreary landscape was before him. He saw it very vividly as if it were somewhere he knew well or a landscape he had seen every day for years and years. A wide landscape of brown empty fields and ruined buildings beneath a bleak grey sky...

...weather the bridges over the Stour and the Orwell are capable of withstanding the more violent flow of water which will certainly ensue at times of heavy rains. Mr Leeves recommends an immediate and through examination of the bridges, mills, and fords in Suffolk, beginning with the Stour and Orwell. I am told that he has already written to your lordship about this matter...

He was no longer merely thinking of the landscape. It seemed to him that he was actually there. He was standing in an old road, rutted and ancient, that wound up a black hill towards the sky where a great flock of black birds were gathering...

I love the interplay here with Childermass between the letter he’s writing, and the vision he’s having. I love how slowly and with what subtlety the vision comes upon him, where it seems at one moment the vision of the landscape is nothing but a daydream, and in the next he’s actually there. I love how very portentous and important every detail of this landscape in his vision seems, while in comparison, the magic that Norrell’s preforming and he’s describing in his letter seems so utterly mundane compared to this vision.

My favorite detail in all of this has to be that implication of familiarity his vision holds, however, “as if it were somewhere he knew well or a landscape he had seen every day for years and years.” It’s such a wonderful hint at what the true nature of magic really is in this book, that something so ineffable and alien is also something that does evoke familiarity. It speaks of the stories and legends and folklore, the very magic that has become so much a part of the culture and that Childermass has spent growing up surrounded by, as a native of the North. Even more than that, however, it speaks of all of the magic that still exists in England, just out of everyone’s reach.

And Childermass Catches a glimpse of that Magic! He begins to see the birds as black letters against the sky and the stones as symbols which will fortell the traveler’s journey! They Sky speaks to him, and he knows deep down that if he could only understand it, it would change the modern understanding of Magic forever!

I love this scene, it pretty much encapsulates everything I love about this book. The magic in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is perhaps my favorite thing about it,in that, it feels like magic. It’s ineffable and beyond human understanding and so much...bigger than us. And Clarke captures that feeling beautifully when she writes:

Childermass came to himself with a start. The pen jerked from his hand and the ink splattered over the letter. He looked around in confusion. He'd not appeared to be dreaming, all the old familiar objects were there: the shelves of books, the mirror, the ink-pot,the fire-irons, the porcelain figure of Martin Pale, but his confidence in his own senses was shaken. He no longer trusted the books, the mirrors, the porcelain figure were really there. It was as if everything he could see was simply a skin that he could tear with a fingernail and find the cold, desolate landscape behind it.

#snowflakechallenge2018 #Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell #Magic

Wrap Up Post

Wow. I know this is said pretty much every year, but it's still true. The past 15 days have gone by so quickly! Some of that is because life keeps on going, time trucking along whether we want it to or not. But honestly, I think it's mostly because the old adage is true - time flies when you're having fun. And as with every year of this challenge, I had a blast! Sometimes (more than I'd have liked) I was posting late at night, but it never felt rushed, or like I was pressured. I just wanted to participate, every day.

Some of y'all were able to do that. Some only took part in a few challenges. Some of you may only have lurked. And you know what? All of that is fine. No, better than that - it's amazing. Amazing that here, in the start of the year, when so many are exhausted from all the craziness that comes with December, when for a lot of folks it's cold, and dark for far too much of the day, you still found the energy to come together and be part of this. You were able to be present. Whether or not you were actively letting us know you participated, your energy and spirit added to the magic that is Fandom Snowflake. I've been a part of Fandom Snowflake since the beginning, first as a participant, and then a co-mod, and every year I'm grateful for each and every one of you. I may not comment on every post, but seeing all of the replies, the sheer number of folks who completed a challenge, warms my heart, and makes me so very glad to be part of this community.

And it doesn't have to end! If you didn't complete a challenge - there's no deadline! You can come back tomorrow, or next week, or even next year. Participate in someone's challenge, rec some fanworks, create something, maybe even grant a wish.

One more thing - I have to thank all of my amazing co-mods, who stepped up, took this on and made it run like a dream. spikedluv, fadedwings,summerstorm,tjs_whatnot,analise010,rscreighton,wendelah1,meridian_rose,kiki_eng - I'm in awe of your talent, organizational skills and energy. I'm proud to have been part of such a wonderful team!

mizface More individual mod comments are below the read more link:

#snowflakechallenge2018 #modpost #wrap up post