I'm Turps, and it's my pleasure to welcome everyone to the Snowflake Challenge 2024!
Many of you will have done Snowflake before, if you have, welcome back, it's lovely to see you. If you haven't, again, welcome. It's always fantastic to see new people, and we hope you have fun.
So, what is the Snowflake Challenge? Well, to go back to the very beginning and the inspiration for this challenge, Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance, sang the song 'Every Snowflake's Different Just Like You' and some lyrics from that song are Big fangs. Small chin. There are so many special things about you.
And that's what Snowflake is about. That every snowflake is different, that every person is special in their own unique way, and the challenge is here to embrace those differences and hold them up to the light.
January can be too cold, too dark, too hot, too everything and we want Snowflake to spread a little joy in what can be a bleak time. Each little glimmering snowflake joining together to create a blanket of positivity and happiness as we're reminded of the things that we love.
Fandom can be a wonderful place, and we want people to embrace that, to talk about their passions -- and it has to be noted here, those passions don't have to be narrow and based on TV/film/book/music fandoms; everything counts. If you love weaving with yak hair, tell us. If your thing is creating suspension bridges out of spaghetti, well let us know, don't hide those skills and those loves, we want to know all about them.
From the 1st, we'll be posting challenges every second day throughout January. Some challenges will have been used before, some will be new, but all can be answered in any way that you want and to your own interpretation. There are no wrong answers.
Also, please know that no one is taking note of what challenges you take part in. You can do every one. You can do one or none. You can do a challenge and not link at the comm, that's perfectly fine. But, if you do link at the community, we do encourage other Snowflakes to check out the links, because there is a whole wide world of loves out there waiting to be encountered and read about. You can also respond to the challenge at any time, on the day that it's issued or a year later, it all counts.
The mods who post the challenges are located throughout the world, so while the challenges will be posted on specific dates, due to time zones they will be posted at different times during the day, so don't worry if a challenge is posted at 9am your own time one day and 9pm the next.
Finally, Snowflake Challenge takes part on other platforms too, specifically:
And if you want to check out past creative responses, we have an A03 collection here: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/fandom_snowflake_challenge/profile
And that's it, all that's left to say is, welcome again, have fun, and we look forward to meeting you all.
you know how last week @snowflakechallenge had us make a list of fandom stuff we'd like to see happen? well yesterday it was "create a fanwork" and
here's my take on "Machine Herald deals with Naph coming down with a cough", untitled little genfic that'll probably need editing later
(also if someone else still wants to spin their own take on that prompt please please please please do so?)
Naph interrupts his work to cough into his sleeve.
Again.
Everyone down there coughs now and then; it's a fact of life in Zaun. Everyone, even the chembarons who use breathing masks like the pilties they've all but became. The only exception is those who have entirely replaced their respiratory system as a last resort--being the only one to offer such services, the Machine Herald is well-aware of the fact, and there are not many of them.
The air is cleaner now than it's been up to a decade ago, thanks to filters more performants, more numerous, better maintained. At least, the air less aggressive than it was, but it's still a far shout from clean.
Infections are still common even if thankfully outright Sump Rot and Lung Blight are on the decrease.
Still. With Naph today it's happened already too much in too little time. More than the boy usually does. A persistent cough, coupled with glassy eyes and a slight slowness in his work...
Viktor fires up a thermal sensor and checks:
and there's a moderate fever.
A minor infection then; no need to fret.
As he's suppressed his fear response he does not worry anyway, whatever the situation, only takes in facts and acts on them. But even if he still could worry there would be no cause here and now.
Naph tries to hide the affliction, of course. That's children of Zaun for you. They learn very young, way too young, to hide weakness. When asking for help goes unanswered, you rely on ourself only.
Naph is no different. Viktor himself, so long ago, wasn't either. It doesn't mean that they should keep on that way.
Why does Viktor care about this one more than others? He cares about the nebulous concept of "the children of Zaun should live in better conditions".
What makes this one different is that he's not afraid of him. Well... back when they first met he was afraid of The Machine Herald but willing to see for himself the rumors' basis and to learn more. And also, to get rid of his fear when it impeded him. Clever boy. That was a good start.
Naph came back time and again. He does want to learn. And so... Viktor admits that he got used to his presence. Having no emotions he can't say that he enjoys sharing knowledge and encouraging learning. But it's logical to want to form apt minds to do the good work.
Also, he's built a sense of familiarity out of Naph.
Even though he's only one out of many street urchins. Having no emotions, again, he's not afraid he'll die, he would not be upset should he die.
Not more upset than at any other failure--every and any preventable death is a failure. So why would this one be worse? ...maybe because of the personal investment he's been making in his education, should it go to waste.
Still. This cough. It's not nothing but it's not dire. And it still needs adressing.
When Naph coughs again, Viktor puts a stop on whatever he was doing.
"That's it. No workshop for you today."
"What! But..."
"I won't have you coughing all over this prototype, spray particules on delicate circuitry and mess up soldering whenever a fit interrupts you."
One could hold up a finger from any hand to emphasize a point and of course The Machine Herald does so with his freakng Hexclaw from extra emphasis. That's final.
Naph does not want to be sent home, that's obvious. Viktor never asked what home was for the boy, if home existed at all, if anyone will take care of him there. Naph is also afraid of being confined to bed, deemed uselss. Neither will happen. Viktor put a stop on the working and even the learning but prefers to keep him close as long as needed.
The bits he was tinkering with are swept away and replaced byt a hot drink--not sweetmilk this time but some nasty tea, heaped with honey that doesn't entirely mask its bitterness. A cold compress os offered--fever is the body's natural response against illness--Viktor is no medical doctor but opines it's better to let it run its course and to suppress it only if too high or gets too uncomfortable. There is no use in feeling crappy if one can help it after all, there's no glory in suffering--after all he offers time and again to anyone wulling to evolve past the possibilities of suffering!
So Naph has to rest even if he doesn't take well the idea of staying idle under his mentor's watchful eye. On different circumstances he would gladly take the oportunity to slack off... if there were no immediate consequences at least. But letting down The Machine Herald by not being up to... whatever expectations he had?
There is no expectation on you, at least not today, except for you to get better. And that's out of your hands anyway.
Defeated, Naph agrees he won't be able to do anything too hard. Light reading it is then, something that even looks merely recreational--yet Viktor assures him that no no there are history and life lessons in it and swears it is educational. That it's not slacking off.
Naph won't even ask how comes The Machine Herald ever got less-educational reading materials in the first place. After making faces at his tea however he finds the never to ask,
"And so, you won't give a copper head for that?"
"I won't."
He will not give him even wire mesh lungs. At least not yet. Hopefully never. As he did on himself to replace his own failing lungs back in the days. Luckily Naph shouldn't need that. This is only a cold. And sure chest colds can get nasty, but it's not chem lung.
(Not yet.)
And even if, caught early there are ways to slow the progress down, and when it's progressed too far, to graft replacements. But with more luck, by the time Naph grows up chem lung won't even happen anymore?
"Now, we've had this conversation already and we can have it again when you're better
('cause he will get better--the odds are all in his favour)
if you want me to give you copper-plated cranial augments..."
Naph snorts, laughs, coughs again and laughs some more and manages to cut Viktor's speech short.
Every year, the good folks at @snowflakechallenge encourage fandom folks to introduce themselves a little more and reflect on what fandom is for them. They have a series of challenges throughout the month of January to prompt sharing more about yourself!
1. Update your fandom information. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.
Hi there! I’m Merc, she/her/hers, 30ish, unreformed tea drinker, time travel enthusiast, and one of those viewers like you PBS is always talking about.
I love period dramas, strong female leads and women’s history. Historical Alternate Universes and Original Female Characters are a big part of my fandom brand and practice. I'm not a historian, I just play one on TV. In my professional life I work at a large museum and I'm happy to talk about museums and career development!
I am on Archive of Our Own as MercuryGray. My older work (2016 and earlier) can be read on ff.net under the same name.
I also post shorter works on Tumblr at the tag mercurygraypresents
A full list of my original characters is available here. Please ask me before using my characters in any of your own work.
For the last 4 years I've run the Blind Dates OC Prompt Fest, a chance to write and test new fandom original characters. The fest usually runs in February and you should join us!
Currently I'm reblogging House of the Dragon, Vikings: Valhalla, All Creatures Great and Small, SAS: Rogue Heroes, Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Lord of the Rings, and Masters of the Air.
I think that’s about it. The askbox is open. I absolutely read your tags. There’s pop in the fridge. Stay as long as you like.
Create a wish list of fandom things (podfic, graphics, playlists, canon recs translations, research help, vids, sky's the limit!) that you'd like to receive. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this Snowflake Challenge Dreamwidth post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
I'm mostly blanking on things I want that aren't on my fandomtrees wishlist (which has Emelan, Encanto, Miraculous Ladybug, and Yuri on Ice prompts) or holiday_wishes wishlist (though the only fannish bits there that aren't on the fandomtrees list are in the spending-money section).
But! The first chapter of starting right now I'll be strong and all chapters of Jeu des princesses avec les pommes d'or de la discorde, inscribed 'to the fairest', both canon-divergent Yuri on Ice fics, are told entirely through stuff the characters said on the internet. Notably on Instagram. Thing is I do not have either the art skills or the art commission money to illustrate most of those Instagram posts. So if I can't glue the Insta post together using canon screenshots, Wikimedia Commons, and Unsplash, then the Insta post has to stay text-only. (You can see in the second chapter of Jeu des princesses how well that's going. I do have two and a half of the images for the first chapter of starting right now—the first one, the Minami one, and the top half of the one where the bottom half is Yuuri stole Phichit's Pikachu hat—but comparing those two chapters may illustrate why I haven't added those images yet.)
So in addition to what's listed on fandomtrees—and I'm joining the chorus of Snowflake participants who want people to look over all those wishlists, or at least the ones with fewer than two gifts, and fill what you can—I am asking for fanart that's the image part of one or another of the Insta posts in one of those two fics.
And! fandomtrees doesn't do Creator's Choice of Fandom, which is valid, but does mean I had to leave this prompt off that list:
* exploration via historical documents, primary and secondary sources, etc., of canon characters/events and their effects on the local, regional, and global courses of history. this could be set a couple hundred years after canon and thus explore canon from a historian's perspective (social media posts could be both primary and secondary sources here, depending), or it could be set around, during, or before canon and explore characters who have been name-checked at most.
Also, the how to use CSS to make iOS messages look realistic guide by CodenameCarrot and La_Temperanza makes it seem like there should be a way to use background-image in the CSS from the how to use CSS to make vintage-2016 Instagram posts look realistic guide by gadaursan (with instIcon1 instIcon2 instIcon3 instead of instIcon, as well as instIconRight instHeart) so that those five little icons don't display when creator style is off. But so far all I seem to be achieving is making them not display when creator style is on, either. Send help?
Honestly, I feel embarrassed asking for things, but I'd really love just more fic for my current fave rare pairs:
1. Jade/Deuce and Floyd/Deuce in particular. I've written so much for both of them, but I'd love to see more works from other people.
2. Any other pairings featuring Deuce, even more classic ones like Adeuce (especially bottom Deuce, okay?)
Also on a non-fic side:
1. fanart is always appreciated
2. Icons for my rp journals? Some of them I'm satisfied with, but I'm also not very confident in my skills.
3. Make a playlist for any of my rare pairs or fics maybe? on a self-indulgent level? Which is fic-related, but I feel like I don't actually have a wide range of music I listen to, so I like getting to listen to new things.
Introduction Post * Meet the Mods Post * Master Post on DW
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.
Happy New Year, fandom! As we look to the beginning of a new year (is it really 2024 already?!), it’s time to freshen up our online spaces. This is a good opportunity to create a new profile post or simply update the one you’ve already got. Your profile can be anything you want it to be: a list of the fandoms you participate in, your loves/hates in fandom, a tour of your fandom journey, or anything else you want people to know about you.
Challenge #1
Update your fandom information. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
If you need ideas or inspiration, feel free to visit the links below for examples of how others have done it. There is no right or wrong way to do this, so write what makes sense to you.
Misbegotten misbegotten’s profile post
Dizzydrea: dizzydrea's profile post t (and a peek at dizzydrea’s sticky post)
Vriddy: vriddy's profile post
Spikedluv spikedlus’s profile post (and a peek at spikedluv’s sticky post)
Check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.
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.
(If you want us to reblog your response here at our Tumblr, we’re tracking: snowflakechallenge2024.)
Every year, the good folks at @snowflakechallenge encourage fandom folks to introduce themselves a little more and reflect on what fandom is for them. They have a series of challenges throughout the month of January to prompt sharing more about yourself!
Challenge #2: Set some goals for 2024.
Finish writing The Darkening Sky. The fic turns FOUR in May. It must be finished by then or so help me, God.
Continue to keep up with the friends and neighbors I've acquired while writing TDS. I know this sounds silly, but it takes a village and I think one of the things that scares me the most about finishing the fic is that when it's done, I will lose that village. (There. I said it out loud.)
Successfully lead Blind Dates again! My goal this year is to have 15 authors and I'm pretty confident we can do it! (Last year we had 12 participants.)
Contribute, in some positive way, to the Masters of the Air milieu. This is the first time I get to be on the ground floor of an HBO war fandom and I'm really, really excited about it.
Keep whatever writing I do for MOTA at a manageable length. No more four year projects, please.
-This is pure vanity, but I really want TDS to reach 100 bookmarks and 20,000 views. There. I said it in a public forum. Judge me all you want. This is the first time in fifteen years of doing this that more than five people have liked something I've written and I want to savor it, damn it.
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.
We’ve all got one: that favourite book series, movie, TV show. Some of those might be among the better known fandoms, for others you may be the only person to have created for them on AO3. So today, it’s time to share the love for your favourites!
Challenge #6
In your own space, share a favourite piece of original canon (a show, a specific TV episode, a storyline, a book or series, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. . Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
Promote those you wish had more love, find people who share your fandoms, discover something you never knew about before but like the sound of.
Check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on. (And because we were gifted with paid time for the month of January, you can search comments! So don’t forget to list the fandom(s) in your comment so people can search for it.)
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.
