Snowflake Challenge Day 10, Day 11
Jan. 12th, 2018 05:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pensnestI'm trying to be more physically active, as I spent the first three quarters of last year doing lots of work around the house, with the result that I got somewhat fitter without making a thing of Getting Fit. And since the building work was completed, there are fewer active tasks for us to do and I've been vegging more. So I spent quite a lot of time in the garden today, hacking at various trees and shrubs. There is now a large pile of dessicated branches close to the entrance to the Ancient Forest—which, Interestingly, has been padlocked shut from the other side. We shall attempt to find out whether it was the builders working on the site next door who did this, or the council. The council are entitled—the builders, not so much. (Not that we are necessarily entitled to put our garden debris there, either, but we do have the only gate into the area, and our predecessors in this house had established the habit and told us of the option!)
Day 10
In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme. (Or a few!) Tell us what makes it work for you, and why it appeals to you so much. Talk about what you like to see in fanworks featuring that theme most. Feel free to include recs and examples!
I never quite know what 'trope' means... but on the assumption that it means 'things I like in fic', I can think up a few.
Equality is my kink I find that I don't much like stories in which the balance of power is heavily askew, so no Harry/Snape for me, etc. Even within my beloved popslash, I tend to find that my story participants have to be equals - which tends to just mean that if there's an age difference, the younger is the one who makes the running, that kind of thing. And Justin Never Tops. *shrug*
Friends become lovers - goes with popslash, really, because the friendship between them all is such a big part of why I enjoy this fandom. But it's true in other contexts. Although Friends Stay Friends is also good!
Pining but getting on with life - I don't like full-blown over the top romantic stuff, as a rule. I prefer my romances to be down to earth and replete with cynicism and defensiveness. I like my boys to pine, but not to wallow.
Established Relationship - this is probably an age thing, since I and my subject matter are getting on a bit. And I have an established relationship of my own, and it isn't boring or devoid of wonderful moments, so I'm delighted by fic that is likewise.
Alternate Timelines - these can be a lot of fun. Branching off from canon, usually by changing course at a particular moment and seeing what happens next, these fics are a lot of fun. I have one burgeoning v-e-r-y slowly in my head, but there's another one I won't actually write, which I conceived back in my ST:TNG days. I did write out my mental notes here, if anyone's interested. The fic deviates from canon at a very precise moment!
I also enjoy AUs that 'reflect' canon in some way - not necessarily as a direct translation of canon, but making references to it. I've often done that myself, and it's nice to spot the references in other stories.
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.
Star Tek:TNG got me into fandom, and that has been such an enriching and joyful thing, it definitely qualifies as changing my life. I don't know how I came to borrow video tapes from a friend whose husband was addicted, but I did, and I'd come home from (musical theatre) rehearsals and sit in front of the telly to watch three or four episodes before going to bed. It's a great way to become addicted! Also, it happened that I started my Trek watching in season 3, by which time everybody had really got things right. The middle three seasons established my 'ur-characters' very satisfactorily.
From watching, I found myself sneaking into Waterstones and buying Trek background books in shame-covering brown paper bags. Then I acquired a few of the commercial Trek magazines, and in one of those I saw an ad for the IDIC newsletter. This was a thing of joy, a fan-run publication which came out about eight times a year, densely packed LOCs and articles and ads… Eventually I followed an ad to a fic zine, and my joy was complete. I started to write those fantasies into stories, got them into a few zines and then on to the internetc, alt.startrek.creative or something like that. My people!
Does a convention count as a fanwork? I'm pretty sure it should. By devious means I found myself at Redemption Con in 2005 and it was there that I met the person who introduced me to popslash. And popslash has brought me *so* *much* *joy*. Incidentally, LiveJournal was a big part of the community that I found, and it is such a shame that LJ has been so badly mangled in the years since.
Day 10
In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme. (Or a few!) Tell us what makes it work for you, and why it appeals to you so much. Talk about what you like to see in fanworks featuring that theme most. Feel free to include recs and examples!
I never quite know what 'trope' means... but on the assumption that it means 'things I like in fic', I can think up a few.
Equality is my kink I find that I don't much like stories in which the balance of power is heavily askew, so no Harry/Snape for me, etc. Even within my beloved popslash, I tend to find that my story participants have to be equals - which tends to just mean that if there's an age difference, the younger is the one who makes the running, that kind of thing. And Justin Never Tops. *shrug*
Friends become lovers - goes with popslash, really, because the friendship between them all is such a big part of why I enjoy this fandom. But it's true in other contexts. Although Friends Stay Friends is also good!
Pining but getting on with life - I don't like full-blown over the top romantic stuff, as a rule. I prefer my romances to be down to earth and replete with cynicism and defensiveness. I like my boys to pine, but not to wallow.
Established Relationship - this is probably an age thing, since I and my subject matter are getting on a bit. And I have an established relationship of my own, and it isn't boring or devoid of wonderful moments, so I'm delighted by fic that is likewise.
Alternate Timelines - these can be a lot of fun. Branching off from canon, usually by changing course at a particular moment and seeing what happens next, these fics are a lot of fun. I have one burgeoning v-e-r-y slowly in my head, but there's another one I won't actually write, which I conceived back in my ST:TNG days. I did write out my mental notes here, if anyone's interested. The fic deviates from canon at a very precise moment!
I also enjoy AUs that 'reflect' canon in some way - not necessarily as a direct translation of canon, but making references to it. I've often done that myself, and it's nice to spot the references in other stories.
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.
Star Tek:TNG got me into fandom, and that has been such an enriching and joyful thing, it definitely qualifies as changing my life. I don't know how I came to borrow video tapes from a friend whose husband was addicted, but I did, and I'd come home from (musical theatre) rehearsals and sit in front of the telly to watch three or four episodes before going to bed. It's a great way to become addicted! Also, it happened that I started my Trek watching in season 3, by which time everybody had really got things right. The middle three seasons established my 'ur-characters' very satisfactorily.
From watching, I found myself sneaking into Waterstones and buying Trek background books in shame-covering brown paper bags. Then I acquired a few of the commercial Trek magazines, and in one of those I saw an ad for the IDIC newsletter. This was a thing of joy, a fan-run publication which came out about eight times a year, densely packed LOCs and articles and ads… Eventually I followed an ad to a fic zine, and my joy was complete. I started to write those fantasies into stories, got them into a few zines and then on to the internetc, alt.startrek.creative or something like that. My people!
Does a convention count as a fanwork? I'm pretty sure it should. By devious means I found myself at Redemption Con in 2005 and it was there that I met the person who introduced me to popslash. And popslash has brought me *so* *much* *joy*. Incidentally, LiveJournal was a big part of the community that I found, and it is such a shame that LJ has been so badly mangled in the years since.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-12 07:46 pm (UTC)That con was 2005? Wow.
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Date: 2018-01-13 05:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-13 11:30 am (UTC)I am down with all your tropes particularly equality and alternate timelines. I love tweaking canon in just that way.
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Date: 2018-01-13 05:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-13 02:55 pm (UTC)Yes to this! When I'm writing my AUs (especially for Hit The Floor, I've discovered) I love to mention canon things, even if I'm putting a twist on them.
LiveJournal was a big part of the community that I found, and it is such a shame that LJ has been so badly mangled in the years since.
Also this. :(
no subject
Date: 2018-01-13 05:25 pm (UTC)(Had to change the icon when I realised I had a perfect reply to yours!)
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Date: 2018-01-13 05:31 pm (UTC)Also editing because I didn't pay attention to ~your edit when I replied, lol! That's my default icon and has been pretty much since I joined LJ and a friend of mine made it for me (with a photo I chose). *g* I rarely use it in posts, though, so when you see it you'll know I forgot to choose an icon. *g*
no subject
Date: 2018-01-13 06:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-14 06:05 pm (UTC)I'm totally in love with all of your tropes, but particularly with Established Relationships. There are far too few stories with old settled couples!
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Date: 2018-01-14 10:46 pm (UTC)I know! I suppose it's because fandom skews so young. Something like that.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-15 06:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-15 01:02 pm (UTC)