sasha_feather | Entries tagged with snowflake challenge

I've skipped a few days of this, may or may not catch up later.

Challenge #9

In your own space, promote at least one canon that you adore (old, new, forever fandom).

I'm excited lately by The Expanse, a hard sci-fi tv show featuring a wonderful ensemble cast. It is streaming on Amazon. I watched the first 3 seasons via my local library DVDs, then got a free trial of Amazon to watch the 4th season.

The Expanse largely takes place in the Belt, as in the Asteroid Belt, where workers mine ice and minerals. The Belt is a hard-scrabble place. We meet Miller, a detective on Ceres, who is investigating a missing woman. This part feels like classic noir in space. I was immediately impressed by the world-building details, such as the cracked screen on Miller's future-cell phone. Belters have interesting tattoos and haircuts, and they sometimes speak in a patois.

We meet Chrisjen Avasarala, surely one of the best characters to exist, ever. She is a high-level politician on Earth, which is run by the UN. Earth has massive unemployment and is in conflict with Mars. Chrisjen is fiercely loyal to Earth. She swears a lot and dresses in exquisite saris.

On a mining ship in the Belt, we meet a crew featuring Jim, Naomi, Alex, and Amos. They decide to respond to a distress signal, and things start to go very badly for them.

All of these characters will eventually come together, and wonderful new ones will be introduced: Bobbi, a Martian Marine who is tough as nails; Drummer, a tiny and extremely fierce Belter; Prax, a gentle botanist.

I really love the characters and the setting. The plot can be complex at times, and is generally fast-moving. There is a lot of violence, but so far (IIRC) no sexual violence. The Expanse is interested in class conflict; in politics between Earth, Mars, and the Belt; in the uses and consequences of violence; and in found family. There are many people of color and as the show goes on, we get to see more and more interesting women. There is so far only one lesbian character featured-- I'd of course like it if this show were queerer.

Recommended especially if you like: Mass Effect, shows like Black Sails and Game of Thrones.

Challenge #4

In your own space, set some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private.

My goals for the year:

1. Write at least 2 fanfics.
2. Go on at least 2 dates.

I'm nervous about goals, so I'm going to set the bar low and give myself time to think about them before I do them. I feel (physically) better when I give myself permission to do nothing. Then I usually end up doing things because I have some energy, and because I want to, rather than feeling like I'm pushing myself because I have to. It's such a balance to maintain with a chronic illness, because the threshold is always shifting. I'd always like to do more than I am able to do.

WRT dating: I think it'd be a good idea to date a poly person, who has other partner(s), or someone who is just low-key. I don't have the energy to be constantly calling, texting, getting together. It's been some time since I've dated, and I'm mostly fine with being by myself, but sometimes I feel like I'm missing out.

Challenge #3

Pimp Your Favorite Communities, Fests or Challenges!

I'd like us to not use "pimp". Let us say promote, highlight, spotlight, shine, sparkle... etc.

I used to be really into DW communities but they seem to have drifted away and diminished. I haven't participated in challenges or fests in recent years, except for watching Festivids, which I really look forward to and enjoy. The idea of doing fic challenges is stressful to me, but I do like the snowflake challenge, and writing prompts in general. I'd always like to write more, and these prompts are helpful.

For

snowflake_challenge day 2: talk about your fannish history.

I flirted with fandom and had some trysts in my late teenage years and early twenties, when I posted on bulletin boards and wrote a little fanfic for "the Pretender". In 2007, I went to WisCon and met FullyGoldy. She introduced me to Stargate Atlantis slash. At that point, I basically married fandom.

I shifted from writing original fiction to writing fanfic, which I find more rewarding and more communal. I eventually made friends in fandom, in part by luring existing friends into fanfic, and in part by slowly getting to know the people whose work I admired, and who have similar values.

Fanfic helped me a lot with coming out, because (for me) it normalized queer relationships. Fanfic stories put queer people and relationships front and center. We can be the protagonists and heroes, not the villains or side characters.

I still attend WisCon, and interestingly, the convention has much more of a media fandom presence than it did 12 years ago. There is a thriving vid party which I've helped organize.

I am mutli-fannish; these days when I to download fic onto my e-Reader, or listen to podfic, I'll look for MCU, mostly, or authors that I particularly like. I would like to read more stories about non-binary folks, and more fem slash.

Snowflake challenge, day 1: Introduce yourself.

I'm chronically ill, so I try to live a quiet life. I reside in a cozy apartment with my wonderful roommate. My dog is a very sweet Greyhound named Abbie.

Fandom is my home and community since I got back into it in 2007. My energy for reading is fairly low, but I still manage to read some fanfic and even occasionally write stories. I like listening to podfic, watching vids, reading people's reactions to movies, etc.

In 2019 I wrote 2 fanfics after several years of not writing. You can see my fanfic here (it's all explicit or mature in rating):
https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasha_feather/works

In June of 2019 I joined the organizing committee for LGBT Books to Prisoners, which I absolutely love being a part of.

I also enjoy playing video games, reading graphic novels, and hanging out on Twitter.

Pronouns: she/her/hers or they/them. I'm queer, white, and in my late 30s.

Day 12 - create a fanwork

I started writing an essay which I plan to submit to "Disabled People Destroy SF" anthology. It is about representation of disabled people in SF films and TV.

Day 13 - Set some goals

Collaborate with someone on a fanwork. This will encourage me to create more things.

There are plenty of things I'd like to do, but having low energy, pain, etc make doing things difficult. Working with friends helps, so I am going to seek out more opportunities to have work parties or honestly, just be more social.

Day 14 - Create your own challenge

My challenge to everyone is to say something nice about yourself. You can do it just in your head or spoken out loud, or write it down in your journal (or in comments here).

Day 11

Share a book/song/movie/tv show/fanwork/etc that changed your life.

I'm spoiled for choice on this one, because I love so many things and each one changes me a little bit.

Nine Tomorrows, a book of short stories by Isaac Asimov. I picked this up from the school library and it blew the top of my head off. From there on I was a science fiction fan, forever. It made me feel smart, and let me feel the appeal of ideas. I remember trying and failing to explain the stories to people around me.

The Wings of a Falcon by Cynthia Voigt. I read this every year through high shool and beyond. I can't say exactly what it was about it that reached into my heart and held on.

I'd like to mention Ursula K. LeGuin, who passed away on Tuesday. My favorite book of hers is The Dispossessed. It has this sort of looping structure, which seems to comment upon time itself. It is about societies and people and trying to do one's best work. It is about an anarchist society that is functional but imperfect. It is so beautiful and thought-provoking.

Day 10 - Share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme.

I love time travel stories. There is the fish-out-of-water element: the feeling of not being at home in a different time, and of having to adapt, sometimes very rapidly, to new situations. There is the fantasy of visiting the far future and seeing how technology and humanity are faring, or visiting the far past and discovering new things about it. There is the conundrum about wether the past can be changed, and if so, how much? Does a ripple (or butterfly being killed), change the future drastically, or does time have a "self-healing" element, where things tend to revert back to a sort of baseline? This intersects closely with multiple universes.

Some of my favorite examples:

The Terminator franchise: the idea of falling in love across time is romantic, and does interesting things with the idea of family. What was it like for John Connor, to be a mentor to his own biological father? What is it like for Sarah Connor, desperately trying to prevent the apocalypse, and also prepare her son to be a great leader? "There is no fate" is her motto.

Travelers (tv show): Similarly, these time travelers are trying to prevent a disaster. Their actions change the future, as reported by new travelers arriving; they struggle with knowing what the right actions are. They care, a lot.

Back to the Future: I watched these a lot as a kid-- mostly the 1st and 3rd installments. Weird how these movies predicted that Biff would become president in a certain timeline... and how that came true.

Bill and Ted's excellent adventure: this is an extremely silly movie that my brother watched practically every weekend.

I also enjoy "Star Trek" time travel episodes and the movie "the journey home".

Day 9 - Post at least three recs for fanworks that you have created.

I haven't read any of these in a long time, fair warning.

Silenciar (1222 words) by sasha_feather
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Losers (2010)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez/Jake Jensen
Characters: Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez, Jake Jensen
Additional Tags: Community: kink_bingo, Silence Kink, Canon Character of Color

Head and Shoulders (1549 words) by sasha_feather
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Leverage
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Parker/Eliot Spencer, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Background Parker/Alec Hardison, Background Eliot Spencer/Alec Hardison
Characters: Parker, Eliot Spencer, Alec Hardison
Additional Tags: Trans Male Character, Community: kink_bingo, Sex Toys, First Time, Strap-Ons, Trans Character, Hair, Eliot's hair is amazing, OT3
Summary:

A PWP featuring trans-masculine Eliot and Parker.

Yippee Ki Yay, DaddyFucker (3732 words) by sasha_feather
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Matt Farrell/John McClane
Characters: John McClane, Matt Farrell
Additional Tags: Age Difference, Daddy Kink, Dirty Talk, Phone Sex, Star Trek References, Alien references, assholes in love, cross play, alternating pov, Established Relationship, cross dressing, PWP, Community: sexy_right
Summary:

Matt ran his hands over John’s bald head, pulled him down, and said too loudly, “Yeah, Daddy, give it to me.”

Day 8 - Share a favorite piece of original canon.

I got hung up on this one because I'm overly critical of media and often find it disappointing.

Brooklyn 99 - Half-hour comedy, on FOX, and on Hulu

Consistently funny and with a diverse cast! There are multiple characters who are queer, multiple black characters, two Latina characters, and a Jewish character. There are male characters who are not macho, and female characters who are tough. The writing is snappy, and the humor is, generally speaking, not mean. (There are a few ableist jokes, and Gina is occasionally mean). Andre Braugher is an amazing actor, Terry Crews is a gem, and Stephanie Beatriz is a cinnamon roll.

Day 7: create a love meme for yourself.

I know these can be awkward especially if you don't know me well, so feel free to just say hi, or ask a question, or say something you've learned today, or tell a little joke, or talk about your pets, in comments.

Day 6: leave feedback for a fanwork. I left a comment on this extraordinary fic:

Unaccommodated Man (26898 words) by kvikindi
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Black Sails
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Captain Flint/Thomas Hamilton

I won't copy the comment here, because I don't want to spoil anything.

But in part: "Like the best writing always does, this work gives me insight into the way other people think and feel."

Sometimes reading something I'm like, yeah, I could write this. And then sometimes I'm like, no, I could never write this-- this person thinks differently than I do, and they have insights into other people that I cannot access. My brain simply works differently. I love that feeling. For one thing, the author is sharing that gift with the reader. It's an expansive experience.

Snowflake challenge day 5

Recommend a fannish or creative resource!

I read / listen/ view fanworks primarily from recommendations. Therefore I really appreciate people who rec things. It saves me a lot of work, and I find awesome stuff this way. It's also neat to share the love between friends, and to promote wonderful things.

Communities where people rec things:

fancake Themes such as arranged marriage, enemies to lovers, first time, royalty AUs, daemons, etc.

bestthingever For new fanworks

vidrecs fan vid recs!

A shout out to

dodificus who recommends fanfic!

Create a fannish wishlist

1. Fic using "they" pronouns for the main characters. I have so many friends using they/them/theirs pronouns and I'd like to see that reflected in fic.

2. A new, juggernaut femslash ship with 1000+ fics on ao3. Let's do it, fandom!

3. Leave comments/feedback on fan works.

Snowflake challenge day 3:
Recommend 3 fan works not your own

1. http://archiveofourown.org/works/8016253
Come Forth into the storm, the Iron Bull/Dorian Pavus (DA:I), by zythepsary

A lovely kink fic where Doran and Bull have a friendly wager: who can sleep with more people in the castle? It gets emotional too. Love this fic!

2. http://archiveofourown.org/works/13032336
A Quite unlosable game, by some_stars, Dark Angel, Max/Alec

The deals with the shadow of Manticore and how it affects Max and Alec's relationship.

3. http://archiveofourown.org/works/13138692
Without Fault or Flaw, by longwhitecoats, Kushiel series

A powerful and moving piece about a war veteran visiting the Court of Night-Blooming Flowers. Disability-positive work.

4. http://archiveofourown.org/works/5269628
Stuck on the Puzzle, by spectaclesofthor, the Iron Bull/Cullen Rutherfod (DA:I)

A long kink fic that is so great at holding tension and shows how these two are so good for each other. Gripping.

Day 1: Talk about why you're participating in Snowflake and how the challenge has affected you.

I like writing prompts; I like participating in things; I like celebrating fandom.

Day 2: Share a fandom memory.

a. A fan party at fully_goldy's house. She made fancy foods and we watched some Teen Wolf.

b. The vid parties at WisCon. It's evolved from a small event to a huge one. It's amazing when the crowd sings along to vids: just this feeling of joy and being with my community and feeling the same things the group is feeling. The delight of the vidders present, getting to see people react to their work. My goal next year is to get enough sleep and rest that I don't get a headache, and so I can enjoy the whole of (or at least most of) the epic vid party.

In your own space, share something non-fannish about yourself. A passion or a hobby or a talent, something that people might not know about you. We are more than just our fandoms. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it.

I have no idea what to write here because I talk about my non-fannish interests all the time.

OK let's talk about Sasha's love of QUEER FASHION! I buy most of my clothes from the Good Will, consignment stores, or TJ Maxx, which is like a thrift store but with new clothes (left overs from department stores). When I was younger I hated shopping for clothes but now I like it, mostly because I did a lot of body-acceptance work and also because I figured out what sort of clothes I like.

I like wool, suits, coats and jackets, and flat caps. The hats especially help protect my eyes from fluorescent lights, but they are also cute, garner compliments, and I think they help give me some queer visibility. I wear a lot more dresses and skirts these days than I used to. I like incorporating both masculine and feminine elements into outfits. I'm not into makeup or hair products, but I do like some kinds of understated jewelry.

Adventure suit! A work outfit, great because it has pockets in both the skirt and the jacket; it's practical and stylish.

Goorin Bros flat cap. One of several that I own. I definitely should get my hair cut this short again, but I am trying not to spend any money.

I also should take more outfit pictures!

(skipping day 5 for the time being)

Day 6

In your own space, ~~pimp~~ promote three comms or challenges and explain why you love them.

vidrecs
It's recs! For vids! I love vids.

shutterspeed
We have restarted this comm, which involves taking photos based on prompts and posting them to the community. The goal is to take more photos and fuel your muse.

netflix_dw
For Netflix-related discussions. I sometimes post recs there. I would like to see this community get more traffic.

kink_finders
People post requests looking for fic (or books) that hit their specific kinks, which is broadly defined. I enjoy reading this comm and following links in comments to good fic.

(Skipping Day 3)

Day 4

In your own space, create a list of at least three fannish things you'd love to receive, something you've wanted but were afraid to ask for - a fannish wish-list of sorts.

1. Long Fic recs that I can put on my Kobo. I really appreciate you folks who make reccing a practice! Most of what I read comes from Dreamwidth posts. Lately I'm most interested in XMFC snd the Losers. I like happy stories and AUs.
I will also read:
Tony/Bruce or Tony/Bruce/Pepper Avengers fic, or Natasha/Clint fic, or good fic with other pairings, but I'm not into Clint/Coulson, unfortunately.
Original slash
Sherlock BBC
Things that are super excellent that are in other fandoms.

2. Watch vids with me! I love social fan time. If you are not local, maybe you can come to WisCon!

3. Leave feedback on my work. You know this makes any creator happy. :D

4. Transform my work. This could be anything from using one of my photos for a podfic cover or icon base, to recording podfic of my stories, or simply chatting with me and getting ideas that spark new ideas! I love that stuff.

5. Netflix streaming recs! I watch a lot of Netflix. :D I sometimes write about what I watch, which you can read about via my netflix tag.

snowflake_challenge Day 2: Rec 3 fanworks not your own.

Zweiundachtzig by

dow. Charles/Erik, XMFC AU. Erik is a jeweler looking for studio space and rents a place with Raven. Other mutants work in the building and they form friendships. This is a lovely romance and the accompanying art is magnificent.

I, We, Us by

winterhill. Charles/Eric, XMFC AU, Fusion with His Dark Materials. (Daemon AU). I love daemon AUs! This one kept fairly close to the movie but expanded upon it and changed the ending, and added a layer of richnees through the daemons that I really enjoyed.

A Murder of Crows by

antistar_e. Snow White and the Huntsman, daemon AU. Gen. This is an amazing story that fills in some plot holes in the movie and makes a lot of sense. I loved it. Again it seems to add a layer of richness to the world by adding daemons-- explains why and how people are damaged, for example, or gives insight into their character. I really enjoyed it.

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Entries tagged with snowflake challenge

Snowflake challenge #9

snowflake challenge #4

Snowflake challenge day 3

snowflake challenge day 2

Snowflake challenge day 1

Snowflake challenge catch up

Snowflake challenge day 11

snowflake challenge - day 10 - time travel trope

Snowflake challenge day 9

Snowflake challenge day 8

Snowflake challenge day 7

Snowflake challenge day 6, and a rec

Snowflake challenge day 5

Snowflake challenge day 4

snowflake challenge day 3

Snowflake challenge days 1-2