Fandom Snowflake Challenge: Day 9

[rogueslayer452]

In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator.

I used to create fanmixes years ago. Those took a lot of time because I wanted to find songs that fit with a particular theme I was going for, both in tone and lyrics, for the fandom/character/pairing I was creating it for. I also did some graphics on an old graphic program I had, which also took an incredible amount of time. Looking back now I do feel like I could've done better, and I would probably do it again today if I only had a program to make graphics with like my previous one. But here are just a few that I am somewhat proud of.

Also, due to Photobucket having done their dumb thing recently and I still haven't done anything to properly retrieve them and upload them elsewhere, the graphics won't be showing up. :(

Six/Gaius - Love & Madness
Because how could I not do something revolving around Six/Gaius from BSG?

Six/Castiel - Angels of the Lord
This one is very special to me because I was fascinated with the concept of crossing over two fandoms and pairing off two characters I held very dearly to my heart, so I created a ficmix for them, writing a story to coincide with the chosen music and picking a particular theme that would suit them both. I worked really hard to try and match their voices and to make a situation where they would both meet each other believable. And even with revisiting it now, this is still something I am immensely proud to have created.

Draco Malfoy - Through The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death
With Draco being my favorite character, I knew I had to create something for him, and this was a character study of what his character goes through particularly in Half-Blood Prince.

Aside from those, because of my recent obsession with the character Percival Graves from Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, I wrote some headcanons for him (part 1 and part 2), which I'll be continuing in the near future. Because he's my boo and I have ~ideas, okay.

Comments

[honeymink]

But here are just a few that I am somewhat proud of.

I know what you mean. There are things on my tumblr that I made where I now think, uhm okay, idek what possessed me. Same with things I wrote and put up on AO3. Then again, I just saw that someone I know deleted a good deal of the fic she wrote and I guess that's everyone's prerogative... on the other hand, idk, it feels like you're "doctoring your CV" or something. Like you can only have Instagram full of perfect pictures. Maybe I'm not making sense this morning.

Anyway... Gaius/Six!!! They were so brilliant. I loved Gaius so much.

I meant to comment on your Percival Graves headcanon posts for a while now but never found the right time... will have to get back to it. Also I remember you made a post a few weeks ago about more fandom interaction on LJ and all I thought was, yes! I wish! I just always feel like when I post anything like it on my journal I basically post into a void these days. Then again, that's understandable because I suppose I don't update often enough and my fandom views have always been a bit different and a lot of the people on f-list don't seem very fandom oriented these days. So idk. I heard there is supposedly more activity in communities on Dreamwidth these days but I just don't have the time/feel comfortable enough with that.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I completely understand what you mean. I feel like every creator, no matter what kind of content they create, aren't going to be completely satisfied with their final product. It's kind of like the perfectionist side, y'know? Sometimes the need to wipe the slate clean does consume some creators for whatever reason which, as you said, is their prerogative and they are free to do that. But at the same time, it kind of feels unfair in a way? There was someone who I followed on Tumblr that just deleted their entire Tumblr completely without warning, with their work and writings and all. And while they have the right to do whatever they want to, I did enjoy their work and it made me feel very sad because there was no backup to that.

I don't know, I understand both sides of the situation in that regard. I understand that feeling of not being happy with your work and wanting to either erase it and do better or just want a fresh start, but I also understand the frustration of liking something but then no longer being able to enjoy it anymore because someone deleted it.

Anyway... Gaius/Six!!! They were so brilliant. I loved Gaius so much.

They really were, one of my OTPs of that show for sure. And Gaius Baltar, he was such a disaster of a human being and I loved him for it. :)

I don't update often enough and my fandom views have always been a bit different and a lot of the people on f-list don't seem very fandom oriented these days.

There was a multi-fandom friending meme (https://maybe.livejournal.com/34806.html) posted not too long ago, and if you haven't done so yet I'm sure it's not too late to try and find more fandom-oriented people to befriend if you're looking for more.

But in truth, I do wish this place was more active on the fandom side. It's strange, because the reason I joined LJ was due to the overwhelming fandom community which was quite active and had a lot of variety of people, and now it's incredibly quiet and there are people who don't even know what fandom is or even openly dismiss fandom altogether, which is quite disconcerting to me. I know people have said that DW is a more acceptable place for fandom to be if you want to relocate, but I find DW to be just as active with fandom as it is here, meaning not by very much. I only created a DW as a possible backup, but I haven't done anything with it, tbh. Most fandom activity is thriving on Tumblr, which may be good for some things but for conversations/healthy discussions and befriending people not so much.

Also, don't be afraid of posting whatever is on your mind in regards to fandom. I guarantee that even if your opinions and thoughts may be different, it can still spark an interesting conversation. You never know who else may think the same thing, or even think differently and want to share their own views, too. :)

[honeymink]

There is this HP-fic I co-authored with someone, all in all, I just... well, I wish I could take my name off it but that would be awkward?

I did enjoy their work and it made me feel very sad because there was no backup to that.

Yes, then there is this. I had that too in the past, someone who deleted all her OuaT fic because she came to hate the fandom. I don't even know what happened but now I'm so sad I didn't save any of it because I loved these stories. So I just leave everything up, even things I don't really care for anymore because who knows who did. Not that I owe anyone anything but well, I suppose it's also about being honest with myself: Okay, here, I did this.

And Gaius Baltar, he was such a disaster of a human being and I loved him for it.

Precisely, he was arrogant, a genius, a trainwreck and all of it made him so scarily human. So many great characters on this show!

Yes, I saw the meme but I am not updating much and due to health problems don't comment immediately on things like I used to these days either, so I felt it would be unfair trying to befriend new people. Especially since I recently cut someone and I've never cut someone before but she updated more than once a day with personal things and I couldn't keep up and I felt like a terrible friend so, idk. But I may take a look at the meme again.

I share your assessment on fandom's move to tumblr, also on the problems with having actual discussions and befriending people. At one point, I found a group of like-minded OuaT fans on tumblr... four years ago or so, but when we actually wanted to talk, we always met in some chatroom one of them set up. And sadly that wasn't really great either because then you have people talk at once and whatnot whereas here you can think about replies etc. and preserve a discussion thread. I don't know about DW, I merely mentioned it because one of the comm's I'm following here femslash100 is moving to DW and everyone seems to be applauding it whereas I'm really bummed because like you I started my LJ mainly for fandom reasons and only started writing about my day-to-day later.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

So I just leave everything up, even things I don't really care for anymore because who knows who did. Not that I owe anyone anything but well, I suppose it's also about being honest with myself: Okay, here, I did this.

Exactly. Because even if I've moved onto other fandoms, even if I didn't particularly like what I created later on or think I could've done better, there will always be someone somewhere who does appreciate it and will continue to come back to it. Because I do the same thing with plenty of fanworks.

And sadly that wasn't really great either because then you have people talk at once and whatnot whereas here you can think about replies etc. and preserve a discussion thread.

Yeah, at least with comment threads here it's a way of containing a single conversation and archiving it. Whereas with Tumblr, the functionality of the site wasn't meant for conversations, and that is why any and all talk gets lost in the void. It is impossible to keep track of a single conversation because if a post is made, there can be dozens of conversations happening at once and many times discussions will get derailed and it's just a huge mess. The fandom climate there has shifted significantly too, which makes me not want to engage, if that makes sense.

whereas I'm really bummed because like you I started my LJ mainly for fandom reasons and only started writing about my day-to-day later.

I always feel a bit disheartened whenever I see either a flister or a community decide to go exclusively to DW. On one hand they're free to do what they will, but at the same time it's sad to see them leave because it means it's less activity here and, because I don't really comment/update/do anything on DW it seems rather moot, y'know? At least sometimes people do tend to crosspost, which is nice. But still. IDK.

[honeymink]

The fandom climate there has shifted significantly too, which makes me not want to engage, if that makes sense.

Can you explain what you mean by shifted? I haven't logged into my tumblr account in over two years and even before I don't know... like you said, I felt that it wasn't meant for conversations, then at some point you couldn't even send people actual messages anymore (it became this chat thing), and well I thought it was very clique-y. Now of course, that's always been fandom to some degree or other, with BNFs and whatnot but I found with tumblr there was also a loss of substance because suddenly everything was about the obsession with pretty gif sets. Don't get me wrong, I like pretty gif sets but that's not all I like about fandom.

I went through the fandom meme and... idk, some people on there I know and am friends with but what they post about is not fandom. Maybe they think it is but in my opinion posting: "I'm watching 'Gilmore Girls' again, yo." or "I went to the pictures on Friday and finally caught 'Black Panther'." ... that's nice but that's not really a fandom post. Maybe I'm too critical. I don't know.


I always feel a bit disheartened whenever I see either a flister or a community decide to go exclusively to DW.

Me too. I tried the cross posting but I was never really comfortable with DW. So I only use it as back-up as well. Like you, I'm not sure it's that much more active over there than LJ. It's just that things get more divided. Of course everyone can do as they please but still...

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Can you explain what you mean by shifted?

There seems to be this "purity wank" that has been kind of bubbling underneath the surface of Tumblr fandom for some time now, that kind of exploded in recent years. Essentially the concept is unless everything you consume in media, including the pairings you ship or characters you like, are of the purest non-problematic kind then you are automatically gross and deserve to be shunned/shamed/bashed/dogpiled/etc. I view it as a combination of shipping wars, social justice, call-out culture, and fandom entitlement all wrapped into one where it's about policing what someone enjoys simply because they don't agree with it and acting like it's a form of activism when really it's just them being assholes who don't understand the simple difference between fantasy and reality and who cannot comprehend the concept of critical thinking.

That's a very long-winded explanation, but that's where the shift has been happening, and not for the better. Thankfully most people that I follow don't have this mentality, and there is a lot of people in fandom who don't agree with this mentality either, but it is unfortunately bleeding into and spreading rapidly across most fandoms and the general fandom population among Tumblr (esp the younger, more impressionable folks) that it just gets super exhausting.

[honeymink]

including the pairings you ship or characters you like, are of the purest non-problematic

I'm confused and I want to understand this. One part of the confusion comes from the fact that I got the impression that there were trends in fandom like say an increase in incest-shipping through GoT for example etc.?

Then again, I find that so many more people these days ship exclusively what's canon and reject everything unconventional, be that het, slash or femslash on principle. If it's not canon, it's not real, it's not okay. But they cannot see why I have some severe problems with and cannot approve of couples that are canon. Because if they are canon they are sacrosanct or something.

The lack of critical thinking is an ailment of our society, I'm afraid. So from the aspect of non-problematic, I should be hanged for my standard icon alone, I suppose. :)

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

One part of the confusion comes from the fact that I got the impression that there were trends in fandom like say an increase in incest-shipping through GoT for example etc.?

Oh, believe me there are still people who ship those ships, and those "fandom puritans" aren't happy about any of that either. Honestly, this kind of puritan mentality is more of an overall presence looming over general fandom, most people tend to try and ignore it the best they can but there will be those invading certain fannish spaces trying to police others, trying to tell them what they can or cannot like or enjoy, who they can or cannot interact with, etc. So it's not only exclusive to shipping preferences, but just controlling what someone enjoys and how they interact in fandom. It's something I'm still trying to wrap my head around because while it seems like it's only a loud minority of immature individuals, it still perpetuates dangerous behavior that unfortunately gets pushed onto young impressionable minds thinking that this is okay, when it's not.

Then again, I find that so many more people these days ship exclusively what's canon and reject everything unconventional, be that het, slash or femslash on principle. If it's not canon, it's not real, it's not okay.

Or, alternatively, there is a particular expectation for certain couples to become canon and if it's not then they were "misled" or, if it was with subtext between M/M or F/F, then it was "queerbaiting" or something like that. Which I find kind of ridiculous for numerous reasons. Most of my ships aren't canon and I prefer it that way, since most times whenever a pairing I like does become canon it is almost immediately ruined by the writers. Do I wish some of the pairings I love were? Of course, but it's not something I expect to happen and I'm perfectly content with that. At the end of the day, just let me enjoy my ships, whatever they are, in peace, and I will do the same with yours.

But even with that it seems that with some people in certain fandom circles (on Tumblr, of course) the notion of "ship and let ship" is considered a "controversial" concept or something, because unless it's a healthy pure ship it doesn't belong and you're wrong for shipping it and this whole thing just makes me so damn tired and exhausted dealing with that kind of ridiculousness. -_-

So from the aspect of non-problematic, I should be hanged for my standard icon alone, I suppose. :)

lol. ;)

[honeymink]

Or, alternatively, there is a particular expectation for certain couples to become canon and if it's not then they were "misled"

Ah yes, I've read about that too. Or just in general, I think some cast member of "Supergirl" was making fun of Kara/Lena (don't know the ship name) fans at Comic Con or something and they were enraged? It was very odd to me. I always thought of whatever the source material or people involved with it are doing and fandom exploits as two entities that despite having certain overlap on occasion are ultimately separate.

At the end of the day, just let me enjoy my ships, whatever they are, in peace, and I will do the same with yours.

Oh, absolutely. Then again, there's this other thing I find very stressful -- it's not just in fandom but also there. I certainly won't come to you or other shippers who enjoy something and run it down but I should be allowed to say in my space why I do not like something or in a discussion explain why I am not okay with something. But there is this "positivity culture" where you're only allowed to dwell on what's great. I mean, do I want to fangirl some? Yes, of course. But sometimes you need to have an honest conversation and then not everything's rosy.

a healthy pure ship

What does that even mean? Because if you look closely at some (het) canon ships that seem harmless enough at first glance, you can probably find so and so many scenes that can be interpreted in a way that suddenly make you realise that this ship is anything but healthy and pure.

just makes me so damn tired and exhausted dealing with that kind of ridiculousness.

No kidding. You've only told me about this yesterday, and I'm already impatient with people.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I always thought of whatever the source material or people involved with it are doing and fandom exploits as two entities that despite having certain overlap on occasion are ultimately separate.

Yeah, that whole situation with the Supergirl cast at SDCC was extremely upsetting for numerous reasons (them mocking a fanon f/f ship, competely unprompted during an interview, thereby insulting the fanbase in turn, the non-apologies that followed afterward by one particular cast member, it was a huge mess). But this was a prime example of why breaking of the fourth wall between fandom and the creators/cast can be a dangerous slippery slope, shit like this occurs.

What the cast did at that event was wrong and I felt horrible for the fans, but at the same time I do think fandom is also partially responsible too, especially when you take into account the avid shippers who go on social media and harass actors and creators about particular pairings and whatnot. I'm not saying that's what happened here since I'm not involved with that fandom, but I do know that that's what fandom culture has become in recent years. There is a certain fan entitlement about bombarding actors with questions and such for validating a particular ship, and that's wildly inappropriate, imho.

When I first discovered fandom years ago during my teens there was this unwritten golden rule about whatever happens in fandom stays in fandom. Even though fandom itself has become more mainstream it recent years, this should still somewhat apply in terms of knowing your boundaries.

but I should be allowed to say in my space why I do not like something or in a discussion explain why I am not okay with something.

Oh, absolutely. That's one of the things I have enjoyed about the fandom community, is having someone writing their own thoughts about a particular character or pairing, and creating a conversation and allowing it being open for discussion. I think writing out your thoughts on something you disagree with, something you have observed, acknowledging the bad aspects of a character or pairing or something, or just doing a meta of sorts, to be quite healthy in terms of fandom interaction and seeing different opinions and exploring something you might not have thought about before.

What does that even mean?

Honestly? I don't even know anymore. The answer differs depending on who you talk to and what their definition of it is.

[honeymink]

them mocking a fanon f/f ship, competely unprompted during an interview

It was hard to understand why they did that. It seemed so unnecessary to put off part your fanbase like this. I'm actually not sure what this particular fandom is like but I get what you're saying about actors/creators being approached by fans maybe more openly now than in the past, probably also because these days everyone can take to twitter and whatnot to make themselves heard whereas even ten years ago I guess the social media landscape and how TV/movies/etc. were marketed was somewhat different and perhaps there wasn't so much interaction, the lines not as blurred?

whatever happens in fandom stays in fandom

I actually can't imagine why you would have it any other way. Ultimately, actors do not approach the material as fans (usually) but from a very different perspective.

Whenever I think of crazy entitled fans, I think of this hilarious novel by Sharyn McCrumb: "Bimbos of the Death Sun".

[honeymink]

Oh you know, I'm not afraid of different opinions, it's more like, you post this long rant on... oh, I don't know, say I found out yesterday that they have started shooting an Italian version of 'Skam' and I actually think that's all right but I saw people complaining all over twitter that they don't understand this and that there should be a U.S. version but not this, after all European teenage culture is totally similar all over. And all I thought was like: Wait, what? I mean okay, I haven't been a teenager in 21 years but when I was in high school I actually went on these school exchange trips where you spend a month or more in a family and at a high school in a different country and then have an exchange partner come to live with you in reverse. I went to Denmark, France, Italy and the U.S. - and I found the (youth) culture in the 1990s was different from Germany or from the UK (where I've also lived for a time). Of course some things are the same but I'd say they are more due to puberty/biology whereas some other things are actually how culture and parenting in that culture are shaping teenagers. So I'd say any re-make is redundant unless you pay attention to these cultural differences and they do exist. Italian teenagers are not like Norwegian teenagers are not like teenagers in the U.S. (and even there I think that's really over generalizing now, because are we talking East or West coast? Or the South? Very rural areas like Idaho vs. say New York City?). So that was something I was thinking about last night but then I didn't bother posting about it because I knew I'd just be talking to myself.

there are people who don't even know what fandom is or even openly dismiss fandom altogether

Oh yes, I have experienced that too. I have several people on my f-list who want to be writers or I guess are writers because they are writing but turn their nose up at fanfiction as this unseemly thing they did when they were 12 and had a crush on the guys from Supernatural. It makes me insecure to say, oh look, I participated in this fanfic exchange and was really happy with my gift and hey, I wrote something too. I mean, I posted it anyway but still, it's a harsh contrast to how it has been when we organised ficathons here and other things.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

So that was something I was thinking about last night but then I didn't bother posting about it because I knew I'd just be talking to myself.

That's understandable. I sometimes contemplate whether to post something that's been on my mind, and wonder whether anyone would even be wanting to read it. Because I do have a lot of thoughts about things, things about particular fandoms or the general fandom. Though my problem is mostly trying to write up something cohesive to get my thoughts out properly.

I have several people on my f-list who want to be writers or I guess are writers because they are writing but turn their nose up at fanfiction as this unseemly thing they did when they were 12

I find that mentality to be rather, well, strange and ridiculous, but also quite damaging in a way because it means they are intentionally putting down something that someone enjoys doing, equating it with being childish and immature when it's the exact opposite. I mean, there are tons of published writers out there who wrote and even still write fanfiction and actively encourage their readers to write fanfiction themselves and to not be ashamed about it, either. Granted, the whole profic versus fanfic debate is nothing new, though I thought that we've come a long way with accepting fanfiction as a legitimate creative outlet. Still, it's disheartening hearing someone shaming another person for reading/writing fanfiction or even enjoying fandom in any form. It makes you question whether they truly feel this way or they just feel embarrassed/ashamed of having liked those things and want to appear "mature" instead of "childish". Either way, it's just sad.