Stories for a winter's night

Challenge #2

In your own space, talk about your fannish history. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

My fannish history is pretty simple. I was convinced that girls couldn't be fans of "boy things" and that geekery was the place of boys. I mean, I loved the idea of Dungeons and Dragons and transformers, but I was never welcome into the world of the boys who played with such things. So I watched Transformers, and MASK, and Battle for the Planets, and read Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle comics in private like they were something to be ashamed of, because "real girls" were into Barbie and My Little Pony. And then, when I was already into my thirties, I discovered fanfiction, and I discovered a site called The Padded Cell. And there I found like minded women, who also loved the Transformers and wrote about them. From there I attended my first Con. I realized then that I wasn't the only one and that there was not such thing as boy-toys and girl-shows.

I ended up on LiveJournal after that, joining several fan groups and with that I started writing more. The LJ no longer exists thanks to the new ToS as they regard to Russian laws, but I have full moved over here, to Pillowfort, and Tumblr.

Day 14

In your own space, talk about what you think the future holds for fandom.

I'm a fanfic writer so I will be focusing on that.

Fandom will survive. We started with 'Zines that were very much underground. We survived Anne Rice and the old litigious days. We survived the Great Strike Out and all the other attempts to silence us. We will survive this. It's hard to see all of these people pulling the old "Think of the children!" hand-wringing and wailing, all their arguments that certain types of fic harm survivors (even when they are written by survivors) but we will survive this too. We aren't going anywhere.

Now, onto my own fandom of choice, I am hoping that the new Bumblebee movie injects some new life into the Transformers fandom. Even if it doesn't, we survived the Kiss Players, we can survive anything. And to paraphrase one Tumblr post: Every once in a while the Transformers fandom wakes from its slumber and you are able to glimpse eternity.

So, for sake of ease and my sanity, there's the master post of my 2019 entries:

Day 1 - Talk about your Happy Place - the things that give you joy, calms you or keeps you sane.

Day 2 - Rec at least three fanworks that you didn’t create.

Day 3 - Share a favorite piece of original canon.

Day 4 - Comment to someone you haven't ever interacted with before or introduce yourself to someone you've interacted with and friend/follow them.

Day 5 - Promote three communities, challenges, blogs, pages, Twitters, Tumblrs or platforms and explain why you love them.

Day 6 – Create a fannish wish list.

Day 7 – Try something new.

Day 8 – Post self-recs for at least three fanworks that you created.

Day 9 – Commit an act of kindness.

Day 10 – Create a fanwork.

Day 11 – Talk about your creative process(es).

Day 12 – Create your own challenge.

Day 13 – Set some goals.

Day 14 – The future of fandom.

Day 15 -Talk about why you participated in Snowflake & / or what you got out of it.

Day 7

Stretch yourself a little and try something new. Go play in a new fandom or with a new pairing. Try working in a new medium. Or check out some fanworks that are new to you. (The recs from Day 2 might be a good place to start.)

So I tend to stick to the fandoms I know. I mean, I know i like them, so why spread out? But I really do need to. It's like the old kids book "Peas, Cheese, and Chocolate Pudding"; if you don't open yourself up to new experiences, you might be missing out on something really good.

So, I started reading some fanfics that weren't in any of my direct fandoms and I was really, really happy that I did. So, this is going to become like a bit of a second rec list:

Empty Graves by Unpretty. Superman - Time travellers who plan to kill Superman never account for Martha Kent in their plans. She may not be the World's Finest, but she's a mother with a shotgun, and all told that might be scarier.

The Richest Men in Town by Copperbadge - It's a Wonderful Life - George Bailey, a year after meeting the angel Clarence (second-class), gets a message from Clarence via an unlikely third party: H.F. Potter.

I don't actively avoid Superman fics, but I don't think I've ever sought one out before and I can honestly say that I have never, ever read a It's a Wonderful Life fic before. I'm very glad that I read them.


Day 9

Commit an Act of Kindness. In your own space, share what you’ve done, talk about what you’ve done, or simply leave a comment in this post saying you did it.

And this was done. It really is incredible how difficult building designers and managers make it for those of us who are disabled in one way or another. When you have a group of seniors and people with walkers and/or canes wandering around desperately trying to find the working elevator because you have turned off the one escalator you have. ... Anyway, the act of kindness was leading a group of said seniors through the building, past the first set of doors, into the garage, past the second set of doors to the new elevator bay. I was heading that way anyways. I really need to send off an email to the place where I was to let them know that this really is unacceptable ...

Day 6

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.

There are very few things that I want because the communities I'm in are really good about having a good variety of content. But here's my list:

1. I feel greedy to ask for it, but I always love seeing my current preferred pairings represented more (Ratchet/Smokescreen, Ratchet/Megatron, Prowl/Red Alert) - in any continuity really.

2. I am just eating up all the Fallout 76 fics out there. There aren't many because the game is relatively new and is unbelievably massive lore-wise. I cannot wait to see more of it as the game ages.

3. Some book recs would be nice. I would love to find more gothic and/or Lovecraftian horror, or some steampunk or urban fantasy stories. Something that's all three together would be fantastic!