Snogged: An Insatiable State of Mind

Day 14

In your own space, share your love for something fannish: a trope, cliché, kink, motif, theme, format, or fandom.

1. I enjoy stories that explore dark and/or angsty themes. I appreciate writers who aren't afraid to peel back the emotional layers to show us the underbellies of the characters that I love. I love stories that make me cry. I love stories that give me chills. I like stories that are psychological. The ones that dig deep and don't let go. I do appreciate it if there's a bit of hope at the end, but I don't require it.

*shrugs*

I think I find it cathartic.

2. I also really like what-ifs/canon divergences. It's a bit like the road not taken because you get to see what would have happened if a choice or pairing had gone differently.

3. Finally, I do like to laugh. I admire authors who are able to write humor well and I appreciate silly gifs and the like. :)

Day 12

What makes you fannish? And by that we mean, what is it about a tv show/movie/book/band/podcast/etc that takes you from, "Yeah, I like that," to "I need MOAR!!!" Is it a character? A plotline? The pretty? Subtext that’s just screaming to be acknowledged?

Hmmm...there are a lot of shows that I've given my love to because of the way they give me feels (usually of the humorous or emotional variety). It could be a character (usually supporting) that pulls me in. It could be a over-arching plot-line. It could be a joke that makes me laugh so hard that my sides hurt.

What I know is that these are the shows/movies/books that I talked about among friends. The shows that I urge them to start watching. This is not an exhaustive list, but it includes: Big Bang Theory, Doctor Who, iZombie, Grey's Anatomy, The Vampire Diaries, Once Upon A Time, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Jessica Jones, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

My big three fandoms capture some of these qualities, but they also somehow go beyond that. In no particular order, they are:
1) Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2) Harry Potter
3) How I Met Your Mother

BtVS is my longest-lasting fandom. I started on SlayerFanfic.net and Yahoo Groups. I joined a role-playing game (where everyone was dating a variation of Spike or Angel). I started writing stories because the show gave me so many what-ifs and characters to play with. I fell in love with Spike/Willow because of Laure Alexander and Brigette ("Changing Sides" may have changed my whole world.) I moved over to Livejournal and joined other groups. I made new friends and was able to keep quite a few of them. I still feel that strong connection to the show and it's been off the air for years. I think that's because I still feel there's a fandom to be had here. There are still writers. There are still artists. There are still folks giving feedback. It's a powerful thing and it's cool knowing that I've met a few of these folks in RL.

Harry Potter and How I Met Your Mother both led me down the path of "needing MOAR," but I don't feel the same connection to them now the way I still do for BtVS

Harry Potter had an amazing universe and amazing characters to explore. I tried out other role-playing communities, including Plano Hogwarts. That site stopped having a webhost so I don't think it exists anymore, but it did take up much of my time during my college years. I signed up for classes (my favorite being Potions). I co-ran Dumbledore's Army. I posted on message boards. I'm still friends with a few of them on Facebook and it broke my heart in two when one of my close friends on the site died of a brain tumor.

How I Met Your Mother was another fascinating fandom. I felt drawn in by the concept of non-canon pairings - Barney/Robin (before S3), Barney/Lily, Ted/Lily, Ted/Marshall, etc. I made friends in that fandom as well including one that I've met in RL.

I don't know if that answers your question, but I tried. :)

Day 10

In your own space, post a rec for fannish and/or creative resources and spaces. Tell us where you go to dig up canon facts for your fandom, or where you get all the juicy details about your favorite ship. Where do you like to hang out and squee like a squeeing thing? Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Wikipedia.com and Fan Wikis have been a useful resource when I need to check something quickly.

www.imdb.com is my go-to for finding out which actor/actress was in a certain episode of something.

www.buffyworld.com is my favorite place to find episode transcripts for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: the Series.

In response to the other question in today's challenge, I tend to squee like a squeeing thing the most on my personal LJ.

Day 08

Comment to someone you haven't ever interacted with before or introduce yourself to someone you've interacted with and friend/follow them. Afterwards, leave a comment in this post with the equivalent of "I did it!"

I bonded with a fellow snowflake participant over the Hamilton Original Broadway Cast Recording. :)

Day 6

In your own space, create your own challenge. What’s something you want to see more people doing in fandom? Is there something you’ve tried that you think other people would enjoy if they gave it a go? Dare your friends to try it out, and have fun with it. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


I like participating in challenges or exchanges where you get story prompts from other people (or from a list) and you have to figure out a way to write them.

Examples of these challenges include: femslash_minis, whichwillow, iwry_marathon, multi_genfic, buffy_genfic, and yuletide.

I know there are tons more besides this and many fandoms seen to have some version of this model.

I challenge you to find one of these challenges/exchanges that works for you and participate in it!

Day 4

In your own space, create a fanwork. Make a drabble, a ficlet, a podfic, or an icon, art or meta or a rec list. Arts and crafts. Draft a critical essay about a particular media. Put together a picspam or a fanmix. Write a review of a Broadway show, a movie, a concert, a poetry reading, a museum trip, a you-should-be-listening-to-this-band essay. Compose some limericks, haikus, free-form poetry, 5-word stories. Document a particular bit of real person canon. Take some pictures. Draw a stick-figure comic. Create something. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

This would be a good time to look through the Day 2 wish lists of participants to get ideas for fanworks you can create. And yes, it totally counts if you already created something to fulfill a wish for someone.

I present my Buffy the Vampire Slayer-inspired Limerick.

There once was a girl so sassy.
She was smart and a little bit classy.
She said with a grin:
"Nerds Are Still In."
And her best friend went off to kick ass-y.

Day 2

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. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your wish-list if you feel comfortable doing so. Maybe someone will grant a wish. Check out other people's posts. Maybe you will grant a wish. If any wishes are granted, we'd love it if you link them to this post.

1) Icons from the show iZombie (Liv, Blaine, Ravi are preferred, but others would be great as well.)

2) Jessica Jones fic featuring Jessica and Kilgrave. Something dark/angsty and a little smutty.

3) A fic banner for my Buffy the Vampire Slayer story The Killer In Me (The Tough Love Remix)

THANK YOU!

So this is it, the last day of the Fandom Snowflake Challenge. This was my first year where I managed to participate in all of the challenges and I'm really happy about that. Today's challenge, though, is a challenge for all of you (and me too.)

Day 15

In your own space, create your own challenge. What’s something you want to see more people doing in fandom? Is there something fun you’ve tried that you think other people would enjoy if they gave it a go? Dare your friends to try it out, and have fun with it. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

1) I challenge you to try a fic remix challenge this year. It can be incredibly fun to transform someone else's work or to see someone else transform something you wrote. One community I know for sure that does is cof_remix. femslash_minis also tends to run a remix round once per year.

2) I challenge you to leave more feedback. It doesn't matter if it's a kind "nice job" or a lengthy essay on a quote that had meaning for you. What matters is that you engage with the writers and artists and vidders and other media types. What matters is letting them know that you heard what they had to say and it mattered enough to you to say something. Feedback can mean the world to someone. Thank you!

3) Finally, I challenge you to be kind to yourselves. Try to think of positive thing each day, each week, or each month that has made your life memorable. You may even want to write those positives down and stick them in a mason jar. At the end of the year, read those out loud and remind yourself how awesome you are.

<3

I'm behind because I was sick yesterday. Feeling a bit better today though and hoping that continues.

Here's Day 13.

In your own space, talk about a creator. Show us why you think they are amazing. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

This is an incredibly tough challenge because it's so hard to just talk about one person.
I am honored and blessed that I know so many talented artists and authors in this fandom and I'm glad to know each and every single one of them.

Authors

BtVS/AtS Fandom: velvetwhip; brutti_ma_buoni, angelus2hot, xspike4evax, angelskuuipo, dragonydreams, clockwork_hart1, kwritten, ash_carpenter, rockstarpeach, aaronlisa, purplefeen, snowpuppies, and lilbreck.

Supernatural Fandom: ash_carpenter, rockstarpeach, and dreamsofspike

How I Met Your Mother Fandom: dreamsofspike, idioticonion, and secondmezzanine

Artists

BtVS/AtS Fandom: angelus2hot, dragonydreams, rua1412, pickamix, blondebitz and red_satin_doll.

Every single one of these folks deserves to have their name clicked on. Their stories and artwork deserve to be celebrated and I think the list is unique enough that you could all find something you liked. :)

Day 11



In your own space, post a rec for fannish and/or creative resources. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


One of my favorite resources for Buffy/Angel screencaps these days is Pretty As A Picture . It features screencaps from Screencap Paradise (which was a tremendous screencap resource back in the day.)

I also read a lot of episode transcripts when I'm working on fanfiction. My favorite place to go for this is: BuffyWorld . The Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel Wiki has also been helpful.