KJ

The third and sixth challenges are essentially repeats of the Days 5 and 6 challenges from last year, and I'm happy to share what I wrote then again here, because pretty much nothing has changed, although I have some additions below.

Challenge #3: Promote Your Favorite Communities, Fests or Challenges!

Aside from those I shared last year, I'd like to promote one more: ssrconfidential, an Agent Carter fanwork exchange that typically opens in March and goes live in June. It's a great exchange, with some awesome works, but it's also on the small side and could use more participants.

Challenge #4: Set some goals for the coming year

I've been consistently setting monthly writing goals for exactly a decade, and added in annual goals in 2011. I added in reading goals a couple of years ago, although I'm less sure about those. But I am positive that writing goals have been good for setting and holding to habits, and they've kept me setting down words and participating in fandom even through difficult times. My 2020 writing goals are here, and here are my 2020 reading goals. You can also see my wrap-ups for 2019 in both places.

Challenge #6: In your own space, make a list — anything between one and ten things is a sweet spot, but don't feel constrained by that! - of things that you wish existed in fandom or elsewhere, or that you'd like someone to make for you.

1. This is a hold-over from last year, but I still really want this: someone to run a Reverse Bang in a fandom that I participate in, especially Dragon Age, Final Fantasy, or Critical Role. (Or, if such a thing currently exists, a pointer in that direction.) Reverse Bangs are maybe my favorite type of fic challenge, and it's been ages since I've done one.

2. Icons! I have so many new fandoms from the last few years for which I have no or almost no icons. Critical Role, The Adventure Zone, and Arrowverse come immediately to mind.

3. Active fannish communities for any of the above fandoms, especially Arrowverse. That in particular is a fandom I'd love to have more people to chat about with (a desire so strong, I've even considered going back to Tumblr. Please don't make me go back to Tumblr).

Hey remember how on "create your own challenge day" I suggested participating in a friending meme, but I thought it might take some work to find one? Turns out it was actually pretty easy.



If you're here via the meme, welcome, and say hello! :)

The Day 13 challenge is to set some goals, but I've already done that, so instead I'm backing up to Day 10: Create a fanwork. Possibly this is cheating, because I didn't write this today, nor on the actual Day 10 -- most of it was drafted over a week ago, and I've edited bits of it over the intervening days. But I polished it up yesterday, and got it posted, and editing and posting is an important phase of creating a fanwork, at least for me. So here it is!

Title: Constructive Solution
Fandom: Dragon Age
Rating: Teen
Wordcount: 660
Characters: Isabela/f!Hawke
Spoilers: Yes, through All that Remains
Notes: Written for ladiesbingo, "Episode Tags and Missing Scenes" prompt. Starts in the final moments of All That Remains. I have now committed fic of this moment for every romance I've played. The Hawke is Sylvie, my purple mage; I haven't talked about her much here, although I'm sure I will once I finish her playthrough.

On AO3.

By the rules of the challenge, I know it's okay to skip days and go out of order, but I still feel weird having passed up Days 9 and 10. Oh well, here goes.

Day 11: Talk about your creative process(es) — anything from the initial inspiration to how you feel after something’s done. Do you struggle with motivation or is it a smooth process? Do you have any tricks up your sleeve to pull out when a fanwork isn’t cooperating? What is your level of planning to pantsing/winging it?

I feel like I've written a fair amount about creative process over the years, but it's been awhile, and I have a feeling a lot of what I've written has been in response to Tumblr memes that are now lost to the ages. (I've been contemplating exporting all my original posts from Tumblr and crossposting them somewhere, but it sounds like a lot of work, and I'm not sure what I would do with them. It's weird, knowing how fragmented my online presence became for a few years there.) So this seems like a good opportunity to put a bunch of thoughts in one place.

( Unsurprisingly, this got long. )

So that's my process, more or less. Feel free to share yours, whether or not you're participating in Snowflake. I always enjoy learning from other people's experiences.

(No post for Day 4 because it was a non-journal posting activity. I did it, though!)

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

1. ushobwri is a DW support group for writers. The community was born out of WriSoMiFu (Write Something You Miserable Fuck), a companion of sorts to NaNoWriMo in which the sole challenge was to write something every day in November. When WriSo ended a few years ago, many people decided they would miss the community that had formed around the challenge, and yoU SHOuld Be WRIting (USHOBWRI) was born. Members call themselves "Shoobies" and continue on with supporting each others writing in many different ways, with posts for chatting, sharing snippets, and checking in at least three times each week throughout the year, and regular challenges (including daily writing in November). Although I haven't participated as much in recent years, I found it a wonderful and supportive home for awhile, and I'm so glad they're still out there, doing their thing.

2. remixrevival / The Remix Revival challenge is a successor of sorts to Remix Redux. Remix is a type of fic exchange in which you take someone else's story and put your own spin on it. I participated in multiple rounds of the original Remix, so I was quite happy to see it live on in Remix Revival -- especially since Remix Revival is also open to fan artists. As an author, I often find fanart a great source of inspiration, and love getting fanart of my own work, so as far as I'm concerned, the addition of fanart to the mix is brilliant. Remix Revival usually runs from summer through early fall, and I will certainly be keeping my eye out.

3. Fangirl Happy Hour is one of my very favorite fannish podcasts (that counts as a sort of blog, right?), and I'm not just saying that because renay is a co-founder and co-host, or because I'm an occasional guest. Renay and Ana (of The Book Smugglers) have wonderful conversations about books, movies, and happenings around fandom, and I always look forward to hearing what they have to say.

Day 6: 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. Fanart of any fic I've ever written, but especially of my two MegaFlare* stories that were left unclaimed by artists: Reconcilable Differences (Final Fantasy XII) and The Joining (FFXII/Dragon Age crossover)

2. Someone to run a Reverse Bang in a fandom that I participate in, especially Dragon Age, Final Fantasy, or Critical Role. (Or, if such a thing currently exists, a pointer in that direction.) Reverse Bangs are maybe my favorite type of fic challenge, and it's been ages since I've done one.

3. This is an oldie but a goodie, but I've always wished for more people to write Paine/Nooj, my Final Fantasy X-2 OTP and one of my top pairings of all time. It's an under-loved pairing in an under-loved canon, and it would be so great to see more out there.

*A Final Fantasy Big Bang challenge that I ran with renay for two years, in 2010 and 2011.

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

I am totally going to cheat for this and pull my recs from past Lady Business columns. Shameless plug: ladybusiness has a regular fanworks recommendation column, typically every two weeks, where various editors share things we love. You can find them at this tag.

Okay, but the point of this is to rec works by other people, not things produced by myself and my colleagues. ;)

( One fic, one cosplay-based vid, and one visual artwork behind the cut )