Fandom Snowflake Day 6

[thisbluespirit]

In your own space, pimp three comms or challenges and explain why you love them. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Three comms are just not enough! Some comms I love just for existing, others have been such fun/and/or inspirational, some have been places to find new friends and some I barely think about but wouldn't want to lose. Basically, I love comms and I hope people never stop using LJ and Dreamwidth mainly because of their ability not only to do social network blogging but to take it that step further to include communities (shared blogs?) in this way. It keeps on the net some of the good things about forums and the old newsnet groups, without some of the problems. So, I can't pick only three comms. Here is a list that is still not nearly long enough:

b7friday
I rushed into and out of Blake's 7 fanfic after finishing the series in a way that you could really have drawn an amusing comic of - a stick person running into a rubber wall and bouncing back a mile. It took me a while to find the things I was after and the authors I liked - and the courage to write anything myself, and all of that came through the fun, low-pressure inspiration and friendliness of this weekly prompt comm. (For which I have also recently been tagging so all the tempting prompts are open and available again, I add. You want to go there, you really do. Even if you don't know B7... Nooo, that might be a catch. Never mind.)

fic_rush
I've explained or tried to explain this one before. It's basically a 48-hr sort of picowrimo-ish thing? It's very laid back - you can set any writing goals you like. ("Writing goals" have been extended to "doing the laundry" and "making icons that have some words on" before now). And since it's been going a while we seem to have picked up a lot of ongoing in-jokes about penguins, writerly pasta, aardvarks, alien fish, bonsai giraffes, and glowsticks, but none of that is necessary - you just join in when a monthly rush is on, write what you can, get encouragement and give it back in return.

calufrax
Best little reccing comm in the west, yes? Where would Doctor Who fandom be without it? And if you've never recced yourself, it's a lot of fun - you should give it a try and sign up some day. It's a useful way to get the best out of Teaspoon, too, in a very different way to the searching allowable by the archive.

fan_flashworks or fan_flashworks
I think this comm is about a year old now? It has prompts every ten days and every so often an amnesty round in which all prompts are open again. I like how open and friendly it is and that any fandom and any fanwork is allowed. (I've seen people cooking and people making letters written in invisible ink that nearly got burned in the process). It's intended to encourage experimentation and it certainly worked for me.

unkindestslash
♥ This is the Julius Caesar (Shakespeare) comm. It's tiny and quiet but lovely in its brief moments of activity. Totally worth getting into Julius Caesar just to be part of the comm. (Despite the name, it's all things JC related and welcomes all pairings, not just slash).

icon_tutorial
I don't look at this so much now but it was invaluable in getting me started with icons - it's very well tagged so you can find past tutorials for nearly everything you might want to know. (I'm also indebted to 100x100textures, too).

whoniverse1000
Another one that's not so active now, but it could be! It aims to get 1000 different fic(let)s for the Whoniverse. I think it's up to about 275? It's huge fun and playing about with it really got me to be less restricted in my approach to shipping. (Also if you haven't dipped into what's there, there are some surprisingly lovely fics for pairings you'd never have dreamt of - and so many requests still to fill.)

sapphirensteel
For a small fandom, it's quite an active comm. (Or it was; it seems to have died away a bit lately.) Anyway, it's the place to start for S&S online really and people there seem generally to be very encouraging and friendly to newbies.

runaway_tales
I have never written anything for this original fic writing comm yet, but I am still in awe of their amazing prompt tables. I mean, really. There are so many "flavours" and they're so tempting...

who_daily
I nearly didn't think to include this - I take it so much for granted now, but it's pretty essential for a DW fan.

dw100 or dw100
I haven't done anything here for a while, but it was the first prompt comm I played with. It's funny to think back now, but it does take a while to get used to how online/LJ fandom works and things like this helped me get into it. Plus, loads of excellent drabbling has been caused by the comm.

david_collings
It just makes me very happy that this exists and is a thing not made by me. See, I am not the only one. How many old British character actors have an LJ comm that's never quite died out for all its miniscule size?

dw_straybunnies
My comm! ♥ I am currently being a rubbish mod yet again, but it exists and I'm proud of it and I will eventually put up a discussion post now LJ is back, and we'll have the holiday challenge on a different holiday when I am not away and tired and distracted by Yuletide, which seems much more sensible. Anyway, it is a comm to leave fic (and other fanwork) ideas that you don't think you can write and where other people can come and pick them up. There have been other very similar comms, but most of them seem to have died out, so I am so proud of everyone involved in this comm for keeping it going. \o/

And to very new(ish) Doctor Who ones that fans should check out if they haven't already: who_at_50 and unwhosual

(And, whoops, now I ran out of time to answer comments and catch up - I shall do that later.)

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking the other day that DW straybunnies was needing some lovin'...

[thisbluespirit]

I know, I'm a neglectful mod, but every time I try to do something with it, rl, or something else eats me. ;-)

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

You could always ask your co-mod...

[thisbluespirit]

Thanks. ♥

And I was thinking about that, but it's hard to know what to ask - the masterlist updating is straight-forward and doesn't need doing very often and you wouldn't be able to get in and edit the posts, anyway. Overall comm stuff still needs to be me unless I step down, which I'd rather not - it's only current tiredness getting in the way. I was going to ask you about doing the discussion posts, but I actually have one written up ready to post, I just get too tired to actually do it. But if it does go quiet, then it would always be helpful if you got a topic going we hadn't had yet. Or following up to comments in a discussion post I make - sometimes I'm okay to make the post but I just do not have the brain to respond to people's comments.

So, thanks. :-)

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Well you only need to send me a PM and ask me to post something, and I shall do so...

[thisbluespirit]

Well, if it's gone quiet for a few months, take it as read that a discussion post would always be nice if you can come up with a topic/era. ♥

If I'm too tired to post, I'm frequently too tired to get my head round framing coherent requests as well. :-)

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

LOL I can cope with incoherent requests (dwstraybunnies discussion post is a mere three words and will convey your request admirably!)

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

Those are some good ones!

Tbh, though, I'm perfectly happy being restrictive in my shipping. I simply don't see most relationships in a shippy way. I've had people call that lacking in imagination, but I my imagination is perfectly healthy (or perfectly lively, at least), it just tends to not be very shippy beyond a few pairings. Not at all saying my way is the right way (and nothing to do with you!); I was just reminded of being annoyed by people thinking there's something wrong with not multishipping. Er, sorry about that mini-rant.

[swordznsorcery.livejournal.com]

I hardly ship anybody, and certainly few people where it's not up there on the screen. It's not lack of imagination, it's just about what does and doesn't interest you, I think. In my case this is because I prefer plot and action to romance, but I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons too. Don't let anybody tell you that your way is wrong!

_{Your icon is hilarious!}

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

I ship a few pairings quite strongly, and a few somewhat less strongly, but nonetheless 'firmly' (that is, I don't tend to stray very far from them). I'm definitely not on the everybody-with-everybody boat, though I have no problem at all with other people being on it (and it would terribly silly if I did). Whatever makes you happy, I say.

And thanks! I found it in a com and just had to have it. I love yours, too. Chapman FTW!

[thisbluespirit]

Thanks.

And don't worry - I agree. We all go about different things in different ways and nobody should be trying to make someone else do things their way, especially not in fannish pursuits where we're supposed to be chiefly here to have fun. (I suppose I tend not to see many things sexually, either - I just use "ship" to mean all sorts of relationships in my head. And that comm showed me that other people do that, too, and it wasn't as scary as I thought. But it's not like a prescription for how fannish things should be. As I said, we're all different - each to their own!)

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely interested in a variety of relationships - I just don't tend to see them in a shippy (in the sexual/romantic sense) way. There are, as you know, a few OTPs that I feel strongly about, and some that I simply like. Most of the time, however, I don't tend to branch out a great deal in that area. I've seen people suggest that this that this means a lack or RL tolerance, which is definitely not true for me. I guess you could say that I ship pretty strongly, but don't tend to vary a lot in terms of pairings. And I'm perfectly content that way. :)

[thisbluespirit]

And I'm perfectly content that way

And so you should be. :-)

[swordznsorcery.livejournal.com]

I suppose I tend not to see many things sexually, either - I just use "ship" to mean all sorts of relationships in my head.

Yes, that's something I can relate to. One thing that frustrates me a little about fandom is that it so often seems to be all about the sex. I like friendships. It's an interesting dynamic between two (or more) people. It doesn't have to be about sexual attraction to make a good story.

[swordznsorcery.livejournal.com]

(http://dw100.dreamwidth.org/profile)dw100 (http://dw100.dreamwidth.org/) is a good place. I've been so lax with writing lately, but a one hundred word prompt forces me to do something. Plus that one hundred word limit is a very good challenge.

Didn't realise there was a "Sapphire & Steel" comm! I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, though. Seems at some point, everything got created. It's just that not everything has managed to keep going...

[thisbluespirit]

Yes, drabble-writing is a lot of fun - and a useful way of showing up writing quirks and unnecessary words, for me. When you're counting everyone, you soon start to notice.

:lol: Well, yes. sapphirensteel seems to have stayed really quite active, even compared to some of the bigger fandom comms.