these adventures in solitude

you've got stars upon your head

reflectedeve — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 16:54:08 GMT

Life has been a LOT lately (impressively understaffed at work, my metamour just had major abdominal surgery, my second niece was born a couple weeks ago), so I completely missed posting about chocolateboxcomm reveals!

First of all, I got two lovely gifts - fic and art, the best possible outcome! :D

borrowedphrases wrote me a lovely little OT3 hurt/comfort coda to Leverage S5E9, "The Rundown Job:" Nearly a Near-Death Experience (Hardison/Parker/Eliot, T)

And I received this gorgeous Labyrinth fanart from Syksy, Ascension of the Goblin Queen, featuring an appropriately 80s-glam Queen Sarah and a kneeling Jareth (unf).

Also, I drew five things - a new personal best! I am definitely going to have to make a point of more art treating for future exchanges where possible, because this was really satisfying.

galactic gala (Runaways, Xavin/Karolina/Nico, G)
Karolina brings both her partners to a super-fancy party (in space)!
for venndaai

afternoon tea (X-Men/Excalibur, Rachel Summers/Kitty Pryde, G)
Dragons make excellent tea cosies.
for lilacsigil

centerfold (Gideon the Ninth, Harrow/Gideon-ish, T)
There’s no shame in curiosity, Nonagesimus. (In snooping maybe, but that’s a lost cause.)
for PrinzenHasserin

solid light (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Light Hope/Mara, G)
Light Hope bridges a gap.
for Shadharas

squishable (Wayfarers Series, Rosemary/Sissix, G)
For all the potential pitfalls, mammals make for marvelously cuddly girlfriends!
for stonestrewn</center>

I must admit, I really love that Wayfarers is my top fandom on the AO3 now (with three whole fanworks). Gosh, that was fun.

And now, back to my job+, sigh.

This entry was originally posted at my dreamwidth. ( comments)

trans Harry Potter fanworks fest!

reflectedeve — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 16:46:53 GMT

ilyena_sylph posted: HP transfest reblog

So this looks fun! I don't know that I have time to participate, but given that it's a prompt/claim setup instead of a more formalized exchange, I guess we'll see how things shape up in a couple weeks. I haven't done anything Potter-related in an age, and JKR's TERFy twitter nonsense upset me more than I'd have expected (apparently I'm still pretty invested in those books, for all their many problems).

Anyway, signal boost. ;)

This entry was originally posted at my dreamwidth. ( comments)

the hardcore and the gentle

reflectedeve — Thu, 02 Jan 2020 01:10:10 GMT

Happy New Year, friends. And happy Yuletide reveals. :)

This was clearly not going to be the year when I could pull off more than one fic (potentially next round’s goal? life things depending anyway), but I did receive what was very much the prompt of my heart. I did my best to do well by it:

refraction and recombination, for halfeatenmoon
Wayfarers Series - Becky Chambers (specifically the second book, A Closed and Common Orbit)
Sidra/Tak, Teen & Up, 8,858 words
Summary: Tak takes Sidra to a different kind of party, Sidra dabbles in Aeluon color language, and her sensory analogues might be trying to tell her something.

So, A Closed and Common Orbit would be a strong contender for my favorite book of the decade, if I have such a thing. The whole Wayfarers series is exceptionally close to my heart, but the second book stands out in particular, with some of my favorite themes (building an identity, navigating a confusing and counterintuitive reality, finding/creating a family, boundless curiosity, artificial intelligence/nonhuman personhood, defying imposed roles), using one of my favorite narrative devices (parallel narratives), and just ... all the many things that make Becky Chambers’s writing so fantastic, from her inclusive, optimistic, yet grounded (in a metaphorical sense) viewpoint through the incredibly well-thought-out social and cultural background details she layers in, and of course, the careful, thorough approach to characters communicating and getting to know each other, themselves, and their worlds.

I know I’m gushing, but look, I just love that book a lot. I think this (canon refresh/note-taking in preparation for my assignment) was my fourth time reading it since it came out in 2016? Maybe fifth. And there was a lot of note-taking, let me tell you. I read some author interviews, too. Went back through pieces of A Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet for some context on A.I. personality development, and the first hours of proto-Sidra’s (Lovelace’s) life, and made a basic chart of Aeluon colors/emotions based on what I could dig out of both books.

This was the first time I’ve written for the same fandom twice since Yuletide started! Which is kind of cool, but a little intimidating too. My 2017 fic, unmoving, but in transition, is possibly the best-received thing I’ve written for fandom. I’m still really proud of it, and I have to admit, the several comments I received "accusing" me of being Chambers were immensely flattering.

So all things considered, it’s a bit of a shame that this assignment had to coincide with the holiday season in which I a) was nursing my partner/cooking/doing chores for them post-top-surgery, b) had a minor surgical procedure myself, c) developed a mysterious stomach ailment, d) attended and briefly participated in a theatrical production written, directed and starred in by my father, based on highly personal/intimate family history/tradition, and e) you know ... had all the usual holiday shopping, end-of-semester madness at work, etc etc to contend with. Ah well. Didn’t take away from how great an assignment it was!

Here are some random notes for the fic itself:

-the working title was "what you can’t grow, you build," which I loved but just didn’t fit the final product. This was in reference to Sidra’s synthetic nature/body, and how she put work into "building" a self and, in this case, a new kind of relationship. I had a ton of material to start with, and probably could have gotten into longfic territory if life had been calmer. As it was, paring down was necessary.

-"refraction and recombination" as in light into colors into light, natch. Aeluon color language/feelings, "seeing the light" as in coming to understand, making sense of said emotions, etc.

-I have Sidra’s second tattoo in my head and can’t get it down on paper, which is driving me nuts! I have little facility with the sort of blocky, highly stylized/symbolic style I imagine it in. Oh well. Still pretty proud of that one.

-halfeatenmoon‘s prompts mentioned Sidra and tattoos, so that seemed like a natural place to start ... and when I was rereading the chapter where she gets her first one (mostly), the fact that she seemed to register nothing at all from the process on a sensory/systems level struck me (she’s so focused, at first, on giving the impression of feeling something - because she doesn’t). Which got me thinking about pain, which seemed like an intimate subject that could lead into ... new things between her and Tak.

-then the topic of pain ran away with me, to the point that I believe that first scene hit the minimum word count all by itself. And while I’d initially intended any reference to masochism/kink as pretty general, just a way of breaking boundaries a bit ... out of nowhere I found myself sending them to a kink club/dungeon/what have you. Which felt risky, since I wanted to make it fit into the canon landscape without being too jarring ... and I wanted it to be a fic with kink, not a kinkfic, if that makes sense. (I do, of course, love kinkfic. Just didn’t want that this time.)

-also I had always intended to heavily feature Sidra’s sensory analogues, but once I started thinking about pain, I really noticed the specificity of what kind of input seems to trigger them in the book, which really got me thinking about reaction/intention and how one’s own experience of the same input can change, and then also became super useful for advancing the story.

-(I really wish I could sit down with Chambers for a cup of tea and a really in-depth discussion of some of these themes and world building features. More than I usually do. But anyway!)

-rereading Record of a Spaceborn Few, which I also did because by that point I just wanted to stay in that universe for as long as possible (apart from research, talk about comfort reading), reminded me of just how delicate and fragile Harmagians are. But Tak also talks about tendril piercings in Orbit. With this and other bits and pieces of worldbuilding in mind, have now decided Harmagians are probably the kinkiest fuckers in the galaxy.

-speaking of Harmagians, the one Pepper and Blue chat with in the first scene at Home is meant to be FunkyFronds, the GC inspector/picnic regular. picnic was on my long-list of things to use in the story, and while I never managed to make it fit, I couldn’t resist a nod. ("Omar" was chosen at random, though. No clue who he is.)

-playing with the petbots, and the way Sidra’s senses work when she’s using them, was one of my favorite things. I’d love to write more about that someday (and also, much more about the experience of disconnecting from them and the Linkings when she wants to go out, which in spite of being much more intentional/managed, has to be at least as intense as some of her earlier struggles with the body kit’s limitations in those areas).

-I figured that the smell of mek powder and actual brewed mek would have to bring up different analogue images, but I decided I wanted them to be directly related. Even though the taste canonically isn’t. It made sense to me, IDK.

-having Sidra feeling freaked out about romantic relationships as a result of her earliest experiences is something I initially thought about doing a lot more with. It seems like a pretty significant potential theme - because of the nature of her initial installation, the fallout, etc. And because she, new and a more or less out-of-the-box base version of Lovelace, was immediately learning about Lovey’s growth in some probably very unintended directions (for the manufacturer’s purposes, I should think). Her whole existence and development as Sidra happened because of that (Lovey’s death, and Lovey’s relationship with Jenks), in a sense. The first time she was told that Lovey and Jenks were in love, she thought it would be "nice" to have someone feel that way about her ... and she thinks the same sort of thing several times while observing romantic couples. But at the same time, the drama and violent emotions and consequences that accompanied that first awareness!

-that said, I ultimately didn’t want the version of the story I wrote to get bogged down in heavy emotional territory. I tend to prefer a lighter, gentler sort of story for Yuletide ... and if I were going to go there all the way, I’d want a lot more space for catharsis and learning and romance and joy to balance it out. That would be a much larger story.

-I was nervous about including the exchange with Jenks for the same reason, but it felt really important. I wouldn’t have felt satisfied with the end of the story otherwise. I think—I hope—it worked okay.

-thank goodness for Pepper. I have no idea how this version of the story in my head would ever have worked without her talking some sense into Sidra. I only wish I’d had space for more of her, and the rest of Sidra’s family. I love them all to bits, and it was important to me not to just ... pull Sidra and Tak out of their context, into a little fic-bubble about the two of them. Sidra operates within a small but close network, and I don’t just mean her petbots. It would be a disservice to the source material to remove or ignore that.

-coming up with random alien words is hard! I’m happy with h’rag cheese (and really don’t want to know what sort of creature it derives from). less so with r’leu.

-speaking of cheese, that last line is cheesy as hell. I have no shame.

Man, that was fun. I’m so glad chocolateboxcomm exists so I don’t immediately go into fandom withdrawal. I have plans this year that preclude much fannish participation for a lot of it, probably, but this should be a good easing off.

This entry was originally posted at my dreamwidth. ( comments)

Dear Chocolatier,

reflectedeve — Wed, 01 Jan 2020 22:15:10 GMT

Yay! Fresh off the fun of Yuletide reveals, I'm so glad to have this exchange to fall into. And I love exchanges that include both fic and art! Thank you for signing up to write or draw for one of my eclectic fandoms. <3 I hope you have fun with it!

I tend to be a little long-winded, I know ... for each fandom, I try to give you a sense of what I love about it, and I offer prompts in case you're the kind of person who likes them (I tend to be, when I'm creating, but YMMV). If you have a fantastic idea, feel free to ignore them, please. ;)

Anyway, down to the lists:

Likes: I tend towards preferring a more upbeat/hopeful tone in my fanwork; angst is great when it fits the fandom, but preferably in moderation. I love wacky hijinks and shenanigans, found families, expanded worldbuilding, capers, snarky dialogue and banter, and play with pastiche/genre/form/art style. Non-traditional languages/demonstrations of love/friendship are amazing, as are opposites that attract. Smut is lovely, and I especially enjoy consensual power exchange (D/s), whether it is laid out in explicit terms or not. For art, I particularly love scenes that look like they're in the middle of the action, a snapshot or illustration from a story (whether or not it exists).

DNWs: non-consensual sex (etc), explicit underage sex, non-canonical character death, excessive (ie non-canon-typical) violence, A/B/O, soulmarks/mates, cheating, super heteronormative relationship dynamics, female sub/male Dom, piss/scat, or stories where specific kinks are more the focus than the characters and their connection/dynamic. I also tend to be kind of picky about AUs and crossovers. (It’s all about things “fitting” with canon in a satisfying, believable way, if that makes sense. So every fandom ever getting reimagined at Hogwarts? Not really something I’m into. Historical AUs? Only when there's a particularly compelling reason why the characters/source material would fit into that. "Human"/mundane AUs for speculative fandoms = big nah. Canon divergence AUs are of course totally fine.)

In visual media, DNW depictions of rape/sexual assault, underage sex, or excessive gore (some blood and such is fine). If you're feeling sexy, I tend to prefer suggestiveness to out-and-out porn.

And on to the fandom-specific stuff:

His Dark Materials
Lyra Belacqua & Marisa Coulter; fanart, fanfic

Possibly my favorite thing about the new HDM adaptation is what they’re doing with the character of Marisa Coulter. I reread The Golden Compass recently, and compared to the book, I’m finding the televised Mrs. Coulter more intriguing and complex, and a touch more sympathetic. She remains ruthless and calculating, ambitious and driven, but there’s more of a sense of internal conflict and history, especially with that very interesting tension (self-disgust, even to the point of self-harm?) she has with her daemon. (I really want to know more about that!) She and Lyra seem to have more in common, personality-wise, than either wants to admit. (You have to wonder what happened to that “emotional” child to make her so buttoned up as an adult.) They’re both liars.

Clearly, this fandom is an exception to my tendency to prefer lighter fare. I don’t want unremitting grimness, but there’s certainly some inherent darkness here, maybe a little tragedy.

For fic, maybe a look at Mrs. Coulter’s past, when she was Lyra’s age, or maybe when she reached maturity/her daemon became fixed, paralleled with Lyra’s perspective/experiences? What did Lyra and her mother have in common that might surprise her? (What experiences did her mother have, in contrast to her own, to set her on this path?) Or a missing scene from earlier, in the apartment - a tenuous moment of connection, more real than a polished facade?

For art, a piece of the two of them in the apartment together, with all the tension and unease between them … Mrs. Coulter doing Lyra’s hair, maybe, or similar, especially with the daemons in the background in a posture that contrasts with the pair’s outward attitudes? Or separate, contrasted portraits of a young Marisa and Lyra? Anything reflecting the themes and issues above would be cool, whether it’s an illustrated scene or something more symbolic/stylized. (That bit when they were both screaming on opposite sides of a doorknob Bolvanger was pretty incredible, if you wanted to adapt it. Visual duality etc.)

Labyrinth
Jareth & Sarah, fanart, fanfic

Nostalgia, ho! Labyrinth was the second fandom I ever participated in online, all of twenty years ago now. And while David Bowie in glitter and tights was always one of the major attractions of the film, I was always all about it being Sarah’s story.

I’d really love post-canon fic or art. Something with Sarah returning to the Labyrinth on her own terms, a bit older and more confident - or maybe she winds up there against her will initially, but makes the most of it (whether she ultimately stays or goes). What would grown-up Sarah need or want from the Labyrinth? (I’d prefer the answer were not “something to lighten her exceptionally dull and depressing daily existence,” please; I don’t love the notion that she’s totally ground down by mundanity in the wake of her adventure.) How might the Labyrinth change to reflect her older self, while remaining true to its quirky, ramshackle fantasy nature?

As for Jareth, whether he’s somehow from/part of her own psyche, an adversary, a mercurial eventual ally, or a love interest (I’m not against this! Provided Sarah is of age and has agency) … I just don’t think he’s likely to be especially easy, if that makes sense. Or, I don’t know, anything like gallant? We're talking petulance, cultural differences, you name it. Whatever happens, I would prefer that Jareth not gain and keep the upper hand.

For art-specific prompts, I love all kinds of fairy tale illustration, so playing with that sort of thing could be awfully fun, especially in any number of classic styles. Also designs for Goblin Queen Sarah, various flavors of quarreling/conflict/tension between her and Jareth … and if you like drawing weird Henson/Froud goblins and other flora and fauna around them, that’s always fun!

Fandom-specific DNW: Jareth/Toby Williams.

Leverage
Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer, Tara Cole & Sophie Devereaux & Maggie Collins; fanart, fanfic

This show is my happy place, my enduring fandom comfort food. The OT3 is at the heart of it for me, but I also adore the various badass older ladies to pieces and don’t see nearly enough fannish love for them! So a story focusing on either character set, or even combining them in some way, would be awesome. (The latter is definitely not a requirement.) One way or another, I love all these characters to pieces and want only good things for them.

For fic: caper fic is great, as is … domestic fic that brings something caper-esque into it, because they’re all rather ridiculous. Eliot cooking is always a hit, too. Something post-canon, with the OT3 settling into their new leadership roles, or something set during the series, could be great; I was always pretty fond of their gastro-pub days. Or Sophie, Maggie and Tara teaming up to take down some world-class misogynist asshole, and doing it with buckets of style? A story where the “new” Leverage team (the OT3) stumble into Tara, Sophie and Maggie (teamed up or separate) working on the same mark would be fun (whether they all work together or get a rivalry going), or the younger trio running to the ladies for advice during some kind of shenanigans? Maybe they have a caper that needs extra grifter oomph, and they bring in Tara, Sophie and Maggie as expert help? (Anything where the undeserving rich get kicked in the teeth is encouraged. Gimme all that anti-capitalist little-guy-comes-out-on-top catharsis.)

For art: there is a tragic lack of fanart in this fandom! I have a soft spot for goofyness and long-suffering Eliot, so something silly along those lines could be fun (Parker and Hardison tormenting him in his kitchen?) I’d also give my eyeteeth for a picture of an OT3 cuddle puddle. Or either set of characters costumed up for some specific con! Sophie, Tara and Maggie encountering each other in the midst of a fancy party, clearly up to various levels of no good? A selfie or two of the three of them posing together, probably sent to Nate to torment him? So many fun possibilities.

Lucifer
Linda Martin/Mazikeen; fanart, fanfic

Augh, I ship it so hard. Their contrasting personalities and strengths are a damn delight; it’s that contrast, I think, that I’d most love to see played up in fanworks. That and the strength of a bond that has lasted in spite of some of the most seemingly incompatible differences between them: Maz’s initial careless, semi-contemptuous attitude towards humans, Linda’s overwhelmed dismay about her friend’s true nature, etc. I love the way Maz’s love language is clearly threatening/doing violence for the people she cares about, and the way she’s (very) reluctantly been learning to open up and share her feelings with other people, and their feelings too.

For fanfic, I’d be delighted to read something set mid-show (but preferably post-demon-reveal), where they tackle some kind of (perhaps mundane, human) problem together, with very different approaches and predictably hilarious result - whether the problem is Maz’s, and she’s bewildered/annoyed about it, or it’s Linda’s, and she’s incredulous at Maz’s well-meaning but ultimately over the top or inappropriately occult solutions, etc. Or, well, I loved the way Maz got really invested in the baby and in being family/a guardian. Something involving the baby would be great. I’d be up for background polyamory (whether v-shaped or triad), or maybe Linda and Amenadiel are amicably no longer romantically involved (but if so, please keep him in the background/picture as a co-parent and friend). Or hey, maybe a scenario (set whenever) where LINDA tries to get all belligerent and protective of Maz (possibly while drunk), and is a bit out of her depth? So many possibilities; these are just a few. I guess I’d prefer established relationship to getting-together, though.

For fanart, well, I seem to be leaning towards the humor here, so … one of them surprising the other with a kiss? Playing with the baby together? Picking outfits for each other, with amusing results?

Rivers of London
Beverley Brook & Thomas Nightingale, Peter Grant & Abigail Kamara; fanart, fanfic

I love this series, and especially its excellent cast of characters above and beyond the leads. More than anything, what I’d love is some kind of ridiculous supernatural shenanigans or caperfic featuring a pair of characters whose differences cause hilarity, but who also maybe surprise each other with how well they do. I am equally happy with either of my requested character sets, and others can totally come too if you feel so moved.

I would love to see Bev and Nightingale working together on something without Peter - either because he’s Not Allowed, post-Lies Sleeping, and no doubt whining on the phone about it - or because he’s been kidnapped or something, and they have to rescue him.

Abigail so deserves more of a spotlight. For her and Peter, I’m thinking practical magic lessons, her getting up to mischief that he gets dragged along for/tries to get her out of (probably not very effectually, and then she has to get them both out), her solving an important mystery to his bemusement, etc. Her fox friends would certainly be welcome.

In general, when it comes to these books, I love the wry humor, snark, and occasional earnestness more than the darker elements. Also the found family/team elements. Please feel free to play with the fantastical beings/elements we already know about in canon, or bring in others that you particularly enjoy from folklore, etc!

I don’t really have separate prompts for fic and art here … similar elements appreciated in both. This is definitely a fandom where I'd love "scene from a story" type illustrations - but I desperately want more fanart for the series in general, and am especially excited to see visual designs for the characters. Also, great opportunities for slapstick …

Wayfarers
Sidra & Pepper, Sidra & Tak, Sidra/Tak; fanart, fanfic

A Closed and Common Orbit is one of my favorite books of the last decade, easily, so anything based on it will delight me. Clearly, my investment is fairly Sidra-centric: her boundless curiosity, the mismatching programming/sensory processing that she has to contend with in her (eventually truly) chosen mode of existence, her exploration of what it means to exist and be a person and make a life for herself … that’s my jam. As is anything around people from vastly different backgrounds (and with different personalities and priorities) learning to coexist and love each other.

I love how contentious her relationship with Pepper is, and how much they love each other, even through some pretty difficult disagreements and misunderstandings. (Both of them had to learn how to be, for some value of the term, human … but their experiences, and the conclusions they drew from them, were often so different!) Now that Sidra has a more independent existence, and doesn’t especially need to be dependent on Pepper anymore, it would be interesting to see how that affects their friendship - when they’re on more equal footing.

Her relationship with Tak, on the other hand, is full of intellectual curiosity and exploration, and they’ve each forced the other out of their respective comfort zones (to varying degrees). I ship it pretty hard, but also love them as friends. I see Tak as a particularly great partner for Sidra to continue exploring embodied existence with, in its various sensory and activity-based flavors. Also, emphasis on Tak's gender-fluidity is lovely, always.

I’d be happy with fanwork focused on either set of characters, or including all three, if you feel like it!

(Worth noting: I just wrote a Sidra/Tak story for Yuletide. It’s not some definitive take on how I see the characters or their relationship, nor do I expect you to read it! - but it seems silly not to mention it. If you wanted to play off it in some way, I wouldn’t mind - though it’s not something I’m specially hoping for or anything, either.)

For fic, a “typical” night at Home (with any number of new and weird patrons, interpersonal drama, experimentation with using petbots for whatever, handling a rush, or what have you) would be lovely … I adore the whole idea of the space and would really enjoy seeing it in action. Something playing with the importance of media (fannish experience, even) to Pepper, a way in which she could share it with Sidra? (Maybe not Big Bug … but then again, maybe?) Sidra meets Tak’s dads and encounters some Aeluon family drama? Tak and Sidra try going on a date? (I would totally be down for a smutty exploration of Sidra’s sensory analogues, also. The chapter where she dances with the Aandrisks is tantalizing.)

For art … Sidra and Pepper at Home, chatting at the bar or dealing with a tech failure, something cute/silly with petbots, etc? Pepper dragging Sidra into a sim shop with a new Big Bug anniversary release? Tak giving Sidra a new tattoo? Tak and Sidra having an involved discussion at a table at Home? Or again - something cute/silly with petbots? Maybe Sidra has one doing the flirting for her?

Okay, I'm stopping. ;) Whatever you wind up making, I hope you have fun, and I can't wait to see/read!

This entry was originally posted at my dreamwidth. ( comments)

Yuletide 2019 Recs

reflectedeve — Tue, 31 Dec 2019 18:14:44 GMT

After such a long, intense holiday season, it’s been extremely lovely to relax and spend time reading this year’s Yuletide crop! I have so many more I want to read, but since I’ve already been more thorough than I manage most years, I thought I’d put together some pre-reveal recs for a change!

First things first: I received two gifts this year, one in the main collection and one Madness treat. They’re both really fantastic - I am the luckiest to have stories for two of my obscure fandoms, written by such talented writers. <3

The Enchanted April - Elizabeth von Arnim
Do You See Me?
Lotty Wilkins/Caroline Dester, G, 5447K
This lovely fic is everything I could have asked for - it effortlessly takes up the dreamy, atmospheric quality of the source’s prose, puts plenty of delightful bite into Lady Caroline’s POV, and fixes the major painful problem I had with canon, beautifully. The sweetness of Lotty and Scrap’s dynamic is complimented by the cathartic reworking of Scrap’s reaction to Mr. Briggs. So good!

Chronin
Travelers
Mirai Yoshida/Hatsu, G, 1093K
Aaah! I’m so beyond pleased to get fic for this! It’s a delightful little post-canon conversation between Mirai and Hatsu that showcases everything I love about their dynamic (the way Hatsu challenges Mirai and all her expectations at every turn) and pokes at the whole topic of time travel a bit more. Deftly written and full of possibility. <3

I’ve been reading all over the archive in whatever order fancy takes me, and trying to really mix things up, so I haven’t read every story in nearly any fandom that has more than one. Here are some entirely random favorites:

14th Century CE RPF/The Book of Margery Kempe
The Facebook of Margery Kempe
gen, T, 4505K
Does exactly what it says on the tin, with face-palmingly hilarious results. It’s been a good 15 years since I read Margery, but she leaves an impression, and this fits it beautifully.

Captain Marvel
The Wildest of Them All Was the Cat
gen (background Carol Danvers/Maria Rambeau), G, 3368K
Monica misses her other mom a lot, but a certain flerken develops a habit of wandering through her life and improving things a bit. Very sweet.

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Brass Pots and Black Beans
gen, T, 5979K
Post-season-two, the Spellmans resurrect a disused witchy holiday with predictably mixed results. I have a good deal of fondness for this weird family, who are very much themselves - and we get some familiar spirit POV, which I appreciate very much, since my biggest complaint about canon is that Salem isn’t much of a character.

Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir
Good Morning
Gideon/Harrowhark, G, 1132K
Post-book, on the ship, the remnants of Gideon keeps needling Harrow to get some damn exercise. Funny and off-kilter and sad - the absurd banality of grief and some choice one-liners. Good stuff.

The Good Place
Free Netflix Subscription
Eleanor/Tahani, T, 10103
A fabulous take on the neighborhood iteration where Eleanor and Tahani are soulmates, Everything Is Gay (so can it really be the Bad Place? really really?), and the character voices are so. Completely. Spot. On. And delightful.

Oxford Time Travel Series - Connie Willis
A Cup of Kindness
gen, G, 2807K
Lovely, quiet little post-series story in which Colin encounters a contemp acquaintance and there is gentle humor, wistfulness, anti-climax, and yes, kindness. Heartwarming and a little sweet, and beautifully executed.

Slings and Arrows
Geoffrey Tennant and the Cursed Play
gen (background/implied Geoffrey/Darren), G, 1194K
Geoffrey Tennant is forced to direct Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. His famous "cousin David" shows up in New Burbage to lend his, er, expert assistance. The cast stages a shipper rebellion. Darren, overseas, is insufficiently sympathetic. I laughed, lots.

Victor/Victoria
What A Victor You Are
Victoria/King, Victor/King, Victor/Toddy, E, 1157K
The queer Victor/Victoria story i didn’t know I needed (at least, specifically), which will change and improve all future viewings of one of my favorite movies. Toddy teaches Victoria how to top King Marchand. So hot. So satisfying in what it does to undermine the irritatingly heteronormative recuperative attempts of canon. More like this, please.

Wayfarers Series - Becky Chambers
To Wander Still
gen (background Isabel/Tamsin), G, 2727K
Post-Record of a Spaceborn Few, the Exodus Fleet needs a new ritual for adoptees. This is approached with all the care and consideration you would expect. Lovely little canon tag, absolutely in keeping with the spirit of the series (which I love beyond measure).

The Mountains of Hashkath
Rosemary/Sissix, T, 1141K
Rosemary and Sissix take a hiking vacation on Sissix’s home planet, allowing for a brief, quiet exploration of their maturing relationship (and Rosemary’s maturation in general). Lovely.

I’m looking forward to sharing a bit about my own story after reveals. After all these years, Yuletide continues to be one of my favorite ~~fannish~~ ~~holiday~~ traditions, period. And I really needed it this year!

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where our design has failed

reflectedeve — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 18:53:44 GMT

Egad, I am so sleepy.

This ... is an unusually and especially intense holiday season in many ways. My partner had top surgery two weeks ago, so I've been spending a great deal of time a few towns over at their place, caring for them and helping my metamour around the apartment. (I also cooked half our Thanksgiving meal, but that's standard!) This weekend, one of my dearest friends is having a baby shower (my second nibling is coming soon), and the weekend after that, I'll be attending (and briefly cameoing in) an unusual theatrical production which will have emotionally high stakes for my entire family of origin. And I mean, you know. Yuletide, Christmas and Hanukkah presents and a lot of cross-state travel.

Is it 2020 yet?

Really, all of this (hopefully including that performance) is good stuff, it's just ... so much. All crammed together. Gah.

Anyway, I did want to share my femslashex piece! It's post-film Edith/Lucille from Crimson Peak, and I had the most splendidly self-indulgent time with all the crosshatching.

Click here to see the whole thing at the AO3!

I also received a lovely bit of Rachel/Kitty futurefic from Sheliak, A Future, Brick by Brick. My forever OTP. <3

And now it's back to what is totally my dream Yuletide assignment! If only I can stay awake!

This entry was originally posted at my dreamwidth. ( comments)

leave the lights on when you stay

reflectedeve — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 13:58:18 GMT

I still have two My Chem icons, but neither of them really does justice to the way I'm feeling about them right now. Which is bemused with a slight edge of hysteria, honestly. My favorite band is back? Maybe?? One show for sure, and rumors of a tour and/or a new album. It's a little surreal.

California 2019. Those fucking trolls.

I've never been a fan of a band quite the way I was (am) a fan of MCR, partly because of being in bandom (and I never did RPF before that, and haven't since), and partly because of where I was in my life when it all hit me. I'd moved to Boston from living with my parents in Western Mass to take my first full-time office job, and my best friend (with whom I was somewhat codependent) was leaving for the Peace Corps. I was 24, lonely, terrified, and feeling pretty depressed about the realities of the daily grind. Finding the will and inspiration to make art was harder than it had ever been before.

Said best friend was in bandom already, which I'd initially scoffed at (like a jerk), but around the time I moved, I also caved, as it were. And MCR "saved" me in my own way - my love for their music and its sheer, earnest, often ridiculously defiant, macabre and overwrought lyrics helped me to reaffirm my sense of my creative self in the face of ~growing up and punching the clock and all that jazz. And bandom gave me community support and engagement when I needed it most. It was a big deal.

I made more stuff for bandom, primarily MCR, than I had for any other fandom, and I did it much more publicly, too, even collaborating a whole bunch (mostly through Big Bangs), which was new. But my original work didn't suffer, for all that - Gerard Way in particular was a huge inspiration to me, being a comics person himself and someone who embodied the possibility of taking multiple paths in life and art. I rode that inspiration all the way to grad school (and my second bit of correspondence from the school, after I had been accepted, came with a little piece of Show Pony fanart - because one of my bandom friends, unbeknownst to me, was there).

So yeah ... My Chemical Romance is hugely important to me, and naturally I was extremely sad when they broke up in 2013. But it didn't feel wrong, either. Things had been getting a bit strange; Bob had left, Gerard's behavior on social media was a bit uncomfortable (all that stuff about fighting back against "sanitization" and being pretty unpleasant to some fans on twitter), and Mikey had his whole relationship mess. I loved them, but doing RPF was increasingly uncomfortable for me, and I was also on the verge of graduating with my MFA: it seemed like time to be really focused on my own work. The timing, both for the band and on a personal level, felt pretty natural.

(I have never really been inclined to the sort of fervent, worshipful fandom, that flavor that's almost like faith. Which is how bandom could often be, even for me for awhile. All-in, completely fascinated, yes. But feeling 100% confident in Gerard Way's sterling feminism, for example ... not so much.)

I've missed them enormously. The Becky Cloonan Killjoys poster hangs over my bed. I enjoyed the heck out of Gerard's solo album, and the Umbrella Academy show, and I was a little sad, reading Gerard's interviews about how TUA was in part about processing the difficulty of being part of a dysfunctional "family" (the band). And listening to Gerard and Ray collaborate on the soundtrack, of course, made me wish ...

Maybe it shouldn't be a surprise! I mean, again, California 2019 seems like a pretty damn big hint in retrospect. Their last, "posthumous" single in 2014 was called "Fake Your Death." Ray and Gerard were already playing together! And apparently this even matches up with some comments Gerard made about wanting to follow the same 12 years together/6 years apart pattern as the Smashing Pumpkins?! But I am surprised. There's been a lot over the last few years that made it feel final, to me.

I'm in such a different place in my life in 2019 than I was in 2008. I'm not ready to dive back into RPF, certainly not on the all-consuming level of back in the day. I don't need them to save my sense of self, which is probably the strongest and most solid it has ever been. But the world is a fucking disaster (as opposed to the year when, you know, we elected Barack Obama). I need their earnestness and defiance to boost me up again in a different way, and I am so very here to have my bandom community back, to go to shows, to find out what ridiculous concept stuff they might have in store for us this time. I want all Gerard's ridiculous sweeping visions again, to play off and get inspired.

So I am so glad they're back, and I hope it's for really real, and not some one-time event that I can't possibly get myself to. I'm a little scared of how much I hope for that.

But also, damn, those fucking trolls. ♥ Well played. Now TALK TO US PLEASE. More, gimme more, gimme more.

I am an absurdly sappy asshole, okay. Back to your regularly scheduled feed.

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went home and tried to stalk you on the internet

reflectedeve — Tue, 22 Oct 2019 16:13:48 GMT

The Yuletide tag set is up! And ... I've already gone through the whole damn (beautiful) thing and am going to have a very impatient week waiting for sign-ups to end. I'd say this has something to do with the residual energy coming off the convention I exhibited at this weekend, but really, I'm always like this.

There's still the fandom promo post to go through, though, so yay. And speaking of which, I did posts for four rare book fandoms which I'm considering for this year:

A Song For A New Day, by Sarah Pinsker
Rock’n’roll, rebellion and community organizing in a dystopian near-future of shut-ins and near-total corporate homogenization.

In The Vanishers' Palace, by Aliette de Bodard
Lesbian dragon/human master/indentured servant slow build romance with built-in (older/teen) kidfic. I mean, come on.

The Future of Another Timeline, by Annalee Newitz
In a world where time travel is a discovery science, an apparently naturally occurring phenomenon known to humanity from the earliest days of civilization, the past is editable. And the Daughters of Harriet, a secret feminist society dedicated to improving history for women and people of color, are finding themselves in the middle of an edit war with a shadowy men’s rights organization.

The Witch Family, by Eleanor Estes
Amy loves telling stories, mostly to her best friend, Clarissa … and her stories are also true. So when she banishes (or excuse me, “banquishes”) Old Witch to a glass hill for her wickedness, she soon peoples that world ... It’s a childhood favorite of mine, and as an adult, I’m fascinated by how metatextual the whole thing gets.

I love this time of year so much.

This entry was originally posted at my dreamwidth. ( comments)

Dear Yule Writer,

reflectedeve — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 17:25:08 GMT

I hope you’re as excited as I am! Yuletide is one of my favorite things - period, really. As such, my top priority is that everyone has as much fun as possible; when I say that I will love whatever you write, I mean it from the bottom of my heart. As a creator, I happen to really like getting prompts, so I always try and provide a fair amount of material (as a resource). Optional details are optional, though; what I’d like best is a story YOU are invested in/enjoy writing.

So thank you thank you for offering to write for one of these fantastic books/series! There are … two time travel narratives, two stories about grassroots rebellion/collective action, found family/community galore, three canonically queer sets of characters, three sci-fi tales set in the future, metafiction, coming of age, culture clash, and settings ranging from a digital interface to 1930s Italy to outer space to Orange County in 1993 to 1960s American suburbia to Edo-era Japan. I love it ALL.

My general likes include heavy focus on female characters (and their relationships with each other), found families, expanded worldbuilding, future fic, and caper fic. Snarky dialogue and banter. Good communication, and bad communication that gets re-evaluated and resolved. Non-traditional languages/demonstrations of love/friendship. Opposites who attract. Smart trope subversions, and pastiches/playing with genre conventions/experimentation with form.

I'll note that while I enjoy a certain amount of angst and tension for spice, my Yuletide fic preferences tend strongly towards the upbeat, silly, hopeful or quietly comforting.

DNWs across the board: non-consensual sex (etc), character death, underage sex, excessive (ie non-canon-typical) violence, A/B/O, soulmarks/mates. I also tend to be kind of picky about AUs and crossovers - it’s all about things “fitting” with canon in a satisfying, believable way, if that makes sense. (So I’m not really into most coffee shop, random-historical-era, Hogwarts, etc, AUs, with the occasional exception of really deliberate metafiction/pastiche.)

Specific preferences/prompts/etc by fandom, in alphabetical order (there is definitely no order of preference):

A Song For A New Day: Rosemary Laws

I have a little bit of a THING for stories focused on bands, music scenes, etc. (I was a bandom person back in the day, but I think it goes back further than that even, so yeah.) Combine that with quasi-dystopian sci-fi and underground rebellion, and I am over the moon. I did a fandom promo post over here.

While I thought the book ended well, I was left with ALL the “what happens next??” feels. And one of the things I really enjoyed was the way it played with the different experiences of community in the digital and “real” worlds, and the complexity of transitioning between those (for people who are thoroughly acclimated to one or the other). The book did a great job of balancing perspectives on, and pros/cons for, both worlds, which I thought was great. So I think what I’m most interested in is a sense of the broader impact, conversation, and burgeoning movements that grow from the events of the novel.

I requested Rosemary because she’s definitely the character whose viewpoint I’m most interested in centering, but any of the others are welcome too. If Luce is the catalyst/symbol for change, how does she experience the reality that comes next - and, I should think, the inevitable inclusion/integration of digital community and experience? What about Joni? How does she respond to Rosemary’s choices? Is reconciliation in the cards? Members of the various bands that we met in the course of the story are welcome, Alice the surly bouncer, Jeremy from Quality Control (who IS he anyway??), and so on. Show me the early days of the revolution, old-school rock show veterans venturing into the world of virtual fandom, shut-in children of the Crash learning to cope with sharing embodied space, corporate repression being thwarted, etc!

Chronin: Mirai Yoshida, Hatsu

This story hit me in the feels so hard and unexpectedly, dang. I’m pretty sure I’d love literally any exploration of/expansion on canon material, but I’m also super predictable: more than anything, I’d like more Mirai/Hatsu.

While I love their adventures and first connections in the Edo era, I think I’m most interested in learning more about how they cope after their successful arrival in the 2040s; the bits in between that first glimpse of Hatsu’s mother and older Kuji waiting by the machine, and the gang getting together for Gilbert’s return. Debriefing, quarantine, culture shock, Mirai’s reception by her program and family, teaching Hatsu English (which she appears to be fluent in by the end), Hatsu’s mother learning to use electronic appliances, and of course, exploring Hatsu & Mirai’s feelings for each other and building a relationship. (And hey, does Hatsu wind up reading/watching Rurouni Kenshin? How much does she tease Mirai about it??)

The Enchanted April: Lotty Wilkins, Lady Caroline Dester

I read this book earlier in the year, hoping for something gentle and comforting and indulgent. And it mostly was that, except for the part where I was super angry about Lady Caroline’s piece of the ending!! I decided to request it for Yuletide on the spot.

Scrap was perhaps my favorite character in the book. While some of her wealthy, bored persona might have been hard to sympathize with at first, the descriptions of her frustration with her life, with being expected to be ornamental and pleasant and available to all, were so well-realized and poignant; one of the best parts of the book, for me. She was a woman who was desperate to be "unsympathetic" and real, but completely trapped in the male gaze and its interpretation of her. The whole POINT of her story was the desire to be seen as a person, to connect with someone who wasn’t stuck on her surface; I was actually astonished that von Arnim's "happy ending" for her was a “romance” with a dude who “fell in love” with her at first sight - sight, mind you, not knowing anything about her personality at all. Capitulation to exactly the kind of social narrative she so vividly found suffocating? What?? (Sure, the book is very committed to pairing everyone up and rehabilitating troubled heterosexual relationships, but at least the other women are allowed some self-actualization and change; there's a sense that they are coming into their own power within those relationships! Argh.)

One of my OTHER favorite parts of the book, however, was the way the character of Lotty became this catalyst for positive change for the other women, through bonding with them and encouraging a sort of hybrid of authenticity and dreamlike optimism. She and Scrap are from such different backgrounds, but she was the only character Scrap really took to (in a way that felt genuine to me, at least). I would love a fix-it AU where the two of them wind up together instead, in keeping with the dreamy and cheerfully optimistic feel of the book.. (Lotty’s husband also totally didn’t deserve her, even if she was able to nudge him into a more acceptable shape; I also suspect he wouldn’t have any deep objection to his wife’s romantic connection with THE Lady Caroline Dester, even if his understanding of the situation were a bit, hmm, lacking. It seems distinctly plausible to me that arrangements could be made which would be amenable to all.)

The Future of Another Timeline: Beth, Berenice, Enid

This book feeds my love of parallel narratives and in-depth historical settings something fierce. I adore the clever alternate history touches (everything from Senator Harriet Tubman to Tim Burton’s Wonder Woman movies), as well as the in-depth ruminations on personal experience, growth and responsibility. And of course, the unabashed feminist themes. I did a fandom promo post over here!

So please don’t feel like you need to write about all three of the characters I requested; I’m interested in exploring any, but not necessarily all of them! On the one hand, I’m dying to know more about Beth’s future, especially as it might wind up interacting with travelers and/or the Daughters of Harriet (though of course, we know she doesn’t particularly want to be a traveler herself) - who she is as an adult, with her experiences and her knowledge of her own alternate-timeline suicide, Lizzy/Tess and who she was/could be, and so on.

Also, the stories of Enid and Berenice were just small pieces of the larger narrative of the book, but they squeezed my heart, and I’d love an expansion on any or all of it. The different versions of their lives together, how they met, how it feels when they’re in a future where Enid remembers NOT meeting Berenice. If Berenice remembers meeting Enid when she was young, now, and what that’s like. Love and survival and being co-revolutionaries (and academics).

If you wanted, it wouldn’t be hard to link up these threads--one can imagine Beth and Berenice running into each other at a show, I think! But really, whatever you want to run with. I’m into it. And feel free to play with a new choice of historical era or two in the mix, if you like!

The Witch Family: Amy, Clarissa, Hannah, Lurie

I loved this book when I was a kid. Friendship, metafiction, playing with notions of right and wrong, brave little girls, found family … I mean, damn. (As an adult I find it a bit preachy and saccharine at times, but for the most part, it holds up beautifully.)

For this beloved childhood favorite, the thing I find myself considering most is future-fic. How do Amy and Clarissa’s friendship and storytelling evolve as they get older? (And how might Lurie and Hannah’s mirror and/or prefigure those changes? I know that Hannah was supposed to never age, but I’d prefer to ignore that bit of canon.) How does Amy’s perspective on creativity, morality and magic evolve? What do the girls grow up to do and be? Playing with metafiction would be fabulous, and/or identity (the … similarities between the “real” girls and their magical counterparts) ... and I’d happily ship both/either pair. (How might trying to figure out liking girls and dating a mermaid have interesting parallels that could be explored? Ahem.)

While I’d prefer things to ultimately be upbeat, please feel free to reduce the schmaltz level a little and be realistic about the characters’ flaws (perhaps especially Amy’s). I’d also be thrilled if you kept to the historical setting (the book came out in 1960, so assuming the girls were 7 that year …)

Wayfarers: Sidra, Pepper, Tak, Owl

I desperately want to read more about these characters building relationships and lives together in their own ways. I totally ship Sidra/Pepper (in a vee-shaped polyamorous sort of situation with Blue, because Pepper/Blue is important, and I think Sidra and Blue could be awesome metamours), and also Sidra/Tak, and exploring the complexities and differences of a relationship like Sidra’s and Owl’s would be fascinating as well! More than anything, though, the whole chosen family theme is the most important bit for me.

Honestly, I hardly know where to start with the things I loved about A Closed and Common Orbit, and these characters and their relationships with each other. The meaning of identity and personhood is a favorite theme, as is people from vastly different backgrounds (and with different personalities and priorities) learning to coexist and loving each other. The importance of a piece of media (a fannish experience!) to Pepper’s survival and identity! Sidra creating a space for herself, her way; making something really new rather than either falling back on her past or conforming to other peoples’ ideas of how she should live! Tak’s gender and the related social norms (and the way those interacted with their choice to live in such a multicultural, less traditional setting), and also their past with academia and the different choices they made there. Playing with any of that would be delightful.

Also, I loved the whole core cast, and I loved loved loved the entire concept of Sidra’s bar. So inclusion of these things is heavily encouraged where appropriate ;)

One specific gen idea that could be interesting, if probably painful, would be a reconnection between these characters and the crew of the Wayfarer, post-ACACO. Sidra isn't Lovelace isn't Lovey. How would everyone come to terms with that?

As for specific character dynamics ...

Sidra/Pepper
I loved how contentious these two were, and how much they loved each other even as they dealt with some pretty difficult disagreements and misunderstandings. Both of them had to learn how to be, for some value of the term, human … but their experiences, and the conclusions they drew from them, were often so different! I’d especially like something post-book, I think … now that Sidra has her own place, her own direction, I’d really enjoy seeing them continue that trajectory. Whether in a romantic direction or not.

Sidra/Tak
These two had a lot of coming to terms to do, but I especially loved the bit where Tak would take Sidra out and be understanding of her different needs and interests. That willingness to learn and adapt, especially after the initial shock, was lovely. It might be nice to have a mid-book story where they do other kinds of exploring together. Maybe Tak takes Sidra on a date, and she gets to learn about that and decide whether she’s into the concept? (Maybe in her own way?) I also had a random plotbunny a while back: what if Pei is visiting Home on a supply stop (with or without the Wayfarer crew) and notices something between Tak and Sidra, and perhaps gives the (somewhat nervous and/or oblivious) Tak a nudge? Or gives Sidra advice on wooing an Aeluon?

(Bonus for continuing to explore Sidra’s sensation-analogue memory library … ;))

Sidra/Owl
Two unusual AIs with very different life experiences sharing memory banks! How does that work for/feel to them both? What do they learn from each other?

… and that is quite enough from me! Happy writing, and I hope you have a fun and un-stressful Yuletide! Thank you again!!

This entry was originally posted at my dreamwidth. ( comments)

in the time you took to make up your mind

reflectedeve — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 17:20:44 GMT

Life's been a bit rough lately - post-big-event/project slump, I think, plus the mild continuing strain of a quasi-long-distance polyamorous relationship. But hey, fandom exchange season to the rescue! I'm pretty pumped about my femslashex assignment, and now yuletide nominations are open. :D

Continuing the last few years' trend, I pretty much want to offer and request all the books. So naturally I'm going to haunt the nominations coordination post until the last minute, hoping that someone knocks a few of these off the list for me.

A Song For A New Day (Sarah Pinsker)
I just finished this book yesterday, and I definitely want "what happens next" fic! There's all this intersection of online/IRL community stuff and the potential beginnings of social/political transformation ... not to mention rock band/music scene dynamics, which is always catnip for me. But it's a really new book, and nobody I know has read it yet, so will Yuletide folks have?

In The Vanishers’ Palace (Aliette de Bodard)
Loved this short-but-sweet lesbian dragon/human indentured-servant-turned-romance novella to death, probably in part because it went relatively light on the romance plot and threw a bunch of family and cultural conflict stuff into the mix, among other things. But I want more of the main characters navigating their relationship! Surely I can't be the only one!

Provenance (Ann Leckie)
Writing for this book has been an appealing idea since I read it ... especially with the female main character and the whole conceit of social-status-via-historical-ephemera, though of course most people seem more interested in the m/m multicultural (almost sort of interspecies) romance. IDK.

The Arcadia Project series (Mishell Baker)
I've been wanting indulgent shippy fic for this series since the first book, dammit, and nobody else seems to have read it. One of the characters can't handle her own emotions and pours them all into a dragon-form energy construct (which turns out to be sentient and semi-consensually involved, so that adds even more interesting layers) which then sometimes gets out of control and all expressive and effusive towards the other one! It's complicated and problematic and pretty damn irresistible!

The Enchanted April (Elizabeth von Arnim)
I read this classic novel earlier this year, was completely incensed by one of the characters' "happy endings," and immediately decided I wanted f/f fic to fix it. Grrr. At least other Yuletiders will definitely be familiar with it.

The Future of Another Timeline (Annalee Newitz)
Another brand-new book that left me craving fic, because there are so many characters and threads and time periods you could expand on! And I have no idea if anyone else in the YT community will have read this one, either. Also, there are totally more than four characters I'm interested in with this one. Alas.

The Witch Family (Eleanor Estes)
Someone nominated this beloved child favorite last year, and I immediately got all fired up about it - it hadn't occurred to me before, but I want all the fic. I want to read it, and I want to write it. Only, as far as I know, there was only one other person who was interested! So ... will I stubbornly nominate it anyway?

Thank goodness someone has already taken care of Gideon the Ninth (though there's at least one character I'd really like to see added), A Memory Called Empire, This Is How You Lose The Time War, and the Wayward Children series.

And while it looks like the Rivers of London and Wayfarers books aren't on there yet, surely someone else will get them nominated, right? They're gimmes ...

I'm ridiculous, don't mind me. Work is really boring right now.

This entry was originally posted at my dreamwidth. ( comments)

Dear femslashex creator,

reflectedeve — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 17:46:31 GMT

Yay, I'm excited to do this exchange again! Thank you so much for signing up to write, draw or vid for one of my fandoms. I went with a slightly eclectic selection this year, and I love them all.

Whatever you wind up creating, I will be delighted. I happen to like having prompts to work from, so I always try and provide a fair amount of material, but it's definitely all optional. Please go with what will make you happy! And I love fic, art, and vids equally, though I varied my requests based on what I thought might work best for the fandom in question.

Likes: I'm really feeling upbeat, funny and/or hopeful material right now, more than anything dark or angsty. I love wacky hijinks and shenanigans, found families, expanded worldbuilding, caper fic, snarky dialogue and banter, and play with pastiche/genre/form/art style. Non-traditional languages/demonstrations of love/friendship are amazing, as are opposites that attract. Smut is lovely, and I definitely enjoy consensual power exchange (D/s). For art, I particularly love scenes that look like they're in the middle of the action, a snapshot or illustration from a story (whether or not it exists). For vids, I tend to love mine relatively fast-paced and tightly focused on their theme - and vids that play with the form, with genre/allusion, etc, are marvelous.

DNWs: non-consensual sex (etc), character death, explicit underage sex, excessive (ie non-canon-typical) violence, A/B/O, soulmarks/mates. Several of the pairings I requested go against canon heterosexual pairings; my feelings on those vary, but I'd rather avoid any vilification, or cheating plots, etc. In visual media, explicit depictions of rape/sexual assault, underage sex, or excessive gore (some blood and such is fine). I also tend to be kind of picky about AUs and crossovers - it’s all about things “fitting” with canon in a satisfying, believable way, if that makes sense. (So every fandom ever getting reimagined at Hogwarts? Not really something I’m into. Etc.)

Fandom-specific prompts, in no particular order:

Marvel 616
Kitty Pryde/Rachel Summers, fanart or fanfic

One of my oldest, most ironclad OTPs! I love their entire, complicated history--the importance of future "Kate" to Rachel's past, blended with her friendship with 616 Kitty (almost immediately her closest and most trusted ally in the confusing "new" world), and all the way through hints about their future life together in the mostly-flawed X-Men: The End--but I do have a particular attachment to the Excalibur era, complete with a more confident Rachel, zany adventures and the two of them being Lighthouse roommates.

So maybe wacky Excalibur-style hijinks? Cross-Time Capers absolutely encouraged! But if you’re less into/familiar with that era, maybe something at the Jean Grey Academy, two teachers trying to hide their relationship from a school full of obnoxious superpowered teens? Or something from the future, with Rachel working on one of Kitty’s political campaigns in Chicago? I’m not 100% up on current X-Books--my favorite stuff is from the 80s and 90s--but if it’s these two, I’ll love it.

Art-specific prompts: Same again, really: wacky hijinks, clandestine teacher makeouts, clandestine candidate/political campaign manager makeouts? Gorgeous, indulgent Phoenix Force displays around midair smooches? Free to ditch Ray’s mullet if you’re playing with that era. ;) I’ve always thought she looked great in short, choppy, punk cuts.

Steven Universe
Mystery Girl/Pearl, fanart or fanfic

Watching SU: The Movie has me really excited for futurefic, for exploring the characters’ lives in the wake of the Diamonds’ defeat/regime change/whatever you want to call it. With her newfound independence/self-confidence and final release from Rose/Pink Diamond’s orders and influence, Pearl in particular has a shiny new chapter of her life to start at the end of season five. So what I’d like best, either from fic or art, would be a peek at her getting up the courage to start seeing a human, figuring out how to have a healthy (and not necessarily ~eternal) relationship based on mutual respect and all that jazz … maybe with bits of the developments we saw at the end of the season/in the movie happening in the background? (The healed gems, the beginnings of New Homeworld, Lars and the Off-Colors settling in on Earth, etc etc.)

I imagine there would be an interesting contrast of new experiences for Pearl, who was in love with her (kind of former) absolute ruler, and at the same time has taken an alternately patronizing and bewildered attitude towards humans in the past. Does she bravely try to eat on a date with MG (and does MG reassure her that it’s cool that she doesn’t like to)? Do they go to another rock show, take a trip to FunLand, go for a walk up on the cliffs, get interrupted by ridiculous and silly problems or hijinks other gems get into around them? Most of all, I would like to see Pearl happy.

For art-specific prompts: any kind of cute/slightly awkward first date or sweet, romantic kissing scenario would be awesome, especially with recognizable Beach City settings, if you’re up for that.

Lucifer
Linda Martin/Mazikeen; fanart, fanfic or fanvid

Augh, I ship it so hard. Their contrasting personalities and strengths are a damn delight; it’s that contrast, I think, that I’d most love to see played up in fanworks. That and the strength of a bond that has lasted in spite of some of the most seemingly incompatible differences between them: Maz’s initial careless, semi-contemptuous attitude towards humans, Linda’s overwhelmed dismay about her friend’s true nature, etc. I love the way Maz’s love language is clearly threatening/doing violence for the people she cares about, and the way she’s (very) reluctantly been learning to open up and share her feelings with other people, and their feelings too.

For fanfic, I’d be delighted to read something set mid-show (but preferably post-demon-reveal), where they tackle some kind of (perhaps mundane, human) problem together, with very different approaches and predictably hilarious result - whether the problem is Maz’s, and she’s bewildered/annoyed about it, or it’s Linda’s, and she’s incredulous at Maz’s well-meaning but ultimately over the top or inappropriately occult solutions, etc. Or, well, I loved the way Maz got really invested in the baby and in being family/a guardian. Something involving the baby would be great. I’d be up for background polyamory (whether v-shaped or triad), or maybe Linda and Amenadiel are amicably no longer romantically involved (but if so, please keep him in the background/picture as a co-parent and friend). Or hey, maybe a scenario (set whenever) where LINDA tries to get all belligerent and protective of Maz (possibly while drunk), and is a bit out of her depth? So many possibilities; these are just a few. I guess I’d prefer established relationship to getting-together, though.

For fanart, well, I seem to be leaning towards the humor here, so … one of them surprising the other with a kiss? Playing with the baby together? Picking outfits for each other, with amusing results?

As for a vid, I think something focusing in on the arc of their relationship, especially one highlighting humor and affection, would be a delight. I don’t have music in mind, but probably something fast-paced or upbeat?

Stranger Things
Eleven (Jane) Hopper/Max Mayfield; fanart, fanfic or fanvid

My biggest wish at the end of season two was that these two would get to be friends, and season three delivered. I was so happy! I know the season ended on a somber note for both of them, to some degree, with both losing family … but honestly? Mostly, I want to see these kids being happy and bonding some more. Whether romance develops when they see each other again, soon after we left off, or even flashing forward to college years or something. I’m a sucker for all the pop culture and historical references in the show, so something that continues to play up all things era-appropriate would be especially fantastic. And if the rest of the gang makes an appearance, or there’s a little Upside-Down/mad scientist/etc rumbling to contend with, that’s well and good. But I’d like to mostly keep it light.

For art, any sort of 80s pastiche would be super fun. Feel free to play with art styles, contemporary fashion, specific media references or even images/posters/costumes, etc!

For a fanvid, well, focusing on the two of them bonding and having fun together--especially alone together--would be great. Above all, I think era-appropriate music is paramount. ;)

This Is How You Lose The Time War
Red/Blue, fanvid

God, this gorgeous book. The imagery, the shifting settings and even genres to a point, the epistolary aspect, the simple but evocative color dichotomy … it gives me shivers. I think it would make a really amazing constructed-reality vid. You could use just about any mix of source material (movies/tv, cartoons, historical/current footage, nature documentaries, various cultures, hell, anything) to trace the twisting enemies-to-lovers narrative, using color cues and the like. Referencing specific bits from the story, but also adding/expanding, to whatever degrees you wanted. Including footage from something spy-themed would be appropriate, of course.

I don’t vid, but I realize this is a challenging notion, and probably an extremely long shot. But I imagine anyone who would actually offer this fandom for vidding would be up for trying it? ;)

Good luck, and I hope you have fun! Thank you again so very much. <3

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I heard you say the past was much more fun

reflectedeve — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 00:42:33 GMT

I’ve just finished my first watch of the Good Omens miniseries. If I’ve had one favorite book, ever, GO has probably been the top candidate, so naturally no adaptation was ever likely to live up to it for me. That’s okay though; I wasn’t looking for it to somehow top the book, and it was a pretty damn delightful experience overall.

(I had no idea just how much of the text I apparently have in my head, though. So many lines automatically running themselves in my head on story cue.)

Around the point in the final episode where a gigantic CGI Satan clawed his way through the tarmac, I realized that I was having a bit of a "Room With A View of HELL! Staircase of Satan! Pond of DEATH." moment, à la that one Eddie Izzard sketch comparing British and American filmmaking. And I get why things are all flashy and exciting, but sometimes I really prefer the understated bits. Where Mr. Young appears just when you’re anticipating Satan. Or your AntiChrist can figure out what’s going wrong without Matrix-ing his friends’ mouths away and all the glowing-red-eyed screaming. Or ... not Heaven and Hell trying to execute our heroes instead of just fading off into the background, embarrassed, in the first place. (That little addition would have won a lot more favor with me if Tenant and Sheen had played each others’ characters, even just "slipping up" here and there. That would have been delightful, but as it was, it just felt unnecessary to me.)

But ... look, Crowley and Aziraphale were magnificent, better than I ever dared hope for, honestly. Fusty, earnest, obviously smitten Aziraphale whose enthusiasm (not always in the purest and holiest of directions) could totally get him into some absurd kind of double-crossing spy drama in WWII. Slightly-too-awkward-to-be-as-cool-as-he-thinks Crowley, who takes great pride in his weird craftsmanship and would mostly prefer to slither out of serious consequences for anyone (but especially himself). And they love each other SO DAMNED MUCH. Surprising no one, the third episode’s highlights reel of their relationship across history was my favorite transformative tweak, and perhaps my favorite part of the show, period. I can never get enough of those two being ridiculous in various era-appropriate scenarios.

And of course, they really leaned into the subtext, and they never, ever tried to pull a transgression/recuperation cop-out with it, either; as I’ve seen several people mention, there were no denials (unnecessarily amused/embarrassed or otherwise) when someone "mistook" them for a couple. And the chemistry ... the adoring looks ... the indulgent way Crowley pulled the paintball stains out of Aziraphale’s clothes when he was fussing! Sigh. Sigh! I am looking forward to the fan fiction renaissance, folks. Chop chop. Could we get a (really very appropriately named) Big Bang going, do you think? I want to illustrate.

I thought the Them were delightful, if a bit too ... tidied up, and the Horsepeople were mostly great, as was oddly-wealthy-American Anathema (although sadly I found Newt significantly less charming in this version for some reason). I was into the voice of God being female, but dearly wished the voiceovers had stopped after the introduction. (And part of me kind of wanted them to be Agnes Nutter. It would have been hard to pull off, but I missed "yow daft olde fool.") And all the Queen, every time Crowley was driving, had me grooving and delighted. The Bentley! Everything about the flaming Bentley!

Heh. So yeah ... not perfect, of course not, but there was a lot to love. And I’ve missed this fandom!

Also, yeah, definitely disappeared for a few months. Life continues not to have as much space in it for fannish pursuits, and if anything, I’m gearing up to be even busier in my "spare" time. But it’d be nice to get a bit more journaling in still, at least.

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that's all that you'll let me be

reflectedeve — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 18:14:07 GMT

I'm apparently never getting this song out of my head. I might have preferred the Hole, or the Garbage, but ... ah well, I'll take it.

Perhaps needless to say, but I adored Captain Marvel. It even managed to take me partially by surprise on a rather significant plot point (if you've seen it, you know the one), which was novel, especially for an origin story. I very much want to go again! And draw things! And I might even write more detailed thoughts later, when I have a little more opportunity to focus.

Also, thank you for the supportive comments on my last entry, friends. <3 I really appreciate it. I haven't managed to write my dad back yet, as I needed some cool-down time. But it's pretty business as usual for us, really, and I know I can deal. I'll try and respond to you individually in a bit.

Need to get back to the ol' day job, but here, have this AO3 meme I ganked from ilthit. Which it might have been a little silly for me to fill out, given that I'm not especially prolific (especially as I only post fanart there when it's for an exchange). But still fun. People who post more than I do should try this; I'm curious!

Rules: Go to your AO3 works page, expand all the filters, and answer the following questions.

# of works: 22; nearly all are challenge fills, and many are fanart.

What are your first and second most common work ratings? General Audiences (14), Mature (4)

What's your most common archive warning? No Archive Warnings Apply (20), Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings (2) - AKA, creator hadn’t used the AO3 much at all by that point, and totally forgot to select “No Archive Warnings Apply” ... possibly I should fix that.

Do you consider yourself an adventurous ~~writer~~ creator? Eh? Not in the wider scheme of fandom, probably. When I write fic, I’m very focused on fitting into/evoking the canon. And when I draw for a challenge, I’m mostly trying to please my recipient, so likely I’m more adventurous when drawing for myself (in which case, I don’t post to the AO3, not until they can host my images).

How many ~~fics~~ works have you ~~written~~ created in each pairing category?
F/F 11
Gen 5
M/M 5
Multi 3
F/M 1

Is this more accidental, or do you have preferences?
Preferences, for sure, though they don’t necessarily match my reading/viewing preferences. (This also has something to do with the fact that I use the AO3 primarily for challenges/exchanges. I tend to be more interested in gen for Yuletide, both as writer and reader, than I would be when reading in a “major” fandom.)

What are your top 4 fandoms by numbers? Teen Wolf (2), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2), and … everything else has 1 work. I do enjoy my eclecticism.

Are you still active in any of them, and do you tend to migrate a lot? I have been and always will be voraciously multifannish. ;) I’ve had “primary” fandoms before, but they’re not well-represented here (it would be different if, say, the Star Trek rarepair exchange had been AO3-based, but that was all on tumblr). And I’m not in one of those phases right now, so this variety represents my fannish “focus” pretty accurately. ;)

What are your top 4 relationship tags? I literally have no pairing represented more than once.

Does this match how you feel about the characters, or are you puzzled?
It’s actually a bit surprising that I managed to do completely different pairings for Teen Wolf and Buffy, the two times I created (drew) for each of those fandoms. Then again, my biggest Teen Wolf ship (Allison/Lydia) isn’t even represented here - there’s one Kira/Malia and one Scott/Allison/Isaac. Buffy/Faith is a bit more likely than Willow/Tara, but the second was a pinch-hit, so I was primed to jump at things I might not normally have picked (or officially offered), and it’s not as though I’m not into both of them. As for all the other fandoms, well … assignments.

What are your top 2 most used additional tags, and your bottom 2? Top: Fanart (11), Fancomic (6). Shocking! Bottom: well, there are quite a few tied for (1), so we’ll go with Meta (1) and Crossover (1).

What would happen if you combined all 4 of these into a ~~fic~~ work? Apparently I’d be drawing a crossover fancomic which offered metacommentary on one or both fandoms (or probably a shared theme). Which is … absolutely something I’d do.

How many WIPs do you have currently running on AO3? Any you don't plan on finishing? I don’t post WIPs; everything I do is either art or a relatively short one-shot fic. I mean, my highest word count to date is 6,809 words.

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my road, it ain't your road

reflectedeve — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 20:48:30 GMT

I can't believe it's only Wednesday ... this week is seriously running roughshod over me. Putting K on a plane after only a week back was much harder than I anticipated, the winter doldrums are really starting to take a toll, and my dad's much-belated response to last week's email, well. It could have been so much worse. But I'm sad.

Basically, he said he was happy I was happy, and that a loving partnership is something he and mom have wanted for both me and my brother very much. So ... that part's good, that's a start. But not once does he mention my partner as, you know, an actual person, or show any interest in them whatsoever. He's stilted and vague and makes some comments about how hard it is to "start over in your 40s or 50s" (this weird thing you're doing can never last!) and various other philosophical allusions to his ideas about (monogamous, natch) lifelong committed romantic relationships. The whole thing makes me feel alienated, which sucks, because I put a lot of work into making that email accessible to him and giving him specific details about K that he could relate to and find interesting (their profession and background are so up his alley).

I'm sad, because ... I grew up in a really close immediate family of origin, and I really want to be able to have authentic relationships with both my parents and my brother. We don't have to agree on everything or live in each others' pockets (please no), but I want them to know the important things about me and understand them, and be happy for me when I'm happy. But my father and I have always clashed, and for all that he's a highly intelligent, educated critical thinker, he is controlling and seems incapable of broadening his very narrow perspective in some areas.

And I think he cares about me very much, and he's worried that I'm going to get hurt. I understand that polyamory is a foreign concept. But his way of addressing that is so off-putting! And he's exhausting.

The best thing for me to do, from prior experience, will be to now try to relax and just ... talk openly and enthusiastically about my partner, my relationship, my metamours, etc. He's likely to slowly, slowly warm up to at least some of it. Trying to engage head-on with the underlying concepts, with my own beliefs about what relationships can be and how frustrating I find his attitude will only cause conflict and roadblocks.

It could be so, so much worse, but just. I tried so hard to be accessible, to connect. I just wanted him to be genuinely happy for me. Instead, this recent Captain Awkward post seems relevant to how I probably need to think about our relationship.

Just as well I have therapy today. Good timing, Dad.

On a brighter note, I'm having so much fun working on this post about prompting for fanart! It's also kind of turning into a survey of different things fanart can do, a general sort of appreciation post. I'm planning to link to all sorts of examples from different artists/fandoms to illustrate my points.

I'm worried that it might get a bit out of hand, actually. Would anyone like to look it over for me when I have a draft?

This entry was originally posted at my dreamwidth. ( comments)

screw everything else if you ask me

reflectedeve — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 17:15:21 GMT

I love these two, and I've been wanting to draw them since "The Last Jedi" first came out ... better late than never? (Interestingly, this earned the first blatantly negative comment I've received on deviantArt in years - some sixteen-year-old child felt moved to refer to Vice Admiral Holdo as an ugly bitch. Well, he said she was "uglier in person," so maybe there was even a bizarre backhanded compliment there. Pff.)

I'm a little twitchy because I just sent my dad an email informing him about my nearly year-old polyamorous relationship, with a brief aside about the importance of using the correct pronouns for my partner (and a direct acknowledgement that I've never asked him to do the same for me because it's a difficult and complicated subject for us, even though I recently discovered he knows what I go by).

I think it's likely to be fine, honestly. I'm mostly worried about discomfort and awkwardness around the polyamorous part, and recriminations over how very long I've kept something so momentous from him. Which is hardly the end of the world. But it took me four drafts and a therapy session to write, so, you know. Glad that's done.

Anyway, I got to spend most of the weekend with said partner after seven weeks apart, which was wonderful. And it's our first anniversary on Wednesday. So there's far more happy than stress going on over here!

This entry was originally posted at my dreamwidth. ( comments)

no matter how they toss the dice

reflectedeve — Thu, 21 Feb 2019 21:56:13 GMT

(Aw, GeeWay, I missed your voice!) I very much enjoyed The Umbrella Academy adaptation on Netflix, I have to say. I mean, it certainly has some problems (pls stop fridging women, especially WOC, ugh), but having reread the comics last week, I really appreciated the additional depth the show gives pretty much every character. It sacrificed some of its delightful weirdness in the process (I missed the televator and the evil Eiffel Tower, although the latter at least got a mention), but I think it was, on the whole, a fair exchange. Especially for the developed relationship between Allison and Vanya, because I'm predictable.

chocolateboxcomm reveals are up today! I drew two things!

it's all been done (Good Omens, Crowley/Aziraphale, G) is an exploration of Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship (more gen than not, tbh) through the ages, something I've wanted to take a crack at forever. And titled after the BNL song, of course. (God, I hope someone vids the new Amazon miniseries to that song.) It was really marvelous to revisit the characters after such a long time, too! I'm rather pleased with how my Aziraphale design has developed.

binding spell (BtVS, Willow/Tara, G) is a surprisingly SFW shibari-themed illustration of Willow and Tara performing a steamy/romantic spell together, because of course. Aw, nostalgia. <3

I have utterly failed to read any of the fic yet, which is ridiculous, although to be fair I've been quite busy. Taxes, family drama, work drama, blah. But my person will finally, finally be back from Europe tomorrow night, so really, nothing can keep me down for long. And then when they head off for another month after only a week's stay, I'll have the archive waiting to comfort me.

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do I believe in me?

reflectedeve — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 21:53:07 GMT

I've generally felt that I'm pretty lucky among trans and nonbinary folks, in that I haven't needed or wanted to change my (real) name, or at least not the version of it I already use with everyone I care about, and have for my entire life. It's relatively neutral, and I like it. Maybe people would have an easier time adjusting to new pronouns if they came with a new name, but ah well.

But my fandom names, the ones that have stuck for a good 15 years now, are Lilith and reflectedeve (occasionally Eve), and it's only striking me in the last year or so how confusing that is. Two very specific and powerful cultural symbols of womanhood! Good job, college me. But really, when I think about it, those choices largely came from an attraction to the idea of challenging norms and institutions, specifically around literature/religion (my academic subjects of choice), gender, and sexuality. So honestly, they still feel right, especially Lilith? (And also there's, you know, continuity and that. I've been Lilith since the very first year of Yuletide, jeez.) Ah well.

In other news, I am very upset that just as I've made a decision to back off fannish commitments again for a bit, I find out about this very intriguing xeno exchange for which nominations open tomorrow: close_encounters. It's so ME. :( Just look at that tentacle icon! Maybe I can grab a pinch-hit or make a treat ... anyway, if you're less overcommitted, check it out!

Also, and most excitingly, the chocolateboxcomm archive opened today! I have barely been able to look yet, BUT. I got two fabulous fanart gifts and I am so thoroughly pleased! <3

A Lesson In The Folly Library (Rivers of London, gen; Abigail, Varvara Sidorovna, Toby)
I have been wanting more fanart for these books so badly and this is a gorgeous mid-story sort of image with lovely background details and characterization. Fabulous and inspiring. Makes me want to go out and draw some in this fandom immediately, myself.

Austria, 1912 (X-Men, Mystique/Destiny)
SUPER cute shippy pin-up image of the two of them in the early days of their relationship, complete with lovingly-rendered period-appropriate outfits! Eeee so adorable!

Have I mentioned how happy I am that multi-media fan exchanges are becoming more common, even if they are still overwhelmingly fic-based? (I mean, I love fic, obviously. But I love ALL THE THINGS.) I am totally going to have to work on those guidelines/suggestions for prompting for fanart. At some point. Soon.

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all for a crime I did commit

reflectedeve — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 20:45:53 GMT

Huh. A bit belatedly, I've been reading around through the recent posts people were making about fandom and monetization and "gift economies" etc etc. It's interesting, complicated stuff. I came up in the pre-LJ days of "omg don't forget your disclaimer or you might get sued" and "we never mention fanworks to The Powers That Be" ... and I've grown up to be, among other things, a (currently rather off-and-on) independent self-published cartoonist, in a contemporary (and inescapable) social media landscape. I find the constant pressure to sell and promote everything you do exhausting and hateful, for which I blame this capitalistic hellscape; I'm also happy, when I can, to support other creatives when they follow these more or less required methods of seeking pay for their labor. (I chose to have a day job because I couldn’t bring myself to increase the pressure by basing my livelihood on those things, but I’m behind the ones who made the opposite choice, all the way.) Similarly, I like participating in fandom in part because I don't do it for money, but I also can't afford to do it often or consistently, and for people who pour more of themselves into it, I think asking for tips or commissions is a thoroughly reasonable thing to do. (I loved the comments recessional left on melannen's post, comparing Kofi, some Patreon practices, etc to a busker putting out a hat. Those who enjoy the music are free to drop in a coin, but if you can't afford to do so, there's no barrier to getting to listen, too.)

I'd love to live in a world where we wouldn't all desperately need money in order to have the time and energy to create (not to mention, food to eat and roofs over our heads), but broke creators, fan or otherwise, are not the ones on whom that burden of change can or should rest.

I mentioned taking on a chocolateboxcomm pinch-hit to my partner, and they asked if I was getting paid. I essentially told them no, that I do fandom for joy, not money. Because, now and then, I can. I'm never going to be hugely prolific, especially since I often choose to funnel more energy (and, it happens, some amount of money-making effort) into original work. (That trade-off is a whole other issue. I value fanwork and don't see it as "less" than original work, but original work is still what I would, when the chips are down, like to be known for someday. What I will sacrifice for, and occasionally to a point actually hustle for. Well, this is something I've gone back and forth on as well the last few years, but that's neither here nor there. Regardless ... fandom doesn't get the lion's share of my effort, but it gets to stay pure joy. Your mileage may vary, widely.)

Something tangential started coming up as I read through some of these posts, though, which was this notion that it is completely normal and acceptable for fanart to be monetized, but we have a huge hang-up about treating fanfiction the same way. That in itself is a complex topic, one I'm not going to go into in any great (or researched) depth, but. I can't help but remember the time a few years ago when one of my teachers, an experienced comics artist who had produced very well-known work for a major publisher decades ago and who also happens to be outspoken about creators' rights and best practices for self-protection, posted some urgent warnings about selling artwork of licensed characters (owned specifically by Marvel/Disney and DC, I think).

As he pointed out, this very standard practice largely continues at the ~benevolent whim of large corporations. There are examples of artists who created characters in the first place under problematic "work for hire" contracts who have then faced legal consequences for attempting to sell depictions of their own creations. (While many others haven’t, and do this freely. If there’s actually a predictable logic to this, I haven’t found it.) Mainstream convention Artist's Alleys full of people selling their drawings of Supergirl, Wolverine, The Little Mermaid and goodness knows what else do so based on a sort of communal tradition, but there's no actual legal guarantee that one of these companies won't turn around and start handing out C&Ds. Some obvious parody art might be protected under Fair Use, but a lovingly-rendered portrait of Captain American is not, if you stick a price tag on it.

My mother, until her retirement, worked as a legal assistant for a small IP-centric law firm with a few relatively famous clients, and they would frequently weigh the possibilities of going after quite small infringers in order to preserve copyright for various clients. When I've taken a few commissions, here and there, for art of licensed characters, she's always expressed concern. Just because the practice seems to be accepted and has a long history, doesn't mean it's risk-free.

There are old cultural reasons why things developed this way (some of which probably have to do with commercial fanart being created by the artists who created the official work in the first place - because American comics and animation, in particular, have always been enormously predatory towards their creatives and the "single author" absolute ownership paradigm has historically been a lot rarer than with, say, non-licensed novels). Meanwhile, while there’s a rich historical connection between fanfiction and profic, it has tended to go in the opposite direction (though I’m sure there are exceptions): fanfiction to “original” writer status. Somehow, that resulted in disclaimers and secrecy where the visual side has chosen to brazen out an openly commercialized approach. As an artist who came up through fic-centric fandom, it actually took a lot of soul-searching before I could be comfortable with the idea of monetizing even the occasional bit of fanart (as my public-facing cartoonist self, never in fandom circles), even with an awareness of existing practices. But I'm not sure holding commissioned fanart up as a model to legitimize commissioned fanfic (even as I do support both from an ethical standpoint) would be the best way to go.

Mind you, it is more than a bit weird to me to reflect on the pro/anti-fanfic arguments I used to get into with classmates in college, which had no bearing on legality but were all about “stealing the author’s baby.” Those were uniquely leveled at fic, not art, and I have no idea why. (Because of a history of frustration with different kinds of value being attached to different forms of creative labor within fandom, I’m inclined towards a knee-jerk opinion about writing being somehow considered a more legitimate or essential form of creation/authorship than drawing, but that’s almost certainly unfair.)

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do you ever wonder what we learned?

reflectedeve — Fri, 08 Feb 2019 20:10:59 GMT

I get my partner back two weeks from today (they've been in Europe since mid-December, so I haven't seen them since I came home from my holiday trip on New Years Eve - I haven't seen them yet this year, wah). I can make it. (I'd better be able to, this is going to keep being a thing. Dating professors with international research interests ... sigh.)

In other personal news, I'm (finally) doing an in-lab sleep study tomorrow night! I'm a little too excited about this, and will probably annoy the techs with all my questions about brainwaves and the like. (I really hope they let me look at mine. My sleep spindles, show me themmmm. And take pictures of the machinery, etc.) But really, I swear, I'm almost crossing my fingers for a sleep apnea diagnosis at this point. Is that weird? It's just that there's a pretty tried, true, and celebrated fix for that (even if the mask looks rather silly). The whole idea of actually feeling well-rested is taking on mythic qualities in my mind. I'm so tired of being tired.

But enough about me - chocolateboxcomm has pinch-hits up, and you should check them out! Write someone a super-short fic or draw them a little something! The archive opens next week, and I'm super excited.

Also, I'm thinking about writing up a post of suggested guidelines for prompting fanartists, aimed at challenges and exchanges like that one (which incorporate fic-and-or-art request options). I've noticed that when people request both, they often provide prompts that are mostly plot ideas without a lot of visual application. Which isn't the end of the world by any means--and I'm so glad fanart is being included in more exchanges--but I have a feeling it could come in handy for some people. Maybe? (Thoughts?)

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Signal Boost: pan-fandom meta newsletter is GO

reflectedeve — Tue, 22 Jan 2019 19:17:08 GMT

doctorsidrat posted: pan-fandom meta newsletter is GO

I am super excited that someone is starting up a new meta newsletter in the tradition of metafandom! I very much hope it takes off.

Otherwise, alas, I am so cranky and low on bandwidth today that it's really pretty exceptional. Had a really amazing weekend at my favorite hotel-based multi-day kink event, so of course a lot of this is event drop and self-inflicted exhaustion (and soreness, which would be delicious if not for other factors) ... not to mention the freezing cold outside and in (due to some kind of HVAC problem), random building evacuations (also due to the same HVAC problem) and all the students coming back for the first day of classes. Other people keep coming to me to whine about these latter things, because I seem to be the office's official shoulder to cry on or something, and my usual reserves of sympathy are just ... absent. Blah!

I just want to go home and cuddle with my cat. And maybe take about twenty naps. (I slept so much yesterday, and yet.)

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the taste you were forever chasing

reflectedeve — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 23:56:50 GMT

The way things have been going lately, I should probably make some kind of nostalgia-inflected icon.

Procrastinating to distract myself from stressful life things, as one does, I created a "series" for all my Yuletide stories going back to 2004 on the AO3, because I've been a little frustrated with the way works are automatically displayed/organized in reverse chronological order. It just looks messy to me, all the fanart (challenge fills) and fic mixed together.

The "series" goes back to 2004 because, back when the old Yuletide archive was all uploaded to the AO3 what, a few years ago now? - I was so mortified by the quality of some of the older stories that I wound up orphaning two of them, including the one from 2003, the very first year of the challenge. Which seems a bit silly now, but you can't undo that. So there are 10 stories in there, meaning I've written 12 total (over the course of 11 years, with a break for a few in between).

I grow old ... I grow old ...
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Having gone that far, I finally got around to cleaning up those older, transferred stories; tagging the recipients, the pairings (where applicable), etc. I let myself do a little minor editing here and there. And I went looking for the stories people wrote for me back in 2003, 2004, whose authors didn't go in and tag me, if they're even around anymore. The challenge was so much smaller back then; I probably could recognize more individual names than not, and jeez, nostalgia. It makes me want to go right home and call my best friend, who is probably a bit too busy with my two-year-old niece for "remember when"s.

Enough rambling. I have to make a decision about which of the three chocolateboxcomm fandoms I matched on I'm going to draw for. (I really shouldn't draw for all three. I really, really shouldn't.) One of them is the fandom my first, now-orphaned Yuletide story was written in, in 2003, so I guess not everything has changed.

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Dear Chocolatier,

reflectedeve — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 18:36:49 GMT

So, you're clearly awesome. Thank you for signing up to draw or write for me! In the spirit of this exchange, I'll try and keep this letter short and sweet (uh, for me, anyway). :)

Likes: heavy focus on female characters (and their relationships with each other), found families, expanded worldbuilding, caper fic, wackiness and shenanigans. Snarky dialogue and banter. Non-traditional languages/demonstrations of love/friendship. Some tropes (fake relationships!), smart trope subversions, and pastiches/playing with genre conventions/experimentation with form. Also, smut!

For art, I particularly love scenes that look like they’re in the middle of the action/an illustration from some kind of story. And cracky humor, parodies, poking fun, etc. I also tend to prefer sexily suggestive art to anything fully explicit. Also, not to put too fine a point on it, but: I love fanart so much. I'm primarily a fanartist, and I'm so glad that there are more art-inclusive exchanges around these days! All of these fandoms could use so, so much more visual fanwork than they have. If you're drawing, etc, please don't ever feel like that's a second choice option. <3

DNWs non-consensual sex (etc), character death, excessive (ie non-canon-typical) violence, A/B/O, soulmarks/mates. I also tend to be kind of picky about AUs and crossovers - it’s all about things “fitting” with canon in a satisfying, believable way, if that makes sense. (So every fandom ever getting reimagined at Hogwarts? Not really something I’m into. Etc.)

Fandom-specific prompts, in no particular order:

Rivers of London

Abigail Kamara & Thomas Nightingale
Abigail Kamara & Varvara Sidorovna Tamonina
Peter Grant & Abigail Kamara

Notice a trend here? I really adore Abigail, and I’d love to see her in the spotlight for a bit! I’m thinking practical magic lessons, getting up to mischief, solving an important mystery to the bemusement of her adult mentors/companions, exploring/expanding on some aspect of the worldbuilding, etc. I’m happy with any combination of the companion characters listed, and others can totally come too - I love the Rivers of London cast as a whole, and I love the wry humor, snark, and occasional earnestness of the series. Also the found family/team elements. Have fun, and I totally will too, yay.

I don’t really have separate prompts for fic and art here … similar elements appreciated in both. I desperately want more fanart for this series in general, and am especially excited to see visual designs for the characters. Also, great opportunities for slapstick ...

Marvel Comics

Kitty Pryde/Rachel Summers

One of my oldest, most ironclad OTPs! I love their entire, complicated history--the importance of future "Kate" to Rachel's past, blended with her friendship with 616 Kitty (almost immediately her closest and most trusted ally in the confusing "new" world)--but I do have a particular attachment to the Excalibur era, complete with a more confident Rachel, zany adventures and the two of them being Lighthouse roommates.

So maybe wacky Excalibur-style hijinks? Cross-Time Capers absolutely encouraged! But if you’re less into/familiar with that era, maybe something at the Jean Grey Academy, two teachers trying to hide their relationship from a school full of obnoxious superpowered teens? Or something from the future, with Rachel working on one of Kitty’s political campaigns in Chicago?

Art-specific prompts: Same again, really: wacky hijinks, clandestine teacher makeouts, clandestine candidate/political campaign manager makeouts? Alan Davis’s curly-haired, young-Katharine-Hepburn-inspired Kitty is definitely ’my’ Kitty, but feel free to ditch Ray’s mullet if you’re playing with that era. ;)

Destiny/Mystique

For these two, I think I’d most enjoy reading or seeing something set during their early days - early 20th century capers and romance, probably somewhere in Europe? Young and falling in love and feeling as though they can change the world? Or if that’s not as much your thing, something set during Rogue’s childhood, balancing family time with … other pursuits? But preferably nothing too intensely angsty.

Art of the two of them on a date in early-20th-century Austria or thereabouts would be delightful. Or really, in any of the eras they lived through together. But again, something happy, please!

Labyrinth

Jareth & Sarah Williams

Oh, nostalgia. Labyrinth was the second fandom I ever participated in, when I was a wee bitty 15-year-old. And while David Bowie in glitter and tights was always one of the major attractions of the film, I was always all about it being Sarah’s story, so.

I’d really love post-canon fic or art. Something with Sarah returning to the Labyrinth on her own terms, a bit older and more confident - or maybe she winds up there against her will initially, but makes the most of it (whether she ultimately stays or goes).

As for Jareth, whether he’s somehow from/part of her own psyche, an adversary, a mercurial eventual ally, or a love interest (I’m not against this! Provided Sarah is of age and has agency) … I just don’t think he’s likely to be especially easy, if that makes sense. Petulance, cultural differences, you name it.

For art, I do love all kinds of fairy tale illustration, so playing with that sort of thing could be awfully fun. Also designs for Goblin Queen Sarah, various flavors of quarreling/conflict/tension between Sarah and Jareth … and if you like drawing weird Henson/Froud goblins and other flora and fauna, that’s always fun!

Leverage

Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer

This show, and this OT3, are my happy place. They’re my fandom comfort food. I love them to pieces and want only good things for them. Caper fic is great, as is … domestic fic that brings something caper-esque into it, because they’re all rather ridiculous. Eliot cooking is always a hit, too. Something post-canon, where they’re settling into their new leadership roles, or something set during the series, could be great … I was always pretty fond of their gastro-pub days.

There is a tragic lack of fanart in this fandom! I have a soft spot for goofyness and long-suffering Eliot, so something silly along those lines could be fun, but I’d also give my eyeteeth for a picture of an OT3 cuddle puddle. Or the three of them costumed up for some specific con!

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

Phryne Fisher & Dorothy Williams
Elizabeth MacMillan & Dorothy Williams

I love the way Dot grows and becomes more confident and outspoken over the course of the series. A story where she saves the day or solves the puzzle, with focus on her friendship with Phryne, Mac, or both, would be a delight. The strong friendships and alliances between women are my favorite part of this show, and the family dynamic too - Jane is certainly welcome as well. (Please feel free to go light on the Hugh. I’m afraid I’m not the biggest fan.)

A cozy domestic/familial scene would be nice for art! I also find the notion of Mac teasingly flirting with a blushing Dot rather appealing. Or really, whatever you fancy ...

Phryne Fisher & Elizabeth MacMillan
Phryne Fisher/Elizabeth MacMillan

I love the comfortable familiarity between these two, and the shared dry humor. I can really never have enough of the pair of them upsetting social occasions and showing up the men (and being fabulously dapper and femme, respectively, while doing it). I’d love to see them cracking a case, embroiled in society politics, or whatever you’d like. And some sort of pre-series romance (which could grow into the strong mutual respect and friendship of canon) would be lovely, or maybe fake-relationship caperfic?

For art, the two of them being generally gorgeous together, whether in a posh drawing room or in the midst of some sort of criminal chaos, would be splendid. I’m a sucker for the gorgeous costuming on the show.

Have fun and don't stress, please! <3

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I’m the diode, you’re the kerosene

reflectedeve — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 18:24:49 GMT

Happy New Year, folks. I’m starting off 2019 jet lagged and disoriented, but happy. I missed England so much; the visit was way too short, but lovely.

Yuletide reveals are up, but before I talk about what I wrote, I'd like to mention the three lovely stories I received:

Snapshots, by evewithanapple (That Inevitable Victorian Thing)
A lovely, sweet look at life a few years after the book; cozy polyamorous domestic bliss hidden away from the public eye, but incorporating and transforming the (inevitable) publicity itself.

Good Morning, Ruby Crowns, by smolder (Wayward Children series)
A look at the denizens of the Maine house—the one inhabited by the children who did not wish to return to their other worlds—with some very familiar residents. Takes the two cherished prompts I’ve had in mind since first reading Every Heart A Doorway, combines them, and paints an especially poignant picture of an angry, unbowed post-Narnia Susan Pevensie.

In The Long Ago, by tablelamp (Wayward Children series)
Another take on crossover characters at the Maine house! Includes cross-time mirror travel and a grande dame Alice Liddell, caring for the other lost kids across the years and miles. Delightful.

My own assignment was a delightful blast from the past! I wrote Mina de Malfois and the Changing of the Guard (gen with a bit of Mina/Arc on the side), bringing the eponymous Mina into the contemporary fandom landscape, as well as imagining a bit about her future authorial career and relationship with Archivist12.

It was a pretty fascinating process to write, actually, so I’m gonna ramble about it a bit. The thing about writing Mina de Malfois fic in 2018 is that it wasn’t just a nostalgia trip for the Minaverse itself, but really for fandom, and my fannish experience in my teens and twenties. And you know, on everything that’s changed!

Obviously (if you've read them), the original Mina stories primarily dealt with drama in and around the Harry Potter fandom in the early ‘00s, as well as some more panfandom events (specifically some of the ones reported on by Fandom Wank, and partaking of the culture around the wank communities, anon memes and such). It’s so very in-jokey that I have no idea whether it would be comprehensible to a reader who wasn’t part of at least some of those specific parts of fandom culture. Reading it now is a bit like like reliving my college and early post-college days,which for me means that it holds up rather well, on the whole. Also, I’ve read a lot more Wodehouse now (where I was mainly familiar with the Jeeves & Wooster tv series at the time), so I appreciate the pastiche elements of the earlier stories even more now, I think.

So I suppose it was inevitable that if I was going to write Mina, it would be a rumination on more recent fandom culture from the perspective of someone older, someone of that more previous generation. I thought about revisiting the rest of the cast, a sort of "where are they now," but, well. Some elements of the later chapters, especially around "Joshen," were troubling to me even back in the day, and while I admit that I did fall down a bit of a "research" spiral around the fan who most recently called himself Thanfiction (previously known as Jordan Wood, Victoria Bitter, etc), I decided it wasn't something I wanted to stir up again, even fictionally. Besides, speaking of research spirals, I kept pausing to refresh myself on original Minaverse references to real-world fandom and getting hit all over again with how much has changed. (And how much hasn't - I'd forgotten just how much argument over "chan" and "thinking of the children" was featured back in the day.)

Whatever one's feelings on the late Fandom Wank, I have to say, it's a lot harder to track down records of recent fannish drama these days ... and god, how much do I miss metafandom?? All of which is germane to, you know, pondering the changes in fandom over the last decade or so, but not terribly helpful. I found that Fanlore did have more entries than expected on various Tumblr kerfluffles that I'd been tangentially aware of when they were happening, although I get the impression that this record-keeping has seriously slowed down over the last few years. As a result, a lot of the story is really more fandom circa 2014-16 or so (especially around the ageism stuff), but the Mina stories always did fudge the details anyway.

Because many of the big changes we've undergone have their roots in platform shifts, especially to Tumblr, it probably would have made the most sense to tell a story that happened largely online ... but because I wanted to show glimpses of Mina/Arc (Judy)'s evolved real-world relationship, which certainly wouldn't be conducted digitally, a convention seemed like the next best choice. That made Dashcon a pretty obvious reference; the closest you were going to get to Tumblr in the real world and all that. I have to say, though; when Tumblr made their adult content announcement, the temptation to scrap things and play with history-repeats-itself (the last few original Mina stories came out in the midst of the LJ exodus/partial shift here to DW) was intense! Shame there wasn't time to touch on that.

So I wound up with a slightly wry nostalgia trip, and a sense that the sensible older fan who has been through everything before might be best served by stepping back and observing the mess, unless there's something concrete to add. (YMMV, obviously!) Though I do hope Mina, having reconnected to a point with her former community, might start posting the occasional fic under a pseudo-pseudo-nym, maybe just during annual holiday exchanges. ;)

I'd have loved to get carlanime's take on the matter. It's a shame she seems to have vanished so very thoroughly.

Sorry, that was very self-indulgent! But if anyone out there wants to talk about Mina de Malfois or the changes in fandom, etc etc, the whole experience has left me a bit hungry for discussion on those subjects. ;) It seems especially pertinent, with the question of platform all up in the air again (although having been mostly out of commission for the last nine or ten days, I have no idea if there have been any new developments in that area). And certainly, it's all making me want to interact with fandom more directly again. I wonder where people are posting their meta these days ...

This entry was originally posted at my dreamwidth. ( comments)

take photographs, have fun, have fun

reflectedeve — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 22:40:37 GMT

Note for my lovely Yuletide author(s?): I’m flying to the UK from the US on Monday night. Which means I will arrive in England with my polycule Christmas morning, both zombified and with social obligations. Not sure when exactly I’ll have the opportunity to read the three(!!) lovely and exciting gift fic I see on my AO3 profile. Know that I am super excited and can hardly wait! But my squeeful comments might be a little delayed.

Also, so yeah, I’m spending a week in England with my partner and metamours! I haven’t been out of the country in about nine years, which is absurd. I’m deeply excited, even though I tragically won’t be making the short trip up to Scotland that I was hoping for. There will have to be other visits, clearly.

Huh, I definitely kind of missed this. Maybe 2019 will be the year of journaling revival for me, whether or not there’s a real fandom/community resurgence here.

This entry was originally posted at my dreamwidth. ( comments)

we must be braaaave

reflectedeve — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 06:10:38 GMT

Aw, look at all the people posting. Hello again! No idea if I’ll actually start posting here again more than once or twice a year, but it’d be nice if fandom exodus’d back this way.

(Egad, I never even posted links to my Yuletide fic or gift last year. I’ve been even scarcer than I thought.)

But oh, for the ease of image hosting at tumblr. :( I don’t suppose that’s ever really coming to the AO3, huh.

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