lunabee34

lyr asked me: What's your little black dress fandom? You know, that fandom you find yourself trying to crossover with everything else - whether you actually write it or not.

I have several answers to this seemingly uncomplicated question. :)

In terms of writing, I am most compelled to crossover the Gateverse with all the fandoms ever. I really enjoyed figuring out how to mesh together the worlds of SG-1 and SPN in my Through the Rabbit Hole 'verse because so many elements of each source canon align very neatly.

In terms of reading, Gateverse and HP are the two fandoms I always search for new crossover fics. Gateverse crosses over so well with procedurals like NCIS because of the military/law enforcement connection. It also crosses over well with canons that are magical, like Buffy or SPN, and canons that are sci-fi based, like Star Trek or BSG. HP obviously works well with canons that contain magic, but I really enjoy when HP is crossed over with canons that aren't magical because part of the fun is A) watching the non-magical characters discover that magic is real and seeing how they deal with that revelation or B) exploring how the non-magical characters might behave if they were magical.

I think crossovers get an undeserved bad rap; I admit that the more fandoms involved in the crossover, the less cohesive the story is likely to be, and I don't enjoy reading those monolithic SuperWhoLockTrekVengers crossovers because they are ridiculous. I also think it's less difficult to cross over fandoms that are very different from each other than might be apparent. I get a great deal of satisfaction out of a crossover that neatly aligns elements from each canon (the Goa'uld have glowing yellow eyes? the demon who killed your mom has glowing yellow eyes?), but I also enjoy really unexpected canon choices, like Murder She Wrote + SGA (Jessica Fletcher is Rodney's aunt).

What do y'all think about crossovers?

So, I'm writing this SG-1 story right now. It was going to be a 5 Things story called "Loose Ends" that reveals what happens in plot points the show just drops or to characters that sort of disappear, but the first vignette is already at 1500 words, so I think I'll probably write five separate fics and connect them as a series.

Here's my question for y'all: this first fic is about Joseph Faxon, the ambassador that we see Sam married to in the AU future and who gets left behind in this timeline on Volian after SG-1 discovers the Aschen's sterility plan. The fic can end one of two ways; both are plausible to me given canon and the story I've created for this character. So, how do I choose between equally plausible story arcs? How do you handle this in your fics?

Or you know, you can just vote Plot A or Plot B, and the most votes wins. LOL

I've got more than 2000 words of Darcy and Jane not doing it. They snark, they emote, they hurt and they are comforted.

But after spending the past month with a person who had emergency surgery, apparently my Reality Check-o-meter will not allow me to write post-op end of the world sexy times. LOL

Sequels are for sexing, right?

[Poll #1578098]

ETA: I had this whole post to go with this poll and then I accidentally hit return before I could insert that text. *headdesk* So, you know, I'd love to hear your thoughts on reccing--what makes a good one, how important they are to your fannish experience, what irritates you about reccing, and what you'd like to see more of in rec posts.

As I'm certain you are all well aware at this point, I have been using Harry Potter fic to alternately procrastinate and recover from reading for my comps.

I read this story yesterday in which Ron Weasley cries. A lot. Like at least twice every chapter of the story. AND I LIKED IT! *wails* The story, the crying, all of it. I even cried a little myself.

( cut for interminability )

So here's where you guys come in. I always think better about this sort of thing in conversation. What do you think about crying as a trope in fic? Tell me everything.

Based on conversations I've been having with you guys after Writercon, I wonder if it might be useful to separate out the question of definitions from some of the other things we've been talking about. I'd be interested to see the range of definitions for these terms laid out clearly.

So, pretend this is Twitter. In 140 characters or less for each, Tweet me your definitions of bob, gen, gron, het, and slash (and any other words you regularly use to label your stories according to sexual or romantic content).

I'm back from Writercon wehre I had a fantastic time. Thanks for all the well-wishes for Josh. He's doing a lot better; it's still unclear if he has any nerve damage, but he's mobile and the pain is getting more manageable. (As a side note, somebody please write the story about realistic levels of pain for wounds. Sheppard does not just go and go and go after getting shot several times. Just saying.)

I will eventually make a more personal and namedroppy post about the social aspects of Writercon, but I wanted to start with a post about some of the panels I went to before I forget them.

IS FANDOM GONNA HAVE TO CHOKE A BITHC? LANGUAGE AND GENDER IN FANFICTION
Moderator: mosca
Panelists: enigmaticblues, Kristina Busse, denny_dc

This was a really good panel, and as all good weighty discussions should be, one that raised more questions for me than it answered. The panel initially proposed to talk about the language used in the source texts we fan, our own fics, and our fannish socializing and infrastructure. Unfortunately because of time constraints, the last talking point wasn't really covered. I would have loved a conversation on the implications of the language we use when we squee, when we post to comms, when we communicate outside of what our fics have to say. One of the thing things that I have noticed in my fannish interactions is a real shift toward the use of and the awareness of gender neutral pronouns, which I appreciate. Although many of us are women, I have a kneejerk negative reaction to the default assumption that fandom is a wholly feminine space because it feels very exclusionary to me. This does not mean that I do not recognize and celebrate that fandom is a place where women have created power and agency for themselves; it does mean that I am uncomfortable with the narrow definition of fandom as a community that is by, for, and about women.

Back to the panel: Who gets to use sexist language? Can women, in real life interactions and in fic, reclaim sexist language much in the same way that minorities and queer people have reclaimed words used to hurt them? And in mad props to alixtii for the best question asked at a panel I attended: at one point would language stop being reclamation or an accurate representation of the way a certain character acts or thinks and become mere perpetuation of the problem?

Nina talked about genderfuck stories and said some really interesting things about them.
1. They don't reflect trans reality and aren't really intended to, although that is changing.
2. If a woman is writing, they are often a form of venting about aspects of our lives that we don't like.
3. She read a quote for which I did not catch attribution and couldn't write fast enough to get all down, but essentially, the idea was that womanhood is a thing to be performed, a masquerade, and one of the draws of genderfuck is to transfer desire and expectation onto the male body (the "unmarked body"). Maybe one of y'all can link me to the actual quote used?
4. Nina also discussed the homophobia, misogyny, and heteronormativity that are often part and parcel of slash, particularly Old Skool Slash.

There was also a brief mention of We're Not Gay, and I just want to take a moment to reiterate how much I hate that trope. LOL I know it's an old stand-by for slash, but I just hate it. I think if you experience same-sex attraction and sexual activity then you are at least bisexual and possibly gay. I get that the trope is supposed to make the OTP special--what could be more special than changing one's sexual orientation, right? It's supposed to prove that they are so inevitable and magical that nothing can stand in the way of their epic LOVE, but mostly it seems to me to be a way to get two guys to have sex without acknowledging homosexuality at all. Although I have read it before and enjoyed, that enjoyment is usually despite the WNG trope rather than because of it.

denny_dc started her portion of the panel with a list of insulting terms, some of which I already knew like using "gay" as a perjorative. I had not realized that dreadlocks actually is a term originally used by colonizers of Caribbean peoples to describe their hair (dreadful locks).

ENOUGH KISSING, GET ON WITH THE MAIMING! GEN-FIC
Moderator: redeem147
Panelists: Debra Doyle (who I actually think was not there), general_jinjur, bastardsnow

This panel really made me want to read House of Leaves as SPN. Like really, really, really, really bad. Really bad.

There was a discussion of bob and gron and porny gen and I brought up queerly_gen on Dreamwidth (which only Jinjur seemed to have heard of) and essentially I thought the entire discussion was hampered by a lack of consensus about what gen really means and what its conventions are.

One of the panelists used the phrase "slash minus one" to describe stories that have slashy elements but seem very light on them or don't include sex and I think Dasha's "Salt of the Earth" was cited as an example. I think this story falls neatly into slash according to my personal definition (full discussion in comments). I also have never heard the phrase "slash minus one" and was tempted to ask during the discussion if anyone would ever use "het minus one" as a descriptor. My feeling is no. I suspect that were a story to contain a Buffy and a Spike who pined for each other and yet never consummated their relationship, that story would be called het.

IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME: HOW THE INTERNET BUILDS COMMUNITIES AROUND FANFIC
Moderator: scarlettgirl
Panelists: Kristina Busse, shaddyr, kalichan, and versaphile

scarlettgirl was an excellent moderator. I mean, really really good. There was a plan and a structure and I was impressed with the way this panel worked in terms of each panelist's contribution building on the one that came before. shaddyr started out with an excellent discussion of pre-internet fandom, versaphile told us all about the vagaries of archiving (and OMG, y'all, the amount of work that goes into making fandom an accessible place for us all is astonishing), kalichan talked about reccing, the lovely mod discussed newsletters and what goes into maintaining a successful one (again with all the work!), and Nina finished with a discussion of OTW and how it is addressing a lot of the issues brought up in the other panelists' talks.

I've got one more panel to discuss but I think I'm calling it quits for the night. Sister-in-law is here and SHE IS AWESOME! I just introduced her to SPN and I think there's more of that on the plate for tonight. She's being too heavily influenced by Josh's opinion that Sam has cro-magnon forehead. Off to remedy that!

So, I've been thinking about something lately. It's an amalgamation of reading SPN Big Bang and looking back through the first recs I made in the SPN fandom.

I want to write a season one or two SPN fic. You know what I'm talking about. Something gritty and uncertain, saving people hunting things the family business, two boys in a car, some goddamn hope on the horizon. Something causeways or traveller or mikhale (who else wants it to be Joel? LOL) might have written in the wayback. And I don't think I can do it.

I've been trying to pin down why and I think it's because I know what happens next. That's never been a problem for me before. I had no problem writing Basement Fic in BtVS even though I'd seen the whole series and ariadne83 and I are rocking Our Own Private Bang even though SG-1 and SGA are both over and there's no surprises left there. But for some reason, I cannot get out of the emotional headspace of season four--or really, to be more accurate, the moment that Dean made the deal with the crossroads demon. That seems the irrevocable moment for me, the invisible line I'm having trouble crossing.

I want to write this thing that is bereft of the apocalypse, where Dean's soul is stuck in his chest safe and sound, and the worst things we've got to worry about are: Where's Dad and what does the YED want? But I feel like I can't shed the unremitting loss and sorrow of the subsequent three seasons, like it's going to bleed over somehow into anything I try to write. Does that make sense? (It's like how I won't get the subtext in a show at all (*cough* McShep *cough*) for three seasons and then suddenly when I do see it, I can't help but see it from episode one on, even if it wasn't there in the least for me on the first go round.)

Does anybody else have this problem? What do you do? How do you fix it? Are there any concrete writing strategies you use?

This fic started out with this line of dialogue I wrote mainly to be silly: "I've always loved this particular Wagner piece," Caldwell says and leans out over the balcony, light from the east Pier reflecting majestically off his bald pate. (Source) ariadne83 and I started comment tagging, and very quickly, the fic stopped being something we were writing for laughs and morphed into what I think is more of a character study of both men than anything else. Thus the good ship Woolwell began its maiden voyage.

I have no idea if any of you guys are interested in this or not, but I'd like to preserve for myself some of the meta thinking we did when pairing these two.

( Woolsey meta )

ariadne83, let me know if there's anything you'd like to add to this post. :)