Snowflake Challenge - Day 2
Jan. 3rd, 2013 06:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jadesfireYes, I know, two in one day. What can I say? It must be the cold medication talking.
Day 2: In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you did not create. Drop a link to your post in the comments. See if you can rec fanworks that are less likely to be praised: tiny fandoms, rare pairings, fanworks other than stories, lesser known kinks or tropes. Find fanworks that have few to no comments, or creators new to a particular fandom and maybe aren't well known or appreciated. Appreciate them.
One of the things I did over Christmas was clear out some of the things that were still hanging around in my mother's cupboards. Mugs and books that never got used, and a general collection of STUFF that I'd honestly forgotten I had. This challenge has been a bit like that, in that it's hard me digging back through my journal for everything tagged 'rec'. Or 'recs'. Apparently for a librarian, I'm rubbish at a controlled vocabulary, which is possibly why I was a rubbish cataloguer.
Anyway, I found quite a collection of recs, some of which I remembered, others of which I didn't. Some stories remain awesome, and all of them were good. Choosing just a few was ridiculously hard, so I went for what the challenge suggested. All are Gen, which by definition tend to be 'lesser known' stories, although all of them are in big fandoms. One of them was written just for me, but in all honesty, they all might have been, so closely do they resonate with me. I've listed them outside the cut, because I got a big carried away with my recs.
Stuck in Traffic on the Magic Roundabout by XWingAce. Torchwood.
See No Evil by Greyias. SGA
Even Bonny and Clyde had off days by Sholio. SGA
Perspective Shifts (or, It's All In How You Look At It) by Travels_in_Time. Torchwood/Discworld.
The Best Laid Plans by Blackdisa. Merlin.
Stuck in Traffic on the Magic Roundabout by XWingAce Torchwood.
The dangers of running into oneself had been drummed into Jack Harkness from his first days at the Academy.
I have been reccing this fic for years now, and I'm not about to stop. Clever, tight characterisation, great dialogue and perfect plotting. Brilliant.
See No Evil by Greyias. SGA
In a world without the SGC, John Sheppard never got his second chance and is ushered into early retirement. Nine months later he's working as a test pilot for the world's leading defense contractor on a groundbreaking new plane, and has just been introduced to his difficult new coworker, one Dr. Rodney McKay. However, not everything is as it appears to be. There's something very strange about this plane, John's employer--and Rodney McKay.
There was something about SGA that made it perfect for AU, and this story is a perfect example of that. It's a hair's breadth away from canon, with all the right twists in the right places, and the kind of dialogue that means I can spot Grey's fic at 40 paces.
Even Bonny and Clyde had off days by Sholio. SGA
Teyla is thrown in jail when she accidentally violates a local custom, and Ronon breaks her out, whether she wants him to or not.
This is one of those stories that I can still 'read' in my head, even though I haven't read it for years. Character comedy, with a healthy dash of action and a plot that keeps pulling you along. Mostly what I remember about this story is feeling happy as I read it. Not that I don't like a healthy dollop of angst with my warm feelings, but now and again, a fic manages to deliver happiness with no sickly sweetness and a lot of good humour. This is that story.
Perspective Shifts (or, It's All In How You Look At It) by Travels_in_Time. Torchwood/Discworld.
An immortal and lots of tiny blue men walk into a bar...
When you're trying to write something funny, it's really hard to tell whether it will make anyone but you laugh. But when someone takes your cracked out idea and not only writes something in your ficverse, but writes something this good in your ficverse, you start to wonder if you imagined the whole thing in the first place. This not only has comedy gold (literally), but also enough in-jokes for those who know, a pitch-perfect Pratchett-voice, and a genuine plot, which is hard with crack!fic. I've always known my friends are awesome, but stuff like this makes me suspect that some of them might actually be geniuses.
The Best Laid Plans by Blackdisa. Merlin.
The best-laid plans of mercenaries and magicians...
In the aftermath of the rout at Ealdor, a mercenary leader tries to hold his small band of survivors together and extricate them from the mess he got them into. He thinks he’s come up with a simple plan to save them all, but things soon stop going according to the script. And then they meet with a group of knights, led by a knight who calls himself Sir Andrew of Dollop Head.
Arthur decides, for who-knows what reason, that he wants to spend his honeymoon chasing a gryphon all over Camelot. Merlin, as ever, is tagging along behind Arthur, but his usual plan of pretending to be a simple servant isn't working. Arthur has been behaving strangely ever since their return from Ealdor, and Merlin is worried. On the road, they meet with a small band of riders who insist that they are also Knights of Camelot, and Arthur comes up with a strange new plan all of his own...
This is the first fic on my 'This Or Any Fandom' rec list that I'm currently working on. In that it's brilliant, whether you know the fandom or not. I was lucky enough to stumble across it on my first fic-hunting foray into Merlin, and frankly, it's a tough act to follow. You know when a fic takes all of the things you love about a fandom, rolls them up in a writing style that feels like it's meant just for you and finishes the whole package with a topping of just the right emotional kick?
Yeah. That.
Day 2: In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you did not create. Drop a link to your post in the comments. See if you can rec fanworks that are less likely to be praised: tiny fandoms, rare pairings, fanworks other than stories, lesser known kinks or tropes. Find fanworks that have few to no comments, or creators new to a particular fandom and maybe aren't well known or appreciated. Appreciate them.
One of the things I did over Christmas was clear out some of the things that were still hanging around in my mother's cupboards. Mugs and books that never got used, and a general collection of STUFF that I'd honestly forgotten I had. This challenge has been a bit like that, in that it's hard me digging back through my journal for everything tagged 'rec'. Or 'recs'. Apparently for a librarian, I'm rubbish at a controlled vocabulary, which is possibly why I was a rubbish cataloguer.
Anyway, I found quite a collection of recs, some of which I remembered, others of which I didn't. Some stories remain awesome, and all of them were good. Choosing just a few was ridiculously hard, so I went for what the challenge suggested. All are Gen, which by definition tend to be 'lesser known' stories, although all of them are in big fandoms. One of them was written just for me, but in all honesty, they all might have been, so closely do they resonate with me. I've listed them outside the cut, because I got a big carried away with my recs.
Stuck in Traffic on the Magic Roundabout by XWingAce. Torchwood.
See No Evil by Greyias. SGA
Even Bonny and Clyde had off days by Sholio. SGA
Perspective Shifts (or, It's All In How You Look At It) by Travels_in_Time. Torchwood/Discworld.
The Best Laid Plans by Blackdisa. Merlin.
Stuck in Traffic on the Magic Roundabout by XWingAce Torchwood.
The dangers of running into oneself had been drummed into Jack Harkness from his first days at the Academy.
I have been reccing this fic for years now, and I'm not about to stop. Clever, tight characterisation, great dialogue and perfect plotting. Brilliant.
See No Evil by Greyias. SGA
In a world without the SGC, John Sheppard never got his second chance and is ushered into early retirement. Nine months later he's working as a test pilot for the world's leading defense contractor on a groundbreaking new plane, and has just been introduced to his difficult new coworker, one Dr. Rodney McKay. However, not everything is as it appears to be. There's something very strange about this plane, John's employer--and Rodney McKay.
There was something about SGA that made it perfect for AU, and this story is a perfect example of that. It's a hair's breadth away from canon, with all the right twists in the right places, and the kind of dialogue that means I can spot Grey's fic at 40 paces.
Even Bonny and Clyde had off days by Sholio. SGA
Teyla is thrown in jail when she accidentally violates a local custom, and Ronon breaks her out, whether she wants him to or not.
This is one of those stories that I can still 'read' in my head, even though I haven't read it for years. Character comedy, with a healthy dash of action and a plot that keeps pulling you along. Mostly what I remember about this story is feeling happy as I read it. Not that I don't like a healthy dollop of angst with my warm feelings, but now and again, a fic manages to deliver happiness with no sickly sweetness and a lot of good humour. This is that story.
Perspective Shifts (or, It's All In How You Look At It) by Travels_in_Time. Torchwood/Discworld.
An immortal and lots of tiny blue men walk into a bar...
When you're trying to write something funny, it's really hard to tell whether it will make anyone but you laugh. But when someone takes your cracked out idea and not only writes something in your ficverse, but writes something this good in your ficverse, you start to wonder if you imagined the whole thing in the first place. This not only has comedy gold (literally), but also enough in-jokes for those who know, a pitch-perfect Pratchett-voice, and a genuine plot, which is hard with crack!fic. I've always known my friends are awesome, but stuff like this makes me suspect that some of them might actually be geniuses.
The Best Laid Plans by Blackdisa. Merlin.
The best-laid plans of mercenaries and magicians...
In the aftermath of the rout at Ealdor, a mercenary leader tries to hold his small band of survivors together and extricate them from the mess he got them into. He thinks he’s come up with a simple plan to save them all, but things soon stop going according to the script. And then they meet with a group of knights, led by a knight who calls himself Sir Andrew of Dollop Head.
Arthur decides, for who-knows what reason, that he wants to spend his honeymoon chasing a gryphon all over Camelot. Merlin, as ever, is tagging along behind Arthur, but his usual plan of pretending to be a simple servant isn't working. Arthur has been behaving strangely ever since their return from Ealdor, and Merlin is worried. On the road, they meet with a small band of riders who insist that they are also Knights of Camelot, and Arthur comes up with a strange new plan all of his own...
This is the first fic on my 'This Or Any Fandom' rec list that I'm currently working on. In that it's brilliant, whether you know the fandom or not. I was lucky enough to stumble across it on my first fic-hunting foray into Merlin, and frankly, it's a tough act to follow. You know when a fic takes all of the things you love about a fandom, rolls them up in a writing style that feels like it's meant just for you and finishes the whole package with a topping of just the right emotional kick?
Yeah. That.