Snowflake Challenge Day 9

[jadesfire]

Day 9

In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I mostly write and podfic, so I'm going to be self-indulgent and rec three of each. For everything that got posted, there were five or six that didn't, so I'm proud of my work for the most part, and I think these are pretty representative.

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FIC: None of these are recent, as I'm going for the 'define you as a creator' aspect of the challenge. All of them had an impact on me, whether it was my writing, my interactions with fandom, or expressed something that I felt I needed to say.

~

Bibula Harena (16028 words) by Jadesfire
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Characters: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay
Summary:

This is all there is, the stick in his hand, the knife in his belt, the crowd roaring around him, and the man he has to kill.

In writing this, I worked out how I wanted to write. With economy. With realism. With switching back and forth in settings, the one illuminating the other. It was the first really long fic I'd written that flowed out of me, hitting all my fic-kinks and pleasing myself, rather than writing-as-performance, which had been my focus up to then. It helped me figure out that if I made myself happy first, everything else would work itself out.

~

Difficulties in Mathematics (13747 words) by Jadesfire
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex
Summary:

Rodney paused, trying to think how he was going to explain without causing a general panic. Tact was probably called for and it would be as well to watch his words until he was absolutely sure about what was going on.

Of course, the words that actually came out of his mouth were, "Atlantis is about to be sucked into a black hole."

This one was more of a struggle to write, but I'm still goshdarn proud of it. It's the flipside of my writing-loves coin, with character interactions and a macguffin at the heart of it, rather than a strong plot (honestly, even I'm not sure if the plot actually makes sense, but that's not the point of the story). It started a love for physics which has never gone away, for which I will always be grateful.

It was a Secret Santa present for a friend, who had a 'want and do not want' list about 3 pages long. So it also helped me figure out that, the more restrictions I put on my writing, the better the story comes out. I still do badly with "write anything!" requests, and love it when there are lots and lots of limits. That's always more inspiring for me.

~

Dividing Our Grief (4686 words) by Jadesfire
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Merlin (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Gwen (Merlin), Merlin (Merlin)
Additional Tags: Future Fic
Summary:

Still, looking into her own eyes, she finds it hard to remember that she is not the girl she was fifteen years ago, the lonely girl she felt, weighed down with grief in her heart and a kingdom to rule. The grief remains, the kingdom flourishes, and while she is rarely alone now, she is still lonely.

Also the podfic, which I recorded.

I have always been, and always will be, a hardcore Genficcer. It's just the way my brain is programmed. Ironically, my two main fandoms for many years were ones were pretty much everyone else was writing pairings. Gen became kind of rare in both SGA and Merlin, which I totally get, but for me, my interests have always been in the non-romantic aspects. And I ADORED Gwen. So much. Somewhere in my brain is a post-finale fic about how amazing she is as queen, of which this is a tiny glimpse. I'm glad I got the chance to podfic it too, because I knew exactly how I wanted it to sound, especially with the music. It's not that I don't love people's recordings of my fic! It's just that this one was personal, and something I needed to do myself.

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PODFIC: Well, this is a reminder to get my old stuff polished and archived properly, isn't it? Not much is on AO3 at the moment, and I only really started recording again last year after a 5 year gap. It would be good to have it all in once place again.

[Podfic] Rare as a Unicorn (25 words) by Jadesfire
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Critical Role (Web Series)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III/Vex'ahlia
Characters: Vox Machina
Additional Tags: Podfic, Podfic Length: 10-20 Minutes, Unicorns, Spicy language, just fluffy garbage, Audio Format: MP3, Audio Format: Streaming
Summary:

Podfic of 'Rare as a Unicorn' by Ciwu

Vox Machina argues about the nature of unicorns, debates whether or not they're worth killing, and learns some surprising information about human versions of fairy tales, as well as a little secret about their resident human.

This is what brought me back to podficcing. xdiorix had been posting So Much about Critical Role, and once I started, I couldn't stop. It's a fun little podfic, just something to help me get back into it, and I was still editing it when the full cast version was published. I was a little daunted but pressed on, and am still rather pleased with it. And it got me recording again, which got me interacting with people again, so I'll always be fond of it for that. Also, it still makes me laugh :)

~

[Podfic] A World Called Catastrophe (51 words) by Jadesfire
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: John Sheppard, Ronon Dex, Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagan
Additional Tags: Disability, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Team, Podfic, Podfic Length: 1-1.5 Hours
Summary:

Podfic of A World Called Catastrophe by Perspi.

When the world ends in a flash of orange and yellow, the last thing John feels is the sensation of flying.

Back to SGA, for an old podfic, polished up as best I could. The sound quality isn't up to my current standards, but I'm still pleased with the performance. If you haven't read Perspi's SGA fic, you are seriously missing out, and I urge you to correct it as soon as you can! This is a hard-hitting, gentle story (yes, it's both), written with sensitivity and realism, both of which I value hugely. It was the first podfic where I tried using sound effects, and they still hold up surprisingly well. But mostly, I can hear in my own voice how deeply I felt about the story and the way it was told, so I will always value it for that.

I also plan to use the challenge as a chance to fulfill Day 6's challenge of leaving feedback, and reccing them here.

Read so far:

A conversation in the Yellow Drawing Room by Dancingsalome (scripsi)
[Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell]
Lady Pole writes a letter to her friend Mrs Strange about an unexpected encounter.

McFlurries & Love by Brumeier
[MCU, Steve/Bucky]
What starts out as a simple trip to McDonald's turns into a relationship changer for Steve and Bucky.

Print the Legend by Deifier
[Thelma & Louise]
They say you'll see 'em sometimes out there on the road. Call 'em ghosts or spirits or avenging angels. Two redheaded women in a green 1966 Ford Thunderbird...
Reader's note: I think most of my Flist would enjoy this - it's our kind of thing, guys. I've never seen the film, but if you know the basics, go read it!

Such a Time as This by mihrsuri
[Tudor history AU, The Book of Esther]
"You have come to your royal position for such a time as this" or a retelling of the story of Queen Esther with Anne Boleyn as a Mizrahi Jewish lady.

The Adventure of the Thunders of the Upper Deep by El Staplador
[Doctor Who, Madame Vastra/Jenny]
1892, and the famous consulting detective Madame Vastra is summoned to Devon to investigate a mysterious death. Her faithful companion Jenny Flint accompanies her. Sea air and sea bathing are said to be very good for the nerves. Perhaps that's just as well.