Fanwork roundup 2017

[bironic]

Previous Roundups
2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006

Vids

I posted seven vids this year: five for Festivids and one each for spring and fall Equinox. There are two more in progress for the current Festivids; we'll see if both reach the finish line.

But stopping the summary there would underrepresent my total vidding effort, because a huge amount of time went into preparing the Fandom Trumps Hate auction vid for Sigrid Ellis, in particular recruiting a small army of volunteer guides and watching or skimming unfamiliar media sources—at last count, more than 30. The bulk of the work has now tipped over to file processing, clipping and the beginning stages of editing.

Nov. 12/Feb. 11
Behind Blue Eyes (2001: A Space Odyssey)
2:14

Dec. 21/Feb. 11
Sunny Days (Dark City)
1:53

Jan. 7/Feb. 11
Something's Going Wrong (Waxwork)
3:07

Jan. 18/Feb. 11
Going through space with the world (Chris Hadfield RPF)
2:08

Jan. 25/Feb. 11
She Walks in Beauty (Let the Right One In)
2:08

Jul. 31
Best of Enemies (DS9)
1:23

Sep. 29/Oct. 7
When I Go (American Gods [TV])
4:04

Dec.
--- (Festivids fandom redacted)


Abbreviated end-of-year vidding meme!

"Behind Blue Eyes" was the most popular of the bunch. "When I Go" was the most beautiful, IMO. Also the most misleading of advertisements for the canon, ha. I think "Best of Enemies" and "When I Go" were most successful at pleasing their recipients. The ongoing auction vid has been the hardest to make. "She Walks in Beauty" is my least favorite, but I'm glad I finally made it after all those years it spent on the Festivids ideas list.

Sexiest moment, hm. Probably something in "When I Go"; the Jinn's hand sliding along Salim's on his sweater? The other moments that touch me the most are Oskar hugging Eli in "She Walks in Beauty" and a whole slew of things in "When I Go," including Thoth closing his book and looking into the middle distance, not-Sweeney reaching for not-Laura's hand and Anubis holding Mrs. Fadil's hand, Anubis looking steadily at the camera, Salim's tearful eyes, and the closing clips of 'the lone and level sands stretching far away.'

A thing I learned: to trust my gut that when a song match presents itself that feels brilliant, either for comic or other emotional-impact reasons, just go with it, despite the seeming obstacles and internal counter-arguments.



Fic

All I wrote this year were bits of various unposted Mary Sue stories. On the one hand, that's good because a few years ago one of my year-end resolutions was to get back to those personal writing roots. On the other hand, it doesn't make for great fannish community building when I don't post a fic for 16 months.

Meredith and Alastair (and Daniel): Healing, later (Original fic)
+1,785 words

The therapy part of sex therapy (Vampire Chronicles)
+491 words

Revised aftermath of Armand attack (Vampire Chronicles)
2,500 words

Hotel restaurant (RPF)
1,176 words

Day two at Makor's (DS9)
+170 words

Okay, well, no, I did post two previously written snippets: a >10-year-old Willow/Giles scene and a 3-year-old DS9 Mary Sue hurt-comfort scene (locked, sorry! you can request access if you want).


Fanwork stats

Vidded: ~10m 50s (same number of vids but slightly fewer minutes than last year)
Gen: 4
M/M: 1
M/F: 2
Fandoms: 8 + the multivid

Written: 6,722 words (half of last year's total, which was itself half the previous year's)
M/F: 5
Fandoms: 4


Goals

How did we do on last year's goals?
✔ Round out the vids in progress for a proud total of 5 Festivids
✔ Do the "Fandom Trumps Hate" auction and ✗ probably the VVC auction again
✔ Try out the new equinox_exchange (spaaaaace)
✔ Write more, especially Mary Sue stuff; continue rediscovering and expressing the evolving id
✗ Finish Jinni/Dustfinger fic
✗ Get back to Inkheart OT4 fic?
✗ Take concrete steps toward repurposing existing stories for pro erotica publications
✔ Meet with new "behavioral therapist" to get at the roots of procrastination, mood stuff, negative self-talk, etc. – I suspect this will help with fannish activities in addition to RL
✗ See also: Make judicious use of the ColdTurkey program
✔/✗ Hope there is practical and mental space to do these things while grappling with next year's sociopolitical environment

2018 vidding goals:
- Finish the auction vid before WisCon
- Make other auction vid for deelaundry
- Make something for the last Vividcon?? Pressure!
- Make at least one vid that isn't for someone else—the vampire Mary Sues vid of my heart, probably
- Co-mod the multifandom vidding panel at Vividcon
- Learn at least one of these programs designed to capture streaming video

2018 writing goals:
- Keep it up with the Mary Sue tinkering
- Experiment with adjusting day-to-day habits to try to write more; maybe take time off work when the writing bug bites?
- Finish the languishing Jinni/Dustfinger crossover fic!!
- Post more media reviews, yikes


Favorite media of the year

An interesting year in that books struck me more than other media. Usually the movie list is longest. Maybe a function of following my own tastes and curiosity at the library in 2017 vs. watching a lot of media for vid purposes that wouldn't normally pique my interest. Also unusual that the TV shows I most enjoyed were on the lighter side; that's almost certainly because of the state of the nation and the world.

BOOKS

Novels & Novellas
Binti and Binti: Home - Nnedi Okorafor
The Stone Sky - NK Jemisin
Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

Short Story Collections
So You Want to Be a Robot - A. Merc Rustad
Stories of Your Life and Others - Ted Chiang
Vampires in the Lemon Grove - Karen Russell
Tenth of December - George Saunders
Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy 2017 - ed. Charles Yu & John Joseph Adams
Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy 2016 - ed. Karen Joy Fowler & John Joseph Adams
Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy 2015 - ed. Joe Hill & John Joseph Adams

Comics & Graphic Novels
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl vols. 1-4 - Ryan North & Erica Henderson
The Vision vols. 1 & 2 - Tom King, Gabriel Hernandez Walta, Jordie Bellaire
Saga vol. 7 - Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples

Memoir
In the Body of the World - Eve Ensler


MOVIES
Get Out
Moonlight
Advantageous
Stalker (1979), Solaris (1972)
The Shape of Water

Runners-up: Coco, The Lego Batman Movie, Moana, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Lion


TV
Sarah & Duck
Stranger Things
The Good Place
People of Earth

Favorite repeated & ongoing TV: BtVS S1-2 (rewatch), The Expanse S2, Girls S6, Grantchester S3, Doctor Who season whatever-we're-on

Also of note: Star Trek: Discovery


NEW (to me) SONGS

"Familiar" and "Golden Green" – Agnes Obel
"The Night We Met" – Lord Huron
"Fáinleog (Wanderer)" and "The Pilgrim's Song" – The Gloaming
"The Queen of Hearts" – Offa Rex
"Shape of You" – Ed Sheeran
"Butterfly (Come My Lady)" – Crazy Town
"Tam e Eshq (The Taste of Love)" - Niyaz
"Hard Love" – Needtobreathe
"Two High" – Moon Taxi



Misc. personally meaningful fannish events, in chronological order

- Lim published Videlicet
- Readercon
- Vividcon
- Linnea's book reading
- Weekend writer's retreat with disgruntled_owl
- Met Jon Campling with iggyw
- Universal Studios/Harry Potter World with synn
- Potlucks at Seah & Merry's
- Fangirl Thanksgiving
- December D.C. trip with deelaundry & bonus cinco

Comments

[nightdog_barks]

Ah, you've read Lincoln in the Bardo and liked it? I went back and forth and back and forth on whether to buy it or not, and I don't think anyone else I know has read it. I finally got it for Mister Nightdog_barks for the holidays, so now at least one of us (well, probably me) will read it. :D

[bironic]

There was this inadvertently hilarious promo video featuring a member of the Man Booker Prize committee that said something to the effect of, "This book will make you rethink everything you know about mortality and narrative structure. Also the prose is really difficult! But really it is a great book!" so I was all *side-eye* but two coworkers raved about it so I gave it a try and really liked it! It's like a mashup of a play, a meditation on grief and the different meanings people find in life, and cesperanza's SGA fanfic "Written By the Victors," where historians argue with one another over what "really" happened. Would recommend giving it a try, sure, since you've got a copy in the house now.

That said, the more stories I read of George Saunders, the more they start to seem the same, but Lincoln was my introduction to him, so.

[kuwdora]

♥ !

[bironic]

Back atcha!

[marginaliana]

I'm strongly pro your writing of Mary Sue stories. I wrote one this year and I really enjoyed the process. It felt self-indulgent but also really satisfying in a way of, like, taking ownership of something (??) in a way that fanfic doesn't quite satisfy. Is that how it is for you?

[bironic]

Not having to adhere to someone else's characterization is a nice bonus of those particular characters, sure, if that is part of what you mean, although usually they're embedded in an established universe where many of the other characters are from a fannish canon. Also, back when 90% of my unposted stories centered on noncon plots, it felt better to explore those acts through OCs.

But the larger part of the appeal for me is how, when I play around with Mary Sue stuff, I don't worry about beginnings, middles and ends. I go straight for the bits that interest me and skip the rest. It's awesome to not feel pressure to write a complete, coherent narrative, unlike posting a fic or even a ficlet. The older Mary Sue story folders on my computer have multiple, conflicting bits of plot that could never be stitched together into a traditional single narrative, and that feels totally okay.