A Thousand Lies Before the Truth (NCIS/Star Trek)
As Safe as Houses (MCU)
No Safe Harbor (The Hunt for Red October)
On the Edge of Wonder (MCU/The Looking Glass Wars)
The Heartbeat of Grief and Loss (FBI)
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (art for Marvel Big Bang) (MCU/The Tomorrow People)
As we watched, I couldn't help but think of Ukraine and the fight to preserve their independence. I'm in awe of the country, their leadership and the tenacity of a people who refuse to give up. It is, frankly, inspirational. It's also very much like the fight portrayed in Star Wars.
The Empire is, of course, Russia, with their polished uniforms and conscripted soldiers, convinced that they know best. They consume and destroy for no other reason than to prove their superiority. Ukraine are the Rebels, the scrappy upstarts who envision a free world where people can be who they are without constraint or interference.
Such themes have been around for decades in film, and for even longer in literature, so this isn't anything new. But still, I watched these movies with a fresh awareness of the fragility of peace and the understanding that if we want to be free, we must fight for that freedom. We must be willing to go to the wall, go over it, and blow up whatever's on the other side if we're to preserve our right to live free, something the Ukrainians understand intimately now.
So, if you've got a couple of minutes, offer up a prayer or some good thoughts, or donate if you can to whatever organization you prefer. DO SOMETHING to honor these brave people and help them to know they're not alone. That we all stand with them.
...
Also... the Ewoks are fucking carnivores. They were gonna EAT Luke, Han, Chewie, and Leia. Not to mention, what the hell was the trap baited to capture? There's some big-ass predator on that moon that the Ewoks were looking to bag. Bad-ass little critters, that's what they are. I'm just sayin'...
Challenge #12
In your own space, tell us who you would recast in a film, tv series or webseries, or maybe someone voicing a cartoon or videogame. Or who would you cast to play a character in a book, comic or maybe even your own fiction!
Challenge #10
In your own space, rec a fanwork (fic, art, vid, playlist, anything!) you did not create.
Challenge #9
In your own space, list your Fandom Wrap categories.
What are your top five fandoms for 2021 based on the amount of time you interacted with them?
1. Harry Potter - I don’t write for the fandom very often, but I lurk on Keira Marcos’ site a lot and read the hell out of basically everything HP she’s ever written
2. Star Wars - Keira again… go read Gra’tua. It’s AMAZING
3. MCU - I write a lot of MCU (specifically Captain America) but read very little of it anymore
4. NCIS - again, I write a lot but read very little, mostly the mothership
5. Star Trek - wrote my Nano project last year in this fandom
Snowflake Challenge #6
In your own space, Create something.
I watched FBI for the first time since the holiday break last week. I'd missed a few episodes because we watched probably a hundred Hallmark Christmas Movies (TM) since the end of October (I wish I was exaggerating, but I'm not), so a lot of the shows I normally watch took a back seat. Therefore, I had no idea what was going on and was shocked to find that a recurring character had been killed off before the holidays.
I don't much care for the Rina Trenholm character, but I was absolutely blown away by Jeremy Sisto's performance as Jubal Valentine in the face of that loss. This story just sort of bloomed in my mind as the closing credits rolled. The end of the episode in particular was a gut punch. I couldn't not respond, and given it's been a long time since I've written a coda to an episode of a TV show, it was startling (but a little relieving, because clearly I haven't lost that skill). This just... seemed like it needed to be written.
Challenge #8
In your own space, celebrate a personal win from the past year: it can be a list of fanworks you're especially proud of, a gift of your time to the community, a quality or skill you cultivated in yourself, something you generally feel went well.
Challenge #5
In your own space, talk about an idea you wish you had the time / talent / energy to do. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
If there's one fandom that I wish I could write for (nevermind write well for), it would be Harry Potter. I'd love to write a Hermione Granger/Bill Weasley epic, the kind that makes your toes curl and makes you sob into your hot chocolate on a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon. I also have an idea for a Mary Poppins/Harry Potter fusion that features a Sirius/Mary romance. It was a random thought brought on by the Emily Blunt sequel a few years ago. I still haven't seen the movie, but I really want to write the story.
I don't know if I'll ever actually write either of those stories because, frankly, the HP fandom scares me. I've heard that the HP fandom can be ruthless or entitled. Or both. I have some experience dealing with a crazy fandom. I used to write for Castle, and I remember there being fans that wouldn't accept any other pairing than the main ship. Since I love rare pairs, that put me a little at odds with the fandom. Back then, I just stuck to the main pairing to avoid the crazy.
As I've grown as a writer, I've enjoyed taking on the challenge of rare pairs and just pitching canon out the car window (I have a lead foot, so that sucker's well and truly gone). And since my give-a-damn has been broken for a while, I think I could probably withstand a little disapproval from the crazier corner of fandom.
So, who knows? Maybe I'll write one of these. Or both. Someday.
Challenge #3
In your own space, put some favorite characters into an AU, fuse some favorite canons together, talk about your favorite AU/fusion tropes, or tell us why AU/fusions aren’t your cup of tea. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
Challenge #2
In your own space, set some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. [Unknown site tag]
As I discussed in my year-end post, I currently have a dubious relationship with goal-setting. It's not that I don't like setting goals, nor am I unaware of how valuable it can be to set goals, both personal and professional. For the first time in years, my company is asking each employee to set what we call OKRs (objectives and key results), which will be used to measure our performance. So, I'm not unfamiliar with the process.
Still, after my total creative meltdown last year, I'm a little leery of setting goals since I don't know whether I'm officially past the issues that caused me to fail to achieve practically all the goals I set last year. But because I understand that sometimes it's helpful to have the structure of goals and milestones to measure your progress through the year, I'm going to set some modest goals and hope for the best.
First, on the challenge front, I plan to continue to participate in Rough Trade. As I've done more and more of the challenges, I've become more comfortable with the format and requirements. I honestly enjoy doing them and look forward to them each year. I have solid ideas for two of the three challenge periods, and I'm actively poking at my idea folder for something I can work on for the third, though I'm not going to beat myself up if I'm not able to do all three.
I'm also going to do art for at least one big bang, though I'm not sure which one yet. I've never done art for a bang before, but over the last few years of doing my own art for RT, I've found I enjoy the process. This way I'll be able to do the bang without the pressures of writing and betas and such.
I'm also going to continue writing shorter works. I managed to write eight last year, so if I can equal that goal, I'd consider that to be a success. A stretch goal for this would be twelve (one per month), but again, I'm not going to beat myself up if I fail to reach that number.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, my goal is to have fun writing this year. I think some of the joy of writing was sucked out last year by all the terrible things going on. Too much stress and too many expectations on myself made for a toxic cocktail that really did me no favors. So, writing for my own enjoyment and love of the craft is top of the list this year.
Hopefully, when we meet again for Snowflake next year, I'll have good things to report on the goals front. Wish me luck!
I've been in fandom for probably twenty years at this point, though I only started posting about ten years ago. Back then, I was a one-fandom-at-a-time kind of writer and a one-pair-per-fandom person. A lot has changed over the years. My list of fandoms has grown to nearly fifty as I can't seem to resist adopting a new fandom every year. And while I still have favorite pairs in every fandom, I've branched out into rare pairs for the most part. I like the challenge and the variety, as well as the freedom that gives me.
You can find the vast majority of my works on AO3 under the same name (dizzydrea). I'm also active on Rough Trade, so during challenge months (April, July, and November), you can find an in-progress work from me. Outside of that challenge, I don't post unfinished works. I hate getting invested in reading a story only to have the writer abandon it, so I don't do it to my readers.
I normally post new works on Sundays, and if it's a multi-chapter story, it'll go up all at once. For those of you who love to binge new works, this is a boon. Grab yourself a cuppa and enjoy. Any story over ten thousand words will be broken up into chapters for easier reading, so if you like to draw it out, you have that choice.
Generally speaking, I like reading comments on my stories. Please don't complain at me if you didn't like the story, or didn't like something I wrote in the story. I'm writing for my own enjoyment, so don't harsh my buzz. Also, please don't point out errors. I know these stories aren't perfect, but since I don't tend to work with a beta reader, there will likely be errors and plot holes. If I can live with it, so can you.
One of the things I like the most about fandom is the opportunity to connect with other creators. If you want to talk fandom with me, feel free to reach out. I don't spend a lot of time on this blog, but I try to always respond when someone messages me. And if you want my help on a project you're working on, hit me up. I love talking out plot ideas and helping someone flesh out a character or story.
My profile is updated, and can be found here. There's a complete list of the fandoms I've written in, though I'm no longer active in most of them. There's also the list on AO3 if you'd prefer. Every year, I post a year-end review and master list of stories. I also have a sticky at the top of this blog that details what I'm currently working on, so if you're curious, you can keep track since I try to update it once a quarter.
If you want to read my original introductory post, click here. It's got a rundown of my journey through fandom, so if you're interested in knowing how I came to be a writer, it's all there. Past entries for the Snowflake Challenge are tagged as such; there are some fun posts from past years, so feel free to check it out. I have two fic rec posts from past Snowflake Challenges, here and here. And one more for this year's Snowflake Challenge here.
Happy reading!
Challenge #3: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
( Let's sit down and chat a spell with my favorite author... )
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ninetydegrees
