Ami

Day 13
In your own space, write about a moment in fandom that meant a lot to you. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I'm not sure I have a lot to say about this one. I started reading fanfiction so many years ago, but I've been in for months and out for years. I had a burst of activity in 2012-13, then came back at the end of 2015 and before that/in between, purely lurked. So I missed most of fandom's big moments, basically. I've met up with fandom folks on two occasions. The first, I was very overwhelmed and unsure of myself because of my own issues and not really knowing how to interact with people through LJ. Public comments left on pages were alien to me, compared to the chatrooms and private IM friendships I was used to. Everyone was super, super lovely but I was quiet and ridiculous and everyone was probably thinking 'who even is this person whose name we can't pronounce' *g* The second time was smaller, and I've grown up (in some respects...) and I really clicked with someone =)

That was the moment, actually. Sheltering from the rain outside the tube station, chatting away to ely_baby and neither of us wanting to go even though it was cold and wet! We met up again the very next day, and took a little walking tour of some of my favourite places, mostly revolving around HP and food. We'd never crossed paths before, because we run around in very different parts of fandom yet we have a lot in common when it comes to HP feels and opinions on coffee and fudge =D

Long comments on your works are incredible, especially on the longer ones, or ones you felt a connection to. Even more so when the story is annonymous, and/or when the commenter is someone you admire. I find that, although the general contentment of validation lingers, the comments themselves don't really stay with me, though. It's other people's stories that stay with me. I find myself thinking of their characters, the spells or creatures or situations they crafted for weeks or months or years after reading. Sometimes it's just a moment, a feeling, an image, an atmosphere that comes back to me. Sometimes I can't even place it, but still, you created that. You imprinted that image into my brain. Lessons and morals and witty one-liners come to me from your stories, and affect me day-to-day. They inspire, advise and often educate me. They are part of what continues to shape me, as a writer and as a person.

And that means a lot to me. ♥

Maybe I did have a fair bit to say, after all ;)

Day 11
In your own space, talk about a creator. Show us why you think they are amazing. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

And I thought Day 10 was hard...

Let's start with _melodic_.

Mel's stories are varied, and I love variety. She has her favourite pairings, but she'll give most things a go. When reading one of her stories, you are nearly always guaranteed a nice dose of smoking hot smut, often accompanied by a bit of kinkiness, flangst or fluff. She has a delightful list of favourite kinks, and she's always up for trying exciting new things. Aside from the incredible smut, what really strikes me about Mel's writing is the way she uses colour and light. She paints incredible pictures that amplify the mood of the story so wonderfully, with only her words. Her story which, I feel, best reflects this can be found here, but such moments can be found throughout all of her writings.

Now to shiftylinguini

Miss Guini is multi-talented. She draws hair so incredibly soft-looking that you just want to stroke it, she's great at using little flashes of colour to highlight certain details, and her background details are to die for. Her writing started with short ficlets to accompany art, which showed her wit as well as a talent for engaging characterisation of next-gen characters. Since then, there's no stopping her! Guini doesn't just come up with a plot idea and write it. She creates the whole world around it. She develops those characters, their history as individuals and as a couple, so that whatever they're going through, the reader feels it too. I don't even know what to rec, you'll just have to go read all of it LOL.

The following people I find infectious (in a good way!) for the following reasons:

alisanne never seems to stop writing. My friends feed must be at least 40% Ali!
capitu is the most supportive cheerleader that fandom's ever seen!
akatnamedeaster lets her muse take her deliciously devious and sometimes odd places, and screw what anyone else thinks.
gracerene educated me on all my now-favourite kinks, without even meaning to. She's also queen of UST.
digthewriter is just everywhere. Like seriously, what fest isn't she modding these days?!
birdsofshore can make the most mundane tasks and items sexy, I bet she could even do it with socks and sandals if she put her mind to it. Honestly.
writcraft, torino10154 and magnetic_pole run/co-run my three favourite fests (hp_kinkfest, hp_goldenage and rs_small_gifts respectively) as well as contributing their own always-awesome works to fandom.

I feel like I don't know my flist as well as I should, or would like to. There's just so many awesome people out there in fandom, and so many of their awesome creations, that it's all rather overwhelming. This year, I hope to have a go at rectifying that by making more of an effort to interact with my flist and catch up with old and new works of friends old and new =)

Watch out, guys, HERE I COME! :P

DAY 9:

Send feedback to two fannish people — they can be anyone you want: a writer who’s made you happy, a moderator of your favorite exchange (not us!), a fanartist you avidly follow… There are so many possibilities. Just let someone know you appreciate their work.

I finally headed over to Daily Deviant to check out the Kinky Kristmas fics, and I've commented on a good chunk of them in response to this challenge. I'd been meaning to do it anyway, and I hope to be able to get through the rest of the slash entries sometime soon.

I know this isn't exactly what the challenge meant. It was supposed to be more, reach out to someone and let them know that their work has had an impact on you. Thing is, the individual works that have had an impact on me already have a lovely long comment to that effect. And the creators who have multiple creations that have impacted on me have been told how I feel about their works, whether it's through a comment on a work, personal post, beta comment on a fic, pm, im or e-mail.

So basically, I'm sort of not doing this one because I already do it. And I'll keep doing it--telling amazing people how amazing they are, and telling my flist too ♥

Title: Technical Difficulties
Pairing/Characters: Teddy/James, Harry
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 200
Warnings: Innuendo, implied blowjob, swearing, dialogue-only
Summary: Not only can they not get it up, they can't get it in, either!
A/N: I was struggling what to create for Day 7 of the Snowflake Challenge, then I spotted capitu's request for dialogue-only drabbles and this silly little thing came to me. Enjoy =)

Also on AO3

( Technical Difficulties )

Day 06

In your own space, create a list of at least three fannish things you'd love to receive, something you've wanted but were afraid to ask for - a fannish wish-list of sorts. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your wish-list if you feel comfortable doing so. Maybe someone will grant a wish. Check out other people's posts. Maybe you will grant a wish. If any wishes are granted, we'd love it if you link them to this post.

This is kind of a difficult one. If I get an urge to see something in fic, I'll usually write it myself (or, you know, add it to the never-ending to-do list) or prompt it in a fest.

I suppose the one thing I'd really like which I can't create myself (I've tried, Lord, how I've tried), is a Black-style family tree for my Severus/Sirius fic Into Oblivion. I have a lot of unreleased background information, that I developed for world-building purposes, that didn't all make it into the fic and I feel a family tree would be an interesting way to express it. I can't draw faces, though. And this would need a lot of faces x) It would be Severus and Sirius, Harry and Teddy, their spouses, children, children's spouses and their children (so quite a few OC's). Some are in the fic, but there's detailed additional information about everyone in my notes.

Apart from that... I really don't know. My close fandom friends are amazing at satisfying my kinks when my birthday comes around :P I have no shame within fandom, so there's nothing I'm afraid to prompt, really.

ETA: Okay, I thought of another one, but it's arty again. A comic version of this would be amazing. I think it would work well in black and white, or red and black, with lots of close-ups and shadows to really set the mood.

Day 04

Comment to someone you haven't ever interacted with before or introduce yourself to someone you've interacted with and friend/follow them.

Okay, so, slight cop out on this one... But I've done it recently. Twice. Firstly, I friended someone who I've been bumping into in fests over the past year and seem to have quite a bit in common with. Before you say it doesn't count, spurred by today's challenge (and on the back of yesterday's goal) I've just replied to a message they sent me a while ago :P Secondly, I reached out to a new author on AO3 who I feel has potential but needs a little guidance, and we're now emailing back and forth.

I can't handle too many new things at once, and I don't want to take on too much and compromise on the friendships I already have. So, this'll do me, for now ♥

Day 2

In your own space, share a book/song/movie/tv show/fanwork/etc that changed your life. Something that impacted on your consciousness in a way that left its mark on your soul. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

So, to keep things interesting, I'm going to just rule out Harry Potter for this one :P It's a valid candidate, but let's have something different.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Wilde's poetry and quotes had interested me for some time, so I went out to buy this book and finally read it when I was in my late teens or early twenties. My lord, was it hard work... I'm a slow reader anyway, but this took me months upon months because I kept having to read over sections again. He's just so loquacious and it's now rather old fashioned, making it difficult bedtime reading. I nearly gave up a few times, because he spends such a long time going on about things that have nothing to do with the plot. There's a lot of social narrative and criticism which rather went over my head as I know little of the class structure and norms of the late 19th Century.

However, within it, there were moments of perception and beauty which astounded me. One section in particular stays with me. It springs to mind from time to time, when trying to articulate an atmospheric concept. For me, it represents how I want to keep seeing the world, and how I hope that I, as a writer, can learn to express myself.

So, for your interest, here is the excerpt. It can be understood and appreciated entirely independently of the plot and characters.

( The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter XI )