Keeping in Touch

It's been a strange year for me in terms of my fandoms. This 2010 has been the year in which I've finally winnowed my fandoms down to pretty much a bare handful:

> the Takarazuka Kagekidan
> the film Inception
> the modern Doctor Who [to be specific, this would be from Nine till Eleven]
> the 2010 BBC miniseries Sherlock

And it's been so inspiring, particularly the whole Inception thing. I got in on that one on pretty much the ground floor and it's been a wild ride ever since. December will see the release of the DVD, so that will probably mean an explosion of fannishness. And of course there's also the fact that the fic exchanges are all going to start posting around the Christmas and New Year holidays. So you can bet I'm pretty excited about that.

I've had a lot of firsts with this fandom, and so I guess it's only fitting that I do something else for the first time this year. The thing about my fandoms is that the fans are scattered widely, all over the world. It's fun to meet them in cyberspace, but it's just as amazing to try and contact them for real.

So I'm going to try and kick off another first for me this year: send holiday postcards all over the world.

One of the Google April Fools' Day jokes: a Google search, run by postcard.

The nice thing is that when I asked around my fandoms lists for people who'd like to receive a postcard from me, a few of them "demanded" my own address, so that they could also send me something in return.

I'm looking forward to writing out my messages and mailing the postcards out. I really am. Not to mention I can't wait to deploy my beloved pens! THIS is why I collect pens - this is the very occasion I've been saving them up for. *grin*

Chronicle of fandom work

I think I've mentioned the idea of a fandom exchange here before, but having achieved something of a minor Crowning Moment of Awesome in my fandom life, I hope you don't mind if I take you through it again....

Fandom Gift Exchange Fest
When a participant signs up for one of these, he or she agrees to create a piece of fanfiction or fanart for someone else who has signed up for the fest. In return, the participant will also receive a piece of fanfiction or fanart from another participant. As the key word is EXCHANGE, participants who drop out or fail to turn in their pieces will not get any gifts.

To make sure that everyone gets a gift that they will like, each participant fills in a form that details what they like and don't like in fanfiction or fanart in that fandom. Usually the form will ask for preferred or vetoed pairings, some prompts, things that the participant likes and doesn't like, etc. The form thus serves as a sort of blueprint for the person who's creating a gift for them.

Many fests are anonymous and reveals are scheduled for after the time when the gifts have been posted, in order to increase anticipation, participation, and excitement. Also, I think it's really fun that way.

Some exchange fests are limited to one fandom only: every piece of fanfiction or fanart is keyed to characters/situations from that fandom. Crossovers are allowed as long as the main fandom is the featured exchange fest fandom.

On the other hand, some exchange fests are geared specifically towards crossovers of all kinds.

Fandom Big Bang Challenge
I'll take the definition here straight from the FAQs of the one I signed up for:

A big bang challenge is a collaborative project between authors and artists. Authors sign up to write long fanfiction within a predetermined time frame, and artists sign up to create art based on these stories.

The idea of the fandom big bang challenge apparently originated in a specific challenge that grew out of a specific branch of Harry Potter fandom.

Now back to the aforementioned very minor CMoA.

For all my years in various fandoms I'd never even heard of these terms until 2010. Since it turned out that people liked how I wrote in my current fandom, I decided, okay, to hell with it, never know till I try - and thus I signed up to write three stories: one for a one-fandom gift exchange fest, a crossover fandom gift exchange fest, and a fandom big bang challenge.

As of yesterday I've just turned in all the completed drafts to the three challenges.

And now I am keyed up for posting and reveals over the holidays.

You guys. Like I said. FIRST TIME EVER. And now I know I CAN DO THIS SORT OF THING. I took on three successive challenges and didn't flake out, didn't drop out, and didn't quit.

Each challenge had a specific word count: the first one I completed had to meet a minimum of 2000 words, the second a minimum of 1500 words, and the big bang had a minimum of 15,000 words. I'm happy to say I went over every one of those deadlines. [Wow, self, overcompensating much....]

I almost feel like I should have enough time to actually tackle National Novel Writing Month next, but, as I am grossly NOT prepared at all for that this year, I will wait until November 2011 for my next attempt. That will not stop me from mailing in a donation to the Office of Letters and Light, though!

Woo hoo!

Dream Team!

Related posts:
Inception: Rapid Review, No Spoilers
Inception, in on the ground floor
Fandoms at Random: Inception Dreams

Went out to watch Despicable Me with my partner yesterday. Great film, but I wish I'd also had the chance to watch Inception again - only this time in an IMAX theater, at a very cheap price. As a consolation prize, I asked my partner to take photos of me next to one of the movie poster banners.


Me and some of the Dream Team. It looks like I'm literally butting heads with Ariadne!


A failed attempt at heart-hands and the only decent shot that included both Arthur and Eames. [It took me this long to figure out that Eames is wearing HORRIBLE pants? The plaid he's wearing in this poster doesn't even look good on him!]

Aah, Inception fandom, how can you be so amazing? Just in the last month or so I've gone and done so many fandom-related and fanfiction-related experiences.

I'm now in the thick of preparations for two fanfic exchanges - basically, you write a fanfic or create fanart for someone and someone else does the same for you. One of the exchanges is Inception-only, for slash pairings, and my entry is already in beta. And then I signed up for one that was for crossovers, so that means Inception crossed with a lot of other things. You can imagine how pleased I was when I found out that this exchange also includes Doctor Who [specifically Nine, Ten, and Eleven], and Sherlock!

I joined a fandom auction to help the victims of the Pakistan floods, and actually got bids! That was amazing.

Kink memes! Haha! Granted I write fills for oddball prompts, but it's amazingly fun and incredibly addictive. Gah.

And it's in this fandom where I've actually become an active beta reader; that is, I help other authors out with their work by looking their stories over for grammar and other possible trouble areas. I've been a beta for at least three or four people now and I also have multiple betas for my own work. I'm unreasonably happy about all this collaboration and general community spirit.

*dives into the deep end*

I love being in my fandoms.

Because where else can you find these sorts of wonderful and handsome and beautiful people in amazing suits?!

TV Tropes links might be relevant here.

Dressed To Kill
Sharp Dressed Man
Hot Chick In A Badass Suit

Warning, pictures ahead!

DOCTOR WHO

Fifth Doctor Peter Davison and Tenth Doctor David Tennant, from the Children in Need Special "Time Crash".


Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith with Karen Gillan as Amy Pond.

SHERLOCK (2010 BBC)

Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson.

TAKARAZUKA KAGEKIDAN

Former Top Star of Soragumi, Wao Youka.

INCEPTION

Cillian Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Enough said, really!

Fandoms at Random: Inception Dreams

Related posts:
Fandoms at Random: Doctor Who Ramblings
Inception, in on the ground floor
Inception: Rapid Review, No Spoilers



Two weeks after, I'm still sunk deep in an Inception daze.

I still want to see the movie again and will likely buy a DVD the instant it comes out.

I'm kind of surprised at myself and how this movie has pretty much sunk its fangs into my head and won't let go. It's like the characters succeeded in insinuating themselves into my mind for the sole purpose of encouraging me to dream, to write, to be creative.

Granted that I'm writing fan fiction, the whole creativity thing could be just a delusion I'm suffering, but I don't want to be woken up just yet. I mean, I am just one among the legions of fans and writers and artists who've totally fallen in love with the film. There's a right huge bunch of us, and it's an amazing feeling to be swept up with this crowd.

What a nice crowd the fandom is, by the way - we have different interpretations, we 'ship different pairings, we have differing styles and approaches to the way we create - and we're all actually still getting along. Thank goodness for that. This makes me inordinately happy, actually - I'm tired of being in fandoms that periodically tore themselves apart over some insignificant quibble.

If only we could all meet in dreams and squee happily together for a moment. That would be an incandescent memory for me.

[Oh, and before anyone asks, I'm with John Scalzi on this one: I do not want to see an Inception 2; I am vehemently against the very idea. Filmcritic.com column here.]

In closing: Boy, I can still remember how my heart thumped in shock when the famous musical cue [you know the one!] hit, partway through this track....


From the Inception movie soundtrack by Hans Zimmer: Track 01, Half Remembered Dream.

Inception, in on the ground floor

Related post:
Inception: Rapid Review, No Spoilers

And there are still no spoilers here because I love you all and I love this film too.



It's so exciting to get in on the ground floor of a fandom: you're there when it gets started, you watch the enthusiasm rocket up to astounding levels, you feel the boundless energy of fans and their love.

I'm not looking forward to the inevitable schisms and wank - it'll come, most fandoms go through those pangs periodically. But for now the sheer explosion of inspiration and creativity that's come - it's exactly as Eames tells Arthur:

You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.

And that is precisely what we're doing right now. Thanks, Christopher Nolan and the cast and crew. We're dreaming. And we're loving it.

Inception: Rapid Review, No Spoilers

Having rushed off to see Inception today with my partner, here are my notes and impressions:

- I want to stay at that hotel, hamster wheel corridor included.

- The way I'm thinking right now, my totem would either be a fountain pen or a crochet hook. [And I teased my partner that his would be a miniature figure of a panda.]

- Eames / the Forger [Tom Hardy] is my absolute favorite character in the movie.

- Nobody messes with Arthur / the Point Man [Joseph Gordon-Levitt].

- And Ariadne / the Architect [Ellen Page]? Rocks. End of discussion.

- As for actors: GODDAMN but Cillian Murphy can ACT. Whew. Bloody amazing that man.

After the movie? Best advice would be to engage friends in friendly but intense debate over the story, its themes, and its internal logic. Preferably over either alcohol or, if there are teetotalers, lots and lots of sweets [my partner and I did most of our critiques over dinner, which included a slice of Black Forest cake].

And, as I said over and over again on my Facebook and my Twitter: whatever the hell Christopher Nolan was on while writing and rewriting this damn movie - I WANT SOME AND I WANT IT NOW.

Go, watch, be amazed. I am an absolute newbie in the genre of mindfuck cinema, but I will be so presumptuous as to say that this movie is now on my list.