Here! Really!

[brightknightie]

I've been reading every post on my f-list/r-circle for the past month and a half, truly, even though I've only rarely had anything to say in reply. I don't think that I've noticed any FK-relevant material for monthly bulletins, except tangentially that someone was researching historical topics that coincidentally swirl around FK's Seline (AMPH), and that a few people included FK in their Yuletide offers or requests.

When I disappear from my fannish journal, it's not because I don't love you guys in specific and fandom in general! (I do! Oh, my, yes! ~grin~) We just all have Real Life. You know the drill.

I have today to myself, though, just the rainy Saturday, household chores and my journal here! Would any of you like to discuss something fannish in one of our shared fandoms? I managed to rewatch FK's "Dying for Fame" last weekend! My best beloved fandoms are FK, HL, YB and BSG'78, of course, but all the rest are happy targets, too. (The '80s Dungeons and Dragons cartoon leaps to mind. Or, you know, still-in-production: OuAT, PoI, Grimm, The Paradise (although the BBC pulled the plug there, it's still "in production" until the finale airs everywhere, I figure)... I'm way behind on SH, so, please, no spoilers for it.) I very rarely fall out of love with a story, even when I don't raise it as a subject anymore.

I wish I could commit to the Daily December posting meme, but I know I won't make it, so I'd like to come up with a less demanding alternative. Perhaps one episode rewatch and post per week, with you guys choosing the episodes? Perhaps trading fannish discussion posts 1:1 ("tag! you're it!") with you guys?

I've also been toying -- just a little, lightly -- with the idea of somehow reviving the old 15-minute challenge game (although that has significantly different implications in today's fandom environment than it did in the waning days of email lists).

I have some "gift certificate" pledges from last year's Fandom Stocking yet to fulfill, but aside from those, I've been thinking that if I can ever get back to fanfic writing, I may want to return all the way back to the days of writing my own ideas and hopes, rather than only other people's in exchanges. Exchanges have deadlines, publicity and community, and can be tremendous fun! But, sometimes, exchanges can also be lonely and dispiriting, trying hard to satisfy a requester with different interests and tastes. In email list days, all our games were challenges and round-robins, never exchanges... hmmmm.

Comments

[sholio]

Re: your last paragraph .... yeah, I've actually cut waaayyyy back on exchanges in the last couple of years. I was starting to find them stifling; I always had too many assignments, it felt like, to work on my own projects, and while I wrote a number of stories that I was really proud of, I was starting to feel like everything I was writing was for other people rather than me.

The bingo-card challenges are really fun. I've been having a blast with hc_bingo, and there are a bunch of other ones too, like cottoncandy_bingo. There's even a custom bingo card generator where you can input your own set of options and get a custom-made bingo card.

But yeah, it seems like exchanges and gift fic have largely taken over from the prompt-based challenges that were more widely circulating when I first got into LJ fandom (and I know the mailing lists had their own things, although I was never part of that).

I notice you listed Grimm in the shows you're currently watching .... it's not one of mine, but trobadora is really into Grimm right now and has been making sad noises that she doesn't have anyone to talk to about it, since most of her flist doesn't watch it! If you would also like more people to discuss it with, perhaps you could check out her journal and see? You can say I sent you.

[argentum_ls]

Seconding the suggestion for bingo games. They're low pressure because there's no penalty for not winning, but they can help if you like the challenge of working to a prompt. There's also fan_flashworks, which I keep trying to get back into and can't quite work up the speed on since the prompts change every 10 days.

Exchanges can certainly be fun, until they're not. Then there's no shame in cutting back.

If you have any interest in talking Highlander and have the time/interest to help me with my shortcuts story, let me know. It's gen. Beyond that, I can't say here, just in case.

RL delays

[pj1228]

I'm glad to read from you again.
We just all have Real Life.
I can totally relate to that. I haven't accomplished anything fannish-wise for the same reason in months.

But I just got back from one of our twice-annual FK meetings where we watched and chatted about FK among other things. We picked Father's Day, Capital Offense, and Hunted.

I don't participate in Yuletide, but I plan to do Fandom Stocking again. Although I'm not sure, I get anything written on time with my current schedule.

During my vacation I had the chance to see a couple of episodes from Forever, which I enjoyed a lot!

Other currently airing shows I watch regularly are Castle, Arrow and Dracula. Although I found the latter mostly disappointing after eagerly awaiting it.

[greerwatson]

"Exchanges have deadlines, publicity and community, and can be tremendous fun! But, sometimes, exchanges can also be lonely and dispiriting, trying hard to satisfy a requester with different interests and tastes. In email list days, all our games were challenges and round-robins, never exchanges... "

There should be a place in the world for both. One of the interesting things about fkcommentfic is the fact that one has the option of picking a prompt or not. (And I never did necessarily limit myself to mere comment-length, though several of the things I wrote were drabbles.) Like Yuletide Treats: you are free to pick and choose the one(s) that appeal.

Apropos of which, I'm doing Yuletide again this year. That gives me the all-too-necessary kick in the pants. I'm sadly not the self-starter I was in days of yore. And yet, like you, I do still have ideas. The problem is the whole seat-of-the-pants-to-the-seat-of-the-chair thing.

Which is where the gift exchange format does have a plus: you know that someone out there is counting on you to come up trumps, and don't want to disappoint them. Within the community setting, prompt challenges work much the same way: you don't want to fail that sense of community; so you strive to come up with something in order to participate in the group activity.

I'm sorry that it looks as though we won't have a Dead Dog Party this year. You said "delayed" back last summer; but I've heard nothing (and a p.m. got no response).