tangerine's dream

Challenge #15

In your own space, create your own challenge. Leave a comment to this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

This is a challenge I'm currently trying to live, with varying levels of success. I call it... Do The Thing. I'm a creature of habit and rarely try something new, but those times I do, it usually works out way better than I was expecting. As an example, I like to go for walks, and I've lived in the same area for over a decade, and I always took the left path. But last summer, I went right... and the right walk is way better than the left walk! Full of super cute birbs! And a hiking trail that I get semi-lost on 95% of the time, but I followed it all the way to the end at least twice!

Fannishly, I'm basically the same. I circle things for ages before finally deciding to Do The Thing. Maybe read that story someone recced to me months ago, or join that exchange I've been eyeballing for probably years, or subscribe to that journal that shows up in my network sometimes.

So, yes, I am trying to Do The Thing, and it's going all right.

Challenge #13

In your own space, share a favorite memory about fandom: the first time you got into fandom, the last time a fanwork touched your heart, wild times with fellow fans (whether on-line or off-line), a lovely comment you’ve received or have left for someone. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

You know you've been in fandom for a long time when this question really stumps you because there are so. many. options. Fandom has been very, very good to me when it comes to making good memories. I think, because it's on my mind due to being delayed again, I'll talk about my very first Anime North and what I remember of it. Which isn't a lot, it turns out, because at the time both Placidia and I were working midnights, which meant we were both Really Sleepy. I'm a little foggy what year this was (somewhere between 2003 and 2007) but I have a very clear memory of watching my very first AMV Contest and being... awed. Sitting at the back of the crowd, almost delirious with exhaustion at 7 pm, both of us mesmerized. We haven't missed an Anime North since (ignoring, like, ~Current Events~) and we always make time for the AMV Contest. I can't wait to watch another one.

Challenge #10

In your own space, rec a fanwork (fic, art, vid, playlist, anything!) you did not create. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Photo Finished (0 words) by BlitheFool
My Hero Academia | Explicit | Eraserhead/Present Mic
Additional Tags: NSFW Art, Fan Comics, Masturbation, Phone Sex

-- this is extremely NSFW, and I think about it often. Being friends with the artist means I got to see all the rough drafts and the entire comic unfold panel by panel. It's a fun (and funny), sexy, Mic-gets-a-lovely-surprise-from-the-BF-while-at-work kind of thing. It delights me.

[Fanvid] This Is Not A Love Song (0 words) by JinkyO
The Professionals (TV 1977) | Not Rated | William Bodie/Ray Doyle
Additional Tags: Fanvids, Subtitles Available
Summary: Escapade 31 Premiere - Feb. 19, 2021

-- when I saw this premiere at Escapade, my heart did that YES thing is does when I instantly love something. I instantly loved this. The song choice is spectacular and perfect for the vid. I still have barely watched any of this show, but the fanworks, man. The fanworks.

Solid Copy (14668 words) by thefourthvine
The Losers (2010) | Explicit | Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez/Jake Jensen
Additional Tags: Telepathy
Summary: Jensen shifted his gaze to Cougar. “I really thought that if I ever had to say the words ‘telepathic disaster,’ it’d be a lot cooler than this is turning out to be.”

-- in usual decade-behind-everything style, it occurred to me I might really like to read some Losers fic, particularly Cougar/Jenson, and applied my usual AO3 filters and this was one of the fics that tumbled out. I LOVE the telepathy trope, and I really super enjoyed this use of it.

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. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

2021 from a creating fanworks POV for me was bad. Badbadbad. As productive as I was the year before, I was unproductive in 2021. I had so many ideas and wrote almost none of them. I skipped 95% of the exchanges I wanted to do. I dropped out of getyourwordsout. I made some nice progress on my Marvel Trumps Hate 2019 story, but it was still nowhere close to done.

I also did that thing rarepair writers cannot do. That thing where you look at your stats and bemoan how much work writing can be and think to yourself "why am I doing this?" Consciously, I know all this and have made peace with all this, but 2021 was not the year to let that resolve waver. Thankfully the answer, for me, always has been: cuz I want my favourite characters to smooch (...among other things). And I'm usually more than happy to do it myself. Because kisses.

All this to say, once it became obvious nothing else was really gonna happen, I really wanted marvel_bang to the one (big) thing I pulled off. I'm lucky that I usually go tandem for this thing, and my artist friend was also up for attempting to complete something. But man, I struggled, and I procrastinated, and I struggled some more. Then, eventually, as I ran out of runway, I just had to sit down and bang out Lose Your Head (NSFW link) and hope for the best. It took me six days to write the first 10k words and one day to write the last. I had no sense of pacing in the story. The actual words were a mess. I worried it was too depressing and there was too much hurt.

But you know what? It worked out. After a week of letting it sit, I reread it and it turned out I actually kinda really loved it? It hit all the buttons I wanted it to and it was precisely the story I wanted to read. nafs volunteered to beta and got it back amazingly quickly. The art by blithe turned out as lovely as it always does. The response to it was great.

I will consider that a win. 🥳

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.

I want to write a novel-length Rictor/Shatterstar story. I have been writing these guys since the late 90s, and the longest I've managed is one 60k story. I can do longer! I know I can! But it's just... finding the time when both my brain and my eyes are up for the challenge. I have three novel-length bunnies I indulge in sometimes when work and/or life is overwhelming, the most recent of which is a coming of age story that includes mutual pining, a roller skating scene and multiple occurrences of h/c, set in the late 90s.

Picture for a second:

• These two guys, best friends, one returned home after years away, one completely out of his element.


• Rictor, finally away from his (telepathic) leader, primed for some self discovery.


• Shatterstar, after months of ~feelings~, back in the company of the source of his ~feelings~.


• Roller skating! Unsteady, fun roller skating (while wearing jorts)!


• Road trips? Many!


• And then a bunch of other things I will think of later, I'm sure it'll be fine.


• The Canonical Ending

But yes, I mostly just want to write more looooooong ricstar stories and totally indulge myself.

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.

Most of the AUs I write are canon divergences ones -- I got my start in X-Men comics fandom, way back in the 90s, and Marvel has always had a very strong "What if...?" approach to things. Like, literally, there was a series called "What if...?" that canon-diverged all over the place and I loved it, especially when it picked an X-Men-related storyline to diverge from. My favourite thing is to pick a specific issue (or episode for my non-static fandoms) and diverge from there.

I don't write a lot of other types of AUs, in part because I usually like the canon setting enough, but also because I can get a little ridiculous with the research aspect of AUs. Being a librarian, I tend to research the living daylights out of things, and that's so much work, haha.

That said, I do have a lot of fun putting Shatterstar in particular into AU settings and making him work. He has such a comic-y backstory that trying to fit him into a different setting is a really fun challenge. Like even the basic fact of how do you make the name Shatterstar work logically when you've removed him from the various X-Men settings? I've only actually written two of the stories in my head (the pirate AU and the incubus AU), but I have so many unwritten Rictor/Shatterstar AUs in my WIP folder, including a Pacific Rim fusion. I have never actually written a fusion before, but when I finally do, it will be that one. The idea of drift compatibility just hits so many buttons.

Challenge #1

In your own space, update your fandom information! Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I updated both my Dreamwidth profile and my Dreamwidth sticky to match my more up-to-date AO3 profile. Mostly, I needed it in writing that I'm totes obsessed with the anime Run with the Wind right now.



Somewhat related, I'm going to be doing Snowflake Challenge this year to get back in the habit of posting. I have been very good at reading on Dreamwidth, mediocre at leaving comments on Dreamwidth and terrible at posting on Dreamwidth. I'll be posting a couple update posts in the next few days!

Challenge #11

In your own space, recommend a fannish or creative resource.

I bookmarked a tonne of stuff while writing my pirate AU last year. In no particular order:

Online Etymology Dictionary -- I found this invaluable because it tells you when a word came into use! I had to remove so many words during editing!

Fantasy Guide: Horses, Steeds and Mounts -- also useful when you need your pirate to ride a horse for whatever reason!

The Game is Afloat: Part One and The Game is Afloat: Part Two -- I think this is actually some sort of D&D guide, but it was helpful information for my pirate ship.

Common Sword Types -- also helpful for a sword-wielding pirate.

A Pirate's Glossary of Terms -- I'm not even sure I used any of these words, but it was a fun read.

Challenge #9

In your own space, promote at least one canon that you adore (old, new, forever fandom).

Since I am bursting to the brim with feelings right now, I'm gonna talk X-Men Comics. I realize the Comicverse can feel a little intimidating -- the first issue was published in 1963 -- but I think having such a large canon offers a lot of flexibility. Because there are a lot of X-Men and a lot of titles, and you can basically pick and choose based on your interests. I buy and read all team books, but for solo characters, I only read the ones I love, for instance. This works well for me.  My only recommendation on how to start is basically jump in feet first and enjoy the ride.

I've been reading long enough that I have a lot of favourite runs. To name my top five:

• 80s X-Factor. Why? It has the original five X-Men (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel and Iceman) trying to do good and basically failing, while also rescuing a bunch of kid mutants, who are basically left to their own devices, because the O5 are dealing with their own drama.
• 90s X-Force. Why? You get the slowburn development of Rictor and Shatterstar's relationship (which would not be confirmed, officially, for another 10 years) and a bunch of moody teenagers doing the jobs the X-Men can't or won't do. The art is terrible for the first dozen issues (Rob Liefeld) but then it improves ten fold.
• Claremont and Davis Excalibur. Why? It's just fun. So much fun. The Cross Time Caper holds a special place in my heart. The art is incredible, and the team blends a bunch of established X-Men (Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Phoenix, Lockheed) with the British heroes Captain Britain and Meggan.
• Outback X-Men. Why? This is a very odd lineup of characters (Havok, Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Rogue, Psylocke, Dazzler, Longshot) and maybe shouldn't have worked, but man, did it ever. It didn't last very long either, but it's rare I get so many favs on one team.
• Remender's Uncanny X-Force. Why? Basically the whole run culminating in the Dark Angel Saga, which was just. Yes. Like a kick to the gut. This is a pretty dark story, and the team (Archangel, Deadpool, Deathlok, E.V.A., Fantomex, Psylocke, Wolverine) fits it perfectly. And the art is moody and gorgeous.

The 90s mega-events I always recommend are The X-Tinction Agenda and the The X-Cutioner's Song for background information.

I also recommend Age of Apocalypse, once you're more familiar with the characters, because I love an AU setting done well. More recently, Age of X-Man did something similar, and it was equally as cool. AU settings are basically canon in X-Men, and pop up from time to time, and they're great. And this is probably the best time to get into modern X-Men, because House of X and Powers of X just ended and launched a bunch of books (referred to as Dawn of X) that are only 5 or 6 issues in. It basically reset the X-Men universe, so you don't need the history.

The canon is also so giant it doesn't really matter if you have gaps in your knowledge. You'll notice I basically skipped over the 2000s. Because I was busy, but you know what? It just doesn't matter! There's so many X-Men, and so many stories, that basically it's just like a soap opera where you can stop watching and come back months/years later and the same turkey is still sitting on the dining room table.

The way I have always read the X-Men: figure out who my favourite characters are and love them forever. Complain to whoever will listen that those characters don't show up in the books enough. Write fic to soothe that pain. Lose my mind when they finally show up after months/years/decades away. Enjoy the good stories and promptly forget the bad ones. Reread The X-Cutioner's Song on a regular basis.

tl;dr: The X-Men are great, and I love them.

Edit: Also, the Marvel Database is basically my go-to for filling in the blanks. The character pages are incredibly detailed.

Challenge #7

Promote/Rec/Sing the Praises of Yourself!

In no particular order, ten things I am proud of about myself right now:

1. I have a good sense of humour, and I think that translates well into the stories I write.
2. Related, I'm proud of the blend of humour, angst and romance I put into those stories.
3. I'm responsible for 13% of the 334 Rictor/Shatterstar stories on AO3. Woohoo.
4. I (randomly, delightfully) have the most kudosed fic in the Samurai Champloo fandom on AO3. Woohoo again.
5. I'm a pretty good friend!
6. I do even the things I am mediocre at (cooking, singing, talking) with great enthusiasm.
7. I'm a self-taught costumer, and I think my costumes turn out pretty well!
8. I have an awesome comic book collection that I have been building for 25+ years.
9. I wrote 130k words last year.
10. Related, I wrote three stories for two big bangs last year (1 2 3).