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Really quite impressed (and pleased) with how successful this initiative (15 days of fanlove challenges) is so far! Yay Aka & Luce & Ande!
Day 1
In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator. Drop a link to your post in the comments.
I want to say up front that I don't, as a rule, worry too much about getting feedback on fanworks. Most of what I make is in some way 'for' a particular person, usually me or one of my friends or squishes, whether or not it's explicitly marked as a gift/request/commission, and while I do try to put it somewhere the "recipient" (if not me) will find it and hope for positive responses, I don't usually worry about what the fandom populace think of it or how many are partaking of it, much. I know that a lot of my work is less known than it could be if I made it more visible by cross-posting, but I am bad at/have a peculiar aversion to doing that (I'm also a bit rubbish at responding to feedback--I keep wandering off/chickening out from responding to comments on the AO3, for example, and now have several dozen year+ old comments still waiting for acknowledgment); the few of my works that do seem relatively popular (e.g., the Losers fic about Jensen's injured hand, which has 2.5 times as many hits as my next most popular [by that measure] AO3 fic--which was itself never posted anywhere else) have mostly attained that status without my deliberate help. Not coincidentally, I find it more disappointing not to receive feedback on works that I have attempted to show around than ones that I just cast into the aether, so that's a big factor in whether I consider a particular project "underappreciated" or not.
Anyway:
1. In no particular order, with more information in AO3 tags:
I Wish I Had (due South/CSI:NY) might have been one of the first pieces of explicit dudeslash I ever posted? That can't be right. It's still a crossover that I'm pretty chuffed for thinking of and surprised has not been more explored, and I think the phonesex and angst both turned out rather nicely.
I'm quite pleased with Excitable (Prey for Rock & Roll) because I think I nailed the characterization (their kink is so canon), though I know it's possible the only reason no one's disagreed with me on that is because nobody else knows the source (it's the only fic for this movie in the AO3, maybe in the world). Plus I like the underdog-champion feeling of writing (annoyingly) extra-marginalized kinks like watersports.
I'm proud of myself for actually finally finishing and posting Becoming Prometheus, some three years or so after starting it, because it's the story I got into Heroes fandom (the first major fandom I ever really "affiliated" with, if you don't count my mostly repressed high school Harry Potter stint, and one I made a lot of similarly ambivalent-towards-source-material friends in) to write, even though I'd already more or less exorcized my demons in the meantime with shorter pieces like Ampersand and Get in the Car, because that kind of followthrough is not something I am known for and because I think parts of it are actually really good and I like the soundtrack I made for it (here).
I'm delighted by the response to Sharing Is Caring (Inception), my second-most-visited AO3 entry, because it's such a sweet and simple little poly ficlet, and because I never had to promote it: other fans are finding or reccing it without my help, and that organic popularity feels really good (of course I don't know that all those people who've clicked the link have actually liked or even finished it, but. No hatemail!). Also reasonably satisfied with my Eames voice, there.
I'm even more gratified by the response to And When It Comes to Her (Trigger), in terms of ratio of hits to kudos and comments; hardly anyone's read it but a good share of those who have told me they loved it, even though some of them hadn't even seen the film yet! And I feel proud for being the first one to get a fanwork for this beautiful heartbreaking film into the archive. This was also one of the most difficult stories that I've posted to write, and one of the ones that I most needed to get out (writing your wounds down is not necessarily an effective way to heal them, but it's better to try).
I feel like my angstiest Losers fics, Beggars Would Ride and especially General Issue, are better-written than the lighter stuff I've done in that fandom, though I'm pleased to have apparently succeeded in being funny in some of the latter and I love all the positive comments I've received on, for example, Roll with It.
On the other side of the emotional coin (if you can forget for a moment Lou's fate in canon), Brunch: No Reservations (Flashpoint) might be the straight-up schmoopiest fic I've ever posted, but I kind of love it for that.
One recent fic of mine that I do feel is seriously underappreciated is Sheepskin (due South), and I can recognize the reasons why but most of them make me frowny (7k words of extremely rare--possibly unique--het 'ship AU fic in a long-lived but shrinking dudeslash-focused fandom for a long-finished series set in the 1990s, that species-swaps a non-human character [making him an involuntary shapeshifter, so it's still a little bit zoophilic but I specifically address that issue in the fic] but retains his canonical hearing impairment, written for a new and relatively unpopular [I think it's a great idea, but I can see how it could be slow to catch on]![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
kink_bingo prompt, in which there is graphic sexual content but no orgasmic "payoff" for the characters). Maybe I just feel like I should get extra points for difficulty? But I re-read it today and was impressed by my own achievement, so whatever.
2. I am generally pretty smug about my playlist/mix-making skills, so every mix I've posted gets a self-rec, but my particular favourites-of-the-moment are the two most recent ones (If We're Not Horses [due South/Dollhouse] and No Two Snowflakes [BSG]) and General Issue (Life or Death We Want You) [The Losers], and I'm also very proud of parts of the lengthy meta for Empty Lots and Early Graves (Murder Ballad Mix), although I'm kicking myself for forgetting HorrorPops' "Highway" and The Creepshow's "Long Way Down" and "Undead Eyes" when I was making it (they'll have to go on the sequel, along with Die Mannequin's "Dead Honey").
3. I am genuinely disappointed not to have recieved any online feedback on Media Erotometrics, the multi-fandom video installation project I did for a conference in March 2011, so I do want to rec that as a plea for attention. I know it's a commitment to watch (an hour long) and the technical quality is not great (I do plan to produce an improved/updated version using better and more varied video source and better software at some point) but for an absurdly ambitious first vidding project I don't think it's too shabby, and I'm pretty pleased with some of the commentary I worked in (assuming that anyone else reads it the way that I hope they will, of course).
Promotional piggyback! Go offer and bid on stuff atscarleteenfans auction raising money to support the sexual health education site. You are particularly welcome to bid on my offers (the usual fanmixes and custom knitting work--no bids yet so you can probably win them cheap cheap cheap) and to outbid me on the offers I've bid on, because I cannot really afford to win them all right now.
Day 1
In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator. Drop a link to your post in the comments.
I want to say up front that I don't, as a rule, worry too much about getting feedback on fanworks. Most of what I make is in some way 'for' a particular person, usually me or one of my friends or squishes, whether or not it's explicitly marked as a gift/request/commission, and while I do try to put it somewhere the "recipient" (if not me) will find it and hope for positive responses, I don't usually worry about what the fandom populace think of it or how many are partaking of it, much. I know that a lot of my work is less known than it could be if I made it more visible by cross-posting, but I am bad at/have a peculiar aversion to doing that (I'm also a bit rubbish at responding to feedback--I keep wandering off/chickening out from responding to comments on the AO3, for example, and now have several dozen year+ old comments still waiting for acknowledgment); the few of my works that do seem relatively popular (e.g., the Losers fic about Jensen's injured hand, which has 2.5 times as many hits as my next most popular [by that measure] AO3 fic--which was itself never posted anywhere else) have mostly attained that status without my deliberate help. Not coincidentally, I find it more disappointing not to receive feedback on works that I have attempted to show around than ones that I just cast into the aether, so that's a big factor in whether I consider a particular project "underappreciated" or not.
Anyway:
1. In no particular order, with more information in AO3 tags:
I Wish I Had (due South/CSI:NY) might have been one of the first pieces of explicit dudeslash I ever posted? That can't be right. It's still a crossover that I'm pretty chuffed for thinking of and surprised has not been more explored, and I think the phonesex and angst both turned out rather nicely.
I'm quite pleased with Excitable (Prey for Rock & Roll) because I think I nailed the characterization (their kink is so canon), though I know it's possible the only reason no one's disagreed with me on that is because nobody else knows the source (it's the only fic for this movie in the AO3, maybe in the world). Plus I like the underdog-champion feeling of writing (annoyingly) extra-marginalized kinks like watersports.
I'm proud of myself for actually finally finishing and posting Becoming Prometheus, some three years or so after starting it, because it's the story I got into Heroes fandom (the first major fandom I ever really "affiliated" with, if you don't count my mostly repressed high school Harry Potter stint, and one I made a lot of similarly ambivalent-towards-source-material friends in) to write, even though I'd already more or less exorcized my demons in the meantime with shorter pieces like Ampersand and Get in the Car, because that kind of followthrough is not something I am known for and because I think parts of it are actually really good and I like the soundtrack I made for it (here).
I'm delighted by the response to Sharing Is Caring (Inception), my second-most-visited AO3 entry, because it's such a sweet and simple little poly ficlet, and because I never had to promote it: other fans are finding or reccing it without my help, and that organic popularity feels really good (of course I don't know that all those people who've clicked the link have actually liked or even finished it, but. No hatemail!). Also reasonably satisfied with my Eames voice, there.
I'm even more gratified by the response to And When It Comes to Her (Trigger), in terms of ratio of hits to kudos and comments; hardly anyone's read it but a good share of those who have told me they loved it, even though some of them hadn't even seen the film yet! And I feel proud for being the first one to get a fanwork for this beautiful heartbreaking film into the archive. This was also one of the most difficult stories that I've posted to write, and one of the ones that I most needed to get out (writing your wounds down is not necessarily an effective way to heal them, but it's better to try).
I feel like my angstiest Losers fics, Beggars Would Ride and especially General Issue, are better-written than the lighter stuff I've done in that fandom, though I'm pleased to have apparently succeeded in being funny in some of the latter and I love all the positive comments I've received on, for example, Roll with It.
On the other side of the emotional coin (if you can forget for a moment Lou's fate in canon), Brunch: No Reservations (Flashpoint) might be the straight-up schmoopiest fic I've ever posted, but I kind of love it for that.
One recent fic of mine that I do feel is seriously underappreciated is Sheepskin (due South), and I can recognize the reasons why but most of them make me frowny (7k words of extremely rare--possibly unique--het 'ship AU fic in a long-lived but shrinking dudeslash-focused fandom for a long-finished series set in the 1990s, that species-swaps a non-human character [making him an involuntary shapeshifter, so it's still a little bit zoophilic but I specifically address that issue in the fic] but retains his canonical hearing impairment, written for a new and relatively unpopular [I think it's a great idea, but I can see how it could be slow to catch on]
kink_bingo prompt, in which there is graphic sexual content but no orgasmic "payoff" for the characters). Maybe I just feel like I should get extra points for difficulty? But I re-read it today and was impressed by my own achievement, so whatever.2. I am generally pretty smug about my playlist/mix-making skills, so every mix I've posted gets a self-rec, but my particular favourites-of-the-moment are the two most recent ones (If We're Not Horses [due South/Dollhouse] and No Two Snowflakes [BSG]) and General Issue (Life or Death We Want You) [The Losers], and I'm also very proud of parts of the lengthy meta for Empty Lots and Early Graves (Murder Ballad Mix), although I'm kicking myself for forgetting HorrorPops' "Highway" and The Creepshow's "Long Way Down" and "Undead Eyes" when I was making it (they'll have to go on the sequel, along with Die Mannequin's "Dead Honey").
3. I am genuinely disappointed not to have recieved any online feedback on Media Erotometrics, the multi-fandom video installation project I did for a conference in March 2011, so I do want to rec that as a plea for attention. I know it's a commitment to watch (an hour long) and the technical quality is not great (I do plan to produce an improved/updated version using better and more varied video source and better software at some point) but for an absurdly ambitious first vidding project I don't think it's too shabby, and I'm pretty pleased with some of the commentary I worked in (assuming that anyone else reads it the way that I hope they will, of course).
Promotional piggyback! Go offer and bid on stuff at
scarleteenfans auction raising money to support the sexual health education site. You are particularly welcome to bid on my offers (the usual fanmixes and custom knitting work--no bids yet so you can probably win them cheap cheap cheap) and to outbid me on the offers I've bid on, because I cannot really afford to win them all right now.