rodo's journal

Mid-August Thoughts

2022-08-16T18:47:18Z

In an effort to get a bit more active again, here's some short, random thoughts and things:

♠ dawn_felagund wrote something really interesting about how the AO3 affects fannish infrastructure, especially single-fandom-archives: Library of Moria and Fanfic Walmart. It's really thoughtful and doesn't condemn the AO3 so much as put a spotlight on how our laser focus on one archive ends up giving us less options, in some ways, even though it was created to give us more. (Thank you vriddy for spreading the word!)

♠ OMG! Someone is requesting Carnival Row in exchanges!!! I might have some huge life changes coming up, but pending that throwing a wrench in the works, there might be a treat in it for you!

♠ And while we're on the topic of Carnival Row, I picked up my WIP from last year again and typed up all the drafted (which I like to do by hand, unless it's exchanges) chapters, drafted 1½ scenes and worked out how long the story is going to be and what I want each chapter to do: 17 chapters, which at my usual chapter length would put it somewhere at 70k. I'm going to try and finish it, guys. I've got 20k already. But I'm a super slow writer, and prone to get distracted and wander away, never to pick the fic up again. There's a reason the longest fic I ever finished is 23k which were written in a month. Wish me luck, guys.

♠ I also have a short Carnival Row oneshot planned that is very likely to actually get finished - drafted, at least. It'll eventually end up on my beta post where I collect all the fics I'm currently looking to get betaed (minus the ones for exchanges). Current fandoms: Warrior (2019), Game of Thrones and Mass Effect: Andromeda, plus three fics in German for Highlander and Babylon Berlin.

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Snowflake Challenge #3: My Rules For Good AUs/Fusions

2022-01-06T18:02:41Z

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.

A little late because CMD is a bitch, but here it is:

So, by and large, AUs – excepting canon-divergence AUs – aren’t my thing. It’s no secret, since there’s a reason they go in my exchange DNWs. That’s not to say that I never read them at all, or that I think they have to suck, just that they’re one of the hardest fanfic genres to get right. So, I thought I’d write about my rules for judging what makes an AU or a fusion good. If a think a fic might meet all of these, I’ll click on it. If it doesn’t, well, you do you, but I’m not going to read it.

1. A good fusion isn’t a complete fusion.

A good fusion, my opinion doesn’t just take characters from Canon A and puts them into the plot from Canon B. The plot needs to be adapted for the characters, because otherwise, not only does it get kind of predictable for everyone who knows both canons, it’s also highly likely that at some point, the characters act OOC.

2. Choose your AU wisely.

There are canons where a Regency AU works, and there’s canons where it doesn’t. Putting Harry Potter into a mundane school AU is far easier than putting Harry Dresden into one. It all depends on what makes sense for what we know of the characters and the canon setting and plot. A WWII AU doesn’t work for me for most canons, the exception being Rogue One, since the plot there too is about fighting something that can be described as space nazis.

3. Don’t change the characters’ nationalities, unless that’s the point of the AU

Yes, I know, it’s easier to set everything in America, because that’s what most authors know. But it’s one thing to make a modern AU, and another to make a modern AU that removes the cultural context of the original as well. It annoyed me most with The Musketeers, a British production set in France, and I can’t tell you how many AUs I’ve noped out of because they were inexplicably set in the US for no discernable reason.

4. Translate the relationships

If you’re removing the original canon context, you have to be very careful to keep the characters intact, otherwise you’re might as well write an original fic, in my opinion. Sure, write a Jonsa Regency AU, but for the love of GRRM, have them still be cousins who have known each other for ages. Relationships – especially familial and long-lasting ones existing pre-plot – are an important part of what makes a character who they are, and if you’re removing that, you have to think very carefully how else they could have become who they are, but people rarely put in the effort.

So, fewer rules than you possibly anticipated. I’d also like to add that I’d love to see more modern AUs that aren’t set in the real world. Show me Middle Earth with cars and Westeros as a united kingdom that’s still recognizably Westeros, not the United Kingdom. I know it’s work, but I promise it’s worth it for the reader.

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Valar morghūlis, yn ābrar daor?

2021-11-20T13:21:50Z

Sometimes, several creators working on the same thing and having nifty ideas means that these ideas interact with each other in even more interesting ways. This is the case when it comes to “Valar morghūlis”, the one bit of High Valyrian every Game of Thrones fan knows. It is also one of the few bits of High Valyrian that were created by GRRM, and thus one of the bits that David Peterson based his conlang on. And in creating his conlang, he put “Valar morghūlis” in a different light.

Originally, all we knew about the sentence was that “Valar morghulis” (spelled without a macron in GRRM’s books) means “All men must die”. An easy enough sentence with an easy enough meaning. After all, everyone dies eventually. When David Peterson created the grammar behind this sentence, he created the word “vala” and the word “morghūljagon”. “Man” and “to die”. “Valar” is the word “man” but in a different grammatical number – collective, a number English doesn’t have (it is restricted to singular and plural). “All men”, to make it clearer in the translation, although “Man must die” would work in English just as well. “Morghūlis” is the third person singular aorist – a tense English doesn’t have. In essence, it is used here to make statements that are unquestionably true. “All men die” would be an adequate translation as well. The “must” is added for emphasis, in this case.

( Where it gets interesting... )

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Kingdom and Kingship and Zombies

2021-09-29T06:46:39Z

Zombies have been everywhere this past decade, or at least it sometimes feels that way. There’s relatively classic takes on the topic, like The Walking Dead, as well as subversions, like In The Flesh. In all of those cases, zombies are used to say something about humanity as a whole, but what they are used to say is something different every time, ever since George Romero used them as a metaphor for mindless consumerism.

The West, however, isn’t the only place that has been making use of zombies in their media. It’s been a staple in Eastern media as well, and there’s been quite a few recent Korean movies or TV series that deal with zombies, for example #Alive (an unintentionally poignant exploration of two people stuck in their apartments during a zombie apocalypse that came out in 2020), Train to Busan (which I haven’t seen), Zombie Detective (ditto) and Rampant (a movie where zombies attack historical Korea). The last has the most in common with the series I want to talk about here: Kingdom, a Netflix Original which is also a quasi-historical series, and also features a Joseon Korea threatened by a zombie apocalypse. But due to being a series, Kingdom has more room to explore its themes, which I would like to talk about here.

But before I start, I’d like to make it clear that I am not as into zombies as I could be. I am not an expert on the topic. My knowledge on Korea isn’t super in depth either (although I did pick some bits up during uni), and I am not Korean. I am also not saying that my analysis is The Definitive Way The Author Intended Things To Be Read. In fact, I think the author probably just wanted to create a fun zombie story. There’s a very good chance my analysis and interpretation are wrong. I’m just trying to have fun, and criticism is welcome.

( Having gotten that out of the way, I really like the way zombies are used as a story element in Kingdom. )

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Valyrio Bardion - Final Notes

2021-03-17T11:29:03Z

Final Notes:

Preface | Phonograms | Declination | Conjugation | Logograms | Ligatures | Final Notes

Final Notes:

So far, so complicated, and I haven’t even started to get into the minutiae and all the exceptions to the rules. One thing I had in mind when I worked on this was Tyrion Lannister, who does his very best in the series but who struggles with Valyrian. A lot. I figure a writing system that is not very phonetic and which doesn’t rely on you being able to conjugate to understand a written sentence might explain that. He’s probably doing alright when all he has to do is read a text.

As I have hopefully made clear, there are several ways to write High Valyrian, and even single High Valyrian words, and a combination of all these systems is often used. In general, it is preferred to write as much in logograms as possible. One context where it’s generally accepted to use phonograms are personal and family names. This is partially for emphasis, partially due to many names not being Valyrian in origin.

This sentence is “Nyke Daenerys Jelmāzmo hen Targārio Lentrot” – “I [am] Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen”. “Daenerys” and “Targārien” are written in phonemes. “Jelmāzma” is written with a ligature after the word “jelmio”, and “hen” is written with a ligature. In addition to that, we see some case markers, although theoretically it would be possible to leave them off, provided “-āzmo” and “Targārio” were written phonetically to convey their case. Overall, there isn’t really a “right” way to write, much like there wasn’t before our languages were standardized.

I’ve actually got most of the words from Dothraki Wiki figured out, and an idea for a more aesthetically pleasing “font”, so to speak, for the phonograms, at least. If there’s any interest in it, I could post about the origins of the phonograms as well, or anything else you might want to know. Just let me know! Until then, valar morghūlis!

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Valyrio Bardion - Ligatures

2021-03-17T11:22:20Z

Valyrio Bardion - Logograms

2021-03-15T12:30:29Z

Valyrio Bardion - Conjugation

2021-03-13T10:11:21Z

Valyrio Bardion - Declination

2021-03-11T16:41:22Z

Valyrio Bardion - Phonograms

2021-03-09T20:39:26Z

Valyrio Bardion

2021-03-09T20:35:16Z

Valyrio Bardion^[1]

Preface:

First off, I am not a linguist. So take everything I do here with a grain of salt. Moreover, I’m not used to talking about this topic in English either. But still, ever since I read that dedalvs never got around to creating a writing system for High Valyrian, I wished there was one, and finally, I decided to try to create one myself, just for the fun of it. It is obviously flawed and not what dedalvs had in mind, which was a writing system based on hieroglyphs.^[2] Instead, the writing system I decided to create has more in common with Japanese. It has logograms, but also phonograms derived from them (as well as some ligatures). Since the grammar is somewhat complex, I also added symbols with varying pronunciations that represent the grammatical context of a word – for example a symbol that indicates that the logogram is supposed to be read in a certain case.

Some other quick notes: the writing system I developed does not have some of the characteristics we are used to from modern writing systems – there are no spaces between words, no punctuation marks and there is no set direction. It can be written left-to-right, right-to-left, top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top, whichever is most useful in a given situation. For simplicity’s sake, I will stick to left-to-right with my examples.

Also, don’t mind my terrible handwriting. I have yet to find a writing system I don’t produce chicken scratch in, and apparently I can’t even come up with one on my own.

Preface | Phonograms | Declination | Conjugation | Logograms | Ligatures | Final Notes

^[1] “Bardion” is not a canonical High Valyrian term. It’s a word I created myself using “bard-”, which is the root of the words “bardugon” (to write) and “bardun” (grammar), and combining it with “-ion”, a derivational affix that is sometimes used to substantivize verbs.

^[2] http://dothraki.com/2013/04/tikuni-zobri-udra-zobriar/#comment-1086

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Two Sides of the Same Dragon – Parallels Between Daenerys Targaryen and Stannis Baratheon

2020-06-29T21:52:13Z

A/N: A good long while ago, someone on fail_fandomanon mentioned being interested in the parallels between Stannis and Daenerys and I ended up writing this. A recent comment reminded me of it and so I decided to post it.

Two Sides of the Same Dragon – Parallels Between Daenerys Targaryen and Stannis Baratheon

If there is one thing Game of Thrones has in spades, it’s monarchs, especially if you consider the ones we only know of as backstory to the main event. There are good kings, bad kings, drunken kings, lecherous kings, tragic kings and mad kings. There is no kind of king that Westeros and Essos haven’t seen at this point, yet it is quite interesting what an assortment we do see on screen. There is a mad king (Aerys), whose reign leads to the reign of an ineffectual and bad king (Robert). Robert’s reign, on the other hand, leads to a whole gaggle of king and queens fighting over the Seven Kingdoms. We have Renly, who doesn’t have the right but thinks he would be a better king than either of his brothers, who is kind but also shrewd, and an administrator more than a warrior. We have Joffrey, who is as mad and bad a king as Aerys. We have Tommen, who is like Robert, easily manipulated by his family, but kinder than his putative father. And we have Balon Greyjoy and Robb Stark, both of whom fight for independence for their people, and in part for their way of life.

In all these, we have some obvious parallels: Joffrey is Aerys reborn, from the family history of incest to his cruel streak. Tommen on the other hand is more like Robert, if he had been a better person. And Balon and Robb are two sides of the same coin. Renly and Cersei both claim the crown without having a right to it, strictly speaking, but think themselves more suited to the job than anybody else. Which leaves us with Stannis and Daenerys, two people who couldn’t be more different at first glance. Stannis is not charismatic, while Daenerys bewitches the people with her personality as much as her dragons scare them. Daenerys is young and supernaturally attractive. Stannis is balding. Stannis is considered the safe choice by the Iron Bank, since he’s reliable in a way the other monarchs aren’t. Daenerys is a wild card who upsets the status quo. And yet I’m going to argue why those difference only serve to highlight their similarities even more.

( Both Stannis and Daenerys have spent most of their lives in the shadow of their elder siblings and were deeply shaped by that experience. )

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How To Reinvent The OTW

2012-07-19T18:08:05Z

I mentioned to anehan a while back that I had Thoughts on how to save the OTW and that I should really post them. This is that post. There are a lot of posts out there about what is wrong with the OTW (and OH GOD, it is a lot), but very few on how to change things for the better, so I thought I’d give it a try. Caveat: I am not an expert on anything, least of all all of the things mentioned here, so take it with a grain of salt. I am mainly speaking from my experiences in International & Outreach (IO) and Translations too, which are sort of the red-headed stepchildren of the OTW, at least it feels like that to me.

( Part 1: Radical restructuring )

( Part 2: The Leviathan of Our Own )

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Mini Meta 2012

2012-01-25T05:22:17Z

I've been working on these longer than it seems, but here all three prompts are, all on one post:

( I. Usage of other languages in your English fic (foreign characters, emphasis) - getting it wrong/right )

( II. What makes THE movie fandom (big, e.g. XMFC, Inception, Avengers) )

( III. Do you ever come across statements in fic that seem wrong to you, but aren't easily verifiable? )

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Me, Myself and the OTW

2011-11-15T19:43:20Z

Now I hope that the OTW archive will be a lot like Animexx (which is for fanart and dōjinshi as well, and which is the website of an association), but with less focus on anime fandoms and better rules. I have also been told by someone in the OTW that they want to make it more international than ff.net, which is what I volunteered for. My Thoughts on Yaoi/the OTW by rodo, 13th January 2008

First off, this is not an election post. It is an evaluation of sorts, and an explanation as to why I do not think I can justify working for the OTW for longer if there aren’t some drastic changes. This is not me being dramatic, in fact, I feel rather sober about it all. I did cry over my keyboard, but that’s not why I write it. I did have volunteer burnout, but that was years ago. I just came to realise that within the organisation, I am powerless to express my dissatisfaction on a wider scale, and that my hopes for the OTW will likely never be realised. I can not change that, which is partly due to the communication culture within the organisation, a culture that I am not equipped to deal with.

( 1. Forced Positivity – the OTW’s equivalent of Newspeak )

( 2. What I Came To Achieve and What I Didn’t )

After about four years, here I am, trying to figure out the chances of the OTW becoming what I dreamed of. And I think they are slim. I fought windmills for years and failed. So unless somebody can convince me that there absolutely will be radical changes soon, I don’t think I can justify my continued involvement. Because after four years of development, how can my priority not be an afterthought?

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Wake Up, Yestergeek: The Times They Are A-Changing

2011-02-05T19:58:40Z

A/N: I read seperis’ “well, yeah, if by geek culture you mean men” and had Opinions on “Wake Up, Geek Culture. Time to Die” as well, and I also have to work on my inkitout word count a bit ...

( Read more... )

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Fanfiktion.de - Ein Einblick hinter die Kulissen

2010-12-11T15:47:54Z

(Geschrieben anlässlich der Tatsache, dass ich aus mir unbekanntem Grund aus dem OP-Team geflogen bin.)

Ich war insgesamt über ein Jahr Operator bei Fanfiktion.de. Freiwillig, denn hauptsächlich hatte ich Interesse daran, einfach mal zu schauen, was man als normaler Nutzer nicht zu sehen bekommt. Also habe ich zugesagt. Und das obwohl ich mit der Seite immer schon so meine Problemchen hatte. Nun, um ehrlich zu sein war mein Problem weniger die Seite an sich, und auch mit den Regeln konnte ich ganz gut umgehen. Mein größtes Manko, wie ich auch schon in einem anderen Post erörtert habe, ist Helge. Wer diesen Eindruck auch so schon hat, der wird ihn mit absoluter Sicherheit auch bestätigt bekommen.

Auf Fanfiktion.de gibt es einige Regeln, die ich nicht unbedingt optimal finde, die meisten davon lassen sich aber nicht umgehen, wenn man auf einer in Deutschland gehosteten Seite postet. Hier gibt es nun einmal strengere Regeln für den Umgang mit potentiell jugendgefährdendem Material. Und Sachen ab 18 dürfen einfach nicht offen zugänglich sein, zumindest sobald die Seite eine gewisse Größe erreicht und sich der Aufmerksamkeit von vielen Seiten nicht mehr entziehen kann. Einige Regelung, wie zum Beispiel das AVL-Rating, sind dämlich, aber an und für sich nicht schädlich. Gleiches gilt für das Slash-Rating und die Reviewauflistung auf der ersten Seite. Diese Meinung hatte ich auch durch meine ganze Zeit als Operator, auch wenn ich öffentlich die Entscheidungen verteidigen musste.

( Denn: )

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Don’t Like, Don’t Read

2010-06-16T09:00:50Z

This post was brought to you by the meta discussion about the hc_bingo, but it isn’t about that; my position on it is that I prefer hurt without the comfort (otherwise known as whump) for a reason. The problem isn’t really new either.

This post is about Don’t Like, Don’t Read. You’ve all heard it, I’ve already talked about it in passing and this time it looked like this:

“You are ALWAYS free to NOT READ MY FICS. For that matter, if the subject matter bothers you then PLEASE DO NOT READ THEM. You will be happier, I will be happier, everything will be much better. Really. Just don't read them.” darthneko in Oh, is it THAT time again?

( See, there’s just this teeny tiny problem with Don’t Like, Don’t Read: most of the time, it doesn’t actually apply. )

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How Trademarks Can Threaten Fanficcers

2010-03-30T20:55:03Z

The following news is a few days old, but I was (and still am) very distracted by Dragon Age: Origins and only noticed this yesterday before I went to bed. I'm writing this post in English, because I think it might interesting to some people in English fandom as well as those affected by it in German fandom.

In Avatar: The Last Airbender there are, as the title says, Airbenders (well, one Airbender). There are also Waterbenders, Firebenders and Earthbenders, from what I can tell. I know there are no Lightbenders, but some fanficcers like to make up superspecial powers for their OCs. The German word for Lightbender is Lichtbändiger. Quite harmless, right? Yes, until a firm that designs glasses registers "Lichtbändiger" as a trademark. And sends a cease and desist letter to a German fanfic archive. The following is a rough translation of a few paragraphs from this post:

That is to say, the company Lichtbändiger Brillenglasdesign registered the term "Lichtbändiger" as a trademark. Under this trademark, they sell a variety of glasses whose colourful decorations are their distinguishing characteristic. These glasses can look like this, this or this.

The company Lichtbändiger Brillendesign asked FF.de to remove all stories that contain the term "Lichtbändiger". We contacted our lawyer, who advised us to comply with the request. While there is in fact no direct relation between the element benders from Avatar and the glasses, the trademark "Lichtbändiger" applies to electronic publications, which fanfics are in a sense, as well, and so the trademark law applies.

Yeah. I'm not sure I'm as outraged as I could (should?) be because I'm not yet past the WTF?-phase. It just seems so bizarre. But it's not yet April Fools and the post has been up for a while. There even is a follow up post. I still don't quite believe it and hope it's just a really bad joke.

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On Stargate And Why It Will Never Be Among My Favourite Series

2009-12-09T21:10:44Z

I remembered that I wrote this months ago because today is Stargate Wednesday on RTL2. I think I mentioned it somewhere already, so I’m posting this before I forget about it again.

So I’ve been watching a lot of Stargate lately, both SG-1 and Atlantis. Which isn’t quite that unusual since I used to watch it every Wednesday until Pro7 decided to air the xth season of Buffy in the same time slot, and given the choice between Stargate and Buffy, my father lost and my brother and I won. That was before I changed schools for the last time, I think, so it’s been eight or nine years. And I’ve changed since then. As has Stargate. Characters died and left and … well, I don’t want to spoil anyone, but a lot has changed.

I also realise that what I’m about to say has probably been said a zillion times before, but a lot has been bugging me about the Stargate franchise from the start, back when I still lacked the words and the knowledge to express my thoughts. I also find it easier to accept some problematic content (like the premise that pyramids were built for spaceships and its implications) while some insignificant details annoy me to no end. I can suspend my disbelief only selectively, apparently. I also realise that sometimes, the shows did it right. I’m talking more about my general impressions.

( On Stargate And Why It Will Never Be Among My Favourite Series )

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Free Will And Angels in Supernatural

2009-11-07T12:33:55Z

This article by dodger_winslow with the title Angels V2.0 (spoilers for 5.08) reminded me of something that has confused me for quite a while: the assumption that angels in Supernatural don’t have a free will. It shows up in fanfic a lot. Now, this might have to do with the fact that I am not religious and certain religious assumptions generally just confuse the hell out of me, but I’m not sure it’s just that.

( Cut for Spoilers (Season Five) )

In conclusion: I really don’t think that the angels have more or less free will than the humans in Supernatural. Or did I miss something? If so, please explain it to me in the easiest way possible. I am that dumb when it comes to Christianity.

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Short Stories Are My Fanfic To Your Professional Literature

2009-10-25T03:38:00Z

Okay, so I posted a story a few days ago that probably only a few of you noticed. I got reviews, and they're generally positive. The review that spawned this post was positive too, but since it was the first of its kind that I received, I felt the need to talk about it. See, the story was 1200 words long. And the reviewer critized the following:

You're only writing short stories to avoid criticism. Translation: You're afraid of playing with the grown-ups (but you don't have to be, I swear!)
Your short stories are so great, but they're just short stories. Translation: You're wasting your talent on X when you could do Y.
You'd get more reviews if you only just wrote longer stories, simply stretch the material. Translation: Why are you doing this? It's totally pointless because nobody appreciates you!

Okay, so my translations probably aren't that accurate, and I didn't exactly quote her review either. But it's what I got out of it, and it reminded me of something I've heard before: Why are you writing fanfic when you could write a real book? ( The answer, of course, is because I want to. )

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Why the AO3 needs to be translated

2009-10-18T14:06:45Z

Okay, the obvious answer to this question would be: “Because not everybody in the world knows English and the AO3 is meant to be for everyone”, and that’s a good answer. It’s not the only answer, though. I know people who never learned English in school. I also know people who have difficulties learning languages and thus never really understood English. But generally speaking, I’m from a country where many, many people learned English in school (it’s compulsory for everyone in my state, for example), where many advertisements are in English, just like shop names, product names and many, many more. In theory, all these people should be able to navigate the archive.

( However, being surrounded by English all the time evidently doesn't mean people understand it. )

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Mini Meta Fest

2009-09-13T11:34:13Z

Please do not link to this post in newsletters.

Warning: As per blnchflr’s wishes, it’s more informal and also more straightforward than my meta usually is. PS: I hope I managed to write about the topics you people were asking about.

( i “loser” canon characters who become fanon heroes (223 words) )

( ii sex-god!draco in fanfic (248 words) )

( iii fannish entitlement (252 words) )

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Random #7

2009-09-12T09:58:28Z

☞ There are some things that you just don't expect on a Saturday morning. A pneumatic drill next to your flat at 8am is one of them. I'm currently waiting for the paracetamol to kick in.

☞ blnchflr is looking for participants for her Mini Meta Fest.

☞ logovo posted about what the term "aca-fan" might (not) mean.

☞ Supernatural owns my soul. I've spent the last days in a Supernatural-shaped bubble and I hope I can stay there for a bit longer. Reality is so extremely unfunny.

☞ A Supernatural fic rec: And I Wake Up Blind, Like My Dreams Were Too Bright by strangeandcharm. Vaguely Dean/Castiel, but mostly narrated from Jimmy's PoV as he tries to help Castiel, who lost his memory and is stuck in a mental hospital thinking he is human.

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