silveradept: A dragon librarian, wearing a floral print shirt and pince-nez glasses, carrying a book in the left paw. Red and white. (Dragon Librarian)
[personal profile] silveradept
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.

When your creative output (or rather, what you think of as your creative output) is so small, recommending your favorites is easier than it might be if you had a giant amount of possible works to choose from. It doesn't say a lot about the breadth of my fandom, though, unlike those who have a lot to choose from.
  1. As a fantasy reader, primarily, I tend to key into dragons as a large part of my reading choices. Preferably dragons not in the one-dimensional Ultimate Evil forms. So the Enchanted Forest Chronicles (Wrede) are great for a young me to see that those stories exist (with bonus active princesses, invisible dusk-blooming chokevines, and wizards being melted with dish soap and water. Argelfaster.) and books like Seraphina and Shadow Scale (Hartman) successfully showing how living as a dragon in the human world is full of the sad experiences of discrimination.

    And then there's The Dragonriders of Pern, which at the time of reading it, seemed like a good fit for a dragon-loving child. It was because I liked it a a kid that I decided to go back through it and see how much I was looking at it with rose-colored glasses of nostalgia. As it turns out, a lot. So one of my recommendations is an ongoing giving-of-grief to The Dragonriders of Pern, because I can't change that I liked it as a kid, but I can go back to it and understand what it was I liked.
  2. That is not to say that I think it's wrong to like problematic things. As our social consciousness expands, we look at things from our last and realize how far things have come from days when everyone assumed slaves were an essential part of a functioning society - at least now we try to hide it better. For all their faults, and those faults are legion, Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey advance the goal of a literate society by providing them with entertaining works to read.

    Being fannish, though, often means noticing details and their execution (or lack thereof). Being able to apply your own expertise to a story to make it better or to fix issues of Did Not Do The Research can help salvage an otherwise excellent fandom. So, number two is An analysis of the baseball scene in Twilight, pointing out as many ways as I could think of that proper baseball fans who are vampires would not be doing what the Cullens do (with extra care for Isabella Swan's life and health than the Cullens show).

    Speaking of baseball, the last two years I've been writing various essays about the game, its players, and some of the things that make it compelling and wonderful. The frame that helps give it coherence and scope has been a deck of Tarot cards with a baseball theme. Of the comments received on this series, the people reading certainly seem to enjoy them, which is nice to hear. They are all filed under the December Days: Baseball Tarot tag - please do look and comment. I love comments.

    So there's a sampling of the stuff that I do - it may not be your favored flavor, but it seems to be what I'm interested in writing.
Depth: 1

Date: 2016-01-03 09:27 pm (UTC)
karanguni: (Default)
From: [personal profile] karanguni
I-I know nothing about baseball, and never got into Twilight, but I ADORE METAANALYSIS so kudos to you for doing the baseball scene!
Depth: 1

Date: 2016-01-04 03:35 am (UTC)
oswulf: (Default)
From: [personal profile] oswulf
Thoroughly enjoyed the Cullen baseball analysis piece.

...and now I'm hoping you don't somehow discover that I'm a librarian because it becomes far too quickly evident that your reference skills run circles around mine.
Depth: 3

Date: 2016-01-04 03:49 pm (UTC)
oswulf: (Default)
From: [personal profile] oswulf
The baseball piece I enjoyed and painted a picture in my mind of "this is a person I'd enjoy reading more of, and probably enjoy having random irrelevant chats with."

My impression of your reference ability came more from your discussion of reference under your day 2 entry.
Depth: 5

Date: 2016-01-04 04:37 pm (UTC)
oswulf: (Default)
From: [personal profile] oswulf
It is. My knowledge suffers from having focused more on teen interaction & programming. My experience suffers from an environment where I get a lot more questions about "how do I print?" or "do you have a bathroom?" than meaty reference. I like to think I'm halfway-decent at flim-flam, though.
Depth: 7

Date: 2016-01-04 07:00 pm (UTC)
oswulf: (Default)
From: [personal profile] oswulf
I am a shyster hiding behind a curtain. Got it. :)

Awesome. And don't get me wrong, I love being the YA librarian. Chalk it up to me succumbing to my excessive underconfidence.
Depth: 9

Date: 2016-01-05 06:52 pm (UTC)
oswulf: (Default)
From: [personal profile] oswulf
Well said. I think that's a major (though often unarticulated) throughline of my theological thinking--particularly in discussions with more "fundamentalist" strains of both theists and atheists. (Although I object to the term 'fundamentalist' to describe 'literalist', 'extremist', or 'evangelical'--but I've changed the subject two or 3 times in a single sentence so... perhaps quit while I'm... wherever I am...)
Depth: 11

Date: 2016-01-06 02:34 am (UTC)
oswulf: (Default)
From: [personal profile] oswulf
Well, *technically* you said you could use more random conversations, not that you *need* them. But that's just me nitpicking over technicalities.

Okay. Fundamentalism. I see nothing fundamental about picking out bible verses to support what people believed when one was a kid. It seems to me that religious "Fundamentalism" ought to refer to prioritizing what is most fundamental in religion. For Christianity, you can't get much more fundamental than what Christ explicitly declared the two most important commandments.

And if the faux-pas of getting theological hasn't driven you off I'm fully capable of the faux-pas of getting political.
Depth: 13

Date: 2016-01-06 03:27 pm (UTC)
oswulf: (Default)
From: [personal profile] oswulf
We can quote "new covenant", they will answer "not to abolish the law but to fulfill it". For me, any apparent contradiction is well addressed by Paul "The letter of the law kills, the Spirit gives life."

Depth: 15

Date: 2016-01-06 07:21 pm (UTC)
oswulf: (Default)
From: [personal profile] oswulf
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Depth: 1

Date: 2016-01-04 05:50 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] chordatesrock
I adore your Pern deconstruction. I actually enjoy canon more from reading that.
Depth: 3

Date: 2016-01-04 07:06 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] chordatesrock
Well, because canon is frustrating seen as "but why is the dashing hero evil? and why have I been robbed of The Adventures of Sith Lessa in favor of focusing on him?" and provokes affectionate eyerolls seen as raw material for fanac, but is amazing seen as "ooh, the fact that they have such a stark division between good and evil because of the fact that their politics repeatedly devolve into the pro-world-saving faction and the literal anti-world-saving faction allows a tradition-obsessed entitled nobleman who abuses and uses in his personal life to do a lot of good even though in any other work he'd be a villain" or "hey, what if canon is actually propaganda that Benden had the harpers put out?" or such things.

Also you keep giving me fic ideas.

And you point out the rare places where canon makes more sense than I gave it credit for.
Depth: 5

Date: 2016-01-05 06:41 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] chordatesrock
You know something? It was you saying "wait, what?" to Lessa being a hidden princess that started me thinking about that fic, and it was you pointing out the possibility that she could have had allies who also hated Fax that made her an important figure in the Hold for that fic. So, thank you.

(In hindsight, I should've spotted it myself: Lessa learns *all* her teaching ballads from R'gul? Why doesn't she have the equivalent of a sixth-grade education in DF? But I didn't. And you... didn't actually notice it being implied, either, but you sure did call out how it should've been canon!)

So I am incredibly thrilled and honored to know you enjoyed The Lady's Gifts.

(And so excited for the Moreta decon! :D Though I recall that one being one of the two books I call Non-Sucky Pern. Hope it holds up.)
Depth: 7

Date: 2016-01-05 07:47 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] chordatesrock
Lessa's telepathy is something I wondered about a lot before I started writing. (And I might be in the middle of a project whose handling of it you'd like. But not sure if you really would, or if it'll work.) Particularly whether it was well-known. She doesn't exactly tell people about it, but F'lar guesses easily, but no other Weyrleader or Lord Holder ever suspects her of it that we know of, but then maybe she's just that good? But then again, F'lar, the only one we know of who guesses about Lessa's ability, is also one of few people who believe in Thread, etc., and... okay, this is kind of fanwanky! But this is a scene from a Pern fanfic I'm working on that's just hit the cutting-room floor, so to speak (the scene, not the whole fic):

“…in every tradition handed down to us, no matter if it be a Teaching Ballad or an overlooked superstition,” F’lar was saying.

“What, you mean you even believe in stories like Lord Holders putting thoughts in people’s heads and little dragons that fit on a man’s shoulder?” the same brownrider from before said, his voice dripping with scorn.


(You can tell it's pre-Dragonquest, can't you?)

But, I mean, F'lar is a conspiracy theorist! He is! He believes in a menace everyone else laughs at, holds to all these outdated traditions because they're totally all part of their ancestors' grand plan to save them from this selfsame ancient menace that no one's seen in centuries, etc. So I'd like information about whether anyone other than F'lar believes in telepathy before I conclude that anyone other than F'lar thinks Lessa can manipulate people that way.

I'm not sure what you mean about Ranie not having as much difficulty. Could you clarify that?

I have just remembered that you don't want spoilers, so no more Moreta discussion for you. (Sorry.) I look forward to reading what you have to say about the book as you get through it, though! :)
Depth: 9

Date: 2016-01-05 07:06 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] chordatesrock
Ahhh, you mean Lessa had more trouble than Ranie because Anne McCaffrey and I have different attitudes? LOL, well, *that's* true.

(Someday I will write a fanfic about The Time F'lar Went Haring Off After A Red Herring In The Records And Was Totally The Tinfoil Kind Of Conspiracy Theorist. Because I can believe a conspiracy theorist being right pretty often, if that conspiracy theorist does that much research! But being right all the time? If even the best conspiracy theorists could reliably avoid looking stupid chasing dreams, everyone would be one. Unless literally every possible conspiracy theory on Pern happens to be true. Which canonically they totally are... ugh, canon!Pern, how I love/hate/adore/eyeroll/want to hug you, you big mess of contradictions and awesomeness.)

Though I guess a lot of harpers' tales would suddenly seem more plausible when the Ninth Pass began!
Depth: 11

Date: 2016-01-06 12:39 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] chordatesrock
It would be nice if fiction existed on Pern. Don't they fantasize about anything, ever?

*sigh* Now I wonder what incorrect idea F'lar could get behind in a fic... I mean, canon really, really does not help here.
Depth: 13

Date: 2016-01-06 06:54 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] chordatesrock
Well, that's a depressing thought. But I can't quite believe real people would react in that way.

(I mean, to be fair, I have that objection to a lot of canon!Pern...)

Can't think why F'lar would care about fiction. It seems beneath him to try to stamp it out, but irrelevant to prove its existence-- he doesn't seem to go around being curious about things that aren't politically or militarily useful...

Wait a minute. Have we ever seen F'lar have any feelings about anything that isn't either Lessa or his job? He used to be a womaniser, but evidently not anymore... he occasionally snarks, e.g. at F'nor about Canth eating a lot... and it's probably a mark of Anne's bad writing that I can't tell whether we're supposed to read him as a real workaholic who doesn't bother to have outside interests, or whether Anne just forgot to give him any. And other than that... he occasionally thinks mean, gossipy things about other people, and that's pretty much it.
Depth: 15

Date: 2016-01-06 08:28 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] chordatesrock
Oooh! So then he would be disappointed to find himself proven wrong... because every single story he investigates turns out to be true, *except* that fiction exists? Nothing fictional save the claim that there is some such thing as fiction?

That's meta, man!
Depth: 17

Date: 2016-01-06 09:33 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] chordatesrock
Heh, it may be. I'd feel weird writing it, though. A fiction writer writing fiction where fiction is a fiction? (YO DAWG, I heard you like fiction so I made fiction fictional!) Particularly, a fiction writer writing something where fiction is basically the Holy Grail... I would feel like I was writing a paean to myself. That and I think that's a little too meta even for me.
Depth: 11

Date: 2016-03-19 03:02 am (UTC)
dray: (Default)
From: [personal profile] dray
Sorry to crawl out of the woodworks; I picked up Dragonflight again on a whim the other day and went googling around to see if anyone else had thoughts on it, and was delighted to see that there were some folks talking about it recently!

I just wanted to say that I'd definitely enjoy reading about F'lar's misadventures with hints and portents of things that were totally unlikely to happen!
Depth: 1

Date: 2016-01-04 03:41 pm (UTC)
redsixwing: A red knotwork emblem. (Default)
From: [personal profile] redsixwing
Pern deconstruction! \o/
Gotta go read this.

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silveradept: A kodama with a trombone. The trombone is playing music, even though it is held in a rest position (Default)
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