justanorthernlight

Challenge #3

Create a wish list of fandom things (podfic, graphics, playlists, canon recs translations, research help, vids, sky's the limit!) that you'd like to receive. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

1.) Vids (or vid recs) from fandoms involving space ships, set to sea shanties. Particularly vids focusing on the ship(s) i. It is taking all of my restraint not to turn this into a manifesto on why someone who isn't me should make a Star Trek vid to this particular cover of the song Day of the Clipper, because I'm not sure that's what this prompt is about.

2.) Sci Fi/Fantasy book recs (would also welcome nonfiction recs).

3.) Murderbot Diaries fanwork recs, particularly fanart. (I got a box set of the first four novellas for christmas and am currently obsessed. The only reason I haven't finished Exit Strategy already is because I got distracted by fic).

4.) Star Wars: The High Republic Phase I fanwork recs.

Challenge #15

In your own space, opine on the future of fandom.

I was initially hesitant to partake in this one because I'm trying to avoid spreading too much negativity, but then thinking about it made me realize that I am coming up on 20 years of having been a member of online fandom.

My family upgraded from dial-up to DSL around summer/fall 2003, and I could finally hang out on the Andromeda forums without clogging up my parents' phone line. This was back in the day when shows included the URL to network-hosted forums in the end credits. The forums led me to FF.net and (eventually, ~10 years after ff.net) Tumblr, Tumblr eventually led me here. (I managed to miss email lists and struggled to get the hang of LJ, but that's a story for another day).

Physically, I think fandom will exist wherever the social internet exists. Where people gather, they will talk about things they like and things they dislike, which usually includes media. I have no idea where that will be or what it will look like.

For better or for worse, the rules of fandom will conform to whatever rules that section of the social internet follow. (When in Rome, do as the Romans do, when on Twitter, engage in the manner in which other Tweeters do, particularly if it gets The Algorithm to throw more traffic your way, copypasta for whatever platform comes next). The norms are shaped not just by member of fandom but by society at large, so let's keep an eye on that and try to bring the kind of culture/energy we want to be on the receiving end of.

Since leaving Tumblr a couple of years ago, I admit that a lot of my fannish experience is me sitting in my own corner making spaceship noises to myself. I enjoy consuming other peoples fanworks, but I've watched the meta and the Discourse™ go through cycles of the same arguments so many times with only minor variations... most of the things people are hand-wringing about now aren't new, they're just using new names and new terminology. I don't think these things will every be truly settled, large populations will always have different wants and opinions (also for better or for worse). We view the past with rose-colored glasses, but these fault lines aren't anything new.

My first year of online fandom was also the year the Battlestar Galacitca reboot (miniseries) came out, and fittingly my thoughts on the future of fandom can be summed up as "All of the has happened before, and all of this will happen again."

I'm going to keep reading and keep vidding, and I'm going to keep avoiding the things that make me mad. Fortunately, I enjoy sitting in my own corner and making spaceship noises.

Challenge #12

In your own space, set yourself some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Before setting this year's goals, I'm going to take a moment to evaluate and reflect on last year's goals.

( Read more... )
So, on to 2023 fannish goals:

• Read 50 total books, 7 nonfiction.
• Finish reading the 2015 main Star Wars comic run and the concurrent Dr. Aphra run, start reading the 2020 run written by Charles Soule
• Finish at least two of my currently in-progress Star Wars vids.
• Make another Babylon 5 vid

Non-fannish goals:

• Get an eye exam
• Find a new PCP doctor and get my epi-pen renewed, it's is so expired
• Continue cooking from scratch on a regular basis and try a new recipe at least once a month
• Enjoy life as much as possible, maybe find a direction that feels meaningful along the way.
• Get out hiking more
• Visit The House On The Rock

Quite a few repeats, but they're still things I want and a goal is a helpful target even I I miss the metaphorical bullseye.

Challenge #9

In your own space, celebrate a personal win from the past year: it can be a list of fanworks you're especially proud of, time you spent in 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.

2022 high points include:

• I went back to school to finish my Bachelor's degree at the age of 30 and so far have not failed out.


• I completed a walking half-marathon.


• I got significantly better at cooking and tried 32 new recipes! My New Year's resolution was to try at least 1 per month, I missed March but honestly it all averaged out.


• Even though I didn't complete that many new vids (one full length vid + 4 short vids for vexercises ), I feel like I learned some new techniques and improved my skills by a decent amount.

( also this family thing I had no control over but am counting as a win anyways... )

Challenge #5

In your own space, tell us about 3 creative/fannish resources, spaces, or communities you use or enjoy. (One or two is fine, especially if you're in a smaller fandom or like many people at the moment, fannishly adrift right now) Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Rather than reccing Wookieepedia again, I am going to follow the footsteps of someone I saw last year using this prompt to promo resources for historical accuracy in historical fiction fandoms, however I am going to focus less on timelines and more on the realities of day-to-day living.

Day-to-day life was very different prior to the Industrial Revolution, and as much as I try to turn my nitpicking side off when I'm reading fic for historical stuff, it really throws me out of the narrative to see things like cooking stoves and kitchens counters (or screened-in porches and iced tea in tall glasses) in fic set in/around 1715.

So, here are some living history resources from Youtube to make your historical works (fanfic or original) feel more authentic! I'm afraid they're primarily Western/European sources, but since most of my personal fandoms are western in origin these are the resources I have on hand. (If you've got more diverse living history channels or websites, I would love to hear about them!)

• Townsends is a living history youtube channel focusing on life in the 18th century American colonial frontier. They have a ton of videos on historical cooking and recreating recipes from antique cookbooks, as well as some about building/crafting some of the essential things we take for granted in the modern era (building a log cabin, digging a well, crafting hinges, etc).


• Bernadette Banner is a youtuber who focuses on historical sewing techniques and garment recreation, often in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, but she does spend time on other eras. I also especially like this video she made on how the concept of "historical accuracy" is not completely applicable to fantasy media, but one can apply logic and practicality to the established worldbuilding to achieve something equivalent to "historical accuracy" in a fictional setting (it's a Game of Thrones case study).


• Morgan Donner is another youtuber who does a lot of historical sewing and garment recreation, although her focus tends to be more on the Medieval period. Rather than highlighting her sewing videos (which are excellent!) I wanted to focus on two of her videos on her experiments with recreating historical hairstyles: this one focuses on using Iron Age tools to recreate hairstyles from a ~800BCE gravesite, and this one is about Elizabethan hair taping and and similar hairstyles.

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.

My intro post has some more general information, but in general feel free to drop by, comment, subscribe, whatever!

• Transformative Works Policy:I'm generally pro-transformative work, but please let me know you're doing it!


• Current Passion On the fannish front, Star Wars is my always-and-forever fandom. I read a lot of Expanded Universe content for it, but I also tend to be a year or more behind the curve on current content. My other tv fandoms include Babylon 5 and Black Sails. I like to read and have some smaller sci-fi, fantasy, and historical literature fandoms. My main creative contribution to fandom at the moment is vidding.

• On the non-fannish front, I like baking, hiking, and rock collecting. I'm trying to get better at cooking. I'm currently back in school to finish my Bachelor's degree in Information Science. 2021 and 2022 were really rough years for me, to the point where I feel like I barely know what my passions and interests are anymore.


• Where to Find Me: I"m mostly here, I'm also on Ao3 also as justanorthernlight.


• Master List: Here is my Ao3 series for my full-length fanvids. On the rare occasion I post fic it goes on Ao3 as well.


• Anything Else: Around once a month I post about what I've been reading lately. I'm terrible at remembering to tag things and tagging things consistently.

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.



Challenge: Just 100 more words

You know that one semi-abandoned WIP you have, maybe one you talked about in challenge #4 or 5, that you want to exist but feel overwhelmed or dissatisfied by?

Go write 100 words on it.

You don't have to finish it, you don't have to continue it beyond that 100 words, just take a look and add a sentence or two! Or start a new scene from later on/the middle of the story. See what happens.

(Alternate suggestion for artists/vidders, spend 10 minutes on an old abandoned project. Once again you don't have to finish it, just spend some time.)

Challenge #11

In your own space, Interact with someone. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.



Good morning everyone, it is -7 degrees Fahrenheit (approximately -21 C) this lovely morning where I am. 

This is kind of a tricky prompt, isn't it? I can't force anyone to come into my space and interact with me. I've been trying to go out and leave comments on a couple of other people's responses for each challenge, but it's a struggle.

I'm pretty shy, and as a commenter I sometimes get stuck in the 'I don't want to annoy anyone, I'll just say nothing' mindset, but as a poster I crave the comments and interactions, and then when replying to comments I'm trying to play it cool and not come across as too weird or clingy...

It's very hypocritical, I know. I'm trying to work on it and force myself out of my comfort zone.

I've always heard that asking other people questions is the best way to get a conversation rolling. One of the things I like best about Snowflake Challenge is that is has very specific prompts, (every year I look at Sunshine Challenge's prompts and am completely befuddled as to how to respond), so... specific questions:

Tell me about your favorite things, either from 2021 or just in general! Favorite book? Favorite song? Favorite recipe? Favorite dinosaur fact? Favorite rock? Favorite piece of trivia? Anything at all, tell me about it!

Feel free to comment about non-favorite things as well.

Challenge #9

In your own space, list your Fandom Wrap categories. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Last month, Spotify sent out their yearly “Spotify Wrap” - summary of our listening habits over the past year, divided into categories of “Top 5 __”. We don’t have Spotify’s ‘scientific algorithm’ but we can do what we do best - estimate! These rankings are based on TIME spent on a particular item. If one of these categories doesn't apply to you, feel free to skip. You also don't have to list all 5 or just 5. ^_~



I had to go back through my Ao3 history to get a feel for how I spent last year, especially the earlier parts of it, it feels like a lifetime ago. I did try to give my best estimates based on time, but that's sometimes hard to estimate, particularly for the early parts of the year.

( cut because this got kind of long... )