Quick quick now!

[red_satin_doll]

1) The deadline is tomorrow, Friday the 20th at midnight for  both otherworldlyric challenge #166 , "Easy Way Out" by Gotye, and slayerstillness challenge 20 "Love Song for a Vampire. More entries are needed - and I'm sitting both of these out, so don't look at me. I'm just gonna sit back and enjoy the pretties this time around.

And just in case you're easily confusable - a.k.a. "moi" - OWL is the multifandom icontest where you have to use at least two consecutive words from the lyrics of the challenge song. SS is strictly Buffyverse (btvs/ats) and icons can have text or not.  Also, SS is the one that opens the entry and voting threads after the winners have been announced. Which can be fun...or kinda awkward, depending. I actually kind of like it, but wait until an icon I'm sure is gonna win loses big time. Then we'll see what pennywhistle I'm tooting with.)

2) A little bird in fandom (thank you little bird!) informed me that my blog has been rec'd by "snowdropsandtigers" on tumblr.

"On a relevant—yet off-topic—note, it occurs to me that I want to recommend a blogger to follow, in case that might help and you don’t know of her. She’s on LJ and she’s very much a Buffy fan first and Spuffy shipper second, and gives love to the other characters too: http://red-satin-doll.livejournal.com/  I’m kind of terrible and lurk much more than talk, but I’ve been reading her meta—and the meta she links to—for a while and find it all really lovely."

And I'm just - what do I say except THANK YOU? I don't know who they - who you - are, but I'm really incredibly flattered by your kind words.  I would love to thank snowdropsandtigers (what a wonderful, evocative penname!) but I haven't a tumblr account so - THANK YOU SO MUCH, whoever you are.

And also, what they said about shipping is extremely relevant to my own thoughts of late:

"I’ve experienced that. Unfortunately, I’ve also experienced other fandoms being pretty much the same. The ones I’ve gotten into after getting into Buffy in 2005 do the same things frequently (ship wars; whitewashing characters, usually dudes; distorting characterization/valuing characters mainly for ships, especially with female characters; drama between the fans themselves.).....It burns one out."

That's pretty much the nutmeat of a meta I've been wanting to write on the subject so all I can say at the moment is - ME TOO. Or, WORD. (Is that even a "thing" anymore, that use of "word"? I don't know. You tell me.)

Comments

Re: (pt 2)

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I played with the boys after that because they had become easier to write

I think that relates to what drove the first Star Trek fanfic Kirk/Spock shippers - they wanted to write about interesting characters and relationships, but there were no interesting female characters to be found. So they subverted canon.

Nowadays there ARE rich, interesting female characters but they are not being written in fandom about to the extent that the guys are.

I challenged myself to write it and then became addicted to studying their complexities in a way that I hadn't felt with the boys and hence why now they're more dear to my heart.

I think I'm "lucky" (?) in that I never had to make that "translation" or mental leap. The ladies were ALWAYS were it was at for me. The opposite is the hard part for me - I'm not anti-guy, I have brothers and uncles and male friends and I love them. But the interest just isn't there for me.

Surrogate father-daughter relationships are an exception: Doctor #7 and Ace, Satine and Zidler, Jordan Cavenaugh and Garret Macy (Garret is one of the few male characters I really love), Buffy and Giles.

Re: (pt 2)

[clockwork-hart1.livejournal.com]

It wasn't that the girls were less interesting to me, but more that they were challenging because they were so rich and diverse, I didn't want to fuck it up and I already HAD the experience writing the guys. I just found them even more entrancing as I explored them. i never thought I'd love Dawn and her facets in the way I do now if I hadn't started writing her - and I'm so glad I did. Thinking about it, all of the spuffy shippy fic I have written is all about character exploration and the smaller moments between them that I fell in love with.

Also, that. Icon is fully of beauty oh my god.

Re: (pt 2)

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I was terrified to write - or write about - Buffy because I didn't think I could do her justice, fully wrap my hands and my mind around her complexity, that I couldn't because I had too big of a Buffy-shaped blindspot, etc. I'm not sure that I've ever "got her right" or that I'll ever post the fic I've written since last September.

Also, that. Icon is fully of beauty oh my god.

It's been around for several years - I don't know who made it, but penny_lane_42 was using it, and I had one spot left and HAD to snag it. It was time to bring it back out of the closet IMO.

Whoever gave me the paid account has no idea what they've done. Once upon a time I was content with 15 icons. Now 32 isn't enough - I WANT MORE, MORE DAMNIT! *lol*