potentiality_26

Challenge #11

In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme.

Only one??? Impossible! I love tropes, so it's a tough one.

I think Pining/Seemingly Unrequited Love is probably my favorite. Though I'll definitely give Established Relationship fics a go if they look interesting, getting into a character's headspace while they agonizingly long for someone they think couldn't possibly feel the same way is my jam.

A lot of the other tropes I love are, in a way, offshoots of my love for that one. I like pretty much all the #problematic relationship tropes - Enemies to Lovers, Age Difference, Incest - because they offer so many delicious reasons they shouldn't want to be together.

Then there's also Fake Dating, Bed Sharing, Trapped Together... all that good forced proximity while just yearning. 

And then of course Sex Pollen, Fuck or Die, Forced Marriage... where things might get even more intense while the feelings are still unresolved.

(So, one answer and many at the same time. What else is new?)

Challenge #9

In your own space, create a fanwork.

I wrote an Astrid double drabble.

( Episode tag for 10.000 mètres )

Challenge #6

Share your favourite piece of original canon.

This is a tough one every time I do the challenge because it means I have pick a canon, and my interests are all over the place. So this year I'm going to narrow my focus by specifically choosing a small piece of a larger canon with which I am disproportionately fascinated. It is appropriately an episode called "Part of a Whole."

For those who don't know, which is probably most people, New Tricks is a mystery series about aging, formerly retired police officers solving cold cases. It's a fun show with lots of spot-the-actor opportunities if you've had a 70s and 80s British TV phase, which I have. Anyway, I like it a lot but I didn't really feel fannish about it until I became obsessed with Stephen Fisher, a minor character who is in only three episodes, the last of which being "Part of a Whole."

The even more minor character of Jane Ross, who's only in this one episode, totally captured me. The dialogue between Jane and Stephen absolutely glitters. The shipping potential of Stephen and Robert Strickland is spectacular. There's just so much story between the lines in this one episode. Is it mostly in my head? Maybe. Does that matter? Not really.

Anyway, I wrote a fic and I have a couple of other WIPs.

Challenge #4

Since this is the start of a new year, this challenge will be to set your own goals! Of course we can all make large or ambitious goals, remember that small and/or short goals are also good!

My goals for 2025:

1) Post more fics this year than I did in 2024. (Four is the number to beat!)

2) Do a round-up post each month about what I'm reading/watching/writing/etc.

3) Turn the page of the calendar every month. (A resolution I had mixed success with last year, lol) 

Challenge #2

In your own space, talk about your fannish origin story.

I definitely came up in the "on the internet no one knows you're a dog" school of thought, so the idea of Dating Myself in this fashion is a little scary, but you know what? Let's do this, it'll be fun.

So it all started when I went to boarding school at fourteen. Before that the internet was both a wild confusing place and a boring slog because of dial-up -- but at school I had my own laptop, a class on how to use it, and fast internet. Now I don't remember how I ended up there, but my first fannish activities were those personality quizzes -- like, "Which [fandom] character are you?" but also "Which pairing are you?" Initially these were Harry Potter Quizilla quizzes, but I also remember a Les Miserables website with them that I spent a huge amount of time on. Anyway, I didn't know fanfiction was a thing until one of the quizzes had the question, "Where do you read fanfiction?" And I was like, "???" and ended up on good ol' Fanfiction.net where I read and eventually wrote some stories for -- this will shock you -- Harry Potter and Les Miz.

After a while I didn't use it much anymore, and also I was hiding from an HP chapterfic I had started posting but was never gonna finish (equally shocking, I'm sure), so I let it lapse for a couple of years and I don't connect myself with the FF.net account anymore. (In the extremely unlikely circumstance that you can find said account based on this information, no you can't).

I was in college and the throes of a Stargate obsession when I started my livejournal, and I still use the same default icon I opened that account with to this day. I made it in about ten minutes and it shows, but I can't seem to part with it. That is My Face on the Internet.

Try something new.

So the post says we can use the same answer for this as Challenge #11 (create a fanwork). To that end, I've posted my Raffles fic on AO3 a day ahead of schedule. Not something I've never done before, obviously, but every time I struggle with titles and summaries like it's the first time.

I've also been inspired by a few conversations I've had through this challenge to seek out some Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves fic. We'll see what I find!
  

Tell Us about a Personal Win.

So I've been planning to do monthly check-ins about the goals I set earlier in this challenge, as a kind of accountability for myself, but I'll mention some early successes I've had because they are definitely wins!

Post here more often
I've posted regularly this month thanks to the Snowflake Challenge.

Generally keep in touch better with friends
I've gotten back in touch with some online friends, met some cool new people, and generally done better at keeping up with my... meat-space? face-time? (saying irl seems wrong because online contract is still, you know, real) friends than I had been previously. I did have a week lapse, but I did not let that week turn into two like I did a lot of last year.

Post more stories on AO3 than I did in 2023.
I plan to put my Raffles fic up on AO3 by Monday.

Read more books.
I have read a book! Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. I've also started the sequel.

Put up a 2024 calendar. Also, remember to turn the page every month.
The calendar is up!

I have a question for you all about this, though: I haven't done as well with regular writing this month as I hoped.  I've only written about 1000 new words (between various WIPs and a bit of original fiction), but I have done some typing and editing of older stuff and I have been working on my non-magical D&D Artificer, which has branched into also working on an Alchemist class.  I haven't been considering this as part of my overall wordcount, though, because for a lot of it I'm just borrowing from existing material.  And I guess my question is: should I count it?  It's just for my own enjoyment, but it's where my inspiration has taken me and I did say at the beginning of the year that any writing counted, even if it was never going to be published anywhere.

I'm also thinking of amending my resolution to include typing/editing existing work as... well... work.  Like 100 words a day and/or typing/editing, as I've found it hard to do both, especially when seriously editing something to post.
  

Challenge #10

Five Things! The five things are totally up to you. 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.

Today I'm ranking... musicals!  Yay? (There will be fudging of the five things part)

1) Les Miserables
Loved it my whole life, it's everything to me. Favorite version: 10th Anniversary Dream Cast. It's called the Dream Cast for a reason, y'all.

2) The Secret Garden
Also a long time love of mine. Favorite version: Original Broadway Recording.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber section. I ranked these as best I could, but know that they're all very close together.

3) Jesus Christ Superstar
Favorite version: NBC Live In Concert. I know this isn't considered the best by most metrics, but I watched it when it aired, bought the soundtrack, and still listen to it all the time. Are the Broadway singers better? Mostly. But sometimes it's about vibes. 

4) Evita
Favorite version: 1996 Film/Soundtrack. I'm not even gonna qualify this preference. Obviously there are people who prefer the Broadway version. In fact there are people who think this movie is bad. I think they're wrong.

5) Phantom of the Opera
Favorite version: 25th Anniversary. This is a close one, though, I like the Broadway a lot too.   

This is where the fudging comes in because I think the ALW block skews things. Two bonuses:

6) Wicked
Favorite version: Original Broadway Recording
Added because: If I could decide to kick one of the ALW ones off the list, this would replace it. 

7) Beauty and the Beast
Favorite version: Original Broadway Recording
Added because: Number 7 (rather than the top 5) really is where this belongs, overall, but I do want to mention it because "If I Can't Love Her" is probably my favorite song from a musical.

Since I've come out as an actor (lol) recently in this challenge, I'd like to say that I am a Shakespearean actor who does more modern plays here and there. I love musicals but I haven't performed in one since High School. Tragically, I cannot sing worth a damn.
  

Challenge #8

Talk about a current fannish project (fic, art, vid, crochet, funko pop village) (that you are creating or enjoying)

So I have a ton of WIPs that I work on as the mood strikes me. I thought a fun way to meet this challenge would be to list them how they're titled in my files. Please ask me about them.

( So many ideas, so little... something... )

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.  

In your own space, share a favourite piece of original canon (a show, a specific TV episode, a storyline, a book or series, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. . 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.

Last time I did this challenge, (I keep wanting to say last year, even though it was very much not last year, which I think says something about my perception of time at the moment) I did Les Miserables, i.e. the whole brick. This time, I thought I'd go really narrow and pick just a scene. So

The Indian restaurant scene from Ted Lasso. 

This scene is obviously awesome from a Trent/Ted shipping perspective.  And Trent's reaction to being asked what he loves? *chef's kiss*

It's also a super important scene, for me, because it's when I really fell for this show.  The concept of Ted going to his taxi/uber (sorry, not sure which it was tbh) driver's restaurant because he was really listening when Ollie talked about it, and he really meant it when he said he'd come by, really shows the core of the character (and the show) in such an incredible way.