shake the internet until angels fall out

[whynot]

Things that happen in chat when you're supposed to be sleeping: Castielfest, ya'll! Raise your hand if you'd be interested in a Castiel-centric fic exchange. Gen, slash, het, whatever -- as long as Cas is top-billing. We're thinking sign-ups begin a few days after the S5 finale airs, stay open for a week or so, then participants have a month to write at least 1000 words upon receiving their assignments. vikki has a poll here to gauge interest, and it would be awesome if you could fill it out and let us know your questions/concerns/disagreements/suggestions.

It's Three Weeks For Dreamwidth time, trying to generate more Dreamwidth activity to celebrate its 1-year anniversary, hence the cross-posting. If you, like me, are still like "Dreamwhat?", it might behoove us to check out stepps's Lonely Planet guide to Dreamwidth. And, here's something cool that DW-clicking did for me recently: ephemere's thoughts on Filipino identity and writing about other cultures led me to the post that sparked it ('No Foreigners Allowed' by Charles Tan), which in turn led me to the sidebar of Charles Tan's blog, which is stuffed full of links to Filipino speculative fiction fkdjsfklkjk AWESOME.


This old meme:
1 - Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 - I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3 - You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 - You'll include this explanation.
5 - You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.

maboheme asked me five fannish questions


1. To start off, how long have you been in fandom? What drew you to fandom? (If you want to list your past fandoms here that'd be awesome!)

Oh my god, like forever? I remember being in fourth-grade fifth-grade and looking for Jonny Quest fanfic on the internet. I didn't even know it was called fanfic, I just wanted stories expanding upon Jonny and Jessie's troo lurve. I was reading fic long before I was in fandom, and writing Hanson mary sues before I knew what fic was. I was reading Mulder/Scully porn in middle school, and I was there when ffnet still allowed RPF and NC17 stuff. Goddamn.

My major fandoms (i.e. read AND wrote fic in) were - in order - Weezer RPF, X-Men movieverse (mostly the second movie because I <3ed Pyro), LOTRips, Boondock Saints (Connor/Murphy is my One True Brocest), Narnia, and BBC Merlin. Harry Potter is a constant background noise.


2. What brought you to SPN and to the SPN fandom? (You can totes talk about Cas here too <3)

Dean/Cas brought my ass to the yard. They were my preconceived notion. Someone on my flist was like, "Dean gets the angel who rebels against heaven for him and eyefucks him all the time, and Sam gets--" I forget what Sam got, 'cos this was the Dean/Cas straw that broke the SPN camel's back. From what I had heard of Castiel, he seemed like a character that would enable the kind of stories that move me. And yeah, he's a good platform from which to ask What is true exile? What is human frailty? What is the difference between faith and devotion? What is love? BABY DON'T HURT ME NO MORE It's like the religion angst of Narnia plus the destiny angst of Merlin, balled up together and set in a phantasmagorical retelling of the American dream. (Or at least S4 and S5 are, anyway...)

I meandered through S1, got impatient with S2, then made a flocked LJ post from which the following is excerpted: "I'm done watching SPN chronologically basically. I was somewhere in S2, but have jumped to S4 because I kept hearing about how this Castiel fellow makes googly eyes at Dean all the time, being all like, "I'm a rogue angel ON A MISSION!! With a mancrush." Or something? Like Castiel is earnest but has issues, kind of like how Dean has issues but is earnest, and apparently occasionally they do the sex. Sociopathic angel/taciturn demon hunter OTP? I dunno, I heard it from fandom, who heard it from Mildred down the street, who heard it from Ted the postman who heard it from, idk, unicorns who eat rainbows and live in the sky."

So there I was, the apocalypse to the left of me, unraveling faith to the right, and suddenly it was time for Sudden Onset Dean/Castiel Syndrome, and all was lost.

Is it me or is SPN fandom's attitude more srs bsns and thus rifer with haterade than other fandoms? Is it me or is it difficult to do SPN half-assedly because it is just that brain-consuming? Are these two questions related?


3. What's your favorite pairing to write and why.

As much as I love Dean/Castiel and Castiel/Anna (and Castiel/Scully), I'm gonna say Chuck/Becky because they are ridiculously fun to write. Sometimes it's more difficult to write ships that I ~*trooly*~ ship because I have so many ideas about How They Are that it slows me down (see also: Morgana/Gwen), and then I just end up writing subtextual gen. With Chuck/Becky though, I just run with it and let loose the nerd jokes.

As for non-SPN ships, I have a weakness for Susan Pevensie/her brothers, and crossover pairings.


4. Favorite TV show of all time.

Of all tiiiiiime? I don't watch enough TV to have an all-time favorite, but I watch enough of it to have a bunch of stuff I like, so: Bizarre Foods, Futurama, Robot Chicken, Adventures of Pete & Pete, Parks & Recreation, classic Disney cartoons, Iron Chef America (GET IN MY PANTS, CRAZY CHAIRMAN). Alas, I have not watched the original Iron Chef. I hear it is twice as delightful. Maybe I should include Supernatural and Merlin here, but I have a different kind of love for shows I fic for, because I also judge them on the quality of fanon fodder.


5. Favorite piece of fanwork you yourself created and why you love it.

Point A to Point A | Fight Club | pre-narrator/Tyler, Narrator/Marla | NC17 | ~4100 words

I'm tempted to choose something more recent, but it's probably too soon to have real perspective on those. This Fight Club fic, on the other hand, I wrote seven years ago (HOLY FUCKING SHIT HAS IT REALLY BEEN SEVEN YEARS D:) and I still like it. It's not perfect, but it did challenge me as a writer, if by challenge we mean "inspire me to try and rip off Chuck Palahniuk". He writes entirely in punch lines, and I suppose there are worse writers to imitate. Fight Club is one of my all-time favorite movies, and I listened to the soundtrack nonstop in my senior of high school. Perfect for senioritis, y'know. Hey, Edward Norton, remember when you did cool movies?

Also, Marla Singer is totally Bobby Singer's niece.


[originally posted at http://whynot.dreamwidth.org/19904.html | comments]

Comments

[godofstrife.livejournal.com]

Will this be prompt based or can we write what we want?

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Prompt-based. Based on the stated preferences in the sign-up comment, you’ll be matched up with someone who’ll hopefully write you a fic you want, and someone for whom you’ll write a fic they’ll want, not necessarily the same person.

[lettersandliars.livejournal.com]

Interview me!

omg stop making me want to get into supernatural i have ap exams to study for

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

1. What songs do you listen to when you're sad?
2. When was the last time you laughed so hard you couldn't stop?
3. Favorite candy?
4. What is your One True Crossover Pair?
5. Your two favorite OTPs get into a bar brawl against each other. Who wins?

omg stop making me want to get into supernatural i have ap exams to study for
Okay.



What, whoops, how did that get there.

[anjali-organna.livejournal.com]

Oooh man I remember reading this fic! I loved Marla in this so much. For some reason, the part about Marla being selfish during sex always stayed with me. Hehe. Also this line: There's a pause. Then: "You what?" So Marla.

Interview me!

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Aww cool! XD Thanks. Marla is a total bamf. omg Anjali have we really internet-known each other for seven years? Crazy!

1. What do you miss most about Florence?
2. What do you miss least about Florence?
3. What would you rather be doing right now?
4. What is the last book to have moved you deeply?
5. And which piece of music last moved you deeply too?

[gabby-silang.livejournal.com]

omg this list is going to eat my weekend (http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2009/03/philippine-speculative-fiction-in.html) YAY.

meanwhile, you are precious:

Castiel is earnest but has issues, kind of like how Dean has issues but is earnest.

i need things to do at work that aren't the things at work that are giving me a headache, so ask me probing questions if you have them. i won't answer anything that isn't probing, though.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

1. Would you rather die through starvation or die through drowning?
2. When was one time when you were brave?
3. Where would you rather be right now?
4. What was Cas and Scully's second time meeting like?
5. Favorite alcoholic beverage?

[katakokk.livejournal.com]

Interview, por favor? :)

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

1. Favorite drink?
2. What is your comfort food?
3. What book would you like to see turned into a movie?
4. Top three ships?
5. What was your first favorite song?

[hereare-mysins.livejournal.com]

Ah! That looks like an interesting read. Man, I feel like I've missed so much. I shall definitely save it. I think friend-ing you is going to introduce me to so many things. I look forward to it.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Awesome, dude. I hope you enjoy the sights during your stay here! :D

[xaara.livejournal.com]

I am so excited about this idea for serious--I love Castiel and I love festivals and here they are both in the same place! If you need helping hands/eyes/keyboarding/whatever, I have lot's o' free time.

Also (because I need yet another reason to do nothing but sit around and eat wasabi peas and think about myself) I would not object to interview questions. :P

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness I thought I replied to this comment, where did it go? Basically I too am EXCITED, especially because I missed the sign-ups for the past couple Dean/Cas fic exchanges. But if life gives you no Cas, make Casfest! And omg thanks for the offer, dude, how awesome. I'll def contact you if things come up.

1. Why do you love Castiel?
2. Favorite alcoholic beverage?
3. What are your favorite fic tropes?
4. What is the strangest thing you've ever eaten?
5. What is the last beautiful thing to have broken your heart?

[22by7.livejournal.com]

ASK ME STUFFS.

Spn has apocalypse shit going down and is generally more srs biznes, so I think you have a point there. I tend to get TOO INTO IT, exactly as I did with X-Files, and I was prepared to love both shows hard despite all their faults and irritants.

... Yes I will forever mash those two together.

[xaara.livejournal.com]

OMG YOUR ICON.

*loves*

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

... Yes I will forever mash those two together.
It's really kind of inevitable. SPN is walking in X-Files footprints, dragging its scrap guest-stars behind it.

1. What is your favorite SPN drawing that you have drawn?
2. What are your favorite fic tropes/kinks?
3. What is the most beautiful place you've ever been to?
4. Spelunking or scuba diving?
5. Favorite food?

[be-themoon.livejournal.com]

interview me?

also, SPN fandom is totally SRS BSNS. I, uh, mostly find that kind of lolarious, I must admit. the sheer viciousness the fans can direct at the characters they dislike shocks and saddens me. I dunno, I've kept out of it for the most part.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

SO SRS. WHY SO SRS. It's like stereotypical high school lunchroom where all the cliques self-segregates and talk shit about each other.

1. Favorite thing about college?
2. Who are you closest to in your family?
3. If you had the wherewithal, what would you collect?
4. Favorite summer memory?
5. Favorite fic tropes?

[lexhibition.livejournal.com]

fffffff SPN fandom. I have nothing to compare it to because it brutally took my virginity (after I failed to take a heteronormative interest in banging strippers) and anyway I'm still in that honeymoon stage where EVERYTHING IS WONDERFUL. It's less that it has consumed my brain, more that I'm marinating my cerebellum in steak sauce and happily spreading out on the buffet table.

THE ORIGINAL IRON CHEF IS BEYOND WORDS. I still get palpitations about the time they did abalone.

Also, ask me stuff! Because between reading Fight Club fic and watching X-Files YOU'VE ALREADY PRETTY MUCH GUARANTEED that I'm not going to get anything productive done today.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

Yes! I'm so glad I found this corner of fandom where everyone's so goddamn awesome!

XD FIGHT CLUB AND X-FILES, well hello nineties. What a winning combination! \o/

1. Favorite comfort food?
2. Favorite fic tropes/kinks?
3. Mulder&Scully vs. Sam&Dean. Who wins?
4. How did you get into fic?
5. Most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

[nyoka.livejournal.com]

Your answers to my interview make me smile epically! Woohoo and thanks!

Boondock Saints is totally the One True Brocest, I totes agree. ;)

And as I mentioned to you at my journal, your Cas manifesto totally makes me tear up. So much word! Of course this doesn't help my utter fear that Cas is a goner in the finale and thus SPN will lose all the storytelling potential that came with that character. *cries*

Like Castiel is earnest but has issues, kind of like how Dean has issues but is earnest, and apparently occasionally they do the sex. Sociopathic angel/taciturn demon hunter OTP[...]So there I was, the apocalypse to the left of me, unraveling faith to the right, and suddenly it was time for Sudden Onset Dean/Castiel Syndrome, and all was lost.

THAT SUMS THEM UP PERFECTLY. YEP, I WAS A GONER WITH THE FIRST EPISODE OF S4 AS WELL. THEY ARE TOTALLY EPIC. SIGH.

Is it me or is SPN fandom's attitude more srs bsns and thus rifer with haterade than other fandoms? Is it me or is it difficult to do SPN half-assedly because it is just that brain-consuming? Are these two questions related?

I can tell you so many stories about the haterade. SPN fandom is absolutely SRS BSNS. People get really het up about the show and it's characters and go to war with the evil dissenters. I always try to be all multi-fandom, but SPN always sucks up like 90% of my fandom brain energy because it is that all consuming -- it's epic like that both in terms of the show itself and the fandom. So yes I think both issues are related.

Chuck/Becky! Wee!

And the fact that you love Gwen/Morgana makes my heart beat faster. They were my Merlin OTP.

OMG, you mention Pete & Pete. 90s Nickelodeon FTW!!

And thank you for linking me to your story. I'm excited to check it out :D

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

They were fun questions, dude! <3

I have been meaning to watch Boondock Saints 2 for a while. SOON I WILL, then possibly write the crossover where the Winchesters and the MacManus brothers meet XD. Between the four of them, they got most varieties of evil covered.

AUGH I TOTALLY THINK CAS WILL DIE TOO D: . Shit, man, I can't believe how boned he is. When S6 was announced, I was so excited because MOAR SHOW, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense for Cas to die, or at least disappear. It's like, they were just keeping Cas around because he boosted viewership, and now that they have their sixth season they're gonna kick him to the curb.

It's like the more people get defensive about some quibble, the more they let the fandom consume their brain, or something. Merlin fandom was never this aggressive! Right? Haha, the way my secret SPN OTP is Castiel/everyone, my secret Merlin OTP is Morgana/everyone.

If ever there was a Pete & Pete fusion, Dean and Sam are of course little Pete and big Pete respectively, and Cas is the STRONGEST MAN in the worrrrrld. I love Pete & Pete so much. Did you ever watch Wild & Crazy Kids?

And hey my pleasure XD

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Fic exchange! Whee! Sign me up!

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

I think now it is also a fic AND art exchange. So! Cas all over the place, yaaaay!

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

UM INTERVIEW ME PLEASE.

Supernatural is sounding more and more interesting! But the fandom is SCARY and I say that as someone who grew up in Harry Potter.

[twoskeletons.livejournal.com]

But the fandom is SCARY and I say that as someone who grew up in Harry Potter.
STICK WITH ME AND YOU'LL BE OKAY, KID. Haha. Perhaps might you wanna do is head over here (http://tracy-loo-who.livejournal.com/112742.html) where a fan has compiled all the Castiel footage from S4 and S5 through episode 5x17 and put them in convenient downloadable videos, if you feel like that would be your thing.

WYRM, WHAT CAN I DO TO START YOU IN ON SUPERNATURAL TODAY. No, seriously. Ep recs? Fic recs? What do you want. What are you expecting. That should be your interview, but it's not.

1. What got you into fic?
2. Most beautiful place you've ever been?
3. Favorite fannish thing that you've written?
4. Strangest food you've ever eaten?
5. What is a movie that moved you?