Snowflake 1!

[flamingsword]

Challenge #1

The Icebreaker Challenge: Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it.

Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.

My introduction is my sticky post for new folks, and what I hope to gain from Snowflake is to be reminded, as I am every year, that people are Good Actually, that we’re all trying so so hard to entertain and be good to one another, even when we’re bad at it.

That’s basically what fandom is, isn’t it? People telling each other stories and someone saying, “I wonder what would have happened if …”, and someone else taking that energy and running with it towards the next leg of this relay race of ideas and enthusiasm. And because excitement tends to build and feed off of other’s excitement, we all wind up with this frisson of joy when we get to read that The Witcher/Star Wars crossover, or the one where Deadpool is an Addams on his mother’s side, or the Leverage OT3 Of Great Justice adopts a kitten, or or or, ad infinitum.

We all wind up having richer lives more full of fun and play, together. I think it’s beautiful. It has changed how I see the world and what people are capable of, and I’m so grateful.

Comments

[gingicat]

Oh, that is in fact the best part of fandom.

[flamingsword]

Thanks! Also I have just followed you on tumblr, bc you have cool/neat/funny reblogs.

Fifteen More Times?

[nyyki]

Will you be doing this for the other fifteen entries in this particular challenge, or is this a single temptation to get more people involved?

Re: Fifteen More Times?

[flamingsword]

All opinions expressed are legitimately my own. I really do think this, and it’s why I do Snowflake every year. I like to spread joy, and I do like boosting fannish participation - largely because I think it makes the world better, but also it makes people feel better about their interests and hobbies and leads to more joy for everyone involved, including me, who gets to reap the benefits of others creativity. What was it that Spider Robinson said? “Shared pain is lessened; shared joy, increased — thus do we refute entropy.”

Well, pushing back on entropy and the tendency of the world to suck because of it is one of the things I believe to be worthwhile.

If you take joy in getting to know people who have a third thing in common with you, if you like exchanging energy and ideas with people you don’t know very well, and finding out that you share a perspective here and there, then you might like playing in fandom’s nigh-infinite sandboxes.

If you don’t want to see it you can unfollow my journal for the month of January, but I’m still going to be here posting about fandom stuff.

Re: Fifteen More Times?

[nyyki]

Thanks for the response.

[potentiality_26]

Wonderfully said!

(And good luck with the challenge)

[flamingsword]

Thanks! 🍀 Back at you!

[sabethea]

I love fandom, and I love that one of the last things I wrote was co-imagined between me and a Belgian guy on bluesky where we just riffed off each other on an idea and took it further and further into ridiculousness in each skeet until we had the bones of a story, which I wrote up into something real (and 16k long).

And that there’s AO3 for actual fics and tumblr for those moments when you have an idea that you just need to write about (“Arthur is actually Aithusa and Merlin calls the (Pen)dragon out of her egg”) without actually writing…

[flamingsword]

Oh that sounds freaking cool! Queen Arthuria/Aithusa! Long may she reign!

[sabethea]

It does, it just brings all the trans ‘egg’ symbolism along with Merlin’s dragonlord story and Arthur being a Pendragon, emphasis on dragon - and also him always being described as shining like the sun, and Aithusa meaning “light of the sun” when Merlin actually calls her from the egg, so having her and Arthur be one and the same, and it just be Arthur’s real name once she accepts herself… anyway, I have given this far too much thought!

[flamingsword]

That sounds like it would be such a good story! I wish I had time and brain space to help it get written!

[sabethea]

Some day, maybe, we can write it, when I have energy and you have time and brain space. (“ but it is not *this* day” … oops, changed fandoms..)

[mywitch]

You've got the best description of what fandom is and does. I love it! I hope you have a great time this year :D

[flamingsword]

Thank you! And I hope you have an equally wonderful Snowflake 2026!