2007 in Fannish Review
My fandom hijinks in 2007
After a year and a half, sg1_debrief is still going strong, with over 600 people watching. We follow and tag over 250 journals and 70 communities. And to think I thought this was going to a small venture when I started it… As always, massive props go to my co-mods surreallis and poohmusings, who are awesome, and many, many, MANY thanks go to the Debrief tagging crew who sort through the wealth of fandom product to tag links: blue-meridian (who gets extra love, because she tags and codes weekly - the short off-week issues are all due to her), annerbhp, sg-fignewton, stargazercmc, becky-monster, katcorvi, havocthecat. The newsletter would be impossible to maintain without them, and really, they deserve the bulk of the credit for making it the success it is. *group hug!*
Other things I got up to this year include carnivalofsquee, an occasional carnival of all things squeeful in SG-1 fandom, on a community-chosen series of topics. I did three, and will probably do another in the spring. Also there's samcarter-gen, a biweekly challenge community for gen Sam fic. And I started up sg1podfic. Because I'm insane.
I also went to DragonCon, which was a nerdgasmic delight. But the best part was getting to put faces to lj names that are often a daily part of my life. Getting to spend the weekend hanging with Jenn and Courser and Abyssis and Trout and Bean and Cathy and Kat and Annerb (and if I'm forgetting anyone it's not you it's my swiss-cheese memory) was a phenomenally fun and rewarding experience and I adore them all like crazy. I know there's often a level of complaint and controversy about claiming media and fic fandom as female or female-oriented space, but the friendships fandom has given me with strong, smart, funny, utterly fabulous and fantastic women is really what's meant the most to me of it all.
2007 Writing-wise
Writing-wise, 2007 was a rousing success and the year I got my mojo back and remembered why I think writing is ZOMG awesome! I tried a bunch of new stuff and pairings (Jack/Teal'c, and my new OTPs, Sam/Vala and Sam/Ronon). I also has a mini Stupid Cute OTP renaissance with was lovely and fun, because even though I don't write them much anymore, Sam/Jack is my squee, and the thing that brought me into fandom, and I still love them so.
GEN
"Da Capo". G. Gen. Sam. Teal'c. Spoilers: Unending. 7/02/07.
"Good Girls Don't Give a Gosh Darn".(R - language. Gen. Sam. Jack. Team. Humor. 7/03/07.
"When I go into the grass of the sea floor, I will go alone". Stargate Atlantis. Gen. Sam. John. PG-13. Angst. Spoilers: Reunion. 632 words. 10/15/2007.
HET
Perfection. G. Sam/Jack. S7. 2/20/07.
Near Miss. PG-13. Sam/Jack. Post-series. 2/20/07.
Soft Touch. R - sexual situations. Sam/Jack. 7/13/07.
Observation of fine structure lines. NC-17 - explicit sex. Sam/Jack. 7/17/07.
Taken in Hand. NC-17 - explicit sex. Sam/Jack. 1842 words. 8/20/07.
The Copernican Principle. Stargate Atlantis. Sam/Ronon. NC-17. 985 words. 11/5/2007.
SLASH
Sam/Vala. My new shiny.
"And Stars Awaken Above Me" NC-17 - explicit sex. Sam/Vala. 879 words. 7/18/07.
"Put My Roadmaps Away". NC-17 - explicit sex. Sam/Vala. 1884 words. 7/29/07.
Girls on Film. Sam/Vala. NC-17. 592 words. 10/3/2007.
Information Doesn't Kill You. Sam/Vala. Hard R. S10. 555 words. 10/22/2007.
"Articles of War". PG-13 - language. Jack/Teal'c. 551 words. 9/08/07.
"This Mountain in the Wind". PG. Teal'c/Jack. 929 words. 9/13/07.
NOTEBOOK
The one where of course aliens make them do it. And Daniel is a big perv. Implied Sam/Jack, Sam/Daniel. Cracktastic. 4/26/07.
"So Daniel, you think you can explain shrinkage?". Team. Implied OT4. Pervy aliens. 7/7/2007.
For the jack-built AU: "The Man All Tattered and Torn".
For the Pornucopia: Jack/Vala. Crochet. NC-17.
FIVE THINGS
Responses to the Five Things meme and the sg1-five-things prompts.
"Five resolutions that Sam Carter broke". 1/14/07.
Five ways Sam got off thinking about one or more of her team members. NC-17. 3/05/07.
Five magazines Teal'c subscribes to. 3/05/07.
Five people the original SG-1 really hope the press don't interview about them when the program goes public. 3/05/07.
Five reasons Vala started wearing pigtails. 3/20/07.
Five things SG-1 did, when they were the only ones turned into 8-year-olds for 24 hours, at the SGC. 4/29/07.
Five things Jack O'Neill wants written on his gravestone. 4/30/07.
Five nightmares/memories Sam still experiences with PTSD-like intensity. 10/8/2007.
My favorite story this year (of my own): "Da Capo", "Put My Roadmaps Away", and Five magazines Teal'c subscribes to all make me the most happy to have written them.
My best story this year: I hate this question and always am tempted to just delete it, because I'm horrible at qualitatively judging my own stuff. But, in terms of stories that did what I set out for them to do, and did it successfully and made me go, "Hey, I don't suck!", I think the Five nightmares/memories Sam still experiences with PTSD-like intensity hit the mark the best. And for things that completely surprised me with not sucking, that was "When I go into the grass of the sea floor, I will go alone".
Story most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: The Copernican Principle (Sam/Ronon), if only because there really doesn't seem to be a niche for it. Except me.
Most fun story: "Good Girls Don't Give a Gosh Darn". Because I love smart-ass Sam, and I love making bitchy editorial fannish commentary in fic form.
Sexiest story: Tie between Five ways Sam got off thinking about one or more of her team members and "Put My Roadmaps Away" (Sam. Vala. Sex on the motorcycle.).
Hardest story to write: The failed Jack/Teal'c "Five Fights Jack and Teal'c Never Had." It was a five things Jack/Teal'c idea I had before the five things craze hit SG-1 fandom. I struggled with it for over a year, unable to make it mesh thematically the way I wanted, before I gave up and cannibalized it. Two of the individual pieces became "This Mountain in the Wind" and "Articles of War". Another part, the angsty "aliens make them do it"part, will hopefully make its debut next year.
Easiest story to write: "When I go into the grass of the sea floor, I will go alone". Which just kind of popped out on my lunch hour one afternoon.
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted? Way, way, way more. I'm astounded how much more, actually. I fizzled out on productivity in November and haven't written much since, but I feel like I'm just taking a breather, rather than fleeing away from the keyboard in abject terror of the alphabet. Man, it's nice to love writing again.
Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? I continued to prove to myself that there really isn't anything I won't give a shot to, and apparently there really isn't a genre or topic I can't make a pretty good attempt at nailing down. As a writer, this makes me incredibly happy. As far as risks go, I leapt into femslash this year with Sam/Vala, and am very pleased with how that's turned out in terms of the stories I've produced, and I tackled a pairing (Jack/Teal'c) that isn't exactly easy to write, and did it with (I think) rousing success. Go me.
Do you have any goals for the New Year? Keep it up, baby. Keep it up. And stop adding shit to my WIP list. Which I will no doubt fail within a day of posting this.
Years Past:
2006 fannish review
2005 fannish review
2004 fannish review
2003 fannish review