Forwarding Address

I think the biggest thing preventing me from writing fic as an adult* has been the idea that I needed to be thoroughly steeped in the lore of a work before I could even contemplate writing fic about it. Perfectionism is a beast: I couldn't bear the thought of making an error that revealed ignorance about the original work! and I also didn't want to fall down a rabbit hole of research, because that has created some frustrating situations for me in the past. Therefore, the fic exchanges that appeal to me most are based on extremely short, standalone works.

I've been eyeing jukebox_fic for a few years now, which is an exchange for fic based on music and music videos. I even beta'd a story for it once. But the timing of it is never great for me, so I've not actually signed up.

But this year, I found out about a fairy tale/folklore fic exchange (once_upon_fic), and my reaction was less of a "Can I do that?" and more of a "I can't not do that." As a child, I devoured Andrew Lang's collections, scoured the 398.21 shelf in every library I entered, lay awake at night retelling and improving my favorites in my head. To this day, I'm a sucker for a retelling or spinoff of these weird old stories.

The prompt I chose was for the Bremen Town Musicians. In reading over the source text, I noticed something I'd forgotten: the musicians never actually got to Bremen. I also had a lot of thoughts about domestication and opposable thumbs, and, well, here's what happened: Kicking Up the Dust (3484 words).

sanguinity and grrlpup generously and supportively beta'd my story on short notice. Grrlpup provided me with a title, and Sanguinity answered all my how-does-this-work questions (of which there were many!).

I was delighted with my gift, which beautifully resolves an overlooked gap in a well-known tale:
The Twelve Dancing Princes by Rosencrantz (2910 words).

If this sort of thing tickles your fancy as well, here are some of my other favorites from this year's exchange:

Two tales of kind-hearted tricksters by lady_ragnell:
the only cat who knows where it's at [Puss in Boots] (4503 words)
keep me searching for a heart of gold [Rumplestiltskin] (8383 words)

And a dark and creepy continuation of the dark and creepy Song of Heer Halewijn:
Bargains Cruelly Made by Scytale (2399 words)

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*The first fiction I remember writing for a school assignment was fanfic, in 3rd grade. Titled "Over the Falls," it was an illustrated story about Snufkin and Little My (from Tove Jansson's Moomin books). One of these days I'll have to dig it out and scan it.

Books I Read in 2017, sorted by author
(with my entirely subjective ratings, on a 1-5 scale, in parentheses)

( Click to see the whole list... )

Stats:

Total authors: 27 (this number, and other author-related stats, do not include the anthology or tour book)

Female authors: 18
Male authors: 11

Authors known to be PoC: 6
Authors known to be LGBTQ: 2
Authors not from the US: 6
Authors not from the US or Canada: 5

Total books: 33

Fiction: 13
Nonfiction: 20
Graphic novels and heavily illustrated books: 22
Publication date range: 1974-2017

Things I got better at this year:

• That F-to-M author ratio; or, recognizing how rare it's become for me to feel like reading a book by a white cis/het dude was really worth my time.
• Limiting the number of books in my room: they still overflow my shelf, but I don't have more than I did this time last year, so I call that a win. (My room is the only private space I have in my commune home, so I strive to keep clutter levels under control for my own sanity.)

Things I'd like to do next year:

• Escape into some really satisfying fiction.
• Read more books by PoC and LGBTQ authors, and also authors from outside the US, UK, and Canada (sadly, this one is carried over from last year, because I didn't succeed).

I'm open to recommendations on both counts!

Favorite reads of the year:

One! Hundred! Demons! by Lynda Barry, 2002.
Barry's stories, like her illustrations, are playfully embellished with things that may or may not actually be from her personal history. But the clever details only enhance the starkness of her subject: childhood emotions that still haunt her, decades later. I wished there really were a hundred stories in this book.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2015.
I've had a writer-crush on Coates since I began reading his blog for the Atlantic about a decade ago. I could go on about his precision and flow and word choices, but what really gets me is how courageously he brings his full intellectual capacity to even the most painful of subjects: here, the predicament of a Black father in a racist nation.

The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative by Thomas King, 2008.
The truth about stories, says King, is that that's all we are. Through a series of stories that interweave and repeat like a deceptively simple melody, he shows how stories make us and unmake us, as individuals, families, and nations. King's humble approach to the topic welcomed me in as a fellow evaluator and shaper of stories, and in doing so, gently and devastatingly reminded me of my responsibility for them.

Chainmail Bikini: The Anthology of Women Gamers, 2016.
Until I read it, I didn't know how much I needed this collection of comics by women, trans, and nonbinary artists, about their experiences in the world of gaming (video, tabletop RPG, and LARPing). It gave me all the feels. And the overall quality of the collection is excellent; I found a new favorite story every few pages. Not bad for a Kickstarter project.

Posting this for any of my Dreamwidth peeps who may have multiple DW identities: there's currently a bug which allows DW to send your post to the wrong account without a warning message, if you're logged in to both accounts at once. More details about the issue here: http://www.dreamwidth.org/support/see_request?id=30259