scrubjayspeaks

Challenge #5

Talk about what has improved in your life thanks to fandom. 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.

I love the way that fandom can focus my mind through hyperfixation. By which I mean, being deep into a fandom gives me both motivation and a lens through which to see things. This feels very abstract, so, example time!

Right now, I'm very enthusiastic about the world of Moomins. So I'm trying to borrow books from my library, find copies to buy, and generally research what books exist or will be coming out. I'm watching the 90s cartoon on Youtube. I'm looking for posts on tumblr.

But also, I'm learning Swedish--partly to be able to read the original versions of the canon, but also just out of enthusiasm. It's fun to immerse myself in the language and culture out of which the canon arose, to surround myself with the trappings and vibes of it. Also, it's a fun excuse to try making various Scandinavian foods.

I'm thinking about making a Snufkin hat, which would be the first time I did cosplay crafting since sometime in the early 2000s. It's been a long time since I did fanart or any other physical/nonwriting fandom crafting. It's fun to have a "reason" to make things or a direction for my creative impulses.

A lot of this is stuff that I could do without the framing of fandom. I can try new recipes or make crafts whenever I want. But fandom provides a focus. It both points my enthusiasm and creativity at a target and helps ramp up that enthusiasm.

It's especially nice to have these outlets that aren't writing. Writing often feels like work, or at least feels like something I have to "get right." No one else is going to care if I get Swedish pancakes right, though, as long as I find them tasty. The all-consuming fixation of a fresh, strong fandom gives me so many more outlets that aren't subject to the self-criticism that comes with writing.

I think the reason Stranger Things has been floundering for me a bit is because I feel like writing is the only thing I can contribute to or do to engage with the fandom. And I just can't handle that pressure right now.

Maybe it's because it's a very cozy canon, or maybe it's because it's a non-American canon, or maybe it's because it's a canon directed in part at children. But Moomin feels very easy to playfully engage with like this. And at the literal end of the day, it's very helpful to have something fun to retreat into this way.

Challenge #3

Create a wish list of fandom things (podfic, graphics, playlists, canon recs translations, research help, vids, sky's the limit!) that you'd like to receive. 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.

I would love some podfic recs for Stranger Things. I'm mainly here for Steve/Eddie, though Steve&Robin platonic stuff and found family stories for the group in general would also be very welcome. Light and funny is good, as is quiet and introspective. Not looking for anything too heavy right now.

I would especially like some shorter podfic. There's some truly glorious long fic/podfic out there, but I sometimes want to get my fix with something shorter than 7+ hours! I know some of my favs from the Marvel fandom have been putting out ST podfic as well, but I'm not familiar with most of the people out there podding for ST.

Relatedly, does anyone have any short fic for Stranger Things, fitting the above criteria, that they want to hear recorded? I'm looking to get back into podficcing, and choosing stories is often the real stumbling block for me. Having help narrowing the field would be great.

Not Real Unless You're Here (11074 words) by freshbakedlady
Chapters: 7/31
Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson
Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, The Upside Down - Character, Robin Buckley
Additional Tags: Vampires, Ghosts, Eddie Munson in the Upside Down, Body Horror, Alternate Universe - Mutants, Trans Eddie Munson, Alternate Universe - Fantasy
Series: Part 2 of Whumptober
Summary:

A collection of short fic for the 2023 whumptober challenge.

It's that time of year again! And after falling briefly behind, I'm now caught up on the first week. So far, it is all Stranger Things, all the time. The brainrot is real, friends. I didn't plan it this way, but then, I don't plan this at all.

Much more focused on emotional whump this year, as compared to last. It's just, well, canon already beats the everloving shit out of Steve. Feels like that base is kind of covered. But I want to make that man so sad. Just the saddest poofy-haired puppy ever.

A better, if somewhat confusing week. Work was very up and down. I have done something terrible to my back that doesn't seem to be going away. :/

The 80s synth-pop is, in fact, making me feel better, as is the small mountain of other music I have given myself. New music, it turns out, gives me way more happiness bang-for-my-buck than new books.

I am bingeing on Stranger Things season 4 fic. Have I seen the season? No, fool, I haven't even watched season 3 yet! Have I joined the movement that says that ending never happen, shut your pie hole? Yes, obviously, because everyone lives happily ever after, shut up, shut up, shut up! Am I trash for Eddie Munson? Friends, they gave me a theatrically weird, trailer trash nerd who is pretty visibly neurodivergent and unsubtly coded as queer--I was fucking doomed from the start.

And finally, I have been invited to play D&D with a couple of coworkers. Who are going above and beyond to make me feel welcome and not overwhelmed by the whole socializing thing, which is genuinely touching and baffling. Have I made friends? Holy shit??? *cue preemptive panic*

Lewisia: 3 new regular pieces written, 9 new ephemera pieces, and all of December queued up--finally caught up again

Day job: 42.75 hours, which swung wildly between abject boredom and frantic busyness

Crafting: got 3 out of 6 new patches sewn onto the battle jacket

Gardening: pandemic garden club post

Listening: Cruel Liars by Mightmare (freaking phenomenal, grungy and thumpy), Haunted House single by SNAKE POOL (delightful, fatally catchy), Skablam by Louie Zong (a favorite I finally got around to buying, instead of just listening on Youtube), The Age of Consent by Bronski Beat (hat tip to palmviolet's Stranger Things fic, sub-culture, for turning me onto this wonderful and very gay 80s synth-pop), Please by Pet Shop Boys (because I am just down an 80s rabbit hole now and might as well wallow happily)

Other: dental appointment #1 (more to follow)