#fannish fest february

[cobaltsoulsearcher]

Who even *is* my current blorbo?

[icannotreadcursive]

Fannish Fest February day 7: Patching a Plot Hole

Prompt from @thepromptfoundry

Okay, so it's not exactly a plot hole, but one of my favorite ever fan-explanations for something is the one concocted by Howl's Moving Castle fans to reconcile the differences between the original novel by Diana Wynne Jones and the movie adaptation directed by Hayao Miyazaki:

The book is how Sophie remembers things, the movie is how Howl tells the story.

What I love about this is that it makes totally sense, and addresses literally every difference between the book and film (except for maybe one, the name change from Michael to Markle, but I think real world linguistic differences cover that one). Sophie has two sisters in the book, but one in the film? That's not important to Howl's narrative here, and frankly he might not be sure which sister is which anyway. Michael is a young adult in the book, but Markle is a child in the film? Well, if he's a teenager, to Sophie who's from a culture where people regularly enter the workforce and begin courting in their teens, of course he's an adult. But to Howl—who we know from the book is a 27 year old from our reality—yeah, no, that's a kid. Howl generally seeming like more of a jackass in the book? Of course he depicts himself in a better light. Omission of Howl being a random rugby playing Welshman from our world? Of course he leaves that out, it's not cool and it's a secret. The thing in the movie where Sophie kinda shifts back and forth in age while under the old-age curse? Howl's POV and awareness of Sophie's true age (and his affection for her) shining through. Every other omitted element, plot thread, and character from the book? Not important to Howl's narrative here. Every added element and difference in aesthetic? Howl believes in rule of cool; let the man embellish.

I love it. And I know I first saw this put forward in a tumblr post but I can't find it—if anyone has that post on hand or knows OP, please @ them with my appreciation for their briliance.

[quart-of-hyenabeanz]

Doing the @thepromptfoundry 's Fannish Fest February prompts, and true to form am laaaaate. Day one was first fandoms. So have some Dakota Dude, 20 years older.

May color this later.

[chocolatepot]

For @thepromptfoundry's Fannish Fest February!

Day 1, your first fandom - There's kind of two answers for this. Technically the first fic I posted online was written for the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, ie Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede and its sequels. However, my bar for actually being in a fandom tends to be higher than that, because around the same time I was getting into Harry Potter fandom, which meant belonging to multiple forums and LJ comms devoted to specific aspects of the books and reading tons of fic and meta.

This was when the books were still being published, and nobody knew exactly what was going to happen. Cassandra Claire was the ultimate BNF and MsScribe had not yet been unmasked. A large part of the fandom was divided into ship-based factions; most of the fans kept to themselves, but some were deeply invested in the debate over which ships would become canon or which characters were interesting and spent much of their time arguing. I was unfortunately one of those fans.

It was a good experience overall despite my immaturity. I made a lot of friends, almost none of whom are still around anymore (@wearpersistencewell, @shaggydogstail ... not sure if anyone else from the old days is here). I no longer have any desire to debate the merits of ships with anyone and I don't care so much if people hold the wrong opinions about characters/events in any canon. I'm so much more mature now that it's disgusting.

[sweettoothbadger]

6 A Fannish OC (yours or someone else's)

I adore all the Hogwarts Legacy OC's I came across. This is probably the rare time when I immencly enjoy reading through all the fanfics and artwork with OCs in a canon world.

My recent weakness - the ever so precious Clora by @choccy-milky

From older ones - Glitch, Arcane OC by @notes28 

[matadorofheart]

Fannish Fest February, Day 4: Your Favorite Bit of Fannish History

my personal Fannish History only goes back to about 2011-2012 so i don't know about much of the general history i feel. but i always like hearing about pre-internet fandom, people meeting up at sci fi cons and mailing out spirk fanzines and such. i've come across some of the art digitized from those and it's just really cool to know that even with a big age difference, we're all similarly passionate about something. i talk to people in fandom now who are probably old enough to be my parents and definitely have their shit together a lot more than i do, but we can meet on the level of "obsessed with a fictional character" and have a good time together 😌❤

in the realm of things i've personally participated in, i was into homestuck at its peak and loved meeting up with other cosplayers at cons. there were always SO MANY of us and i know a lot of people did not appreciate that, but thankfully i didn't have any experiences like some of the horror stories i hear 😅 just fun photo shoots and panels!

@thepromptfoundry

[kaz3313]

Fannish Fest February!

Day one and two:

Day One: First Fandom

My first fandom ever was technically The Lego Movie, I would read fanfictions on fanfic.net! I didn’t know how to comment,didn’t have my own account, and any writing I did of myself was in a Lego Movie Notebook (and will not be seeing the light of day).

The first fandom I started sharing in and understanding what a fandom was, was Undertale! I was on the Amino, and while I know many people have had bad experiences mine were overwhelmingly positive (i did my best to stay out of drama haha). I did a lot of art and writing! Many of the things only posted online are unfortunately lost to time, besides the sketchbooks and notebooks that I’ve kept over the years.

Day Two: Current Blorbo

By my Tumblr in general as well as my profile (and my ao3) my Blorbo is Soldier/Jane Doe (TF2). I just want to shake him!

I was into Tf2 a few years ago but didn’t get real into it until recently. While I’m crap at playing him, I write him quite a bit! He’s my current muse 💕

[thepromptfoundry]

The prompt theme for February 2024 is a Fannish Fest February!

Come, join in the party, celebrate your fandoms, fandom history, and community!

If you use this list, please tag me here @thepromptfoundry, I’d love to see your writing and art!

Feel free to combine different days' prompts with each other, or combine them with other seasonal events. Respond to as many prompts as you want or as interest you, don’t worry about missing or skipping any. Remember, this is supposed to be fun!

If you have any questions or musings, check our FAQ, and if you don't find your answer, shoot me an ask.

Plain text list below the cut:

1 Your First Fandom 2 Your Current Blorbo 3 A Character Who Deserves More Love 4 Your Favorite Bit Of Fannish History 5 Characters Swapping Clothes 6 A Fannish OC (yours or someone else's) 7 Patching A Plot Hole 8 A Fanfic Trope You Always Love 9 A headcanon with canon support 10 A headcanon with no canon support 11 Cosplay 12 A Character Who's Totally Not Dead 13 If The Characters Found The Fanworks 14 Your OTP (or OT3+) 15 A Crossover 16 A Fanfic Trope You're Very Picky About 17 A Ship You Don't Ship, But Do Respect 18 The Sequel We Deserve But Never Got 19 Different Versions Of The Same Character 20 A Friend's Blorbo 21 A Fandom You Didn't Expect To Get Into 22 A Non-Human Character Made Human 23 A Human Character Made Non-Human 24 A Rarepair 25 How You Would Do A Gritty Reboot 26 A Villain Who's So Good At Being Bad 27 Your Smallest/Least Active Fandom 28 A Bit Of Backstory 29 What The Future Holds (Post-Canon)

[kiscon]

K/S Gazette (Jan and Feb!)

First, a reminder: Early Bird Registration for KiScon is still open through Valentine's Day!

If you have not yet registered for KiScon and want that sweet sweet Early Bird Registration rate of $150, make sure you sign up within this window!

The price of in-person attending registration will go up on February 15th to $165. Registration will remain available at that price through the 31st of July. On August 1st the price will go up again to $180. All registration for the convention, both online and in person, takes place through Conline! Register here: https://kiscon.conline.club/ We have also produced a helpful Conline How-To pdf: https://kiscon.org/resources/Conline-How-To-2024.pdf

More information regarding registration, membership tiers, as well as scholarships, can be found in the previous issue of our newsletter, archived here. 2. Submissions for the 2024 KiScon Zine are open! Submissions for the 2024 KiScon Zine are open now through August 1st!

Our editor, @1lostone, is looking forward to working with you.

We are looking for new and never before seen art and writing (both fic and meta!) focusing on the relationship between Kirk and Spock.

For a full rundown of the submission guidelines and access to the submission form, please see the zine page on our website: https://kiscon.org/zine.html

The hard deadline for zine submissions is August 1st, 2024. 3. K/S Spring Fever is in full swing!

February finds you feeling frigid? Not to fret! K/S Spring Fever, our delightful springtime Kirk and Spock prompt fill fest will have you thoroughly warmed up in no time! The prompting phase of the fest has generated 120 glorious prompts, which now beckon to be filled.

You can view said prompts and find out more information about the event on the 2024 Collection Page on AO3. 4. K/S Bingo is also in full swing, and will be for the rest of the year!

If you are active in our KiScord Server you may already be aware, but 1lostone has put together a splendid, low-pressure K/S fannish creation event in the form of a bingo challenge!

The way it works is like this: 1. You fill out this Google form. 2. 1lostone, powerful Wrangler of the Bingo, will then generate for you a custom bingo card, and send it to you either via Direct Message on Discord or via e-mail. 3. You have until the end of the year to obtain the state known as bingo (horizontal, vertical, diagonal, blackout, Texas T – any way you like) by creating fanworks to fill the prompts upon thy bingo card. Don't forget to add your work to the AO3 collection: KiScon Bingo Challenge. 5. Curious what else is going on in online K/S fandom?

The lovely Thia has put together a handy dandy calendar of K/S and K/S adjacent fandom events, anniversaries, and deadlines for the year 2024! It lists the events in chronological order and has links to websites where you can find out more information on many of them listed at the bottom of the page. Neat!

You can view the calendar on Thia's website here.  6. Not enough K/S in your social media feed?

KiScon is now on both Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/kisconnews/) and TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@kisconnews/).

Our lovely social media wranglers @cate-adams and @purpleenma are currently conducting and posting a fascinating fannish interview series, as well as KiScon and K/S fandom related news and updates in delightful bite-sized social media format. If you are active on either of these platforms, please consider giving us a follow!

And that's the news! Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this.

We've said this before but we'll say it again: we love to hear from y'all! If you have a question or comment about anything discussed in the newsletter or maybe a piece of K/S news we've missed, such as a new zine coming out or an online fanwork creation fest or anything else you think might be worthy of note, please let us know! You can get in touch by replying directly to this e-mail. :-) Yours in K/S,

T’Lara & StarshipLillian

[ksspringfever]

K/S Spring Fever 2023 - Schedule, Rules, Links

K/S Spring Fever is an annual fest celebrating Kirk/Spock Day via fic, art, vids, and other forms of fannish expression. The fest takes place on the AO3: K/S Spring Fever 2023 Collection. 

K/S Day is a fannish holiday that occurs on March 24th. It was first created by The K/S Press in 1997.

Schedule for 2023:

Sign-ups and prompt posts: Jan 1 - Jan 31 Prompt claims and creation period: Jan 1 - March 10 Works due: March 10 Works revealed: March 22 Creators revealed: March 26 

The time for all these steps is: 12:01AM UTC.

FAQ:

Why is K/S Day on March 24th?

William Shatner's birthday is March 22nd, Leonard Nimoy's birthday March 26th. K/S Day was originally based on the pattern of Presidents' Day in the U.S. which takes place on the third Monday of February every year. When fans invented K/S Day in 1997, the idea was to pick the Monday closest to Shatner's and Nimoy's birthdays, and that happened to be Monday, March 24th. While President's Day is not on a fixed date each year but can move a few days back and forth depending on the date of the third Monday of February, K/S Day is always celebrated on the 24th of March; it just makes things easier. 

Wait, I thought there's a K/S Day in September?

In 2009, K/S fans on social media declared September 15th as K/S Day, as this was the original air date of Amok Time in 1967. It is likely that they had no idea that this fannish holiday had already been created a decade earlier. September 15th is therefore the date most likely associated with K/S Day on Twitter and Tumblr. K/S Spring Fever takes place in time for K/S Day #1, but we wholeheartedly welcome the existence of a K/S Day #2. There can never be too many days to celebrate the delight of K/S! ;-) 

Do I have to be on Dreamwidth in order to take part in this fest?

No, a DW account is not required. We have a community on Dreamwidth for announcements and discussion, but schedules and important admin posts will always be publicly visible. The only account you really need for this fest is an AO3 account. You are, of course, encouraged to post/link to your work anywhere you like to after creator reveals; so if you prefer to share your art, for example, on Twitter or Tumblr for greater exposure, then you can crosspost it there as soon as the anon period is over. 

Is this a fic exchange?

No. K/S Spring Fever is a prompt meme, that means participants will not get matched one-on-one and assigned to a gift recipient as is the case in exchanges. So no one is guaranteed a "gift", but there's also much less pressure on participants. Members sign up and post prompts until the defined deadline (see the schedule). Prompts can be claimed by anyone who has an account on the AO3, and the resulting fanworks need to be posted to the collection until the deadline according to schedule. If you need more detailed information on how a prompt meme works (e.g. how to edit your prompts, where to find your claimed prompts etc), please see this section in the AO3 FAQ.

Do I need to be signed up to claim & fill a prompt? What if I missed the sign-up phase?

Admittedly, the term "sign-up" is a tiny bit misleading. The "sign-up" form is for submitting your prompts; if you would like to claim & fill prompts without submitting a prompt yourself, then you do not need to go through the "sign-up" form. Just browse the list of prompts other fans submitted and use the "claim" button to pick whatever tickles your muse. When you claim a prompt it shows up under "My claims" on the collection profile and under "Claims" on your own dashboard. Use the "fulfil" button to post your work, please. 

"Spring fever"? Is this a pon farr fest?

Your fanwork does not need to include fever (pon farr or not) or spring. There is no theme for this fest apart from its focus on Kirk and Spock. Feel free to go wild with your prompts.

Rules:

1. K/S Spring Fever is an event for adults as some prompts or fanworks might be mature or explicit. By taking part you confirm that you are 18 or older. 

2. The focus of your work should be on the pairing Kirk/Spock or Kirk & Spock. Slash (romantic and/or sexual relationship) and gen (friendship) are equally welcome. K/S has many layers and aspects, and this day is a celebration of them all. No other pairings will be accepted in this fest. 

3. When we say K/S, we mean: both TOS (series and movies) and reboot; Discovery and Strange New Worlds content is also welcome (let's hope we'll get some K/S-worthy material from these series one day). No RPF, please. AUs and mirror universe are welcome. 

4. Crossovers between different Trek franchises or between Trek and other media are permitted if the individual prompt states this or actively invites them. 

5. All ratings are welcome in this fest. However, when you fill a prompt please stick to the preferred rating of the prompter (if stated in the prompt). 

6. All genres welcome, including darker subjects if the prompter asks for them (as long as DNWs are respected). Use the AO3 warnings if applicable. 

7. Prompts can be filled by more than one person. You can even fill the same prompt multiple times – the "fulfil" button will show up on the prompt you claimed even if you have already used it for posting a work before. 

8. Participants can fill as many prompts as they want to. You can even fill your own prompt. 

9. Please list your DNWs (Do-Not-Wants) in the prompt if you want to avoid certain types of content, e.g. rape or character death or specific tropes. We kindly ask you to not abuse the DNW system: keep it short and simple, and don't box in your creator. When you fill a prompt, please respect the DNWs listed in the request. 

10. All types of fanworks are welcome in this fest: fic, poetry, filks, art, vids, podfic etc. Made a giant cake with life-size Kirk and Spock marzipan figures? Post the photos. 

11. Minimum word count for written fanworks is 100 words. There is no maximum word count. Minimum for art: a doodle or clean sketch (on unlined paper, if you use traditional media); manips are permitted. No banner or icon art, please, unless it accompanies a work of fiction. 

12. Fanworks in languages other than English are allowed. As this is not a one-on-one gift exchange, but a prompt fest, fanworks in languages other than English are absolutely permitted and welcome! Each prompt can inspire a wide variety of fanworks, and as long as you respect the DNWs and the maximum rating of the chosen prompt, it’s all fine! 

13. Please keep your work anonymous until creator reveals and don't blabber about it on social media. Guessing who wrote what is part of the fun. 

14. Works posted to the collection must be new (created for this fest and unpublished) and complete. No WIPs or placeholder uploads! If you post a work with more than one chapter, it must be complete before the due date. Podfics of older and published fics are allowed, as the podfic itself is a new work. 

15. We allow extra works to be posted to the collection: If nothing among the submitted prompts tickles your muse, and if you missed the chance of submitting a prompt that you could have filled yourself, then you can still take part in K/S Spring Fever by posting the work directly to the collection, without using any "claim" or "fulfil" button. Make sure to put the correct collection name into the appropriate field during the posting process (e.g. for 2023 the collection name is "KS_SpringFever2023", without the quote marks), so that the work stays unrevealed and anonymous until we go live / until creators are revealed. We think of these extra works as treats for the whole community. However, please do have a good look at the list of prompts before you choose to take this road. There are such lovely prompts waiting for creators to pick them, and this should take priority over treats. 

16. Last but not least: Be courteous to the other participants, act in good faith and assume good faith. For all questions, please contact the mod (DW, Tumblr, or email: kirkspockmod+ksspringfever@gmail.com). We are happy to help!

[fyeahmonthlyevents]

2023/2024 Events Roundup

[last updated Jan 19, 2024] [disclaimer: blog only created… Aug 29, 2023]

If there's an official promo, it'll be linked!

--

SEPTEMBER

Sapphic September

Sicktember

Sintember

Smutember

Spanktember

OCTOBER

Angstober

Artober

Cringetober

Drawtober

Fictober

Flufftober

FungusTober

Goretober

Kinktober

OC-tober

Smutober

Whumptober

Witchtober

Weretober

NOVEMBER

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

Artvember

Comfortember

Drawvember

Fluffvember

Huevember

Ohne-vember

Slowvember

Writevember

DECEMBER

AMonthOfWhump's Winter Whumperland

DadDecember

Decadencember

Drawcember

JANUARY '24

A January of Firsts

Gen-uary Fic Rec Fest

Januarty

Whumpuary

FEBRUARY

Fannish Fest February

Febuwhump

Femslash February

[cobaltsoulsearcher]

Finnish February!

I’ve had some higher pain days recently and got behind, so for my own sanity I’m gonna blitz through some of the days I missed, focusing on Hadestown!

4. Favorite bit of fannish history -

Y’all, there are so many versions of Hadestown. So so many. And there’s amazing lyrics in all of them. I’m not sure what exactly is my favorite but it will always be 💜 to me that the Vermont production ended like this:

“Come, my son, we try and we fail / Every tale has an end But the pale dawn breaks / And the snake eats its tail / And the tale begins again . . .”

Which I just love so much. It’s from a song called Cloud Machine ( @hadestownreconstruction could probably say more?)

5. Clothes swap

Okay just

Imagine for a second

The Persephone Swap ✨

Hadestown Persephone absolutely wrecking her husband dressed like this.

6- A Fannish OC

Sooo I made a Hadestown OC called Seren, based on the idea—what happened if someone in Hadestown was able to make new memories? He’s Hades’s personal secretary, a snarky bastard who revels in knowing things you don’t but is also very much not evil, just…part of the system. True Neutral, you could say.

7- Fixing a plot hole

Hi sorry I refuse to believe Hadestown has plotholes /j

[icannotreadcursive]

Fannish Fest February day 5: Characters Swapping Clothes

Prompt from @thepromptfoundry

Howl's Moving Clothesswap

(Also available to read on Ao3)

Sophie thought she might die laughing, lungs burning, eyes watering, curled involuntarily with her knees to her chest as Howl flounced through the room in one of her dresses.

“I don't think I'm pretty at all,” he said with a dramatic swish of his recently-bleached hair. “Not like my sisters—no, I'm the smart one,” he twirled, “the responsible one.”

“Howl!” Sophie shrieked, completely failing to sound affronted.

He continued, undeterred. “That's why I do things like wander off into the wilderness alone with no plan and thrust myself upon famously dangerous wizards—because that's so responsible of me!”

“That is not what happened!” she objected, throwing a decorative pillow he dodged easily.

“That's how I remember it,” Howl said with a shrug, settling to sit on the edge of the hearth, smoothing the skirt over his legs as he did. It was scandalously short on him, the gazelle-legged fool. He slid a conspiratorial look towards the fire. “What do you think, Calcifer?”

“I think I'd better not get in the middle of this,” Calcifer grumbled, tossing up a little spray of sparks as he pulled another log into the grate for himself.

Howl gave a little half nod of respect for the demon's abstention and crossed his arms, leaning back against the tile work. “How—”

“You're going to get soot on my dress.”

“I'll wash it. How—”

“You never do the washing!”

“I might if you ever let it sit for longer than five minutes!” Howl laughed. “How do you remember things, then?”

Sophie glared at him, then got up from her armchair with a roll of her eyes, pulled the ribbon tying back her hair, shook it out, paused, stalked across the room to grab one of Howl's flashy oversized jackets from the coat tree by the door, slung it around her shoulders, and drew herself up with a deep breath. “I'm Howl Pendragon,” she announced, strutting forward like a peacock, “and the Wizard Jenkins, and at least half a dozen other aliases, because if I have to face a single responsibility or consequence I will simply dissolve into a pile of goo.”

“Hey, now,” Howl warned, but there was a chuckle to his voice.

“I act like a heartbreaker, but I am, in fact, such a desperately insecure twit,” she draped an arm across his shoulders, “that I will literally dissolve into a pile of goo over not being blond.”

With a chagrinned grimace and half a laugh, he pulled her into his lap and tucked his face into the side of her neck. “In my defense, I do look good blond.”

She kissed the top of his newly-cornsilk hair. “You are so shallow sometimes. But,” she sighed, “you are pretty.”

He looked up at her, expression serious. “So are you.”

She smiled and kissed him. One hand coming up to tangle in her starlight-silver hair, he kissed her back.

An exasperated huff of embers floated up the chimney.

[quart-of-hyenabeanz]

Day 3 of @thepromptfoundry 's Fannish Fest February: underappreciated characters.

Was just going to do an in-style doodle of Barcus, but was talking with my SO, who didn't realize he's a boy-faced dog, and we touched on how unnerving he would actually look.

So here's some unnerving realistic-ish Barcus.

[chocolatepot]

Late to today's Fannish Fest prompt by @thepromptfoundry - favorite bit of fannish history.

I know I have a better answer for this somewhere in my head, but all I've been able to come up with is the Cassie Claire Plagiarism Exposé. Watching those chapters drop with the tables showing entire paragraphs she'd stolen was simply epic.

[sweettoothbadger]

1 Your First Fandom

As strange as it may sound that would probably be anime - specifically, Shaman King. Funny thing but at the time it was airing on the local tv channel and I did not even know that is was an anime and not a regular animation show. Also worth mentioning, W.I.T.C.H. and Jackie Chan Adventures animated.

@thepromptfoundry has a brilliant prompt idea fro this February, so jump in everybody on this fandom train)))