Snowflake Challenge day 1

[galadhir]

• Transformative Works Policy: [what is it, where is it posted]


I'm not sure I have anything as grand as a policy, but on Ao3 I do say "If anything I write makes you want to write or draw your own stuff, feel free. Likewise if you'd like to include it in a podcast or podfic it. I would be completely flattered and would love to hear about it."


• Current Passion [not necessarily fandom or fannish, but anything that takes up your time and thoughts - e.g. knitting, interpretive dance, meta about a movie that doesn't exist, or you know, one that does]


My blorbo of the moment is Jin Guangyao, and I am gnawing my way through every fic on Ao3 that contains him like the very hungry caterpillar through a leaf. (Skipping the ones in which he is a moustache twirling villain.) Then I'm podficcing my favourites.

Having had a professional writing career and burning out, I'm now trying to retrain as a signwriter, so that's something I try to practice every day. I'm also trying to learn to play the melodeon. And in my spare spare time I can be found morris dancing. This year I imagine there will also be a lot of narrowboat-fettling as I try to help my son make his boat livable.


• Where to Find Me: [what platform do you use the most, or what platform do you use for different purposes?]


I use Tumblr when I just want to scroll through pretty things and rest my brain, Dreamwidth when I want to actually interact with people, and Mastodon mainly because I like the idea of decentralized internet, but I've not really connected with it.


• Master List: [for fic, for art, for recs, or anything else]


Fic and podfic are on Ao3
For everything else, I have a Website Of My Own at Galadhir's Home On The Net

• Anything Else: [anything else you'd like to include]

Happy New Year to everyone. Here's hoping this year will be better than last :)

Comments

[yelp]

Whoa! Such an impressive array of talents! I never heard of narrowboat-fettling, sounds fascinating!

I also love the idea of gnawing through Ao3 like the very hungry caterpillar, so relatable.

[galadhir]

*G* Thank you! I'm a bit of a Jack of all trades, as I tend to lose interest once I can do a thing at a very basic level, but it's fun to be able to do a lot of things badly ;)

I think that if you live on a narrowboat you are pretty much forced to pick up a lot of DIY. We've already rewired the 12 volt system, replaced the toilet, added a solar panel and fixed the alternator. We know we have a lot of repainting to do when it comes out of the boatyard, and I want to make some kind of bed curtains. (Radiators are a 'possibly later in the year' project.) So yes, it's an ongoing project :)

[yelp]

Living on a narrowboat!! That must be such a cool experience, especially how much you're DIYing and learning along the way. Hope it's not too weird, but I read your recent journal entries about your son's narrowboat. Sounds like it must be tough when the boat needs a lot of repairs, but good for your son to have you to help out!

[galadhir]

That's not weird *G*. I wouldn't have written the posts if I hadn't wanted them to be read :) Because yeah, I think it is cool - or at least it will be when the boat is functioning as intended. We're telling ourselves that it's a good thing that it broke down when it was already in the boatyard, rather than in the middle of the canal miles away from anywhere, but by now it's becoming hard to stay patient. We'll have to start pushing for them to finish fixing it next week, assuming that they'll go back to work tomorrow. Thank you!

[spikedluv]

The morris dancing sounds fun!

Is your son really going to live on the boat? I think that sounds fascinating (I'm a fan of tiny houses), but I'd probably get sea sick, lol!

[galadhir]

Morris dancing is so much fun. I can definitely recommend it if you can get to try.

Yes, there's a community of people who live on the canals in narrowboats, who are called 'continuous cruisers' because they have no fixed mooring, and they move from place to place every two weeks. With a good arial you can still get internet so a lot of them work remote jobs. It's a very off-grid lifestyle, and fortunately there are no waves on the canals (except when another boat goes past,) so I think you'd be okay :)

[spikedluv]

That does sound like it would be more up my alley! *g*

[mistressofmuses]

Cheers! I definitely hope this year is a better one!

[sunshine304]

Obsessing over Jin Guangyao seems like a worthwhile ffort! :D Though I think it might be difficult to always recognize whether a fic has him as the main one-dimensional villain?

[galadhir]

It certainly is! I have half read a lot of fics and then noped out of them when I saw where they were going with him. I know that he *is* a villain, but I'm not reading fanfic for that, I'm here for the escapism ;)

[sunshine304]

Yeah I can only imagine. I don't mind so much when he is the villain but he should at least be clever about it then. XD Still, fics where he is redeemed in some way likely aren't so plentiful. Perhaps adding tags like canon-divergence or fix-it and then ... I've forgotten how you do it but where he is in the main character tag and not just mentioned as one of the characters.

[galadhir]

There are quite a few JGY redemption fics actually! And even more where his going disastrously bad is avoided. I think people are agreed that he can have a little murdering of the Jin (or Nie) captain as a treat, and torturing people in Wen Ruohan's employment was all part of his keeping up his cover, but that it's only when he gets into the Jin family that he starts doing things that are genuinely hard to overlook.

So there are quite a lot of AU fics where he goes to the Lans instead of the Jins, or someone goes into the past and rescues him and his mum from the brothel before any of it starts. There's a very nice series where he's married out of the Jins to Jiang Yanli and she tames him with the power of actually being nice to him.

I think I found a lot of them by searching for XiYao or 3Zun fic (because of course if he's going to be paired with the righteous LXC or NMJ he usually has to be sorted out first.) But I like him best when he retains the ability to be dangerous outside the lines. I wouldn't want him to be too tame :)

[sunshine304]

but that it's only when he gets into the Jin family that he starts doing things that are genuinely hard to overlook.
Exactly. We can overlook a lot of murder, but killing off Nie Mingjue and Jin Zixuan was taking it too far, my man!

There's a very nice series where he's married out of the Jins to Jiang Yanli and she tames him with the power of actually being nice to him.
Oh I think I know that one, by guqin-and-flute on tumblr? Don’t know their AO3 right now, but I should’ve subscribed to that one. I really liked how this started out as a slight to both JGY and JYL, like JGY gets the woman that JZX didn’t want and considered beneath himself, and JYL gets married to the bastard son, only, that no-one really wants. Could’ve been a recipe for a disastrous, resentful marriage, but instead JYL and her powers of kindness turn it all around. XD

But I like him best when he retains the ability to be dangerous outside the lines. I wouldn't want him to be too tame :)
No he should always be a bit devious, just on the right sight. ;D

[galadhir]

Honestly I can overlook killing Nie Mingjue too, since NMJ was trying to kill him first. But yeah, getting Jin Xixuan killed and (possibly maybe) being involved somehow in the death of his own son, and killing all those prostitutes in such a gruesome way are hard to forgive. (Not his dad, though. Much would have been improved if he'd just killed off JGS sooner.)

Oh I think there is a nice one by guqin-and-flute! But I was particularly thinking of the Peony to Lotus series by Deriliarch (Unless it's just a pseudonym mismatch and they're the same thing? Because it's certainly the same set up. And then, of course, since he's married to JYL and she would be upset if anything was to happen to WWX, he has to solve the cultivation world's problem with WWX too and stop him from dying/reconcile him with JC. It's great! :)

No he should always be a bit devious, just on the right sight. ;D

Exactly! :)

[sunshine304]

Yeah okay he does at least have an excuse for NMJ that is kinda understandable, even if the way he went about it is horrible and unnecessary. If he'd only sooner given up on wanting his father's love, all would have been so nice for him. T_T

Yes guqin-and-flute is deriliarch on AO3, I couldn't remember their AO3 pseud because it's so removed from tumblr. XD I first read some of the snippets on tumblr and it's very enjoyable! Also, a rather unconventional pairing, which is also intriguing!

[galadhir]

Oh it's nice to have that confusion cleared up! I was just about to go hunting for the Guqin-and-flute version of the story on Ao3 and that would only have lead to disappointment. Thanks!

For such an unconventional pairing it's surprising how well it might work! I think I'm going to podfic that series - if guqin-and-flute doesn't mind - after I've finished the one I'm doing at the moment.

[sunshine304]

I have to check if it's actually finished by now; I saw the tumblr fics and then they were cleaned up for AO3 and I lost kind of track of it. XD
Oh I'm sure they'd be happy about it! :D

[galadhir]

It would be great if they were still writing it! (Maybe having someone start podficcing the series will inspire them to do some more ;) We can but hope :) )