Brain Dump
Tuesday, October 19th, 2021 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clare328Procastinating assignment writing so life/projects update...
Writing
Planning a SPN Stanford Era Dean fic that is essentially a crossover with Gen Kill, the first part/prologue/spec I have already posted. Have kind of stalled while I plan but posting about it here means I might actually follow through. Genuinely love the character of dean winchester so much, he's everything I'm obsessed with in a character, honestly could take or leave the rest of SPN (though I love DeanCas, don't get me wrong) but I can think about the way Dean feels about the world ALL THE TIME. That said, I want to do something a little more experimental writing wise for the next section of the fic, so I'm taking my time. I HAVE made a playlist for it though (because of course I have).
In the background I'm also blocking a Dark Angel fic, because I rewatched it late last year in lockdown, and it turns out I still have THINGS TO SAY about those characters and how it ended. I found baby Clare's (handwritten!)sketch of a post finale fic and it gave me ideas, so it's percolating. DA Max/Alec is my one true love so I won't lie, it doesn't feel urgent. No one is left in the fandom really so it's a fic just for me - I'm going to take my time and do it right.
Watching
I'm participating in the StackedNatural challenge and enjoying it very much a lot. Basically it's watching every SPN ep on the anniversary of its air date, so the seasons are in chrono order but the day to day episodes are not. It has been an incredibly rich way to examine the text, and I find myself making incredibly rich connections between the various eras of the show. The discord is a bit of fun too - all of us who are mad enough to participate are the kind of people I enjoy talking about a text like supernatural with, which helps.
Making
Fallen hard into publishing single runs of classic fic - graphic design is my passion. This is a form of fanwork that indulges my rereading of favourite fics with my love of fooling around in Illustrator and inDesign. The fact that I have a fancy new iMac that can run the full Adobe suite plus tumblr plus word plus chrome and not even break into a sweat helps. I love this computer guys. It's GREEN.
Anyway, the one that I have finished and is ready to print (single run for me only so I can put it on my bookshelf) is A Good Man Is Hard To Find by Kimonkey7 from long ago livejournal days, which is a gen Dean-centric whump fic that I've always loved. I remember reading this fic as it was published back in 06/07 and being BLOWN AWAY. It definitely influenced me and what I like in fic. I love the idea of preserving older fics that are harder to find/follow (this fic is spread across LJ in pieces) as an object, just for me, that kind of preserves it's value to me as an object.
Here's the dust jacket:
The image behind the title is a Japanese woodcut from the 19th century of a battle with a tengu demon, the main antagonist spirit in the text. The back image is an illustration from a Poe compendium (both public domain/CCO images). While already I'd make changes/do things differently, I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out.
The other one I am working on right now cannot be discussed until after the festive season, even though I'm sure the people I'm working on it for are no longer on dw. But I'm having a lot of fun aping using public domain images and aping penguin classics covers so that fics will blend in on bookshelves. (Note: Only gifting these for fics that have author permission to play with this - ones where the author is no longer around/uncontactable I feel comfortable making for myself but not for giving people - I'm doing this for my own enjoyment and as a way to improve my design skills).
Reading
The fan printing hobby has come out of my love of SPN classic WIP series Down To Agincourt byseperis - other fans of the series have made INCREDIBLE covers/illustrated typeset texts and I got the first three books from this set printed through lulu and it has been the BEST. I have been rereading Map Of The World and it is so rich to read as a text, and this set goes perfectly with all the little notes I am writing - especially in chapter 11. It's a great way to study fic writers I like too - has helped me think a lot about my own writing.
Have currently stalled on She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker Chan because my reading brain failed badly in lockdown, but I love it a lot so I'm looking forward to reading the final part. I'm gonna dive back in once my assignment is done.Speaking of...
Masters
Just working on my final assignment of this semester of my (second (!)) masters - this is my first semester back studying after 7 years in the industry (education) and it is both harder and easier than I thought. Helps that I'm interested in the topic (Inclusive Education, specialising in ADHD and Gifted Ed) and that I have spent years streamlining my 'getting things actually done' process, but lockdown has hit my brain harrrrd. This assignment is a case study/learning plan for a gifted student - is it cheating if I use myself as the model and talk about what I would have done as a teacher if baby Clare had shown up in my year 10 class? Don't care if it is, doing it anyway.
Have been made high ability practice leader at work next year (gifted ed specialist, basically) so this masters is already worth it. Struggling with assignments already but the fact that the govt only pays for my classes if I pass them is a LOVELY incentive.
And now, back to the assignment.
Writing
Planning a SPN Stanford Era Dean fic that is essentially a crossover with Gen Kill, the first part/prologue/spec I have already posted. Have kind of stalled while I plan but posting about it here means I might actually follow through. Genuinely love the character of dean winchester so much, he's everything I'm obsessed with in a character, honestly could take or leave the rest of SPN (though I love DeanCas, don't get me wrong) but I can think about the way Dean feels about the world ALL THE TIME. That said, I want to do something a little more experimental writing wise for the next section of the fic, so I'm taking my time. I HAVE made a playlist for it though (because of course I have).
In the background I'm also blocking a Dark Angel fic, because I rewatched it late last year in lockdown, and it turns out I still have THINGS TO SAY about those characters and how it ended. I found baby Clare's (handwritten!)sketch of a post finale fic and it gave me ideas, so it's percolating. DA Max/Alec is my one true love so I won't lie, it doesn't feel urgent. No one is left in the fandom really so it's a fic just for me - I'm going to take my time and do it right.
Watching
I'm participating in the StackedNatural challenge and enjoying it very much a lot. Basically it's watching every SPN ep on the anniversary of its air date, so the seasons are in chrono order but the day to day episodes are not. It has been an incredibly rich way to examine the text, and I find myself making incredibly rich connections between the various eras of the show. The discord is a bit of fun too - all of us who are mad enough to participate are the kind of people I enjoy talking about a text like supernatural with, which helps.
Making
Fallen hard into publishing single runs of classic fic - graphic design is my passion. This is a form of fanwork that indulges my rereading of favourite fics with my love of fooling around in Illustrator and inDesign. The fact that I have a fancy new iMac that can run the full Adobe suite plus tumblr plus word plus chrome and not even break into a sweat helps. I love this computer guys. It's GREEN.
Anyway, the one that I have finished and is ready to print (single run for me only so I can put it on my bookshelf) is A Good Man Is Hard To Find by Kimonkey7 from long ago livejournal days, which is a gen Dean-centric whump fic that I've always loved. I remember reading this fic as it was published back in 06/07 and being BLOWN AWAY. It definitely influenced me and what I like in fic. I love the idea of preserving older fics that are harder to find/follow (this fic is spread across LJ in pieces) as an object, just for me, that kind of preserves it's value to me as an object.
Here's the dust jacket:
The image behind the title is a Japanese woodcut from the 19th century of a battle with a tengu demon, the main antagonist spirit in the text. The back image is an illustration from a Poe compendium (both public domain/CCO images). While already I'd make changes/do things differently, I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out.
The other one I am working on right now cannot be discussed until after the festive season, even though I'm sure the people I'm working on it for are no longer on dw. But I'm having a lot of fun aping using public domain images and aping penguin classics covers so that fics will blend in on bookshelves. (Note: Only gifting these for fics that have author permission to play with this - ones where the author is no longer around/uncontactable I feel comfortable making for myself but not for giving people - I'm doing this for my own enjoyment and as a way to improve my design skills).
Reading
The fan printing hobby has come out of my love of SPN classic WIP series Down To Agincourt by
seperis - other fans of the series have made INCREDIBLE covers/illustrated typeset texts and I got the first three books from this set printed through lulu and it has been the BEST. I have been rereading Map Of The World and it is so rich to read as a text, and this set goes perfectly with all the little notes I am writing - especially in chapter 11. It's a great way to study fic writers I like too - has helped me think a lot about my own writing. Have currently stalled on She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker Chan because my reading brain failed badly in lockdown, but I love it a lot so I'm looking forward to reading the final part. I'm gonna dive back in once my assignment is done.Speaking of...
Masters
Just working on my final assignment of this semester of my (second (!)) masters - this is my first semester back studying after 7 years in the industry (education) and it is both harder and easier than I thought. Helps that I'm interested in the topic (Inclusive Education, specialising in ADHD and Gifted Ed) and that I have spent years streamlining my 'getting things actually done' process, but lockdown has hit my brain harrrrd. This assignment is a case study/learning plan for a gifted student - is it cheating if I use myself as the model and talk about what I would have done as a teacher if baby Clare had shown up in my year 10 class? Don't care if it is, doing it anyway.
Have been made high ability practice leader at work next year (gifted ed specialist, basically) so this masters is already worth it. Struggling with assignments already but the fact that the govt only pays for my classes if I pass them is a LOVELY incentive.
And now, back to the assignment.
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