Maybe I just think too much...smells like wood burning.

[vulgarweed]

OK, the next long GO historical fic is definitely starting to coalesce in a big way. (About time too, some of its weirder ideas have been around for almost a year.)


But I think sideways so...I was thinking this "morning" of a conversation use_theforce_em and I had a little while ago about how it'd be fun to have a GO fanworks fest where people are encouraged to really let their freak flags fly. Bizarre never-done pairings, outré kinks, utter crack.

See, looking at HP fandom, one of its greatest strengths in the Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations department, is that, no matter how weird your fic is, you can always find something to point to that's far freakier and say, "now, THAT person who wrote THAT is SICK. I'm just...adventurous." It's just like the way someone with pink hair and a nose ring would get stared at and maybe threatened in my 200-person Appalachian home town...but in the East Village of NYC, not so much. But there, the seven-foot-tall drag queen with the prosthetic horns and the diamond teeth wearing nothing but sequins, a gigantic peacock tail, and a python might draw a comment or two (not necessarily negative, just a certain awe). It's a matter of where the frontiers are placed. It's relative.

So more than once I've found myself getting nervous about a GO fic and twittering, "Is this too out-there"? over something that's, frankly, pretty damn tame in the grand scheme of things. The idea of the fest (which I think I'd name with some reference to St John of Patmos and his magic mushrooms) would be, well, first and foremost, to have BIG FUN, and second, to move the goalposts.

Comments

[apricot-tree.livejournal.com]

Based on my experience of small midwestern towns, my guess is that the "the seven-foot-tall drag queen with the prosthetic horns and the diamond teeth wearing nothing but sequins, a gigantic peacock tail, and a python" would clear the whole 200 person town out in about 30 seconds screaming about alien invasion.

It's all relative.

I think it's great that people can write whatever they want. How boring would it be if we all had the same viewpoint?

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Hee, yup. And knowing your audience is a big part of getting the reaction you want...in all regards, including writing. :D

[stained_glass]

Hoorah for IDIC, in Infinite forms! :D

(but especially in teh pr0n, precious) :p

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Smut is an ecosystem. Biodiversity is a sign of good health. :D

[sanomi.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a truly wonderful idea. I'm totally there! I mean, it'd be a place where I could post my Aziraphale/Hastur-- which is somewhat out there according to the usual way the fandom works, but in the grand scheme of things is terribly tame. X3

The fun thing about crack!fests is that, on the whole, some things really aren't all that much crack. It's all relative, like you said.

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

I mean, it'd be a place where I could post my Aziraphale/Hastur-- which is somewhat out there according to the usual way the fandom works, but in the grand scheme of things is terribly tame. X3

Exactly. That's the kind of thing that's a natural for this, I think!

I think my masterplan is aiming for a re-examination of just what constitutes crack and why. :D But ssshhhh...it's not as much fun if there's too much thinky meta stuff at first.

[waxbean.livejournal.com]

yikes! a new long historical fic from you? and you think you might be pushing the limits?????

well, count me in (sorry to be so presumptuous, V- perhaps I should say: if there's anything you need in the way of brainstorming or beta-ing or general story-talking, feel free to call on me!).


I like the idea of a fanworks fest -
I think when I read one of your latest posts... yes, the one about giving pairings and prompts and then having them shuffled... I was thinking that a comment-fic one for GO might be fun... perhaps a party over on L-T sometime? That could give folks a chance to wet their whistles for all fun-on fest.

I'm game.

xoxoxM

[waxbean.livejournal.com]

btw, I meant a full-on fest not a "all fun-on fest"

what the hell would that be anyway?

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Yeah, big bun in the oven, it seems. The limits its pushing, if any, will be metaphysics-related, I think. :D

And I may well call on your beta-ing and brainstorming powers, m'dear - it's so good to have you back in action.

Thinking about this fest, one of the first fics that came to mind as the sort of thing I want to encourage is your amazing Shadwell story.

I was thinking that a comment-fic one for GO might be fun... perhaps a party over on L-T sometime? That could give folks a chance to wet their whistles for all fun-on fest.

Oh, that DOES sound fun. From the Porn Battle experience I learned that max comment fic length is in the 700-word range--more than a drabble, less than a full-on story, which might be a comfy length for people to play with. But what if I gave an orgy and no one came?

[sanomi.livejournal.com]

Well, you'd have me and Mary there, so who else do you need? XP Kidding aside, I think people would show up if they had enough time to prepare (you know, shower, brush their teeth, make sure to wear clean underwear).

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Or no underwear at all. But the right KIND of "no underwear."

[waxbean.livejournal.com]

oh, I'll be at your orgy for sure.

BabyBean is awake now for a bit... but later on tonight? I'm there.

I can't think of a better way to approach the last half of the weekend that short, dirty, boundary-pushing GO porn.

I'm at hubby's computer... so I can't do the honors... but I encourage you to!

hmmm....

meanwhile I'll be thinking of how to flesh this out:

"How do ye get yer table rattlin' wumman?

"Oh, that."

(long pause, some giggling, some shuffling)

"That's just Adam, silly."

"Hi, Mr. Shadwell."


xoxoxoxoM

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Ooooo, maybe. Let me give it some thought how this would go. But still, I don't want people to shoot their wad completely on cracky ideas. Maybe mention I'm thinking of starting a fest, and plug the commentfic thing as a warmup?

Also, it doesn't have to be porn. Anything you've thought of, and maybe put aside as "too cracky" will do, any kind of idea at all.

[blueeyedtigress.livejournal.com]

But what if I gave an orgy and no one came?

My dear, that sounds like a very good definition of the highly unlikely. If not of the impossible. Count me into this orgy of yours ... assuming I can conceive of something cracky enough to even count .... %P

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Also a very good definition of "frustrating." :D Oh, I'm so glad to see your enthusiasm, and don't sell yourself short!

[blueeyedtigress.livejournal.com]

::blush:: I only just now caught the pun in that line, BTW. I most eagerly learn at your feet, but I still have much to learn (and unlearn), sensei! 8]

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

And yet...your reply was so perfect I thought you'd seen it all along. :D

[blueeyedtigress.livejournal.com]

Well, God cares for babes, drunks and idiots, and I've been adding to my Guardian Angel's ulcer for decades, poor lad ...

[blueeyedtigress.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear ... John and his mushrooms ....! Perfect.

Really-really-really-really looking forward to your next GO historical -- as REO Speedwagon said, "You take me to the places that alone I'd never find."

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Not all Revelations have to be the scary, bloody-sea kind. :)

This one will almost certainly go to some places I haven't been (and one or two I have).

[blueeyedtigress.livejournal.com]

True, true -- you've taught me that much!

So .... all teasing aside, have we got an ETA on this work? Pretty-please?

And will Merlin be doing more of her wonderful illos?? ::crosses fingers::

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Oh, we've got quite a ways to go on this. Still in research-and-noodling and sketchily-outlining stage. These things go at their own (glacial) pace. And yes, definitely the plan is to work with Merlin on this one, all the way!

[celandineb.livejournal.com]

Hey, as a fangirl of yours, I like the out-there stuff you write (yay, promise of new long fic one of these days). And it's not really all that out there, usually... okay, there are some exceptions. *veg* So go for it! Have a fest and challenge other folks that way!

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I guess Adam/Adam was kind of out-there. But that wasn't even my idea! :D

I keep seeing people propose these fabulous crackfic bunnies in chatting or whatever, and so many of them never developed to their full potential...

[shadowvalkyrie.livejournal.com]

Oooohhh!!! New fic!!! *looks forward to it*

About the orgy you're planning...
Hmmmm....
I don't think there has been somthing so very /out there/ in the GO fandom, yet, but then I'm not so sure I'd want to read anything really absurd. It's exactly what I never read in the HP fandom, except if I have one of those days I need a) a good laugh, b) to be weirded out thoroughly so I can concentrate on something other than porn. Even if something as ...adventurous as Mr Filch/his cat or Legolas/Gollum (believe me, I've seen both and ran screaming!) was standard in the GO fandom (which is rather unlikely with the limited number of cast members), I doubt I'd manage to read that, especially not if the author expects something like a straight face and honest feedback. (And this is the diky woman who gets odd looks in her home village talking.) I mean it'd certainly make for an amusing parody to write, say, Crowley/potted plant, but as soon as someone tries to make something sad and angsty out of it, I doubt I could wrap my mind around it. I have always thought that pairings have to make /some/ sense.
Aziraphale/Crowley, that much is clear, has a shipload of subtext and is a nice thought as well, with lots of reasonable angst and cute religious symbolism (and I can read kinky things /there/ and enjoy them lots, just so you know).
Az/Crowley/Adam works as well (at least in what you've written so far, it does perfectly), especially since the book ends sort of openly and it's easily imaginable that an older Adam would be more curious where his less normal acquaintances are concerned (and I don't say that only because I'm writing some right now *ggg*).
However, as soon as someone came around with surreal things like Aziraphale/R.P. Tyler's poodle (which would make my eyes water -in a bad way- even as a parody), and took them seriously, I'd first scream, then fall unconscious, wake up, scream more, fall unconscious again and then go bleach my brain with something rather acidic.
Maybe I've got weak nerves, but no, I don't want GO to end like HP.

Still, I'd of course be glad to have another chance to read a lot of GO fic, but please don't be offended if I leave out the weirder things and only read those I can find remotely plausible.

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Oh, I absolutely understand what you're trying to say - and no, I'm definitely NOT offended by anyone choosing not to read what doesn't appeal to them, ever, why would I be?

See, I have a couple different ways of approaching fanfic. There are those stories which fit plausibly with canon naturally, and those are one kind of approach; there are some that never would, and that's part of the point of them (fanfic is about the "what-if" for me, in all kinds of ways), and then there's a big part of me as a writer that enjoys the challenge of making something seem plausible that originally seemed cracky to me even at the time. (Probably my best example of this to date is that Merry/Pippin/Treebeard PWP I wrote a few years ago...where I did work hard to make it really sexy and almost serious, and a few people have told me I did well, so that's good enough--even if it only appeals to one other person, it's still worth doing, IMO.)

It probably helps that I am really, really hard to squick, and my reaction to seeing that someone hs tried a bizarre pairing isn't to be scared or grossed out, it's kind of like taking a professional interest in seeing how they pulled it off, if they did. Also, I have to say, mischief is a BIG factor. :D

[shadowvalkyrie.livejournal.com]

I meant I'd understand if you were, because it's a lot of work you are taking upon you again...

If you see it that way, I does make some sense... Challenge, huh?
(But again Merry/Pippin/Treebeard is not THAT far out there *ignores incest and sex with plants (is there a special term?) for a moment*. There /is/ chemistry. I would have thought of the whole relationship as platonic somehow, though. *shrugs* Really depends on who's writing it and how.)

I'm not too easily squickable, either, but not being squicked very much by something and truly enjoying something is usually a difference. As a rule of thumb, I usually don't write porn about things/persons I wouldn't want to sleep with either. Can't do it to the characters then. ";-D
Where reading is concerned, again, I'd read the weirdest things for fun, but as soon as someone tries to sell me Aragorn/Sam/Balrog or Crowley/a bookshelf as the most tragic OMG!!1 OTP!!1! in forever and insists to take it seriously, I don't know whether to laugh or cry and go *eyeroll* *edge away from weird person*. If something doesn't make sense, it shouldn't be taken beyond a parody.
But maybe I'm just not tolerant enough.

I'd very much like to contribute something, as long as it's within the boundaries of my own personal taste and doesn't require me to write porn about something that involves R.P.Tyler's poodle (paired with something other than perhaps Dog at least). Otherwise I'm looking forward to the cracky stuff (absurd crossovers, nonsensical bunnies and the like) a lot.

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Sure, but I'm not planning this to be NEARLY as labor-intensive for the mods as GOE is. :D Don't worry - everything I do is aimed at People Who Like That Sort of Thing and I'm not upset by those who don't fall into that category.

Well, incest and plant sex isn't something everyone can ignore...:D Though first-cousins aren't even considered incest everywhere--they can get married in some US states--and Merry/Pippin is a very popular pairing in LOTR fandom, so that angle hardly registered with me. I was more concerned with the technical problems the sex presented. :D

Oh, you can write absolutely anything you want for this. I'm thinking there are two ways to submit something: you can write your own cracky idea, and there will be a post of mutant bunnies offered up by other people and if one strikes your fancy, you can adopt it. Absurd crossovers and nonsense are totally welcome and smut is definitely NOT required, although it's welcome.

[shadowvalkyrie.livejournal.com]

Technical problems? What technical pro-
O_o
Oh, yes, right, technical problems. *winces* I hadn't even thought about that! Okay, now I'm curious how you handled /that/...
That's actually great as I have a good lot of weird bunnies I'm too untalented (and/or lazy) to write myself or think that they could be written better by someone else.
Maybe this is going to be more fun than I suspected after all.

[use-theforce-em.livejournal.com]

Fic! *bounces* Oooo, what era? Clue? Pwease? *is cute*

I think that sounds like a fabulous idea. :D Of course, my stuff would probably be less porny, seeing as crack for me nearly always consists of combining fandoms in a weird way.... (well, there was actually that 'robot porn' discussion I had with allthisnonsense when we were making Star Wars connections in GO, and I realized that CrowleyandAziraphaleareR2-D2andC3PO. *coughs* Yeah, that one really should be written. XD) But you never know. Someone could bunny me with something crazy, and I'd probably write it to appease my curiousity. I'm far too easy. ;D

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Don't get too excited yet-it's gonna be a while. Oh wow, you are cute. Era? 13th century. And Western Europe is not in the picture.

Oh, it doesn't have to be porn at all. Any weird idea is welcome.

I was thinking of giving participants two options (1) Write and post their own crackfic ideas and (2) have people offer up their own mutant bunnies for (maybe) others to pick and choose from. What do you think?

CrowleyandAziraphaleareR2-D2andC3PO

O.o

AHAHAHAHAH you are so right! XD Y'know, daegaer once wrote a brilliant fic a few years ago in which they were Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi, but I think this idea fits even better.

[use-theforce-em.livejournal.com]

No Western Europe? Oh, that makes me insanely happy. Definitely need more of them everywhere else in the world. Because, c'mon, they'd get bored after a few hundred years I'm sure. ;)

Hmmm.... I'm really terrible because I like both ideas. Maybe you could have two sections for it? One to post your own fabulous crack, and one area where people drop off insane prompts?

Yes, I've read that Obi-Wan/Vader fic! I absolutely died laughing. But I'm really determined to go back to the beginning and prove this theory of mine; every single exchange between those lovable little droids makes so much more sense when you realize who's talking.... *sighs and opens Microsoft Word*

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Nope, no Western Europe. There's a whole big world out there! (I know I've already had them Sharing Body Heat[tm] on Everest, but that was just an appetizer. XD)

That's it, I'll do both then. You wanna co-mod with me?

I am SO looking forward to this. Did you catch on that there are actually two SW homages in "Brag it Out"?

[use-theforce-em.livejournal.com]

Yes, and they're supposed to be wiling/thwarting all of it! (And I really have to read that one.... *glances at her finally finished end-of-term-essays* And now I have time!!! :D)

Really? OhmyAdamYES! *cough* I mean, yes. I would absolutely love to. ^__^

Wait, two? *racks brain* I definitely remember the one. I might have caught the other, but my brain is probably faltering on me.... *grins* And now I have an excuse to spend hours watching Star Wars, which I've been trying to do for a while now. XD

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Oh, and they do get tangled in the wiles and the thwarts of this one, do they ever...:D It's a research monster too. The bibliography for this...*shudders* (Enjoy! It's a good one for a wintry night, I think)

Squee! Oh yay. Well, I know what my project's gonna be for the next couple days then! I'll let you know when I got it all set-up-like. :D

I could tell you what it is, but I think you'll have more fun (and get more inspiration) watching hours of Star Wars...:P

[use-theforce-em.livejournal.com]

*giggles* Yay for bibliography! As laborious as it can be, I can easily say that historical geekiness is one of my favorite things about the GO fandom. (Must get cold now...)

*feels the glimmerings of crack nourishing her bloodstream* So. Excited.

I think I'll agree with you there.... ;D *reaches for giant case'o'dvds*

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Oh, I just realized I forgot to ask you this - on my big sprawling 13th century beast that roves from Turkey to Thailand, would you like to beta when it's ready? (I'm going to ask waxbean too, but she may not have time and it'll take two anyway.)

[use-theforce-em.livejournal.com]

*whispers*: If you send it, she will beta....

I would love to, of course. ^_^ Just a heads up, though: I'm leaving for spring break on the 28th and coming back on the 21st of April. So as long as you want it betaed before or after that, I'm your girl. :D

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much!! And don't worry about the time, it'll be WELL after that. I still got a long way to go. :D

[malicehaughton.livejournal.com]

If one is already writing a rather cracky fic can it go in? Features such pairings as Pepper/Crowley, Pepper/Wensleydale (and by the end Crowley/Aziraphale of course). A bit of wank will be thrown in (of both the male and female variety)

Also includes a rather loud conversation (one-sided) between Crowley and God about Forgiveness, and it isn't Crowley begging for it, (or even asking for it)

Not really porn worthy, but definitely goes in with the crack.

I am a slow writer/typer (and not the best either) who is suddenly loving () :/

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Oh, absolutely it'll be welcome. :D