Podcast Excitement!

So the first Monday of a month is usually devoted to Fandom First posts but... I was on a super cool podcast that I am so excited to share! 

I was interviewed on the awesme Less Than Or Equal. What is that you ask? Well, from the website: 

"Welcome to Less Than Or Equal, a podcast dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments and contributions of geeks facing inequality in their industries.

Everyone of every gender, sexual orientation, race, color, physical ability, and physical appearance deserves to be treated equally by the tech industry and other geeky communities. We believe the catalyst for a cultural shift toward equality is continued conversation that drives awareness and understanding."

A pretty awesome goal right?

I am incredibly honored to be a guest on the show and hope you'll give it a listen and support Less Than Or Equal. 

You can find my episode here.

International Women's Day!

Yesterday was International Women's Day so to celebrate I wanted to post some of my favorite women writers, and to hear what writers you love!  

1. Banana Yoshimoto
2. Alia Mamdouh
3. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
4. Rosa Montero
5. Ludmila Petrushevskaya
6. Octavia Butler
7. Helen Oyeyemi
8. Anita Desai
9. Kim In-Suk
10. Leslie Marmon Silko

  This is by no means an exhaustive list. There are thousands upon thousands of incredible writers all over the world. These are just a few of the authors I've read and enjoyed. Who's you favorite author?

Fandom First: The Business of Conventions

When thinking about comic/fantasy/sci fi conventions, most people immediatly think of costumes, and a gathering of people playing games or talking about the latest books and movies. Few people immediatly think of economic power and the impact a large convention can have on a city. But conventions have a huge economic impact on the cities they're hosted in, and on the vendors and dealers travelling around the world with booths.

In an essay for Apex Magazine, I looked at the economic forces behind conventions and the money behind the funny business of fandom. 

You can read the essay here. 

Liebster Tag! 11 Questions and Random Fact about Yours Truly

The amazing Meghan nominated me for the Liebster award so now you get to learn all kinds of new things about me. exciting, yes?

1. What was the WORST story you’ve ever written?  

   Oh god, so many.... Um... any first draft? There was a story I once wrote about a girl who grew a garden and then TWIST AT THE END. She's blind. It was awful. I was also 7.

2. If you could cast anyone to be your favorite main character, who would you choose?  

   My instinct is Tom Hiddleston, but he's already Loki so that doesn't work out.......I really want to see Gina Torres as Wonder Woman!!

3. If you could no longer write in your favorite genre, which genre would you switch to?  

   Romance easy. In fact I do write in it too so that doesn't really count... I write in a lot of genres already so this is a challenge. I suppose if I could no longer write genre fiction I'd switch to poetry again.

4. Do you ever act out scenes to make sure you get them just right? 

   All the time. I regularly flail around my room trying to make sense of what my characters are doing.

5. Have you ever been caught talking out loud to a character?  

   Absolutely. I mutter under my breath and tend to work in the living room so my roomies have often asked, "What are you doing?"

6. Which character was the toughest for you to write and why?  

   I struggled with the creation of The Bone Queen character because it was the first time I really got to go on and write a full villain origin story. I wanted her to own her choice, not be brought into it because someone hurt her. I wanted her to have agency over her own life, and her decisions.

   
7. What are your top five songs for you current book?  

   Well I actually have a playlist you can listen to for that.

   Blood and Bone from judyblackcloud on 8tracks Radio.

8. What would you do if you could hang out with any of your characters?  

   I would totally hang out with Aramis, the Pulptress, and Jackson! They're entertaining. I bet Aramis could really help with my french langauge skulls too.

9. Which non-standard word do you use most often?  

   Oh god, I'm so bad at this. I like using sounds as verbs so people 'THUNK' downwards.

10. What is the weirdest thing you’ve had to research for a book?  

    So many options... I guess probably looking at how exactly Black Plague victim bodies were dealt with and studying that time period.

11. Based on your search history, would you potentially be arrested? Oh yes.

  Alright so now we come to 11 facts about me.  

1. Two cats have recently adopted me and turned my world upside down.
2. I am a vegeterian and have been for almost as long as I have been eating.
3. I LOVE video games and wrote my thesis about them.
4. I've been going to conventions regularly for over 10 years.
5. Welcome to NightVale is probably one of the best live shows I've ever seen.
6. I use star stickers to mark my calendar with what I've done that day.
7. I hate driving. I really want to live car free but my area isn't friendly to that lifestyle.
8. I've only recently gotten into comic books and I'm in love with them.
9. Cooking, baking and cleaning are how I procrastinate.
10. I'm a morning person and would much rather get up early than sleep in.
11. Dark chocolate is my true weakness.

I don't actually know a lot of people who blog so... here are the few I know. Sean Taylor M.B. Weston Selah Janel And anyone reading this who has a blog and wants to do this. YES YOU RIGHT THERE LOOKING AT THIS ON A SCREEN.   And my 11 questions for you:

1. Plotter or Pantser? Why?
2. Do you write every day or in one great marathon?
3. What's the best writing advice you were given?
4. What's the worst writing advice you've been given?
5. Do you have a writing ritual? What's involved?
6. Favorite author?
7. Who is your favorite character from your own work?
8. What's your next project?
9. Favorite inspirational quote.
10. Where do you do most of your writing? Why?
11. What's your favorite recipe? (Seriously, I need some new ones)

Fandom First: I Ship It!

When people talk about fandom, one of the first things that pop into their heads is about fanfiction, and fanart. While some of these works are more general adventure stories a large amount of fan work is based on a ship or a romantic pairing of characters. (Ship is shortened from relationship).

Shipping first reached documented 'mainstream' with Kirk and Spock in the 1960s though the term shipping was first used by fans of the X-files wanting Mulder and Scully to finally get together. The advent and rise of the internet spread shipping as now fans were able to better find others to talk about their pairings, and a better space to share their works with wider audiences.

Many ships come up with their own name, usually a portmanteau of the two characters name, such as Drarry (Draco and Harry from Harry Potter), Korrasami (Korra and Asami from Legend of Korra), and Sherlolly (Sherlock and Molly from the BBC's Sherlock). This also happens with celebrity couples in Hollywood gossip magazines like Bennifer (Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck) and Kimye (Kim Kardashian and Kanye West) are just a few examples.

However, some ship names aren't quite so obvious like frostiron (Loki and Tony Stark from the Marvel Cinematic Universe) where it's the combination of Iron Man and Loki being a frost giant; JavaJunkie (Luke and Lorelai from Gilmore Girls) which is based on their mutual coffee obsessions and coffee shop meet ups. These names come from idiosyncrasies within the shows that fans know. This naming can make many ship names appear to be nonsensical to non-fans. These names help fans organize, tag, and find new work. Many of these tags become their own community of fans who share fanworks, thoughts, and personal information.

Many pairings use multiple names and there can be discord within the community of shippers about which name is the correct name. To avoid confusion, some also label fanwork "Character A X Character B" to let others know exactly who the pairing is without relaying on a ship name.

The terms, OTP, BrOTP, OT3, and OT4 (and probably onwards to infinity) come up frequently in ships. OTP is a 'One True Pairing' while a BrOTP is a portmanteau of 'Bromance' (a friendship between two people) and OTP to mean a best friendship while OT3 and OT4 are for three or four characters involved with one another.

So why do people ship?

The reasons range widely from person to person. For some, it's a safe way to explore relationships and sexuality, for others it's wish fulfillment, for others it's a way to bring lgbtqia representation to their media. For some it's a social activity and a way to complete creative works and have a built in audience.

Regardless of the whys behind shipping, it's clear that relationships are here to stay as an important and vibrant part of the fandom community.