caranfindel

Well! Been a while, hasn’t it? Who would have thought LJ would still be alive and kicking at this point? Or maybe not kicking. Maybe crawling. Maybe lying in a puddle of its own blood, slowly dying.

On that cheerful note.

Hope you’re doing well. I’m okay. Not having a lot of progress on anything I’m trying to write. I’m signed up for one bang that I’ll probably drop out of, and I don’t think I’m going to attempt Summergen. I mean, my ability to write to prompts is sketchy anyway, and this year I couldn’t even spit anything out for the latest OhSam Triple Play. If luscious hurt!Sam prompts don’t inspire me, what can? (Go read the ones that are there, though.)

I’m entertaining myself by finishing the one fic I am able to make headway on. Something that will probably entertain no one but me (gee, can’t wait to read it now, can you?). It’s the plot of 2.17 Heart as if it were a true crime discussed on the My Favorite Murder podcast. And in researching this fic, I discovered that something I thought about silver bullets - that they would be softer than lead bullets - is not true. It is the opposite of true. So. That’s interesting.

(No, it’s not. It’s really really not.)

Yeah, you’re right. Let me just wish a happy belated birthday to the amazing kalliel and crawl back into my hole. But hopefully I’ll pop up again soon.

Smooches!

Because I started writing Wincest in the shower this morning.

I’ve never really been into it. At first I avoided it, and then I’d read it if the rest of the story was really good. And that’s where I am now. I don’t seek it out, but I don’t walk away from a good fic just because of Wincest.

And now this plot bunny has burrowed into my brain and it won’t leave. So I guess I write Wincest now.

Don’t worry, it’s not explicit. It’s not about the sex. Because I’m writing it, so obviously it’s about the postcoital angst.

(Why does my phone autocorrect for Wincest and Winchestery but not postcoital?)

(Like I don’t know why...)

Scenes from the cutting room floor - missing scenes and rewrites for 13.21, "Beat the Devil."

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QUICKY_BANG 2018 ROUND 1:
submit short SPN/RPF stories all through January; create art before the end of February

Calling all arty types! Please check out round 1 of the 2018 Quicky Bang season! I've scrawled a couple of phone numbers on the bathroom stall door, and if my stories don't float your boat (and if you're into boats then ONE OF THEM JUST MIGHT), I'm sure there's something else that will interest you!

Friends, Kansans (for surely we are all honorary Kansans today), fandom, lend me your ears. This is a particularly auspicious day. This year, November 2, the day that made the Winchesters what they are, is on a Thursday. I'm wearing plaid again for the occasion, some kind of brushed fabric as soft and warm as a hug from Sam Winchester (and oh, what a hug that would be, and though statistically there's a good chance it would be the last hug you ever received, especially if you were a woman in season 12, well, what a way to go, right?). But I digress. I come to bury Sam Winchester, not to praise him. Although... can't we do both?

Yes, yes we can.




Please stop by the ohsam November 2017 Comment Meme and leave a prompt, or fill a prompt, or do both. Let's both praise and bury our precious little Sammy. (Well, not actually bury. Let's just rough him up a bit.)

See you there!

I feel bad reccing Summergen fics when I'm pretty sure I haven't even managed to comment on some of the ones on this list. And really, every single fic this year was a good read (and God, I'm not even talking about the art yet!). But here's a list of some that really grabbed me, either because they push my own personal buttons or because I love that writer's style or because they're just objectively good

Brontide by Brightly-lit - Subtle and beautifully creepy. Brightly is like, one of the nicest people in the fandom, and doesn't really participate on LJ now, so it was such a thrill to see this was her work.

Signs of Life by wetsammywinchester - Does the impossible by making "Red Meat" even better.

Abide by withthedemonblood - I cannot describe my feelings about this fic without spoiling the fic, so I'll just strongly suggest that you read it.

2081 and Higher by kalliel - One of my favorite writers ever and now she's an artist and I'm consumed with jealousy and I want to hate her but she makes it impossible, so I'll just have to be obsessed with her instead. So should you.

As Other Birds by crowroad3 - I knew this had to be Crowroad's work as soon as I read it, thanks to her gorgeous, inimitable style. Poetry and Winchesters and witches and magic... bliss!

Rae's Diner by marietwist - Art and fic and daaaaaammmmmnnn.

What Lies Beneath by madebyme_x - Another beautiful fic that hits me right in the heart and why do the people I love keep hurting me so???

Coffeehouse ft.. Alternate Universe by indiachick - Any combination of indiachick's and themegalosaurus's brains has to be amazing, and this is.

Long Before We Fall by finchandsparrow - Someone new to LJ who I'm now stalking because I hope we get more like this!

A Hiatus by themegalosaurus - A lovely curtain fic that needs to have a new chapter every week, because I don't ever want it to stop.

And finally, Message in a Bottle by tifaching - Okay, I've already recced this once, but I had to add it to this list because I love it, and not just because it was written for me. ;-)

Thanks again to the mods for organizing this challenge!

Title: Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Genre: Gen, angst
Length: About 3100 words
Rating: Light R or hard PG
Characters: Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester
Spoilers: Mentions events that happened at the end of S12
Warnings: Language and a little bit of violent imagery
Author's Notes: My first attempt at Summergen! When I saw that my recipient was crowroad3, I was both overjoyed (because I'm such a huge fan) and horrified (because what could I write that would be worthy?) Thank you, my friend, for the fabulous prompts, and for being such an inspiration in general. Thanks also to the spn_summergen mods for running this challenge, which I know takes much time and dedication and blood and sweat and tears, and to every other participant, for providing so much awesome gen fic and art that I still haven't quite worked my way completely through, and thanks also to my darling speedy beta, manzanita_crow.
Synopsis: Something bad happens when you break a blood oath with a reaper. Sam and Dean have to fix it.


~~~

They leave the Impala at the Timber Lake Trailhead. Dean slams the trunk closed, shoulders his pack, and raises his eyebrows at Sam, as if to ask you sure about this? Sam shrugs. He's as sure as he'll ever be. It's not like there's anyone they can ask. Not like he has one of the most powerful witches in existence on speed dial any more. Not like there's any real way of knowing if this is going to work, if the weeks of sweat and blood prepping for this are actually going to pay off.

He unfolds the map and lays it across the trunk. "If we head straight east, we'll pick up Route 34 at Farview Curve, and we'll miss all this." Sam runs a finger along the switchback twists and hairpin turns of a section of Route 34. "Or we can go northeast, between these two creeks. It will take a little longer, since we'll have to backtrack some once we get to the road, but we won't have to cross a creek without a bridge."

Dean squints up at the cold morning sky, down at the frozen ground. Scuffs at the hard crust of snow with his boot. "Creek's probably frozen, don't you think?"

"Yeah. Okay. East it is." Sam folds the map and keeps his face neutral. Doesn't want to reveal how relieved he is that Dean actually... spoke. Contributed. Acted like he gives a shit, about this job or literally anything else. He threads his arms through the straps of his own pack, checks his compass, and starts down the slope away from the trailhead.

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And now, let me put in a plug for the story that was written for my own prompt. After S10 ended with Dean killing Death, I got a plot bunny where Dean actually killed Sam, and Death put him away in the promised mysterious safe place, and then stuff happened. But I didn't know what to do with it, so I put it away and eventually submitted it as a Summergen prompt. tifaching ran with it and took it to some unexpected places and I don't want to give away any details, because I want you to experience the lovely way it unfolds. But I do want you to read it, because it's awesome! Please check out Message in a Bottle and show some love!

Get your head out of the gutter. I'm talking fics. I don't post enough recs, and I'm trying to remedy that. So, here we go: four nice long fics to fill your free time while we wait for the S13 premiere.

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I was so proud of myself for being absolutely, completely unspoiled for this week's episode of Supernatural. Usually by the time Thursday rolls around I've seen some little tidbit, such as a promotional still or the title of the episode, since Tumblr is like crack and no matter how often I try to drop it, I have to go back for one more little taste. But this week? Nada. And then at SPN o'clock I noticed my DVR wasn't recording anything (I always wait to watch until the show's been on for at least 15 minutes so I can skip the commercials) so I pulled up the guide and... oh. Rerun. That explains a lot.

The silver lining is that the time I would have spent writing a recap was spent filling a prompt for this year's ohsam Celebrating Sam event. And even though it's a hurt!Sam story, it's trying to turn into Dean's POV, as they always do. I don't know how to stop it. I might have to write both versions. Anyway. If you haven't combed through the list of prompts for inspiration, please go take a look. This is a wonderful, wonderful thing.



Also, since all the cool kids are doing it, I thought I'd post my LJ 18th anniversary stats. Except, since I use my phone, and it looked wonky when I tried to get a screencap in landscape mode, you get portrait mode. I was shocked to find that I have a little Top 100 banner. I'm sure GRRM is nervous about his #1 position, with me somewhere in the 90s breathing down his neck.


This is the kind of high-quality content that put me in the Top 100, folks.

It's ironic that LJ is making a big deal about their anniversary just as so many people are jumping ship. Like many of you, I'm crossposting to Dreamwidth. I hope, like me, that many of you are crossposting and not leaving LJ altogether. I don't want our community here to fall apart. I don't want to have to stop posting polls (I can't post them on Dreamwidth). It all makes me sad.

I'm going to go do terrible things to Sam Winchester now. That always makes me feel better. (Good lord. I am really messed up.)

It's Friday, and we don't have a new episode of Supernatural to talk about, so how about a couple of recs?

I don't post recs very often. I'm really, really bad at it, in fact. And when I do, I feel guilty, because there are dozens of great works I could be talking about right now. So I'm trying to do better.

First is All Your Lovers, which the amazing crowroad3 posted on my birthday (which still makes me hyperventilate a bit because I'm not worthy.) Like all of crowroad3's works, it's a gorgeous, lyrical, visionary-swirly-magical thing. And it's Trials!Sam, y'all. I could not possibly ask for more. None of us could.

And second is The Paper Asks Nothing, by ameliacareful (who doesn't seem to be updating her LJ any longer, so this is on AO3). This is about as different from Crowroad3's story as you can get. I'm trying to think of how to describe it and I keep coming up with words like spare and calm, which don't sound right and also don't sound flattering. The thing is, she has written some absolute gut-churning horror with a quiet, pared-down style which just makes it that much more horrifying.

And finally, how about some absolutely fantastic smut (not just smut but also sweetness and angst and yes there is smut-aplenty) by z_publicizes featuring Sam and a human version of the Impala?

If one of these fics doesn't make your day, I don't know what will.