2020 Snowflake Introduction

What does the Snowflake Challenge mean to me? Well, a lot of things, actually. I love seeing everyone interact in such a positive manner. I'm inspired by those who step out of their comfort zone to participate. I'm heartened to see the sheer amount of joy the challenge brings. I love watching the collaboration behind the scenes with the mods, and am honored each time I'm asked to be part of it. I cannot imagine starting my year without being involved with the Snowflake Challenge, to be honest. It gets me re-involved in fandom, right from the start of the year. It gives me a venue to meet wonderful new people and be awed by their talents. It gives me the chance to dip my toes into new fandoms, and see what they're all about. –

mizface

Welcome to Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2020! The first Snowflake Challenge of the new decade!

If you’re a veteran Snowflake participant, welcome back; if this is your first year, welcome aboard! All of your mods, old and new, are excited to be bringing you a new round of challenges.

My name is

seleneheart and this will be my second year as a moderator. For me, the days after the holidays are difficult because everyone leaves, back to their regular lives, and the good times we shared have ended until the next occasion. I am looking forward to the return of

snowflake_challenge more than ever. Participating helps me reconnect with old friends and meet new ones, in addition to giving me a motivating kick in the pants in regard to my fannish life.

On odd-numbered days from January 1-31, we will post a fannish challenge. The first challenge will be to tell us about yourself - just a simple (or complicated) introduction so we can get to know each other. Some challenges will be no-brainers. Some will be a little more involved. Sometimes you'll post in your own journal and drop a link in the challenge post. Sometimes all you'll have to do is say, "I did it!" in the comment section of that particular day's post. By the way, you never have to unlock your posts. Just comment to let us know that you completed the day's challenge and we're good.

This is meant to be a low stress challenge, not a soul-killing endurance test. You only do the challenges you choose, the ones you feel comfortable doing. We aren't keeping track, and we aren't going to issue a failing grade if you don't complete a challenge. Of course, the goal is to stretch your limits—that's why it's called a challenge—but not to the point of breaking! We're supposed to be having fun here.

The

snowflake_challenge is for everyone: all fandoms, all media, and all platforms; fandoms of one or ten thousand and one or something in between. You can be focused only on canon, or prefer alternative universes. You can ship real people, strictly fictional characters, or some combination of the two. You don't have to ship anyone at all. Fandom itself can be your fandom. We love meta about ourselves! (Who doesn’t??)

For the purposes of this challenge, a fanwork is defined as all creative endeavors for a fandom. This can be everything from meta to fic writing to picspamming to hosting a comment-ficathon to running a challenge. Yes to vidding and podficcing and reccing and pretty much anything you can think of. Do we want your crafts, your knitted Wonderwoman dolls, repurposed rubber duckies, and MCU finger puppets? Bring 'em on! Do you write promo posts for your favorites? Fantastic. Star Wars quote lists, Touhou Project wiki entries, Trek canon guides, Lost time-lines, X-Files episode recaps and/or action movie reviews? Excellent. Gifsets. Graphics. Fanart. Yes, yes and yes. Concert write-ups. Filking. Icons. Hello Kitty/Star Trek fusion tattoo designs. Yes, please. The bottom line is this: if you spent your valuable time and emotional energy creating it, it fits under the general heading of "fanwork."

Although

snowflake_challenge is being hosted on DW, if you don't have an account here, please feel free to comment anonymously and sign your (fan)name. You can also sign in with OpenID, which allows you to use your LJ (and other platform) credentials to comment. We want everyone to be able to participate, regardless of where you hang your fandom hat: LJ or DW, dA or Mibba, FanFiction.net or AO3, mailing lists or old-school BBS. If you are on Tumblr, you can add

snowflakechallenge. If you're on Twitter, add

2020snowflake. For Pillowfort: Snowflake Challenge. Come one, come all to Fandom Snowflake Challenge.

Tomorrow the master post for 2020 will be sticky-posted to the top of the community to help us navigate this year's challenges.

One more thing. This challenge is about celebrating fandom itself and the awesome people in it. One way we can do that is by interacting with each other. Every time you visit the journal of a fellow participant and comment on what they're sharing, you are helping to create this community. Fandom is about love: love of books and writers, movies and actors, music and musicians, comics and their creators, etc., but it's also about being with and appreciating other fans, and letting them know they matter.

Think of

snowflake_challenge as a 15-day, month-long love meme to Fandom. Go forth and spread the love!