[FANFICTION FRIDAY] FanficFriday of the Fourth of February · 1:08am Feb 5th, 2022
...'cause why not? 
So, for my new readers who came in during my (shall we say) "blue period," I didn't always work on one fanfic at a time. My initiation of the project that turned into My Empire of Dirt and Music Box Blues and the resulting sabbatical from the rest of my work was detailed in the Author's Notes blog post here, so I won't rehash them.
Simultaneously, this (much longer than I expected it to be) break from writing Lost Little Wolf and other Fanfic related stuffs has given me a chance to ponder the process, streamline the way I do things, and overall brainstorm.
Where FF really worked was to give me a good, solid direction in my writing when I could be bogged down with an overabundance of choice. I kid you not when I say that I currently have 34 books in my "to write" queue. The vast majority of which I concocted the idea for. Oh, and that's not even counting a special project that I fully expect to take more than a decade to write if I ever get around to it. This doesn't include any of the essays or short stories I've got in mind, nor does it count some projects in the realm of non-fiction writing that I've wanted to try my hand at.
Where FF kinda fell flat for me was there would be weeks at a time where I'd be "stuck" on a project that I just wasn't nearly as invested in as my other projects. The Swarm may vote for LLW or Hive of Queens in rotation for three months in a row...when I really wanted to write a fanfic that was a Librarians/Accidentals crossover.
Also, since I first started writing fanfics for popular Internet publication in my late 20s (not counting the abortive early attempts I made back in my late teens/early 20s...not even sure where to find those anymore...), I've had a child, gotten a divorce, initiated Puberty 2.0: The Revenge of Puberty, been homeless, started a polycule, left the church, and gotten into management level in the corporate world. My life has changed in ways that my earlier, "I'll just dash something off in my spare time" self would have no way of comprehending how to handle.
Quick note about the poll; I do not require that you use your screen name, a real name, or anything like that. Completely make up a name if you want, or just pick a pony name or however you want to do it. 'course, if you do use your screen name, I can thank you by name when announcing the winning vote if you so desire)
So now, Fanfiction Friday will happen no more frequently than once per month. Voting will also happen in "waves," where first a fandom will be voted on, then a specific fic. Expect each voting round to last about a week. This will give me a "deadline" for each chapter voted on of about 2 weeks with a 2 week hiatus from elected writing per month. (give or take) And yes, I'm well aware that, at least at the start, MLP based fanfics will be the OVERWHELMINGLY popular vote.
I'll be using this intervening two weeks to work on "passion" projects. Either whatever suits my fancy or stuff I've promised loved ones. (Of course, if you like the work I'm doing on my passion projects, you can still vote on those.)
So to start things off, my fandoms:
(as usual, click the above image to vote)
- My Little Pony (this includes G4/"Friendship is Magic," Equestria Girls, and G5/"New Generation")
Literally anything that touches MLP G4 and later. The Swarm (LLW & Hive), fans of Empire, Trixie Groupies (DTT), and Dirty Ol' Nags (Consequences) will want to vote for this one more than likely. Unless you're looking for some variety, of course. - Ranma 1/2
If you're unfamiliar with Ranma 1/2, I'm sorry. Thanks to American Purity culture you've been denied the better-than-its-successor precursor to Inu Yasha. If you like Inu Yasha, then you'll probably like Ranma 1/2. As the manga clocks in at 38 volumes with 407 chapters, has a cast of characters that's nearly as long as most soap operas, and who's anime adaptation ran for 5-7 seasons and had a half-dozen or so movies and STILL didn't cover all the plot and stories of the manga, there's far, far too much to summarize. Setup is this: Ranma Saotome is a teenage boy raised by his father Genma as a "man among men" (this is important later) and the best martial artist of his generation. (some say best martial artist ever, but we're not here for flame wars
) His father takes him to a cursed training ground where he falls into "Spring of Drowned Girl." Now whenever he's splashed with cold water, he turns into a girl and returns to being a boy with a splash of hot water. (Note: I had this horribly explained to me the first time I heard about it, (girl)Ranma is the same person as (boy)Ranma, just in the body he'd have had if born as a girl) His father (cursed to be a panda) drags him back to Japan to meet the girl he's betrothed to, and it's here where the story begins. This is a comedy, folks, and if you take it too seriously...there's a fanfic for that. No, seriously, this is the GRANDDADDY of modern fandoms. Sure, the 1800s Sherlock Holmes may have been the ancient fossil forefather of fandoms today, but everything we have in modern fandom, for good or ill, was done in the Ranma-fandom first. You've probably even read works by Ranmafic authors. (The departed MythrilMoth went by the name of The Eternally Lost Lurker long before some of you were born). For a while, the count of Ranma 1/2 fanfics was greater than 90% of all other fandom's works combined. If you've ever encountered the Elder Godcollaborative fanfic MLP Time Loops, you'll see references to "the oldest looper," that's Ranma, and I was reading that fic when it was just a bunch of dumb spamfic ideas being thrown out into the universe. Of course, finding these fanfics is an exercise in Internet archaeology at this point. If you want to read the manga, go here - Other fandoms (including, but not limited to, Urban Fairytales, The Librarians, The Accidentals, and others)
I'm not only about Ponies and aquatransexuals; I also like lesbians, which are inherently superior to waffles no matter what anyone says. I've been itching to write a story for The Librarians and The Accidentals for some time, I've got an old one for Megaman, and one of my daughter's requests is an "Into the Spiderverse" fanfic. Note that some of the "Other fandoms" are being crossed with Ponies, so you may find some familiar faces/muzzles here as well. - Original Works
I'm more than just my fandoms, I've got several ideas that I'd like to get out into the world that aren't based on any fandom at all (even if they happen to strongly resemble a fandom's core IP).
Results of this poll will be announced Feb. 7th (yes, Monday) and the story poll will be posted on Feb. 11 (Friday).
Can you support me on Patreon or something else? Well...yeah, kinda. I do have a Patreon, a Ko-Fi, and a Cash account, which I'll gladly take a subscription or cash gift through, but I don't have a structure yet. If you do sign up via Patreon, expect the promised tier rewards to change A LOT in the coming months. I put those in place before I was homeless and just never kept 'em up.
Selection bias, anyone?
Geez. I was writing Ranma fics alongside Moth back in the day. Thanks for making me feel old!
5633792
*hides pony plushies on bed*
What? What do you mean?
*nudges Sunset Shimmer figurines and action figures of desk so they fall out of sight*
I don't know what you're talking about!
*hides the custom Ranma 1/2 art created by a friend back in the day*
Honest, I'm clueless. It's completely unbiassed.
*throws "Church of Ranma & Akane" membership card at trash can, misses entirely*
5633806
How old do you think I feel? I used to run the Ranma 1/2 Expressway and wrote newsletters for the fandom on FFML!
...but now I gotta know, what was your screenname and your most well received Ranmafic?
5633823 Screen name was the same, I was in the FFML as well :P
I think I was known there more for my Sailor Moon fic: "Masks and Dragons". But I also wrote "The Secret of Ukyo", and the Ranma/Saint Seiya crossover: "War of the Gods"
5633827
Follow'd and bookmark'd!
OK, now, what was your personal favorite EVER Ranmafic that you would recommend to anyone?
My pick is a toss-up between Hearts of Ice by Krista Perry and the Sailor Sun series by various artists, but mostly by BurgerBecky.
5633840 I was a fan of the Sailor Terra series by Fire. But as a Rayearth fan I was always a fan of "A Duet of Pigtails"
edit: also, I'm still working on that thing.