Dizzojay's Dean Dreams

1. Do you like your birth name? Why?

2. If you could change your name to anything else, what would it be?

3. What names would you consider giving your children?

4. If you had a band, what would you name it, and why?

5. Is there a name that you completely hate? Why?

Challenge #14

In your own space, create your own fandom challenge. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Hmm, I’ve had to think about this one, and I’ve eventually come up with this…

The Snowflake Challenge is all about positivity, so in that same vein, my challenge is tell us about your happy place, or at least one of your happy places.  A place, either physical or virtual, that brings you joy, or peace, or just good old-fashioned contentment.

And secondly only if you want to, no pressure, incorporate your happy place into a fanwork as or when the muse takes you.  Maybe link it back to this post.

I’ll start:

One of my happy places is at conventions with my fandom family, but I’ve already written in this Snowflake challenge about the joy that conventions and fandom bring me, so I’m going in a completely different direction here.

In the autumn of 2024, I went away for a few days with my husband, the long-suffering Mr Dizzo, to Stratford upon Avon, here in the UK.

On the first full day we were there, we had been walking around the town and we stopped off at a coffee shop and bought a couple of lattes and cakes.

The weather was beautiful with cloudless skies.  It was warm enough not to need a coat, but mild enough not to get hot and bothered, so we sat outside the shop.

On that lovely morning, we sat and drunk our nice coffee, soaking up the atmosphere of this amazing town with Shakespeare’s house right opposite us.  There was a busker playing good music a little way away, and we sat, chatted, enjoyed our drinks, enjoyed each other’s company, listened to the music, people watched, and lived in the moment.

It had been a long time since I felt that relaxed and contented.

I will, no doubt, go back to Stratford upon Avon again because it is one of my happy places.  We may even go back to that same coffee shop, but on that one day, the stars aligned and gave me the perfect experience.

I have a weekend with no commitments coming up and so have time to spend, so let’s see if I can convince my muse to write a fanfic about the Winchester Boys in Stratford upon Avon!

Challenge #12 Create a Rec Countdown. 

Wow, this one got me thinking!

Okay, so my recs are going to consist of:
5 books
4 films
3 Fanfics
2 songs
1 self-rec

Challenge #10

In your own space, talk about one of your fandom firsts. This could be your first fandom, your first fandom friend, the first fanwork you created, the first fanwork you interacted with... The options are endless!

So, I’m going to talk about my first convention.

I discovered the supernatural fandom in early 2010. In late 2010, I met a friend via Fanfiction.net, and we discovered that we only lived about ten miles apart. So, we had a couple of real life meet ups and during those meet ups she occasionally mentioned to me these things called conventions that she’d attended.

I’d heard of conventions in a broad sense, but wasn’t really familiar with what happened at them or who went to them.

Eventually, she talked me into attending the next convention in the UK, Asylum 7, with her. The convention was October 2011 and I was excited to find out what it was all about. I was also invited that Julian was one of the guests and I was going to get the opportunity to ‘hug Death’. Who could turn down an opportunity like that?

So the convention came, and I loved every second of it. I did indeed hug Death, and he was an absolute sweetie. I told him that he was my very first ever convention photoshoot and he seemed more excited about that than I did!

Since that fateful day, I’ve been to probably about forty conventions (who’s counting), many of them still with that same friend, I’ve met Jared, Jensen and Misha multiple times, and my convention-going has crossed borders into Italy, France and Germany.

I went to that first convention all those years ago to please my friend and because I was curious, and I am so very, very glad that I did!

In your own space, write a promo, manifesto or primer for a beloved character, relationship or fandom.

So, I’ve seen this question before in the Snowflake challenge and, in the past, I’ve written about the Supernatural fandom, Dean, Sam and the Impala. 

So, this time I’m going to pay homage to Supernatural’s Bobby Singer, as he holds a very special place in my heart! 

Whether or not John was a good father is a hot debate within the fandom. I absolutely respect everyone’s individual opinion, and mine is that although I fully understand that John was a deeply damaged man, some of the ways he treated the boys was unforgivable to my mind.  I don’t hate John, but he’s not a character I have a great deal of affection for.

Bobby, on the other hand, stepped into the void created by John and in his own blunt and unsentimental way, became a brilliant father figure to Sam and Dean.  His assessment ‘I adopted two boys and they grew up heroes’ says everything to me about Bobby’s relationship with the Winchesters.  He took them under his wing because he knew they needed that support, and he was so proud of how they turned out.

But another reason I love Bobby is his wit and wisdom, and his quote ‘family don’t end with blood’ is probably my favourite quote in the whole show (although Crowley’s ‘they ate my tailor’ runs it a close second!!)

Whilst I know that Bobby was referring to the Winchesters being his family, that quote resonated deeply with me.  You see, I’m an only child and, as a result, with the exception of my husband and my parents, my friends are and always have been the most important people in my life; they’re my chosen family, and it was great to hear someone describe my reality so simply but yet so perfectly!

A few years ago when I turned fifty, I treated myself to a big Supernatural tattoo as a birthday gift to myself – and Bobby’s quote was the centrepiece of my tattoo.

I hope Bobby would approve!

Challenge #6

Share your favourite piece of original canon. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Oh, good grief, here in the Supernatural fandom, we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to original canon. I’ve given this a lot of thought, in terms of character arcs, plot lines, dialogue and  production quality but I finally decided to go with the one short but impactful scene at the beginning of Season 1, episode 4, which was the scene that made me totally and utterly, unequivocally and irredeemably fall in love with the fine figure of a man that is Dean Winchester.

Yes, I’m shallow, I know that, and I celebrate it. Love of Dean’s character and personality evolved over the following episodes and seasons, but on viewing this snippet for the first time, I felt like I started and completed the menopause all during this one ten second scene.