Snowflake Challenge - Day 3

[dizzojay]

 Day 3 - Pimp your favourite communities, fests and challenges.  Leave  comment in the post saying you did it.  Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

spn_summergen

 
This is an anonymous, prompt-based fanworks exchange challenge which runs every summer on Livejournal, and always attracts a huge number of participants.  There are a lot of challenges within the Supernatural fandom which focus on slash fiction and art and produce some great works.  These represent probably the majority of fanworks within the fandom. 

Summergen, however, is different because it focusses solely on gen fiction and art.  Every year it produces a truly amazing array of gen fanworks; hurt/comfort, crack, angst, drama ... it runs the whole gamut of fan creativity and the standard of work it produces really is top drawer.  I've taken part for the last six years as an author, and it's always been a fandom highlight of my Summer.

spn_reversebang

This is another great challenge, and one I always look forward to participating in. I always join Reversebang as an artist, and it has really inspired me to stretch may artistic skills over the last few years.  This one, again, produces a very high calibre of fanworks, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

 

spn_bigpretzel

 

Okay, no list of my favourite online spaces would be complete without BigPretzel!

The nature of Supernatural lends itself beautifully to angst and drama and darkness and so, quite understandably, the Supernatural fandom is full of magnificent fanfictions which focus on the angsty, dark side of the show.

BigPretzel's raison d'etre, however, is to redress the balance and celebrate 'the sunnier side of Supernatural'.  I've described this community many times as my spiritual home on Livejournal, and I am proud to be the current owner  and maintainerof this wonderful community which has been running for almost eight years. 

The comm welcomes all sorts of fanworks that are lighthearted, funny, cracky, fluffy or generally sweet.  We have drabble challenges, mini bangs, fic exchanges and all manner of fun and frolics, come on over and take a look!

 

spn_on_parade

 

This is another community on Livejournal that I co-mod and that is very dear to my heart.

The Parade started out of very simple beginnings: three ladies, a lot of Pop Funko dolls and a healthy disregard for social norms.

In 2014, I and a couple of friends had been making little comic strips with our Funkos (otherwise known as 'minis') just to amuse each other, and we decided to start up an online community where we could keep our works in one place.  Plus we thought if we could make a couple of people smile along the way, then everyone's a winner!  

Since then, the community (which celebated its fifth birthday last year) has gained over 120 members who watch, and often join in the madness at this little bucket o' crazy.  With regular features such as Guess the Episode, Cooking with Crowley and a Caption Competition, the mini madness just keeps rolling on, making the Parade one of the cutest and friendliest corners of LiveJournal.

Comments

[fadedwings]

Those look like great comms!

[dizzojay]

I have a lot of fun with them; give them a try - everyone's welcome!

[spiralicious]

All great recs!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I keep thinking the folk over on Twitter who constantly bang on about how they hate the 'dark side' of SPN ought to come and play in the spn_bigpretzel space - except they are so toxic I wouldn't want them within a mile of it! Can't believe it's been going for 8 years - blimey!

[fairyniamh]

Twitter is toxic. I may be a perv, but I can release that on the kink meme.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

No perving allowed these days. All kinks are Bad. The BNF on Twitter say so.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

No, I really don't like Twitter. For some reason it seems to attract the most extreme and unhinged; the sort of people who, as you rightly say, I don't want anywhere near either of these comms. That's why we've never pimped either of them there.

In all the years that BigPretzel and the Parade have been running, we've never had one single instance of fandom hate, and I'm really proud of that. And want to keep it that way!!

[fairyniamh]

I have visited a lot of these. They are all fun, but my stories tend to be too kinky. XD I am a perv.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

Heehee, to each their own!
There's room for everyone in our fandom :D

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

Great choices! Summergen has always been such a great way to bridge the hellatus, I hope it will be continuing despite there being no more hellatuses!

I love bigpretzel and I'm so pleased to be part of the comm. And the same with the Parade, I love it for all the joy it's brought people over the years, for stretching my imagination to create posts and for enabling me to meet up with you and Milly - if it wasn't for our minis we may never have met!