half_light | Snowflake Challenge

I think I'm going to try to participate in the Snowflake Challenge this year. I'll no doubt miss some days, and do others out of order, but it looks like a lot of fun! I'll post something for day 1 on the weekend, right now I'm in a reccing mood :)

Day 2 - Rec at least three fanworks that you didn’t create.

GAME

Mirror: a Game of Choice and Consequence - By

acid
'Mirror' is a truly remarkable Harry Potter game created by writer, artist and game designer extraordinaire,

acid. It's an absolute delight to play, and stayed with me long after I'd finished. Despite unlocking all the achievements, I still occasionally open it up again because I truly enjoy spending time in that world. The characters are wonderful, beautifully drawn and full of life, and many of the storylines are deeply moving. Writing, illustrating and coding a game from scratch is an incredible achievement, and 'Mirror' deserves a lot more attention. People are naturally hesitant to download a game made by someone they don't know, so I wanted to rec it here and also link to this post outlining how it was made. Acid has been contributing fic and art to fandom for a very long time, so if you're a Harry Potter fan, or even just a fan of beautifully produced, unique fan content, give this wonderful game a try! ♥

FICS

Sad Stories – by

writcraft
Most of Writ's stories have been recced dozens of times because they're all absolutely brilliant. But this one (Drarry) is apparently less popular than some of the others and it deserves more readers. Do check the tags/warnings, but at its core, it’s a gorgeous, haunting and realistic depiction of two broken people desperate to feel something. Writ's writing often feels effortless, managing to convey the deepest emotions in such a skillful, understated way. This fic is no exception. The whole story has an almost dreamlike quality, and the final line is an absolute killer. This was the first Drarry fic I read, after years of swearing I could never like Drarry, and together with Writ's delightful Big Bang fic Little Compton Street, I'm now tentatively calling myself a Drarry fan :)

Everything by

perverse_idyll
No, that's not a fic called Everything. I literally mean everything by Perverse Idyll ;) I was in the Snape/Snarry fandom for a long time, but then left for a few years and managed to miss some of the very best writers entirely. So when I discovered P.I.'s fics this year, it was like being hit by an emotional train. I still haven't read them all yet because then THEN I WILL HAVE READ THEM ALL :( So I've been rationing them and only clicking on a new one when I'm in the mood for something I know will be utterly extraordinary. As for the ones I have read – When the Rose and the Fire Are One (Snarry), is so drenched in beauty it's almost painful (in the best possible way.) The prose, the imagery, the characters, just... everything. Where some writers might want to soften the edges of a complex character like Snape, P.I. leans into his darkness and never once flinches from the parts of him that are difficult, raw or even ugly. Her portrayal of him in In Infinite Remorse of the Soul, which explores the Severus & Albus dynamic, is one of my favourite depictions of Snape anywhere. In my comment(s) on that fic, I called it a tour-de-force of a character study, and talked about how remarkable it was that she managed to retain all of Snape's worst qualities from canon, but did so within a story that somehow still afforded him respect. P.I. really is one of the best wordsmiths in any fandom. I would rave about the genius of No Room for the Weak (Snape, Eileen) too, but this is getting a teensy bit long... :D

VIDS

Pulse – by KatrinDepp
I edit video for a living, but there are so many 'amateur' fan-vidders who are ten times more talented and skilled than I'll ever be. KatrinDepp is one of them, and this Twelve/Clara vid is one of the most complex and intricate I've seen. The first half is fast paced, drawing so many parallels and giving so many flashes of insight I see something new practically every time I watch it. The second half is emotional and tragic and aaaargh I miss Capaldi :(

Doctor Who | Third Doctor Era | Jon Pertwee – by TARDISELLIOT TRAILERS
I have such a soft spot for the Third Doctor's era, in large part because Three, Jo, the Brigadier and the original Master all worked together so well. But the show itself was also really quite dark and adult at the beginning of Pertwee's run, which I loved. It had it's flaws, but this video sidesteps them and manages to make Classic Who look like a big budget epic. And that's quite an achievement!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OH!!! Thank you so much for this lovely rec, I'm so happy you like Sad Stories it's one of my personal faves of mine too and I'm always so happy when someone reads and enjoys it. Seconding the rec for everything by PI too and the vids sound terrific - I love fanvids, so I'll definitely be checking those out.

Thank you so much!

I really did love Sad Stories ♥ I'm so glad I read it & Little Compton Street, because they opened up a whole new area of the HP fandom for me. I'm really looking forward to reading more Drarry!

I hope you enjoy the vids :) The Third Doctor one is probably a bit niche, but it does a brilliant job of making people go 'oh, wait, so Classic Who isn't just old, slow and boring?!'

Yay, you're doing it too, awesome! I love seeing all the Snowflake posts pop up on my reading page, since they're usually very interesting to read.

I'm so glad that you recced Mirror! It's such a fun and unique project and I loved playing it. It's definitely one of my favourite fanworks that I beta-read last year. I felt very blessed to be able to play the game in its early stages and see it improve with every new version Acid sent me. I'm happy it's still getting some attention!

Your other recs are also lovely, as always! <3 Will definitely be checking out Writ's fic when I feel brave enough to give Drarry a go.

I've really enjoyed reading all the Snowflake posts too! I meant to comment on yours last night, but typing up these recs took longer than I expected!

Wanting to rec Mirror was actually one of the reason I decided to participate in the challenge. It truly was an amazing achievement and deserves SO many more players ♥ It must have been wonderful to see it in its early stages and watch it develop over time :)

Haha, no problem. I know the feeling. I promised Katze a comment on her latest post as well, but then these snowflake challenges ended up taking the whole evening to do...

I've just taken a look at the Doctor Who videos you shared. I don't know a single thing about the franchise, but that 3rd doctor video piqued my interest! I might just give the show a go one day ^^. I also tried 'Pulse' after that, but I know far too little about Doctor Who to have any sort of connection to it. I do agree it's very well edited though.

Really? You participated in this just for Mirror? Wow, I'm sure Acid will be thrilled to hear that! I really hope some of the readers of your post have been enticed by your wonderful rec to give the game a go :D

Wow, it's quite rare to meet someone who doesn't know a single thing about Doctor Who! I just tried to find a vid for you that would showcase everything I like about the show, but it's almost impossible, because the beauty of DW is that it can be literally anything in each episode. Any genre, any tone/style, set on any planet in any point in time. The Doctor is a member of an alien race called the Time Lords, and he uses his time machine to travel through time and space with his human friends. He's thousands of years old, and can be both very fun & silly, and incredibly dark & angsty. Imagine bearing witness to the darkest horrors in all of history, and losing everyone you've ever cared about because you're immortal. When he dies, he 'regenerates' and wakes up again in a different body, so the show has been running (on and off) for over 50 years and there's been 13 Doctors so far. He never carries a weapon, he has two hearts, and he's a genius who uses his intellect to defeat monsters and save people. I've watched so many shows, but none have affected me as deeply as Doctor Who ♥

Sorry for rambling! Anyway, here are two vids to give you a better idea of it. No need to watch them of course, but just in case you're interested. (There are technically spoilers in the second one, but death doesn't always mean death in this show) ;)
Fun vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wwnKfpNREs
Angsty vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=augxOAiskEY

I'd been eyeing the Snowflake Challenge for a while and was considering participating, but knowing that I could rec Mirror and post a link at the Snowflake community where people would actually see it made up my mind! I have so few followers, so reccing things here can feel a bit pointless. But hopefully this will actually nudge some people towards Mirror :)

Really? I actually know loads of people who haven't seen Doctor Who. In fact, I think you might be the only one I interact with who watches it. Maybe the show just isn't popular where I live? To be fair, I don't think it's even broadcasted on tv here :/

Thanks for your description and the videos! I actually liked the angsty ones best. But before you start laughing about my preference for angst in any fandom, I just thought the angst video was easier to follow. The funny video had shorter clips/ faster cuts, so it was harder for me to understand what was going on considering that I didn't know the context of any of the clips. Anyway, the second video definitely made me intrigued enough to look up a bit more about Doctor Who, but I'm not sure I'll be watching the whole show anytime soon.

Awesome! I hope you'll get a bit more traffic to your journal! I hadn't thought about reccing Mirror because I already knew I wanted to do Toil 'n Trouble, but maybe I'll rec Mirror too if another opportunity presents itself in the rest of the challenge.

I haven't seen a lot of the third doctor and that vid was the perfect trailer; thanks for reccing it. :)

I wasn't sure if anyone would click on that Third Doctor vid, so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it! It really was a great era of the show :)

You are so, so kind. <3 And I'll just reiterate here my wholehearted seconding of Mirror (and of Acid's fic and art as well - imagine having that much talent in one body) and of Writ's work, despite my Drarry apathy.

I know we're in agreement about Pulse, and I still haven't had a chance to post my Twelve/Clara recs to

tardis_library (note to self: no fests, no sign-ups, no promises during December/January ever again, it's a recipe for abject failure and disappointment), but it's on the list as an example of amazing storytelling and character insight and intelligent, breathtakingly sharp, bravura editing. There are other vids that hit emotionally closer to home for me, but none that blow me away like Pulse.

And in case I haven't said it yet - Happy New Year! *hugs*

♥ ♥ ♥
I really was quite astonished by Mirror, and Acid's multi-talentedness. It's amazing to be able to write and draw (both really well!), but to also add game designing to the mix? Remarkable.

I've been meaning to rec Pulse over at the

tardis_library too, but if you plan to do it, I'll leave it to you because you'll be far more eloquent! Interestingly, I actually agree that other vids have more of an emotional impact on me. Maybe because the cuts in Pulse are so quick, and it doesn't dwell on any emotional moments for too long. The editing is so clever though, so you can't help but be in awe of it anyway. Vids like Pulse give me serious imposter syndrome at work :D

I feel like I might not sign up to anything for a while either. I really enjoyed the fests I participated in last year, but I'm a bit worn out and wouldn't mind returning to just reading Snarry and chatting here & on Discord. Which is a bit of a shame, because I really wanted to enter the Thon. But I've been struggling to make my story idea work and want to sit with it a bit longer, rather than stress about getting it done by the deadline.

I can't remember whether I've said it either, so - Happy New Year to you too! ♥ *hugs*

Snowflake Challenge - Day 2 (Recs)

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