Friday 19 February 2021

Friday Fics Fix - Keep Calm and Carry On

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'The massive box of 64 crayons calls to me, every one of them waiting to be picked and pressed to a page. (I could have gone for the box of 120, but that seemed like too much.)'



'Fics Fix!' with purple background and white lightning bolt shape



This week's fic is from a fandom that is super-popular, but also not especially well-known outside its core fanbase.

 ...which is why I'm going to do a very brief explanation of Carry On* aka the Simon Snowverse just so's we're all on the same page.

(I realise that a lot of die-hard fans are probably screaming that how could anyone not know about Simon Snow?! But we do not gatekeep here at Dora Reads, dearest nerdlets.)


(Fandom notes:

gatekeeping - also a non-fandom term, when used in fandom this typically takes the form of 'you're not a real fan of [insert fandom or genre or author, etc.] unless you've [insert arbitrary benchmark]')




Carry On is something of a meta-fandom (which I always love - layers of nerd-dom!)

It started with a book called Fangirl* by Rainbow Rowell (which I haven't actually read - #BadFangirl #DealWithIt) in which the main character, whose name I do not know, writes fanfiction around a fictional book called Carry On.

Said fictional book, in itself, resembles Harry Potter fanfiction in its trope-filled fever-dream heyday.

(Side-note: Fangirl & Carry On were both written prior to J K Rowling's Transphobic outbursts.)



Speed forward some, and Rainbow Rowell actually wrote Carry On - the fictional book from Fangirl.

Which means we have a book based on fanfiction, written about a book, within the plot of yet another book, based on another book.

So many layers of nerdery, right there 😎

(I actually read & reviewed Carry On a fair few years ago - check out my review here if you wanna 😉)

It now also has a sequel called Wayward Son* (which no, I have not read yet,) with a third book due this summer.




So this week's fic is based around Carry On.

Which means it's a fanfic based on a book, based on fanfiction, written about a book, within the plot of yet another book, based on another book.

OK?

Or, to streamline the whole thing: this is fanfic cubed, OK? OK



It's a cute li'l fic about Simon Snow dealing with some of his issues via art - specifically colouring books.

I will pardon the fic author the dig at Peppa Pig, but only because it's in-keeping with Simon's character.



Also, this fic is first person point-of-view (POV.)

It's written in the style of the book, using the main M/M relationship, and I think is written quite well, actually. 

I was quite impressed with how in-keeping it was with the book.

But I know that first person POV is super-unpopular in the fanfic world, so I thought I'd letcha all know!



Very few Content Warnings required for this one - just nebulous references to therapy and potential emotional and/or mental health problems.

But there are also SPOILERS, ok? SPOILERS!



OK, so this week's fic is:

Nobody's Artist by messofthejess






What do you think of the fanfiction cubed kind of scenario?

Have you read Wayward Son (no spoilers please!)?

Talk to me! 😀💬







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2 comments:

  1. I've read both Fangirl and Carry On, but I haven't read Wayward Son. I preferred Fangirl to Carry On. Carry On just seemed way too similar to HP for me, so I couldn't really get into it. But I could relate a lot to Cath in Fangirl, so I did love that book.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One of these days I'll get around to reading Fangirl! Lol *TBR creaks ominously*

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