I stumbled upon a massive Sherlock hockey AU and am now reading it. I'm on chapter 12/52. I don't even like hockey.

No, I've got no particular schedule. Nothing better to do with my time than prep more sequencing reactions. I could probably use another season's worth of samples, maybe... How is your research coming along?

Good idea. I also had to pull out a "Not today, Satan." I was cleaning old towels out of the barn and found a giant barn spider hiding behind one of them. I deployed a tactical screech, wiggled the towel, and told it "Not today, Satan" until it scuttled away. Dad was not impressed.

Did you hear that act 1 of Hiveswap is finally out? I started it, but I haven't had time to get very far. Seems cute.

Please tell me it's called Sherlockey. I need to know that it's called Sherlockey.

John gave me a tour of his cast collection and I was really excited by some of the Periptychid (a condylarth group) tooth rows, so we're tentatively going forward with those as the subject of my research. They have some really bizarre wear patterns and cusp centralization, and... the fact that I'm excited about that worries me. Am I still human, or have I become academic?

Spiders are not Satan! Spiders are friends. Friends who need to be kept at a large, respectful distance. The tactical screech was warranted.

I hadn't heard a thing about Hiveswap. Had actually started wondering if that had all been a lie to get people's cash. It has acts?

I think that's the name of the sub-fandom, according to its followers. Hockey fans seem to be one of the few types of sports geek (there aren't many other sports fandoms on AO3, as far as I can tell) who participate in normal geek culture. Very strange. They're into RPF a lot, too. Strange.

What a nerd. Nerd. Where any of them cute?

This was one of the really, really big ones. It was just as fast as any small spider. It qualifies as satanic.

Was just released. Positive reviews as an adventure game - you would probably appreciate it more than me, honestly. They split it into acts so they could start releasing the parts they finish and people could stop wondering if it was all a lie to get people's cash.

I... had never given thought to sub-fandoms before this moment. What a bizarre combo to be big enough to get its own name. I guess I had noticed hockey fans existing in fandom before this? Strange indeed. How do they even know enough about hockey players to write fics?

They were probably cute in the "small generic furry thing" sense. The postcranial fossil record isn't great for them, so most of the reconstructions they get are 90% wishful thinking.

Ooh, I do like adventure games. Muchly. You're going to give it to me as tribute, right? Right?
...Or at least let me play it when I come home?

My brain has started singing the siren's song of "Write a long fanfic, Anessa! You have the time and motivation! You won't abandon this one 10,000 words in like all the others!" again. I'm tired of my brain's lies.

I don't think the intersection is a large category, but I run into Hockey RPF a lot. How do you know enough about your favorite characters to write fanfic?

I have many wishful thoughts about small generic furry things. In other news, I'm a giant purple fruit bat.

We'll just need to get it onto your computer from mine. It was a big download. I have the d-something-free version, though, so it shouldn't be too hard.

I thought you never published anything, anyway. Why is it a problem if you abandon it after 10k words?

...What are you doing that brings you into contact with hockey RPF so often?

A giant purple fruit bat is the opposite of generic.

DRM free. No idea what that stands for. But, good. Sharing is caring. You shall receive all my gratitude in return.

It doesn't matter that I never publish anything. When I write and finish a 2000 word fic, I feel good about myself. When I start writing and then abandon a longer fic 10,000 words in, I feel like a bad and useless loser.

Searching for tags rather than for fandoms. I see a lot of Teen Wolf, too.

But it is related to furries.

Yes, that.

Then don't let it get longer than 2000 words. Easy. I rarely write more than 1000. What's the problem here?

Important question: How do I turn Orochimaru-as-Goa'uld into a one-off gag fic?

...Why would you...? Okay, whatever floats your boat I guess. I suppose I've done the same when I've had a strong hankering for pirates.

The problem is when I get an idea that can not possibly be resolved in 2000 words. And I get them all the time. There's nothing for it.

I assume you turn it into a one-off gag the same way you appear to turn everything else into a one-off gag: put as few characters as possible in close proximity to the gag and let them be melodramatic for 500-1000 words.

Sometimes I want something specific and I don't care which fandom is involved. It's really hard to find Star Trek fusion AU, for example. I'll take anything I sort of recognize.

But you won't resolve them if you fail to finish a 10k fic, either. So why not rework them for 2k?

We seem to be having similar problems right now. I'm having trouble working Orochimaru-as-Goa'uld, which is really more of an epic concept on par with an arc of SG1, into a <2k gag fic. I know I'll never finish it in long form. I'm actually considering a series of connected shorts, like a shared world anthology (my favorite thing).