The Ultimate Faves/Rec List: Why THG Fandom Needs To Utilize del.icio.us

Hi! I'm V.

The fact of the matter is this: in most fandoms outside of Twilight, the majority of high-quality fanfiction is posted outside of Fanfiction.net. That is not to say that fic posted to FFn is necessarily bad, or that fic posted to other venues is necessarily good. The real fact of the matter is that there is no surefire way to glance at a URL and tell whether a fic is good.

But the truth is that any fic writer who has come to THG from a path other than Twilight probably isn't posting their work to FFn as a primary source, so if you're not exploring the Hunger Games fic posted to Livejournal, Dreamwidth, and AO3, you're missing out on some of the highest-quality, best-written fic that the fandom has to offer.

And that is where del.icio.us comes in.

Ah, del.icio.us. It's not just what Katniss would say upon sampling Peeta's cheese buns, it is the most useful fandom resource for fic fans... ever. I MEAN EVER. It's like a global Favorites list, an international Memories page, and a universal rec list all in one. And it couldn't be easier to use!

So what is it?

According to Fanlore,

Delicious is a social bookmarking service that allows users to save, tag, manage and share bookmarks from a centralized source. A significant aspect of the site is that, like many Web 2.0 sites, its tags are user-generated, non-hierarchical, and uncontrolled. Users create and apply their own tags in one step, and they can apply as many tags as they like to each bookmark.

Fannish Uses of Delicious

Fans who use Delicious use it to save fandom-related links or meta and find recommendations for fannish reading material. Some fans maintain multiple accounts; others might throw fannish and non-fannish bookmarks into one account. The following is a list of major fannish uses of the site:

• Bookmarking favorite fanworks on their personal accounts


• Creating and maintaining their own tags (hours of fun!), using either shared fannish vocabulary or their own system


• Maintaining an easy-to-update rec list for self, friends, fandom at large, and/or specific communities and projects. Delicious is well suited for themed rec list.
  • Keeping track of links for a fandom newsletter community
  
  
  • Providing a searchable archive for Kink Meme prompts and fics.
  
  


• Sifting through a trusted reccer's delicious tags for fanworks to consume.


• Browsing or subscribing to site tags related to certain fandoms, pairings, genres, or other fannish keywords. The number of users who have bookmarked a given webpage displays prominently and can be an indication of its value; using the "popular" function in particular serves as an automatically generated rec list.


• Searching for your own name so you can see how many people have bookmarked your posts or stories and what they're saying about you.


• Other searches?

Looking at tag clouds also allows statistics-minded fans to analyse fannish trends, as well as discover new content.

What does that really mean? It means that any time someone saves a Katniss/Peeta fanfic to their bookmarks on del.icio.us, it gets tallied and added to the universal databank of awesome Katniss/Peeta fics for you to peruse, choose, and consume with some lovely lamb stew. It doesn't matter whether the fic is hosted at FFn, LJ, AO3, DW, a privately hosted site, WHEREVER: if the link is saved to del.icio.us, it gets tallied. And you can tag them and categorize your links however best suits you, so there are no restrictions to the ways you can search for and rec fic.

The del.icio.us account for Nighlock Recs is located here: http://www.delicious.com/nightlockrecs -- it's pretty sparse so far since my fellow Nightlock rec bloggers have largely stuck to FFn for recs, so if you want a more complete example of how a delicious account for THG fandom would look, you are more than welcome to check out mine: http://www.delicious.com/aimmyarrowshigh/fandom%3Athehungergames

See the little blue numbers at the right-hand side of the recs? That is the tally of how many people have saved the fic. The more people save the fic, the higher the number and the darker the shade of blue.

Since THG fandom hasn't discovered the wonder of del.icio.us fully yet, the highest-rated THG fics are in the 20s and low 30s for the number of tallies. But for thriving, fic-heavy fandoms that understand the true power of a delicious account (like Merlin, The Social Network, or Supernatural)?

Imagine logging in and seeing a new fic with 200+ bookmarks.

AUTOMATIC WIN. YOU KNOW IT'S GOOD 'CAUSE EVERYONE ALREADY LOVES IT.





And if you're the author of said fic?

DOUBLE WIN. It's a lot of fun to turtle-race your own fics, as a side note.

What's also fantastic about del.icio.us is the fact that you can search for pairings, genres, and/or other random fannish keywords like "squee!" or "FLAIL!" or "yay!" (or one of my favorite tags from my own, "dinosaurs!"). There is no limit to the number of tags you can add to your account to categorize fic by, and the more tags you have, the more useful your bookmarks can be to fellow fans.
























My own THG tags include everything from the standards (which I'd recommend all Hunger Games fans use): "fandom:thehungergames," "pairing:katniss/peeta," "pairing:finnick/annie," etc., to "BIGUGLYTEARSONMYFACE" and "pirates!"

The beauty of unlimited tagging, too, is that when you search a fellow fan's tags, you may discover not only great new fic, but a whole pairing or genre that you've never read before. Maybe you've never tried a Foxface/Thresh story, or have run out of Peeta/Gale. Maybe you'd never even considered the idea of Gale/Lavinia. Give it a try!

And of course, the most important aspect: add your own bookmarks, "friend" other THG fans on your Network to share links and recommendations, and peruse the most popular, and underrated, fic in our talented fandom.

Because The Hunger Games fandom is TREMENDOUSLY talented. Honestly, one of, if not the, most talented fic-writing fandoms I've ever seen.

It's just spreading that talent to places other than FFn, and you shouldn't overlook a fic just because it doesn't have 24023500 reviews on Fanfiction.net. If it's got 15+ bookmarks on del.icio.us or 8+ comments on Livejournal or 3 Kudos at AO3, it's very genuinely worth a read. If you don't give new reading venues a try, you're really missing out.

HOW TO SIGN UP FOR AND SET UP A DEL.ICIO.US ACCOUNT: Here. I could write my own tutorial for it, but this exists, so I don't have to. It's really meticulous.

And now for recs! Mining my own del.icio.us, these are the fics that currently have the most bookmarks:


Title: Balanced on this Thread
Author: spamdilemma
Characters/Pairing: Peeta POV; Peeta/Katniss
Rating: PG
Category: Gen, angst
Spoilers: Through Catching Fire
Summary: Four times Peeta Mellark almost spoke to Katniss Everdeen (and one time he did)
(1)

He replays his father's confession in his head almost as much as her song. It had never before occurred to Peeta that there could have been other lives that mothers and fathers had wanted to live. But now that the thought's burrowed itself into his brain, it's since taken flight. Do you see that little girl? his father had confided to him, a child, too young to really understand its implications. I wanted to marry her mother. Peeta's young, that's true enough. But he understands that there are parts of your heart that can never really forget.

Author: aimmyarrowshigh
Fandom: The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
Story Title: "Five Places Cinna Came From"
Summary: Cinna did not come from the Capitol. Five paths he took out of the Districts, and why he set a nation on fire.
Character/Relationships: (Specific to each section; listed on those pages.) OVERALL - Cinna/Finnick, Finnick/Annie, Katniss/Peeta. Johanna. Haymitch. Beetee. Mags. President Snow.
Rating: M
Warnings: Spoilers for all three books (although as long as you know what Finnick does for a living and who Annie is, you're probably okay on Mockingjay). All of the usual feel-good content of Collins' Hunger Games world! (Specific to each section; listed on that page.)
Wordcount: 86,000
01. District Four: The Girl in the Water
02. District One: The Boy with the Trident
03. District Five: The Boy on Fire
04. District Twelve: The Girl with the Boy
05. District Seven: The Moral of the Story
⇒ District Seven Deleted Scene/Side-Shot: "The Girl with the Glass Slipper"

District Four was a superstitious district, full of ghost-old chanteys and legends and secrets, and most of them lived in the sea.

“I hope Annie’s not called,” Finnick muttered, just loud enough for Cinna – still clinging to his back – to hear. Jealousy and fear burned low and hot in Cinna’s belly, and he was a boy on fire.

But of course, Annie Cresta, mad little Annie with her starfish and her soft songs, was not called. A big girl, Coral Flynn, was called instead, and she had the bulging calves of a trap-trawler and the wide biceps of a Career. And then, the boys.

And of course Cinna Healy was reaped that year.

Everyone knows that.

And of course, Finnick Odair volunteered in his place.

Everyone knows that, too.

Title: The Unrecorded Hours
Author: hollycomb
Fandom: The Hunger Games
Pairing: Peeta/Katniss
Rating: R
Spoilers: All for series
Word Count: ~24,000
Summary: Katniss and Peeta in the weeks and months after the war.

She's so preoccupied with Peeta's whereabouts that they might as well still be in the arena. It's a similar kind of tension, her unwillingness to accept him as an ally and the gnawing knowledge that he's trying to help her. She's in no position to refuse help, but when he's the one offering she can't let herself accept it. She allows him to plant the bushes out front and bring bread to the house, but she doesn't speak to him or go to him when the nightmares drag her back to hell. Sometimes she sits up all night, avoiding sleep, watching the lights in his house across the courtyard.

When they see each other, she's polite, vacant, quick to leave. He always looks tired, but he's regained some weight. She supposes she has, too, though she can't say for sure.

One of her first acts upon returning was throwing away all the mirrors in the house.

Title: THEIR LAST NIGHT OF LOVE: A SPECIAL VERITY PRESENTATION, EXCLUSIVELY FOR PREFERRED CUSTOMERS
Author: Yahtzee
Fandom: The Hunger Games
Pairing: Peeta/Katniss
Rating: M
Spoilers: This story takes place during the second book in the trilogy, CATCHING FIRE, so readers can expect spoilers for events in that book.
Word Count: 5,125
Summary: Amid the media circus leading up to the Quarter Quell, Katniss and Peeta try to create something real.

I've never seen a Verity. Probably nobody from District 12 ever has, except maybe Haymitch. He doesn't appreciate the Capitol's decadent appetites any more than I do, but with his winnings, he would have been rich enough to buy a Verity. Some night in the past 25 years, he might have been drunk enough to order one.

We all see the ads, though. They push Verity broadcasts hard. I wonder if it's just out of greed – they must make millions on them – or if there's more to it. Whether they use the Verities to remind everyone that there's no moment the Capitol can't see, own, and use.

Both, I'd guess.

Title: Those Who Wait
Author: wisteria_
Title: "Those Who Wait"
Rating: R
Word Count: 5,868
Characters: Peeta and Katniss
Spoilers: Through Mockingjay.

The first time he tries to bake bread, Peeta discovers that he can’t remember how.

The morning after he plants the primrose bushes, he stands in his kitchen, needing to do something. All of the ingredients are still in their airtight containers from before the Quell. He takes out the whole wheat flour, salt, dried fruit, the small jar of yeast. He puts the kettle on the fire and opens the jar. The same careful, even motions that he’s been doing since he was five years old and his hands were steady enough to hold a measuring cup. As he reaches for the yeast, everything stops. It spills across the counter like weevils. He forces himself to keep going, taking a deep breath the way Dr. Aurelius always instructs. But when he stares at the ingredients, he has absolutely no idea what to do with them. Two cups of flour or three? When is he supposed to add the yeast?

The force of the electrical surge in his brain sends him reeling into the counter. He grapples for purchase, breathes and breathes and breathes until the chaos passes.

Once his eyes focus again, the kitchen is covered in flour and salt and raisins like bullets scattered across the floor. He reaches for a glass and fills it with water, but his hands are trembling too much to drink. As he waits for his brain to right itself again – and for the rage to fade away – he adds that loss to the Capitol’s tab.

It takes two more days and a dozen more attempts for him to remember. He wraps the misshapen bread in cloth and walks over to Katniss’s house. The loaf isn’t perfect, but then nothing is.

Title: To the Victor, the Spoil
Author: annakovsky
Fandom: The Hunger Games trilogy
Pairing: Katniss/Haymitch (plus references to Haymitch/Finnick, Katniss/Johanna, Katniss/Finnick)
Rating: NC-17
Length: 13,416 words
Warnings: Nothing much more disturbing than the books themselves, though to be fair that is pretty disturbing. Off-screen compulsory prostitution. Some violence. Suzanne Collins, you are quite the bundle of rainbows. Plus the big age difference of the pairing, and possibly underage sexytimes depending on where you live (Katniss is 17 in the story).
Spoilers: This goes AU at the end of the first book of the series, but includes references to backstory and characters we don't get until Catching Fire and Mockingjay.
Summary: (contains implied spoilers for the first book, highlight to read) No berries, no mockingjay, no rebellion. Katniss killed Peeta in the arena, and now she has to live with herself like every other victor.
Author's Notes: Also available all in one piece at AO3.

Like everybody else in the Capitol, Haymitch is watching when Katniss and Peeta, bloody and wild-eyed, hear the announcement that there can only be one victor after all. He sees Peeta reach for his knife, sees Katniss let the arrow fly. Sees her arrow bury itself in Peeta's chest as Peeta's hand finishes the movement, throwing the knife away, but it's too late. He dies with blood bubbling out of his chest, Katniss clutching his hand, begging him not to.

Unlike everybody else in the Capitol, Haymitch isn't surprised. This is his twenty-fifth Hunger Games and there's not much he doesn't know about how they work. How the Capitol works.

So he's finally mentored a victor. Good for him. He takes another drink.