Fleshflutter

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Fan
Name: Fleshflutter
Alias(es):
Type: fan writer, vidder, fan artist
Fandoms: Supernatural, J2, Numbers
Communities: Blindfold SPN
Other:
URL: LiveJournal, AO3
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Fleshflutter is a gen and slash Supernatural fan writer whose work has played a big role in shaping the online Livejournal Supernatural community. She started the Supernatural Anonymous Kink Meme (a.k.a. Blindfold SPN) in 2009 before handing it off to its new mods.

Stories

She is perhaps best known for two of her Supernatural Big Bang stories: Do I Seem Bulletproof To You?[1] and The Incestuous Courtship of the Antichrist's Bride. Both stories illustrate her wide range in subject matter and tone.

Do I Seem Bulletproof is a J2 RPS AU which has Jared taking a job as driver and bodyguard to Jensen, who is an extremely expensive prostitute with a bad habit of attracting crazy people. The story's themes weigh heavily towards drug abuse, self-worth, love and betrayal.

The Incestuous Courtship is a humorous tongue in cheek Wincest tale of Sam Winchester accepting his role (reluctantly) as the Anti-Christ. In doing so, he inadvertently signs up his brother Dean to be his consort/bride. Match-making angels and demons, ritualistic sex on altars and drunk dialing phone calls to Satan are some of the more popular plot-points from the story.

Other popular and often recommended stories include J2 spy AU Someone You Might Have Been[2] and the unfinished WIP J2 AU Rule 26, and Sam/Dean fic The Firefly That Loved Metallica.

Dean Winchester icon designed and used by fleshflutter
Sam Winchester icon designed and used by fleshflutter

Fleshflutter has been cited by many fans as being a major creative influence in their fannish lives:

I don't talk about this much in the LJ, but I have some experience in the pro fiction world, and there are some writers in fandom who sweep the floor with professional fiction writers. I say some - my research into cult media, discourse and convergence, involves reading a wide breadth of fan fiction, and yep, that includes the ungrammatical, the creepily misogynistic, and the just plain eye-bleedingly bad. But it also includes the mind-blowingly brilliant. ... Honestly, when people dismiss fanfiction as a form I just smile sweetly and remind them that the novel was once dismissed in exactly the same terms, and would they like to read my MA thesis on the very recent and tenuous invention of intellectual copyright? Fandom is love. The end."[3]

In 2008, Fleshflutter participated in "Ask The Author" at the spnroundtable and talked about her interest in in Supernatural and her writing:

I came into SPN fandom in May 2007, just after watching Wendigo for the first time. Previous fandom history includes Harry Potter, Final Fantasy VII, Star Wars, and Neverwinter Nights. Both my older sister and older brother wrote, though not fanfiction, and both were into genre tv shows, rpgs, dungeons and dragons and all related geekery, so I feel like I've been standing on the edge of fandom since I was tiny.

I watched the SPN pilot when it was first aired on UK television and dismissed it as pretty dreadful. I gave it a second go a few months later and it was transformed in my eyes. I latched on to SPN as my new fandom very quickly, though it took me a while to get into the right headspace to write any fanfic for it. But I devoured every bit of fanfic I could find and found myself hooked in about a week or so.

I was less bothered about the incest angle regarding SamandDean than perhaps I should have been - Harry Potter fandom is great for removal of all squicks. After one false start, the first thing I wrote in fandom was, tellingly enough, evil!Sam/conflicted!Dean - ...But a Whimper (nc-17).[4]

title card for liv_niggle'es tribute vid for "Someone You Might Have Been"

Her works have also inspired fan art by other fans such as petite madame's artwork for "Do I Seem Bulletproof To You?",[5] Rin's drawings for Rule 26.[6] and Sarahtoga's work for "Dark Side of the Moon." [7] Songvids have been made to accompany her writing, such as liv niggle's vid for Someone You Might Have Been.[8] or her vid "Colorblind" for ""Day Before Hell" [9] Spin-off fan fiction has been written, such as glorious spoon's "Life is a Highway which is a sequel to fleshflutter's "The Old Block' and "Pictures from an Empty Album" by 2ndary author, a sequel to "Words in the Picture."[10] Over 16 of her stories have been recorded as audiobooks or podfic.[11] Her most recent Big Bang "Flying Weight" caused one fan to comment on Tumblr: "Oh my god. I just finished reading fleshflutter’s Flying Weight and I feel like I need a fucking cigarette. Holy shit. I am dazed by how fucking intense that was. I can’t even see straight."[12]

In late October 2011, Fleshflutter temporarily deleted her Livejournal, thereby removing a large portion of her fan fiction and fan art from the internet. Fans created a temporary archive in order to exchange her stories until she undeleted her LiveJournal.[13] A few of her stories can be found on AO3, others at amalthia's Ebooks Library,[14] and several have been podficced and are available at the Audiofic Archive.[15]

Fan Art

Fleshflutter's fan art mainly takes the form of LJ icons and other photo art. In 2007, she participated in the spn secretpost community and created a series of "postcards" for two Supernatural episodes: "Heart" and "What Is And What Should Never Be."[16] She also makes numerous icons, some of which can be seen here[17] and here[18] and also designed the layout, icons and banners for the LJ community salt burn porn which can be seen here.

A "postcard" created by fleshflutter as part of the spn_secretpost LJ community

Reader Feedback

  • "The first SPN story I ever read was Fleshflutters and I immediately devoured everything on her site. She's an amazing talent and I would be devastated if she has left the fandom for good."[19]
  • "But, if you do want some truly spectacular fan-written apocrypha, I highly recommend fleshflutter's fabulous fic 'The Incestuous Courtship of the Antichrist's Bride'. It's hilarious, well-written, and features mock apocrypha written by Jack Kerouac. It's great.[20]
  • "And that fleshflutter fic is something else, isn't it? Stunning."[21]
  • "Someone You Might Have Been is the fic that got me into RPF, so I am always happy to recommend it, that and Fleshflutter is absolutely brilliant!"[22]
  • "The Incestuous Courtship of the Antichrist's Bride by fleshflutter - I'd marry this fic in a shotgun Vegas wedding if I could."[23]
  • "fleshflutter and candle beck seem to be the two authors everybody is talking about in this fandom."[24]
  • "My absolute favourite author is fleshflutter. She writes excellent dark fic and angst, but also does ridiculous hot porn too and crack!fic too."[25]
  • "I know I don't normally rec WIP's but Rule 26 is the exception that makes the rule or something. [Fleshflutter] has posted 6 chapters so far and each one fills in a little more detail without giving away too much. Jared is the perfect POV because he is as clueless as the reader. And Jensen as Doctor Nekrotic is creepy and evil and yet there are glimpses of someone else entirely! The title is a nod to The Evil Overlord List and rule 26 states: Rule 26: No matter how attractive certain members of the rebellion are, there is probably someone just as attractive who is not desperate to kill me. Therefore, I will think twice before ordering a prisoner sent to my bedchamber. How can it NOT be awesome, folks?[26]

International Appeal

In addition to the Russian and Chinese translations, fleshflutter's work has drawn the attention of other fans abroad. Below, French fan kazue7294 makes a list of her favorite fleshflutter stories and discusses why she is recommending them:

Fleshflutter :

Bon que dire sinon qu’elle est vraiment à un millimètre de Pandarus pour moi. Et encore elle joue pas dans la même catégorie vue que deux de ses chef d’œuvre son des RPS J2 (oui qui aurait penser qu’un jour je lirais du rps de mon plein gré XD ) Mais bon comme c’est des AU ça compte que de moitié.

Donc la première ou Dean est le best hooker de LA et a un don pour attiré les taré et Jared un acteur débutant qui prend un job de garde du corps/chauffeur pour arrondir ses fins de moi est la première que j’ai lu et que dire si ce n’est OUAH ! Longue, fascinante, porny, caractérisation 100% ouaaaah, que du bohneur quoi. (Do I Seem Bulletproof To You?)

La deuxième ou Jared est le best agent secret et Jen sont handler est encore plus longue et profonde et triste et belle et sexy et ça prend au trippe et gère le scénar et les perso d’une main de maitre. C’est grrr. (Someone You Might Have Been).

Sinon pour les SPN a proprement parler, je recommande cette gen qui narre une tranche de l’enfance militaire et difficile de Dean et Sam depuis les yeux d’un narrateur extérieur. C’est très fin, psychologue et brillant. The old block A lire en urgence. (The Old Block).

C’est fics Bobby/dean sont d’ailleurs les seules du fandom qui sont de 1 crédible, de 2 vous donne pas envie de gerber des deux côtés ><

Et le the day before hell !verse qui est tout aussi fascinant. Dean est mort et au paradis, Sam a pété un plomb, tournée anti christ et presque achevé de end up the world lol ben (fils de dean même si la mère a pas voulu l’avouer dans la série) maintenant adulte a survécu dans ce monde apocalyptique et part à la rencontre de son oncle. Sam devient obséder par lui du a sa ressemblance avec Dean. C’est juste poignant et very disturbing. (The Day Before Hell).[27]

Artwork by fan artists who have been inspired by Fleshflutter's fanfic

Note: when Wiki pages are made for either these artists or the fan fic, please move the artwork to those pages. Until then, this section is intended as a placeholder for fan art that has been inspired by fleshflutter's fan writing. These images were not created by fleshflutter.

References

  1. ^ "Do I Seem Bulletproof To You?" won an SPN Award for 'Best RPS Big Bang."
  2. ^ The story has been partially translated into Russsian here, accessed November 11, 2011 and Chinese here. Numerous other stories by fleshflutter have been - or are in process - being translated into Russian. More here, Archived version.
  3. ^ "Can I just say, Fleshflutter is my fandom idol by reading_is_in recommending Fleshflutter's "Of Monsters and Men," dated August 23, 2011.
  4. ^ Fleshflutter Ask The Author dated July 8, 2008; WebCite.
  5. ^ Artwork for her 2011 Calendar Wallpaper Project dated July 29, 2011; WebCite.
  6. ^ Pics for Rule 26 written by fleshflutter, dated January 23, 2011; WebCite.
  7. ^ Illos for Dark Side dated Dec 21, 2007; WebCite.
  8. ^ "Someone You Might have Been by liv_niggle (J2 AU). The video is based on the awesome Spy-verse by fleshflutter. Well, if you read the story and liked it you just HAVE to go and watch the vid. Because, basically, it’s THIS story, only it’s video. You totally forget about the fact that this is all fictional..." Vid Rec Post by secretlytodream, dated March 28, 2010. Vid is here on Youtube.
  9. ^ Youtube link, accessed November 11, 2011.
  10. ^ WebCite Pictures from an Empty Album WebCite dated Oct 27, 2007.
  11. ^ Fleshflutter entries on audiofic, accessed November 11, 2011.
  12. ^ tmblr post by mindmychaos, dated October 12, 2011; reference link.
  13. ^ Deleted Journal - Fleshflutter: Do I seem bulletproof to you... dated October 29, 2011; WebCite.
  14. ^ Stories by fleshflutter available at Amalthia's Ebooks Library (Accessed 4 Dec 2011)
  15. ^ Stories by fleshflutter available at the AudioFic Archive (Accessed 4 Dec 2011)
  16. ^ 5 Secrets dated May 31, 2007 ;WebCite.
  17. ^ WebCite for fleshflutter icons on dreamwidth, accessed November 211, 2011.
  18. ^ WebCite for fleshflutter icons on photobucket, accessed November 211, 2011.
  19. ^ Comment of sophie_118 in the post of zara_zee in spnstoryfinders upon learning that Fleshflutter had deleted her Livejournal, dated November 6, 2011.
  20. ^ Comment of randomfandom93 in the post of proffesorx in spnstoryfinders, dated September 12, 2011
  21. ^ comment of lousy_science in the post of mcgooglykins discussing "Someone You Might Have Been" dated April 6, 2011.
  22. ^ comment of culper355 in the post of vamsuki in spnstoryfinders, dated March 12, 2011.
  23. ^ comment of temporalranger in the post of catrinasusanne in spnstoryfinders, dated Dec 27, 2010.
  24. ^ Fleshflutter, Candle_beck and "classic fics" by demesmaeker in spnstoryfinders, dated Dec 11, 2010.
  25. ^ "My absolute favourite author is fleshflutter", comment of bertee in the post of la_tante, dated April 23, 2010.
  26. ^ annkiri in spn themes, dated June 19, 2010.
  27. ^ Recs Supernatural fics by kazue7294, dated November 27, 2009. English translation needed.