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mi6_cafeHurrah! A new weekly chat for all of your chatting needs! Don’t forget that the weekly chat is open until Friday of next week (where I will post a new weekly chat post full of exciting mi6 café updates).
Anon commenting is on so you don’t need an account to join in the fun! If you are using anon comments, if you could put your name/handle in the subject line/body of the comments that would be fab (just so everyone knows who they are talking to!)
Weekly Recs
It’s time again for you to give your weekly recs! This week we’re looking for your favourite fics/art you’ve seen over the past week and those fics/art that fit into the genre of the week!
This week the genre of fanwork recs we’re looking for is: One Shots. Come and rec your favourite fanworks that are one-shots, those fic or arts that are standalone pieces which are still delightfully detailed and interesting!
When reccing fic/art, please can you make a separate comment with ‘Week Rec’ in the subject title. If you’re commenting anon, then just put your handle in brackets after the ‘Weekly Rec’ bit - eg Weekly Rec (cass). This just helps your friendly mod hunt down all your links and put them into the weekly rec post!
Spectre Prompt Fest!
The MI6 prompt bingo table continues! We’re releasing a new prompt every week up to when Spectre is released in the UK on November 6th. You can write/draw/create anything of your choice in response to the prompt, and you can post fills for any of the revealed prompt!
This week the prompt is: Health and Safety
| Exploding Objects | Love doesn’t solve everything | Broken | Health and Safety | Hidden |
| Hidden | Hidden | Hidden | Hidden | Hidden |
| Hidden | Hidden | Hidden | Hidden | Hidden |
| Hidden | Hidden | Hidden | Hidden | Hidden |
You can post your fills anywhere you like – tumblr, in the comments section of the weekly chat, to your own LJ! Feel free to link your fills in the chat, and don’t forget to tag your prompt fills with #mi6cafeprompt so everyone can share the 00Q love!
There is now an A03 collection for the MI6 Cafe prompts here
MI6 Café Book and Film Clubs!
We now have a new schedule up for the Mi6 Café Book and Film clubs (which you can also find in the links bar on the right!) This should help for everyone completing the survey, and provide you all with an idea of what is being planned!
Please note, the film club dates are dependent on the outcome of the survey for specific times of when the club will be held (the schedule will be updated in due course). Please go fill in the survey HERE to let us know when your preferred times are!
As shown on the schedule, the book club will start with Casino Royale! To help everyone out, we have a list of resources for you to use to get access to ebook copies or audiobooks to join in the discussions!
Resources
The written word:
- PDF version: The text is a little small and the spacing is a little narrow, but it’s complete!
- Web browser format: Also complete, but it has a little trouble with the french accents (seems to have converted them into commas and such), so bear that in mind.
Audiobook:
- All 4.5 hours
- A playlist divided into roughly hour-long sections
- Chapter one of a sequence of chapter uploads
This week’s questions
1) Have you ever found a piece of fic/artwork that you’ve stumbled across in the fandom that was so good you just had to tell everyone about it? What was it that made it good?
2) We’ve discussed what James and Q would be good and hopeless at – so what do you think their approach to learning a new skill would be? Would they do it?
3) Someone’s switched the coffee machine to decaf! Who would do the office pranks in Mi6 and why?
4) Has the 00Q fandom made you try something new, like draw in a new style or write a new scenario that you hadn’t considered before?
Feel free to add more questions below!
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Question 1?
Date: 2015-07-17 09:14 am (UTC)I spent a good week crying all over tumblr to everyone who would listen about how amazing the fic was, the brilliant writing, characterisation, and the absolutely electrifying chemistry between Bond and Q. And how much Q's perspective hurt to read in a very, very good way.
Hands down one of the best fics I've read in this fandom!!!
Re: Question 1?
Date: 2015-07-17 12:16 pm (UTC)Re: Question 1? (Castillon)
Date: 2015-07-17 09:57 pm (UTC)-Castillon
Re: Question 1?
Date: 2015-07-18 03:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-07-17 09:14 am (UTC)2. Q would read everything about said thing before tackling it. James on the other hand would just be like, fuck it and just go head on. Then, after failing, Q comes to the rescue like the quartermaster that he is and goes: no, like this, honey. and james gets all pissy because q figured it out before him.
3. ALEC. Alec is the asshole that does pranks. he sometimes drags R into his messes, too. Poor R.
personal headcannon!alec to me is so much better than movie!alec for the reason that he wasn't really developed and writers can make Alec their own. I liked to think that Alec is a goofball at the office until you get him out in the field. Alec is also MI6's gossip hound and tells bullshit gossip about james and q to people to the point where they don't know what's real or not. [the marriage one is totally real, james and q got married without mi6 knowing. but alec told everyone but no one believes him because he's a habitual liar]
4. I actually did the reverse big bang last year and really enjoyed myself! I'm doing it again this year as well. The challenge for me was getting a picture and then writing an entire story about it. It was a lot of fun and challenging!
no subject
Date: 2015-07-17 10:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-07-17 11:06 am (UTC)but yes, it's amazing and it hangs up on my wall and i love it: http://ayrtonwilbury.tumblr.com/post/60358967615/joannaestep-commissioned-cover-for#notes
no subject
Date: 2015-07-17 11:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-07-17 12:16 pm (UTC)Castillon
Date: 2015-07-18 04:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-07-17 12:18 pm (UTC)3) Ooo I like this headcannon - it's really awesome how Alec has developed into his own character outside of what we see in Goldeneye!
4) I haven't done the reverse big bang yet (dammit lack of time) but I love the premise! Did you find yourself having to approach the writing in a different way because the prompt was a picture?
no subject
Date: 2015-07-17 12:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-07-17 11:24 am (UTC)2) We’ve discussed what James and Q would be good and hopeless at – so what do you think their approach to learning a new skill would be? Would they do it? Bond aways wants to learn from an expert rather than a manual or trying to work it out himself (unless he's trying to prove something to someone, maybe). Q would want to understand every aspect of something before he learns it, so he reads all the stuff he can etc
3) Someone’s switched the coffee machine to decaf! Who would do the office pranks in Mi6 and why? Tanner would switch the coffee because he just wants everyone who's been at work for 40+ hours straight to go home and get some sleep, god damn it. And I don't think any of our main characters are pranksters, to be honest. Maybe Q and Eve were before they reached their current positions and had to start acting like serious adults. They probably made a brilliant pranking team back in the day.
4) Has the 00Q fandom made you try something new, like draw in a new style or write a new scenario that you hadn’t considered before? I wrote a fic for the 00Q reverse bang last year, which was an experience! I'm not sure I'd do it again as an author, I didn't like the time pressure, but I'm hopefully going to participate as an artist this year, so who knows. The other thing I never thought I'd write is smut. I haven't published any of it yet, but it does exist. I wrote my first sex scene while sitting at the kitchen table eating lunch with my mother...
no subject
Date: 2015-07-17 12:21 pm (UTC)4) Yeh the time pressure on those things is the major reason why I avoid those kind of things unless I can guarantee lots of free time to write!
no subject
Date: 2015-07-18 03:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-07-18 05:21 am (UTC)weekly rep (MinMu)
Date: 2015-07-17 11:29 am (UTC)The Battlefield by Jen (Consulting Writers) https://archiveofourown.org/works/902183
Thought Even the Bones Would Do by TheCatOnTheMoon https://archiveofourown.org/works/665280
Punch Drunk Love by swtalmnd https://archiveofourown.org/works/4016401
Turnips with Fingers and Pluto by a_xmasmurder https://archiveofourown.org/works/883843
Re: weekly rep (MinMu)
Date: 2015-07-17 09:54 pm (UTC)-Castillon
no subject
Date: 2015-07-17 12:15 pm (UTC)2) I think Q would approach a new thing by poking with a stick and seeing what happens. Especially if he's learning something new about a computer or he's made something but he doesn't know why it works like it does so he just runs loads of tests to see what happens.
James would probably be more analytical, especially if he was learning something new for a mission. I'd like to think he would pull a whole pile of books on the subject (because to be a 00 you have to be pretty smart) to learn the basics, and then once he's done that he just improvises until it all click into place.
3) I'd like to think it would sometimes be Eve, just to pull Tanner's leg on those times that it's a boring day at MI6. James would possibly pull a prank with the rest of the 00s although it would probably involve too many explosives to be considered a 'prank' and more 'danger to public health'.
4) I wrote for the 00Q big bang two years ago, and that was a new experience of trying to write to a deadline and fleshing out characters far more than I used to. I wanted to try something that had a very simple plot and build the relationships, and I think the end result worked really well!
Castillon
Date: 2015-07-17 09:41 pm (UTC)2) I love experimenter!Q. Naturally he'd want some firsthand data!
Weekly Rec (Castillon)
Date: 2015-07-17 09:31 pm (UTC)1) "Amber," about 8.6k, massively creepy in a brilliant way
2) "the sheer lack of professionalism," about 2k, completely hilarious even after several read-throughs
The next is by pgtips, "an ardent desire to be freed": http://archiveofourown.org/works/1388338 In the author's own words: "almost ten thousand words of world annihilation." Solar flare apocalypse fic.
Livetodream333 wrote a 1.7k fic called "Silent, Calm, Anchor, Broken and Alone." Lots of angst and feels!
And I'll self-rec my own most recent fic, "Wild Nights Should Be Our Luxury," about 1.4k. Because why not? http://archiveofourown.org/works/4307124
Re: Weekly Rec (Castillon)
Date: 2015-07-17 09:44 pm (UTC)Re: Weekly Rec (Castillon)
Date: 2015-07-17 09:45 pm (UTC)Re: Weekly Rec (Castillon)
Date: 2015-07-18 03:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-07-17 11:02 pm (UTC)1) I will always flail about Slow Dancing in a Burning Room but that's already been mentioned so I'll say another couple of works. I will always flail about Brave New World (http://archiveofourown.org/works/718180/chapters/1330673) by ForzaDelDestino which is wonderful and I've read it over and over again. Last year I was lucky enough to write for some art by the fabulous albymangroves (Lose Your Clothes and Show Your Scars (http://artgroves.tumblr.com/post/106956587854/artset-for-lose-your-clothes-and-show-your-scars)) and have flailed and shown the original piece and the extra pieces of art that she did for my fic to people who aren't in fandom at all never mind 00Q!!
2) Q approaches it logically and does as much research as possible while Bond just goes for it
3) Alec Trevelyan, no doubt about it!
4) I wrote for the 00QNYP Summer Party last year and it was a fusion fic in a fandom I'd never even heard of which was a real challenge but I thoroughly enjoyed it (after a ridiculous amount of research!)
Castillon
Date: 2015-07-18 05:11 am (UTC)How have you found writing for an exchange? For instance, have the deadline and prompt been useful to you, or do you like writing without them better?
-Castillon
Re: Castillon
Date: 2015-07-18 07:23 am (UTC)Re: Castillon
Date: 2015-07-18 08:24 am (UTC)-Castillon
Re: Castillon
Date: 2015-07-18 09:22 am (UTC)Castillon
Date: 2015-07-18 04:30 am (UTC)2) I think it's probably a requirement for 00s to be fast learners. For more official skills, like languages or a new weapon or something, I think Bond would start by getting someone from the appropriate MI6 department to make up some kind of briefing packet for him so he'd know the essentials. (e.g. "Everything you need to know about the Russian language in 30 pages or less" or whatever). After he's got some kind of base to build on, he's a big believer in practice and hands-on experience. I bet one of the reasons he seems to like holidaying outside of England is that he can practice skills like skiing or languages in a casual and fun way.
OTOH, I bet Bond really enjoys just throwing himself into less work-vital skills or new games while barely knowing any of the rules! Being able to stumble around making mistakes without worrying about being efficient would be a bit of a luxury that he'd enjoy and that would get his competitive blood up in a fun way, I think. Headcanon that Bond teaches Q to play card games and Q teaches Bond to play video games so they both get to experience feeling like newbies and then getting better.
As an adolescent genius, I bet Q had to grow out of a stage in which he dismissed anything that took more than twenty-four hours of research binging to learn as unimportant.
(Q's pre-uni teachers: "When did you become an expert on...?" Q: "Yesterday." Q's sassier teachers: "Would you like to teach the class, then, Mr. __?" Q, to the one teacher he actually likes: "If you don't mind a bit of a break." And that's how Q gets his first experience disciplining cheeky subordinates and learns that he is going to enjoy being a leader someday.)
I think it would have taken learning a physical skill to teach Q the value of the "slow and steady" approach. Learning to defend himself, maybe, because the only way to get faster and stronger is to practice, practice, practice until your muscle memory is ingrained enough to keep you safe(r). Then his advanced academic work in uni would have compounded that lesson. (Like Cass said: Tests, tests, and more tests!)
So yeah, I think that Q definitely is someone who'll go the INTENSE RESEARCH BINGE route when needed, but that he also knows the value of practice and experimentation, as well as the value of knowing nothing at all because sometimes it's easier to do new things if you're not sure what the precedents are. (Exhibit A: The number of times Q has probably said, "Oh, am I not supposed to be able to do that?")
*cough* I have a lot of feelings about these guys' learning styles, apparently. IDK, they're both just so smart, I feel like they'd turn destructive or self-destructive without anything to keep their brains challenged, like a German Shepherd and a border collie gnawing on the furniture together.
3) Office pranks are definitely Tanner. He is so good at keeping a mild-mannered face that nobody suspects him and everybody blames whichever 00 is currently acting the most bored around the office. (Usually Trevelyan.) Except Q: Q caught Tanner on the security feeds, and now he helps Tanner with technological security in exchange for pranking immunity. And Bond, who figured out that Q knew who it was and asked Q a series of yes or no questions that Q didn't even have to reply to; Bond just read the answers on his face.
4) I participated in the 00Q Summer Exchange last year, and it was the first time I stopped being a lurker and started actively participating in fandom. It showed me that I CAN actually finish something I write, and that the 00Q fandom is a generally supportive place where I can keep participating and interact with lots of passionate and creative people!
5) New question: Do you think Bond and Q would be primarily verbal, visual, and/or tactile learners, and why?
Re: Castillon
Date: 2015-07-18 05:24 am (UTC)Q is a visual learner, being able to just see how it's done before he actually does it. He can usually get it done after the first time he sees it.
Re: Castillon
Date: 2015-07-18 06:03 am (UTC)Yeah, Q being visual reminds me of that Granburough Road program thing in Skyfall. Of course it's there so the audience can have something ~computery~ to look at, but in-universe it might well be a program that Q designed because he works best with visual cues.
-Castillon
Re: Castillon
Date: 2015-07-18 09:30 am (UTC)Re: Castillon
Date: 2015-07-18 12:08 pm (UTC)Re: Castillon
Date: 2015-07-18 03:43 pm (UTC)-Castillon
Re: Castillon
Date: 2015-07-18 04:54 pm (UTC)