2009 in fic (as in, my fic) meme
Jan. 4th, 2010 12:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leigh57Well. I’m supposed to be organizing my entire life, but naturally I’m not doing that. Instead, I’m doing this fic meme, because
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lowriseflare did it, and she’s so cool that I want to be just like her even though I can’t. Anyway! Bring on the fic navelgazing. First, a list of stories I wrote this year. There are a lot more than I thought. A lot more. Geez.1. Waterfall
2. Fusion
3. Restraint Part 1
4. Restraint Part 2
5. Sutures
6. 24 frames per second
7. Not Dark Yet Part 1
8. Not Dark Yet Part 2
9. Challenge Fic: Kim and Renee
10. Harvest
11. Meme Fic: Elliot and Olivia
12. Four Times Five Things
13. Speed of the Sound of Loneliness
14. The Night Before Christmas
15. I’ll dream that you’re not left alone
My favorite story this year (my own): “24 frames per second.” I find this absolutely hilarious, given that it’s the least “me” style story I’ve ever written, but something about the song prompts and the jigsaw puzzle challenge of fitting each piece into a hundred words just did it for me. Also, this one caused me pretty much no stress for some reason I have yet to figure out. Granola bars to
dealan311, without whom the story wouldn’t even exist.My best story this year: Wow I’m bad at choosing stuff like that. I’m going to go with “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness.” I somehow managed to stay calm in the middle of having five betas (yeah I must have been on something, but in the end I think it made the story stronger). Also, it actually has a plot, there is at least a nominal thematic arc (at which I usually fail), and I think it’s one of my more in-character stories. And generally attempting to meet word counts cut down at least a little on my usual five clause sentences.
My worst story this year: Tossup between “Restraint” and “Not Dark Yet.” “Restraint” is just dumb because I wrote it so damn fast, trying to be done before getting jossed by the next ep. “Not Dark Yet” sucks for a whole long list of reasons. Ahoy.
Fic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Probably “Fusion,” because it was so early in the game and I was still so new at playing with them. I was still so unsure about what I could do with Jack, and I felt as if I kinda learned by touch (yeah no pun intended) as I went through that one.
Sexiest story: Finally, a no-brainer. “Fusion.” Well, it’s pretty much nothing but sex? In lots of different places? And there’s jerking Jack off in the shower (still no clue how I got myself to write that), so win!
Most fun story: Tossup between “24 frames per second” and “Harvest.” “24 frames per second" because OMG it was just so different and weird and not ME and I was making them up while I was on the fucking treadmill, and “Harvest” because I wrote it in like five minutes and had so much fun letting Jack and Renee banter and be goofy and happy. I’m a stooge like that. God am I a stooge.
Best title: “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness,” because I adore that song, had wanted to use that title forever, and finally managed to break out of my own rut where I have to name everything with one word. (24 frames is an exception because Kay titled it.) I think I’m officially over it.
Hardest story to write: God. Another no-brainer. “Not Dark Yet.” That one is just eroaighaesio;rghiozsgijhzesghdzbhizfjADJWFikdgh;ezhgehwijfihga;. For real. It came on the heels of the most epic writing confidence crisis I have ever experienced (and please let me not have another one to top it, but you never know!), and god does it show. My Renee is ludicrous, the dialogue is often clunky and ridiculous, and it goes on for fucking ever without actually saying anything. Made. Of. Win.
Most unintentionally telling story: Okay, at the risk of turning beet read I’m just going to be honest. “Fusion.” Because it showed me exactly how far I am willing to go when I have Jack and Renee on the brain. Oy.
Biggest surprise: Tossup again. I can never choose. Either the Elliot/Olivia fic, because really wtf I am so over them (thanks a lot,
lowriseflare!) and “The Night Before Christmas,” which I entirely didn’t mean to write and came fully out of nowhere in about an hour and a half. eta: Oh! And in case Kay reads this later, another huge surprise was my insane Larry love. If you start my stories from the beginning, you can just feel how much he annoys me in "Waterfall" and "Fusion." By the time we get to "Sutures," the entire story is about Renee trying to deal with Larry's death and has so much Larry love it's hilarious. Oh, Kay, I can't get over how right you were. At least I'm big enough to admit it, so there's that.Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? Wow. That’s a difficult one. When I first started watching 24 I had no intention of ficcing anything about it. Jack is just too difficult to write, as far as I’m concerned. So when I wrote “Waterfall,” because I couldn’t stop myself, that was a risk, just attempting to write him. Also a risk? Posting in an entirely new place. I barely knew what LJ was before I posted “Waterfall.” What a difference a year makes, huh?
This year’s theme: Well, embarrassing as it is, let’s be real. This year’s theme is . . . (drum roll, please) JACK AND RENEE HAVE SEX. Okay okay. Maybe it’s not quite THAT bad. More like, Jack and Renee are ludicrously sappily happy in a way they will never ever be on the show, and they also have lots of sex. Yeah. That works:-P
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Date: 2010-01-04 05:23 pm (UTC)I am so proud of us this year, and of all the writing that we did, and of all the ledges we talked each other off and all the savage betas we did. I feel so lucky to have you as my writer-pal (and my life-pal, too, obv).
Also, I actually really love "Not Dark Yet." Like...a lot. But I actually think 24 Frames Per Second is my favorite thing you wrote this year--I remember reading that for the first time and getting SO EXCITED that you'd found this pairing you loved so much. AND I love Fusion for the shower scene. WORD.
I also love that SVU fic you wrote. Because that is HOW I ROLL.
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Date: 2010-01-04 07:46 pm (UTC)I'm proud of us too. I really am. I kinda thought my fanficcing days were done, but it shows how much I know. And when out of the blue you were all writing this insane Ray/Neela, I was like, wooooooooooo!!! Yes. That is what I was like. Exactly like that.
And *I* am the lucky one to have such an amazing writing (and life -- we so need to do a spring party weekend!) pal. Seriously this last fic I was like, "OMG I have to post it without Katie," and I had so much trauma. Savage betas rule, and I always trust that you'll tell me the truth.
I don't hate all of "Not Dark Yet." It's not that. I think it's just all tied up with the epic mindfuck I was going through at the time. There are parts of it that make me happy to read, but that I still find vaguely embarrassing for some reason. idk.
Heh Fusion. My infamous story. Oh, my Jack/Renee love is ludicrous.
Psh svufic! You and your random Elliot/Olivia flareups;) I'm still glad you liked it though. YOU are the BEST.
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Date: 2010-01-04 05:27 pm (UTC)I'm so very, very happy you found LJ and enriched our little corner of the internet.
*squishes you*
I love your theme for next year. Can't wait to see what it brings! *G*
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Date: 2010-01-04 07:49 pm (UTC)*squishes you back so hard* I just love you guys. Our LJ corner makes me happy:)
My theme for this year is "Jack and Renee slip into the CTU server room and boink against the wall." True story:-P
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Date: 2010-01-04 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 07:52 pm (UTC)Yes! Here is to wish fulfillment in 2010. Please let Jack and Renee at least make out. With tongue. And if they do, prepare for more icons of it than you will ever be able to take without vomiting. You have been warned;) I will also wish you Elliot and Olivia, although I'm not gonna lie. I think my chances are better than yours. Then again, my chances of having my girl dead by the end of season are MUCH better than yours so I am not gloating. At all. Meh.
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Date: 2010-01-04 09:51 pm (UTC)Still, eee! I hope Renee doesn't die but if she does, I hope she gets to make out/have hot monkey sex with Jack first.
And I'm totally with you on loving the LJ format here. I feel right at home, and I love getting to know everyone, something that is hard to do on svufic. Don't even get me started on getting to know people on svufans, lol. ;)
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Date: 2010-01-04 11:31 pm (UTC)Yeah well. I trust nothing about the 24 writers. Renee is probably toast. I just hope she gets to go out in a blaze of glory AFTER, as you said, at least some serious spit-swapping with Jack. *cries*
OMG svufans. Dude I am scared of them, and I do not scare easily.
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Date: 2010-01-04 11:41 pm (UTC)Blaaaaaaaaaaze of Glooooooooooory for Reneeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Yeah, svufans = scary mofos. Not all of them, but yeah. Scary. It didn't used to be like it is now...three years ago when I first got into the fandom, it was way more "normal" than the like, I don't even know what the eff it is now, lol.
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Date: 2010-01-04 05:48 pm (UTC)I'm with K on actually really loving Not Dark Yet. Huge huge tight hugs for the crisis overcome....eventually. I'm so excited, though, to have an actual list because now I can just bookmark this and come back to it when I want to reread one of your stories.
My favorite of yours to read and reread and...reread again, well. I don't have to SAY it, do I?
Your theme is hilarious. I hope that continues to be the theme this year. My goal for this year, though, is to write more than one story. Oh and to finally write something Mulder/Scully.
Hugely impressed with your list, am I. Like I was saying to Katie, I remember all of these so fondly and I LOVED betaing them and being a part of the writing process and Eeeeeeeeeeee! I hope you manage to write MOAR after the season. (I hope they don't fuck things up so bad that you don't want to write.)
Love!
Okay really really gonna be productive now.
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Date: 2010-01-04 07:59 pm (UTC)You have got to get over NDY. It's all good now. Seriously. And I'm so happy you love that story, because it was your song prompts and I still adore that playlist and listen to it often. As I said upthread, I don't hate the whole thing. I just think there are stories of mine that are a lot more well executed.
My favorite of yours to read and reread and...reread again, well. I don't have to SAY it, do I?
*dies laughing* Ho. That's intents.
I think my theme is um, pretty safe, don't you? I mean what else do I think about? And YES to your goal of writing more than one story. I am so behind this idea like woah. I will beta like a mofoing mofo and make sure that you are not in the arms of a dying man. Wow Mulder/Scully huh? I fear that one tiny attempt will forever languish on my hard drive. You know one thing I realized? Honestly, Mulder and Scully gave me so much of what I needed that I didn't feel as much compulsion to fic them. It's like Buffy and Angel. I could fic them, but there's already so much of what I want THERE.
And babe. Seriously. There is not enough thanks in the world for you just . . . being you. From the whole thing with M we won't get into because this is not flocked to just being the most rock solid writing supporter in the world, thank you doesn't cover it.
Yes, please let them not fuck things up so badly this season that I don't want to write at all. Because we all know what happens to my brain when I can't write, and it ain't pretty.
OMG I have wasted this day. I would make a comment that I will now not make. Cryptic, eh? Love you!
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Date: 2010-01-04 08:51 pm (UTC)I will totally work on NDY. It's definitely a good thing that it all turned out okay, because otherwise, you know me. . .
Yeah sometimes I just... it's such an effort for me to write dark things. SUCH an effort. And I feel like my writing style is more...conducive to Mulder and Scully, even though they're like... also really hard characters to get right. I think it's worth trying. I've always wanted to, not because they didn't give me enough on the show, but because I always want more, because I'm a big greedy ho like that. And they never had a well lit hot hot kiss or a sex scene of any kind. In 9 years. So. idk.
Awww hon! Muah. I'm just me and that's all! But you KNOW I am always... here. Yep. I can't see that ever changing nor did I ever want it any differently.
I have SO wasted my day too! I need to read for class. I'll do that now. I think.
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Date: 2010-01-04 11:34 pm (UTC)Also, because you know me, you, and TMI (also I love how this LJ isn't even flocked so I'm technically TMIing with the entire world if anyone cares), I just don't know if I could write Mulder/Scully sex. YOU could. I know you could. I'm must not sure mine would uh, come out right. Bwahahahahaha. Shutting up now.
Muah. Did you read?
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Date: 2010-01-04 11:48 pm (UTC)With Jack and Renee I feel like you only get to see a couple sides of them, making it a challenge to guess how they'd react in this situation and that situation. And THAT'S a challenge too, because while you know how they WON'T act, you don't necessarily know how they would. So that's up to the writer and you always do that so believably.
To sum up?
Mulder+Scully fic = more emotional spectrum to work from, very specific voices, easy to fuck up
Jack+Renee fic = Character knowledge drawn 99% from intense time-sensitive situations, very limited knowledge of behavior in other settings, must make educated guesses, just as easy to fuck up (if you guess wrong).
Like, you're drawing from what would SEEM to be their reaction to things, and not what you KNOW. SO much more up for personal interpretation.
Okay. So have I said enough yet? Have I confused you?
I've read like 2/5 things I'm supposed to. *snicker* So much to reaaaad. This is really grad school, huh? YEP.
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Date: 2010-01-05 02:58 am (UTC)hahahaha. Grad school! Yes! Now you are learning:-P
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Date: 2010-01-04 05:49 pm (UTC)Of all your fics, I still love "Waterfall" the most. And that is the fic that introduced you to LJ.
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Date: 2010-01-04 08:02 pm (UTC)And aww, really "Waterfall?" I don't hate that story, but I feel as if it's so tentative, so just me terrified to even try. It makes me feel great that you like it so much, and of course it has much a soft spot in my heart because it's the story that started all you guys friending me, which led to so much awesome I can't even.
*hugs you*
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Date: 2010-01-04 09:33 pm (UTC)*Points to her Own Entry*
*Presents you with Shirtless Kiefer for no apparent reason*
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Date: 2010-01-04 09:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 07:00 pm (UTC)My Renee is ludicrous, the dialogue is often clunky and ridiculous, and it goes on for fucking ever without actually saying anything.
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Date: 2010-01-04 07:24 pm (UTC)Hehehehe.
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Date: 2010-01-04 07:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 07:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-04 08:05 pm (UTC)I'm so glad you loved "Not Dark Yet." Honestly, as I said upthread, it's not that I hate all of it. In fact part of it make me happy because they're so smushy. But! I have such negative associations with the story itself, because I was confidence crisising (I must made that word up right there) like I never have before, so yeah.
*giggles more at your guy*
Oh! And I just mailed your postcard! They even put a pretty stamp on it when I went to pay for it, so that made me all happy!
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Date: 2010-01-05 12:45 pm (UTC)Hehehehe. I saved him espeically for speical occasions like this! I completely understand the confidence crisising part (great word btw). But I honestly didn't feel like any of it reflected on the story. It was really great in my opinion. :)
YAY postcard!!! That's so sweet of you! I can't wait to see it. I hope it gets here quickly. :D ♥
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Date: 2010-01-04 09:06 pm (UTC)I know you were going through a major confidence crisis when you wrote Not Dark Yet, but I feel like that makes that story all the more impressive, since you were able to get through your confidence issues and write this story that was absolutely amazing, and come up with your line that expresses love so perfectly: He looks at her for a long, quiet moment, soaking in the way that somehow, although he knows she’s as scared as he is, everything on her face tells him she’s one hundred percent willing to take the risk.
Oh, and I fully approve of your themes of Jack and Renee being happy and having lots of sex. I hope they'll continue being central themes of your fics this year, hehe. ;D
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Date: 2010-01-04 11:20 pm (UTC)Also, it makes me happy that you like "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness" so much, because for some reason I'm just proud of that one. And hee shower. I'm forever going to be infamous for that, and I'm not sure that's a good thing! *blushy face*
Ack you're quoting my lines again! Oh, NDY, fic that almost killed me. But hey. I lived through it, right? I'm actually glad all that happened, but only on the other side.
And hellz YES to SO much sex and happiness for Jack and Renee!!! Even though we'll get neither. *pouts and hopes for at least some really smokin' kisses*
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Date: 2010-01-05 02:46 pm (UTC)It makes me laugh that your theme this year is Jack and Renee have sex. Isn't that going to be next year's theme too? Hehehe.
Congrats on writing all that fic, though. Quite the accomplishment, that. :)
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Date: 2010-01-05 03:17 pm (UTC)I had so much fun writing 24 frames. Seriously like, that was the weirdest thing EVER. Because given the brevity of each piece, honestly I could write them in my head and remember them, so it was a completely new experience to just walk around doing that. Amusing.
You had a ton to do with the way Speed of the Sound of Loneliness eventually turned out, so thank you! I'm pretty proud of that one, too, not that I love everything about it because I'm so ridiculously critical, but it's pretty well put together overall. I'm not, however, convinced that I should be proud of writing Jack and Renee having sex eighteen different ways. Alas, I can't seem to stop. Whatever.
But still I have to say that the most hilarious thing for me with relationship to your influence is the Larry love. I hadn't gone back to look at my stories hardly at all, and when I did I just laughed SO HARD because early on it's so clear how much I hated him. *fails*
Isn't that going to be next year's theme too?
*dies laughing* SO BUSTED. Ahem. Adrienne and I were just talking about how unbelievably NOT PRETTY it's going to be to be around me if they actually do make out onscreen. Just. Yeah.
Hi
Date: 2010-01-22 03:11 am (UTC)Thanks for entertaining me!
Re: Hi
Date: 2010-01-22 05:18 am (UTC)