(Late) year-in-fic memes: celebrating my first!

[amatara]

Phew, this has been a while, hasn't it? Holiday in Austria was lovely - lots of snow and skiing enjoyment, no falls or accidents to speak of, and much relaxing - and I'm ever so happy to see the shortest of the winter days finally seem to be behind us! Also: jeez, those snow storms in the US are really something, aren't they? *peers anxiously at flist pictures of heaps and heaps of snow* Hope y'all managed to stock up in time before getting stuck in your houses... *sends you many virtual blankets*

Meme time! I actually wanted to do these in December, which is when nearly anyone else did, but Yuletide and other writerly stuff kept me busy. Still, seeing as 2009 was my first year of writing fic, I'd say it deserves some kind of mention on here. :)


First Lines meme

May

To second-guess fate was illogical.

The Third Path, Star Trek Reboot (Spock, gen).

June

When G’Kar lowered himself onto the seat next to him, it was all Londo could do not to scream.

Changes of Heart, Babylon 5 (Londo & G'Kar, gen).


Narn was burning.

Acts of Contrition, Babylon 5 (Londo & G'Kar, gen).

July

How many holes in a life before it falls apart?

Small Mercies, Babylon 5 (Londo/G'Kar).

August

No fics. (writing for babylon5_love and matrithon)

September

Nothing like a good argument to get the adrenalin flowing; that, at least, was what G’Kar told himself, pressed flat against the palace wall to escape detection by the ubiquitous guards.

One Foot Across, Babylon 5. Written for maspalio (Londo & G'Kar, gen)


Cartagia had been dead less than a week, and already the palace felt different.

The Thing with Feathers, Babylon 5. Written for the annual Babylon 5 Love Month at babylon5_love (Vir & Londo, gen).


In the end, she simply told everyone she had resented him from the start.

Desiderata, Babylon 5. Written for matrithon (Timov/Londo).

October

Your final chance to walk away; once you call at that door, it is irreversible.

Reciprocity, Babylon 5 (Londo/G'Kar).

November

No fics. (writing for Yuletide)

December

No fics. (Still writing for Yuletide *g*)

January

The wind had picked up again during the night, pouring steadily through the open windows, but Vir was awake before he felt the cold.

Bearing Witness, Babylon 5. Written for Yuletide (Vir, G'Kar, Londo, gen).


“Great Maker – lie still, you nervous spoo-for-brains!”

Awkward Positions, Babylon 5 (Londo/G'Kar).


This town is damn psychic, Albert thought, then dealt himself a mental kick in the ass.

Damaged Goods, Twin Peaks (Dale Cooper & Albert Rosenfield, gen).

WIPs as of February

I'm usually a one-fic-at-a-time person, but for the first time in my (admittedly short) fanfic writer existence, I'm working on three fics at once! This is serving very well in keeping me on my toes, and I'm quite enjoying the almost-daily switches in fandom and perspective it involves. Whether it improves the speed of writing still remains to be seen, though. *g* A glimpse of what's on the table:

- Babylon 5, Londo/G'Kar.
My fic contribution for help_haiti, by request of mithen who wanted a post-series piece having some fluff as well my regular dosing of angst. Not an easy task for me, but I've finally gotten to the meat of the story and gained some momentum. Also: Londo and G'Kar are very cute together when drunk. *g* Which helps enormously as a plot device in circumventing some of the angst. ;)

- Twin Peaks, Dale Cooper/Albert Rosenfield.
A New Year's Resolution for Yuletide, attempting to fill a prompt for my dear Yuletide author nemo_everbeing who was so kind as to fill my own Yuletide prompt so beautifully. I'm hoping I can reciprocate with a piece of post-series possessed!Cooper slash, including (hopefully, if I don't hit a plothole along the way) some kind of series resolution. Fingers crossed here.

- Babylon 5, post-series Lyta & G'Kar.
A request from maspalio which I started writing all of three months ago and then had to drop for Yuletide. I'm almost there, just one conversation left to write... which is of course when things start to slow down. *headdesk*


Tough Questions meme

Favourite Story (of my own): I'm tempted to say Small Mercies, my post-series Londo/G'Kar that was also my first attempt at UST/slash, even though I haven't re-read the fic in ages (and am, frankly, a little afraid to do so). In my mind, it has this shiny quality of a fic that's really close to my heart, because it was my way of finding myself some comfort for the devastation that was "Fall of Centauri Prime" and the series' ending. Plus, I worked harder on that story than I probably did on anything else up till now. But it was also one of the first ones I wrote, meaning the quality might not have been quite up to par yet. Don't know if that's true, I haven't dared to check. :)

Best Story: Oh, hard. Apart from the fact the line between "best" and "favorite" isn't always easy to draw, I suck pretty much at passing objective judgment on my own writing. Here I would go for Desiderata, my Timov/Londo fic for matrithon, because it's a coherent whole that tells the story I wanted to tell, in a way that doesn't whitewash any of the characters' behavior, and there's no single part in it that I feel is lacking in quality compared to the rest. Bearing Witness I think is my best take on character voices yet, but it was easier in the sense that it borrowed much more from canon than Desiderata did. And in their genres, I think One foot across and Awkward Positions qualify for respectively decent nonsappy hurt/comfort, and decent nonvulgar smut. Plus perhaps my latest Twin Peaks fic, Damaged Goods, for doing a decent job with characterization in a totally different fandom.

Most Fun Story: Strangely, One Foot Across. Because writing a nice, snarky hurt/comfort fic that ends happily is a wonderfully addictive thing. The sillier parts of Bearing Witness also left me with a big grin on my face: I think the scene where I had Londo and G'Kar arguing over their joint statement, with Vir stuck in the middle, is the closest to humor/crack I've ever come.

Sexiest Story?: For its mere ratio of sex to nonsex-related talk, surely Awkward Positions. It's the only one I did that was nearly pure smut and snark. Reciprocity is pretty sexy too, and in fact has more explicit description, but has a lot more talk and is much angstier.

Story with the single sexiest moment: Hmm. Would say the nipple scene in Reciprocity. *g* Though I'm also very fond of that one heartbreaking kiss and the Sex That Never Was in Small Mercies. Which, incidentally, was the first scene I wrote for that fic. :)

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters?: Desiderata, most definitely. Because it required me to think up a realistic backstory for Timov, in the course of which I realized I'd been subconsciously covering Londo's treatment of his wives with the mantle of love. But honestly, if I were married to him and he'd treat me that way, I might not have shown as much restraint as Timov did. Though I'm sure she also had her moments of hurting him just for the hell of it. Also Damaged Goods because it made me think, for the first time, about the relationship between Cooper and Albert beyond my instinctive desire to see them slashed together. Only to realize I believe yes, Albert is gay and attracted to Cooper, but Cooper is, if not totally straight, then at least pretty much on the straight side of the Kinsey scale. Which was the first time I'd thought so hard of a character's sexual orientation while writing a story. I never worried about that so much when I started writing Londo/G'Kar. I mean, they are both rather "flexible" in that regard, I guess. :) And it is the 23rd century, after all.

Worst story / Most overrated story, in my opinion: Gosh, it seems a little mean to be calling a story that, because who am I to argue about why someone is fond of a particular fic - that's as much about something hitting your buttons in a particular way as it is about quality. But I think I'll have to go for my Vir & Londo gen The Thing with Feathers. Over at FF.Net and AO3 I think it's my top-rated story, and also about my only non-ficathon story that received some comments from people who don't read this journal. Don't get me wrong, I'm fond of it too, because it showcases Vir's strength and his devotion to Londo in a big way - but objectively speaking it's really a very simple thing, and possibly even a bit too sappy. Apart from that, I was surprised by the number of comments on my second Yuletide story, Awkward Positions, because it was short and smutty and written in the space of three days - but I'm not calling it overrated. I think I managed well enough, considering the timings and genre. *g*

Most unintentionally telling story: Um. One Foot Across as well as some bits of other stories revealed me as quite the hurt/comfort fiend, which I'm not sure is such a good reputation to have. *g* I like the dark, snarky type of H/C, though; not the schmoopy kind that seems much easier to find, darn it.

"Holy crap, that's wrong, even for me" story: That Twin Peaks WIP I'm writing now. Because, however much you turn it, writing Cooper/Albert slash in a period where Cooper is supposedly possessed by evil-killer-entity-with-a-fondness-for-the-sexual BOB is just screwed-up as hell. And I have to constantly be on the lookout in order to make sure it doesn't turn to non-con or can be mistaken for such, because that'd just be crossing my personal line. Mainly a matter of drawing the line between Cooper!Cooper and Bob!Cooper as sharp as I can manage. But even then, the story is dark dark dark, and what bits of happiness or true affection I can throw in are brief and fleeting. It's probably darker than anything else I've done, which is saying something.

Hardest Story to Write?: Small Mercies, most definitely. Both for technical reasons (first-person POV was devilishly hard to do, even with a POV character as talkative as Londo), because it had such emotional resonance for me, and because my betas at the time were (thankfully and justifiably) critical enough to make me rework it quite thoroughly from the first version. Labor of love, that one. *squeezes fic to chest*

Biggest Surprise?: Tackling Twin Peaks as a fandom to write in. Which has been a great experience so far, in that it's about as different from Babylon 5 as a fandom could be. Both when it comes to language (American slang is really pretty different from English with an alien accent, LOL :) ) and atmosphere, and because a real-time setting allows for a whole different type of locations and backstories. It's especially fun when interspersed with writing B5, as the contrast helps to keep me focused on both.

Story most tragically underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Oh, goodness. I really don't have anything to complain about as far as reactions here on my LJ are concerned, which have all been lovely and appreciative no matter what the story. But in terms of hits on FF.Net and AO3, I'd dare to say Small Mercies. At first I thought it was the slash label, but I've written slashy stories afterwards that proved more popular, so it must be something else. First-person POV, maybe, or something else that doesn't quite hit the right tone. Same with Desiderata for some reasons: the Timov/Londo tag doesn't seem to work very well in tempting people to read.

Overall Thoughts on this Year's Fic:
- Not too bad at all for a first year, if I may say so myself *g*. 11 fics and 3 more on the way, which is lots more than I would have guessed when I jumped into this past June.
- My best stories are generally the ones written in response to a prompt. It's by far my favorite way of writing, so I'm repeating previous statements made in this respect: requests are always much appreciated! B5 is still very welcome, of course, but so are more Twin Peaks suggestions, or requests for ST: TOS gen, which I'd be happy to try my hand at.
- I suck at titles. I generally spend more time worrying about titles than I do about any other part of the fic. Any hints on that one (apart from the tried-and-true "ask your beta" :) ) would be lovely.
- While I've gotten better at writing sex or sexual situations, I'm still made of complete fail when it comes to writing any kind of happy sex. I have no idea how to remedy that, though.

In short: thank you all for making my first year on LJ such a lovely one. *snuggles you all* Here's to 2010 - may it bring you lots of fannish joy, and even more of the real-life kind!

Comments

[maspalio.livejournal.com]

I won't tell a lie : “Great Maker – lie still, you nervous spoo-for-brains!” is the best first line I've read this year, in any fandom. *g* It may have something to do with this fic's popularity.
As for Small Mercies, I don't understand why it isn't more popular because it is a lovely story and the ending is just heartbreakingly perfect. Don't be afraid to re-read it.

Has it only been six months? It feels like you've been there for a year at least. Anyway I'm looking forward to what the coming year will bring. I may come back with a request it the near future, since you're asking for it. *g*

As for titles, they are always hard to find, especially in fanfic where you can't fall back on the name of the main character/setting/mac guffin. I don't think there are any tips to good title crafting. It's a skill you have to be born with.

[amatara.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks. *g* Feels like much longer than six months to me too. I have to admit there was a point sometime halfway where I wasn't sure I'd make the six-month mark, what with my sloooow writing and not managing to keep up with either posting or replies and feeling guiltier about that than I should... *g* But I think I've hit my stride in writing, and found my balance in the amount of time I'm spending on the rest, too. Which makes this all kinds of wonderful now. So I think 2010 could be a good one. Yes. :)

I re-read Small Mercies yesterday, and - well, it is quite flowery, isn't it? *g* Also has an introduction that's about two times as long as it should be, and needs lots more dialogue - but apart from that, the actual Londo/G'Kar did hold up in re-reading. Phew. :)

I'd be happy to hear your requests! Just shoot whenever you'd like, in whichever way you prefer!

Oh, and I've wondered - not to be pushy or anything, but is there by any chance something of that NaNo of yours out on the web? I looked on In Libro Veritas but didn't find anything new there, and I wondered what was up with that. Or is NaNoWriMo mainly about the writing in itself, and showcasing the story is something that happens afterwards? (In which case, don't mind my asking; the concept just isn't very familiar to me. :) )

[maspalio.livejournal.com]

The NaNovel isn't quite ready to go public yet. The main plot is wrapped up but there's still some editing to do. I'll let you know when it's in a readable state.

[mithen.livejournal.com]

That's funny, I was going to say the exact same thing maspalio said about "Small Mercies"--it's basically my Perfect Londo/G'Kar Story. And oh, I hear you about titles. I usually set myself a sort of time limit--I give it a very obvious working title, and if something better hasn't come to me within about a hour of finishing it, I just go with the working title. Life is too short. I'll go to poetry and songs for inspiration sometimes, but usually it either is something that jumps out at me from a line of dialogue or description--or there just isn't anything.

I'm going to write you a longer email later, but I did want to mention that Londo/G'Kar are my go-to pairing for ANGST GALORE, so my attraction to fluff only applies here in the fact that a snatched moment of happiness only might only make the loneliness after worse... in short, don't shy away from a sad ending at all! I know your angst is nuanced and not just a long painful grind into nothing (there's always the "happy ending" that both of them know eventually will free Londo that hangs between them, after all), so I want you to give free rein to what the story needs!

[amatara.livejournal.com]

You know, I still remember that (huge!) comment you gave on Small Mercies, which I seem to recall was one of your first ones on here, as being the loveliest ever. *melts again at the memory* It did much in strengthening my own love of the story. So thanks, again, for that. :)

About the Londo/G'Kar: oh, good, good! I was hoping I could go for the angstier option, to be absolutely honest, so - yay, ANGST! *LOL* Also, I have finally reached the point in the fic where I got Londo and G'Kar outside, and on their way to the place where I want them to end up. Eureka! :) I have also stopped thinking about all I've written up to this point as merely "setup". :) And I'll be aiming for the 20th, then!