Favourite five meme
I did say this journal was for posting fic only, but I am going to sneak in a quick meme, and promise such things will be rare. antennapedia tagged me, and I am her humble slave. And kim, too. Also: awesome new icon.
My favourite of my stories. Not necessarily the best, but my favourites.
But really, my favourites tend to be the ones I think are best, anyway. I'm most satisfied with my writing when I feel it's deep and themey, with what I think are complex characters, and it feels more like the real world than the fanfic one. Also, when I feel like I've done something different to the fandom usual.
Sustained Flight (Velvet Goldmine: Curt/Arthur, Arthur/omc) 2002
(After VG, Arthur goes home to his lover, but the taste of his glam youth has made his closeted life unbearable.)
That I managed to write a VG that feels like VG still makes me all puffed up and proud. I love the themes and awkwardness of the movie, how every character's experience is unique: no villains, no heroes, except sometimes in each others' eyes: just a bunch of people who lived very different PsOV of the glam rock era. Fanfic often simplifies it: Evil!Brian, Closeted!Arthur, Victim!Curt. I think I managed to do something with the yearning, and the unfinished business in Arthur's life, without trivialising the life he had in the 1980s. That's what I was trying to do. I think this is the first story I wrote where I played around with gay identity, and I really enjoyed that.
Absumption (Star Trek Voyager: Janeway/Paris) 1999
(In the episode Timeless, Voyager crashed, but some of the crew survived.)
I love this firstly because I was a passenger: it spilled out like I was reading it. I had some ideas about where it was going, but I was totally surprised by most of the twists. And secondly, I love the cold numbness of working through a devastating crisis. I enjoy reading/watching post-apocalypsy things, characters getting on with survival when their world has fallen apart, and I kind of read/watched as I wrote this. "Chicken or tomato soup?" is one of my favourite lines ever.
Thaw (TPM: Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan) 2003
(Years into Obi-Wan's knighthood, Q & O talk a lot.)
I like this because it's way, waaaay out of the fanfic norm, far closer to who I see onscreen. The boys aren't oversexed - in fact Obi-Wan doesn't like it at all - and sex doesn't cause, fix or sustain their relationship. They're people with strengths and insecurities. Obi-Wan has some very personal elements of mine, and some ways in which he's very different to me, and I'd love a Qui-Gon who was this good at answering the questions, someone with whom I had this much trust.
Giles Thing (Buffy: Giles/Xander) 2006 - ongoing
(18yo Giles is propelled into s3 Sunnydale, bringing sex and chaos to Xander's life. Then Xander notices that Giles improved with age.)
Figuring out relationships is complicated business. And I feel like this story puts in the time, for that. Not so much with what I've posted so far, but with the upcoming parts. And I don't know if I can count this on unposted parts, and not count a totally unposted story that I think I like better, but whatever. I like what I've done with Xander's family, giving them some depth. And negotiating the age difference stuff, instead of just using it as a stumbling block to starting the relationship. Also, it's fun. I really enjoyed writing Xander in a panic over Ripper. And other bits.
Suspicion (TPM: Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan) 2005
(Ten years after Obi-Wan walked out on his trials, he shows up, working for a company Qui-Gon suspects of corruption.)
It was close between this and Are you there, Force? It's me, Obi-Wan. (See how I slipped that one in?) But Suspicion has plot. Like, a real, live, plot, and readers were guessing their way through the plot twists, which was the coolest thing ever.
S.
My favourite of my stories. Not necessarily the best, but my favourites.
But really, my favourites tend to be the ones I think are best, anyway. I'm most satisfied with my writing when I feel it's deep and themey, with what I think are complex characters, and it feels more like the real world than the fanfic one. Also, when I feel like I've done something different to the fandom usual.
Sustained Flight (Velvet Goldmine: Curt/Arthur, Arthur/omc) 2002
(After VG, Arthur goes home to his lover, but the taste of his glam youth has made his closeted life unbearable.)
That I managed to write a VG that feels like VG still makes me all puffed up and proud. I love the themes and awkwardness of the movie, how every character's experience is unique: no villains, no heroes, except sometimes in each others' eyes: just a bunch of people who lived very different PsOV of the glam rock era. Fanfic often simplifies it: Evil!Brian, Closeted!Arthur, Victim!Curt. I think I managed to do something with the yearning, and the unfinished business in Arthur's life, without trivialising the life he had in the 1980s. That's what I was trying to do. I think this is the first story I wrote where I played around with gay identity, and I really enjoyed that.
Absumption (Star Trek Voyager: Janeway/Paris) 1999
(In the episode Timeless, Voyager crashed, but some of the crew survived.)
I love this firstly because I was a passenger: it spilled out like I was reading it. I had some ideas about where it was going, but I was totally surprised by most of the twists. And secondly, I love the cold numbness of working through a devastating crisis. I enjoy reading/watching post-apocalypsy things, characters getting on with survival when their world has fallen apart, and I kind of read/watched as I wrote this. "Chicken or tomato soup?" is one of my favourite lines ever.
Thaw (TPM: Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan) 2003
(Years into Obi-Wan's knighthood, Q & O talk a lot.)
I like this because it's way, waaaay out of the fanfic norm, far closer to who I see onscreen. The boys aren't oversexed - in fact Obi-Wan doesn't like it at all - and sex doesn't cause, fix or sustain their relationship. They're people with strengths and insecurities. Obi-Wan has some very personal elements of mine, and some ways in which he's very different to me, and I'd love a Qui-Gon who was this good at answering the questions, someone with whom I had this much trust.
Giles Thing (Buffy: Giles/Xander) 2006 - ongoing
(18yo Giles is propelled into s3 Sunnydale, bringing sex and chaos to Xander's life. Then Xander notices that Giles improved with age.)
Figuring out relationships is complicated business. And I feel like this story puts in the time, for that. Not so much with what I've posted so far, but with the upcoming parts. And I don't know if I can count this on unposted parts, and not count a totally unposted story that I think I like better, but whatever. I like what I've done with Xander's family, giving them some depth. And negotiating the age difference stuff, instead of just using it as a stumbling block to starting the relationship. Also, it's fun. I really enjoyed writing Xander in a panic over Ripper. And other bits.
Suspicion (TPM: Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan) 2005
(Ten years after Obi-Wan walked out on his trials, he shows up, working for a company Qui-Gon suspects of corruption.)
It was close between this and Are you there, Force? It's me, Obi-Wan. (See how I slipped that one in?) But Suspicion has plot. Like, a real, live, plot, and readers were guessing their way through the plot twists, which was the coolest thing ever.
S.