because when you spam you should do it right
okay, so first of all, in case the 23094835 times i pimped this story out isn't enough, EVERYONE should go read temperance, which was written just for me, by the very, very lovely nopseud, and you should all go slather love all over it, because it is so fantastic it goes beyond fantastic, and there's something for everyone in it. no, seriously, read it and you'll see.
also! now that the mtyg authors have been revealed, i guess it's finally safe to say that i wrote a sheepish kind of love this year, for turps33. initially i wasn't sure i was going to sign up as a writer at all this year, what with all the travelling i'd be doing, and the packing for canada, and then once i got this request, i was so pleased i had! just - i haven't been motivated to write a pairing-centric fic in forever, so really, a request for a story all about chris? i was so on board.
then again, i was also totally intimidated, because hi, it's terri, it was kind of hard not to be. and also, all i saw in her dear santa letter was this sort of cryptic, hilarious little rhyme about chris having little lambs who wanted him like whoa, and everywhere he went, the lambs were sure to go. and i was all over that like brown on rice, because hi, talk about a perfect premise. so at first i thought i'd go with a pied piper kind of theme, where chris had a magical power where he sang and all these sheep would follow him around, and he'd be all sad and lonely till he met jc, the lonely goatherd, or something, and they could both yodel into the sunset together.
but i sat on that idea for a couple of weeks, and nothing was happening with it. and then i thought, oh, hey, what if falling in love with chris was a health hazard? (not that it isn't already, but you know.) and then everything clicked. strangely enough, what really kicked this story off for me was the mental image of chris' own arm turning into a sheep leg, heh. that was the moment i knew i was going to have to write this. initially, though, the idea was that everyone prior to jc would have turned into sheep, and he wouldn't, because chris was in love with him back. by this time i was in japan, so my sister was the only person left who'd bounce story ideas with me, and we both ended up agreeing that the ending sounded pretty anticlimactic, so at this point i was stuck without a story ending.
and then came the killer (but, in hindsight, kind of hilarious) curveball. as in turns out, terri's dear santa letter was actually a test-letter anna had posted, and somehow terri's real letter never made it onto the site. cue instant, utter panic on my part. figures this is the one time the dear santa letter turns out to be my muse, bahaha. so i created a filter of, like, two people, and made a frantic post about how, OMG WILL TERRI GO FOR THIS? SHOULD I START OVER? WHAT DO I DOOOOOOOOOO? luckily for me, bubbleforest was awesome enough to soothe my worries, and i went back to working on the story without too many changes, and eventually got to the finished product after about three drafts.
my favourite parts to write were probably the undertones of gsf throughout the entire thing. i love stories that feature all the boys, so that was a big motivation there. (also, come on, the idea of ALL OF THEM being sheep at one point or another? ♥ ♥ ♥) that said, i think the biggest problem i had was getting enough trickc in there to balance out the gsf-y vibes. i wasn't sure if i'd done that well at the time of posting; i'm still not sure, to be honest. also, i didn't know if the ending would work for everyone, if it would be too cheesy, or the solution would come off too obvious, or if i should've had the boys try out a couple of other different things first (i almost went with having justin build an entire manger or something, but that would've implied a long-term strategy, which, yeah, no) but it seems to have worked, and i've gotten lovely feedback for it this far? so!
i'm gonna go ahead and count this one a win. :D
eta: for posterity's sake, i would like it noted that pixiebeanz has a freaking nat!radar, or something, because this is the second year in a row she's guessed my story. two for two, bb! ♥
eta 2: also, this story apparently has the longest first sentence of most of the stories i've written this year. huh.
also! now that the mtyg authors have been revealed, i guess it's finally safe to say that i wrote a sheepish kind of love this year, for turps33. initially i wasn't sure i was going to sign up as a writer at all this year, what with all the travelling i'd be doing, and the packing for canada, and then once i got this request, i was so pleased i had! just - i haven't been motivated to write a pairing-centric fic in forever, so really, a request for a story all about chris? i was so on board.
then again, i was also totally intimidated, because hi, it's terri, it was kind of hard not to be. and also, all i saw in her dear santa letter was this sort of cryptic, hilarious little rhyme about chris having little lambs who wanted him like whoa, and everywhere he went, the lambs were sure to go. and i was all over that like brown on rice, because hi, talk about a perfect premise. so at first i thought i'd go with a pied piper kind of theme, where chris had a magical power where he sang and all these sheep would follow him around, and he'd be all sad and lonely till he met jc, the lonely goatherd, or something, and they could both yodel into the sunset together.
but i sat on that idea for a couple of weeks, and nothing was happening with it. and then i thought, oh, hey, what if falling in love with chris was a health hazard? (not that it isn't already, but you know.) and then everything clicked. strangely enough, what really kicked this story off for me was the mental image of chris' own arm turning into a sheep leg, heh. that was the moment i knew i was going to have to write this. initially, though, the idea was that everyone prior to jc would have turned into sheep, and he wouldn't, because chris was in love with him back. by this time i was in japan, so my sister was the only person left who'd bounce story ideas with me, and we both ended up agreeing that the ending sounded pretty anticlimactic, so at this point i was stuck without a story ending.
and then came the killer (but, in hindsight, kind of hilarious) curveball. as in turns out, terri's dear santa letter was actually a test-letter anna had posted, and somehow terri's real letter never made it onto the site. cue instant, utter panic on my part. figures this is the one time the dear santa letter turns out to be my muse, bahaha. so i created a filter of, like, two people, and made a frantic post about how, OMG WILL TERRI GO FOR THIS? SHOULD I START OVER? WHAT DO I DOOOOOOOOOO? luckily for me, bubbleforest was awesome enough to soothe my worries, and i went back to working on the story without too many changes, and eventually got to the finished product after about three drafts.
my favourite parts to write were probably the undertones of gsf throughout the entire thing. i love stories that feature all the boys, so that was a big motivation there. (also, come on, the idea of ALL OF THEM being sheep at one point or another? ♥ ♥ ♥) that said, i think the biggest problem i had was getting enough trickc in there to balance out the gsf-y vibes. i wasn't sure if i'd done that well at the time of posting; i'm still not sure, to be honest. also, i didn't know if the ending would work for everyone, if it would be too cheesy, or the solution would come off too obvious, or if i should've had the boys try out a couple of other different things first (i almost went with having justin build an entire manger or something, but that would've implied a long-term strategy, which, yeah, no) but it seems to have worked, and i've gotten lovely feedback for it this far? so!
i'm gonna go ahead and count this one a win. :D
eta: for posterity's sake, i would like it noted that pixiebeanz has a freaking nat!radar, or something, because this is the second year in a row she's guessed my story. two for two, bb! ♥
eta 2: also, this story apparently has the longest first sentence of most of the stories i've written this year. huh.