getting in the mood
Well, I'm sitting here in a weird mood, I want to write some stuff, but I'm not quite in the mood, so I'm trying to convince myself that, yes, tonight I want to write instead of read. Even though I have tons of stuff marked and saved for reading, and tons of other great stories I've already read that I want to put back in my library, but my fingers are not in a copy and paste mood tonight, so, back to putting myself in the mood for writing.
I think I'm going to use this lj to help me keep up with what and who I'm reading, so I won't lose track of those wips that I read and want to follow. I've found a lot of the ones that were on my old laptop, and in looking on the web for those I've found more to add to the list. Well, looky, I've found an excuse not to write on my story, and keep me occupied anyway. My brain is very devious that way.
I still can't believe I wrote a het story the other day. But I was reading sexymermaid's journal and got to thinking about her new comm angelovesdawn. I started out reading Spike and Buffy stories, but shifted to slash because it seemed that after I had read some really good ones (and very sexy) all I found was a bunch of really bad ones. It got very cliched and predictable, and at the time I wasn't into reading about anything unless it had Spike in it. He's just the one who pushes my buttons ;)
I really wish I could remember the first slash story I ever read, because it must have been good, so good that I totally went with it from then on, didn't read het for quite a while. It was a Spike/ Angel story, 'cause that was my first 'slash' ship, I thought Spike/ Xander was a joke, 'cause why in the world would a sexy, all that vamp get it on with 'Joe Normal'? I mean, Xan's good lookin' and all, but it just didn't seem to work for me. But Spike and Angel, I loved from the first the thought of all the history, I mean, they're family, a twisted, really sick and f'd-up family, but in the end, family. I loved the idea of all the undercurrents, how every conversation they have is really just a continuation of one big conversation that's never ended. They might fight, try to kill each other, watch each other's back, argue about cavemen and astronauts, but it all just fits into the big picture of them, 'cause no matter what they understand each other like their human friends can't. To me it's a question of experiencing something, like men and women can empathize with each other, try to be understanding and all, but no man can ever fully understand what it is to be a woman, and vice versa. Yada, yada, yes a woman can do whatever a man can, and a man can do what women can (with a few exceptions for biology) but understanding something and being something are two different things. Even without the sex Spike and Angel mean something to each other, (the sex is just a bonus) 'cause they're both demons, and demons who have been treading a very similar path at that, both demons who live among humans. But even though they have basic things in common, like souls and demons and being men, they are very different personalities with very different ideas of what fun and life are all about. The stories by Jenny at her Love that Dares site are some of my favorite ones for all the smart writing.
So..., Spike and Angel first, then I got on a Willow kick for awhile, read some good ones with her in various combo's with Spike and/or Angel, and some how from their it went to Spike/ Xander. And I think the first S/X that I read was mad poetress and her Chocolaty Goodness series, (so sad she burned out on it, it was just lovely but at least she stopped at sorta a reasonable place) and I got hooked. Fan fiction really woke me up to the possibilities of Xander, and he has been written so well in so many stories, really expanded and given a , I want to say personality, but more of the fact that we can get a glimpse inside his mind. And when he's written well, what a mind! I really love S/X now, and have read tons of it. But nowadays I just read anything that catches my eye, I've read Spike/Riley for god's sake and I never thought that would work, but the one I read was beautiful.
I guess I just want to read smart stories, stories that have emotions, and reality and good smut. I love long series because I read so fast that I'm disappointed to have it end. I love all kind of different stories, for many different reasons, but what's kind of funny is that what one author can make me love another one does so bad that I hate it. I read a story about Spike/Angel/Conner called 'Angels and Insects' (I think) and while incest isn't my cup of tea, the smart and beautiful writing made it possible for me to get into the story and just be there, swept along in events just like it happens in real life. The end of that story, sorry the sequel to it 'Prometheus Unbound', has a Spike/Angel scene that I just sat and wept thru, as I was smiling. I'm talking sweet, sexy, tender and hot , just pushed my buttons like crazy. As I'm sitting here thinking about it, I can't remember any other stories making me cry except for 'Sunday Morning Coming Down'.
And somehow this post has grown very out of control, and I'm now going to read the A&I story and sequel mentioned above, then SMCD, and then maybe start on that master list of fiction I've read. (ha ha, yeah right)
Love to all, C