Pimp Your Own Fic meme
Because kerravonsen requested it, and because I can never really pass up a chance to talk about my own writing. :) Please, especially if you are relatively new to my friendslist or if you write Doctor Who or Blakes 7 (2 of my newer fandoms), please do this!
Post, in your journal, a rec list singling out the best of your own fics. Tell people why you are especially proud of those particular fics, and of course provide links to them. Yes, that's right, this step involves self-promotion. How else are people supposed to find your fics? List as many or as few as you feel appropriate to represent your body of writing.
Also include a paragraph about the types of fics you most enjoy reading or are most interested in reading in the immediate future -- favorite tropes, pairings, fandoms, whatever. If you're particularly lazy, link to that Dear Writer post you did for whatever holiday exchange comes to mind.
Reply to other rec posts (like for example the one you are reading now) by reccing a fic of your own that might fit the original poster's tastes, or that you'd just really like them to read, because maybe they don't know they'd like it.
I'm really trying to restrain myself, here. These aren't necessarily my favorite fics (though I do love all of them), but the ones I am most proud of and think are probably the best written.
My Best Fic
1. The Nameless Seeker (Firefly)
"Once upon a time, there was a man who had no name." Shepherd Book tells a very important fairy tale to the children at Haven (set during the Big Damn Movie, though not so you'd really notice).
Why am I proud of this fic? I'd never written a proper fairy tale before, much less one that was supposed to both stand on its own and obliquely reveal to the reader an entire backstory for a character. It worked shockingly well for most of my audience, even those who dislike the genre, and I'm proud that I made the story-within-a-story do exactly what I wanted it to. The framing story is in tight 3rd person, present tense, while the fairy tale is 3rd-person omniscient past tense, and I managed to get all the tenses right! (Eventually.) Also, the only canon character present in the story is Book; the children are all OCs (though a couple of them are based on nameless characters from Serenity) as are the figures in the fairy tale. Last but not least, I managed to use a bit of scripture in an entirely appropriate way.
2. Day Has Gone Down (Numb3rs)
Megan is not coping well with the events of "The Janus List." Megan/Larry, but mostly Megan.
Why am I proud of this fic? Because I managed the emotional depth and honesty necessary to explore Megan's distress at this point in canon. It was something I needed to write to exorcise my shock at developments in the canon story, but it also turned out to be a really great character/relationship piece, and so in tune with canon that it still stands, even after the twists in the canon conclusion to the Janus List events.
3. Night's Candles (Harry Potter)
Sirius didn’t own much, not after so long in Azkaban and on the run. But everything he left behind holds ghosts for Remus Lupin, once again the last of the Marauders.
Why am I proud of this fic? Because I wrote it so well. It was the first story where I truly, consciously managed to use a technique that is now part of my style: expressing emotion by physical detail, by what the character notices, rather than by saying what the character is feeling. Example: "Something trembled in the corner of Remus’ vision. The candle he had set on the desk had burned down during the night. As he watched, the tiny round flame flickered in the draft from the open door, once, twice, and extinguished itself in a puddle of melted wax. After a moment, a wisp of smoke trailed up endlessly into the air."
4. Flying Lessons (Firefly/Serenity)
River likes her piloting lessons best when she has Serenity’s bridge all to herself.
Why am I proud of this fic? Because I managed to write a conversation between a ghost and a psychic, and make it feel real (both layers of reality), and because I feel as if I didn't create Wash's theory of levity. It was one of those oh-so-rare moments of true inspiration.
5. Love Is As Strong As Death (Angel)
For the prompt "Illyria to die of Fred."
Why am I proud of this fic? This prompt immediately jump-started my imagination, but I am most proud of it because it's an extended metaphor which really, really works for the character. Love and the survival of the soul as a new theory of physics....
6. Black and Blue (The Sentinel/Sandman)
Jim meets an unexpected visitor in the blue jungle.
Why am I proud of this series? I love writing Sentinel stories; the sensory component is something I don't always get to use like this. What I'd never written before was anything that touched on the mystical elements of TS canon. Crossing over with Sandman, however, there wasn't much else I could do--and it turned into something unexpectedly beautiful, since I could use Jim's senses (and flash him back, in a way, to the time when he first discovered them) but also cast the visuals in the blue shades of his inner jungle, and stamp into those the alien black and white of Sandman's Death. It's a gem.
7. In Fire, Some Say In Ice (Sam Carter) (Stargate SG-1)
What the end of the world might look like for our classic SG-1, from Sam's point of view.
Why am I proud of this fic? It's a teamy deathfic, end of the world, but it was so much fun to write. The pace is frantic (3 minutes till it's all over), and yet I discovered that was just enough space to sketch perfect miniature character portraits and relationship portraits. I'm not sure I've ever written the classic SG-1 better.
8. Hunted to Hunter (Supernatural)
Dean’s hands, on her back, in her hair, are warm and distracting. Other parts of him--mmm--are even more distracting. Dean/Jamie, so spoilers for "Monster Movie."
Why am I proud of this fic? It's short but sweet, the first time I wrote a scene with sexy talk and sexy stuff in it. And it's more than that: it's a flip of perspective, brought to one character by another, in the midst of closeness, with truth and humor. I've been told, also, that this fic is "hot," which pleases me, for so it should be.
My Fic Likes
My tastes in fic run strongly to gen, with an occasional side trip into het romance. This is mostly because I adore rich portrayals of close non-sexual relationships, whether family or friendship (especially friendship-as-close-as-family). I love anything that gives me more of the characters as they are in source canon. I love small intimate moments (not necessarily sexual, although that too); stories where people come to understand each other better through circumstances or stress; heroics (but realistic ones); and spiritual themes or characters of faith portrayed in all their complexity. Stories that bend reality in convincing ways also thrill me, whether these are AUs, surreal takes on something mundane, or an unusual crossover. I also have an odd and temperamental liking for fannish poetry.
Post, in your journal, a rec list singling out the best of your own fics. Tell people why you are especially proud of those particular fics, and of course provide links to them. Yes, that's right, this step involves self-promotion. How else are people supposed to find your fics? List as many or as few as you feel appropriate to represent your body of writing.
Also include a paragraph about the types of fics you most enjoy reading or are most interested in reading in the immediate future -- favorite tropes, pairings, fandoms, whatever. If you're particularly lazy, link to that Dear Writer post you did for whatever holiday exchange comes to mind.
Reply to other rec posts (like for example the one you are reading now) by reccing a fic of your own that might fit the original poster's tastes, or that you'd just really like them to read, because maybe they don't know they'd like it.
I'm really trying to restrain myself, here. These aren't necessarily my favorite fics (though I do love all of them), but the ones I am most proud of and think are probably the best written.
My Best Fic
1. The Nameless Seeker (Firefly)
"Once upon a time, there was a man who had no name." Shepherd Book tells a very important fairy tale to the children at Haven (set during the Big Damn Movie, though not so you'd really notice).
Why am I proud of this fic? I'd never written a proper fairy tale before, much less one that was supposed to both stand on its own and obliquely reveal to the reader an entire backstory for a character. It worked shockingly well for most of my audience, even those who dislike the genre, and I'm proud that I made the story-within-a-story do exactly what I wanted it to. The framing story is in tight 3rd person, present tense, while the fairy tale is 3rd-person omniscient past tense, and I managed to get all the tenses right! (Eventually.) Also, the only canon character present in the story is Book; the children are all OCs (though a couple of them are based on nameless characters from Serenity) as are the figures in the fairy tale. Last but not least, I managed to use a bit of scripture in an entirely appropriate way.
2. Day Has Gone Down (Numb3rs)
Megan is not coping well with the events of "The Janus List." Megan/Larry, but mostly Megan.
Why am I proud of this fic? Because I managed the emotional depth and honesty necessary to explore Megan's distress at this point in canon. It was something I needed to write to exorcise my shock at developments in the canon story, but it also turned out to be a really great character/relationship piece, and so in tune with canon that it still stands, even after the twists in the canon conclusion to the Janus List events.
3. Night's Candles (Harry Potter)
Sirius didn’t own much, not after so long in Azkaban and on the run. But everything he left behind holds ghosts for Remus Lupin, once again the last of the Marauders.
Why am I proud of this fic? Because I wrote it so well. It was the first story where I truly, consciously managed to use a technique that is now part of my style: expressing emotion by physical detail, by what the character notices, rather than by saying what the character is feeling. Example: "Something trembled in the corner of Remus’ vision. The candle he had set on the desk had burned down during the night. As he watched, the tiny round flame flickered in the draft from the open door, once, twice, and extinguished itself in a puddle of melted wax. After a moment, a wisp of smoke trailed up endlessly into the air."
4. Flying Lessons (Firefly/Serenity)
River likes her piloting lessons best when she has Serenity’s bridge all to herself.
Why am I proud of this fic? Because I managed to write a conversation between a ghost and a psychic, and make it feel real (both layers of reality), and because I feel as if I didn't create Wash's theory of levity. It was one of those oh-so-rare moments of true inspiration.
5. Love Is As Strong As Death (Angel)
For the prompt "Illyria to die of Fred."
Why am I proud of this fic? This prompt immediately jump-started my imagination, but I am most proud of it because it's an extended metaphor which really, really works for the character. Love and the survival of the soul as a new theory of physics....
6. Black and Blue (The Sentinel/Sandman)
Jim meets an unexpected visitor in the blue jungle.
Why am I proud of this series? I love writing Sentinel stories; the sensory component is something I don't always get to use like this. What I'd never written before was anything that touched on the mystical elements of TS canon. Crossing over with Sandman, however, there wasn't much else I could do--and it turned into something unexpectedly beautiful, since I could use Jim's senses (and flash him back, in a way, to the time when he first discovered them) but also cast the visuals in the blue shades of his inner jungle, and stamp into those the alien black and white of Sandman's Death. It's a gem.
7. In Fire, Some Say In Ice (Sam Carter) (Stargate SG-1)
What the end of the world might look like for our classic SG-1, from Sam's point of view.
Why am I proud of this fic? It's a teamy deathfic, end of the world, but it was so much fun to write. The pace is frantic (3 minutes till it's all over), and yet I discovered that was just enough space to sketch perfect miniature character portraits and relationship portraits. I'm not sure I've ever written the classic SG-1 better.
8. Hunted to Hunter (Supernatural)
Dean’s hands, on her back, in her hair, are warm and distracting. Other parts of him--mmm--are even more distracting. Dean/Jamie, so spoilers for "Monster Movie."
Why am I proud of this fic? It's short but sweet, the first time I wrote a scene with sexy talk and sexy stuff in it. And it's more than that: it's a flip of perspective, brought to one character by another, in the midst of closeness, with truth and humor. I've been told, also, that this fic is "hot," which pleases me, for so it should be.
My Fic Likes
My tastes in fic run strongly to gen, with an occasional side trip into het romance. This is mostly because I adore rich portrayals of close non-sexual relationships, whether family or friendship (especially friendship-as-close-as-family). I love anything that gives me more of the characters as they are in source canon. I love small intimate moments (not necessarily sexual, although that too); stories where people come to understand each other better through circumstances or stress; heroics (but realistic ones); and spiritual themes or characters of faith portrayed in all their complexity. Stories that bend reality in convincing ways also thrill me, whether these are AUs, surreal takes on something mundane, or an unusual crossover. I also have an odd and temperamental liking for fannish poetry.