Fanfic meme
htbthomas tagged me with this meme, and it kept me occupied through my meetings yesterday, so I thought I'd put it up.
WRITER'S MEME: Sometimes it's okay to pimp yourself out. Post a list of the top five favorite fics you've written, regardless of fandom or the reason you love them. This isn't about the BEST things you've written, but what you LOVE most. Then tag five other people to do the same.
I sat down and just started writing down the stories and chapters of mine that struck me the most, and realized pretty quickly that they weren't the stories that I thought played to my strengths--none of the traditional romances or funny stories came to mind first. After mulling it over (have I mentioned this was six straight hours of presentations? In Japanese? On postmodern theory?) I realized what the stories have in common, which almost made me laugh because it's so very me somehow: they were almost all touchstones that remind me I'm capable of writing a certain kind of story, one that I usually consider a bit outside my range. They're the stories that, when I feel low or limited, I pull out of my mental drawers and remind myself, "I can write this."
So, putting them in alphabetical order, Jen's cherished stories:
36 Views of Mt. Fuji, just the whole darn series, for the simple reason that it has never once been anything but a joy to write. When anything else is blocked, this series still flows, and I've loved every minute of writing it.
Disorientations (from the Music of the Spheres series), A/K/A "I can write alien Kal!" This story is really the lynchpin of the whole series in some ways for me, setting up the difficulties Clark has re-integrating into human life and the long-term problems his long sojourn among the stars will have. I really went all-out in trying to show Clark as a being that transcends our usual definitions of gender and beauty, and I liked the image of him in the club in this story very much. It still hovers in my head sometimes, writing him.
More, A/K/A "I can write smut!" I'm a sex pollen junkie but I've only written two stories using it--this one is nothing more (or, I suppose, less) than a long, crazy smutfest. I really relaxed and slowed the pace down and took my time on this one, and I liked the results a lot.
November: The Art of War (from the Earth & Sky series), A/K/A "I can write angst!" Nothing I've ever written, or probably ever will write again, will get the kind of reaction this story does from people. For better or worse (and usually I think it really is for the better), I could never write Bruce being this calculatedly cruel to Clark again. In some ways I really hate this story. But I love it, too.
A tie between The Unadorned Truth and The Wolf and the Star, A/K/A "I can write darkfic!" Both deal with non-consensual sex in ways that I at least found compelling...if not exactly plausible.
Let's see...tagging
sasha_anu,
arch_schatten,
bradygirl_12,
merfilly, and
starsandsea, although you are all completely free to ignore me. :) Once these memes start ricocheting around this part of LJ they can become rather onerous, so it's your choice. :)