self-reccing
musesfool did a self-reccing thing (though it wasn't her idea originally), and I thought, well why not?
Then I started wondering which two stories I should rec. I mean, there's no point in telling you that you should read By The Last Stage of Lycanthropy or This Is My Beloved Son or any other story that you read anyway. And going by my personal favourites would probably mean reccing the really long stuff, and in any case I've told you guys my favourites plenty of times already.
So I figured, I'll rec two stories that people don't read very often. Now, some of my stories aren't read for a good reason - they're simply not all that good. But others aren't read because they have the wrong characters or themes or fandom or whatever, and that's too bad.
So, my two recs:
The Tale of Myra and Merrilil (LotR)
I think people tend to skip this one because it looks Mary Sue-ish, while those who like Mary Sues don't find it Mary Sue-ish enough - it kind of falls between chairs. It's also less fanfiction than it is exploration of Middle-Earth from a new angle. I even considered making it a non-fanfic story but realized that the Middle-Earth races and types of people were too important for the interpretation of the story for that to be possible.
Simply put, it's the story of a girl called Myra, who is raised a hobbit but slowly comes to the realization that she isn't one. She is written as a "problem child", someone you feel sorry for and wish you could like but who irks you never the less. The title's "Merrilil" is Sam's son Merry and her only real friend, a hobbit with a heart as big as his stomach, as it turns out.
The question I started with, once I had decided to try this story, was: what's it like for the bad kids? To try and be good enough when you just don't have it in you? It's a tragedy, in a way - but of course, being the sap I am I couldn't bring myself to give the story an unhappy ending. It's a tale about finding yourself, and finding that what you come from doesn't define where you're going.
It may not be the most polished story I've ever written, but I think the simple fairy tale form fits the content rather well.
The second story:
Unnamed (West Wing)
I'm very fond of Joey Lucas. In part because I like Marlee Matlin pretty much whatever she plays, but in part because she's definitely the best of all the girls Josh has flirted with during the show. (Yes, including Donna, though I like Donna compared to the rest.) She's smart, funny, nice, attractive - and there's pretty much no fanfic about her. (As is often the case with characters I like, I might add.)
Well, here's one story. It's very short, so it won't take long to read, but it still has something to say about the character (which quite often isn't the case with very short stories).
It starts "Joey never talks during sex" and takes it from there. The line was one of my dream ideas - I sometimes come up with things when I sleep - and is a dream idea I'm really grateful for, as I think it worked pretty well. The concept as such (fidelity & imagination) isn't all that original, but the specific story is very much Joey's own.
Then I started wondering which two stories I should rec. I mean, there's no point in telling you that you should read By The Last Stage of Lycanthropy or This Is My Beloved Son or any other story that you read anyway. And going by my personal favourites would probably mean reccing the really long stuff, and in any case I've told you guys my favourites plenty of times already.
So I figured, I'll rec two stories that people don't read very often. Now, some of my stories aren't read for a good reason - they're simply not all that good. But others aren't read because they have the wrong characters or themes or fandom or whatever, and that's too bad.
So, my two recs:
The Tale of Myra and Merrilil (LotR)
I think people tend to skip this one because it looks Mary Sue-ish, while those who like Mary Sues don't find it Mary Sue-ish enough - it kind of falls between chairs. It's also less fanfiction than it is exploration of Middle-Earth from a new angle. I even considered making it a non-fanfic story but realized that the Middle-Earth races and types of people were too important for the interpretation of the story for that to be possible.
Simply put, it's the story of a girl called Myra, who is raised a hobbit but slowly comes to the realization that she isn't one. She is written as a "problem child", someone you feel sorry for and wish you could like but who irks you never the less. The title's "Merrilil" is Sam's son Merry and her only real friend, a hobbit with a heart as big as his stomach, as it turns out.
The question I started with, once I had decided to try this story, was: what's it like for the bad kids? To try and be good enough when you just don't have it in you? It's a tragedy, in a way - but of course, being the sap I am I couldn't bring myself to give the story an unhappy ending. It's a tale about finding yourself, and finding that what you come from doesn't define where you're going.
It may not be the most polished story I've ever written, but I think the simple fairy tale form fits the content rather well.
The second story:
Unnamed (West Wing)
I'm very fond of Joey Lucas. In part because I like Marlee Matlin pretty much whatever she plays, but in part because she's definitely the best of all the girls Josh has flirted with during the show. (Yes, including Donna, though I like Donna compared to the rest.) She's smart, funny, nice, attractive - and there's pretty much no fanfic about her. (As is often the case with characters I like, I might add.)
Well, here's one story. It's very short, so it won't take long to read, but it still has something to say about the character (which quite often isn't the case with very short stories).
It starts "Joey never talks during sex" and takes it from there. The line was one of my dream ideas - I sometimes come up with things when I sleep - and is a dream idea I'm really grateful for, as I think it worked pretty well. The concept as such (fidelity & imagination) isn't all that original, but the specific story is very much Joey's own.