Rec Me: Anti-Schmoop
Last night I stumbled upon a mother lode of schmoopy fics/meta and wound up feeling rather ill afterwards, as though I'd eaten too much cotton candy. It seems that lately I have less patience for that sort of thing, namely a sort of squeeing "OMG teh love!!!11!1!" OTP-ishness that runs rampant in certain sections of fandom. Sometimes I'm in the mood for it, but last night...no.
So today I took refuge in an old favorite, Left My Heart by emmagrant01 (Harry/Draco, NC-17). What I love about this fic is that the central relationship feels real to me. The sex isn't perfect, both main characters are clearly quite flawed (and more importantly, they can see those flaws in each other), and there's no overriding sense that these characters are MEANT TO BE!!!! or SOULMATES OMG!!! or any of that. It's more like Harry and Draco are attracted to each other, but it might not work, and they don't necessarily trust each other, and they're just going to see how it goes. All of that, plus the author's straightforward writing style, were just what I needed to help cure last night's cavities.
And then I got my heart flayed to shreds by this fic: Remiss by vedaprophet (Brian/Justin, R, character death and angst). It's a series of drabbles and double drabbles taking place after Brian's death. The writing is very spare, and the author's portrayal of grief is quiet and believable, never histrionic. It's all just very understated and, again, real. (Anyone sensing a theme?)
If anyone has any other recs for anti-schmoop fics, please -- send 'em my way. I'm looking for real characters with real problems. Realistic sex. (Even soulmates have an off night or two. Right??) Believable dialogue. Love that's implied but not declared or trumpeted. A relationship that isn't fated in the stars but is actually being worked out by real people. Anything that won't leave me with a sugary taste in my mouth!
Self-pimping allowed encouraged. :-)
So today I took refuge in an old favorite, Left My Heart by emmagrant01 (Harry/Draco, NC-17). What I love about this fic is that the central relationship feels real to me. The sex isn't perfect, both main characters are clearly quite flawed (and more importantly, they can see those flaws in each other), and there's no overriding sense that these characters are MEANT TO BE!!!! or SOULMATES OMG!!! or any of that. It's more like Harry and Draco are attracted to each other, but it might not work, and they don't necessarily trust each other, and they're just going to see how it goes. All of that, plus the author's straightforward writing style, were just what I needed to help cure last night's cavities.
And then I got my heart flayed to shreds by this fic: Remiss by vedaprophet (Brian/Justin, R, character death and angst). It's a series of drabbles and double drabbles taking place after Brian's death. The writing is very spare, and the author's portrayal of grief is quiet and believable, never histrionic. It's all just very understated and, again, real. (Anyone sensing a theme?)
If anyone has any other recs for anti-schmoop fics, please -- send 'em my way. I'm looking for real characters with real problems. Realistic sex. (Even soulmates have an off night or two. Right??) Believable dialogue. Love that's implied but not declared or trumpeted. A relationship that isn't fated in the stars but is actually being worked out by real people. Anything that won't leave me with a sugary taste in my mouth!
Self-pimping allowed encouraged. :-)