I LIKE THIS MEME

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from harukami:

Rec-Go-Round: Rec me one story you've written that you're proud of, any genre, here on my LJ.

Then go forth and ask the same in yours.

All comers welcome! Even completely unknown persons!

(Speaking of recs, worldserpent talks about what works and what doesn't, and wants to know what are some good liscensed anime series to rent, netflix-style?)

Comments

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The impression I get from this meme is that the way a writer percieves his or her own writing is VASTLY DIFFERENT from the way other people perceive it. It's not just that no one's picking the stories I'd pick; no one's picking the stories I'd expect them to pick, either.

Since I can't comment to your website: Ooooh, finally a Shinji fic without excessive rambling! Shinji always struck me as more of a grumbler than a rambler.

They walked around with baggy eyes and worried frowns, books clutched to their chests. They spoke in nervous, hurried whispers, and looked at textbooks with grim expressions. To Shinji, they seemed like doctors in a hospital, waiting for a patient to die.

Priceless. Works so much better to explain how right Shinji is to insist on playing tennis than if you'd just said it was something he needed to do. So many things about the Japanese school system seem counter-productive, but the cram-school attitude might be the most counter-productive of all.

Also, I love that last sentence: like doctors waiting for a patient to die. Compared to your newer fics, this one has a higher unexplained-gesture-to-pointed-commentary ratio (more snorting and nodding and so on to show reaction, less...stuff that describes the exact reaction), but your writing is always so precise that's hard to spot the difference.

[tarigwaemir]

Yes, isn't it? I've been going around and feeling surprised while looking through people's responses. Although a large part of what's guiding my choices is the knowledge of what the person's read or hasn't read. E.g. some of the fics that I really am proud of were posted on chain_of_fics and hence get disqualified. >_>;;

Wah, thanks for the feedback! I had a buildup of irritation after reading too many rambling!Shinji fics, and it did become part of the motivation for writing the fic. I wanted to consciously contradict Shinji's characterization in fanon but still somehow keep it in character, although I think I got a little bit carried away in this fic. Definitely agree that Shinji is more of a grumbler...and I've always thought that his mumbling would have a direction instead of being unfocused.

You're very right about the ratio changing: this was the stage when I was obsessed with "external" narration, limiting myself as much as possible to dialogue and gesture. (I tend to write as if I'm describing film scenes, I think. >_>) And then I thought that it was getting unwieldy, so lately I've been trying to write in a more straightforward fashion. ^_^ Hopefully I'll strike a balance that suits me someday.