Fan Fic: More Stuff I've Read
Okay, I'd like to start off that I'm no leavethesky, who's way better at pimping fics. This is just an experiment (I suppose I'd call it) to get me to read and respond to fic more. And a way to formulate my thoughts before I send feedback. Below are more fics I've read and my thoughts/feelings towards them. This is all completely 'in my opinion' territory. And I make no claims to being an authority on writing. With that said..
Two of these are from the Yuletide ficathon, and femslash_today has provided a wonderful 'unofficial' femslash masterlist if you're looking for something to read. Seriously, if you're thinking *no one's* written a fic in that obscure fandom you're looking for, check that list!!
Wonderfalls - "Hot Duck" by Yochan, Jaye/Mahandra. Oh my God! First, this is a Wonderfalls fic. Second, the characterization is spot on. Third, this story is laugh outloud funny. Jaye, commanded by her vibrator shaped like Ernie's rubber duckie, must find a way to "make her come". The 'her' in question is Mahandra who, apparently, has never experienced the big 'o. So, in typical Jaye fashion she fights fate at every turn, gets grumpier by the day from not being able to 'tickle her Elmo' because her vibrator won't stop talking, and her friends and family all think she's crazy.
There's no actual Jaye/Mahandra sex in this story. That's not a detraction. In any other universe, it probably would be but here it isn't.
A Knight's Tale - "5 Firsts" by kaesaria, Kate/Cristiana. If there's a character that deserves way more femslash, or well, you know, *any* femslash, it's Kate from A Knight's Tale. 'Cuz she was *way* hotter than Jocelyn and William was an idiot for not realizing it. But that's okay because he was a boy and we all know boys are icky. Here, using the 5 things format, the author weaves a sweet tale, showing five firsts including how Kate falls in love with Cristiana (Jocelyn's Lady in waiting).
Birds of Prey TV - "The Power of Touch", by oceangazer, Barbara/Helena. This story was written for me for ralst's Dead of Winter ficathon and I wouldn't say anything bad about it even if I wanted to. The good news is - I don't want to! This is a first time fic and pretty long (it clocks in close to the 20k range). But that's a good thing. The story takes place three months after the finale. And the author takes the time to establish how Helena and Barbara got to the place they are, then shows how they begin to bridge the giant gap between them. But, it's not wordy for the sake of wordiness, or angst, but shows in each woman's own pigheaded way how they find their way back to each other. There's angst, great charactization, but also humor provided by a teenaged Dinah who subtley and inadvertently plays the role of Cupid.
The ‘I liked it.. but’ fics -
Xena - "Adventure on the High Seas", by Mavis Applewater, Xena/Gabrielle - You'd think a Xena über with Gabrielle as a Pirate Captain and Xena as her fair maiden would be right up my alley, right? But, for some reason, it wasn't.
One of my biggest problems as a reader is I have a tendency to jerk myself out of the story because I'm too busy thinking about how *I'd* write it instead of enjoying it as a read. Having said that, I also feel too much of the story suffered from 'telling and not showing'. Which makes no sense because it's all text but.. you know what I mean.
Like, I get that Agatha (Xena) is instantly attracted to Ailsa (Gabrielle). But, it didn't feel organic as much as, I don't know, forced. From the continuous references to Agatha's sweaty palms, tightening chest and wet 'center', I felt like I was being hit over the head at how much Agatha is attracted to Ailsa. I suppose part of that is we're immediately thrust into the 'attraction' stage before we learn anything about the characters. And I would have rather seen Agatha's attraction integrated a bit better into her personality. I understand I'm supposed to project the Mel and Janice personalities onto them but this isn't Mel and Janice. I just wish the author had taken a bit more time establishing the characters before thrusting them into the romantic elements.
What made Mel and Janice endearing was that there was more to them than their resemblences to Xena and Gabrielle, and the flip-flopping of their personalities. Here, all Agatha is is her attraction to Ailsa. All we see of Ailsa is through Agatha's eyes and she's a bit too.. perfect. Not necessarily a Mary Sue but not completely three dimensional either, ie, Ailsa's a 'good pirate'. Her ruthlessness is a facade. She doesn't sell her prisoners into slavery. No one exactly dies. And she makes it *clear* to her crewmen that she never forced herself upon Agatha. So, there's really no internal character arc for Ailsa, or for Agatha for that matter. It just felt like slogging through endless repetition to get to the porny bits. Agatha doesn't exactly fight her attraction to Ailsa, and Ailsa isn't exactly forcing the issue, so there's a lack of sexual tension that I would expect to find in a 'prisoner falls for her captor' story.
As a story about pirates I expected, well, more pirate stuff. As a PWP, I expected more sexual tension. And, in the end, I found neither. Considering the length, I guess I was expecting a 'sweeping epic' with a bit more plot than 'Agatha has the hots for Ailsa'.
Law & Order: SVU - "Until" by D, Alex/Olivia. It's been a while since I’d read an SVU story, so I thought I’d re-dip my toes in the water with this story by D that I found while perusing the xenafiction.net search engine. It covers the events from Alex’s date with Trevor Langdon to her final return in “Conviction”, and the tentative start/stop/start relationship between Olivia and Alex. In the end, this fic missed the mark for me. I found the Olivia, here, a bit too openly emotional, and Alex too emotionally closed (considering the events that happened to her).
There are other little inconsistencies that knocked me out of the story, ie, both Elliot and Olivia being referred to as “Sergeant”, or Elliot characterized as ‘having the imagination of a rock’. I’m also not a big fan of ‘thought bubbles’. I feel that they’re an overused writing device too often falls into the category of ‘telling and not showing’. And this fic is filled with thought bubbles.
In the end, I think the story lacked the emotional punch it attempted to build towards. The story is from Olivia's POV, leaving what's happened to Alex revealed in a string of info-dumps that at times stretch credibility, ie, the reason for her relationship with Whatshisface in Conviction and her recent engagement. It's one emotional punch after another to get Olivia and Alex to the point of reconciliation. But, instead of building to a climatic resolution, it just felt like sliding down the slippery slope Olivia's perpetual angst until Alex returns and the two get back together.
Two of these are from the Yuletide ficathon, and femslash_today has provided a wonderful 'unofficial' femslash masterlist if you're looking for something to read. Seriously, if you're thinking *no one's* written a fic in that obscure fandom you're looking for, check that list!!
Wonderfalls - "Hot Duck" by Yochan, Jaye/Mahandra. Oh my God! First, this is a Wonderfalls fic. Second, the characterization is spot on. Third, this story is laugh outloud funny. Jaye, commanded by her vibrator shaped like Ernie's rubber duckie, must find a way to "make her come". The 'her' in question is Mahandra who, apparently, has never experienced the big 'o. So, in typical Jaye fashion she fights fate at every turn, gets grumpier by the day from not being able to 'tickle her Elmo' because her vibrator won't stop talking, and her friends and family all think she's crazy.
There's no actual Jaye/Mahandra sex in this story. That's not a detraction. In any other universe, it probably would be but here it isn't.
A Knight's Tale - "5 Firsts" by kaesaria, Kate/Cristiana. If there's a character that deserves way more femslash, or well, you know, *any* femslash, it's Kate from A Knight's Tale. 'Cuz she was *way* hotter than Jocelyn and William was an idiot for not realizing it. But that's okay because he was a boy and we all know boys are icky. Here, using the 5 things format, the author weaves a sweet tale, showing five firsts including how Kate falls in love with Cristiana (Jocelyn's Lady in waiting).
Birds of Prey TV - "The Power of Touch", by oceangazer, Barbara/Helena. This story was written for me for ralst's Dead of Winter ficathon and I wouldn't say anything bad about it even if I wanted to. The good news is - I don't want to! This is a first time fic and pretty long (it clocks in close to the 20k range). But that's a good thing. The story takes place three months after the finale. And the author takes the time to establish how Helena and Barbara got to the place they are, then shows how they begin to bridge the giant gap between them. But, it's not wordy for the sake of wordiness, or angst, but shows in each woman's own pigheaded way how they find their way back to each other. There's angst, great charactization, but also humor provided by a teenaged Dinah who subtley and inadvertently plays the role of Cupid.
The ‘I liked it.. but’ fics -
Xena - "Adventure on the High Seas", by Mavis Applewater, Xena/Gabrielle - You'd think a Xena über with Gabrielle as a Pirate Captain and Xena as her fair maiden would be right up my alley, right? But, for some reason, it wasn't.
One of my biggest problems as a reader is I have a tendency to jerk myself out of the story because I'm too busy thinking about how *I'd* write it instead of enjoying it as a read. Having said that, I also feel too much of the story suffered from 'telling and not showing'. Which makes no sense because it's all text but.. you know what I mean.
Like, I get that Agatha (Xena) is instantly attracted to Ailsa (Gabrielle). But, it didn't feel organic as much as, I don't know, forced. From the continuous references to Agatha's sweaty palms, tightening chest and wet 'center', I felt like I was being hit over the head at how much Agatha is attracted to Ailsa. I suppose part of that is we're immediately thrust into the 'attraction' stage before we learn anything about the characters. And I would have rather seen Agatha's attraction integrated a bit better into her personality. I understand I'm supposed to project the Mel and Janice personalities onto them but this isn't Mel and Janice. I just wish the author had taken a bit more time establishing the characters before thrusting them into the romantic elements.
What made Mel and Janice endearing was that there was more to them than their resemblences to Xena and Gabrielle, and the flip-flopping of their personalities. Here, all Agatha is is her attraction to Ailsa. All we see of Ailsa is through Agatha's eyes and she's a bit too.. perfect. Not necessarily a Mary Sue but not completely three dimensional either, ie, Ailsa's a 'good pirate'. Her ruthlessness is a facade. She doesn't sell her prisoners into slavery. No one exactly dies. And she makes it *clear* to her crewmen that she never forced herself upon Agatha. So, there's really no internal character arc for Ailsa, or for Agatha for that matter. It just felt like slogging through endless repetition to get to the porny bits. Agatha doesn't exactly fight her attraction to Ailsa, and Ailsa isn't exactly forcing the issue, so there's a lack of sexual tension that I would expect to find in a 'prisoner falls for her captor' story.
As a story about pirates I expected, well, more pirate stuff. As a PWP, I expected more sexual tension. And, in the end, I found neither. Considering the length, I guess I was expecting a 'sweeping epic' with a bit more plot than 'Agatha has the hots for Ailsa'.
Law & Order: SVU - "Until" by D, Alex/Olivia. It's been a while since I’d read an SVU story, so I thought I’d re-dip my toes in the water with this story by D that I found while perusing the xenafiction.net search engine. It covers the events from Alex’s date with Trevor Langdon to her final return in “Conviction”, and the tentative start/stop/start relationship between Olivia and Alex. In the end, this fic missed the mark for me. I found the Olivia, here, a bit too openly emotional, and Alex too emotionally closed (considering the events that happened to her).
There are other little inconsistencies that knocked me out of the story, ie, both Elliot and Olivia being referred to as “Sergeant”, or Elliot characterized as ‘having the imagination of a rock’. I’m also not a big fan of ‘thought bubbles’. I feel that they’re an overused writing device too often falls into the category of ‘telling and not showing’. And this fic is filled with thought bubbles.
In the end, I think the story lacked the emotional punch it attempted to build towards. The story is from Olivia's POV, leaving what's happened to Alex revealed in a string of info-dumps that at times stretch credibility, ie, the reason for her relationship with Whatshisface in Conviction and her recent engagement. It's one emotional punch after another to get Olivia and Alex to the point of reconciliation. But, instead of building to a climatic resolution, it just felt like sliding down the slippery slope Olivia's perpetual angst until Alex returns and the two get back together.