Recs and Yuletide writings
So, I had a lovely December filled with ficcy deliciousness, or something like that.
First, two amazing fics I got this year:
Isn't That Always the Story? by jedibuttercup for wishlist_fic. This is a fantastic Firefly/The Mummy-verse crossover, with River sensing something not quite right about some ancient cargo they've brought on board. And of course, since Jedi wrote it for me, it's got delightful little Mal/River hints in it, and I shall plague her to write a sequel for it endlessly.
Precession by Spatz was my Yuletide gift; it's a Crews/Reese fic in the Life fandom, and it contains zen and fruit and women being badass and people bonding and all the things I like best in a Life fic. It's awesome, and lots of people who weren't me thought so too, so if you like the fandom, go check it out.
I myself wrote two full-length fics and four Madness stories this year.
First, my assigned story: Where Illumination Lies (Sebastian/Hero, T, 4667 words), which I'm pretty sure is the only fic in existence for its fandom, the Sebastian St Cyr Mystery series.
It's one of those series I thought had no fandom at all (if you like mysteries, Regency period pieces, sexy and compelling heroes, totally awesome intelligent strong heroines, a touch of humor, and an odd conglomeration of characters working together, read these books, seriously; they're by C.S. Harris, there's currently six of them, and they're all pretty good), and I signed up to write it kind of last-minute, after noticing it on the nomination list. And I'm glad I did, because I love these characters and their relationship and since there were a few scenes I desperately wanted to see in the last book that the author didn't see fit to include, I just rectified that myself.
I did one full-length treat: They Are All Dead Hearts to You (Multi, mostly gen, G, 1411 words), a Downton Abbey ghost story, or rather a series of them, because as anyone who knows my writing has realized, I love to write vignettes.
I don't think I've mentioned here how much I adore Downton Abbey; it was one of my two favorite new tv discoveries this year, along with Game of Thrones, and not counting a few crossover three-sentence fics, this is the first fic I wrote for it. Thomas skulking around in a sheet thieving (or maybe returning from a clandestine rendezvous, or both, since this is Thomas, after all) popped into my head first when I saw the prompt, and the admittedly obvious Daisy bit came next; the rest of the vignettes flowed in around them, and I used the opportunity to promote some favored ships in Sybil/Gwen and Matthew/Mary, and also to make Edith somewhat less annoyingly drippy, as she too often ends up onscreen.
My Yuletide Madness fics:
And Still, I Love to Stand in the Light - Greek Mythology, Ariadne/Dionysus, G, 731 words.
They're probably my second-favorite mythology pairing, and I had fun with this one trying to write more in the style of the myths and Greek plays as Ariadne tells her story to Persephone.
The Light of Our Reunion - Greek Mythology, Hades/Persephone, G, 793 words.
A modern take on the myth, as requested in the prompt; the idea of Hades as a pathologist living somewhere in the far north of the world took hold when I read that one and this resulted. I think it's the most popular of my Yuletide stories this year, overall.
Possible Miracles - Life, Charlie, Dani, Ted & Rachel, G, 209 words.
The first fic I wrote for this prompt was a Crews/Reese fic that centered around decorating his tree with all those fruit ornaments, but I couldn't bring it to a satisfactory conclusion and I'd wanted to include Ted and Rachel as well, so I condensed it into a wee little ficlet about this strange little chosen family and their holiday celebration.
The fruit ornaments, by the way, come from personal experience; my own tree has quite a few pieces of fruit hanging on it. They're just so pretty!
Words Are All We Have - Downton Abbey, Matthew/Mary, G, 682 words.
Epistolary fic, of a sort; all the things these terribly repressed people couldn't possibly say to each other. At first it was just Mary's half of things; I went back and added Matthew's part much later, and I'm so glad I did because it makes it a much better fic than it would have otherwise been.
So, that was December and Yuletide for me, my first one ever. I definitely had enough fun to participate again next year; for now I'm off to finish up my holiday writing by doing some drabbles and such for fandom_stocking!
First, two amazing fics I got this year:
Isn't That Always the Story? by jedibuttercup for wishlist_fic. This is a fantastic Firefly/The Mummy-verse crossover, with River sensing something not quite right about some ancient cargo they've brought on board. And of course, since Jedi wrote it for me, it's got delightful little Mal/River hints in it, and I shall plague her to write a sequel for it endlessly.
Precession by Spatz was my Yuletide gift; it's a Crews/Reese fic in the Life fandom, and it contains zen and fruit and women being badass and people bonding and all the things I like best in a Life fic. It's awesome, and lots of people who weren't me thought so too, so if you like the fandom, go check it out.
I myself wrote two full-length fics and four Madness stories this year.
First, my assigned story: Where Illumination Lies (Sebastian/Hero, T, 4667 words), which I'm pretty sure is the only fic in existence for its fandom, the Sebastian St Cyr Mystery series.
It's one of those series I thought had no fandom at all (if you like mysteries, Regency period pieces, sexy and compelling heroes, totally awesome intelligent strong heroines, a touch of humor, and an odd conglomeration of characters working together, read these books, seriously; they're by C.S. Harris, there's currently six of them, and they're all pretty good), and I signed up to write it kind of last-minute, after noticing it on the nomination list. And I'm glad I did, because I love these characters and their relationship and since there were a few scenes I desperately wanted to see in the last book that the author didn't see fit to include, I just rectified that myself.
I did one full-length treat: They Are All Dead Hearts to You (Multi, mostly gen, G, 1411 words), a Downton Abbey ghost story, or rather a series of them, because as anyone who knows my writing has realized, I love to write vignettes.
I don't think I've mentioned here how much I adore Downton Abbey; it was one of my two favorite new tv discoveries this year, along with Game of Thrones, and not counting a few crossover three-sentence fics, this is the first fic I wrote for it. Thomas skulking around in a sheet thieving (or maybe returning from a clandestine rendezvous, or both, since this is Thomas, after all) popped into my head first when I saw the prompt, and the admittedly obvious Daisy bit came next; the rest of the vignettes flowed in around them, and I used the opportunity to promote some favored ships in Sybil/Gwen and Matthew/Mary, and also to make Edith somewhat less annoyingly drippy, as she too often ends up onscreen.
My Yuletide Madness fics:
And Still, I Love to Stand in the Light - Greek Mythology, Ariadne/Dionysus, G, 731 words.
They're probably my second-favorite mythology pairing, and I had fun with this one trying to write more in the style of the myths and Greek plays as Ariadne tells her story to Persephone.
The Light of Our Reunion - Greek Mythology, Hades/Persephone, G, 793 words.
A modern take on the myth, as requested in the prompt; the idea of Hades as a pathologist living somewhere in the far north of the world took hold when I read that one and this resulted. I think it's the most popular of my Yuletide stories this year, overall.
Possible Miracles - Life, Charlie, Dani, Ted & Rachel, G, 209 words.
The first fic I wrote for this prompt was a Crews/Reese fic that centered around decorating his tree with all those fruit ornaments, but I couldn't bring it to a satisfactory conclusion and I'd wanted to include Ted and Rachel as well, so I condensed it into a wee little ficlet about this strange little chosen family and their holiday celebration.
The fruit ornaments, by the way, come from personal experience; my own tree has quite a few pieces of fruit hanging on it. They're just so pretty!
Words Are All We Have - Downton Abbey, Matthew/Mary, G, 682 words.
Epistolary fic, of a sort; all the things these terribly repressed people couldn't possibly say to each other. At first it was just Mary's half of things; I went back and added Matthew's part much later, and I'm so glad I did because it makes it a much better fic than it would have otherwise been.
So, that was December and Yuletide for me, my first one ever. I definitely had enough fun to participate again next year; for now I'm off to finish up my holiday writing by doing some drabbles and such for fandom_stocking!