(Untitled)

[mandysbitch]

So this is my Atlantis Urban Legend Challenge story. I started this thing FOUR TIMES goddammit. I keep saying, "no more challenges" and then there's the wingswing and femslash06 and the Bordy's 5th Birthday...

Yeah. So anyway...

Title: Artistry in Chaos
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Category: Sheppard/ McKay
Rating: NC-17
Summary: "Many random events come together to

Comments

[buddleia]

Oh, now this is a really nice story to appear while I'm stuck at home with the lurgy. I like your destiny theme and I like that you didn't hammer it too hard and I like the matter of fact tone of the whole thing. Plus, long and chewy and oh, poor Lorne.

[mandysbitch]

Oh, now this is a really nice story to appear while I'm stuck at home with the lurgy.

The one upside of being sick: catching up with fanfic reading. I could use some sick time to do that... *g*

Plus, long and chewy and oh, poor Lorne.

Poor Lorne - destined to forever be a plot device in a McShep story... ;)

Glad you enjoyed the story. Get well soon, huh?

[krazykitkat]

*nods*

Much better, it flows.

And ”Or a comb,” Rodney says. made me snort.

[mandysbitch]

It's not unusual for me to edit my stories like crazy. Even after beta reading, I will go through and take out stuff - if in doubt, chop it, I say. So yeah, it went through several re-readings before I came to post. And the feedback I got from you guys was good as well. I fixed the beginning and made the resolution a bit more to the point. I didn't change Rodney's dialogue much (he's still kind of succinct) but I believe that if you distract from other areas of issue, your reader will come to the party on sections that might not have been so willing to accept before - if that makes sense. See - my Rodney *can* be succinct if he wants to be, but it's getting everyone else to agree with me that's the trick. It's all smoke and mirrors sometimes.

Thanks again for the read through. It was a big help.

[krazykitkat]

I loathe editing...which may be one of my problems.

You're right, it did distract ;) When I read it through, Rodney didn't bother me.

[mandysbitch]

You're right, it did distract ;) When I read it through, Rodney didn't bother me.

See? It's all smoke and mirrors. *g*

[fluffyllama]

I love it when a writer posts and I *know* ahead of time I'm going to enjoy what I read. This was lovely, and their interaction so believable. I liked the great use of the prompt too!

[mandysbitch]

man, you don't know how much I wanted to *kill* that prompt. And that was my second choice. I *did* kill the first one. I murdered it but good!

This was *not* my favourite challenge I can tell you.

Glad you read it, though. I feel much better about the story now that I've thrashed it into shape and received some positive feedback. *g* Thanks.

[fluffyllama]

I swear on my dog's life that you can't tell how much trouble it gave you when reading it!

BTW, I seem to have a few of your fics on my list of longer recs to write up, so while I'm here - do you generally prefer rec links to go to your website or to your journal? I know some people prefer journal links simply because readers seem more likely to fb, and I do put in a pointer to the author's website so people can find other fics by them.

[mandysbitch]

swear on my dog's life that you can't tell how much trouble it gave you when reading it!

Yeah? Oh good to hear - mind you, I still hate it. I'm exorcising it from my mind by writing a John/ Rodney where everyone is horrible to one another. I can't take this *fluff* anymore!!! GAH!!!

seem to have a few of your fics on my list of longer recs to write up, so while I'm here - do you generally prefer rec links to go to your website or to your journal?

Either is fine by me. My web has links to my LJ comments so I'm not worried about the loss of feedback or whatever. Also, I like the look of the fonts on my web better than my LJ. It's cleaner or something... Yeah, I know I can change my LJ but it's too complicated and I'm lazy. *g*

[jssangel]

I really enjoyed this! It had great moments that made me laugh -
my favorite being:

I think, what the hell, there's an asshole in everyone's day and I'm just glad mine wasn't carrying a baseball bat."

"Or a comb," Rodney says.

- and I loved the rhythm of dialog and exposition and interior thought.

like here:

"It's...ironic," John says.

"No, Alanis, it's not," Rodney says. "It's poetic."

"I never knew you liked poetry," John says.

"I never knew you liked boys," Rodney says.

John remembers there was a reason he never told anyone that story.

But what really made me happy was the way the tone of the whole story had such of distinct flavor of John. There's a bit of cannon and a lot of fannon about him being an instinctive mathematician, so the way he analyzes his way through the story, working his way methodically towards a solution (even though it's an emotional problem he's working on), feels just right.

Thank you for sharing this!

[mandysbitch]

But what really made me happy was the way the tone of the whole story had such of distinct flavor of John.

John is always a mouthpiece for me to speak about Rodney so I'm pleasantly surprised when I hear the character rings true. Thanks for commenting. :)

[torakowalski]

That's so very cool. Loved it. Though poor Lorne, hopefully he'll find Dr Parrish someone new soon *g*

[mandysbitch]

For the life of me I can't remember which one Dr Parrish is! If I had I might have used him as Lorne's SO rather than the fictional Dr Adler... but it was too weird using a canon character I couldn't even remember. Clearly, I'm too busy looking at Rodney and John to notice anyone else!

Anyway, glad you enjoyed. Thanks for commenting. :)