Fics: a self-review/commentary
So I’d been planning to do this at the beginning of 2012 so that I could have a cool title like ‘My Most Excellent Year: A Self-Review of Okay Fics, Meh Fics & Crappy Fics’ (My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger is my favorite book). Obviously that didn’t happen. But now that there’s a three-day weekend, I just felt like doing it, especially since the internet at home is so ridiculously slow. I’m linking versions of my fics with commentary (these are straight from what I’ve saved on Microsoft Word, so the formatting’s off), while links to the fics without commentary are at the bottom. Mind you, these reviews/commentaries are just in relation to my other fics; in comparison to all the Suju fics out there, I’d put these in the middle of the pack (probably towards the lower end, depending on the fic). So here it goes in chronological order!
Grievances of the Straight Man
Overall rating: Meh. Tied for 6th place
Inspiration: I can’t remember OTL I think, since this was closer to when I first really got into the Sujufic fandom, it had something to do how Shindong wasn’t really paired up with anyone and therefore hardly got any screen time. Also, because he wasn’t paired up with anyone, it must’ve been insanely irritating to put up with all of the couples.
Plot: I don’t like it. It’s basically a paragraph-by-paragraph description/shout out/promotion of all the couples that I ship, and therefore there’s not really a plot at all.
Writing: Since it’s my first Sujufic, I haven’t really developed a particular style. So the slightly awkward writing is just fairly generic with vague attempts at humor.
References: Nothing in particular though you could count Sparklife
Response: Not bad for a first and not that great Suju fic.
It Doesn’t Have to Rain
Overall rating: Okaaay. 5th place
Inspiration: It was raining XD Seriously. Since we hardly ever get rain, it was wonderful, especially since I love rainy weather. But I think the actual inspiration came from some comment that numbuh_009 made about Kyumin (which I can’t remember)…
Plot: Not bad, I guess. I was going for sweet and fluffy (because there are way too many stories that have angsty rain settings), and I think I was pretty successful. Also, as an otaku/fujoshi, I’m quite fond of the concept of ai-aigasa (which I first learned through Tefu, my OTP of OTPs~), so that’s how this became centered on umbrellas.
Writing: Okay-ish. I feel like the kindergarten and first grade sections were rather choppy, but it got slightly smoother in the later sections.There aren’t many humorous parts, but it fits more with the mood.
References: Buffy, Despicable Me/Pillow Pets, Intimate Note, Payless shoes, Calvin and Hobbes, some canon Hanchul instances, Sound of Music, She’s the Man, Pirates of the Caribbean, Full House
Response: A decent response for an okay fic, as I expected
20/20 Blindfold Vision
Overall rating: Absolute crap. 8th (last) place
Inspiration: Katy Perry’s Firework, namely the line that has “house of cards.”That made me think of the line “I live in a dollhouse” from ‘ fragments’ by chiaroscuro18, which in turn made me think of For Thine is the Kingdom by blahnicity (my first fic of hers), and that had me wanting to do a psychological fic. The end result was a cross between the “Normal Again” episode from Buffy and Invisible by Pete Hautman (an incredibly excellent book that made me cry).
Plot: Terrible. The overall idea is not that bad, but it was just so horribly executed. Not only was it confusing enough that I had to explain stuff in the A/N, but it was much too long and it just dragged on instead of building suspense. This is not angst because I can’t stand angsty!Hanchul anymore and because this has a happy ending in my mind, but this still really really sucks.
Writing: Kinda bland, and it was overshadowed by the sheer crappiness that was the poorly executed plot.
References: Romeo and Juliet, Mujihi na Otoko, Prince of Tennis, Battle Royale, It’s You, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Merchant of Venice
Response: Not that great, but considering how badly this was carried out, I’m amazed it got any response at all.
Cirque du Freak (don't know why the font is funky)
Overall rating: Okay. Tied for 3rd.
Inspiration: Because our dad wanted to switch internet providers and the order was botched up, numbuh_009 and I spent two weeks without internet D: Fortunately, we had downloaded Sunny Hill’s Midnight Circus and could put it on repeat. Midnight Circus made me think of Vocaloid’s Dark Woods Circus, which made me think of how circuses are generally messed up (Kuroshitsuji and Coponicus no Kokyuu, for example). And yeah…
Plot: Since I hold a belief that circuses are on the creepy side and I absolutely love mystery/psychological manga, this story wasn’t too hard to develop (as in it was rather easy to get ideas XD). I don’t quite like the paragraph-for-each-‘couple’ format, but since I’m not focusing on romance, it’s fine. It’s a bit hardcore, but this story works because it’s disturbing.
Writing: I think this is the only fic I’ve ever written in second person, so that was an interesting experience. And it was fun doing the whimsical/innocent tone.
References: Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Cold Rain of Happiness, Get Smart
Response: Okay, though I think I scared off some potential readers due to the whole ‘several disturbing themes’ thing XD
Tales from a Run-down Movie Theater
Overall rating: Not bad. Tied for 1st(but this might be my favorite fic)
Inspiration: One of numbuh_009’s favorite lines from the Seven Days scanlation is “The pictures on the silver screen kept changing…” (coincidentally, the Tuesday chapters are my favorite). We were listening to Gotta Be Somebody by Nickelback (love this song), and there’s a line that goes “It’ll play out like a scene straight off the silver screen,” and since I wanted to write her a birthday fic, I decided do a movie theater AU with Kyumin (they seemed to fit better than Eunhae).
Plot: Not bad at all, if I do say so myself :) I was going for fluffy/romantic/funny, and I think it came through pretty well. And it’s more Minkyu since numbuh_009 likes it (it’s fine either way for me as long as I don’t hate Sungmin’s personality).
Writing: It was here that I was able to develop a particular style for this genre. The conversation-like writing style is something that I’ve played around with before, but I’ve never actually used it prominently in a fic. Lo and behold, it works quite well for fluffy stories :D
References: Seven Days, Gotta Be Somebody, Dancing with the Stars, Bones, Fight Club, Lord of the Flies/Artemis Fowl, maybe Shoebox Project, She’s the Man, Buffy
Response: I was very surprised at how positively this was received since I don’t expect more than 5-7 comments on average, and this was my first time writing this pairing. The people in the Kyumin fandom are so nice!
You Have the Right to Remain Silent
Overall rating: Not bad. Tied for 1st
Inspiration: The whole cop-is-actually-the-murderer scenario was my rejected idea for a collabfic between me and UltimateParadox. Since numbuh_009 was complaining about a lack of crazy!Hyuk, I decided to recycle the idea for her second birthday fic.
Plot: Since we love Castle (it’s my favorite show, with Sherlock coming in second), this fic had a lot of the police procedural stuff, albeit with the focus being more on the interrogations. I think I did a decent job of using the humor to distract readers from the twist at the end :3
Writing: The conversation-like style didn’t go with the mood, so I had to use a slightly blander though hopefully still amusing style.
References: Sideway Stories From Wayside School, Scooby-Doo, A Cinderella Story, Tangled, Shoebox Project, Mulan 2, Harry Potter, The Emperor’s New Groove, Pendragon, Artemis Fowl, Code Geass, Snow White
Response: Okay, but not as good as I was hoping for. I think the ‘slight psychological’ in the genre section turned people off XD
Thank Goodness for the Elves
Overall rating: Meh. Tied for 6th(probably like this more than the Grievances fic)
Inspiration: I was in a Lord of the Rings phase during the summer (I watched all of the extended versions twice. It took a couple of weeks XD), and since I hadn’t written anything in a while, I decided to do a crossover with Hanchul. Also because in a behind the scenes bit, the guy playing Haldir mentioned that Galadriel was a bit of a ponce because she required her own boat, and I thought Heechul was also a bit of a ponce XD
Plot: It seemed a lot funnier in my mind OTL Also, it wasn’t very original as it depended very heavily on Galadriel’s exact speech from the movie, and if you’re not very familiar with that scene, it’s not going to make much sense.
Writing: I tried to be funny, but I don’t think it turned out quite as well.
References: Lord of the Rings (obviously), Mission Impossible 3, maybe Kuroshitsuji
Response: Not that great, but as expected. Lord of the Rings is not as well-known a fandom as, say, Harry Potter, and when you filter it through Suju and then filter it again through Hanchul, it’s not going to be very popular.
Love is blind, and optimistically selective the rest of the time
Overall rating: Okay. Tied for 3rd
Inspiration: I wanted some fluffy, adorkableHanchul that used the Lady and the Tramp scene since there’s too much angsty!Hanchul (definitely) and/or bitchy!Heechul and/or pushover!Hankyung.
Plot: I’d planned this fic several months before it was posted, but I lost my notes and then I lost interest, so I didn’t revisit the idea until the end of my summer break. The scenes are a bit different than what I’d originally intended (I think), but I believe it turned out alright :)
Writing: I finally got to use the conversation-like style again~ I feel like it was better in the Kyuminfic, but oh well. And for all my editing, some of the longer sentences still are a little funky (especially when I had to switch tenses).
References: Haunted Mansion, maybe Pirates of the Caribbean, Lady and the Tramp
Response: Pretty good- the Kyumin fic initially got the most comments, but this one actually barely won out in the long run :)
So this is how I ranked my fic in summary:
1st - Tales From a Run-down Movie Theater and You Have the Right to Remain Silent (strange how they’re both for numbuh_009)
3rd - Love is blind blah blah blah and Cirque du Freak (and strange how my top fics are all for different pairings)
5th - It Doesn’t Have to Rain
6th - Thank Goodness for the Elves and Grievances of the Straight Man
8th - 20/20 Blindfold Vision
I guess I did this partly because there were a lot of things I wanted to say that wouldn’t fit in the A/N, and partly because it’s highly unlikely that I’ll be writing a Suju fic any time soon (sloth is a terrible sin~). Anyways, thanks for bothering to read this ^.^