this is a post about fic and comics. oops.
Jan. 3rd, 2012 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
be_themoonFirst up! There were some beautiful things written for me recently.
For Yuletide, Nope wrote me One Step (In Front Of Another), which is a pitch-perfect Alex Rider story about what Alex does After. Literally everything about this story is perfect. I don't even know what to say other than that I love it a RIDICULOUS amount. It's got this beautiful sort of... muddied feel to it? Alex and his losses, god, I can't even with how much I have feelings about it, and this story is everything I wanted out of an Alex Rider After The War story. <333 EVERYONE GO READ IT.
For erasureathon (which I have not finished yet but I will soon a;lskdhgd), xenoamorist turned Far From His Home into as small as a world and as large as alone, which is a gorgeous look at Castiel learning how to deal with having a body and being in love. (aslkdhgd "Angels are not meant for emotion, but war.") I'm completely stunned at just how much effort and thought she put into it, and the art is beautiful. (Guys go read her accompanying notes on how she did the art there is linguistics geekery YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT LINGUISTIC GEEKERY.)
And finally, in response to a series of prompts I gave at the 3-sentence ficathon back in December, edenfalling wrote about 10K of girl!Arthur/Eames, Dreamers of the Day. I prompted it casually at first, because I've written a couple thousand words on girl!Arthur and I was curious as to what other people's takes on her would be like, and then I just kept prompting it because Elizabeth's take on it is gorgeous and stunning. I am normally against genderbending to turn a queer ship straight, but I mentioned to her how I read Eames as genderfluid and she incorporated it and his identity issues in and just. It's a really beautiful love story, guys.
Also, I think you guys should check out Frenemy of the State, a five-issue stand alone comic written by a husband/wife writing team and Rashida Jones (!!!!! RASHIDA JONES), who is also apparently working on a movie based on it (please god let her star in it PLEASE). It's about an heiress who makes questionable decisions like HACKING INTO THE SECURITY OF A SENATOR'S SON so she can spy on her boyfriend and ends up having to work for the CIA briefly. I really enjoyed it - it's not anything super-brilliant, but it's good.
PS also Young Justice fans should all immediately go watch beccatoria's Young Justice vid Marchin' On. Marchin' On is a song that's vidded a lot, but I feel like it's one of those songs that just fits stories about people who get up and keep fighting that that's okay. And goodness knows if I had to pick only one Marchin' On vid, it would be this one becuase a;lskdhgd I'M SORRY GUYS THIS IS THE PART WHERE I DISSOLVE INTO FEELINGS ABOUT TINY BABY SUPERHEROES OH GOD. (pps you should all also go see her Wonder Woman vid I'm Holding Out For A Hero which I've recced before but am reccing again because it is also excellent and makes me smile in that there are good people in the world way. GO. WATCH.)
I wrote two things for Yuletide. First up, Who We Trust in Batman Beyond for yhlee. She mentioned that she really liked Melanie, and would love Dana promoted to more than just The Girlfriend, and liked Max too, so I took that and some of the things in her list of cool story elements and wrote a story about how Terry needs a doctor, and the finding thereof. But also a story about how Terry builds his own Batfamily and surrounds himself with smart, amazing women.
I also wrote a treat - In Unending Storms for calenlily, which is original superhero femslash based on the song Shine by Vienna Teng. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, and I'm really pleased to finally have a chance to write Shudder. She kept coming up tangentially in my NaNo last year (LOL IT'S 2012 WHAT), but I never got a chance to write specifically about her. Unity was a new character, but I really quite like her. (Also, there's a lot of stuff related to the major plot of the first like ten years of superheroing in this universe, but it's all just background for their relationship, so.)
I also did some other writing.
A while ago I wrote we had to go on living for Young Justice, which is (naturally) a post-Failsafe fic for Robin, with Artemis and Kaldur making guest appearances because I'm sort of predictable, sorry folks. I don't know how I feel about it, right now? It's okay. It's not my best work, though. I don't knooooow.
That Supernatural/Leverage pinchhit for Crossover Exchange that I mentioned is a promise of lightning. Just thought I should link to it, officially and all that jazz.
I don't know if any of you have ever read The Mysterious Benedict Society? It's a really great kids' series that I'm very very fond of. I wrote a tiny bit of future fic for it, I can see a lot of life in you, in which they continue their adventures as (mostly) adults.
And hey, remember that Narnia zombie apocalypse Susan/Edmund fic I wrote ages ago? Have a sequel! an orchestra of bones is Peter's side of the story and also a crossover with The Dark Is Rising, on accident. (I swear I don't know how these things happen, okay. I DON'T MEAN TO TURN EVERYTHING INTO A CROSSOVER *WEEPS*.) Anyway it is about Peter as he tries to deal with stuff and searches for Susan and Edmund and is Alone. Etc. etc.
In a sort-of sequel to my Batman Beyond Yuletide story, I wrote you just need something to build, a story about Max growing up and learning who she is and the expansion of the Batfamily and - um, I don't know, it's sort of an id fic, I guess. I do quite like it though.
And lol, last but not least - I went to Wellington to hang out for a few days by myself, be in a city, etc. And then I stayed up the first night until five am writing give me a world, you have taken the world I was. Which is seven thousand words of Hardy Boys fic. Of the wait let's see how I can screw over your childhood kind. Sorry, guys. It's halfway a story about how the Hardy Boys do dangerous shit and at some point it's going to screw them over SO BADLY, and halfway a story about how the Hardy Boys are dangerously codependent, and draped over that is a cover of "oh hey I'm pretty sure Joe is in love with Frank". That apology was serious, guys. I'M SORRY. oh god, I'm so sorry.
And while I don't feel like tracking down all the stuff I wrote this year, I figure I might as well answer the end-of-year writing questions meme because why not?
Leitmotif(s) of the year: Family and the complications thereof, families you build yourself, forced or self-imposed isolation and how it's broken, friendship.
Favorite(s) of the batch: I know it's short, but I'm really fond of three minutes down but who's counting. It's two of my favorite members of the Batfamily, quipping, and I read it and beam. I'm also very fond of Secret Virtues (the Blackmail and Bars Remix), because METHOS and AMANDA and friendships that are based on mutual respect. Annnd I'm rather pleased with both of my Yuletide stories this year and last year's as well. (And a lot of my 3-sentence stuff, but I haven't gotten that up anywhere yet so I can't point and go LOOKIE WHAT I DID.) you just need something to build is also a favorite of mine.
Best of the batch: This technically wasn't this year, but I never did this meme last year and a year and a bit later I'm still really proud of The Things We Say Are True (Sky High) from last Yuletide, so I'm going to put that one down. Um, a cloud tangled in the tail of a kite is one of the better things I've written, I think. Also Family Affairs, because of Reasons.
Most underappreciated by the universe: Oh, I don't know. I tend to feel overappreciated rather than under. I guess a cloud tangled in the tail of a kite? I really like my Liliandil, but she's not a favorite in Narnia fandom in any incarnation, generally, so that's pretty much to be expected. And it did get some lovely feedback in its original post, so I can't complain. I don't know. Pick one of my drabbles and say that's it.
Favorite first lines: First lines are not my strong point. I guess, um.
Susan Pevensie walks into the Torchwood office on a cold winter’s day. (The Curious Case of the Time Agent and His Sister, Torchwood/Narnia)
I wake up in darkness. Ah. Great. Time to play the time-honored game “what are the odds”, better known as “so how screwed to hell am I this time?” (give me a world, you have taken the world I was, Hardy Boys)
Most fun to write: One of the many drabbles or 3-sentence pieces I wrote this year, I'd say, or possibly Secret Virtues or I can see a lot of life in you.
Sexiest fic: Ha. I don't write sexy fics guys. Sorry!
"Holy crap, that's wrong even for you" fic: God, give me a world, you have taken the world I was. I don't know where it came from, I've always tipped a little bit to the dark but this is just flat-out beating a character to hell and back for character exploration and just in general it's - way darker and wronger than the majority of my stuff. I'm still confused myself, so.
Fic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Hmmm. a promise of lightning, maybe, because I'd never really written either of the characters and writing someone for the first time always changes how I feel about them if only a little bit. Definitely In Unending Storms, because I'd never written Unity at all and I only knew Shudder a little bit. Who We Trust, too, because again, first time writing the characters and it really solidified for me a lot of stuff about Melanie and Dana in particular.
New pairing/genre/fandom you never predicted writing in January: Does it involve comics? I had no idea in January I would be writing it. No. Idea.
Hardest fic to write: an orchestra of bones. Argh, Peter, you are genuinely the WORST to write, half the time I don't get you at all and the other half of the time I'm too busy tearing my hair out over you to realize I still don't get you.
Biggest disappointment: I don't know. There's definitely stuff I've written that I feel like it could be better, but that tends to be, uh, all my fic, ever. If I'm disappointed in it, I don't post it, generally.
Biggest surprise: give me a world, you have taken the world I was. WHERE DID YOU EVEN COME FROM.
Most telling fic: I'm not sure. Either give me a world, you have taken the world I was (though I'm not sure what it says about me at all) or you just need something to build.
What's next? I have no idea. More comic stories? More vidding, perhaps? I'd like to try to finish up some short stories in my original work and try to get them published, but we'll see.
Um, I'm also going to declare this free-for-all on asking me anything about anything I've written. I kind of doubt there are questions, but if there are feel free to ask, or tell me that I got something wrong, or other stuff.
Happy New Year, everyone!
For Yuletide, Nope wrote me One Step (In Front Of Another), which is a pitch-perfect Alex Rider story about what Alex does After. Literally everything about this story is perfect. I don't even know what to say other than that I love it a RIDICULOUS amount. It's got this beautiful sort of... muddied feel to it? Alex and his losses, god, I can't even with how much I have feelings about it, and this story is everything I wanted out of an Alex Rider After The War story. <333 EVERYONE GO READ IT.
For erasureathon (which I have not finished yet but I will soon a;lskdhgd), xenoamorist turned Far From His Home into as small as a world and as large as alone, which is a gorgeous look at Castiel learning how to deal with having a body and being in love. (aslkdhgd "Angels are not meant for emotion, but war.") I'm completely stunned at just how much effort and thought she put into it, and the art is beautiful. (Guys go read her accompanying notes on how she did the art there is linguistics geekery YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT LINGUISTIC GEEKERY.)
And finally, in response to a series of prompts I gave at the 3-sentence ficathon back in December, edenfalling wrote about 10K of girl!Arthur/Eames, Dreamers of the Day. I prompted it casually at first, because I've written a couple thousand words on girl!Arthur and I was curious as to what other people's takes on her would be like, and then I just kept prompting it because Elizabeth's take on it is gorgeous and stunning. I am normally against genderbending to turn a queer ship straight, but I mentioned to her how I read Eames as genderfluid and she incorporated it and his identity issues in and just. It's a really beautiful love story, guys.
Also, I think you guys should check out Frenemy of the State, a five-issue stand alone comic written by a husband/wife writing team and Rashida Jones (!!!!! RASHIDA JONES), who is also apparently working on a movie based on it (please god let her star in it PLEASE). It's about an heiress who makes questionable decisions like HACKING INTO THE SECURITY OF A SENATOR'S SON so she can spy on her boyfriend and ends up having to work for the CIA briefly. I really enjoyed it - it's not anything super-brilliant, but it's good.
PS also Young Justice fans should all immediately go watch beccatoria's Young Justice vid Marchin' On. Marchin' On is a song that's vidded a lot, but I feel like it's one of those songs that just fits stories about people who get up and keep fighting that that's okay. And goodness knows if I had to pick only one Marchin' On vid, it would be this one becuase a;lskdhgd I'M SORRY GUYS THIS IS THE PART WHERE I DISSOLVE INTO FEELINGS ABOUT TINY BABY SUPERHEROES OH GOD. (pps you should all also go see her Wonder Woman vid I'm Holding Out For A Hero which I've recced before but am reccing again because it is also excellent and makes me smile in that there are good people in the world way. GO. WATCH.)
I wrote two things for Yuletide. First up, Who We Trust in Batman Beyond for yhlee. She mentioned that she really liked Melanie, and would love Dana promoted to more than just The Girlfriend, and liked Max too, so I took that and some of the things in her list of cool story elements and wrote a story about how Terry needs a doctor, and the finding thereof. But also a story about how Terry builds his own Batfamily and surrounds himself with smart, amazing women.
I also wrote a treat - In Unending Storms for calenlily, which is original superhero femslash based on the song Shine by Vienna Teng. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, and I'm really pleased to finally have a chance to write Shudder. She kept coming up tangentially in my NaNo last year (LOL IT'S 2012 WHAT), but I never got a chance to write specifically about her. Unity was a new character, but I really quite like her. (Also, there's a lot of stuff related to the major plot of the first like ten years of superheroing in this universe, but it's all just background for their relationship, so.)
I also did some other writing.
A while ago I wrote we had to go on living for Young Justice, which is (naturally) a post-Failsafe fic for Robin, with Artemis and Kaldur making guest appearances because I'm sort of predictable, sorry folks. I don't know how I feel about it, right now? It's okay. It's not my best work, though. I don't knooooow.
That Supernatural/Leverage pinchhit for Crossover Exchange that I mentioned is a promise of lightning. Just thought I should link to it, officially and all that jazz.
I don't know if any of you have ever read The Mysterious Benedict Society? It's a really great kids' series that I'm very very fond of. I wrote a tiny bit of future fic for it, I can see a lot of life in you, in which they continue their adventures as (mostly) adults.
And hey, remember that Narnia zombie apocalypse Susan/Edmund fic I wrote ages ago? Have a sequel! an orchestra of bones is Peter's side of the story and also a crossover with The Dark Is Rising, on accident. (I swear I don't know how these things happen, okay. I DON'T MEAN TO TURN EVERYTHING INTO A CROSSOVER *WEEPS*.) Anyway it is about Peter as he tries to deal with stuff and searches for Susan and Edmund and is Alone. Etc. etc.
In a sort-of sequel to my Batman Beyond Yuletide story, I wrote you just need something to build, a story about Max growing up and learning who she is and the expansion of the Batfamily and - um, I don't know, it's sort of an id fic, I guess. I do quite like it though.
And lol, last but not least - I went to Wellington to hang out for a few days by myself, be in a city, etc. And then I stayed up the first night until five am writing give me a world, you have taken the world I was. Which is seven thousand words of Hardy Boys fic. Of the wait let's see how I can screw over your childhood kind. Sorry, guys. It's halfway a story about how the Hardy Boys do dangerous shit and at some point it's going to screw them over SO BADLY, and halfway a story about how the Hardy Boys are dangerously codependent, and draped over that is a cover of "oh hey I'm pretty sure Joe is in love with Frank". That apology was serious, guys. I'M SORRY. oh god, I'm so sorry.
And while I don't feel like tracking down all the stuff I wrote this year, I figure I might as well answer the end-of-year writing questions meme because why not?
Leitmotif(s) of the year: Family and the complications thereof, families you build yourself, forced or self-imposed isolation and how it's broken, friendship.
Favorite(s) of the batch: I know it's short, but I'm really fond of three minutes down but who's counting. It's two of my favorite members of the Batfamily, quipping, and I read it and beam. I'm also very fond of Secret Virtues (the Blackmail and Bars Remix), because METHOS and AMANDA and friendships that are based on mutual respect. Annnd I'm rather pleased with both of my Yuletide stories this year and last year's as well. (And a lot of my 3-sentence stuff, but I haven't gotten that up anywhere yet so I can't point and go LOOKIE WHAT I DID.) you just need something to build is also a favorite of mine.
Best of the batch: This technically wasn't this year, but I never did this meme last year and a year and a bit later I'm still really proud of The Things We Say Are True (Sky High) from last Yuletide, so I'm going to put that one down. Um, a cloud tangled in the tail of a kite is one of the better things I've written, I think. Also Family Affairs, because of Reasons.
Most underappreciated by the universe: Oh, I don't know. I tend to feel overappreciated rather than under. I guess a cloud tangled in the tail of a kite? I really like my Liliandil, but she's not a favorite in Narnia fandom in any incarnation, generally, so that's pretty much to be expected. And it did get some lovely feedback in its original post, so I can't complain. I don't know. Pick one of my drabbles and say that's it.
Favorite first lines: First lines are not my strong point. I guess, um.
Susan Pevensie walks into the Torchwood office on a cold winter’s day. (The Curious Case of the Time Agent and His Sister, Torchwood/Narnia)
I wake up in darkness. Ah. Great. Time to play the time-honored game “what are the odds”, better known as “so how screwed to hell am I this time?” (give me a world, you have taken the world I was, Hardy Boys)
Most fun to write: One of the many drabbles or 3-sentence pieces I wrote this year, I'd say, or possibly Secret Virtues or I can see a lot of life in you.
Sexiest fic: Ha. I don't write sexy fics guys. Sorry!
"Holy crap, that's wrong even for you" fic: God, give me a world, you have taken the world I was. I don't know where it came from, I've always tipped a little bit to the dark but this is just flat-out beating a character to hell and back for character exploration and just in general it's - way darker and wronger than the majority of my stuff. I'm still confused myself, so.
Fic that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Hmmm. a promise of lightning, maybe, because I'd never really written either of the characters and writing someone for the first time always changes how I feel about them if only a little bit. Definitely In Unending Storms, because I'd never written Unity at all and I only knew Shudder a little bit. Who We Trust, too, because again, first time writing the characters and it really solidified for me a lot of stuff about Melanie and Dana in particular.
New pairing/genre/fandom you never predicted writing in January: Does it involve comics? I had no idea in January I would be writing it. No. Idea.
Hardest fic to write: an orchestra of bones. Argh, Peter, you are genuinely the WORST to write, half the time I don't get you at all and the other half of the time I'm too busy tearing my hair out over you to realize I still don't get you.
Biggest disappointment: I don't know. There's definitely stuff I've written that I feel like it could be better, but that tends to be, uh, all my fic, ever. If I'm disappointed in it, I don't post it, generally.
Biggest surprise: give me a world, you have taken the world I was. WHERE DID YOU EVEN COME FROM.
Most telling fic: I'm not sure. Either give me a world, you have taken the world I was (though I'm not sure what it says about me at all) or you just need something to build.
What's next? I have no idea. More comic stories? More vidding, perhaps? I'd like to try to finish up some short stories in my original work and try to get them published, but we'll see.
Um, I'm also going to declare this free-for-all on asking me anything about anything I've written. I kind of doubt there are questions, but if there are feel free to ask, or tell me that I got something wrong, or other stuff.
Happy New Year, everyone!