Year in Review 2004
I belatedly did one of those recent writing memes over in my pro lj, and in the midst thought of doing a wordcount tally for the year, pro vs. fanfic. And once I did the annoying part of collecting all the stories I did this year, I figured I might as well do the Year in Review meme. Also, I've gotten around to updating my fanfic site with a bunch of things I hadn't put up yet -- the last four stories I've posted here, and the M&C and LAC short-shorts I wrote for fan_the_vote way back when.
Total: 61,507 words in 18 stories in 7 fandoms.
Stories Written (fandoms listed in reverse chronological order)
Wodehouse
Jeeves and the Blessed Indiscretion, 4,255 words
Tombstone
Blood and Whiskey, 3,972
Spiderman
Sea Change, 1,405
Stargate
A Lapse of Gravity, 4,335
Compromised, 1,004
Gladiator
Campaign, 3,282
One of a Thousand Roads, 2,248
Waking from a Dream, 1,026
L.A. Confidential
Partnership, 4,079
Games Men Play, 1,510
Payback, 6,006
Listening In, 2,711
Collaboration, 2,042
Something Borrowed, 875
Miscellaneous Shorts
Master & Commander
The World Turned Upside Down (Five Things That Never Happened, part five), 19,082
Influence, 721
Miscellaneous Shorts, 2,954
Actually, I should probably just take those last three categories and list them as my Russell Crowe period, a la Picasso's Blue period or something.
And also:
Vids Made (all available at http://www.intimations.org/vidding/)
Jig of Life, Witchblade
The Mountain (with![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1)
melina123), LOTR
Drop Dead Gorgeous, Smallville
Duende, Master & Commander
My Favorite: It's almost always the last thing I've written, in the moment -- the one still carrying that rosy glow of yay-it's-done! -- but overall I think I'm going to go with Partnership. It's kind of bizarre, really, how Exley/White grabs me. They're not nice guys, not likeable at all, and the politics of their world & time are pretty repugnant. Their intensity is what compels, and the way they're incomplete apart and so perfect together. This story is also just the right length for me to reread in basically no time, so from a purely utilitarian point of view, I can indulge in it whenever I want without a time committment. It's like baby carrots! (The logic of this works in my head, but possibly you have to be here.)
My Best: The World Turned Upside Down. I'm really proud of this. If I could publish a fanfic story, this is the one I'd choose. I toyed with the idea of filing off the serial numbers, but in the end I just don't think it works properly *except* as fanfic -- it needs the canon to be set against.
Story Most Underappreciated by the Universe: This isn't underappreciated at all -- I've gotten wonderful feedback on it -- but the story I would most love people to read, who wouldn't ordinarily read the fandom or even the Western genre, is the Tombstone story I wrote for Yuletide this year, Blood and Whiskey.
I wasn't interested in Westerns at all before working on this story, and I've actively avoided Western movies/books in the past under the assumption that I don't like that kind of thing. I watched Tombstone only so I could appreciategwyn_r and feochadn's vid "Never Left" (available on their first DVD collection), and honestly I thought it was a pretty awful movie. With a boatload of slash, but Doc and the Earps' performances deserved a much better script.
But while doing research for the story, I really fell in love with Wyatt Earp's voice. He's got a really wonderful and compelling narrative voice -- it conveys his character straight through the choice of language, the cadences, and it's the same kind of pleasure I find in reading Patrick O'Brian. So I think folks who've liked my M&C work would enjoy it also, and also think they would be likely to give it a miss under the same assumptions I had myself.
Most Fun: I think I'll go with Drop Dead Gorgeous, the Smallville vid. I literally made it in three days in a mad pre-VividCon frenzy, and it was just pure silly fun.
Most Disappointing: Waking from a Dream, no question. This is the sequel to One of a Thousand Roads, which I'm really proud of. I really wanted to continue in that universe, to play with the idea more, but the sequel just didn't go anywhere nearly as interesting as the original. I like to post the failures anyway, if they're complete, so I put it out, but I think of this as something that I might hypothetically overwrite one day with something better.
Most Sexy: Partnership, again -- the original, not the expanded version I made for the Fandom Election. It's the not-having-sex that does it. *g*
Hardest to Write: My Yuletide pinch-hit, Jeeves and the Blessed Indiscretion.yahtzee63 was working on her fabulous Yuletide story, Wooster's School for Wayward Girls and in the course of research brought one of the books over to my place, back early in December. I -- who had never read Wodehouse except for flambeau's fanfic -- picked it up and glanced through, went oh, fun! and got a collection to take along on vacation with me. Then when it popped up in a pinch-hit, I blithely nabbed it, all foolishly pleased by the opportunity to play with the new fandom, and OMG it killed me dead.
Thankfullycesperanza managed to help me wrestle the PURE EVIL (from BEYOND THE GRAVE! *sepulchral tones*) that is Wodehouse into submission. And now I'm quite happy with the story. But I had a few bad days there moaning to anyone who would give me even the least bit of sympathy, ie, almost nobody, since most of them were also doing Yuletide pinch-hits and occupied with their own misery.
Total: 61,507 words in 18 stories in 7 fandoms.
Stories Written (fandoms listed in reverse chronological order)
Wodehouse
Jeeves and the Blessed Indiscretion, 4,255 words
Tombstone
Blood and Whiskey, 3,972
Spiderman
Sea Change, 1,405
Stargate
A Lapse of Gravity, 4,335
Compromised, 1,004
Gladiator
Campaign, 3,282
One of a Thousand Roads, 2,248
Waking from a Dream, 1,026
L.A. Confidential
Partnership, 4,079
Games Men Play, 1,510
Payback, 6,006
Listening In, 2,711
Collaboration, 2,042
Something Borrowed, 875
Miscellaneous Shorts
Master & Commander
The World Turned Upside Down (Five Things That Never Happened, part five), 19,082
Influence, 721
Miscellaneous Shorts, 2,954
Actually, I should probably just take those last three categories and list them as my Russell Crowe period, a la Picasso's Blue period or something.
And also:
Vids Made (all available at http://www.intimations.org/vidding/)
Jig of Life, Witchblade
The Mountain (with
melina123), LOTRDrop Dead Gorgeous, Smallville
Duende, Master & Commander
My Favorite: It's almost always the last thing I've written, in the moment -- the one still carrying that rosy glow of yay-it's-done! -- but overall I think I'm going to go with Partnership. It's kind of bizarre, really, how Exley/White grabs me. They're not nice guys, not likeable at all, and the politics of their world & time are pretty repugnant. Their intensity is what compels, and the way they're incomplete apart and so perfect together. This story is also just the right length for me to reread in basically no time, so from a purely utilitarian point of view, I can indulge in it whenever I want without a time committment. It's like baby carrots! (The logic of this works in my head, but possibly you have to be here.)
My Best: The World Turned Upside Down. I'm really proud of this. If I could publish a fanfic story, this is the one I'd choose. I toyed with the idea of filing off the serial numbers, but in the end I just don't think it works properly *except* as fanfic -- it needs the canon to be set against.
Story Most Underappreciated by the Universe: This isn't underappreciated at all -- I've gotten wonderful feedback on it -- but the story I would most love people to read, who wouldn't ordinarily read the fandom or even the Western genre, is the Tombstone story I wrote for Yuletide this year, Blood and Whiskey.
I wasn't interested in Westerns at all before working on this story, and I've actively avoided Western movies/books in the past under the assumption that I don't like that kind of thing. I watched Tombstone only so I could appreciate
gwyn_r and feochadn's vid "Never Left" (available on their first DVD collection), and honestly I thought it was a pretty awful movie. With a boatload of slash, but Doc and the Earps' performances deserved a much better script.But while doing research for the story, I really fell in love with Wyatt Earp's voice. He's got a really wonderful and compelling narrative voice -- it conveys his character straight through the choice of language, the cadences, and it's the same kind of pleasure I find in reading Patrick O'Brian. So I think folks who've liked my M&C work would enjoy it also, and also think they would be likely to give it a miss under the same assumptions I had myself.
Most Fun: I think I'll go with Drop Dead Gorgeous, the Smallville vid. I literally made it in three days in a mad pre-VividCon frenzy, and it was just pure silly fun.
Most Disappointing: Waking from a Dream, no question. This is the sequel to One of a Thousand Roads, which I'm really proud of. I really wanted to continue in that universe, to play with the idea more, but the sequel just didn't go anywhere nearly as interesting as the original. I like to post the failures anyway, if they're complete, so I put it out, but I think of this as something that I might hypothetically overwrite one day with something better.
Most Sexy: Partnership, again -- the original, not the expanded version I made for the Fandom Election. It's the not-having-sex that does it. *g*
Hardest to Write: My Yuletide pinch-hit, Jeeves and the Blessed Indiscretion.
yahtzee63 was working on her fabulous Yuletide story, Wooster's School for Wayward Girls and in the course of research brought one of the books over to my place, back early in December. I -- who had never read Wodehouse except for flambeau's fanfic -- picked it up and glanced through, went oh, fun! and got a collection to take along on vacation with me. Then when it popped up in a pinch-hit, I blithely nabbed it, all foolishly pleased by the opportunity to play with the new fandom, and OMG it killed me dead. Thankfully
cesperanza managed to help me wrestle the PURE EVIL (from BEYOND THE GRAVE! *sepulchral tones*) that is Wodehouse into submission. And now I'm quite happy with the story. But I had a few bad days there moaning to anyone who would give me even the least bit of sympathy, ie, almost nobody, since most of them were also doing Yuletide pinch-hits and occupied with their own misery.
I'm very impressed that you've written so much fic as well as original stuff. You go, girl. Love, Roo
ps My unsolicited opinion isn't that it's the not-having-sex that does it, it's the not-having-sex-for-a-long-time-until-fin
My favs so far have been Stargate (you do an awesome Jack!) and the Eleventh Doorkeeper story for the Potterverse. You mix your pain and hope so beautifully. I pray your muse is kind to you in this coming year and supplies you with ... um. Lots of additional hours in the day in which to write. *grins*
re: Jeeves and the B.I.
I just noticed for the first time, though, in this story, that Bertie leaves two ten-bob notes for the coat and then later says that he paid twenty pounds for it, when he really only paid twenty shillings. I really don't want to be one of those nitpicky readers who's all, "ooh! ooh! I found the error!" but I thought maybe I should mention it.
Having just finished Jeeves and Wooster, season 2, I dived right in when I saw "Jeeves and the Blessed Indiscretion" and I'm truly amazed! Slash can be everywhere, and if written by a masterful writer, is a delight to read.
Great story, witty and very in-character, with the perfect narrator voice of Bertie. Also, the gentlemanly tenderness of the actual slash moment is so good, as are the steps inevitably leading to it.
Thank you for this excellent piece :)=
Pesti
He had an almost lyrical quality to his writing. I like everything I've read by him, and I've read a lot. My dad used to read them and I picked it up from him.
For a rougher and darker style, Max Brand is good.
'Shane', by Jack Shaefer, is the book they based the old Western movie on. It's short but absorbing. Told from a young boy's pov, you can see much going on that passes over the kid's head...I'm thinking of all the slash/threesome fanfics it would inspire if the girls read it, heh.
Hope you give them a try. It's an interesting genre and "cowboy" lore is an integral part of our movie/literary history, it's well worth exploring a bit just for the research value.
Pesti
And wow was it brilliant! Loved it! ...they *shake* on it, that was just too perfect. And the final line nearly killed me, so perfect!
I came here from Painless J's recs, BTW.
Would you mind terribly, if I translate this fanfic into Russian? Translating it would be give me a chance to enjoy it all over again. I promise to be very careful with your text. I'm not sure if I'll be able to find an archive to post this, but I would be more than happy to send you a link to my blog, where I would like to post it.
Tenar
And here is a link to my translation of your story, as promised:
http://www.diary.ru/~Tenar/p57414424.ht
The rest proved remarkably straightforward, at least when one discounts the cat, the housemaid, and the fire,
(Anonymous)
Thank you for the story ♥
Fantastic
It was all so good that I decided to start reading some of your fics in fandoms I have absolutely no familiarity with, and I have to say- you slay me. I've never seen Merlin, but your Merlin fics are wonderfully well-written. You have a true gift for dialogue, pacing, and characterization that makes everything you write a joy to read.
Not only that, but I love that you don't limit yourself to one form of narrative voice. Yes, it's usually the third person narrator, but sometimes it's omniscient and sometimes it's not. One of the HP fics is almost entirely dialogue-based, very skillfully and quietly written.
And the Jeeves fic! Wow. Your Bertie Wooster voice was what finally tipped me over into writing this review (which you may never get, but oh well.) Wodehouse is one of my favorite comedic authors, and you capture his voice with flawless floppish flair- even the flow of the plot seemed to follow in traditional Wodehouse style. Truly, utterly fantastic. I hope you're still writing, and that someday I have the opportunity to read some of your published works.
Cheers,
Jing
Re: Fantastic
(Anonymous)
Jeeves and the Blessed Indiscretion.
You tell yourself you won't read slash. Then you tell yourself, OK, only this one pairing in this one fandom because hey, it's practically canon right? Then somewhere along the way, Legolas/Gimli or equivalent stops being quite so weird and you're reading the entire fandom. You say you'll read but you won't write, but all of a sudden you're trying to capture the fine details of vigorous elf-sex. Explicit PWPs, kink of every variety, crack, MPreg; every wall gradually crumbles away. You say, "but the Harry Potter series are kids' books! Most of the characters are teenagers! I couldn't enjoy that." A week or two later and you're casually throwing around words like "Snarry" and "Wolfstar". You read bizarre crossovers like House/X-men. You read fics about the characters of your favourite childhood classics. One day you find yourself reading about two of your country's most famous politicians and national heroes sending each other smoldering glances in government meetings. It gets to the point where you read or watch something new solely because you've run out of slash and need a new fandom to get into.
And then - only THEN - when every other restriction and every other standard has fallen away, do you finally do that thing, that ONE THING that you genuinely believed you never would. The thing that even now, in your hardened and jaded state, squicks you so badly that your fingers spasm in horror as you try to type it into Google. It's different for everyone, that last step, but for me, it was reading Jeeves and Wooster slash.
What I'm trying to say here is that for my last step on the road to perdition, I couldn't have wished to find a better fic than "Jeeves and the Blessed Indiscretion". So thank you ^_^
Thank you so very much for sharing it!
Ahahaha how do you even--I just. And the ending to this is so sweet. Oh Bertie, wanting a term for life instead of two weeks notice, and not minding much if breakfast is a bit late... :DDD
(I don't even know. I saw a rec post about Jeeves fic, had one of those: there's FANFIC for that? moments (which, DUH, and also, how could I possibly still be having those moments because DUH...) and somehow ended up here <333)