Writing Meme - My fic in 2008
Dec. 18th, 2008 02:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janie_tangerineSnagged from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elliotsmelliot. I thought it'd be an interesting one to do. ;) So, I'm not even trying to count the exact number because my tag for Lost fanfiction has 119 uses, but it includes stuff from 2007 (even if they might not be more than five or six) and it's also for single chapters of a same story. I know that number 100 was written in early August though, that was the point until I kept the count. I found a new liking for writing het, I think I accomplished my goal of making Boone mostly interesting and realized I should really avoid writing series. Oh, and I had glorious times writing blue shirt crack. I also wrote some Supernatural and ended up liking it, even if it isn't a fandom I think I can write for on a regular basis.
Favourite story this year:
Ha. Nice question, it's so hard to choose. Can I just pick five? I'm over 100, I can, right? ;) I think I might seem probably boring because I always say the same things, but I need to have I Ain't Got No Home here (and I should probably add the sequel, but I'm not over editing/posting that so I'm not). It was one of the rare cases when even if it got difficult at times I was utterly in love with my story. Also, I had always dreamed of writing an entire, long and full historical AU one day and that was it. While not going on historical AUs, erm, I think I need to mention You're Still Standing There, my first Desmond/Sayid full-on-slashing story which was the closest I ever came to write apocalyptic fic, probably had an odd premise and wasn't exactly my usual kind of story but it happens that I really like how it turned out for some reason even if I know it might not be exactly my best piece of fic ever. I need to mention also the Leaving All Of Love's Ashes Behind and Soothe The Burn couple. The first is one of the few stories of mine where I actually like the title. It wasn't the easiest thing to write and even if being Sawyer/Boone it probably was close to treachery since everyone knows what I ship, I just loved writing it, it flowed easily and it concerned a point in the few Sawyer/Boone canon interactions I'd have loved to be solved on the show. The second is still the time I wrote my OTP best and that's enough of a reason, even though now it's confirmed that Jack shaves his beard in Ben's presence and so here it shatters my ghost!Boone to the rescue dream. And well, I'm fond of Gallons Of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through The Strip. It made me discover how good of a pairing Jack/Sayid is to write, I liked the concept, I liked using Nirvana as a base to write Nirvana!Jack and O6!Sayid and it was the only time I did non-linear narration, which was pretty interesting to do.
My best story this year:
Uhm. Objectively? Well, Ain't Got No Home is in the group here, too. But apart from that, Miracle Drug. Only time I felt satisfied with how I wrote Charlie, I think I pulled Des/Charlie off pretty nicely and if I re-read it I wouldn't change a comma. I had always wanted to write hatch!Desmond fic, I did it in Way Down In The Hole and that's another story where I covered everything I wanted to cover and I'm just really happy with how it came out, style included. I think that The Halls of Craphole Heaven was objectively my best crack this year. And then the ones which were the hardest (look down for information ;) ).
Most under appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
Premise: I'm endlessly grateful with any feedback I get. Also, aselliotsmelliot said in her meme this year there has been a bit of a fall-post luau burnout which is absolutely understandable, so I'm ruling out anything I wrote after the luau. But if I have to say one that wasn't in the luau span of time, I have to say With Every Wish (there comes a curse), even if there's something weird about that one. I was kind of really nervous about it and it also was my first full Jack/Sawyer story and it's a pairing I find ridiculously hard to write, but while I got four people (my beta included) commenting on it, the feedback was seriously flattering beyond my merits. I think it was a good story and I can't exactly said it was under appreciated, but still it didn't meet my five comments goal. ;)
Most fun story:
Premise: I have fun every time I write crack. That said, I need to mention two. The first has to be Come Fly With Me, which is a total crack AU where everyone works in an airport which was born out of an equally cracked exchange withelliotsmelliot and which was a joy to write, being it as I said total crack and absolutely angst-less. And I'd have never thought that writing Margo Shephard playing matchmaker for Jack and Sawyer in Mother In Law would have been such a blast, but seriously? I had the time of my life while writing that story. Only time in my life where writing Jack/Sawyer was actually easy as pie.
Most disappointing:
I generally don't feel like I write Juliet well even if I'm told otherwise. The story I'm most disappointed with is probably from last year's so I won't exactly mention that here. I've trashed at least five or six Jack/Sawyer things that didn't go anywhere and which all seemed completely OOC, not to mention a Desmond/Claire confrontation that I just sent to the recycle bin, which I never do actually but I felt like that wasn't salvageable. But of all the ones I posted, even if I got good feedback for it and I don't think it was a bad story under any mean, I never was 100% satisfied with Ends And Means. It was one of those stories where the concept works better in your head than on paper and while I was determined to make Desmond and Boone meet and the premise was a good one (I think), I always felt like I could have done it better. But after rewriting the last part four times and still not getting what I was missing I just went with it.
Sexiest story:
Definitely And He Left My Heart With Vertigo, which featured Driveshaft!Charlie having dressing room sex with groupie!Boone pre-series. It was the first NC17 story I wrote in English which really satisfied me and I've been told it's the hottest I've ever done until now. I think I can agree with that.
"Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story:
Ha, any doubt about this? I can't not say Mr. Bad Example, which for a good start was also my first story this year I think. I mean, you can't have something more wrong than Christian/Cooper slash with sex, even if the sex isn't at all depicted. I have a sanity, too. I guess this set a whole new wrong. I mean, after writing that, my perception of what's wrong definitely shifted.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
Probably Wedding Day. I mean, I wrote Sarah and Kate in the same story which should have been about Jack and Juliet getting married. And while it didn't exactly make me like any of them too much better, writing them was very interesting and maybe I understood the both of them a bit better. Actually, writing Sarah wasn't as nasty as I'd have thought. Maybe also Meet Me At the Wrecking Ball too because it always surprises me how easy I find it to write Kate. The point is that when I think I understand her better I usually watch the show and think that I really won't ever get her. Also, I found out I actually like Kate/Sayid which was a surprise. That probably shifted my perceptions on the pairing.
Hardest story to do:
Without a doubt A Weak Man Has Doubts Before a Decision, A Strong Man Afterwards. It wasn't exactly the most original idea since it was basically Boone survives because Jack amputates the leg, but writing it was painful. Apart from the whole researching I did before starting (and I guarantee that learning about different ways in which you can amputate a leg and phantom limb syndrome isn't exactly nice), by the middle of it I was probably an emotional mess and the more I went on the harder it became. I didn't spare anything and I'm glad I went that way because no one is ever convincing me that having an amputated leg doesn't make your life hell at least for a while, but trying to balance Boone's reactions with the others' and dealing also with Jack's responsibilities wasn't that easy, adding to the whole emotional issue I was talking about earlier. I also started having doubts about how I should have ended it because I was afraid it'd have been too much of a shift from the general tone of the fic but I wouldn't change a word of that whole story.
And I also need to mention A Theory Is Not A Matter Of Fact, my Desmond/Daniel story which is my most popular story ever and which was a bitch to write because my friends, Daniel is the hardest-character-ever. Not as hard as the previous one though, but hard nonetheless because anything that makes me research physics is enough to make me want to tear my hair out.
Biggest surprise:
I think I have more than one here. One is probably my first and only Sawyer/Juliet (if you don't count when they were in a threesome with Desmond in another story), And Love Is Not a Victory March. It's the second story of mine which got most comments after the Desmond/Daniel one and seriously, I don't have an idea why. I wrote it in... an hour and a half after my last exam of the term and while I really like how it came out I'm still surprised that it's one of my most commented ones. I'd have never thought I'd ever end up writing Desmond/Claire and from Sawyer's POV and mixing it with Odyssey references but that was Calypso. Nothing will beat Return of the Grievous Angel though because I mean, it was Sawyer/Sayid wingfic of everything and I got some of best feedback of the year for that story, even from people that weren't into slash or into the pairing or into wingfic. But it surely was a nice surprise indeed. Stylistically, I have to mention Man of Constant Sorrow. I almost never write in second person, but there I just went and did the second person opposite to the third person narrator POV which I tried to keep as detached as possible so that it kind of clashed with the second person. I wasn't absolutely planning on that though when I started it.
Most revealing story:
Definitely There's A Distance I Can't Close. I had always wanted to write something concerning Boone's girlfriend in Hearts And Minds but I'd have never thought it would be so interesting an experience. When I finished it I was seriously convinced that she wouldn't have been that bad of a match for him and while I mostly used her as a device to write mostly about him, it ended up being one of my favorite fics this year. In terms of writing experience, I loved doing the card game backstory fromelliotsmelliot's Drowning Your Sorrows By Land and By Sea in That's How It Goes Down Here Below. That whole fanom as canon challenge at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
charlielives was a blast.
A story I want remembered:
Any mentioned in 1 and 2.
Do you have any fanfic goals for the New Year?
Yep. I want to finish my Jack/Sawyer series based on the movie quotes and that crack Ben-is-under-process series. I lack the necessary discipline to write series. I'd like to write more Locke but I've just fallen out of interest with his character lately. I want to write more crack, blue and of other colors, possibly tackle that Boone time traveling plot I can't find time to write now, a sequel to the Boone/Charlie dressing room sex and actually write the WWII AU that is on my laptop in bits and pieces and for which I did enough research to actually go for it. Possibly before Nanowrimo time. And last goal, finishing pairing Boone up with any possible pair-able person on Craphole Island just to show that I can. ;) And I think that I probably won't fulfill half of these but still, I have them.
elliotsmelliot. I thought it'd be an interesting one to do. ;) So, I'm not even trying to count the exact number because my tag for Lost fanfiction has 119 uses, but it includes stuff from 2007 (even if they might not be more than five or six) and it's also for single chapters of a same story. I know that number 100 was written in early August though, that was the point until I kept the count. I found a new liking for writing het, I think I accomplished my goal of making Boone mostly interesting and realized I should really avoid writing series. Oh, and I had glorious times writing blue shirt crack. I also wrote some Supernatural and ended up liking it, even if it isn't a fandom I think I can write for on a regular basis.Favourite story this year:
Ha. Nice question, it's so hard to choose. Can I just pick five? I'm over 100, I can, right? ;) I think I might seem probably boring because I always say the same things, but I need to have I Ain't Got No Home here (and I should probably add the sequel, but I'm not over editing/posting that so I'm not). It was one of the rare cases when even if it got difficult at times I was utterly in love with my story. Also, I had always dreamed of writing an entire, long and full historical AU one day and that was it. While not going on historical AUs, erm, I think I need to mention You're Still Standing There, my first Desmond/Sayid full-on-slashing story which was the closest I ever came to write apocalyptic fic, probably had an odd premise and wasn't exactly my usual kind of story but it happens that I really like how it turned out for some reason even if I know it might not be exactly my best piece of fic ever. I need to mention also the Leaving All Of Love's Ashes Behind and Soothe The Burn couple. The first is one of the few stories of mine where I actually like the title. It wasn't the easiest thing to write and even if being Sawyer/Boone it probably was close to treachery since everyone knows what I ship, I just loved writing it, it flowed easily and it concerned a point in the few Sawyer/Boone canon interactions I'd have loved to be solved on the show. The second is still the time I wrote my OTP best and that's enough of a reason, even though now it's confirmed that Jack shaves his beard in Ben's presence and so here it shatters my ghost!Boone to the rescue dream. And well, I'm fond of Gallons Of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through The Strip. It made me discover how good of a pairing Jack/Sayid is to write, I liked the concept, I liked using Nirvana as a base to write Nirvana!Jack and O6!Sayid and it was the only time I did non-linear narration, which was pretty interesting to do.
My best story this year:
Uhm. Objectively? Well, Ain't Got No Home is in the group here, too. But apart from that, Miracle Drug. Only time I felt satisfied with how I wrote Charlie, I think I pulled Des/Charlie off pretty nicely and if I re-read it I wouldn't change a comma. I had always wanted to write hatch!Desmond fic, I did it in Way Down In The Hole and that's another story where I covered everything I wanted to cover and I'm just really happy with how it came out, style included. I think that The Halls of Craphole Heaven was objectively my best crack this year. And then the ones which were the hardest (look down for information ;) ).
Most under appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
Premise: I'm endlessly grateful with any feedback I get. Also, as
elliotsmelliot said in her meme this year there has been a bit of a fall-post luau burnout which is absolutely understandable, so I'm ruling out anything I wrote after the luau. But if I have to say one that wasn't in the luau span of time, I have to say With Every Wish (there comes a curse), even if there's something weird about that one. I was kind of really nervous about it and it also was my first full Jack/Sawyer story and it's a pairing I find ridiculously hard to write, but while I got four people (my beta included) commenting on it, the feedback was seriously flattering beyond my merits. I think it was a good story and I can't exactly said it was under appreciated, but still it didn't meet my five comments goal. ;)Most fun story:
Premise: I have fun every time I write crack. That said, I need to mention two. The first has to be Come Fly With Me, which is a total crack AU where everyone works in an airport which was born out of an equally cracked exchange with
elliotsmelliot and which was a joy to write, being it as I said total crack and absolutely angst-less. And I'd have never thought that writing Margo Shephard playing matchmaker for Jack and Sawyer in Mother In Law would have been such a blast, but seriously? I had the time of my life while writing that story. Only time in my life where writing Jack/Sawyer was actually easy as pie.Most disappointing:
I generally don't feel like I write Juliet well even if I'm told otherwise. The story I'm most disappointed with is probably from last year's so I won't exactly mention that here. I've trashed at least five or six Jack/Sawyer things that didn't go anywhere and which all seemed completely OOC, not to mention a Desmond/Claire confrontation that I just sent to the recycle bin, which I never do actually but I felt like that wasn't salvageable. But of all the ones I posted, even if I got good feedback for it and I don't think it was a bad story under any mean, I never was 100% satisfied with Ends And Means. It was one of those stories where the concept works better in your head than on paper and while I was determined to make Desmond and Boone meet and the premise was a good one (I think), I always felt like I could have done it better. But after rewriting the last part four times and still not getting what I was missing I just went with it.
Sexiest story:
Definitely And He Left My Heart With Vertigo, which featured Driveshaft!Charlie having dressing room sex with groupie!Boone pre-series. It was the first NC17 story I wrote in English which really satisfied me and I've been told it's the hottest I've ever done until now. I think I can agree with that.
"Holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story:
Ha, any doubt about this? I can't not say Mr. Bad Example, which for a good start was also my first story this year I think. I mean, you can't have something more wrong than Christian/Cooper slash with sex, even if the sex isn't at all depicted. I have a sanity, too. I guess this set a whole new wrong. I mean, after writing that, my perception of what's wrong definitely shifted.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:
Probably Wedding Day. I mean, I wrote Sarah and Kate in the same story which should have been about Jack and Juliet getting married. And while it didn't exactly make me like any of them too much better, writing them was very interesting and maybe I understood the both of them a bit better. Actually, writing Sarah wasn't as nasty as I'd have thought. Maybe also Meet Me At the Wrecking Ball too because it always surprises me how easy I find it to write Kate. The point is that when I think I understand her better I usually watch the show and think that I really won't ever get her. Also, I found out I actually like Kate/Sayid which was a surprise. That probably shifted my perceptions on the pairing.
Hardest story to do:
Without a doubt A Weak Man Has Doubts Before a Decision, A Strong Man Afterwards. It wasn't exactly the most original idea since it was basically Boone survives because Jack amputates the leg, but writing it was painful. Apart from the whole researching I did before starting (and I guarantee that learning about different ways in which you can amputate a leg and phantom limb syndrome isn't exactly nice), by the middle of it I was probably an emotional mess and the more I went on the harder it became. I didn't spare anything and I'm glad I went that way because no one is ever convincing me that having an amputated leg doesn't make your life hell at least for a while, but trying to balance Boone's reactions with the others' and dealing also with Jack's responsibilities wasn't that easy, adding to the whole emotional issue I was talking about earlier. I also started having doubts about how I should have ended it because I was afraid it'd have been too much of a shift from the general tone of the fic but I wouldn't change a word of that whole story.
And I also need to mention A Theory Is Not A Matter Of Fact, my Desmond/Daniel story which is my most popular story ever and which was a bitch to write because my friends, Daniel is the hardest-character-ever. Not as hard as the previous one though, but hard nonetheless because anything that makes me research physics is enough to make me want to tear my hair out.
Biggest surprise:
I think I have more than one here. One is probably my first and only Sawyer/Juliet (if you don't count when they were in a threesome with Desmond in another story), And Love Is Not a Victory March. It's the second story of mine which got most comments after the Desmond/Daniel one and seriously, I don't have an idea why. I wrote it in... an hour and a half after my last exam of the term and while I really like how it came out I'm still surprised that it's one of my most commented ones. I'd have never thought I'd ever end up writing Desmond/Claire and from Sawyer's POV and mixing it with Odyssey references but that was Calypso. Nothing will beat Return of the Grievous Angel though because I mean, it was Sawyer/Sayid wingfic of everything and I got some of best feedback of the year for that story, even from people that weren't into slash or into the pairing or into wingfic. But it surely was a nice surprise indeed. Stylistically, I have to mention Man of Constant Sorrow. I almost never write in second person, but there I just went and did the second person opposite to the third person narrator POV which I tried to keep as detached as possible so that it kind of clashed with the second person. I wasn't absolutely planning on that though when I started it.
Most revealing story:
Definitely There's A Distance I Can't Close. I had always wanted to write something concerning Boone's girlfriend in Hearts And Minds but I'd have never thought it would be so interesting an experience. When I finished it I was seriously convinced that she wouldn't have been that bad of a match for him and while I mostly used her as a device to write mostly about him, it ended up being one of my favorite fics this year. In terms of writing experience, I loved doing the card game backstory from
elliotsmelliot's Drowning Your Sorrows By Land and By Sea in That's How It Goes Down Here Below. That whole fanom as canon challenge at charlielives was a blast.A story I want remembered:
Any mentioned in 1 and 2.
Do you have any fanfic goals for the New Year?
Yep. I want to finish my Jack/Sawyer series based on the movie quotes and that crack Ben-is-under-process series. I lack the necessary discipline to write series. I'd like to write more Locke but I've just fallen out of interest with his character lately. I want to write more crack, blue and of other colors, possibly tackle that Boone time traveling plot I can't find time to write now, a sequel to the Boone/Charlie dressing room sex and actually write the WWII AU that is on my laptop in bits and pieces and for which I did enough research to actually go for it. Possibly before Nanowrimo time. And last goal, finishing pairing Boone up with any possible pair-able person on Craphole Island just to show that I can. ;) And I think that I probably won't fulfill half of these but still, I have them.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-12-18 04:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-18 09:30 pm (UTC)Uhm, I think it's the one I've had bookmarked for two weeks or something. And well, definitely hoping you'll do it next year though!
no subject
Date: 2008-12-18 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-18 11:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-19 12:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-18 11:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-18 11:38 pm (UTC)I agree with I Ain't Got No Home being one of my favourites of yours. I would also consider it one of your bests. I also think it is a story you could re-work as original fiction.
Des and Sayid as the only ones on the quaking island was a great story. I can see why it took an e apocalypse to get you to fully slash them. Coffee ice cream was not enough!
Way Down in the Hole! Yes, your comment on my meme got me thinking about this one again. It is my favourite hatch Desmond, unless you count the segment in Make Your Own Kind of Music.
It's too bad that With Every Wish (there comes a curse) fell between the cracks. It had nothing to do with the quality, but got lost in the luau shuffle.
I am totally with you on your hardest and sexiest story! A Weak Man was so hard to read, even more so than In My Time of Dying, if that makes any sense. Vertigo was very excellent! I also love that title choice for that story, and I am convinced they meet up again!
Personally I feel Mr. Bad Example was so wrong it was right. I believe in it more than popular canon pairings that shall remain nameless.
I agree that Daniel is a hard nut to crack. You have to balance his brains with his brain damage, and his shy yet confident manner. I find I ever have him sound like an idiot or he comes off too bland.
I feel so lucky that you wrote That's How It Goes Down Here Below. It was such a gift and I am still in love with the names Sawyer gave for Desmond's moods.
What a year! Here's to more great stories in 2009! And yes, I expect you to finish your Jack/Sawyer and Ben on trial series.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-18 11:56 pm (UTC)Re 2009, the Jack/Sawyer series is my first New Year's resolution. I swear, it's ridiculous that I have it all exactly clear in my head and it doesn't want to cooperate. Maybe after the novel it took me to slash them seriously, I'll find it easier to write them in canon when I get back on it. While Ben comes soon after. I mean, it's two WIPs one of which is pretty much all planned, I can do it.
I have kind of thought about re-working I Ain't Got No Home. Maybe one day I'll give it a try, why not?
Thanks so much regards Des and Sayid! Yep, ice cream wasn't enough. Except that I don't have the necessary guts to kill a character and less than the necessary to write the apocalypse, but trying was good.
Ouch, I wanted to mention Make Your Own Kind of Music somewhere but got lost somewhere. The segment in there has to be my favorite too, but I really liked how Way Down In The Hole turned out.
I think the wishes one got lost between the riffs stuff, I agree. Oh well, it's still a story about which I've been told some of the nicest things that I could have hoped for.
even more so than In My Time of Dying, if that makes any sense.
Oh, it does. I went into it thinking that after IMTOD I couldn't suffer that much more and was I wrong? At least when it's the canon death you've already seen it and have canon there, but the alternative was so much harder to write. Re Vertigo, I was actually tempted to claim a small table at lostpicksix, make them meet again and kind of keeping it there if I ever wanted to write some fairly angst-free stuff where they're alive and there isn't the island drama. When I get around to that I'll see. And the title probably shows that I should steal from Bon Jovi more than I usually do but it was one of the few cases in which I stole it because I thought it was really good and not because I was desperate to find a title.
You do a great job with Daniel, I surely never heard him sound like an idiot or bland. But damnit, he's a hard nut to crack indeed. Apart from the brains/damage/manner business you also can't skip around the physics and it drives me nuts. There's a reason for which I study humanistic subjects.
And I'm really so glad you liked Down Here Below. ♥