By request of brightknightie, in response to this meme post.

( Commentary for 'Five Times Coreen Fennel Didn't Kiss Henry Fitzroy (And One Time She Did)' (6/6) )

~~

So there it is. The feedback on this one has definitely been quality vs. quantity! I've actually been surprised as many people have responded to it as have, since I'm fully aware that it's of "niche" appeal, and not even a shippy niche. What did surprise me is how heartfelt some of the feedback has been. I didn't really expect people to find it as moving as they have, and continue to be really blown away by what they've been kind enough to say.

Because apparently my brain gets most bored when it has the most to be getting done. Or something.

Also because my flist has morphed substantially since the last time I did this one, and I'm actually more hoping some of the folks I've started hanging out with since then will do it themselves (ETA: Or that people who've been around all along will give me a crack at their newer stuff!) than that anyone will actually take me up on it. ;-)

I can't actually find the wording of the original meme, but it's pretty simple: Pick a fic, any fic, of all the fic I've written, and I'll repost it with a "DVD commentary."

Probably more than one, having read so many stories in such a blitz yesterday. But I can't believe I forgot this one in my rec list:

"Black for your funeral, green for grassy ground" (Firefly & Serenity) by liviapenn. Lyrical, heartbreaking, and oh-so-rightly hopeful look at the end of Serenity. Centered on Zoe beginning to find her way forward, with each member of the crew giving his or her own brand of strength.

And has been since last night, actually, but I am chipmunky and low-energy and slow with the posting. Go here for the master list of multi-fandom female-character-focussed goodness.

I had fun writing "Homecoming" (Heroes) for karrenia_rune, who set me the challenge of following Caitlin's adventures in the future timeline.

And was delighted to receive "Rubber Ducky, You're the One!" (Blood Ties) from deire, who gave me my favorite P.I. and goth-girl-Friday and both their moms, all in the same place at the same time. And as if that weren't already worth the price of admission, there's an extra giggle courtesy of His Royal Smugness. (He really does need to be smacked. Often. With great affection, of course.)

Among the sixty-plus offerings, a few of my favorites:

"Three Months Out. Six To Go. (Perfect Time For a Big Sister Freak Out.)" (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) by havocthecat. You might think that being nearly thirty and married would let Dawn out of Buffy coming unglued at the news that she's going to be an aunt. You would, of course, be mistaken. Funny and a bit poignant, with fantastic family stuff (counting both Summerses and Scoobies as "family," of course).

"Starwort" (Forever Knight) by brightknightie, who went well above and beyond the ficathon's 1,000-word call with an older and wiser Fleur encountering LaCroix again, seven years after the "Be My Valentine" flashbacks. Fleur often gets a bad rap in fandom, as a victim of that ep's clumsy use of romance tropes, but this story takes the best of that girl we met and grows her into a worthy woman indeed.

"Silkscreen" (Firefly) by llyfrgell is a lovely look, through Zoe's eyes, at Inara's arrival and the beginnings of her becoming part of the family of Serenity's crew.

"All Witches Go to Limbo (The Unbaptized Innocents Refrain)" (BtVS/Charmed crossover) by wisdomeagle. Tara and Prue cross paths in the afterlife. Delicate, poignant, and respectful of both universes' magic systems and relationships.

"Electric Vengeance" (Heroes) by larah33. A creepy and weirdly exhilarating ride into Elle's broken psyche. Gives her credit for more complexity than canon left room for (which most assuredly does not translate as reform or apologia).

"The Verse That Was" (Firefly) by spiletta42 is a nicely crafted caper with a believable key role for Inara, and great glimpses into everyone's character.

This is just poignant and poetic and stunningly beautiful. Part of the recent ficathon over at sarahjane_fic.

Gen, PG, 9400ish words.

Did I mention stunning?

Gakked from yahtzee63. As usual with these fic memes, I probably don't have enough output for it to work. But it would amuse me if people feel like it anyway. Plus this will help spread it around to more prolific buds, so I can be amused by the results they get. And amusement is good for taking one's mind of one's rather nasty cold.

The thing is, when people look for stories, they always make it sound like badfic. Now, often that's because it really is badfic, but sometimes it's good and they just suck at describing the story.

So, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to summarize badly any one (or more!) of my stories and I'll try to guess which it is. You could even pretend you don't remember the pairing or fandom to make it harder to guess.

It took me a couple readings to figure out that this means "look for stories" as in "try to pick others' brains in an attempt to locate something they read and liked once so they can read it again/rec it/etc." But that could just be the congestion.

Explorations of two of the more problematic couples in a canon peppered with them:

1. "Love's Labours" by amilyn (Othello, Iago/Emilia)

With the Yuletide reveal come and gone, I can publicly thank amilyn for the honor of betaing this intriguing look into just how those two came about. They are entirely their pragmatic, calculating and unromantic selves, and it makes total sense. (There be some smut here.)

She paid less attention than was her custom to the patrons around her until one of the men stopped her with one hand and grabbed her ass with the other. He licked his lips and asked, "When will your father offer you for hire, woman?"

Emilia pushed her hip into his shoulder, and smiled coyly as sack sloshed into his lap. "Never when you are asking, Master Carter," she retorted.

The other men at the table jeered loudly as she proceeded to the man whose blank stare was now on her. She leaned over the table as she set his meal down. "Your dinner, good sir."

2. "Best Men Are Molded Out of Faults" by a_t_rain (Measure for Measure, Mariana/Angelo)

Saw this recced on angevin2's LJ earlier today, and had to check it out. Mariana was my first role in a full Shakespeare production, and I'm oddly protective of her. My Mariana was determined that the second chance she gave Angelo would not be wasted. This is an Angelo who rises believably to that challenge. Don't miss the shifts in form of address; every one of them is telling.

"Well! Methinks I see a proper spirit of humility in you, like to that of your virtuous wife. I did well when I ordered the two of you married." The Duke leaned back in his chair and rubbed his hands together, and suddenly Mariana understood exactly why Isabella had refused the best match in Vienna.

"Pardon me, my lord, but you ordered me widowed, and him beheaded. I call that a strange sort of marriage."

"I feared, Mariana, that it would be a stranger marriage if he lived, but I am pleased to see it is not so." The Duke gave them both a searching look, and Mariana quickly reached for Angelo’s hand. As a gesture of affection, it was not entirely successful because Angelo did not seem to know what to do with hers, but it might have deceived the Duke by candlelight.

[xposted to horsechicks]

"Five Times Coreen Fennel Didn't Kiss Henry Fitzroy (And One Time She Did)". T, just over 10K words, Coreen & Henry friendship. [ETA: Spoilers through "Wrapped."]

And now, brain, you will turn your attention to Lizzie Siddal. Oh, yes, you will. :: is determined ::

Last seen with splash_the_cat. Baaaaaaaaaaah.

If you had me under your command and could make me write anything, regardless of whether or not I know the fandom or if anybody even writes fic in that fandom and no matter how crack-addled it might be, what would you love to see me write?

P.S.: I'm not actually going to write any of these (unless something strikes me), but I am curious.

OMGMICROSOFT. :: stabbitystabbitystabstabSTAB ::

That is all.

All I'm going to subject you to, that is, not all there is. %-} Suffice it to say that today was rather aggressively Monday.

On the upside, 10K-word fic is DONE as of last night, and just went off to betas. *bounce*

Last seen with taraljc:

What would you say are the trademarks of my writing? What themes or quirks or turns of phrase have you noticed? What is it that makes a story by me -- well, a story by me?

Assuming such can be determined for those of us not in the Dizzyingly Prolific category. *g*

[Gen, G, 882 words, no spoilers if you've seen the show at all. Just a stray thought. Thanks to amaka and butterflykiki for stepping up to the beta plate.]

( Henry takes inspiration where he finds it. )

We're about to find out my answer to that question. As of today, I'm working from home Tuesdays and Fridays. *bounce*

First thing I did, of course, was sleep until OMGSEVENFORTYFIVE. Yes, I'm a morning person, but 6:15 still comes awfully darn early, especially if I have a show or rehearsal the night before.

And it's actually more than that; four hours is just the drive time. There's also the whole showering-and-making-self-presentable thing that becomes entirely optional.

And already being in my house for lunch. Over which I can do things like watch the Army Wives season finale. (mylittleredgirl, I know I said my inner Air Force brat would have made me check it out anyway, but this is still ALL YOUR FAULT. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) Gotta say, I'm glad we know this puppy is renewed, frustrating as it is that it seems like it "cut in line" when we're still awaiting a verdict on Blood Ties. Because if this thing were over with that cliffhanger, I'd be after somebody's head.

Conclusion: Technology yay!

In other news, much to my surprise, some kind soul nominated "Still Waters" for the Stargate Fan Awards again. I thought I'd need to pull it, but apparently a piece is only ineligible if it's previously won, not just been nominated, so what the heck. I guess it makes sense to have the authors choose the categories themselves, considering how many they've accumulated over the years, but it kind of threw me for a loop. I wasn't sure whether to class it as a Sam or a team story -- I wouldn't say it's "equal focus," but it's not totally Sam-centric either. So I called it Sam, with team as the backup, and I'll let the crazy nice people running the thing figure it out.

I have 45 minutes of my lunch hour left, and am caught up on flist, Bravura, and pretty much anything that interests me. This presents the perfect opportunity to work on fic for the first time in, like, weeks.

You will notice I'm not doing so. Writing calls for focus, and my supply of that is pretty much tapped. I'm trying to dredge up a little, and the brain is going DO NOT WANT.

I am therefore aimlessly wandering the web and reading such random gems as this appropriately freeform account of Warren Ellis' panel at SDCC. It amuses me that not only don't I really miss reading comics regularly (which gets truer every time I hear something about characters I used to know that makes me go O.o , such as, say, Scott Summers knocking boots with Emma bloody Frost, and yes, I know it's old news, and no, I'm not going to get over it any time soon), I don't even have to miss all the entertaining crazy from both the people who read them and the people who write them.

Ellis isn't quite as weird as, say, Grant Morrison, but neither does he give quite so strong an impression of cultivating the persona...

Via metafandom: author_by_night has started what's shaping up to be an interesting discussion about the prevalence of romance and smut in fanfic. I don't know yet if I'll formulate anything worth contributing, but it's a springboard to another topic that I should really get around to ranting about properly one of these days.

Because I'd actually take the question a step further, and note that not just fic but discussion has become increasingly, and to my mind maddeningly, pairing-centric over the last several years. Part of the reason I stick to those "little corners of fandom" of mine is that they're the places I've found where I can have any kind of conversation that's not dominated entirely by who should be shagging whom. Because OMGSICKTODEATHOFIT.

By no means do I have anything against either romance or sex in fiction. I even like the occasional piece that centers on it. I mean, hello, opera singer! But to my mind, something has gone seriously wonky with the proportions in fandom.

This isn't the rant yet. Mostly I just wanted to point out the cool discussion happening. And promise the rant. :-)

In reading through Dr. Jenkins' post of the results of the interview with FanLib's Chris Williams and the comments on it, I'm feeling pretty well confirmed in the conclusion I reached the other day: Whether the FanLib people themselves realize it or not, this venture just plain isn't aimed at the fannish community I know.

( You'll note that I didn't say 'the fannish community,' full stop. There's a reason for that. )

I keep trying to come up with a conclusion to tie this post together. I think maybe I won't have one until all the FanLib stuff finishes shaking out. While it does, I'll be over here, doing my thing the way I've always done. I rather doubt anyone will miss me.

First, let me say that you may now all pelt me with fruit for being exceptionally late to the party in figuring out that the flurry of Ye Olde Fanficke Debayte pinging its way around the Web the last few days isn't solely as a result of Cory Doctorow's Locus article. Because only this afternoon did I put together that something high-profile occurred over the weekend with the curious entity known as FanLib. I'm not clear exactly what; it may merely be that the rumblings in the undergrowth, of which I've been peripherally aware for a few months now, finally hit critical mass. Or maybe it just actually went live or something.

The reason I don't know is that I have, quite frankly, been happily ignoring it. ( Dude. This post was going to be short, I swear! )

Specifically (former) Toronto-area folks (IIRC, that's at least one of my flist)?

The piece of living room furniture designed for three or more people to sit on: Couch, sofa, or other? I think I may have confirmed this with someone back in the crazy days of FK fandom, but I'm blanking on whether I did or just wrote what I thought.

Curiosity about the sponsored links that come up in my Gmail is going to kill me, I swear.

This is just not to be believed:

http://www.fanfictionlibrary.org/

'Cause, y'know, we don't already have LOADS of those. That don't require "surveys" (no, I didn't click through to see what it looks like).

This part kills me (on the "100% Free Service" linked page):

JOIN OUR SITE TODAY FOR FREE! Our Members' Area contains links to Fan Fiction databases and resources that have have many of the same Fan Fiction works that you'll find on the other Fan Fiction sites, but instead of paying $19.99, $29.99, or $39.99+ to join our site, you can join our site 100% free and get unlimited access to our Members' Area containing the very best in Fan Fiction resources and databases. In our Members' Area we list links to sites where you can get Fan Fiction for free as well as fee-based Fan Fiction sources and sites. How can we afford to do this? Simple, we are sponsored by a major advertiser!

W? T? F??????

I mean, it's obviously boilerplate verbiage from some kind of shoddy turnkey program. (Is this what happens when people answer those "Work from Home!!!" ads?) Which I presume some poor sap has paid to sign up for. They certainly paid for the Google sponsored link!

Dude. If you don't know enough to know that there is more fic out there for the tripping over than anyone could ever possibly read, and that NOBODY IN THE HISTORY OF EVER has paid for the privilege of reading it online? You most certainly don't know a single blessed thing about "the very best Fan Fiction resources and databases."

Which means nobody is going to use your "service". Ever.

This shouldn't be anything but sad and pathetic and forgettable, but I'm going to be boggling about it all damn day...

After 2 1/2 years of fits and starts and stuff getting in the way, "Still Waters" (a/k/a "Ten People In Seven Bodies Cooped Up In A Crippled Teltac Between Netu And Vorash", a/k/a one of Val's two longstanding SG-1 WIPs that plague and mock her) is DONE!!! and off to the betas.

:: Happy Dance of the Finished Fic ::

Now here's hoping people actually like it after hearing about it for so frelling long...