Surely you jest
Mar. 8th, 2007 09:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynI wasn't going to do this, but when you're tagged, you're tagged. The thing is, I'm not good at self pimpage for one, and I have no idea how I could pick just five things out of the gajillion words I've written since I got into media fandom. Maybe I'll just try to pick one for each fandom or something...
Post a list of your top five favorite fics you've written, regardless of fandom or the reason you love them. This isn't about the BEST things you've written, but what you LOVE most. Then tag five other people to do the same.
All of these are at my site http://www.drizzle.com/~gwyneth and if I'm not too swamped tomorrow I could try to put direct links.
1. Mercy Street (Spike and Dana, Angel S5). I don't know why I'd pick this instead of all the Spike & Buffy I wrote for so long, but this one was kind of special to me and for me. There was something about trying to get into Dana's head, to look at things like someone who's had a psychotic break might, that really fascinated me, and I think I did a pretty good job with it. And I just love writing Spike, anyway, but I really liked trying to move him into a different world, mold him in the different shape he took in S5. And also, I loved the dialog, I think it's some of the best I've ever written.
2. Ciudad de Estrellas. (Fast and the Furious) In a lot of ways I actually love On Beds of Sorrow more, but since it's a death story, it has a lot of angst around it -- that people won't read it, etc., and so talking about it gives me agita. I really loved writing this up until the last chapter, when I had to take a hiatus because my sister was nearing the end. It made it very hard to come back to, but I felt like despite that break and the change in my personality, it's seamless. At least, I hope so. And I just loved the story. I really could have kept that going forever but it would ruin the fun of the tale.
3. Cold Enough to Snow. (Chris and Vin, Magnificent Seven) This one kind of has a life of its own and has become separate from me in some ways. It's the piece of fan writing I've received the most feedback on, had artists tell me they wanted to paint something from it, and even received a couple letters from pro writers and an agent about it. People who would never give Mag 7 the time of day read it. I have no idea why it's become so meaningful to so many people, but I am very glad it is, because I love it maybe above everything else I've done. And I can't tell you why, either. It just... there's very little I'd change now, and I never stop wanting to nitpick my stories. I love the open endedness of it. It's just... really something close to my heart, I guess.
4. Strange Weather. (Mulder/Skinner, X-Files) I think this is probably the story most people who read my X-Files fic remember, this and Surrender Dorothy, which was another one of those stories that transcended the fandom and was read by a lot of people who normally wouldn't look at that. I never really got what people saw in it, and man, would I love to rewrite this and take all the purpley crap out, but I just loved writing it. I was so totally consumed by writing it at the time, and so deeply in the throes of XF fandom. I had been to Washington, D.C. a lot around the time I started it, so I knew the city insanely well and it was just so great to be able to write all those details about the place, throw in all my weird espionage/military-black-ops-buff trivia shit... it was just a ball to write, basically.
5. These Things Do Not Remember You . (The Professionals) People have always told me that it was clear I knew a lot about grief because of this story, but the weird thing is, I wrote this before my mom died and my sister died. I had lost a lot of people in my life, pretty tragically, but no one that close to me before. Somehow it just felt like something I innately understood, and it was very cathartic reading it again many years later. I love that the people who will give a character-death story a chance always tell me they felt it was worth it. There's so much else to the story, and I feel it's the closest I came to portraying Bodie and Doyle as they really were.
Post a list of your top five favorite fics you've written, regardless of fandom or the reason you love them. This isn't about the BEST things you've written, but what you LOVE most. Then tag five other people to do the same.
All of these are at my site http://www.drizzle.com/~gwyneth and if I'm not too swamped tomorrow I could try to put direct links.
1. Mercy Street (Spike and Dana, Angel S5). I don't know why I'd pick this instead of all the Spike & Buffy I wrote for so long, but this one was kind of special to me and for me. There was something about trying to get into Dana's head, to look at things like someone who's had a psychotic break might, that really fascinated me, and I think I did a pretty good job with it. And I just love writing Spike, anyway, but I really liked trying to move him into a different world, mold him in the different shape he took in S5. And also, I loved the dialog, I think it's some of the best I've ever written.
2. Ciudad de Estrellas. (Fast and the Furious) In a lot of ways I actually love On Beds of Sorrow more, but since it's a death story, it has a lot of angst around it -- that people won't read it, etc., and so talking about it gives me agita. I really loved writing this up until the last chapter, when I had to take a hiatus because my sister was nearing the end. It made it very hard to come back to, but I felt like despite that break and the change in my personality, it's seamless. At least, I hope so. And I just loved the story. I really could have kept that going forever but it would ruin the fun of the tale.
3. Cold Enough to Snow. (Chris and Vin, Magnificent Seven) This one kind of has a life of its own and has become separate from me in some ways. It's the piece of fan writing I've received the most feedback on, had artists tell me they wanted to paint something from it, and even received a couple letters from pro writers and an agent about it. People who would never give Mag 7 the time of day read it. I have no idea why it's become so meaningful to so many people, but I am very glad it is, because I love it maybe above everything else I've done. And I can't tell you why, either. It just... there's very little I'd change now, and I never stop wanting to nitpick my stories. I love the open endedness of it. It's just... really something close to my heart, I guess.
4. Strange Weather. (Mulder/Skinner, X-Files) I think this is probably the story most people who read my X-Files fic remember, this and Surrender Dorothy, which was another one of those stories that transcended the fandom and was read by a lot of people who normally wouldn't look at that. I never really got what people saw in it, and man, would I love to rewrite this and take all the purpley crap out, but I just loved writing it. I was so totally consumed by writing it at the time, and so deeply in the throes of XF fandom. I had been to Washington, D.C. a lot around the time I started it, so I knew the city insanely well and it was just so great to be able to write all those details about the place, throw in all my weird espionage/military-black-ops-buff trivia shit... it was just a ball to write, basically.
5. These Things Do Not Remember You . (The Professionals) People have always told me that it was clear I knew a lot about grief because of this story, but the weird thing is, I wrote this before my mom died and my sister died. I had lost a lot of people in my life, pretty tragically, but no one that close to me before. Somehow it just felt like something I innately understood, and it was very cathartic reading it again many years later. I love that the people who will give a character-death story a chance always tell me they felt it was worth it. There's so much else to the story, and I feel it's the closest I came to portraying Bodie and Doyle as they really were.
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-09 05:59 pm (UTC)however, for some reason I didn't associate you with either Strange Weather or These Things Do Not Remember You - both of which are *excellent* stories that I still remember fondly. (also Surrender Dorothy, which again I didn't associate with you). it's way belated, but thank you for writing stuff that sticks with you for years
no subject
Date: 2007-03-19 12:27 am (UTC)I've added you to my friends list so you can see the both posts with 'feedback' in case you're interested - one is public but the other one is a locked post. :)
First post (http://koalathebear.livejournal.com/797560.html)
Second post (http://koalathebear.livejournal.com/798342.html).
No obligation to read I just wanted to let you see if you wanted to. Also there's no obligation to add me back, it's just that there's not really a way to give people 'temporary' or selective access to friends posts.
Thanks so much writing Mercy Street - it really described what I needed and wanted to read after seeing that episode.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-26 04:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-16 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-17 03:25 am (UTC)