A few Yuletide recs
Dec. 28th, 2017 01:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynI got out of the habit of reccing things but I'm trying to be better about that this year. Man, I'm so glad I wrote that treat, because otherwise this'd be another depressing year of feeling like an abject failure of YT writing; my main fic's currently the least read in the fandom and everything else has more than twice the responses. I think the recipient liked it. Though, nothing could compare to last year, with having a rec withdrawn and accidentally running across it being savaged by multiple people in an anon hate meme. So, I guess I count it as a win?
the sky in all its zones, The English Patient-Michael Ondaatje, is a look at different times of Hana's life, and it sounds so amazingly like Ondaatje's writing that you almost feel like you're reading a series of lost notes.
A Million Things to Be, Gifted -- Bonnie's unplanned pregnancy and how it affects Frank and Mary and her relationships with them. Lovely slices of their lives.
Dog Years, Big Eden -- Frances the dog frames this look at various stages of Pike and Henry's relationship, and it's so charming and sweet and feels so true to the movie. I might be a sucker for dog stories, but this would have won me over even if I weren't.
All That Glitters, The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond -- So, I imagine that very, very few people have seen this unbelievably overripe piece of cheese of a movie from Tennessee Williams's long-ignored script, starring Chris Evans and Bryce Dallas Howard. (It's free on Amazon, I think, if you want to watch it: have drinks and the remote handy, because you'll want to get plastered and pause at frequent intervals to laugh.)minim_calibre and I watched it one night and we absolutely howled the whole way through; it's truly peak Tennessee Williams, if you ask me, and min requested it for Yuletide, and someone actually delivered. Amazingly so: this sounds like it was taken straight out of the film, the voice is incredible and the over the topness is perfection. If you have ever enjoyed Williams you could probably still get something out of this fic, but I suggest watching and then reading immediately for maximum enjoyment. (Also, this is just so damn well written, and it made my fiction editor heart very, very happy.)
Confidence Man, What's Your Number?, gives a glimpse into Colin's feelings about Ally and her family and their love. Very sweet. (I'm still kind of amazed at the good fic this movie produces each year.)
A Little Rain, Gifted, is 13k of glorious Frank angst as he deals with Evelyn after the movie, and tries to navigate his history with her, Mary's feelings in the wake of the movie, and his relationship with Bonnie.
More to come as I get to some of the fandoms I've been saving, including The Good Place--I hear there's Mindy fic!!
the sky in all its zones, The English Patient-Michael Ondaatje, is a look at different times of Hana's life, and it sounds so amazingly like Ondaatje's writing that you almost feel like you're reading a series of lost notes.
A Million Things to Be, Gifted -- Bonnie's unplanned pregnancy and how it affects Frank and Mary and her relationships with them. Lovely slices of their lives.
Dog Years, Big Eden -- Frances the dog frames this look at various stages of Pike and Henry's relationship, and it's so charming and sweet and feels so true to the movie. I might be a sucker for dog stories, but this would have won me over even if I weren't.
All That Glitters, The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond -- So, I imagine that very, very few people have seen this unbelievably overripe piece of cheese of a movie from Tennessee Williams's long-ignored script, starring Chris Evans and Bryce Dallas Howard. (It's free on Amazon, I think, if you want to watch it: have drinks and the remote handy, because you'll want to get plastered and pause at frequent intervals to laugh.)
minim_calibre and I watched it one night and we absolutely howled the whole way through; it's truly peak Tennessee Williams, if you ask me, and min requested it for Yuletide, and someone actually delivered. Amazingly so: this sounds like it was taken straight out of the film, the voice is incredible and the over the topness is perfection. If you have ever enjoyed Williams you could probably still get something out of this fic, but I suggest watching and then reading immediately for maximum enjoyment. (Also, this is just so damn well written, and it made my fiction editor heart very, very happy.)Confidence Man, What's Your Number?, gives a glimpse into Colin's feelings about Ally and her family and their love. Very sweet. (I'm still kind of amazed at the good fic this movie produces each year.)
A Little Rain, Gifted, is 13k of glorious Frank angst as he deals with Evelyn after the movie, and tries to navigate his history with her, Mary's feelings in the wake of the movie, and his relationship with Bonnie.
More to come as I get to some of the fandoms I've been saving, including The Good Place--I hear there's Mindy fic!!
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Date: 2017-12-29 12:10 pm (UTC)I loved that Big Eden story too. There are fandoms that I feel like I can count on every year for good YT fic -- I don't seek them out otherwise, but at Yuletide time I always look for Big Eden and Calvin & Hobbes and The Breakfast Club, and it feels like those always reward me with something good.
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Date: 2018-01-02 05:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-29 04:28 pm (UTC)Yes, there's at least one Mindy fic!
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Date: 2018-01-02 05:33 am (UTC)By the way, I assume you've seen that you were correct about which fic was mine. :-D I was amused you spotted it so quickly.
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Date: 2018-01-03 03:00 am (UTC)Unfortunately, I haven't watched Gifted or Logan yet (but soon, I hope!), so I am not qualified to leave a comment :) By the way, I am #171 on the waitlist for Gifted at the local library, so this movie is doing great in rentals.
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Date: 2017-12-30 08:10 am (UTC)I felt a lot better about my writing the last time I did Yuletide a couple of years ago, tho. My recips this year really liked their treats and wrote lovely comments, but I haven't been on any recs lists (like ANY) and I'm slipping dooowwwn the page. The two big fics in my fandom are basically "X does Yuletide" and "X is crossed over with 5 megafandoms" which make me go a little >:-( They're not bad fics at all, they just seem....very exchange-y? Which, duh Moi, it's an exchange, but given the really crap responses my fics got in exchanges last year, maybe I'm just not a good fit with exchanges. Which is a shame because I enjoy the camaraderie and excitement and everyone making comments and recs and guessing, but the anxiety and slump I get from everyone comparing stats kind of doesn't seem worth it.
Maybe it's just me but there seem to be a lot less recs and commenting this year -- even down from the last time I participated, several years ago. I should talk because I'm not making any recs posts (I have the flu, plus family dramaramatrauma) but I am trying to leave comments! Even if it's just "this fic was amazeballs I loved X thank you for writing it." And I was adding bookmarks to the Yuletide comm, until I realized 1) the Tumblr feed hasn't been updated in 2 years 2) they work it so EVERY REC gets a different bookmark, rather than "this fic has been recced by X, Y and Z." I guess that's so everyone's bookmarks stay individual, but oh well.
tl;dr //whiiiiiiiiiine whine whine
no subject
Date: 2018-01-02 05:39 am (UTC)Well, even if the tumblr feed hasn't been updated, people still look at the yuletide bookmarks, I've seen. I can't imagine how it would go, though, if bookmarks were aggregated, since it's a user's specific recs bookmark?
I participate in it for a couple reasons, one of which is that I have no one so it's the only gift I'm gonna get, but I've always liked giving gifts so it's important for me for that. But some years it's pretty goddamn discouraging.
no subject
Date: 2018-01-02 06:03 am (UTC)I REALLY wish they would fix the tumblr feed. (And AO3 feeds in general.) I left a comment on the admin comm about it, but nobody answered.
I participate in it for a couple reasons, one of which is that I have no one so it's the only gift I'm gonna get, but I've always liked giving gifts so it's important for me for that. But some years it's pretty goddamn discouraging.
Yeah, the last time I participated it got me back into writing and a lot of people liked my fic and I was able to go on with it, and I was writing for a dear friend and it was all just shiny. This year the writing went OK, or so I thought (do I just totally suck at writing summaries, titles, opening paragraphs....?) but I felt pretty outside the main community. I didn't know a lot of the fandoms, and the top fics didn't click with me. I figure I should just lower my expectations and focus on what I'm familiar with, only when I participated in Yuletide originally back in the Cretaceous Period it was with a bunch of friends and we all had a blast. So it kind of feels like yet another virtual community I lost.
Anyway I don't mean to just go on and on in your space -- this year just felt so weird?