More meme sheep! Gacked from Fahye again.

[tammaiya]

I was going to talk about RL a bit in this entry, but it has already been taking me forever, so I can talk about job interviews and theses and KH some other time. For now, have a meme! ... I am sure it is surprising to no one that all these memes coincide with the thesis research I ought to be doing.

Post, in your journal, a rec list singling out the best of your own fics. Tell people why you are especially proud of those particular fics, and of course provide links to them. Yes, that's right, this step involves self-promotion. How else are people supposed to find your fics? List as many or as few as you feel appropriate to represent your body of writing.

Also include a paragraph about the types of fics you most enjoy reading or are most interested in reading in the immediate future -- favorite tropes, pairings, fandoms, whatever. If you're particularly lazy, link to that Dear Writer post you did for whatever holiday exchange comes to mind.

Reply to other rec posts (like for example the one you are reading now) by reccing a fic of your own that might fit the original poster's tastes, or that you'd just really like them to read, because maybe they don't know they'd like it.

Okay, choosing these was a bit hard because I obviously remember fics I've written recently particularly well, and with the ones I like it can be hard for me to separate simply liking them from honestly loving them. So most of these are older ones that have stood the test of time and still stand out in my as being my better work. Being able to remember them without having to go back and reread through my backposts is an important criteria. XD Also, they tend to be longer, because they're the ones that the most time and effort goes into and that really leave a lasting impression on me. There is also a lot of Seishirou/Subaru fics, proportionately speaking; I thought of trying to scale that back, but then I thought, well, out of 278 posts, 84 are tagged with X/TB (... SERIOUSLY, me?) and so that is only representative. It makes sense that a lot of my best writing is X. XD; That doesn't explain why there are 2 KH fics and no MoB fics here, but uh, anyway. On with the meme! 

Domine Sancte: Tokyo Babylon AU wherein Seishirou is a Catholic priest and Subaru is a choirboy. One of the most fucked up things I've ever written - and that's why I'm so proud of it. The most disturbed parts of this fic are the parts I'm most pleased with. That Scene (and if you've read it, you'll know what I'm talking about) is my favourite one. And it certainly achieved the impact I was going for.

All That Glitters: Boyband!X. Oh, like this wasn't going to be on here. Even if it's still unfinished - although it's nearing the climax. It's far from perfect, especially the earlier parts, and one day will need to be cleaned up a lot. It's also a little bit ridiculous and soap-operatic, assisted both by the concept and song choices like Brittany Spears in blatant ignoring of the whole "Japan" thing. Or the other people wrote and performed these songs thing. *cough* It is the most epic fanfic I have ever written - although Card Captor Kotori and the Starless City Series might outstrip it if ever finished - and so much planning has gone into it. It's the worldbuilding that really stands out as a point of pride to me in this fic - I feel I did a good job in translating the canon of Tokyo Babylon and X into the non-supernatural music industry world of the story. I'm also pretty happy with how I managed to balance such a huge cast.

Card Captor Kotori: Despite being not even REMOTELY close to finished, or the fact that I haven't worked on it in like 3 years, I actually really love this fic. I love it for the world-building and epic planning, despite that most of it is still in my head. I love it for the action scenes and the description. I love it for the Tree, for the character casting, for how I managed to splice X into the setting of Card Captor Sakura. I love it for the completely ridiculous concept that still somehow works, somehow. I love it for the fact it is all basically one big excuse to have domestic Seishirou and Subaru being stupid and in love and raising Kamui, Fuuma and Kotori, and yet still have Seishirou being an emotionally retarded moron. And one of the things I actually love most about it is that Kotori is the main character.

Possession: A sequel to Broken Open, but this is the one I really love. Known in my head as the creepy Stolkholm syndrome fic. XD; Not to mention "that fic which made me listen to Wild on repeat for like three days". (If you think I'm exaggerating, I'm really, really not. I listened to that one song on repeat EVERY HOUR I WORKED ON THAT FIC.) I love it for the creepy tension, and for the whole Stolkholm Syndrome-ness of it, and for Seishirou being a creepy sociopath. I love the description in the scene where Subaru is in the bathroom staring at the mirror. Also, it's a triumph of constructive criticism. The first ending didn't work, it broke the mood, but choffman's comment helped me fix it.

According to Plan: Seishirou/Subaru again, I know. But given how many SxS fics I wrote, it makes sense that so many of them are represented here. And this one has always stuck with me, just because it was such a bizarre and difficult to write - ghost sex, seriously, what the fuck? Proper mostly incorporeal ghost sex, even. I kind of flailed my way through it wondering how I was going to pull it off, if it was even possible to make it not entirely ridiculous, and yet, I'm really happy with how it turned out. It was also a really good couple to try it with, too. That's the other reason I love this fic; I felt like I really got inside Seishirou's head, his warped perspective, the bittersweet status quo they settle into that wouldn't work with a couple less messed up than Seishirou and Subaru. For creativity and character psychology, definitely one of my better works.

Karma: Yet another SxS AU, although the idea I had in mind was more previous incarnation than a complete AU - hence the title. I really like this one because I had a really limited amount of time to do historical research about the Heian era and write it; it was a Christmas fic, I ended up writing 9,000 words in less than 2 days with no sleep on about the 23rd of December or something ridiculous like that, and though I'd been thinking about it and planning it before then, I was still really impressed that I managed to pull it off, that I was actually happy with the end result. I also really like it because of the character dynamics, the description in the climatic scene, and just the climax scene in general. It went somewhere I don't generally go; in fact I think I've only done it in one other fic, and I did it much more brutally here. (Watch me be vague. I don't want to spoil just in case someone reading this list would be interested in reading the fic, though.)

take it (slow): I tossed up whether or not to include this, because really I have another (WiP) Kamen Rider Kabuto fic I like better. In the end though, I decided it did make the grade, mostly because of the scene in the guest room. I was really happy with the description in that bit. Also, Kagami floundering with Tendou's essential Tendou-ness and the fun of creating the character of Tendou's grandmother.

Charm: An FMA (original anime) fic, another one I tossed up on. It's actually one of my more popular fics, and also one of my medium-length ones, needing to be split over two posts. I certainly would never forget it, so it meets that criteria. Possibly the iffy-ness was due to the fact it's sheer humour, and the fics I am most proud of in terms of writing achievement tend to be the more serious ones. This one, on the other hand, is endless hijinks, with nary a serious psychological issue in sight. On the other hand, I think it's one of the funniest things I've written, and I think the comedic timing works pretty well. Plus... Hughes. Honestly, I think Hughes is probably the main reason this made the list. XD;

(Hold Me Down) This Starless City: This is probably the fic I'm most proud of, despite it not being terribly popular. Hell, I wouldn't have read it myself until the third part with the actual shipping (still a long way off, sorry) came out. It's Star Trek gen - not only that, it's epically long, and there's only one main cast member involved because it's set through Jim's childhood, before he enters the Academy. But I really love it, because I think it has some of my best descriptive writing, I was really happy with the planning and progression and the way Jim's POV ages with him throughout his childhood, and I actually grew really attached to Sam and Winona, who were as good as OCs aside from the name and relationship to Jim. As a character in terms of writing, I was even pretty happy with Frank, because I felt he performed his role in the story without being too cardboard villain, or taking too much focus. It was a hard story to write, because in a lot of ways it didn't pull its punches and it was a sensitive topic and parts of it were also tough because I overidentified with Jim (not in the way you might be thinking), but I think that's a lot of the reason I'm so proud of it. Anyway.

Distortion: For some reason I have a real fondness for the more fucked up ideas I have. I haven't written a lot of them because I don't get around to it, but they're the ones that tend to stick in my mind, even when I don't actually ship the pairing. Like this fic, which is Claudius/Hamlet, of all things. I like it because it's screwed up, because I am a total nerd and it's SHAKESPEARE FIC, and because I thought it was an interesting concept to play with, as an English nerd/writer. Also, the climax is not exactly unpredictable, but I like to think that's because Hamlet's character is predictable and that I still achieved the impact I was going for.

Magical Maladies and Other Mysteries: I've written three House fics, two of which (including this one) being crossovers, and I actually really like all three, because the House cast is just super fun to write. Of the three, though, this one is the one that sticks out most in my mind, possibly because it's the longest and it's more serious, but I'm also really pleased with how I integrated Song of the Lioness - magical, otherworld fantasy - with House of all things. I hadn't read the books in a while and Thom's characterisation is kind of fanonish, I will admit. But I like fanon Thom, so sue me. Plus the title is pleasantly alliterative, and has "malady" in it, which is an awesome word.

Photo Negative: Kingdom Hearts crossed with Gundam Wing, based on a (COMPLETELY INCORRECT, as it so turned out) idea I had that Nobodies mirrored some particular aspect of their Somebody, and the fact that Larxene is an anagram of Relena + X. This has been jossed hardcore, not just because it's a crossover with Gundam Wing, but also because as it turns out most non-Roxas or Namine Nobodies are basically the same as their Somebodies, and there's a whole lot of contradictory backstory that came out after KH2. Like Roxas's entire personality. But I am still really proud of this fic, because I thought it was an awesome idea and I had fun drawing all the comparisons.

Binary: Kingdom Hearts again, and again, jossed SO hard. Everything I've ever written about Nobodies has been jossed to hell and back. But even if it's totally contradictory with canon - how long Roxas was in the sim, how he got there, his entire personality, seriously, everything that wasn't directly obvious from KH2 - I still really like it, because I felt like I really achieved what I was going for with the progression of Roxas forgetting his real memories and being assimilated into the sim, and I felt the ending worked well. Also, I actually think the title is kind of clever, for once. XD;

And done! Ironically, a lot of my favourite writing I've done is still in the form of WiPs, which is like... what's with that? If I love them, shouldn't I go finish them instead of leaving them sitting on my harddrive for years? Do I love them because they're unfinished? Are they, perversely, unfinished because I love them? Mysteries.

Now, as for fic recs, have at! Things to note are that I am in fact a hypocrite, and despite that these are my favourite fics I've written, I wouldn't necessarily read them. I'm not big on gen, or depressing endings, or things that aren't my preferred pairing, or crossovers a lot of the time, although I can be sold on all of these things if you really convince me I want to read it. I like well-planned epic first-time fic. (I prefer first-time to established pairing or pre-pairing, because pre-pairing where they never get together (in a sequel, at least) is frustrating and established pairing always makes me wonder how they got there unless it happened in canon, it's a sequel fic or there are flashbacks.) I like humour and drama; combined, all the better. Character angst or issues that get dealt with and aren't overly melodramatic is one of my favourite things. As a writer and as an audience, I am fascinated by character psychology. On the other hand, I am not a fan of zombie apocalypses or dystopia. Even if written well, just not my thing. Obviously it's easier to sell me on a fic in a fandom I'm already in, but I have been known to branch out to totally unknown fandoms before with surprisingly positive results if it's good writing, so, you know, whatever.

This icon is strangely appropriate for this post, I think.

Comments

[kurushi.livejournal.com]

Here's where I hang my geeky head in shame and admit that I don't know what "jossed" means. My brain jumps to joss houses and Asians on the goldfields, but I'm assuming this has more to do with Mr. Whedon?

I'm tempted to do this meme myself now, so I don't want to link to my own fics here and end up repeating myself. But I did want to link to some that my pet human, Yasuhei, who has come up with a couple of pretty rad things. They're at ff dot net.

"Recycling" - Any summary I give to this risks spoiling the ending, but it's short. URL: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3848271/1/Recycling

You'll probably like this next one more. "Harry Potter and the Royal Mint" - He summarises it with "Student discipline, true love, time travel, and the life of small ubiquitous objects. A little AU, and not too sensible." URL:http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5766648/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Royal_Mint

Let me know here or on gmail chat what you think of them? I hope you enjoy them!

[tammaiya.livejournal.com]

Jossed is indeed taken from Mr Whedon and his habit of coming up with new canon (in Buffy, though I'm sure he's done it in subsequent series too) that completely blows out of the water popular fanon. So you've been jossed when you write something, and then new canon comes out and COMPLETELY CONTRADICTS YOU. Noooooo!

I will definitely check them out, thanks for recs. :)

[kurushi.livejournal.com]

Ahh, gotcha! It's like retconning, but in a "take that, fangirls and bois!" way. Well, retconning was already a bit like that. But I understand the line between canon and fanon timelines. Thanks for that :)