Posts by tag: Writerly thoughts

First lines meme

Amended, originally from [info]juno_magic

Post the first line from your 25 most recent fanfics and try to find a pattern.

I’m changing this somewhat, since I fear my 25 most recent fics are just about all set in the Supernatural ‘verse, so there’s your pattern right there. Kinda boring. However, since this is my tenth year of writing fanfic (if I didn’t miscalculate), I’ll pick two stories from each year, and give you first lines for that. And because last lines are as telling as first, I’ll give you those as well.

From 1999:

– “The first thing I noticed, was the sound they made.”
– “I wanted to know who she really was. I tried to ask.“Who… are…””

Read story.

– “He jerked awake with a start.”
– ““I’m sorry, Adair,” he said softly and stared off over her shoulder. Only the sun witnessed the cold grin of satisfaction that played around his lips…”

Read story.

From 2000:

– “Nervously Devon smoothed the wide, bulky skirts of her dress. The fabric was soft and velvety beneath her hands.”
– “Thank God, she thought and shuddered. Beside her, Uly shifted restlessly on his cot but didn’t wake.”

Read story.

– “One by one his brothers had died.”
– “They were never seen again.”

Read story.

From 2001:

– “Phoebe’s eyes flashed with indignation. She placed her hands on her hips and gave Cole a look that would have withered the Source himself.”
– “They would find a way. They always did.”

Read story.

– “John slid into his seat beside Sam as quietly as he could. He was late.”
– “Overhead, the clouds parted and tiny stars twinkled.”

Read story.

From 2002:

– “The door closed behind him with a soft click. Alec stood motionless for a long moment.”
– “Slouched deep within his jacket to hide from the rain, Alec began to walk in the direction of Terminal City.”

Read story.

– “Poof! The vampire exploded in a satisfactory cloud of dust. Spike straightened and wiped the particles from his fingers.”
– “She turned off the light and climbed beneath the covers. Just another day on the Hellmouth.”

Read story.

From 2003:

– “Brennan rolled onto his side, kicking his legs at the sheet, which tangled around his feet and refused to let go.”
– “Adam made a mental note to talk to Emma later, though. But that was before he found out that Gabriel Ashlocke had been set free and urgent matters demanded the team’s attention.”

Read story.

– ““Why didn’t you ask her the other question?””
– ““Right. The other question…” He gulped, lifted his head and met her gaze head-on. “Billie, really… Wilhelmina?””

Read story.

From 2004:

– “An ill wind blew from the north, across the plains of Rohan. Upon its cold wings, it carried the scent of snow from the Misty Mountains.”
– “After all, she was the Lady of Rohan, and she would do her duty, whether it offered renown or no.”

Read story.

– “Strong hands held him down.”
– “The dream would continue to haunt him. The dream that was real.”

Read story.

From 2005:

– “Lindsey tried not to cringe when the performer on the stage struck another false chord.”
– “Lindsey shook the proffered hand, unwittingly signing away his very soul with the gesture. By the time he found out, it was too late.”

Read story.

– “”I ask only for the strength to defend my people!” All he desired was to protect Gondor, why did Frodo refuse to understand that?”
– “Alone in eternal darkness, Boromir hearkened the world false pride had wrought.”

Read story.

From 2006:

– “Alec sauntered into command. Up on the landing, Luke and an X4 named Brent were manning the screens, watching the numerous newscasts for anything that might involve transgenics and monitoring the Sector Police channels.”
– “Perhaps, if the truth, the whole truth, about Manticore came out, they could convince the American people that the transgenics weren’t the enemy after all. They just might win enough hearts and minds, one sheriff at the time, to have a chance at life.”

Read story.

– “Not married in the traditional sense—what the hell was that supposed to mean?”
– “Yet, even as she walked to the door to tell Katie she was ready to see her next patient, a tiny voice continued to murmur in the back of her mind: Michael doesn’t belong here.”

Read story.

From 2007:

– “Boromir reined in his horse and poured some water from his water skin onto a kerchief. He wiped the sodden cloth across his brow but it did little to cool his skin.”
– “Boromir grinned. “Lead the way, lieutenant.””

Read story.

– ““I swear, Sam, there’s some evil creature hiding in that basement.””
– “And sometimes, normal was really easy.”

Read story.

From 2008:

– “The first time it happened, Sam didn’t think much of it—other than to worry there was something really, really wrong with his head.”
– “He leaned his head against the seat, closing his eyes against the cool wind that streamed in through the window, and drifted off to sleep…”

Read story.

– “As John strode away, he heard Ronon break the heavy silence he left in his wake with a soft “Congratulations”.”
– “But he’d be damned if he’d change his mind. There was no way he’d let Teyla or her unborn child come to harm under his command.”

Read story.

Whew! That was quite a lot of fic to go through. I picked the stories rather randomly, but did try to cram in as many of my fandoms as I could. Can you guess them all?

Remix, anyone?

So, did anyone else read the preview of the next Supernatural tie-in novel Bone Key written by Keith DeCandido (who also wrote the first tie-in, Nevermore).*

If you did read it, did you manage to make it past the first few paragraphs? All the way to where he again fucks up Dean’s eye color (not that the color of Dean’s eye has any relevance at that point to begin with…)?

I didn’t… Zzzzz…

And I’m not sure if I feel sorry for myself, because I’d like nothing more than a big, juicy, ‘real’ novel in the Supernatural world to read, or for Mr. DeCandido, who gets outshone as an author by a really large part of the Supernatural fandom fic authors.

I can forgive him for having those rather big chunks of exposition, because, after all, the intended audience of tie-in novels are not the fans but Jane Q Public who outnumbers us big time. I cannot forgive the terrible pacing (yawn…) or the dialog that reads like he consulted a “How To Write Modern American Vernacular” instead of how real people speak. That’s just plain bad writing.

So, I’m inclined to feel more sorry for myself. After all, DeCandido has gotten paid for his… work.

I’m half-wanting to call a “Remix the novel”-challenge. And keep hoping someone will MST it, or spork it to pieces. Because, really, we can do better than that, can’t we?

* With thanks to [info]ficwriter1966 who first alerted me to it.

ETA: I love fandom…! [info]tanaquisga took up my challenge and condensed the preview into a 100 word drabble.

The Pr0n Meme

[info]telperion1 recently posted a meme: the Hot Pr0n Meme.

Rules: Post the hottest sex scene you’ve ever written. Yes! It’s that easy! Flood the flist with porn! Yay porn!

It set me thinking about my own writing. I rarely write erotic scenes these days, and when I do, they’re only a small scene within a larger story. I thought I wrote more PWP-type stories several years ago, but going back through my archives, the results were, well, meager. Out of over 120 stories, I marked three as PWP. And the number of stories that has been rated Adult due to sex numbers just twelve. There’s exactly one slash fic (which, annoyingly, gets the most hits and most star ratings, though no reviews), and another that includes m/m interaction as part of a bigger picture.

Well, so much for my “going through a phase”-theory, like I mention to [info]telperion1 in a comment! I just never wrote much erotica. And to be honest, writing(*) porn doesn’t really hold much appeal to me. I find it–not exactly easy, but also not very challenging. Which is probably why most of the explicit scenes I did write contain some kinky elements! I guess I’m much more into toying with UST and writing fade-to-black type scenes than actual erotica.

Anyway, it means I won’t be posting any “hottest sex scene I’ve ever written”. I don’t think it exists. Doesn’t mean I’m not pleased with some of the porny things I did write.

For those interested, a list:

  • Foiled Again (The Big Easy) – coitus interruptus, not among my best work
  • The Prophecy Of Two (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) – lone scene in Chapter Five of a 18,000 word novelette
  • Higher Learning (Charmed) – my one and only slash fic, written because someone said that it couldn’t be done
  • Piper’s Shopping List (Charmed) – a definite PWP
  • Playful Punishment (Earth 2) – another PWP, and so not truly tied in to the particular fandom I reworked it into an original piece of erotica once
  • Lesson In Love (Earth 2) – though marked as a PWP, I don’t think it fully is one
  • Dreamscape and Dreamtime (Mutant X) – written for the fandom for which I wrote the highest percentage of Adult pieces. There’s a plan for another sequel, turning it into a trilogy, somewhere on my hard disk
  • Threesome and Foursome (Mutant X) – contain slash and femmeslash elements, which was another first
  • First Time After (Supernatural) – certainly not the prettiest sex scene I ever wrote but one of my first Sam-stories
  • Until It Sleeps (Supernatural) – technically a non-con scene in Chapter Three of a 22,000 word novelette, of which I’m proud because it was hard to strike the right balance.

And that concludes my list of erotic stories! I guess I should officially call myself a gen-writer now.

(*) Reading is another matter completely, I will enjoy a piece of hott pr0n as much as the next woman!

Writing is addictive

Because of various Real Life issues, I haven’t had the chance to work on any kind of fiction for near to two weeks now. And I’m gettin’ itchy! I want to write! Not that I have any inspiration or the necessary attention and energy available to come up with anything remotely readable, but the desire is strong.

If I didn’t already know writing is addictive, I’d know it now. I’m having withdrawal symptoms!

On AUs and canonicity

Both [info]juno_magic and [info]telperion1 had some very interesting thoughts regarding AUs in fanfic and whether or not AU is, or should be considered, a negative label. As the proud (if still somewhat startled by her own achievement) author of a Boromir!Lives-AU novel, as well as several What-ifs in other fandoms (one published, one not yet published), those posts made me think also.

So, what makes an AU? And stories labeled AU, are they or should they be considered a substandard story?

Obviously (see note about AU-novel above 🙂 ) my short answer is: no.

My long answer is a bit, well, longer.

Read More »