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Beta Appreciation Day, and a meme
Oct. 16th, 2006 12:37 amEssay crisis procrastination, omg. I am sick of Dworkin's egalitarianism. I fancy I shall be sick of him for a very long time.
Anyway! Beta Appreciation Day, which I am shamefully late for, but better late than never and all of that. So, everyone who has ever betaed for me -![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hathy_col (who was first!), flickgc, gwynnega, purplerainbow, tafkarfanfic, versaphile - thank you. Thank you all, so much. And scarlatti, I'll never forget you or your kindness.
likethesun2, the_acrobat and amchau - you guys just win at everything. I dread to think exactly how much time out of your lives you've donated to making me a better writer. Thank you.
I hope I haven't forgotten anyone - do smack me about the head if I have.
And a meme, because procrastination is good. Nabbed fromlizbee:
1) Right now, what do you feel are the 1, 2 or 3 best stories you've written since becoming/admitting you're a fanfic writer? What was it about that/those stories that really made you proud, or thrilled you about them?
Love Is Not Love, Harry Potter, Remus/Hermione.
What made me proud of that story is that it worked. It's het, which at the time I had hardly written, and it features the first sex scene I'd ever put in a fic - R-rated, I've still never done NC-17! - and hey, it's Remus/Hermione and thus crazy. And looking back, it's a tall order, keeping Remus in character while making Hermione a little older and wiser, and working it all in so it's in-character with Harry, Ron and Sirius all lurking in the background, but it gelled. And most of all, I liked the theme of change and time, which fitted nicely behind the words without noticeable effort from me. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds is a latter attempt at a similar thing - Remus/Tonks that time, with themes of memory and the passage of time - and technically speaking is probably better, but this story came first. It's still one of the few stories of mine that I can say I wouldn't change at all.
Another Horsedreamer's Blues - Firefly, gen.
I love this show, I really do. But this is the only fic I've ever written and probably ever will write for it. This story was meant to explore Mal for me, and I feel like I got my version of Mal clear in my head and I don't need to write him again. The difficulty here was the voices - they're so distinctive, and when they're wrong they're really wrong - but by dint of watching a lot of canon and then unscrewing my brain a bit, I think I got 'em.
What The Ocean Can Know of a Body - The X-Files, gen.
One old chestnut I tend to write in every fandom I'm in is this: write a fic about a character in which that character doesn't appear. I did it for M*A*S*H, I did it for HP, I'm doing it right now for Supernatural, but I don't think I'll ever get it like this. This story is so short and so simple - Scully, after an AU "Gethsemane" where no one stopped Mulder putting the gun in his mouth - and a short roadtrip, and the ocean, and it's all about Mulder without actually mentioning him at all. I had a lot of help; listening to Dar Williams "The Ocean" continuously helped create the mood. In fact, this would be songfic if I were the sort of person who wrote songfic - but thankfully I'm not.
2) What professional writer (that is, paid author) would you love to see write a fanfiction story? What ship or fandom? Tell me a little about it.
Audrey Niffenegger writing a DW/HP crossover fic. Can you imagine post-1981 Ten/Remus, angsty and angry and witty, written in the style of The Time-Traveler's Wife? They'd meet in Chicago, and Remus would be young and bright, and Ten would be wary and fascinated, and they'd stay up all night drinking, and it would be marvellous.
3) What show/cartoon/kid's book from your childhood would you be amused to see in fanfiction? Would you consider writing one for this early love?
chiasmata recently informed me of the existence of Chalet School fic, and this is of JOY. I was totally fangirlish about those books - I have about thirty of them in a box at home up north - and ah, they were crawling with Mary-Sues and the whole thing would be so gloriousy sapphic.
4) Is there a fanfic of yours you'd like to see made into a Broadway show? Tell me about it!( "_____________: the Musical!"
Ahahaha. Love In Fire And In Blood: The Musical! Okay, it needs a catchier title*, but still, that fic actually has the perfect plot for a musical. The opening overture on the drunken Marauders, and it's all very Once More With Feeling and Remus sings, "I think this line's mostly filler" and then there's a quiet reflective number with Lily and Remus in the garden, and then a big humdinger of a chorus - with somersaulting acrobats, yes! - of Crazy Wedding Preparations.
Oh, and James and Lily being soppy and romantic, and Sirius and Remus decidedly not, and a quiet fade out into the dark at the end. Ta-da.
5) Think about it--what could possibly be the WORST crossover out there? A story that Should Never Be Written? Hamtaro/V? Lost/Gilligan's Island? Come up with your most terrible pairing!
lizbee wanted a DW/Supernatural crossover of doom, and I was sort of tempted by that, but my brain hurt. No, how about Sam Winchester quietly minding his own business while Dean picks up girls in a faux-Irish pub in LA? And Sammy's sitting there twirling a glass round his finger when the guy on the barstool next to him suddenly clutches his head, shrieks in pain and falls off for a bit, and when he comes round he's babbling about having visions... and Sam starts paying attention...
Okay, actually, someone write me some Sam/Doyle, it would be fab. Sam would bitch about Dean and Doyle would bitch about Angel and they would both bitch about the huge fuck-off vision headaches and then Cordelia would feed them both Midol and it would be of LOVE.
Yes, bed now. More essay crisising in the morning.
*It was meant to be a JOKE. It's a fic about the Marauders declaring their love for each other while very pissed and then threatening to turn each other into flowering cactuses, so of course I named it with a line from a Neruda poem. I have a feeling people thought it was going to be a serious romance. Er, oops.
Anyway! Beta Appreciation Day, which I am shamefully late for, but better late than never and all of that. So, everyone who has ever betaed for me -
hathy_col (who was first!), flickgc, gwynnega, purplerainbow, tafkarfanfic, versaphile - thank you. Thank you all, so much. And scarlatti, I'll never forget you or your kindness. likethesun2, the_acrobat and amchau - you guys just win at everything. I dread to think exactly how much time out of your lives you've donated to making me a better writer. Thank you. I hope I haven't forgotten anyone - do smack me about the head if I have.
And a meme, because procrastination is good. Nabbed from
lizbee:1) Right now, what do you feel are the 1, 2 or 3 best stories you've written since becoming/admitting you're a fanfic writer? What was it about that/those stories that really made you proud, or thrilled you about them?
Love Is Not Love, Harry Potter, Remus/Hermione.
What made me proud of that story is that it worked. It's het, which at the time I had hardly written, and it features the first sex scene I'd ever put in a fic - R-rated, I've still never done NC-17! - and hey, it's Remus/Hermione and thus crazy. And looking back, it's a tall order, keeping Remus in character while making Hermione a little older and wiser, and working it all in so it's in-character with Harry, Ron and Sirius all lurking in the background, but it gelled. And most of all, I liked the theme of change and time, which fitted nicely behind the words without noticeable effort from me. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds is a latter attempt at a similar thing - Remus/Tonks that time, with themes of memory and the passage of time - and technically speaking is probably better, but this story came first. It's still one of the few stories of mine that I can say I wouldn't change at all.
Another Horsedreamer's Blues - Firefly, gen.
I love this show, I really do. But this is the only fic I've ever written and probably ever will write for it. This story was meant to explore Mal for me, and I feel like I got my version of Mal clear in my head and I don't need to write him again. The difficulty here was the voices - they're so distinctive, and when they're wrong they're really wrong - but by dint of watching a lot of canon and then unscrewing my brain a bit, I think I got 'em.
What The Ocean Can Know of a Body - The X-Files, gen.
One old chestnut I tend to write in every fandom I'm in is this: write a fic about a character in which that character doesn't appear. I did it for M*A*S*H, I did it for HP, I'm doing it right now for Supernatural, but I don't think I'll ever get it like this. This story is so short and so simple - Scully, after an AU "Gethsemane" where no one stopped Mulder putting the gun in his mouth - and a short roadtrip, and the ocean, and it's all about Mulder without actually mentioning him at all. I had a lot of help; listening to Dar Williams "The Ocean" continuously helped create the mood. In fact, this would be songfic if I were the sort of person who wrote songfic - but thankfully I'm not.
2) What professional writer (that is, paid author) would you love to see write a fanfiction story? What ship or fandom? Tell me a little about it.
Audrey Niffenegger writing a DW/HP crossover fic. Can you imagine post-1981 Ten/Remus, angsty and angry and witty, written in the style of The Time-Traveler's Wife? They'd meet in Chicago, and Remus would be young and bright, and Ten would be wary and fascinated, and they'd stay up all night drinking, and it would be marvellous.
3) What show/cartoon/kid's book from your childhood would you be amused to see in fanfiction? Would you consider writing one for this early love?
chiasmata recently informed me of the existence of Chalet School fic, and this is of JOY. I was totally fangirlish about those books - I have about thirty of them in a box at home up north - and ah, they were crawling with Mary-Sues and the whole thing would be so gloriousy sapphic. 4) Is there a fanfic of yours you'd like to see made into a Broadway show? Tell me about it!( "_____________: the Musical!"
Ahahaha. Love In Fire And In Blood: The Musical! Okay, it needs a catchier title*, but still, that fic actually has the perfect plot for a musical. The opening overture on the drunken Marauders, and it's all very Once More With Feeling and Remus sings, "I think this line's mostly filler" and then there's a quiet reflective number with Lily and Remus in the garden, and then a big humdinger of a chorus - with somersaulting acrobats, yes! - of Crazy Wedding Preparations.
Oh, and James and Lily being soppy and romantic, and Sirius and Remus decidedly not, and a quiet fade out into the dark at the end. Ta-da.
5) Think about it--what could possibly be the WORST crossover out there? A story that Should Never Be Written? Hamtaro/V? Lost/Gilligan's Island? Come up with your most terrible pairing!
lizbee wanted a DW/Supernatural crossover of doom, and I was sort of tempted by that, but my brain hurt. No, how about Sam Winchester quietly minding his own business while Dean picks up girls in a faux-Irish pub in LA? And Sammy's sitting there twirling a glass round his finger when the guy on the barstool next to him suddenly clutches his head, shrieks in pain and falls off for a bit, and when he comes round he's babbling about having visions... and Sam starts paying attention... Okay, actually, someone write me some Sam/Doyle, it would be fab. Sam would bitch about Dean and Doyle would bitch about Angel and they would both bitch about the huge fuck-off vision headaches and then Cordelia would feed them both Midol and it would be of LOVE.
Yes, bed now. More essay crisising in the morning.
*It was meant to be a JOKE. It's a fic about the Marauders declaring their love for each other while very pissed and then threatening to turn each other into flowering cactuses, so of course I named it with a line from a Neruda poem. I have a feeling people thought it was going to be a serious romance. Er, oops.
