where his civilizations, including our own

I'm already signed up for way too many things to add Yuletide at this point, but I always enjoy reading the letters. Every year I find out that people on my flist love things that I also love, but had never come up in conversation. It's such an awesome feeling. And then there's the joy of picking out treats I want to write, which of course is much easier than actually writing them, but hey, it could happen!

Unrelatedly, last night I had one of those dreams that I guess you'd call an anxiety dream, of the "oh no something's going wrong and I'm going to be made a fool of" variety, though I actually didn't feel anxious. I dreamed I was performing in Rocky Horror (which hasn't happened in uh... over a decade). I was playing Riff Raff and doing the costume change during floorshow, and I realized that whoever was supposed to be playing Magenta wasn't there. So I peeked out the door at the top of the aisle and grabbed an audience member, and told her all she had to do was just stand to my left and follow me, so at least I wouldn't be standing there by myself. (This never exactly happened to me, but similar things did, and "grab an audience member" is probably what I would have actually done.) What does it mean?!

This entry was originally posted at http://pauraque.dreamwidth.org/37187.html. Comment here or there.

I don't think I'm going to get through everything I want to read before reveals this year, but here, have the first half of my recs list (which is the last half of the alphabet, because I read starting from Z).


( World of Warcraft, Snow White + Red Riding Hood, The Shawshank Redemption, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Space: Above and Beyond, Romeo & Juliet, Robin Hood, My So-Called Life )


I wasn't signed up this year because I didn't think I would have time, but I did write some last-minute treats. I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to pick them out, but two of them are for fandoms I've written in before.

[eta: authors]

This entry was originally posted at http://pauraque.dreamwidth.org/26552.html. Comment here or there.

Nin-Me-Sara (Akkadian Empire RPF) by shinetheway. Akkadian history isn't really my field, but I don't think you need to know much going in to enjoy this tale of the power of writing to make words last through the ages.

Invisible (Beauty and the Beast) by miss_lanyon. I started out enjoying this as a languid, atmospheric retelling of the fairy tale, but it unfolds in a direction I wasn't expecting, and takes it to another level.

The Revelation of John (New Testament) by Soujin. A story about John and Lucifer. Having recently re-read the New Testament, I was in a good place to read this story. You have to be fearless to pull something like this off, and fortunately the author is.

What You Wish For and What You Keep (Cinderella) by alien_alice. This Cinderella inhabits a pan-fairytale space that is unexpected and quirky and yet taken quite seriously. Take Disney's Cinderella and turn her inside out, and here you are.

Knives Beneath Her Feet (The Little Mermaid) miss_lanyon. A kinky retelling of Andersen's tale, which works surprisingly well and is exquisitely written besides.

Bellflower and Hellebore (Fairy Tales) by gileonnen. The modern world is creeping up around the Wolf, but he manages to carry on the old ways. Intriguing, sad, and beautiful.

The Silver Ship, or, The Wolf's Quest (Fairy Tales) by ermigoa. I think it's a stretch to call this fan fiction in any meaningful sense, but I quite enjoyed it. It's a science fiction fairy tale, more or less, and cleverly done.

The End and the Way (The Left Hand of Darkness) by luzula. If you'd told me LeGuin wrote this herself, I'd have believed you. It perfectly captures her prose style and her sense of what shapes characters and relationships. A lovely long story to sink into.

A Dream of Wind by Anonymous (Peter Pan) by Culumacilinte. This feels like it could have -- and should have -- been part of the book.

And Revisions (Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead) by acrossthefloors. At first I wasn't sure what this author was doing, but I think I worked it out by the end. Unless I am reading it wrong, I think it's a commentary on characters breaking out of their "proper" narratives and finding their own stories -- fanfiction itself, in other words.

[ETA authors]

So, catching up... Nano was pretty easy for me this year, which is why I didn't make a bunch of posts bemoaning the pain of it all. It was partly easy because of the format I picked -- a character writing his own memoir in the first person. Memoirs tend to have a fairly loose structure anyway, so it was easy enough to go off on tangents about different people and places. I managed to keep up the pace every day with minimal grumbling. I don't think what I produced was actually that good, but at least it wasn't painful!

Last year I struggled badly due to over-planning, so I went in with no plan this year, which I think also makes it easier. It's tempting to use Nano to work on a concept you've been nurturing for months/years, but I think it works better if you start with a fresh idea that you're not attached to. Next year I might just do it as "write 50k words in a month" rather than "write a novel", which isn't honestly a goal of mine anyway. Short stories are way more fun for me.

My Yuletide fic is going kind of okay. It's turning out plotty, or at least plotty by my standards, by which I mean... it has a plot. I'm writing way outside my usual genre, which is entirely my own fault and not something pressed upon me by my recipient, I hasten to add. I'm just making it difficult for myself, as usual. And having agonizing moments of certainty that everything I write is crap, interspersed with moments of less certainty of that fact.

I also signed up for wizard_love, because I was browsing the prompts and some of them were absolute genius. This should be interesting, because I'm sure I've forgotten a lot about HP canon. But the due date isn't until January 30, so the timing works. I believe claiming is open for a few more days.

How are you guys doing? YT and other challenge fics coming along?

So apparently I'm doing Yuletide for the first time this year. Woo!

Stuff I like: Gen, male slash, femslash, het, kink, vanilla, long stories, short stories... It's all good! Speaking in broad terms, I tend to enjoy character-driven stuff about relationships, whether that means romance, sex, friendship, family, rivalry, or whatever. I especially like tricky, hard-to-pin-down relationships where a lot goes unsaid; I'd rather see how a character says "I love you" with their actions than in words. For me, plots are optional and exist mostly as an excuse to find out what the characters will do. I'm often drawn to characters who aren't the main focus in canon -- I like to see a perspective I haven't seen before.

But if that all sounds daunting, bear in mind that what I really want is for you to write a story you'll enjoy, rather than knock yourself out trying to write way outside your comfort zone. You picked (at least) one of the fandoms I requested, so just write something that shows why you like it, and I will be happy. Use my suggestions if they're helpful to you, but if they're not, don't.

Stuff I don't like: Violence/gore/blood/torture/gross-out. Though I'm cool with a dark or serious story, I don't get a kick out of making characters suffer just for the sake of it. Humor is fine but I don't really like crackfic or parodies. I am pretty sensitive about unquestioned homophobia or transphobia, even if appropriate to the character or time period; it still makes me cringe and that wouldn't be much fun in a gift fic. Particularly, I get upset if I read something that plays transgender people or cross-dressing for a laugh.

Also, I don't like to read about kissing. No real reason, just one of those things.


( I put my comments on specific fandoms in the sign-up form, but I'll repeat them here just because. )


I hope none of that sounds like I'm overly picky, because I'm really not. I chose these fandoms because I was pretty confident I'd be interested to read anything related to them. Have fun, don't stress out. Thank you for writing for me.