Meme

[skinscript]

For the writers and readers out there...

List five of your favourite stories (if you write, ones you've written, if you read, ones you've read. After the link, add a comment about what you learned from the story.


Somnio Cruento (Supernatural)
Summary: The crossroads demon is haunting Dean's dreams and driving him into acts of violence and worse things. Every time he closes his eyes, she's there, waiting...

What did I learn? This taught me that a story can eat your brain. Seriously. I was obsessed - really obsessed - for weeks.

Thanks for the Memories (Stargate Atlantis / QAF Crossover)

Summary: Two parallel storylines (then and now) reveal Brian's inspiration for the man he became, while John learns of McKay's chequered past by watching his unexpectedly hot present.

What did I learn? Apparently I know way more about the details of BSDM than I knew... to the point that I've been told this story is pretty hardcore. It's also slash. Ultimately I learned two things - sometimes to get your smutgroove back you need to try something that intimidates you, and HOT transcends gender identity.

Being 494 (Dark Angel)

Summary: The story of how Ben stole 494's life, before he became Alec.

What did I learn?Stories can come from the smallest, tiniest point of idea.. and turn into something fucking fantastic.

The Mission Series - Shelf Life (Dark Angel)

Summary: The transgenics come with an expiry date, and it's killing them all on and around their thirtieth birthday. 529 is next on the list.

What did I learn? If you stick with it, the story can be completed. Even two years later. Also - sometimes your characters outgrow the storyline and take on new characteristics. I never really expected the sudden Rhys/Max subtext - but I almost killed Alec off just so I could explore it.

I wrote down several others and then deleted them again, wrote down then deleted. Ultimately, I've decided to leave #5 blank for two reasons ... I gave up fanfic two or three times, but here I am, still writing it. So .. maybe - I've learned from that. What I've learned - take your inspiration where you can find it. It's a gift, not a right, and there's no guarantee you'll find it anywhere else.

Second - well. I need room for the favourites I haven't written yet, don't I?

Comments

[lilhobbit.livejournal.com]

Interesting idea... maybe I'll contribute for once ;)

A Random Encounter - (dark angel) (isn't floating anywhere in cyberspace anymore)

Summary: Basically a Ben story. He meets a haunted girl, who triggers empathy in him and brings him closer to the descent to darkness. A tragic love story more or less.

What I learned: Sometimes you get an idea that's too good to put to words. You end up loving your characters so much that they simply expand beyond the storyline and just don't fit there anymore. This was the guidebook to making a good original character. Angela could've totally been a Mary Sue, but I succeeded in making her more.


A Devil May Cry - Witch Hunter Robin

Summary: What is the role of an Eve that Robin is repeatedly claimed to become? How was Robin really created and what's Amon's role in all of this?

What I learned: Expanding a fandom in a "canon" story is so damn hard. You need plans to fit everything together and explaining things that were left unexplained can be so frustrating because your readers aren't stupid - They know what feels right and what doesn't. Also making the romance a subplot and yet developing it from the viewpoint that the anime gave no real proof for the romance was new to me. Sometimes allowing poetry and highly stylized writing with no exact description can give more to the story than saying everything outright.

Senzafine - Witch Hunter Robin

Summary: Robin and Amon aren't simple people and nor is their relationship. She's a child and a witch and he's an adult and a hunter. Sometimes things just don't work out towards a happy ending.

What I learned: Everybody writes about their own lives. It may be hidden in a pretty shell, but your issues are still there.


Your Strings Are Mine - Lost Boys

Summary: What if the bloodlust had been too much to resist and Michael had ended up killing Sam? Michael confronts David now and in the heat of the moment he is made to understand the true nature of his raging emotions for David.

What I learned: You can write erotica without shipping the couple, making them love one another or going hardcore. I'm not even into slash (femme is more interesting), but the whole setting intrigued me and I ended up writing this dense transformation that was also about discovering a new sexual identity. So add the word vampire into it and I'll write anything. ;)

Pretty When You Cry - Ginger Snaps

Summary: Jason survived to save Ginger from damnation. Now they journey to find Brigitte whilst fighting the curse's full insanity, to keep control of themselves and their actions. Is she slowly beginning to trust him?

What I learned: You can just start writing one day and write 80% of the fic in a week. Of course this one isn't finished (never finish anything), but for once I didn't post the chapters as they came but wrote without feedback and lived in the flow and made these characters so much more. This is my slowest moving fic ever. It has more character study than anything and the characters act canon and their age whilst developing. It's my absolute favorite of everything I've ever written.

[goblie.livejournal.com]

This is interesting. :)

I love the things you learned, especially because for some of them I can remember how you were at the time you were writing these and it makes me smile. :)

Waiting eagerly for the next masterpiece-favourite to be written. :)