December Daily: favorite stories

[resonant]

wychwood asks: What is your favourite of your own stories? Which fic-writing achievements are you proudest of?

I'm rather proud of my Losers story, Impersonation, because I was playing a game with POV, and several readers told me they got it. (I suppose it's a romance-specific variation on the unreliable narrator. I wanted to write a story where, if you reeled it back in your mind and walked through it from the other character's point of view, the emotional landscape of the story was very different. In this case, the story Jensen is experiencing is, "Wow, I have the hots for my pal; didn't expect that ... Why's he acting so weird? ... Oh, OK, he's got the hots for me, too. We're golden." But the story Cougar is experiencing is more like, "Nobody could be this clueless; he must be mocking me ... This is cruel. I thought we were friends ... It's kind of humiliating to be desperate enough to accept a pass this wrapped up in mockery ... Wait a minute. Looks like he could be this clueless. Wow, OK, this is what a happy ending feels like.")

Tolleranza, the Commandos-era story where there's a lot of very explicit sex being had by people who are not Steve Rogers, is one that I feel really good about, because it only works if you care at least a little about those original characters, and by the time I was done, I did.

It's harder to pick a favorite, but if you were going to wipe out my whole catalog and leave me only one story to say, "I am the author of _____ and nothing else," I would have to say Transfigurations. I can point to ways I've grown as a writer since then, but in some ways I've still never equalled it.

Comments

[quinfirefrorefiddle]

Transfigurations is still where I go on some hard days. Sometimes I reread, sometimes just in my head. Earlier today I was thinking my church could use a Children's Custodian.

[vicki_rae]

I love Transfigurations. It's a comfort read, and never mind fanfic, it's one of my all time favorite things to read period. This Harry and Draco are utterly believable, everyone is, with a solid well constructed plot that just totally works from start to finish.

Don't know how I missed Impersonation before. Jensen is a hilarious and gloriously unreliable narrator unaware he's telling two totally different stories at once. Beautifully done POV.

[runpunkrun]

if you were going to wipe out my whole catalog and leave me only one story to say, "I am the author of _____ and nothing else"...

Wow, that's a tough game to play. I'm afraid my answer would be something from two or even three fandoms ago. Maybe four. And I don't move fandoms very often.

[veronamay]

FYI, Impersonations made me laugh really a lot, so thanks for that (along with everything else).

[reginagiraffe]

OMG, I missed reading Tolleranza! How did *that* happen!?

[out_there]

Impersonation sounds very cool, so I'm going to go read that now.

It's harder to pick a favorite, but if you were going to wipe out my whole catalog and leave me only one story to say, "I am the author of _____ and nothing else,"

That's a really interesting way to phrase it. Because there are lot of stories that I like, that I'm proud of, but if I could only be known for one, it would be "Like Sailing and Home Runs" which is an older story (and probably lacking in subtlety, and I'm positive that characters laugh or snigger in it far too often -- I blame Sports Night's dodgy laugh track for that) but it's still the story that I'm most proud of. And I love the structure of it.

[laurenthemself]

It just occured to me that I've read Transfigurations at least ten times, because I rec it a lot and if I check the link's working to rec it, I have a tendency to start reading it again.

[myalexandria]

Oh, Transfigurations. I am so imprinted on that story it's not even funny.

[wychwood]

Thanks! It's always interesting to see people's thoughts on their writing :)

[greyeyes]

Transfigurations is a completely amazing story, and I should reread it. Right now. It's not just that it's a wonderful story, but you did brilliant world-building/extending for it that blew my mind and continues to do so.

I'm really glad you linked the other two fics since I hadn't seen them before! Tolleranza is an awesome character-story, and I do care about Mary and Vittorio now, in my head they get a lovely happy ending. Having finally seen Losers, I can enjoy fic about Cougar and Jensen now! Impersonation is great! Very hot, very fun for Jensen; my heart hurt for Cougar, but happy endings for both, woo!

[copracat]

I'm so glad we share so many fandoms.