xylodemon: (Default)
xylodemon ([personal profile] xylodemon) wrote2013-01-12 05:11 pm

Snowflake Challenge, Day 8

What I Think About What I Wrote Last Year, a meme stolen from [livejournal.com profile] featherxquill

Longest Story Written: The Sin in Your Grin (and the Shape of Your Mouth) [Sirius/Snape, Remus/Sirius], at 16,000 words.

Shortest Story Written: slowly, softly [Robb/Theon] at 230 words.

My best story this year: Definitely The Sin in Your Grin. A good quarter of it is about how Sirius is a selfish person who fails at things like committment and relationships and honesty, but the rest of it is actually a genfic about the first Voldemort war, and I think I managed to nail the gritty hopelessness of that time period, and how badly the Order was actually losing.

Best received story: In terms of sheer numbers, it's hold my heart (it's beating for you anyway) [Derek/Stiles]. Over at AO3 it has over 7,000 hits and close to 500 kudos, which is just stratospheres above my next most popular story. Teen Wolf is a very active fandom right now though, and Derek-and-Stiles-as-mates is a well-liked trope. On LiveJournal, it was Obsessive (Compulsive) [Harry/Draco], which actually kind of surprised me. It's an odd fic, and I hadn't written Harry/Draco in about six years.

Most fun story: The most fun to write was For Want of a... (you know it's hard out there for a prankster remix) [MWPP gen], because I really enjoy writing remixes. I think The Great Christmas Biscuit Misunderstanding of 1977 [Remus/Sirius], had the most amusing narrative, because of matchmaking James and general Marauder shenanigans.

Hardest story to write: His Was the Fury [Robert Baratheon], hands down. I wrote this for a gen prompt at [personal profile] asoiafkinkmeme, about the start of Robert's Rebellion, and the idea that Robert went to war over Lyanna, and not necessarily because he wanted the Iron Throne. I didn't think I'd have too much trouble with it, since this is actually my Robert headcanon, but I could not have been more wrong. The canon information on Robert's Rebellion is spotty and slanted by POV. Robert spent much of the Rebellion separated from timeline POV characters, so I had to fill in a lot of gaps. Since the idea of Robert replacing Aerys as king came from Jon Arryn, I had to write a lot about him, which amounted to creating him from whole cloth, because he's dead before the books start.

"Holy crap, that's *wrong*, even for you" story: Unwanted [Ari/Kate]. I've written a lot of dub-con over the years, and a lot of generally fucked relationship dynamics, but I don't think I've ever hit this perfectly creepy combination of emotional manipulation and coercion. Rereading this actually makes me uncomfortable, and I think I can only say that about two or three of my fics, total.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: The Sin in Your Grin.

And now for some story time: I can't find the post now, but a couple months ago, I ended up meta-waffling on Sirius in response to an Ask about fics where Sirius is portrayed as a nice, well-adjusted young man without a cruel streak or any emotional issues, and I basically said that I think Sirius is easily the most misunderstood character in the Harry Potter series. People can'r reconcille the guy who escaped prison and lived on rats to protect Harry with the guy who helped James bully Snape, or the guy who verbally abused Kreacher and nursed a schoolyard grudge for 15 years, so they sweep the former under the rug and blame the latter on Azkaban, when the truth is closer to the middle, and quite a bit uglier. I think a lot of Sirius' bravery was really rooted in recklessness. I think he had a huge capacity for loyalty and kindness and love when it came to people he liked, but he also had a callous disregard for people he didn't like, or even people he just didn't care about. And since his circle of Give A Fuck was incredibly small -- James, Remus, initially Peter, eventually Lily and Harry, and possibly at some point Regulus -- this callous disregard extended to a large number of people. I also think his loyalty to his friends had a tendency to manifest itself in dangerous ways, everything from Remus/Snape Prank to his willingness to include Harry in Order business at barely-fifteen.

Back to the fic: I went into this story intending to focus on the parts of Sirius that are usually glossed over. I was kind of worried that I would end up hating him by the time I was finished, but I ended up loving him even more.

Biggest disappointment: Lily's Falling (the persistence makes the heart grow fonder remix) [James/Lily]. Technically, there's nothing really wrong with this story, I'm just not 100% pleased with it. The point and purpose of a Remix its to put a new spin on an existing story, but I really want my remixes to stand on their own, meaning they still make sense if you haven't read the original story, and I'm not sure this one does.

Biggest surprise: One More for the Road [Sirius/Rosmerta]. I was seriously shocked at how well it was received when it was posted to [personal profile] hp_beholder, because of the oddball pairing. I mean, [personal profile] hp_beholder is kind of a rarepair vehicle, but Sirius/Rosmerta is way, way out there, so I submitted it expecting that only three or four people would read it.

Most unintentionally telling story: This one's easy: Whatever I Want (Whatever That Is) [Regulus/Remus]. I've been joking for years that all my MWPP stuff is really about Sirius on some level, and this fic pretty much proved that tendency, because I set out to write a fic that wasn't about Sirius, and only halfway succeeded. This was for [personal profile] hprarefest, and the prompter basically asked for a Regulus/Remus fic where neither party was also shagging Sirius. I managed to keep Sirius out of everyone's beds, but he was still all over the plot, and colored everyone's though processes and motivations.

Sexiest story: Either hardest of hearts [Jon/Stannis], which pushes a lot of my own buttons in terms of dynamics, sex acts (frottage, handjobs), and positioning (Jon as the little spoon), or marks we've left behind, made together [Jon/Robb], which is probably the most graphic flat-out porn I've written all year.

Favourite summary: from Unexpected Visits in the Wintertime [Remus/Sirius]:

In which Remus is confused, the Knight Bus isn't as reliable as advertised, and Mrs Lupin wishes Sirius would leave her hydrangeas alone.

Favourite opening line: from Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect [Minerva]:

Over a month had passed, but Hogwarts still smelled of blood and dust and smoke.

Favourite closing line: from my brother's keeper [Connor/Murphy]:

Connor closes his eyes, figures it isn't suicide if they're both already dead.

Favourite lines from anywhere: from Whatever I Want (Whatever That Is):

"He asked me to come with him, you know," Regulus muttered, curled up on the deep couch the Room of Requirement had provided, his voice bruised and thick, a half-empty wine bottle tilting out of his lap. "When he ran away."

"I know," Remus said, sliding his arm around Regulus' shoulder, shifting as Regulus pressed closer, his head sagging onto Remus' chest. "He told me."

"I don't know where he expected me to go."

"James' place, I guess."

Regulus kissed him, his mouth hot and his tongue bitter with wine. "Potter rather doesn't like me."

"He doesn't, no," Remus admitted, quietly, his hand brushing through Regulus' hair, "but James would've done for you, if Sirius had asked."

"Fuck Sirius," Regulus murmured, lifting the bottle to his mouth.


--

And now, onto this year:

Snowflake Challenge, Day 8

In your own space, talk about setting yourself a fannish goal. Big or small, it doesn't matter. Some examples: complete a bingo, sign up for a Big Bang, write that fic you've been thinking about for years, podfic that story that you love, make a fanmix for your fandom, post that bit of meta or reclist you keep putting off. Maybe resolve to be better at leaving feedback or answering comments.

- Write another Good Omens fic.

- Write another American Gods fic

- Finish my 3 half-written Teen Wolf fics

- Write more Game of Thrones fics that aren't just porn.