dS Meta: 10 Stories/Vids of 2007 That Made Me Wee

[arrow00]

Well, considering I spent painful hours writing about my own writing for my recent Fannish Year in Review, I felt it was only due justice to make the writers of some of my fave stories of last year squirm in equal embarrassment.

I'll start with dS. I don't have time to read that much (the problem with reading is you can't write at the same time. And right now Fraser is three-kinds-of-pining in my current; I think he's losing weight and everything.) So, it's funny that, even if a story is making me secretly flip the bird at my computer screen (usually the result of some character bias that makes one of the guys look like a complete asshole/wussy), I still almost always will continue reading until the bitter end, resulting in torment of the kind that makes me wish for a bright red bumpersticker: BAD FICTION HURTS.

But good fiction hurts much, much better. And in that spirit, I give you ten creations that definitely rocked my socks last year, and why. There were tons more that did--because jesus we have an excellent, prolific fandom--so this list is defiantly random (me poking through bookmarks.)

With no further ado:

Ten Stories/Vids of 2007 That Made Arrow Make a Wee
(in no particular order so don't get your panties in a bunch)

After by spuffyduds (F/K, NC-17)
Admittedly this was a (very precious) gift to me, but that's not why I'm reccing it; it's just why I found it. The story has brilliant RayK headvoice with a loopy, sideways edge that still somehow manages to impart tremendous emotion at the same time. By the way, though this is a deathfic, it's uh, well. I won't give it away. But read it--you sure the hell won't be sorry.

In Which Tradition is Not So Stultifying by green_grrl (F/K, NC-17)
Because Fraser. In a kilt. In a *very* traditional manner. Throwing weights (and apparently, Ray) around. Terrific Ray voice, too ("man-purse"), making for a very hot, satisfying read.

Pour Some Sugar On Me vid by sdwolfpup (Fraser, rated hot)
This burned my brain a little, or maybe that frying sound was my gonads. Fraser looking about as hot as you can imagine; hot enough, even, to make me enjoy a Def Leppard song, for crying out loud.

Long Road (Long Ride Home) by brooklinegirl (F/K/V, NC-17)
I don't usually read trio stories because they always seem to end up with Fraser sent off to the dry cleaners while the Rays work out how sexy they find each other. But this one gives all three characters a terrific arc, and RayV's journey is so believable and painfully true. Think of RayV moaning about his suit, and that's how he goes about completely turning his life around--reluctantly and full of self-delusion about how much he hates it, but ultimately is so damned happy to. Anyway, I loved this story like a bottle of rich wine.

After the Nile by joandarck (F/K, NC-17)
The Nile is long and so worth the journey, full of delicious moments and a Maggie you just have to love spending time with. The guys are complicated and their relationship as a result is not simple, and there are crazed plots, and virtue, unspotted and otherwise, and table thumping, and it's just worth every word.

Dark is a Way and Light is a Place by j_s_calvacante (F/K, NC-17)
Because I learn so much about Ray that I wanted to, and he is cruel, but with reason, and Fraser is good--he's just dangerous enough for Ray to let him in.

Wind From the South by nos4a2no9 (F/K, PG-13)
This story tore me to pieces. Not for the faint of heart, but the sheer simple beauty of the scenes and the emotion will knock you on your ass. There is a balanced rightness to Fraser's pain and the ultimate resolution. The language is pure craft.

Scratch, Scratch by risacooper (F/K, PG)
It's Ray and a black T-shirt and whisky and...Lucky Charms? Ray made Fraser promise no more crazy shit but those yellow marshmallows will get you every time.

Out From Under by brigantine1 (F/K, NC-17)
A due South/Men with Guns crossover, and considering I don't even know what MWG is, I was pretty surprised to be wowed off my feet (I mean, brigantine wrote it so I read it, I'm not an idiot, but in general I don't go for crossovers.) Anyway, Ray here is so deliciously tough but broken, and Fraser is obstinate and fragile and deluded about it. Dief is a wonder. The plot is twisty and the voices are strong like a really strong thing--tension cable, maybe.

Decorating With Antlers Is Never a Good Sign by slidellra (F/K, NC-17)
Fraser is the best kind of oblivious in this long fic, and Ray! in eyeliner! is in the hysterical (crack!) denial. Hot (cuffed) sex and gut-funny banter/humor that is perfectly them. This story is like beef stroganoff or something. It can't be good for me.

Okay, that's it for now, except this post has really given me a taste for reccing (since it leads inevitably to the reading) so I think I'll keep doing it in future. Next up: Sentinel Recs.

Comments

[j-s-cavalcante.livejournal.com]

Awww...

I'm tickled pink.

Also, I know exactly what you mean about writing preventing reading. Many on my f-list watch a lot of media, new shows, multiple fandoms, etc. Me, no. I'm lucky if I can make it to the Saturday night chat and watch something I have here on DVD. I don't have time for that, I'm writing!

I'm so glad to hear that you are, too. Don't hurt Fraser too badly, okay? :)

[arrow00.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just don't have time to consume and write, both. Which makes me feel guilty, because it's not supportive. So then I peek my head up and bam! there's all this wonderful STUFF and I'm running around clickity-click and seeing so much robustness. It makes me proud of my fandoms.

I'm so glad to hear that you are, too. Don't hurt Fraser too badly, okay? :)

Yer funnin' me, aren't ya?

[j-s-cavalcante.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just don't have time to consume and write, both. Which makes me feel guilty, because it's not supportive. So then I peek my head up and bam! there's all this wonderful STUFF and I'm running around clickity-click and seeing so much robustness. It makes me proud of my fandoms.

Sticking to one fandom helps me read more fanfic, and lucky for me, most writers don't write things as long as mine! Though we had quite a few long pieces in dSSS and I still haven't read everything. And I just can't do all the other little things people are doing, like the card exchange and recs on comms and so on. And forget flashfiction. I promised to have the Girl-Ray story finished this month, and it's already over 27,500 words and is probably not even half done at this point. *sniffles* If I waste time on other stuff, I'll have to half-kill myself to keep that promise, and I'm still recovering from half-killing myself to write my dSSS fic (42,500 words).

I'm so glad to hear that you are, too. Don't hurt Fraser too badly, okay? :)

Yer funnin' me, aren't ya?

NO!!!!! I mean it. *cries in advance*

[arrow00.livejournal.com]

wow, you must've had a couple novels' worth of words for 2007. do you ever think of writing pro? or are you, already?

NO!!!!! I mean it. *cries in advance*

Oh, he's made of stern stuff, our Mountie. And he suffers so beautifully, and Ray is harsh and gorgeous and well worth the yearny.

[j-s-cavalcante.livejournal.com]

wow, you must've had a couple novels' worth of words for 2007.

I hadn't thought of that, believe it or not, but you're right. If I get a few extra minutes this month I might get an end-of-year post completed, and I'll tally the numbers.

do you ever think of writing pro? or are you, already?

That's an essay question. :) I'll give you a short answer for now. (More later, if you want to chat about this stuff.) I am a professional writer and editor, but only in nonfiction so far, and I'd quit taking assignments ten years ago, just before I had my second child. I'd freelanced at both writing and editing for some years before that, and before that I'd worked full-time as an editor on an internationally published (and boringly technical) magazine and moonlighted as a freelance writer. Now I've taken you back to the mid-1980s, so I'll stop there. :) I do still write or edit occasionally in RL as a volunteer, but I'm lucky enough not to have to go back to work at this stage. For most of my life I have wanted to write fiction professionally, but didn't actually do it; now I'm not so sure I care, because I only want to do it if I get to write something that I love enough, and fandom is filling that need for me. Then again, I enjoyed writing "Tip, Slide, Tumble" so much that I started thinking about it again.

It's going to remain just a thought for some time to come, though, because I'm about to start art school (totally online!) in an accredited BFA program at the end of the month. Well, it'll be very part-time, because I have a family and RL responsibilities, but since it will be a second bachelor's, I only need to take about half the credits that an actual undergrad would take.

That really is the short answer. I have Deep Thoughts on why fandom is a much better place to publish than the so-called "real world" these days. :)

How about you: what are you doing with this professionally?

Oh, he's made of stern stuff, our Mountie. And he suffers so beautifully, and Ray is harsh and gorgeous and well worth the yearny.

Well, all of that is certainly true. I just meant, please don't permanently maim or kill him. Angst and pain in the service of getting Ray is certainly "worth the yearny." :)

[arrow00.livejournal.com]

I used to have a regular tech column in a monthly rag. That was fun and hell, both.

Because I think doing something professionally that you love to do on your own is a very dangerous thing. Often it can suck the joy right out of it. (I have experienced that with music and went back to doing it for fun.)

I don't have any plans to write pro, as a result.

I'm so glad you are planning on taking more art!

please don't permanently maim or kill him

Oh, I can't maim any of them. I can't bear it. I have written exactly one death fic ever, and they were old old. :)

[j-s-cavalcante.livejournal.com]

Old old I can deal with. I can get that. Even if it's only one, you know the other one will be following soon (and they will be together forever *g*). :) And I'm glad to hear you can't maim and kill them. So we are good. I will have no fear, then. :)

Because I think doing something professionally that you love to do on your own is a very dangerous thing. Often it can suck the joy right out of it. (I have experienced that with music and went back to doing it for fun.)

That's true, it could take the joy out. It didn't for me, but what it did do was to tire out my eyes and my typing fingers, so I really couldn't write fiction very often, back then. I did write about 30 stories between 1992 and 1997, though, but I was freelancing only part-time some of those years. And when I did have an assignment, all I wanted to do was get back to writing fanfic!

That said, there are very positive aspects of having training and experience in the professional sphere. For one thing, I know there is no such thing as this mystical disease called "writer's block," and I know how to slog through the fallow fields. People will dispute me on this, but I tell you, when it's no write, no eat? You find a way. Further, since I've sat on both sides of the editor's desk, I take a professional attitude towards constructive criticism of my work. I don't dish it out here, though, because not every writer is okay with it. And that's true of pros as well. In fact, I think writers here in dS are generally very professional about betas, both giving them and receiving them. Much better than some of the writers I worked with on the job (though some of the difficulty those writers had stemmed from their own sexism--it was tough for 50- and 60-year-old engineers to sit there and get their articles torn apart and put back together by a petite 20-something female, you know? Virtually all of them came around, though. *g*)

[arrow00.livejournal.com]

I know there is no such thing as this mystical disease called "writer's block," and I know how to slog through the fallow fields.

Picasso said: 'I don't know what inspiration is but when it comes I hope it finds me working.'

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

and virtue, unspotted and otherwise, and table thumping,

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

And you liked the Maggie! Yay!

[arrow00.livejournal.com]

::squeezes you senseless::

[maxinemayer.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for these dueSouth story recs! I hadn't even heard of several of these writers but their stories sound fabulous!

Looking forward to your Sentinel recs, now. Apparently, you've been reading in another branch of the fandoms - a branch where I've gotta go!

Love, max

[arrow00.livejournal.com]

Thank you, max. I'm working on an idea to build an archive off of livejournal postings (with authors' permissions.) So much wonderful stuff gets lost this way!

[nos4a2no9.livejournal.com]

Hooray for recs! You've chosen quite a few that would definitely be on my top-10 list (and why, why, why do I always forget that brigantine1 wrote that incredible MwG crossover? It kills me dead in a thousand different ways, but I don't think I even sent her any feedback about it. Oh man. I'm such a bad fan.

And this? Made me laugh so hard: I don't usually read trio stories because they always seem to end up with Fraser sent off to the dry cleaners while the Rays work out how sexy they find each other.

Yes! I've noticed that crop up in a number of F/K/V stories, even the long ones. I guess the threesome math is hard to calculate, and the issues between the Rays really do need to get worked out in advance, or with Fraser firmly in absentia. I don't mean that as a criticism (it's worked in the stories I've read, particularly the trio of dSSS threesome fics from this year) but it's still a little sad that poor Fraser has to drop out of the picture for a while in order for the Rays to come together. Oh Fraser.

And thank you very much for the rec for 'Wind'! That one was going on the meme as toughest to write/biggest disappointment, actually, so it's nice to hear you liked it. I really need to get over this stupid writing angst.

[arrow00.livejournal.com]

Hooray for recs!

You *told* me to!

I guess the threesome math is hard to calculate, and the issues between the Rays really do need to get worked out in advance, or with Fraser firmly in absentia.

I really don't think they have to, although it might be easier to write it that way without the distraction of a third party. But then, that's a lost opportunity for richness. And the thing that really bothers me is you know there has to be a lot going on in Fraser's head for him to engage in a threesome, and so often because he's at the dry cleaners we never get to see that acceptance process.

I really need to get over this stupid writing angst.

::frowns at you:: Yes, you do. I know it is useless for me to tell you how fambulous you are. But you are. Fambulous.

[spuffyduds.livejournal.com]

You make me all beamish.

[arrow00.livejournal.com]

That was just bonus points. :)