raspberryhunter

Oh, I want to play snowflake_challenge! Only starting a day late :)

The first challenge is this: In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator.

Neat, I have three that fill at least two out of three of the requirements!

For in the Wilderness Shall Waters Break Forth (3089 words, gen)
Fandom: Moses und Aron - Schoenberg, Tanakh, Christian Bible (Old Testament)

I just wrote this for Yuletide 2012, and I'm really very pleased with it, as I feel in some ways I've been studying to write this story for years. I'm sad that basically everything about it, from its form (experimental first chapter, more straightforward second chapter) to its fandom (Schoenberg opera), is set up so that no one will ever read it even though I think it's quite accessible to anyone who's somewhat familiar with the Biblical story.

I may have done this fic a disservice in terms of readers who were not its recipient by splitting it into two chapters, even though I felt I had to do it. If you don't like the first chapter, try the second, which is very different in style and form and is, I think, much more readable than the first. (The fic has this form because of intentionally inverting the opera structure, but this is, of course, not going to mean anything to anyone except my recipient seekingferret.)

The Queen of Air and Darkness (2309 words, T for themes)
Fandom: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Movies), Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Ok, not exactly no-one-ever-saw, as this has a lot of hits, comparatively (...I think it was mentioned on one of the anon memes? that's the only thing I can think of) -- but I just feel a little protective of this one, because I had a great time thinking about aliens and nonhuman experiences and love/desire in that context, and I would like it to have more love :)

Interactive Complexity as Indigenous to Human Systems (3045 words, gen, T for language only)
Fandom: Moses und Aron - Schoenberg, Tanakh, Christian Bible (Old Testament)

Moses is the Chief Scientist, Aaron is his sales guy, and the CEO is God. Don't need to know canon. ...This fic, in addition to being total crack, apparently says a number of deep and disturbing things about me and my life philosophy as regarding religion and science. Hmm.

This Yuletide I wrote three full-length fics and one Madness fic! Two were for my assigned recipient, seekingferret: Moses und Aron/Tanakh fics. Moses und Aron is an opera by Schoenberg that I mention a bit more about here. The assignment was complicated because I had these ideas for writing about women and community and music, and then I randomly went and wrote this complete crack AU (Interactive Complexity as Indigenous to Human Systems) and then I went back and poured everything I had into what I was calling the "serious" fic (For in the Wilderness Shall Waters Break Forth). Anyway, with one exception, I'm quite pleased by how both of them turned out, particularly "Waters," which is about Miriam, Elisheva, and Zipporah despite the fact that none of those characters appears in the opera. (Although if I had to do it again I might change it back to one chapter instead of two, which I think would make it a little more accessible.)

Both, I think, are readable if you don't know the opera and only know the Biblical story. "Waters" I think it would probably help to know the Biblical story. For "Complexity," you don't need to know either the opera or the Bible story, really, although you'll miss some of the bad puns if you don't know the Bible story. ...This may be a good thing?

( Read more... )

For these two fics, I relied heavily on my awesome betas. My several awesome betas, who poured time and energy into this while juggling work-school-family-holidays-ficwriting-AGH. elementals_ao3 beta-picked my word choices with her lovely podfic-honed skills. Two of my betas were complete strangers who nevertheless graciously agreed to help out: kass checked my assumptions/assertions about Judaism in "Waters," and mithrigil did a wonderful opera/music/actually-knowing-seekingferret beta. And then there was ase, who was familiar with neither the Bible story nor the opera, but who gamely read a number of random links and wikipedia articles so that she could critique the structure and fix the key paragraph of both fics (all of this over several drafts), and there was this one hilarious moment when I was all "I don't think so, that's an uncanonical idea," and then thirty minutes later had to email her back with a "Umm... why is it that you understand canon better than I do??" THANK YOU SO MUCH, YOU GUYS.

I also wrote a Greek Mythology treat: Thirteen Views of a Labyrinth. amo wrote this prompt pointing out that Ariadne and Icarus might well have known each other, and the idea got stuck in my head and would not go away. So. Beta credits and much thanks for this one go to elementals for lovely wordsmithing, ricardienne for being my Classics beta, pointing me to Ovid and Catullus (which I drew details from and then summarily ignored), and patiently and awesomely answering all my totally random questions about anachronisms ("Did they have red dye back then? What about embroidery?"), and ase for multiple draft structure-fixing and generally being entirely awesome at not letting me get away with anything :)

And I wrote a little Madness treat, For She Desires Questioning More Than Sacrifices, for yasaman on the song Abraham's Daughter, because yasaman asked for a story in which the song is the founding mythos of the Abrahamic religions, and that sounded really cool. I really wanted to expand on it, and if I'd had three more months and no music drama, I might have (it would have taken quite a bit more thought and research, and would have been super fun), but as it was, the fic also surprised me by turning out to be a fix-it fic for William Tyndale, because I think he was cool and he deserved better than being executed asking the Lord to open Henry VIII's eyes. Uh, apparently that is how I roll.

I think this year there has been some amazing stuff written for Yuletide.

First, my gift:

This blind and horrible persuasion (1286 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Turandot - Puccini

This is just SO what I wanted when I asked for Turandot fic. Making actual sense of the opera plot by giving it a wholly believable, wonderful politics backstory, I didn't even think to ask for that and it is the most awesome thing ever! Turandot-Liu as deeply sympathetic and deeply flawed BFFs with their own agendas and personalities, not just there for and about the men and Romantic Love, oh, this was everything I asked for! I am going to think of this fic and do a happy dance every time I hear Tanto amore segreto -- this is my new headcanon. And Timur! The fic gave me Liu-Timur! It even has a reference to the three ministers' song! YAY! Thank you, mystery author!!

( Other recs in Abraham's Daughter, Code Name Verity, Exeter Book, Henry V, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, Magids Series (Diana Wynne Jones), Norse Mythology, Northwest Smith (C.L. Moore), Queen of Atlantis, Slings and Arrows, Smith of Wootton Major, Tattooed Potato and Other Clues, Till We Have Faces )

Yuletide has been kicking my butt, but that's another story...

Now that I have twenty fics up, which is a nice base-10 round number, I went through them to check for Bechdel test passing. Nine of them pass Bechdel. Eleven of them pass reverse-Bechdel. (Many of these overlap, and six fics which are F/M romances or F/M main interaction don't pass either one.) I'm fairly happy with this.

What I'm not so happy with is that for seven of those nine fics, I had to make a conscious decision that it was going to pass Bechdel. Two of those seven I actually had to be told by a beta that one of the women characters was not fleshed out enough (independent of whether it passed Bechdel). (The two where I didn't have to make a conscious decision were both written for rarewomen. All hail rarewomen!)

In exactly none of the reverse-Bechdel passes did I think about it at all. They just happened.

Yeah... so... I think I see the problem.

(Also, if it weren't for the Misses Clause challenge the first year I did yuletide, last year, I am not sure how much I would have thought about it at all.)

Dear self,

I don't care how excited you are about yuletide letters about [fandoms redacted until post-yuletide], you are not allowed to write yuletide [fandom] fic treats, even if they are about your two favorite characters, until a) you finish [consuming one of the fandoms in question], and b) you work through or at least agree to give up on the THREE PLOT BUNNIES you are performing vast quantities of research on for yuletide, EVEN THOUGH SIGNUPS JUST OPENED, and c) your ACTUAL YULETIDE FIC, which may or may not be one of the three plot bunnies, is outlined and mostly written. Yes, even if that means the treats you're itching to write don't get written. Also remember this December is likely to be a great deal more crazy than last December in real life.

Dear self, in case you didn't know, you are obsessive.

Thanks,
me.

[Edited 11-2-12 for a couple of minor clarifications and to link Draco Concordans.]

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you for writing me a fic! I love all of these fandoms and desperately want fic in all/any of them pretty much equally! Whichever fandom you matched with me on, I am so happy you signed up for one of my crazy random fandoms, and I look forward to whatever you write!

( Loooots of rambling on about Turandot - Puccini, The Dragon Waiting - John M. Ford, and The People - Zenna Henderson. )

FINALLY.

As usual for me and OUAT, I started writing in response to the prompt and surprise surprise, it turned into a ginormous OUAT fix-it fic. Fixing Rumpel-Gold's enormous relationship/personal fails, fixing the show's adoption sub(or sometimes not-so-sub)text, fixing Henry-Regina so it made sense to me, fixing the Snow-Charming reunion so that it actually included Emma, coming up with a rationale for the fact that Gold has these elaborate plots in canon that MAKE NO SENSE... :)

But now I think I have finally sorted out all my FEELINGS about this show, and the various things I wanted to see it do that it didn't. I am SO DONE with OUAT Season 1 fic now.

...Just in time for Season 2 to start and give me MORE FEELINGS about it... :)

Title: The Best Chance - COMPLETE (Part III: Ch. 12-16 of 16)
Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Rating: PG
Spoilers: All of Season 1
Warnings: No major warnings.
Characters: Emma, Baelfire, Henry, Regina, Mary Margaret, David Nolan, Mr. Gold
Pairings: Principal pairings are non-romantic parental-filial pairings involving all seven main characters, in the show canon combinations as well as the romantic pairings Emma/Gold, Belle/Rumpelstiltskin(past), Snow/Charming.
Summary: Some families are bound by blood, some by law, and some simply by choice, but family always finds one another. Season 1 AU.

Prompt: I want to see [the characters of Emma and Gold] on a more equal and honest footing... Or an AU where August and Emma were placed in the same home as Baelfire, and they all grew up much more functionally, and came to Storybrooke prepared.

Prompt: How does Gold turn back from the sort of person who tortures Moe French to the generous sheep farmer Bae longs for? Does he even want to?

Part III: Chapters 12-16
Part II: Chapters 7-11
Part I: Chapters 1-6.

Okay, I said I was just going to post once I was done with this thing, but it's long enough that I'm going to post when each part (of 3) is finished. This installment, Part I, is chapters 1-6 of 16.

It also has developed into an answer not just to jedibuttercup's NPT prompt but also my own. And an answer to my continuing issues with this show concerning adoptive/foster parents. I cannot help but write issue-fixit for this fandom, I am sorry!

Title: The Best Chance
Fandom: Once Upon a Time
Rating: PG
Spoilers: All of Season 1
Characters: Emma, Baelfire, Henry, Regina, Mary Margaret, David Nolan, Mr. Gold
Relationship: Emma/Gold (eventually), Emma/August(past), Belle/Rumpelstiltskin (past), Snow/Charming
Summary: Some families are bound by blood, some by law, and some simply by choice, but family always finds one another. (Season 1 AU.)

Prompt: I want to see [the characters of Emma and Gold] on a more equal and honest footing... Or an AU where August and Emma were placed in the same home as Baelfire, and they all grew up much more functionally, and came to Storybrooke prepared.

Prompt: How does Gold turn back from the sort of person who tortures Moe French to the generous sheep farmer Bae longs for? Does he even want to?

Chapter 1 on AO3.

So would anyone be willing to beta the mostly-final-draft of the last two-thirds of my monster OUAT fic? (My fabulous sister's been pinch-beta'ing, but she's getting really busy and I am not sure she'll be able to continue.)

I've started posting it, so the plot/character arcs are pretty much set in stone at this point, as well as any deep substantive issues that I haven't managed to fix yet. What I'm looking for at this point are things on the order of "this sentence is awkward" up to "This scene doesn't work" or "This character would never say that" or "I had a really hard time getting through this scene because the characters keep jumping around in conversation" or "Are they actually spending this whole conversation talking right next to the door?"

The catch is... it's 30k (I've posted 10k already, leaving 20k, but it might be nice to read the first 10k to see what's going on), I'm currently posting chapters regularly twice a week, and I really really want to get it out before the second season premiers at the end of September. So this is going to be two to three installments a week of about 1000-2000 words each. Now, it's pretty much all written, so I can give it to you almost all at once if you'd prefer, but I'm going to need a fairly steady stream of input. (To be fair, it would also totally be okay if you had to skip one or two installments; partial beta beats no beta!)

You don't have to have familiarity with Once Upon a Time, but it would probably help with reading for characterization (it's an AU, so it's not really strictly necessary as long as it's internally consistent). The fic does spoil the entire first season.

(For those of you for whom it's relevant, it's rather more fleshed out than the first draft!)

Any takers? :)

Title:Four Theories on How Rush Broke His Arm (And One Way He Did)
Fandom: Stargate Universe
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Spoilers for Kino Webisode #32, "Horrible Accident."
Characters: Ensemble (minus Rush)
Relationship: None, unless you count Park's hyperactive imagination
Summary: Rush isn't telling anyone how he hurt his arm. Pure indulgent humor fluff.

For an art-fic exchange with easytheregenius. The art prompt is here.

( Cut for fluffiness. )