Five fics meme

[valis2]

Y'all know I can't resist this. Sometimes I feel really weird for liking what I write, but there you go.

Post a list of your top five favourite fics you've written, regardless of fandom or the reason you love them. This isn't about the BEST things you've written, but what you LOVE most.

A Line in the Dirt [RL]/A Free Man [SS] Summary for A Line in the Dirt: Sometimes Remus is human. Sometimes Remus is an animal. Summary for A Free Man: Severus is wary of traps.

Right now this pair of ficlets is, hands down, my favorite. I absolutely love the way these worked out. I started writing them on the way home from Lumos. They originally started out as poems, and I wrote most of the Lupin piece on the plane, and the first three lines of the Snape piece, too. Eventually I finished the Lupin piece and loved it tremendously, and thought the Snape piece was awful. And then, in one last fit of intensity, I really looked at the Snape piece, reshaped it entirely, and just poured it right out, and in the end, I think it's better than the Lupin piece.

Next is The Body is His Book: The body is his book. Lucius can always tell the lies it conceals, and this one should be no different, pale, sallow, spread out over the table like parchment. Black eyes like ink. He touches the warm flesh, lightly running his fingertips over one jutting hip. This body should have held no lies from him. This body should have known better. Its traitorous heart intrigues him.

He can control every last muscle, can do things with Imperius that even the Dark Lord might fear. It only takes the slightest effort to keep this body quiescent. He wonders where the treachery is written; the soles of the feet, the tender scalp, the delicate webbing between fingers.

This body is a mystery he will illuminate. He will have to sink deep to bring out the hidden letters, the dark morass of perfidy, the black word of betrayal that sprouted through the flesh. .

I wrote this as a response to a First Line Challenge, where you take the first line of someone else's fic (in this case, switchknife) and you write a drabble around it. Anyone who has been on the flist awhile will remember this chestnut, but honestly, I still love it, because it's creepy to the extreme and because I really stretched my limits. Just coming up with different references to books was a challenge. I loved it.

Snupin haiku series, wartime and Snupin haiku series, Remus rescuing Severus from Azkaban were extremely enjoyable to write. I really love the taut, spare nature of the haiku. I love the rhythm which develops naturally from haiku.

I also quite like this unnamed drabble.

Ice grips his heart. A madness has blossomed, roaring in his veins, a sharp, winding circle of empty hands and still hearts. The fire in his left eye has been extinguished. His resolve is being knapped away; his charade is a fool's show, light and noise and the occasional green flash to remind him of before.

He still tastes soot in the back of his throat. He has tried to put that in another country, but it always surfaces, sometimes in the curve of the Dark Lord's smile, sometimes in Narcissa's cultured tones. He wishes he could lay her down on the table and scrape off her expensive veneer, expose her decaying house. A glass of red wine---no, he does not drink it anymore, not since Lucius threw it in his face, and he was forced to bow once more.

He's almost made it now, the crossroads of his last decision, and he can feel his thread being pulled taut, and there's nothing in his way now but the Choice, the same one he has ruined once, thrice, a hundred thousand times, the one that snakes through his ribs and bites. Potter will be there soon, not James but still James, and it will either be over or it will be over, and everything will change and nothing will change, and he will still have wasted all this time trying to remember the exact shade of Albus's eyes as he was granted forgiveness though he could never have accepted it.

For some reason I forgot entirely that I had written it. Funny how that happens! I wince at the "another country" bit, I have used that too many times, but otherwise, I did enjoy rereading this drabble, and I really like how the last paragraph turned out, especially how his life has been reduced yet again to a choice, and how I tried to convey the duality of his nature/existence...heh.

And I'm going to be totally shameless and mention the first HP fanfic I ever started writing, which is the Last Sanguimagus, of course, hosted in all of its lovely WiP-ness at lastbloodwitch. This is the piece of writing I come back to again and again. It has flaws, definitely. I was very consciously emulating JKR's style, and that limits some things; I can't be as crazy flowery as I like to get, and the POV has to be pretty strict too. Upon rereading it, I realized that there is a lot of backstory, which can be pretty overwhelming. I should have completely excised Harry's POV and just written a straight SS/OFC story. I also made a few mistakes that many beginning fanfic writers make, though I've tried to fix them on subsequent revisions. Also, I had to interpret Snape a bit differently than canon!Snape, obviously, or (to me at least) it would be unrealistic for him to be part of a relationship.

But I am happy with the story as well. Blood magic is a really fun system to write; it has its own logic (I've really tried very hard to be consistent with it), and it has realistic limits and abilities. I adore the character of Sarah Tanner, though I must point out in all fairness that she scares me too; I'm not certain if I like her, honestly. I just love her for being mine.

When I reread the story I remember the little things that I tried to put into it. For example, in one chapter a snake is conjured at an Order meeting; Arthur suddenly leans back in his chair. I just thought, if a snake popped in out of nowhere with no warning...Arthur might have a bit of a reaction. Nothing much, no hysterics, just a little movement. Things like this satisfy me very much, but probably make no impression at all on most readers. One of the few things I like about my writing is my mania for certain details, and I always hope that they enrich the story for someone other than myself. I also am very into plot. I really like creating plots which move in ways the reader does not expect. I like building them, brick by brick, and laying the groundwork, and then spinning off in a direction that, while still supported, is still surprising. I have always enjoyed pushing things in directions that are both logical and unexpected. I have never liked reading fics and thinking, "Why would Snape do that?" and I am always wary of falling into that mistake.

Comments

[seaislewitch.livejournal.com]

What an interesting post!

Subtle details -- Arthur's reaction to a snake, for instance -- is like the icing on a cake. *g*

That Lucius drabble is creepily good!

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

One of the few things I like about my writing is my mania for certain details, and I always hope that they enrich the story for someone other than myself.

I feel the same! I like details and I notice them when I read a story. I also love it when people manage to put in tiny details about the surroundings, to show that we are in a magical universe. When writing, I like to use details to highlight a character's behaviour, their way to react or think.

I also am very into plot. I really like creating plots which move in ways the reader does not expect. I like building them, brick by brick, and laying the groundwork, and then spinning off in a direction that, while still supported, is still surprising.

I envy you here! A lot. Sometimes I think all I will ever write is character studies. Most of the times I see my characters doing certain things, at different stages of their lives. And I like to show how they got from A to B - character wise. But writing an adventure quest would kill me. The plot, in my stories, so far has always been created to show a character's development. Plot wise, I'm really a really lazy person. *g*

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I forgot to check the formatting, unfortunately, and have gone back and made it a bit less confusing. ;)

I really love details. I love it when someone takes the time to invent a new spell, or a new plant. And I don't mean a huge crazy spell that wipes out enemies in one fell swoop; I mean just a small, practical spell.

I've always had a warm glow about that drabble. It is pretty creepy, though. lol

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I also love it when people manage to put in tiny details about the surroundings, to show that we are in a magical universe.

Absolutely! I love that too. It makes me very happy when I read a story where a writer has hidden such gems. :)

The plot, in my stories, so far has always been created to show a character's development.

Unfortunately, I think I sometimes suffer from too much plot. heh. ;)

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

I recently spent an evening with a friend, and she showered me with questions about the universe and backstory of a story I wrote. It was great, because that made it much easier to think about that stuff. My friend really got into the story, and her questions helped building that universe. Sometimes, I think I need just somebody to ask me questions about the setting. I know what drives my characters, and together with the setting, that might help me with the plot building.

How do you do it? How do you manage to get so many plot ideas?

[valis2.livejournal.com]

How do you do it? How do you manage to get so many plot ideas?

I made a bargain with a devil! Oh, okay, no. I find them under my pillow when I wake up in the morning! Nope. They're revealed to me through sporadic TV broadcasts at late hours.

Okay, fine, they just pop into my head. ;)

What normally happens is that I start to daydream, and I think about the existing plot, and then I try to think of other things, like holidays or common occurrences, and then I try to apply them to what's happened so far. I often will have several plot points to make, sometimes in one chapter.

While I'm writing, however, sometimes new plot points will pop up.

Also, while I'm driving or doing some sort of activity which doesn't require a huge amount of thought, my mind will often drift, especially if I'm listening to music. And often music will suggest characters or moods or situations, and I'll puzzle it out further while listening.