Fic: Yuletidiness - gift received, gifts given, reccs

[labyrinth2015]

Holiday Hangover Thing the Second: Yuletide, the time of greatest mirth and joyance among men, and also the time for writers to exchange fanfic gifts in rare fandoms (ranging from Goodnight Moon to Top Gear RPF to Terry Pratchett's Discworld) hosted on the Archive of Our Own. This was my first year participating, and I have cincodemaygirl to thank for holding my hand and speaking very slowly and calmly when she talked me through the rules and offering and requesting and whatnot.

I might have been initially intimidated, but I had the best experience! I requested stories in Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantine Mosiac and Lions of Al-Rassan fandoms, vintage Battlestar Galactica, and Gabriel Knight adventure game.

And I received the most incredible story:
What Lies in Books, by prolific profic writer russian_blue
Gabriel/Grace, Gabriel/von Glower, [Mature], 4,064 words.

This was the Gabriel Knight story I most desired when I signed up for Yuletide 2010, a story that discussed the relationship between Gabe and his nearest and dearest, that let us see how far Gabe had come, post-The Beast Within while staying true to his canon self. It has everything I loved about the game: a historical setting, an intricate plot that was the perfect framework to explore Gabe's hopes for Grace, his desires for Friedrich and the darkness within, and, at the heart of it, his own strengths and weaknesses. Oh, and cameo by Silvio Berlusconi :)

The reason didn't matter, only the result. He was learning to control it. Bit by bit, starting with the medallion, until he could touch it without screaming, as Friedrich had done. There had to be truth in the hunting club's philosophy, the notion that the beast within could be a source of strength. That he could master it, and not become a monster.

...Gabriel forced his lips into a smile. Ludwig had done it, the pansy-ass bastard, at least for a while; a Schattenjäger could surely do better.

In another corner of Yuletide, I wrote this Cook/Archie friendship fic:
Fairytales Can Come True, It Could Happen To You for poppetawoppet
David Archuleta, David Cook, [Gen], various pairings, [PG-13], 11,110 words.
Davids Archuleta and Cook go to extremes with impossible schemes: life's more exciting for them with each passing day, with love either in their hearts, or - thanks to their own judicious plotting - on its way. All-singing, all-dating, multiple pairings, crossover with Country Music RPF and Kris Allen Band.

And I also wandered out to Bruce Springsteen fandom, to make this:
Cars & Girls for twistedchick
From Springsteen's Born to Run (album), various pairings, [PG-13], 767 words.
Life's a highway: these two lanes can take us anywhere. Three stories about cars and girls.

Sending much love to my Yulegoat, my gracious recipients and betas frackin_sweet, cincodemaygirl and likeadeuce!

Various other amazing Yuletide stories which I think my non-Yuletiding f-listers might enjoy:

Fish in a Barrel by gileonnen.
Hunger Games Trilogy, Finnick Odair Gen., [Explicit - Violence], 8,000+ words
You've trained your whole life for this moment: The moment when you rise into the arena and cheat the odds. The Sixty-Fifth Hunger Games are about to begin. This is where his story starts; this is where he begins. Perfect second person voice.

Achilles Heel by mithrigil.
Hunger Games Trilogy, Finnick Odair Gen., [Mature], 9,000+ words
Finnick’s Games. The ones he plays in, the ones he wins, and the ones he’s still a pawn in ever after. Her Finnick is gorgeous, and her Cinna and his designs truly illuminate.

Carrying A Concealed Weapon (and other crimes to commit while being Adora Belle Dearheart) by Netgirl_y2k.
Discworld, Adora Belle Dearheart Gen., [G], 2,000+ words
Adora Belle is arrested, Lady Sybil is there to help, or at least there to make the tea. When I grow up, I think I want to be Adora Belle, but I really want to be Sybil.

Seven Prayers to Papa (Because the Boy Never Forgot) , by murielle
Cormac McCarthy's The Road, Gen., [G], 3,000+ words
The boy goes with the man and the woman and the boy and the girl ..... Post-story, futurefic, spoilers abound. And it made me cry, seriously.

Intrepid Journalist Rachel Maddow Meets A Very Modern [And Political] Sleeping Beauty, by thecolourclear
Rachel Maddow Pundit RPF/Fairytales Gen., [Unrated], 1,500+ words
In Far Far Away, the Princess goes missing and Rachel Maddow investigates. A modern take on Sleeping Beauty, with a few ... twists. The first twist being Rachel Maddow. Awesome updated Sleeping Beauty femslash story, featuring the RL dragon-and-obstacles-defeating prowess of the glorious Rachel Maddow.

Achieving Good Relations With the Media in Five Easy Steps, by Kristopher N. Allen by stickmarionette
Kris Allen Band, Kris/Jim Cantiello, [G], 2,500+ words
Kris Allen, Jim Cantiello and the humble beginnings of a beautiful friendship. Krim? Totally canon, and here, deftly told.

This entry was originally posted on dreamwidth; you can choose to read it there.

Comments

[asweetdownfall.livejournal.com]

Oh my heck, how are you so amazing, Jay. O_________O That was a rhetorical question, btw. ;P

And awww, thank you for the recs! Especially The Hunger Games ones. ♥ ___________________♥

ETA: AND THERE IS RACHEL MADDOW FIC?!! BE STILL MY HEART.

[jehane-writes.livejournal.com]

I know there are a lot of Hunger Games fans on my f-list, and there were a LOT of amazing HG stories this Yuletide! I hope you find something you like!

And if you're not an AO3 registered user, there is a nifty "Kudos" button (like the "Like" button on Facebook!) that lets you leave really quick fb ;).

ETA: Haha, that recc was actually just for evilgeniuslady! BUT IT IS AMAZING FIC AND YOU WILL LOVE READING IT.

[duckgirlie.livejournal.com]

I loved the Discworld fic that yuletide springs up, especially as so much of it focuses on the awesome ladies. (Last year, I got two ladies-of-Ankh-Morpork-being-awesome fics)

And I can't believe I missed the Rachel one! I've been very erratically on line lately (transferring to a new laptop) and I have heardly left feedback on anything.

[jehane-writes.livejournal.com]

Yay for Discworld! Yuletide tends to bring out the amazing PTerry fic, doesn't it? I hear they might nix Discworld next year, which would make me sad as sad.

Also yay Pundit RPF! It's a hilarious category, and, yk, Rachel Maddow :)

[duckgirlie.livejournal.com]

There is a lot of... stuff going on with yuletide this year, to do with the way they're eliminating fandoms based on AO3 usage. Discworld is massively over-represented there because people put Death in a lot of non-DW fics, so there are loads of fics tagged with it that aren't actually DW fics. They nixxed it this year initially, but someone wrote an appeal based on how pretty much all the DW fic on AO3 is either a crossover or from a previous yuletide, so it's definitely not an active fandom in the proper sense of the word. That happened with a couple of fandoms this year, and RPF fandoms tend to be affected by that more (Pundits and Ryan/Simon were originally on the off list as well) because it's harder to definitively divide into distinct fandoms.

On the one hand, I'm really grateful to the mods, and obviously they can run it however they want, but on the other hand, if it's a too-time-consuming issue (as opposed to a genuinely-too-difficult-to-code issue) there are hundreds of people willing to help out if they need help certifying fandom stats.

[jehane-writes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I did read some of the Yuletide ~debate on whether a fandom could be regarded as rare! It would be really sad if Discworld gets eliminated as a fandom. I mean, nobody is looking to eliminate Fairy Tales, right?

I actually didn't know about the Cook/Archie genfic - I had a long debate with Cinco as to whether or not to offer Cook and/or Archie fic as a category in Western Pop Artists (which itself looked like a compromise category, as it was filled with disjointed folks who could have been in other categories and didn't really belong together. I mean, who really wants to ask for DCook/John Mayer/Elvis Costello threesome fic, even if I were prepared to write it?)

Actually, the category allowed me to offer Cook/Archie relationship fic, which Cinco and I both felt was not right in the spirit of the Yuletide exchange. My compromise was offering to make Cook/Archie gen (which is rare, c'mon), and that was what poppetawoppet requested too, and that allowed me to make rare pairings (Archuheta! Kravid! Cookwood!) which I know she digs, as well as the crackier ones which IDK if anyone digs (DCook/Sara Bareilles! Archie/Aaron! Archie/Kellie Pickler!).

I think I was the only Western Pop Artists story this year - so that should stand it in good stead as not being eliminated next, right?

[duckgirlie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a lot of the misc categories are like that, which is why lots of the characters in them only have one or two stories for them. That's always the problem with declaring a fandom rare when you can re-position most of the people in it into a different fandom without much trouble. There was a big struggle to get AI1-6 back in there, because they initially decided to amalgamate all the AIs this year, which wasn't really fair as only 7&8 are big enough to qualify as proper fandoms, which knocked Ryan/Simon out as well. (which would have been fine, if they'd been warned in advance that that was going to happen, and someone could have made a 'misc tv presenters' catagory or something)

I've been doing yuletide since about 2005, I think, but I've generally not been involved with the yuletide-as-fandom/meta side of things. I just write/read my stories and leave it at that.

[jehane-writes.livejournal.com]

I actually donut get how AI1-6 does not include Ryan/Simon. I mean, it's a rare pairing, and I am sure people would have asked for it if it had been available.

I would actually not be unhappy if Cook/Archie wasn't available next year, though I will prob continue to offer it if it is and is requested, and I did try to contribute to other obscurer fandoms by writing a wee treat for Springsteen fandom!

[duckgirlie.livejournal.com]

It does now, they put 1-6 back in after a couple of appeals went in about it. I used to put down fandoms I'd already written under the old system, when you could sign up for as many as you wanted, but this year I only went with rarer things. It's part of the fun of it, I think.

[jehane-writes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and then sadly nobody offered or was matched on it, because there's no fic this year!

Yeah, next year I'll probably do that, focus on the rarer things. It was fun; I had an awesome time ;)

[frackin-sweet.livejournal.com]

Sooooo, don't take this the wrong way, but I TOTALLY HATE YOU FOR THE ROAD REC, BECAUSE I WAS CRYING AT ABOUT 7.4 WORDS IN. Ok, it took longer than that, but still, jeez!

If I were feeling more objective, I'd say that was exactly the story I wanted, after the way it ended.

I'm going to come back & read the other stuff later. Except maybe the one in 2nd person, cuz, yk ;)

BBL READING THAT STORY AGAIN AND HAVING A TOTAL BREADOWN.

[jehane-writes.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm not a bit sorry - if I cried, everybody gets to cry! (And I was happy to return the favor, since you put me onto The Road in the first place.) If you AO3 Yuletide 2010 search on The Road, there's another story from the Woman's perspective, obvsly pre-canon, which was also excellent. READ.

The second person was AWESOME. But, srsly, the Yuletide Hunger Games stories were so good! Also read! :)

[frackin-sweet.livejournal.com]

I am so not down with random crying at work.

Is AO3 the site where your recs were located? I'm not sure if it doesn't load correctly at my office, or what, but I have a horrible time navigating it. Dislike.

There is a panfandom rec/request meme on F!S right now, and it seems Hunger Games fandom loves Finnick.

[jehane-writes.livejournal.com]

Yes, the Yuletide 2010 official site is AO3. Oh dear, I actually really like the interface; not sure why it is not loading or letting you around properly?

And, yes, I am a Finnick fan; also, imo, the best HG fanfic has been Finnick-related. But if you recall, I tend to gravitate toward impossibly beautiful damaged boys? To whom {SPOILER ALERT} bad things happen! I found a lovely Gale/Johanna last night - is that pairing more up your street? And a Haymitch that I really liked...

[frackin-sweet.livejournal.com]

One of the primary things I dislike is that it keeps making me verify my age and that I'm not going to be scarred by ADULT FANFIC OMG. I monkeyed with my Internet settings too, and no improvement. Blah.

The character of Finnick didn't particularly grab me, although I like his role in the stories. And I feel like genfic is what I'd most like - the pairings that exist are fine for me. And I'd love to see some alternate realities, particularly one where Prim gets to live. T__T

And ngl, I LOVE HAYMITCH. He's my favorite :) And really, while some people might think Katniss is a Sue, I love her. I think she's perfect.

[jehane-writes.livejournal.com]

Okay, this is the Haymitch, and it has a great Kat/Haymitch gen moment: Here's the Smell of Blood Still.

This is the Gale/Johanna, and the writer wrote the lovely Mal Inception fic that I initially squeed over, so I was keen to read it! Feel What It's Like to Be New.

And this is a Prim-centric story that I quite enjoyed also! Lessons in Love, and Other Such Things.

Hope the interface sorts out for you! *kicks AO3*

[frackin-sweet.livejournal.com]

I will most definitely read them at home - I tend to have less problems with my laptop.

[jehane-writes.livejournal.com]

KICKING MY LAPTOP, BECAUSE I AM UNABLE TO KICK GDOCS, BTW.

[tristantrakand.livejournal.com]

The beginning of "Fairytales" seems a bit different than what I'm used to in your work. The sentences are clipped and abrupt (that isn't really the word I'd use, but it's the only one that comes to mind right now). Not that there's anything wrong with that. Just different for me. To quote you: "Not different bad. Different different." LOL What the hell this comment makes no sense. I just woke up and that's my excuse. BUT everything is back to normal by the time DCook calls Kris.

The Sausalito sun was scorching, but Archie wasn't feeling the heat. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was currently wearing a tight t-shirt and tighter swimming trunks that his stylist had picked out.

I can already picture him squirming. LOL

Archie was pretty sure his blush didn’t go with his t-shirt, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.

BWAHAHAHA


Then he tried to steer Kellie and their drinks to a shaded part of the yacht - this was kind of difficult because he was trying to be a gentleman and not touch any unclothed part of her, and she was, like, 95 per cent unclothed.

I like how you convey Archie's awkwardness here. You don't descend into an Archie internal dialogue replete with smatterings of "Oh gosh!" It's very straight to the point and yet very descriptive. I can see him in my head doing the awkward hand motions and stuff.

I will confess to having no freaking idea who Aaron Kelly is. I had to Google him. XD Not a big fan of Season 9 here. XD

“I just think the first world needs to reach out its hands to India and China and help incentivize the governments to implement carbon emission laws, not just criticize, you know?” she said, chipping her neon-green ball over a replica of the Taj Mahal, and Cook made a mental promise to buy some carbon credits to offset his SUV fuel consumption.

I do not know why I found this funny. But I did! XD

Archie sent Cook a direct message that said, REALLY GOSH WHAT,

BWAHAHAHAHA

felt himself Kris' tongue sweep over his,

?

I loved it! Feels really good to be reading your fics again! :D

[jehane-writes.livejournal.com]

Hee, I can't believe I gotcha with my Archie/Kellie Pickler pairing! I think I started with shorter sentences and short, sharp dialogue, on the premise that it was easier to read? IDK.

I totally see Arch as flailing less the older he gets, and also find an oh gosh!~ internal monologue kind of unsubtle? I do have frackin_sweet to thank for making his interactions substantially less over-the-top ingenue-like, as in the scene with Cook and Archie on the boat, post-Carrie and -Kellie.

Thanks for the typofix, and for laughing - it's supposed to be a funny story! And, overall - thanks ♥

[tristantrakand.livejournal.com]

also find an oh gosh!~ internal monologue kind of unsubtle

The oh gosh!~ internal monologue is a hit or miss deal with me. There are fics where it works really well. Then there are those fics where it just screams laziness.

[jehane-writes.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know - I actually really enjoy Archie internal monologue, if it's well done! But it's often overdone, and I was trying to not do that, yk?

[rajkumari905.livejournal.com]

The friendship fic you wrote was soooooooo sweet <3

[jehane-writes.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you! I actually really enjoyed writing the friendship part - there aren't enough pure Cook/Archie gen, friendship stories in fandom :)