The Lazy, Yet Discerning Ficster

Announcement: Slash Backslash 2.0 Winners!

2010-09-01T21:30:00.001-05:00

The Winners are In!

Judges: Starfish422, TuesdayMidnight, Einfach Mich, FrenchBeanz, and Capricorn75.

All entries are HERE. The FFn Profile for SBS is HERE.

On June 25th, Slash Backslash 2.0 began accepting entries. What can we say? We just had so much friggin fun the first time around, and so much awesomeness came out of it that we couldn't help ourselves! We said, "We need more, yes?" Yes.

But we got judges this time.

I can not even begin to sing the praises of this panel. I've hosted a few contests, and I gotta say, these gals were on the ball 100% and I was so impressed with their enthusiasm. They are just amazing authors, wonderful ficsters, fun people, and all around AWESOME. We had so much fun doing this, though, for real. It was a blast. A BLAST! Will there be a SBS3?

>:)

But whatever, enough of me getting super fluffy, you wanna see the winners, y/y? We want you to remember that our goal in picking winners and awards is to FOREMOST provide a good, solid, fun reading list. Because of this, we don't recognize the same story twice. So even if someone won or was nominated for another award, if they already had one, we went to the next person in line to recieve it. The heirarchy went like this: Public Voting --> Judges' Scoring --> Special Categories --> Honorable Mentions. So it is possible that someone who won the Open Vote also won a Special Category, etc.

Finalists!

These are the fics that made it to the finals! Both public and Judges Scoring.

OPEN VOTING WINNERS!

First Place:
I Just Have to Ask by EchoesOfTwilight

Summary:

Entry for Slash Backslash 2.0: Jasper uses his music to cope with the pain of unrequited love, hinting in song at how he feels about his bass player. When the time comes to say it more clearly, can he? M for lemons/language. AH.

Why French Beans Loved It:

I Just Have to Ask is one of the most beautifully writtennstories I have ever read. It follows a band on tour and frontman Jasper’s longing, heartbreak ,and resolution as he struggles with his feelings for their bassist, Edward. It’s full of atmosphere,stages, screaming fans, and lyrics, but this doesn’t read like a band fic. The tour is the setting,not the focus, and the story shows the grittier side of the lifestyle: the curfews, the physical tollperforming each night can take, and the synergy of a band. It feels realistic.
The writing . . . I kind of want to make out with EchoesOfTwilight. Seriously. I wish I couldwrite like this. The style is lyrical, the perfect voice for a songwriter, and every scene resonatedwith me, making me feel Jasper’s anguish, his emptiness.
There’s so much more I want to say, but I’m worried I’ll ruin the journey for anyone who hasn’thad a chance to enjoy this. Let’s just say, it really got to me . . . like that.
Just like that.

Second Place:
Straight Edge by Lou-La

Summary:

In small-town Alabama, a new doctor and his wife arrive, bringing their teenage son, a boy with tattoos and piercings and no sense of modesty about his body. Most in town shun the boy…except for one teenager, for whom curiosity and new attraction outweigh the expectations of his family and neighbors

Why Starfish422 Loved This:

I identified with Jasper’s upbringing in a strict religious home, with parents who judged people based on appearances. I understand having an irresistible draw to a person who is, as far as others are concerned, off limits; yearning to ‘shake the dust of this crummy little town off my feet’ and get out from under an oppressive home life; and the consequences and rewards of taking that chance.
In Edward, I loved how he balanced his own refusal to conform to the standards of that little microcosm of society, against knowing when it was important for Jasper to continue keeping up his appearance for the sake of his own safety. I loved that it was okay for them to be best friends until they were both in a place where something more was possible. I even loved the ending, as neatly wrapped up as it was. I think Lou-La did a fantastic job telling this story and I look forward to more from this author. Congrats, Lou-La! - Katie Starfish

Third Place:
Stay by avioleta

Summary:

A literature student. A biology professor. A few works of fiction. And a lot of black tea. 'We should have sex.' 'What on earth for' Edward rolled his eyes. 'Should I make you a chart? I know. A list. I write you a list.' AH, E/C, SLASH, Rated M.

Why Capricorn75 loved this:

Avioleta brings her story to life, and leaves the reader feeling as though they are a part of the story, and not merely reading words on a screen. The story revolves around Edward, a college student, and Carlisle, a professor at the university (don’t worry, nothing naughty going on here- Edward is not in any of his classes). The relationship builds slowly but strongly between the two- from strangers, to acquaintances, to friends, to more. But how much are they each willing to vest in the other? You’ll have to read to find out.
I normally read slash for the hot lemons, but this story is so much more than that. Avioleta has a powerful way with words. She uses a lot of them- this story clocks in at just under 10K. But not a word is wasted- she puts each one to good use and creates a warm cocoon that wraps the reader up in Oldlisle and Youngward’s journey. I’m not a writer by any means (and I think this summary proves that!), but if I was then this is the quality of story I would strive to write.

JUDGES' SCORING WINNERS

First Place:
The Ungraceful Art of Falling by sareisle

Summary:

Seth hadn't meant to fall. He'd seen time and time again what love did to people. But then things changed - friendships were formed and a love evolved in all the wrong conditions. A series of vignettes into the life and pain of Seth Clearwater. AU SLASH

Why Einfach Mich loved this:

Sareisle gives us a heart-wrenching tale of self discovery, and unrequited love. In this story we witness the frightening and life changing process of a young boy discovering that he is gay. This is Seth Clearwater, the hopeful, loving boy you know and love from canon. He is funny, sarcastic, and completely shaken when he realizes that not only that he's gay, but he's in love with his best friend.
I have a tender spot in my heart for well written coming out stories, not to mention stories of unrequited love. The Ungraceful Art of Falling is devastatingly realistic in its portrayal of Seth's heartbreaking journey. It reaches inside your chest, and rips out your heart, and reminds you what it really means to want with every partial of your being.

Second Place:
The Measure of a Man by PolkaDotMama

Summary:

Jasper is a man’s man, someone unashamed of his sexuality, but nevertheless closeted at work, because he values his privacy so strongly. A work function held in an unusual venue, at a traditional Japanese tea room, introduces him to Momo, a geisha who, as Jasper soon realizes, is being played by a man.

Why Starfish loved this:

The devil of this story, for me, is in the details. I could perfectly understand the allure of one seemingly insignificant detail about Momo’s costume, the thing that drew Jasper in, had him reconsidering his “type” of man. Polkadotmomma has shown proficiency in navigating the fine line between lush detail and purple prose. I loved the descriptions of Momo’s outfits, her femininity and the comparisons with the man inside. The anniversary lovemaking scene was beautiful. Hot and sexy, and tremendously well-done. Congrats, Polkadotmomma!

Third Place:
Happy Birthday Riley by TwiBoy

Summary:

It's Riley's birthday and Edward wants to help him celebrate properly. Entry for the Slash Backslash One-Shot Contest. Rated M for language and adult content. AH/OOC/Slash

Why TuesdayMidnight loved this:

This story could win the award for "Writer Whose Sex Life I'm Most Jealous Of," because damn, this was written from a TwiBoy who most definitely knows what he is doing. The writing is impeccable, descriptive and centers on a common theme I, for one, truly appreciate - porn. And how! There's blowjobs and rimming and fucking, oh my!
It all begins with a wank, as Riley celebrates his birthday by watching yet another video of his favorite porn star - Hale Storm. Riley is then transported by his roommate Edward to a party full of hedonistic delights. Seth, Paul and Jacob get in on the action, and as Riley and Edward watch these three naughty exhibitionists enjoy one another's company, none other than Hale Storm himself appears. He and Edward team up to give Riley a birthday present worth remembering, and successfully made this reader all hot and bothered.
Here's hoping TwiBoy considers writing a Hale Storm spinoff! Pretty please? ;)

SPECIAL CATEGORY WINNERS

Best Humor:
McFearless by TeamBella23

Summary:

"This is all wrong, it even feels wrong but fuck, it feels good." A night of firsts for Edward and Jasper… Written for the Slash Backslash 2.0 Contest. AH/AU

Why Pastiche Pen loved this:

First, it's amazing comedy, i.e., spit-your-drink funny, giggle-shits, etc. It's also deliciously hot, like in the kinkiest high school fantasy sort-of-way. So, to begin: Edward catches Bella cheating on him. This makes him very sad. A screaming episode and a handle of vodka later, Edward finds his party over, and he's all alone in his house, drowning his sorrows with his best friend Jasper. Because they’re drunk and handsy they do what they're supposed to do—they wrestle. Sometimes blow jobs just happen. That doesn't make you gay. But then, what about accidental gay sex? Well, dear reader, you'll have to read...
Needless to say, McFearless brings out the champion in every slashy reader. Thus, Thank you lovely TeamBella23, and we really hope you, um, pull an Edward, dump Bella, and permanently switch to our team. ~salutes~

Best Heartfail:
Tears in the Snow by sweetp-1

Summary:

Edward and Jacob thought they had forever, but sometimes happily-ever-afters don't turn out as expected. Angsty wolf/vamp slash for Slash Backslash V2. AU. OOC. M for adult content and mature themes.

Why Einfach Mich loved this:

Sweetp-1 doesn't bother to convince you that Edward and Jacob is a viable pair. She instead shows you that their love is an inevitability. As the Moon calls to the tides love, in its undeniable power draws these two unlikely lovers together. Tears in the Snow is a AU stories that never forgets the world of Twilight even as it defies it with graceful and elegant prose. As it weaves a spell, showing us that love is truly a wondrous gift, it tears out our heart by showing us the realist consequence of eternal life.
It would be an understatement to say that this story left it impression on me. I carried with me long after I read it. Even now I'm haunted by the tragic beauty of Edward and Jacob's story. This clever, and masterfully written one shot has more than earned its title as Best Heart fail.

Best Fluff:
Shooting Stars by Rosmarina

Summary:

Entry for the Slash Backslash Contest 2.0* The meadow, a meteor shower, two men in love and the family they made. Edward makes a wish on a falling star and decides it's time to take what he wants.

Why Frenchbeanz loved this:

Shooting Stars can claim to be the only fluff fic to make me tear up. Me. Tear up. From fluff. I know!
The pairing is Edward and Emmett, and they go camping—a setting perfect for Em pranks and hawt outdoors secks, yes? You couldn’t be more wrong. Instead of going at it like bare hares, E is all worried about whether or not he packed enough, mentally listing everything they need and what they possibly left behind. Meanwhile, Em is playing with the kids. (Oh yes, I said kids. Stay with me here.)
What I really like is the way it presents a normal family. They have all the same mundane, domestic chores to do, all the same anxieties about their kids. The only difference is these two aren’t allowed to get married.
When you listen to E’s dreams and wishes, you realize how unfair—and frankly, heartbreaking—it is that this just isn’t an option for them. Not yet. And maybe not for a very long time. Shooting Stars is a sweet story that illustrates just how ridiculous it is to withhold the right to marry from a clearly loving family.

Most Anticipated Continuation:
The X Games by TwistedforTwilight

Summary:

My entry for the SLASH/BACKSLASH 2.0 contest. Skatesper competes in The X Games. ExJ AH/Slash - M for Mature Audiences Only.

Why AngstGoddess loved this:

Twistedfortwilight really built a world here. I loved her Jasper, and I was instantly captivated by her Edward and their connection. I don't really know much about skateboarding, but I never felt confused or weighed down by specifics. Yet... I never felt like the premise was half-assed either. She really set the stage with The X-Games event, but what really got me, I'll admit, was the twist. I'm a sucker for twists, and I never saw this one coming. You don't go into reading a skater fic expecting to have your gut ripped open, but this one will do just that. And it'll stay with you. And you'll find yourself awake at two in the morning wondering... what the fuck ever happened to Jasper? I have to know. I HAVE TO KNOW!
Which is why when we tried with all our might to break the tie for "Most Anticipated Continuation," I said, nuh uh no way. Not giving this one up. YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO PRY IT FROM MY DEAD, COLD FINGERS, SHANNON. And she was like, "Oh, well, let's just leave the tie," and I was all, ~okay happy skatersper sam~. I just have a special place in my heart for stories that can resonate with me, and this one... well, it's in there, all nestled and comfy and WAITING FOR A CONTINUATION, NO PRESSURE OR ANYTHING JSJSJSJS.

Most Anticipated Continuation:
The Kindness of Strangers by VampiresHaveLaws

Summary:

There are warm hearts and tainted souls. "He smiles too much. Or maybe it's just that I don't do it enough." The kindness of strangers - no good deed goes unpunished. Entry for the Slash Backslash 2.0 contest.

Why Pastiche Pen loved this:

I did a half-cringe when I heard that this was a homeless!Edward fic. I was worried that it was going to be fluffy (P thinks fluff is Satan's hairspray) or worse yet, really sad, bleak heart fail. BUT NO. It was edgy—and smart—and somehow, chock full of UST, while still managing to earnestly tell the tale of street-kid!Edward. What really makes this work is Edward's gritty perspective. He gets people. He's seen too much not to. Kindness begins when Carlisle brings Edward home after catching him snooping around the hospital where he's a doctor.
Carlisle (in-character) puts on the guise of a do-gooder humanitarian—but Edward sees through the facade. Edward sees the way that Carlisle looks at him. He sees the desire behind the feigned reluctance. He acts on it. The consequences of Edward's seduction are in a word—explosive. (lol) Bella gets involved. (She's Carlisle's kid.)
This story is so tightly wound and amazing—that WE ALL WANT MORE. We want to see Edward's heart dusted off from all that dirt and grit. We want to see him get off sad street. We would really, really like to hear more "details" about that er thirteen-year-old exploration with Jasper... Basically, no pressure, but ~stomp-stomp~ there's more to be told here, and with this wonderful plot already so aching to be expanded (pun. pun. pun.), we'd really like a continuation of this brilliance. :-D

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Joy, Relief, Lust, Gratitude by SubtlePen

Summary:

SLASH BACKSLASH 2.0 entry! Could there be any greater happiness than looking in someone's eyes and knowing they were meant for you? A twenty-drabble story of loneliness and love at first sight.

Why Pastiche Pen loved this:

: In a word, this fic is gorgeous. On the writing scale, it has this ephemeral, knock-you-off-your-feet head rush aspect, and at the same time, it manages to do what so many other fics fail at. It tells a damned sweet story. Carlisle, having just lost a patient, goes to a bar where he meets Edward. Both of these men are looking for something meaningful, and there's this secret joy that happens when they discover each other.
And the prose. It ain't purple. It's just beeeautiful. So pretty. Some of those lines just stabbed me in the gut with their simple hopefulness. Thank you, Subtlepen, for this sweet little escape.

Dirty Laundry by queenofgrey

Summary:

ENTRY FOR SLASH BACKSLASH 2.0. It's laundry day at Edward's, & the laundry room is the dirtiest place in the house. If the spin cycle's a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'. Or do, if you're Jasper. Rated M, obviously.

Why AngstGoddess loved this:

: "Gay men like ass." Well, I am a sucker for realism, what can I say? This one-shot begins with Edward walking in on his brother, Emmett, porking Rose on top of their washing machine. You know what really gets me about this Edward? He is gay, but not like, vag fluff cry a lot sassy jazz hands musical loving lolz this was so written by a woman who has no idea what men are like kind of gay, but just a normal dude who just so happens to love him some dick. And he's just so... adorable! And funny. Yeah, Edward's personality, his inner voice, is what sells me on this. It was so much fun being inside his head that I didn't want to leave. Jasper is Rosalie’s brother who, after getting into a scuffle at a bar and being rescued by Emmett, follows them back to where he and Edward live. E/J meet in the most entertaining of ways: Jasper butt naked in the laundry room, pilfering Edward's boxers from the dryer (Emmett said he could?). The UST is thick thick thick, and well.... we loved the shit out of it. Definitely one of the funniest reads in the contest. In fact, I might have to go read it again. Right now. You should too, because this blurb isn't doing it a fraction of the justice it deserves.

Worth the Climb by ICMezzo

Summary:

The one where things come out in the dark: Jasper drags Edward camping, but they both end up surprised by what comes out at night. AH, Rated M. Entry for the Slash Backslash 2.0 contest.

Why Capricorn75 loved this:

: this is a great one-shot for when you just want to sit back, chill, have a beer, read a fic and have a few laughs. The characters are real and well-written, but not so deep that you can’t identify with them. The laughs are plentiful, but not at the expense of the reader’s- or character’s- intelligence.
In this story we’re going hiking and camping with outdoorsy Jasper, and his best friend—vegetarian, anal-retentive, germaphobe, scaredy-cat Edward. The author has created two fun dudes that I would love to hang out with. It’s easy for the reader to deduce that J has feelings for his bud. Edward is clueless (but that doesn’t mean he’s dumb). Luckily, after the world’s funniest peeing episode and a UST-y tent scene (Brokeback Twilight, anyone?) our boys come clean with one another- and then proceed to get a little dirty together ;-)

Shifter by Adair7

Summary:

I hate this place. Of all the places I go and all the places I've been, it's the worst. The only thing that makes it bearable is Jasper's presence. Slash. M. Jasper/Edward. Written for the Slash Backslash contest.

Why TuesdayMidnight loved this:

: Rarely in the world of Twific does a story so beautifully cross the line into another genre like science fiction, and that's exactly what this story achieves. As a self-proclaimed sci-fi geek, I was immediately sucked into this story as Edward finds himself stuck in a bland cell, emaciated and head shaven and then thinks: "I've been coming here more often and I don't know why." I immediately wanted to know more. What is this place? Why is Edward here? Why is he familiar with it? How did he get here? How can he leave?
Possible answers to these questions are deftly woven into the story as it unfolds. The reader finds out that Edward has been shifting between alternate worlds since his thirteenth birthday. Each world is unique and intriguing in itself, but what is most compelling about this tale is that, in a way, it's a love story. The one and only constant thing in all the worlds Edward shifts between is Jasper. He appears in every world, and he is the one who begins to question the differences in Edward's behavior as his shifting begins to increase in frequency. Though the nature of their relationship also shifts between worlds, the connection between them truly transcends dimension.
Kudos to Adair7 for writing such a gorgeous and unique story.

You All Rock!

Aren't we all winners in this?

Absolutely.

Super huge thanks to everyone who entered. All the entries were amazing, and if giving 63 awards didn't defeat the purpose of the contest, we'd give em, because every story deserves one.Too much awesome to even begin explaining, really. I coulkd try, but... I'd bore you with a bunch of little words. Thank God we had judges to help us blurb these this round...

SPEAKING OF JUDGES!

To Starfish422, TuesdayMidnight, Einfach Mich, FrenchBeanz, and Capricorn75: You gals really made this round so great. Thanks so much for all the time you put into reading, scoring, blurbing, conversing about tentacle!slash/emo gay porn, and just being generally amazing, smart, and fun women. You've already played your respectful parts in making the slashfic community diverse and fantastic with your stories, and to have you judging this contest is truly an honor and a privelege we've never taken for granted. We can't say thanks enough!

And thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, voted, and supported the contest. You're all super!

Love,
Sam [slash] Shannon

Back from Our Irregularly Scheduled Programming: Chicklette Recs Bright Garments!

2010-08-29T07:45:00.008-05:00

miaokuancha
A Garment of Brightness
Canon-Drama- T/PG-13
30 Chapters, 55,893 Words
8/25/2010 - WIP
[ FFN ]

Showing is stronger than telling. I felt the short little hairs on the back of my neck stand straight on end. "It's not fair," I say aloud. The night wind swirls, lifting the fine surface powder from the tops of the snowdrifts, coating us in diamond dust.

Chicklette's

Tell me a story. Draw me in. Weave your words in a way that is new, and capture my attention. Suck me away from the doldrums of the day and take me to someplace other. Somewhere cold and rainy or covered in snow, or draped in sunlight so bright it hurts my eyes when you look at it. Take me with you when you fall in love, when you see him for the first time, when your heart trips at the sound of her voice, when you fight for a life, even if it’s not your own.

That is what I ask of an author when I open a new story. Maybe that’s a tall order, but it’s one that Miaokuancha has delivered in spades with A Garment of Brightness. When a friend sent me a PM suggesting that I read it, I opened the tab and figured I would get to it eventually. At that point, I had eight or nine open tabs of Twilight fanfiction – pretty typical for me, any day of the week. I was flipping through the tabs, looking for something that would just grab me, and settled for that one.

Now, I’ll be frank here: So far, the plot not extraordinary. There’s a coven of vampires pretending to be human. Bella Swan is the new kid in town. Forks is wet and rainy. For much of the story, it is a simple retelling of Twilight.

And yet it is so much more:

We don't say much. We never do. Just the usual awkward hug at the terminal gate when he picked me up. You know the kind – one armed, with our faces both turned away. I've wondered whether that was one of the reasons Mom left Dad. Was he always giving her one-armed hugs after they got married? But I'm the same way, and she never left me on any church doorstep.

It's quiet and dark and drizzling, when we pull in. The drip, drip, drip from the trees and the eaves is everywhere. The porch still smells a little moldy. Not enough to give anyone allergies – just wet, wet wood, that hasn't seen paint quite often enough.

"I got a surprise for you, Bells." Dad never calls me Isabella. It just wouldn't sound right coming from him. He's not an Isabella kind of guy.

That right there was the first bit to really draw me in, because it reeks of truth. Bella and Charlie, for their common blood lines, are very much strangers, and this is captured so well by Miaokuancha’s evocative style.

Using short chapters and lyrical phrasing, the author creates a world full of vivid sensory input, as seen and felt through Bella, Edward, and perhaps the ravens, as they watch down from above:

They stand together, talking without sound, as we do. The pale-head places his featherless wing across the back of the immature. The young one flinchers away at first, then submits, then curls to the ground. The parent guards him there, with his wing across his back. They know the way of the stones. They stay without moving, until the daylight begins to die in the clouds.

At the bottom of the ravine, a doe walks carefully.

The two descend as one, and kill, and feed.

Using such distinct points of view lends this story a sort of spiritual mysticism that I hadn’t expected, yet one that I quickly came to adore.

Another interesting aspect of this story is how much Edward struggles with the ruse of being a “child.” His point of view holds a maturity and a distinctly male voice, as he struggles with himself, and also his bloodlust:

We have sauntered indoors, into the bright, warm hallways. The other students unconsciously give us space, avoid our eyes. Shards of thought assault me from every direction. How I hate the crowded spaces. I shut out the voices, as I have learned to do. Just as we all have learned to shut out the enticement of so much blood, so many beating hearts, under our very noses. To pass among the hot, throbbing herd, untouched and untouchable. Most of the time.

"So, Alice," I say, and I don't mean to mock, but I do, "How sure is 'pretty sure'?"

There are so many beautiful passages in this story that I wish I could highlight them all, and paste them here, for your consumption. Instead, I’ll beg you to go and read them for yourself. Get lost with Miaokuancha’s Edward and Bella. Let her draw you in. You won’t be disappointed.

Chicklette is the author of many wonderful fics, including some rec'd on the Ficster. She's currently writing Of Kith and Kin, and if you haven't read her--YOU ARE MISSING OUT.

Blog Update

We're still working on our transition for updating the Ficster. Believe it or not, we're making progress! However, if anyone would like to volunteer to crunch some (easy but repetitive) HTML, send an email to pastichepen@tlydf.com. The admins will snuggle you.

Admin Rec: Pastiche Finds Love (Between the Sexes)

2010-07-24T12:53:00.007-05:00

EFC
Love Between Sexes - MA/NC-17
Angst/Romance
18 Chapters, 93,030 Words
7-4-10 - Completed
[ FFN ]

Edward & Jasper were roommates in University. They both have wives and new lives now, but a three day reunion will force them to examine the relationship they chose not to explore and left behind so many years ago. SLASH ExJ

Okay, ladies, this blog may be mostly inactive, but that doesn't mean just because angstgoddess-keeps-getting-really-busy-and-not-having-time-to-code that I can't sneak in with my basic HTML knowledge and post a rec.

BECAUSE...! oh-my-word, I read the most amazing slash fic ever, and even though it is complete (and wonderful), it only has like 600 reviews.

So, first off. Slash. That means a boy x boy pairing. Man sex. Cocks squared. The threat of buttsecks (but there is a PROSTATE!) If there is a Bella, she's "Bela" (spelled the Romanian way), and most likely there's no brown haired boy, but instead Jasper is the real rainbow hero to Edward's saturnine I-am-gay-someone-please-kill-me orbit.

Now. If slash is not your flask o' whiskey, please go drink your Shirley Temples on the pool patio. Thank you.

Okay, now I get to talk about why I am in love.

First, I mostly read slash in other fandoms. In fact, I'm a consumate Harry/Draco shipper in the Harry Potter fandom, which means that I actually prefer my characters to hate each other for at least a portion of the storytelling. I don't like it when they speak in endearments. I don't like it when they text emoticons ("fuck you's" are okay though...), and I especially don't like it when they fall in love without a struggle. Back in the day, when I used to do my searches through Twilight slash, I found that there was a lot of this: fluff. Granted, a lot of it was good fluff, but given that I'm partially evil, this did not appeal to me.

But this fic!!!!

FIGHTING.

Angry!lemons.

Angsty sexual identity crises.

A wonderfully mad and outrageously gay step-uncle that you wish you could still to drink Appletinies with!!!

It's got it all!

Now, if this is enough to convince you, please click the button above, but if you need more, my descriptions below are mildly spoilerish. Very mild, though.

To explain, Edward and Jasper were college roommates. On their final night of college--before they leave for separate cities--there is a "moment."

Flash forward.

Edward is married with two kids. He and his wife are struggling. There's not much seckzy timez occurring since kid two. There's a lot of stress. His wife is dealing with post-partem depression for the looks of it. Now, you might be shrieking I HATE INFIDELITY fics, but the usual problem here, the villianization of the wife, does not occur. Instead, she's fairly portrayed as the marriage disintegrates. (This is a big deal to me.)

Anyhoo, so the big set up. Edward goes on a business trip and meets up with his buddies from college. This includes Jasper. Jasper, since he's planning staying out and drinking, makes plans to sleep in Edward's hotel room that night.

Dun-dun-dun.

Anyway, the aftermath of their encounter is what fuels the rest of the story. You might think it's all angst, but it's not. Jasper's "uncle" Alex, who is something of a gay socialite, is constantly flitting in and out of the story, adding much needed doses of humor as Edward comes to grips with the loss of his marriage, his feelings toward Jasper, and his own sexuality. Moreover, Edward and his wife start to understand the other for who he/she is, and not for who he/she is not. It's really sweet, uplifting.

(I love themes...)

There's everything rolled into a ball here: angst, humor, and sexiness.

So, go READ.

Pastiche Pen is the author of such claptrap as If Love Could Light a Candle and Sin & Incivility. She's currently writing a multi-chaptered vamp!slash fic, Yesternight, as well as co-hosting the Slash Backslash 2.0 contest with Angstgoddess003.

Comic Con, A List of Tens...plus one

2010-07-05T19:31:00.002-05:00

This time last year a lot of people, including me, were feeling very jealous of the big meet up that was about to happen at Comic Con. This has, of course, lead to an even bigger meet up this year. In the flurry of arranging flights and hotel rooms, and meals, and chances to see and talk to everyone it might be easy to overlook a few details about what a convention is actually like.

Also, I figure a lot of those of us going have never been to a convention before and don't really know what to expect or prepare for. So, I thought I'd throw together a quick list of things that I have found useful when I go to conventions. Comic Con 2010 will be my....8th? I think. Something like that.

Remember these are just observations I've made, not hard fast rules.

1. Bring Layers.
It may be boiling hot outside, but you don’t know what the air conditioning is going to be like inside, and you don’t know how late you are going to be there. Or if it may suddenly rain (though this might be more of a problem for conventions here in the Pacific Northwest) either way, best to be prepared.

2. Bring snacks.
No matter how well you plan your day things are going to change. The line for the autograph you want will go long, or someone will start giving away free things or something. Plans will be upset and you will NEED to EAT. And trust me, convention food is some of the most overpriced on the planet. You will want to make sure the snack you bring isn’t too squishable. I recommend granola bars and Cadbury Mini Eggs.

3. Wear comfortable shoes
I don’t care if you own the cutest pair of heels in the world that make your legs look like the most fantastic things ever created and a quarter of the way through the day neither will you. Wear comfortable shoes. You will probably be in them, and on your feet, for more than twelve hours.

4. Have CASH, not plastic.

In my experience most places in the Dealer’s Room only take cash. Make sure you have plenty of it. Also, in regards to a Dealer’s Room, I highly recommend walking once through the whole thing without buying anything, just so you can catalogue the must-haves. Also, you can see which booths are selling the same things and which one is cheapest and such.

5. Bring a mostly empty bag.
Preferably a backpack. It will hold your snacks and your purchases. Your purchases will start to get heavy and a backpack is a good way to not have the weight all on one arm.

6. Know the schedule, but be flexible.
Really, really, really know the schedule. Like, print out a copy and highlight the things you want to do. Don’t worry if they are all overlapping and that you know you will never be able to do it all. Highlight EVERYTHING that looks good, even the things at two in the morning. You’ll thank yourself later. Be flexible and accept that you aren’t going to see everything. Don’t be afraid to leave the convention and just chill in your hotel room for awhile. Sometimes you just need a break from the crowds.

7. See something new.
Chances are you’re going for a specific reason. To see someone or something that you are a big fan of. I implore you to branch out and see/do something you’ve never heard of. Take a chance on something. I know it’s hard because this probably means that you are missing something else that you already know that you love. But it’s always fun and a good way to find new things to love. And yes, this will backfire at least once and you will waste two hours either being bored or seeing the most ridiculous things that make no sense to you. But at least you got to sit down for a little while.

8. Regarding Cosplay

If you’re going to do it, the main thing is BRING A CHANGE OF NORMAL CLOTHES. It gets tiring. Especially if you’re in something ridiculous that just sucks to walk around in. Bring jeans and a tshirt or something. Conversely if you are against cosplaying, don’t make of fun of those who do, they put a lot of time and money and effort into their costumes and usually look pretty fantastic. And if you want to take picture of them, ask them nicely, they understand that people will want to take pictures and will usually smile, put down their bags and pose for you. Much better than sneaking a snapshot as they walk away.

9. Accept anything that is free.
Even if you don’t want it. Chances are someone you know will. Or you’ll be able to give it away in a contest or something. If it’s free, take it.

10. Sleep.
All conventions I’ve been to go 24 hours and there is some good stuff to do in the middle of the night but make sure you sleep. Energy drinks alone will not keep you going and it can take a few days to get back to normal after not sleeping one night. Trust me.

11. Conventions are crowded!
Worse than malls at Christmas. And everyone there wants the same thing you want, or so it will seem. People will cut in line, people will push you out of the way, the escalator will come to a jarring stop while you are in the middle of it, facing backwards and you will almost die (Yes, this happened to me). It isn't really worth it to get mad. There isn't anything the convention volunteers can do and they are already stressed/over worked enough. Take a deep breathe, look over your made of awesome purchases and remember that you are there to have fun.

If you have any questions/concerns do ask in the comments. Or any advice that you learned at conventions you've attended, post that as well. The bottom line here is, do what you have to do to make sure you are comfortable throughout the long days. This will make it much easier to have the most amount of fun.

Slash Backslash 2.0

2010-06-26T09:28:00.003-05:00

Slash Backslash 2.0
Hosted by: Pastiche Pen and AngstGoddess003

Our Brilliant Judges: Starfish422, TuesdayMidnight, Einfach Mich, FrenchBeanz, and Capricorn75.

AND We're BACK! We had such a wonderful turn out for the last contest--tons of readers, amazing entries, and judges who had far too much fun... so, yeah, rinse and repeat, we're off to do Slash Backslash 2.0. Give us your BOY SLASH.

Rules and Guidelines

Submissions will be accepted from June 25 - Aug. 15, 2010, ending at 11:59 PM that day.
Entries must be between 2,000 - 10,000 words in length. This includes header and the FFn bloat.
Entries may be vampy, Canon, AU, AH and any genre (e.g., angst, humor, family, suspense).
Entries must be rated appropriately.
Any and all Male/Male pairings accepted. Any rating accepted.
For the love of God, lubrication or disqualification.
No Rape please. No incest (adoption doesn't count.) No bestiality (Wolves don't count.)
Collaborations are welcome.
Please have your shiz beta'd. We encourage any author with need for a beta to check out Project Team Beta.
Limit of ONE ENTRY per author per character pairing. (eg. You can enter with a Jasper/Edward and a Carlisle/Emmett)
Entries will be accepted from fanfiction.net (FFn), LiveJournal (LJ), and Twilighted (T’ed). See submission guidelines below.
Any non-FFn entries will only be linked on this profile for viewing. Consider using LazyJournal to generate any LJ entries.
Entries must be a new story.
We're cool with expansion of one-shots after the fact, but please keep in mind that one-shots are judged largely on their ability to exist solely as a one-shot.

Submitting an Entry
Once your one-shot is posted on either FFn, LJ, or Twilighted, please PM us at the Slash Backslash profile page with the story name, or email the links to slash@tlydf.com. You must use the contest header provided below.

SLASH BACKSLASH 2.0 CONTEST

Story Name:
Pen name:
Pairing:
Disclaimer:
To see other entries in the “SLASH BACKSLASH” contest, please visit the C2: http://www.fanfiction.net/community/Slash_Backslash_2_0/68069/

Promotion:
We sincerely appreciate any promotion of this contest!

The Banner can be found here.
The 100x100 Avatar/Icon can be found here.

Questions
Can be PM'ed or emailed to slash@tlydf.com.

Announcement: BRB

2010-05-28T20:57:00.005-05:00

OMG AFK BRB LOL

TLYDF has had plans for

expanding

for a long while. With the introduction of new admins, new featured columns, new idea suggestions from the fandom, and general longing for a blog platform that doesn't murder the very foundations of my soul, we've decided to do this now.

As we

migrate from Blogger to

our personally hosted

Wordpress

system,

please excuse our downtime

. We're taking this moment to restructure, expand, and get settled in to a new process. We'll be back up and running and better than ever in just a

few short weeks

.

Thanks for taking the journey with us, and we hope to hear from you at the new site soon!

Highest Regards,

Samantha, Shannon, Elle, Heather, and Caitlin.

Fandom News - 5/28

2010-05-28T15:56:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to the following authors for completing their stories last week!

Winners for Taste on My Tongue Challenge Announced Today

Winners for The Austenatious Endeavours Challenge Announced Today

Twilight All Human Awards

Start Submitting Entries for the One Life to Live… For Eternity Contest

Voting for Twiku Kung Fu Contest Ends

Voting for Texts From Last Night Contest! Begins

Voting for We Don't Need No Stinkin' Coven! Contest Ends

Fictionista Workshop Awards

Deadline to Submit Entries to The Fictionators Teaser Tuesday Special Edition of FicsforNash

Twitastic Awards

Deadline to Submit Entries to Buffy/Twilight Crossover Contest

Start Submitting Entries for the Darkella's Naughtiest Temptation Contest

Start Submitting Entries for the Long Distance Lovin' Contest

Deadline to Submit Entries to Seers Outtake Writing Contest

Start Submitting Entries for the Summer Review Contest

Start Submitting Entries for the Superhero Contest

Voting for Twilight All Human Awards Begins

Winners for We Don't Need No Stinkin' Coven! Contest Announced Today

Start Submitting Entries for the We Want Garrett Contest

Nothing on the calendar for today!

FicsforNash Compilation

Voting for The One With All The Twilight Contest Ends

Deadline to Submit Entries to Don't Mess with the Help Contest

Voting for Giggle/Snort Awards Ends

Deadline to Submit Entries to Mean Girls of Twilight

Winners for The One With All The Twilight Contest Announced Today

Ongoing Contests, Open for Submission:

Quileute Legends Challenge - 6/5/2010, Til Death Do Us Part Contest - 6/5/2010, Monster in Law Contest - 6/6/2010, The Wolf and the Pack-Hag Contest - 6/7/2010, Under Her Thumb Challenge - 6/13/2010, Me and Mr. McCarty Contest - 6/14/2010, There Will Be Blood OneShot Contest - 6/17/2010, Obsession Contest - 6/20/2010, Digital Get Down - 6/23/2010, Twilight Crafts Tutorial Challenge - 6/26/2010, Alternate-Shippers Challenge - 6/27/2010, Darkella's Naughtiest Temptation Contest - 6/30/2010, Long Distance Lovin' Contest - 6/30/2010, Superhero Contest - 6/30/2010, The BD Screenplay Challenge - 6/30/2010, The Lemon Wedge Challenge - 6/30/2010, The Novel-Novice Wedding Challenge - 6/30/2010, One Life to Live… For Eternity Contest - 7/2/2010, We Want Garrett Contest - 7/17/2010, Summer Review Contest - 8/31/2010

Open for Voting or Nominations:

Voting for the Twiku Kung Fu Contest ends 5/29/2010

Voting for the We Don't Need No Stinkin' Coven! Contest ends 5/30/2010

Nominations for the Fictionista Workshop Awards ends 5/31/2010

Voting for the The One With All The Twilight Contest ends 6/3/2010

Voting for the Giggle/Snort Awards ends 6/4/2010

Nominations for the Bring Me to Life Awards ends 6/10/2010

Nominations for the The Shimmer Awards ends 6/10/2010

Voting for the Texts From Last Night Contest! ends 6/15/2010

Voting for the Twilight All Human Awards ends 6/18/2010

Voting for the The Silent Tear Awards ends 6/20/2010

Voting for the Silence of the Wolves Contest ends 6/21/2010

Voting for the Twilight Twins Awards ends 6/25/2010

Support PACT and win original signed art by Robert Pattinson! ends 6/5/2010

Recipes to the Fandom Gives Back Cookbook ends 6/19/2010

Get Your Copy of the FicsforNash Compilation, benefiting Flood Relief Victims in Nashville ends 12:00:00 AM

Support FGB by purchasing merchandise from My T-spot! ends 12:00:00 AM

Check out The FicBridge #readalong everynight on twitter by searching for the #readalong tag.

Kassiah loves being a Fictionator and writing an super-angsty story.
Got a contest or an event to add to the calendar? Fill out this form, please.

Fandom News - 5/21

2010-05-21T13:39:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the following authors for completing their stories last week!

Voting for The One With All The Twilight Contest Begins

Winners for I Can't Believe It's Not Canon! Challenge Announced Today

Voting for Twiku Kung Fu Contest Ends

Winners for The Faithful Shipper Awards Announced Today

Voting for Twiku Kung Fu Contest Begins

Deadline to Submit Entries to We Don't Need No Stinkin' Coven! Contest

Winners for "A Southern Twi-Night"
Anonymous Contest Announced Today

Voting for Forbidden Lemon Contest Ends

Voting for Silence of the Wolves Contest Begins

Voting for We Don't Need No Stinkin' Coven! Contest Begins

Winners for Forbidden Lemon Contest Announced Today

Voting for Taste on My Tongue Challenge Ends

Nothing on the calendar for today!

The Shimmer Awards

Winners for Taste on My Tongue Challenge Announced Today

Winners for The Austenatious Endeavours Challenge Announced Today

Twilight All Human Awards

Ongoing Contests, Open for Submission:

Buffy/Twilight Crossover Contest - 6/1/2010, Seers Outtake Writing Contest - 6/1/2010, Don't Mess with the Help Contest - 6/4/2010, Mean Girls of Twilight - 6/4/2010, Quileute Legends Challenge - 6/5/2010, Til Death Do Us Part Contest - 6/5/2010, Monster in Law Contest - 6/6/2010, The Wolf and the Pack-Hag Contest - 6/7/2010, Under Her Thumb Challenge - 6/13/2010, Me and Mr. McCarty Contest - 6/14/2010, There Will Be Blood OneShot Contest - 6/17/2010, Obsession Contest - 6/20/2010, Alternate-Shippers Challenge - 6/27/2010, Darkella's Naughtiest Temptation Contest - 6/30/2010, Long Distance Lovin' Contest - 6/30/2010, The BD Screenplay Challenge - 6/30/2010, The Lemon Wedge Challenge - 6/30/2010, The Novel-Novice Wedding Challenge - 6/30/2010, Summer Review Contest - 8/31/2010

Open for Voting or Nominations:

Voting for the Taste on My Tongue Challenge ends 5/25/2010

Nominations for the Twilight All Human Awards ends 5/28/2010

Voting for the Twiku Kung Fu Contest ends 5/29/2010

Voting for the Texts From Last Night Contest! ends 5/30/2010

Voting for the We Don't Need No Stinkin' Coven! Contest ends 5/30/2010

Nominations for the Fictionista Workshop Awards ends 5/31/2010

Voting for the The One With All The Twilight Contest ends 6/3/2010

Voting for the Giggle/Snort Awards ends 6/4/2010

Nominations for the The Shimmer Awards ends 6/10/2010

Voting for the The Silent Tear Awards ends 6/20/2010

Voting for the Silence of the Wolves Contest ends 6/21/2010

Voting for the Twilight Twins Awards ends 6/25/2010

Voting for the Total Eclipse of the Heart Awards ends TBD

Join the relief Effort to Help Flood Victims! Make a donation to receive your Fics for Nashville compilation and sign up to be a contributor!

Check out The FicBridge #readalong everynight on twitter by searching for the #readalong tag.

Kassiah loves being a Fictionator and writing an super-angsty story.
Got a contest or an event to add to the calendar? Fill out this form, please.

The Mac Daddy

2010-05-17T20:36:00.007-05:00

The Me & Mr McCarty Contest

Go to fanfiction.com and search Twilight fanfiction (all ratings) - there is a trend that disturbs me immensely...not enough Emmett.

Don't believe me? Well the numbers don't lie:

58,642 Edward centric stories
12,723 Jake centric stories
9,521 Jasper centric stories
5,057 Emmett centric stories

That last number makes my tender little Em loving heart hurt, which is why I am here today, shouting from the blogtop about the Me & Mr. McCarty Contest...cause the world needs more Emmett!

We want your GUYNEXTDOORmett's, we want your DARKmett's, we want your GEEKmett's, we want your ROCKETSCIENTISTmetts, we want your NONCLICHEmetts.

Basically, we want Emmett in whatever way shape or form you can dream him up. Step out of the cliche box and let your imagination run wild!

Pairings? Have at them! Garrett and Em? Alice and Em? Bella and Em? Jasper and Em? and of course, Rose and Em!

Bromance? Romance? Roadtrip? We don't care, we just want GREAT Emmett one shots to fill the void of his secondary character presence, and hopefully, lead to multi chaptered loveliness!

Go checkout the blog for more details, along with a great list of Emmett fics - in some he is the star, in others he is a great supporting character. The consistent theme - he's all gold. Also, keep an eye on FF, more stories will be added to the C2 as the submission date of 6/14 nears.

So please, for me, won't you puh-leeasssse think about writing a good Em one shot? Maybe we can even that story disparity out a bit - the poor guy deserves love too!

Guest Fic Rec: The Dame Fades Away

2010-05-16T12:26:00.003-05:00

Derdriu oFaolain
And With Thee Fade Away
Romance/Suspense - M
44 Chapters, 162,868 Words
04/19/2010 - Completed
[ FFN ]

On her first day of school, Bella stands up to Edward: Forks' own psychotic jerk. Little does she know, Edward is a centuries-old Englishman with a taste for human blood. Will they fall in love, or kill each other first?

Dame Nellie's

I've been reading Twilight fanfic for almost a year now and in that time I've probably read more than a thousand fics. I've read dozens of canon fics, scores of AUs and hundreds of AH stories. I've read high school fics, porn without plot, non-canon pairings, anything I could get my hands on. I'll give anything a try because I'm not too attached to the source material or to the characters as they were originally writen. Give me vanon character or give me OOC, I don't really care. What I'm really looking for is great stories with complex characters and interesting premises.

And what I love most is to read something completely different from anything I've read before. And this, my friends, is one of those.

The story starts off in Phoenix, before Bella moves to Forks. I found this rather disorientating at first because it wasn't what I was expecting. But I soon realized that this is an author who is interested in giving her characters real depth, who is committed to telling a story with layers and complexity. She doesn't hold back at all and this story has real tragedy almost immediately.

It's when we get to the third chapter that things really get interesting. This is when we first meet Edward. And he's a complete and unmitigated arsehole. Now, I'm usually not a fan of douchewards at all. I really dislike seeing Edward getting away with being a prick only to be magically redeemed at the end of the story. I assure you this is nothing like that. Edward is unapologetically horrible but fantastically charismatic. He and Bella clash immediately. While the other students at Forks High steer clear of Edward, Bella refuses to let him frighten her. And despite his professed loathing of her, Edward manages to save her life more than once. Nevertheless, Bella knows that there's something abnormal about Edward and when officers from the Forks Police start being being killed, she seeks to find out who Edward Cullen really is.

Edward Cullen had the aspect of a man who spent most of his life underneath a rock, yet still managed to display a joie de vivre."

He's one of those charasmatic villains you just love to hate. He's not the usual Adonis that is so ubiquitous in fanfic, however he makes up for it with a razor-sharp British wit that is so entertaining to read. Derdriu oFaolain has written this Edward the best back story of any I've seen in Twific. It's full of intrigue, history and real poignancy. Despite the darkness of his personality, this Edward seems to have a sense of humour about himself which is really endearing. Unlike canon Edward who struggles with his nature, this Edward has come to accept himself for who he is and has chosen self-decrecating wit over tortured brooding.

"I never knew I was so deep," he whispered in reply. "Edward Cullen: steeped in shadow, metaphor and sexiness."

"I didn't say anything about sexiness."

He grinned. "No, I added that part so I didn't sound like the first line of an emo poem."

And forget what you know about the rest of the Twilight characters. Some of them make only fleeting appearances. Others, like Carlisle and Jasper, are so different that you'll find yourself struggling to work out who's good and who's bad. It makes the mystery so much more interesting because the normal character markers of a Twilight story just aren't there to guide you.

The story is infused with twists and turns to keep the reader interested throughout. The author quotes Checkov in her profile "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there." It's clear she's of this school of storytelling because the plot is tightly wound and perfectly paced. The characterisations are complex and interesting. She doesn't stick to Stephenie Meyer's vampire mythology, instead choosing to mix it up with traditional vampire mythology and added her own unique twists. She subverts the genre by making fun, at times, of the usual Twific cliches.

"Bella," he said, his voice suddenly serious. "I have written you a poignant lullaby through which I hope to express the gravity of our relationship."

...After a dramatic twisting of his wrists, his fingers hit the keys, producing a progression of notes which sounded like they belonged in a lounge somewhere. And then he sang, in a smooth jazz-style voice. "Bella… Bella… what the hella? If you want normal, don't choose an undead fella."

An even more exciting thing about this story is that it's already complete. The story is so tight from start to finish that it never loses its impact or pacing towards the end. This story had everything I look for in a fic - enteratining characters, wit, mystery, depth, originality and fantastic writing. It provoked some great discussions, particularly in regards to the ending. I'd recommend this story to anyone who is looking for something a little outside the box and who isn't afraid of something different and complex. I'd challenge anyone to not be thoroughly entertained.

This is the kind of story that provokes passionate reactions from readers. I've never seen another story so aggressively pimped by its fans (or which I am definite one). Derdriu oFaolain has a phenomenal talent and I really look forward to reading whatever she does next. Let's hope she writes more in this fandom.

DameNellie is the author of the one-shot A WellMade Mistake and is currently working on Conversation on War, for the Twilight 25. Check her out. Run, don't walk.

Fandom News = 5/14

2010-05-14T13:09:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the following authors for completing their stories last week!

Voting for The Sport of Love Challenge-Kahlua Ends

Voting for Twilight Twins Awards Begins

Voting for Texts From Last Night Contest! Begins

Voting for Twiku Kung Fu Contest Ends

Voting for "A Southern Twi-Night"
Anonymous Contest Ends

Winners for The Sport of Love Challenge Announced Today

Voting for Twiku Kung Fu Contest Begins

Winners for "A Southern Twi-Night"
Anonymous Contest Announced Today

Deadline to Submit Entries to The Austenatious Endeavours Challenge

Voting for Taste on My Tongue Challenge Begins

Open Enrollment for the Twilight Counsel ends today

Word Lottery Day, Enter for Reviews!

Deadline to Submit Entries to Silence of the Wolves Contest

Ongoing Contests, Open for Submission:

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Coven! Contest - 5/23/2010, Buffy/Twilight Crossover Contest - 6/1/2010, Seers Outtake Writing Contest - 6/1/2010, Don't Mess with the Help Contest - 6/4/2010, Mean Girls of Twilight - 6/4/2010, Quileute Legends Challenge - 6/5/2010, Til Death Do Us Part Contest - 6/5/2010, Monster in Law Contest - 6/6/2010, The Wolf and the Pack-Hag Contest - 6/7/2010, Under Her Thumb Challenge - 6/13/2010, Me and Mr. McCarty Contest - 6/14/2010, There Will Be Blood OneShot Contest - 6/17/2010, Obsession Contest - 6/20/2010, Alternate-Shippers Challenge - 6/27/2010, The BD Screenplay Challenge - 6/30/2010, The Lemon Wedge Challenge - 6/30/2010, The Novel-Novice Wedding Challenge - 6/30/2010, Summer Review Contest - 8/31/2010

Open for Voting or Nominations:

Voting for the "A Southern Twi-Night"
Anonymous Contest ends 5/16/2010

Voting for the Twiku Kung Fu Contest ends 5/22/2010

Voting for the Forbidden Lemon Contest ends 5/24/2010

Voting for the The One With All The Twilight Contest ends 5/24/2010

Voting for the Taste on My Tongue Challenge ends 5/25/2010

Nominations for the Twilight All Human Awards ends 5/28/2010

Voting for the Texts From Last Night Contest! ends 5/30/2010

Nominations for the Fictionista Workshop Awards ends 5/31/2010

Voting for the The Silent Tear Awards ends 6/20/2010

Voting for the Twilight Twins Awards ends 6/25/2010

Join the relief Effort to Help Flood Victims! Make a donation to receive your Fics for Nashville compilation and sign up to be a contributor!

Check out The FicBridge #readalong everynight on twitter by searching for the #readalong tag.

Kassiah loves being a Fictionator and writing an super-angsty story.
Got a contest or an event to add to the calendar? Fill out this form, please.

FicDive: Non Canon

2010-05-11T09:02:00.002-05:00

Diver Alias:

Who You Calling Darlin? (aka Ahizelm)

Mission:

Give Leah her due!

The Pearl:

Confessions of a Difficult Woman by Einfach_Mich

Summary:

Leah Clearwater is not the kind of girl that goes for guys like Edward Cullen. In fact, she thinks he's an asshole and Edward's made it clear he hates her too. One drunken night changes everything. AU AH For the Parkaward Contest

Twilight - Rated: M - English - Humor/Romance - Chapters: 17 - Words: 113,814 - Reviews: 417 - Updated: 4-27-10 - Published: 8-29-09 - Leah & Edward

Why I Read This:

So, here's the deal: I have a soft spot for Leah. I do. She got shafted in the Saga, and she's pigeonholed as a bitter bitch in most fic that's out there, often for no real reason. I have never understood this absence of depth, seeing as how out of all the characters Stephenie Meyer introduced us to, she is probably the most deserving of an emo funk.

Anyway, fast forward, and I'm poking around for little known, non-canon pairing fics. We all know I love me some Jasper/Bella, but nothing was cutting it for me.

Until I found this.

"

Confessions of a Difficult Woman

", by

einfach mich

- clearly a master of all non-canon pairings, if you take a look at her fics on FFn - was originally written for the Parkaward contest, and the story centers on Leah/Edward,

which, to be honest, is a pairing I never thought I'd read. Ever. But einfach mich manages to stay true to the quiet snark of the Pack in the original books and make Leah likable. And well...everyone loves Edward, right?

Chapter one introduces us to a Leah who has, once again, been dumped, only this time she's okay with it. In the wake of her split from Emmett, she manages to describe an Edward Cullen who is amazingly hot, intelligent, strangely shy, and a bit of a bastard (or so it seems). I'm not going to lie: this is the first Edward in a good while who has captured my interest immediately. Leah's voice is wry and hilarious (she calls the Cullens her "favorite dysfunctional Brady Bunch"). The dynamic between them is hot as hell, to say the least. We meet her on her birthday, drunk beyond reason, and things progress from there. Additionally, while the story focuses on Leah and Edward, there are several subplots, all engineered to further the central focus of the piece.

What can I say?

There's the Emmett/Edward dynamic. The Leah/Edward dynamic. The journals Leah keeps. The issue of Edward's past with women. The issue of Leah's history, in general. Her attraction to women. The dual natures of both Leah and Edward's personalities, thoughtful and abrasive, all in one. Snark and pop culture references. And the characters are largely their canon selves, set in an AH environment.

Oh, and by the way: There is smut. Squirm inducing, character-developing, well-written, high-quality smut. And I normally don't read smut-filled stories, but this? This is epic.

Diver Alias:

Miss Doesn't Do Things the Easy Way (aka Lightstardusting)

Mission:

Make us believe in Roseward

The Pearl:

For Me by Megi-B

Summary:

Five things that make you perfect. Go," Rosalie asked, bringing up Edward's favorite obsession, himself. "The skin of a dead hooker. The blood of the innocent. The soul of a kitten. The cat from the cat in the hat. And sunglasses," Edward replied.

Twilight - Rated: M - English - Romance/Angst - Chapters: 2 - Words: 4,306 - Reviews: 15 - Updated: 4-14-10 - Published: 4-1-10 - Edward & Rosalie

Why I Read This:

Donned from head to toe in SCUBA gear, I arrived for my ficdive only to see the graphic with a dumpster… not the ocean. Which makes sense, given that I was in search of the unconventional, aka non-canon couples. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect and thought I might be searching for awhile. I was pleasantly surprised when I found not only Rosalie and Edward, but vampire Rosalie and Edward at that. Score!

Megi-B is one of the hosts for the Texts from Last Night contest and when she saw this particular text, she grabbed it and made it her own (found that out from reading the A/Ns – yup, I read them). Can’t say I blame her! After all:

“Five things that make you perfect. Go.” with the reply, “The skin of a dead hooker. The blood of the innocent. The soul of a kitten. The cat from the cat in the hat. And sunglasses.” It just begs for an explanation and Megi-B has concocted a good one.

At the story’s start, Rosalie has been away from the rest of the family in Forks. She chooses to text message Edward during a bout of loneliness. They both find the line of communication freeing, although Edward often thinks and rethinks his replies to Rosalie. The reader has to wonder why there’s underlying tension.

There were women Edward could be himself with. But Rosalie? With Rosalie, it was so different. She made him someone better.

Perfect.

That was it. Lying on the ground, texting, thousands of miles away from her, everything about Rosalie Hale felt so perfect.

Edward wanted, desperately wanted, to drop his falsely flirtatious pretext and tell Rosalie exactly what he had just thought about the perfection she made him feel. She made him feel alive. Edward wrote, and deleted, several variations on the theme in the time it took Rosalie to stop waiting for his reply.

This, in its core, is why I dig Edward and Rosalie together. Both are headstrong and both push the other toward awesomeness (to borrow Megi-B’s opening sentiments).

Also, the fact that Edward tells Rosalie that “the skin of a dead hooker” reminds him of her, in itself, is damn funny.
Thus far, there is no Bella in For Me. However there is Emmett and oh yes, he is Rosalie’s husband. At this stage in the game it’s unclear what exactly has or hasn’t happened between Rosalie and Edward in the past (although there are hints) but one thing is clear, there is some chemistry going on in the present. I can’t help but be intrigued by where Megi-B will be taking this in the future. Only two chapters in, the possibilities are endless.

Diver Alias:

Had to Change Screenname b/c Rob was Stalking Her (aka GrownAssWoman)

Mission:

Make us say "Edward who?"

The Pearl:

Near to You by Caitlinlaurie

Summary:

AU. Years after Edward left in New Moon, Bella has moved on with her life, now living in a small town. But when her path crosses someone from Forks, Bella must chose between the life she has made for herself and the one she is destined for. B/C.

Twilight - Rated: M - English - Romance/Drama - Chapters: 7 - Words: 49,671 - Reviews: 267 - Updated: 4-26-10 - Published: 4-4-10 - Bella & Carlisle

Why I Read This:

I am an unabashed Edward-lover, I really am. But every now and then I get a hankering for some good old-fashioned Carlisle. And Carlisle x Bella usually suits me just fine. The problem is, it’s not a popular pairing and finding quality fics with this pairing can be tricky. So it was with great relief and surprise that I found this diamond in the rough. Near To You is an AU story that picks up after Edward leaves in New Moon. The author strives to keep the characters in Canon, and I must say, she’s quite successful—even more so than the original books.

More Canon than the original? Is that even possible?

I think it is. Here’s why:

In Twilight, Bella begins as a strong, young, and selfless character who uproots herself from her home for the sake and happiness of her parents. That takes guts to do in the middle of high school, but she does it. It’s not until she meets and falls in love with Edward that we see the meekish character that so many of us have become annoyed with.

When you think about it, she allowed herself to be changed by Edward, and not in the immortal way that she hoped for. She submitted herself to his whims and fears and lost herself along the way, which made his absence that much more devastating.

In Near To You, Bella is guided by a strong and loving mother who teaches her that her life did not end with the departure of the Cullens, that she still had so much left to do and to accomplish. And she does. She gathers her wits and lives her life to the fullest, and becomes the strong, independent woman she was meant to be.

Carlisle, on the other hand, loses everything. And it makes sense, Canon-wise. At the end of Breaking Dawn, it was Bella’s strength, her shield that protects everyone; she’s the glue that holds the family together. It also makes sense that her absence from their lives would tear them apart, which in this case it does. And years later we find a single and alone Dr. Carlisle Cullen meeting up with an adult Bella Swan. We learn more of his spiritual beliefs, we gain a greater insight on his thoughts about his family and his chosen lifestyle, and we even get a small taste of his British accent when we read his POV.

In each other Bella and Carlisle find hope and redemption and something more, something they both thought they’d never find again.

This is a beautiful story with rich characters that are flawed, lovely, and realistically beautiful. They are well developed and make decisions that make sense. It’s a very well written work that actually has me questioning my ExB allegiance. In Near To You, Carlisle and Bella are a believable pair that are meant to be together.

Fic Rec: Cannon Not Canon

2010-05-09T12:00:00.002-05:00

Temptation's Girl
Walter Cannon's Theory, Expanded
Suspense/Horror - M/R
15 Chapters, 66,695 Words
03/23/10 - WIP
[ FFN ]

Edward's working the night shift, trying to gain experience before his first year of medical school. He might learn more than he expected.

Justaskalice's

Hello, my name is Abby, and I've become an AU addict.

I'm not quite sure how it happened. One day, I was reading mostly AH stories with a handful of canon fic. Then I read my first, really good AU fic. And another, and another. Until I reached the point I'm at today: desperately searching for the best AU I can lay my hands on and reading a smattering of AH and canon.

The AU author can take Stephenie Meyer's world of sparkly vamps and shift the mood, creating mystery, suspense, intrigue or horror. The characters may only shift by a single decision, or by an entire personal history. And the truly gifted AU author can make us feel like we're meeting the characters for the first time, even though in the back of our minds, we know them like old friends.

Walter Cannon's Theory, Expanded, is one such AU. Temptation's Girl pulls you along with Edward and the Cullens on a horrifying and exciting adventure.

The story begins with Edward, a young man on the verge of starting medical school, working the night shift at the county medical examiner's office in Seattle. It's a normal night... until a body is brought in.

Unless there was obvious trauma, the newly dead don't look noticeably different from the living. Until you get to the stages of lividity, the skin color is the same, and the body temp hasn't cooled down too much. Very different from what you see on TV. This guy looked different, somehow. His skin tone was off – smooth, very pale, none of the telltale bruise-colored signs of lividity, and he was cool. Cold, actually. I wondered how long he'd been out on that park bench.

If you're thinking that corpse is a sparkly vampire in disguise, you'd be right.

This is a newborn Edward like I've never read before. He's angry and disoriented, not only because he has been forced to prematurely abandon his human life and, oh yeah, he's a mindreader, but because he's joined the ranks of a family of vamps who seem to have their own agenda. I especially like the dynamic between Edward and Jasper, who is frequently assigned newborn babysitting duty.

"Look, man, I don't want to get in the middle of anything, it's not my business, but I can't try to mediate anything between the two of you knowing I can read both of your minds. I can't keep secrets while trying to also wrap my mind around the whole fucking vampire thing, and the mind reading thing, and the whole 'never seeing my family or friends or going back to my real life' thing, so..." I lost my train of thought as I watched Jasper pick up the newly purchased antique window. He was holding it all wrong, like he had picked up a piece of paper. I didn't know if he really realized how freaky it looked when he didn't try to pretend to be human.

The characters are rich and developed, and they have a wonderful history that we see glimpses of now and then. Some of my favorite moments are when someone tells a story about something that happened long ago. Those moments add warmth and unexpected depth to the story, and in my opinion the story is that much better for it. Edward's reactions to his new life are especially enjoyable, because in a way, he reacts exactly how I always wished canon Bella would have.

I liked Alice. I really did. She was funny, and sweet, and smart, and I could see us becoming good friends. For some reason, though, the way she operated with her visions scared the shit out of me.

As the story progresses, it's revealed that Jasper's creator, Maria, has a serious grudge against the Cullens, and has created a newborn army that's making it's way through Seattle unchecked. Their quest to stop her, and Edward's quest to find himself and keep his personal world --his family, his friends, and the girl he had just started dating-- from being destroyed, intertwine to form an edge-of-your-seat suspenseful journey of intrigue and suspense. Beware--it's been put in the "Horror" category for a reason, and there are scenes of graphic violence and death scattered throughout.

I recommend this fic because of it's intricate and well-woven plot and it's stunning use of the Twilight universe in a new and unique way. You would never know it's Temptation Girl's first attempt at fic. It's a quick read, and it's almost complete. The epilogue is the only thing left to post, so go ahead and dive right in.

justaskalice wishes she was cool enough to write AU

Fandom News - 5/7

2010-05-07T01:25:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the following authors for completing their stories last week!

Deadline to Submit Entries to "A Southern Twi-Night" Anonymous Contest

Voting for I Can't Believe It's Not Canon! Challenge Begins

Voting for Rosalie's a Bitch Contest Ends

Voting for The Sport of Love Challenge-Decaf Ends

Winners for Twilight Lexicon Facepunch Video Contest Announced Today

Deadline to Submit Entries to Forbidden Lemon Contest

Voting for The Sport of Love Challenge-Kahlua Begins

Voting for "A Southern Twi-Night"
Anonymous Contest Begins

Voting for Best Domination Ever Contest Ends

Start Submitting Entries for the Monster in Law Contest

Winners for Rosalie's a Bitch Contest Announced Today

Deadline to Submit Entries to Texts From Last Night Contest!

Voting for The Twilight Canon Fodder Contest Ends

Voting for Twiku Kung Fu Contest Begins

Deadline to Sign Up for Fictionista Workshop Classroom

Voting for Forbidden Lemon Contest Begins

Deadline to Submit Entries to Taste on My Tongue Challenge

Voting for The One With All The Twilight Contest Begins

Winners for The Twilight Canon Fodder Contest Announced Today

Voting for Total Eclipse of the Heart Awards Ends

Winners for Best Domination Ever Contest Announced Today

Giggle/Snort Awards

Voting for Taste on My Tongue Challenge Begins

Voting for The Faithful Shipper Awards Ends

Voting for I Can't Believe It's Not Canon! Challenge Ends

Voting for The Sport of Love Challenge-Kahlua Ends

Voting for Twilight Twins Awards Begins

Ongoing Contests, Open for Submission:

The Austenatious Endeavours Challenge - 5/18/2010, Silence of the Wolves Contest - 5/21/2010, We Don't Need No Stinkin' Coven! Contest - 5/23/2010, Key to the Kingdom Competition - 5/31/2010, Buffy/Twilight Crossover Contest - 6/1/2010, Seers Outtake Writing Contest - 6/1/2010, Don't Mess with the Help Contest - 6/4/2010, Quileute Legends Challenge - 6/5/2010, Til Death Do Us Part Contest - 6/5/2010, Monster in Law Contest - 6/6/2010, The Wolf and the Pack-Hag Contest - 6/7/2010, Under Her Thumb Challenge - 6/13/2010, Me and Mr. McCarty Contest - 6/14/2010, Obsession Contest - 6/20/2010, Alternate-Shippers Challenge - 6/27/2010, The BD Screenplay Challenge - 6/30/2010, The Novel-Novice Wedding Challenge - 6/30/2010, Summer Review Contest - 8/31/2010

Open for Voting or Nominations:

Voting for Best Domination Ever Contest Ends 5/9

Voting for The Twilight Canon Fodder Contest Ends 5/9

Voting for Total Eclipse of the Heart Awards Ends 5/10

Voting for The Faithful Shipper Awards Ends 5/12

Voting for I Can't Believe It's Not Canon! Challenge Ends 5/14

Voting for The Sport of Love Challenge-Kahlua Ends 5/14

Voting for Twiku Kung Fu Contest Ends 5/15

Voting for "A Southern Twi-Night" Anonymous Contest Ends 5/16

Voting for Taste on My Tongue Challenge Ends 5/19

Voting for Forbidden Lemon Contest Ends5/24

Voting for The One With All The Twilight Contest Ends 5/24

Nominations for Twilight All Human Awards End 5/28

Nominations for Fictionista Workshop Awards End 5/31

Voting for The Silent Tear Awards Ends 6/20

Deadline to Sign Up for the Fictionista Workshop Classroom is 5/10

Check out The FicBridge #readalong everynight on twitter by searching for the #readalong tag.

When she's not celebrating the end of soccer season or lamenting over her overzealousness to start a "lapbook" project with her kids, Kassiah is a Fictionator and writes an emo story.
Got a contest or an event to add to the calendar? Fill out this form, please.

Affiliate Post: The Twilight Counsel

2010-05-06T07:34:00.002-05:00

The Twilight Counsel

Counsel? Are you sure that's not a typo? Shouldn't it be council?

A lot of people were scratching their heads when the tweets started. What is this thing, and what the heck does it have to do with me?

Very simply, The Twilight Counsel is a support community. Our goal is to bring together newer writers with folks who've 'been there, done that' in the community for support, advice, tips and a general shoulder. By providing forum support for the quick hit questions (e.g. I'm writing a canon back story and I need more info on the Volturi or I know nothing about cars, what type of engine would a '68 Camaro have?) to more direct 1:1 relationships, our goal is to help people looking for support navigate the fandom, while leveraging the knowledge and experience of those that have been around a while and are willing to share their experiences.

So if you are a writer looking for moral support, someone who can act as a sounding board, help you work through plot issues, writers block, or even the best times of the week to post and where to put up teasers, this is your spot. If you are someone that's been around the fandom for at least nine months (why nine months? We'd like you to have been through some of the bigger fandom based events like awards, Fandom Gives Back, and a movie release) and would like to help someone else navigate the waters, jump on in.

Very simply, The Twilight Counsel is meant to provide a layer of support to people across this fandom, and leverage the one thing we all enjoy, a good story, as a positive way to bring people together.

For more information on The Twilight Counsel, the application process for a 1:1 relationship, or the locations of the open forums, please visit our LiveJournal site. (please note the comm is open to all, you do not need an LJ membership to view or post). If you have any direct questions, we'll happily field them at twilightcounsel@gmail.com.

To directly access the 1:1 mentor applications please visit the senior coven member application to apply to mentor, and the new coven member application to request a mentor.

FandomFluff: First Impressions

2010-05-05T08:00:00.001-05:00

First Impressions

By:

Hoosier Mama

My first impression of Star Wars was less than…stellar.

My intro was a commercial about the movie “coming soon to a theater near you.” Did I experience a tingling sensation? A premonition of the claim Star Wars would have on my teenage years? No. My reaction was to look at my mom and snort, “You’ve got to be kidding me! What a stupid movie.”

Six months and 12 movie tickets later, I was bragging to my classmates that I could recite the entire movie. (I still can. “Goo ta doo da, Solo?” My family won’t let me within hearing distance when they watch A New Hope on TV because I can’t keep the lines from spewing forth automatically.)

This was my first indication that I had a glitch in my hardwiring: I am a mild-mannered, normal person, but when presented with a story that I love to that extent, I transform into a geeky, completely obsessed fanatic.

A few years later I heard the term “fan fiction” for the first time. Fan fiction was something read in a “fanzine” since there was no internet. There were also no laptops, no cell phones and no twitter. (I know! I don’t know how we survived either…) Were there prophetic tingles shooting up and down my spine at the mention of fan fiction? No. My reaction? “Wow, and I thought I was a geek! What losers.” I remember feeling vaguely embarrassed for them. Sort of like how geeks dressed in jeans and t-shirts at a Star Trek convention feel about geeks dressed as Klingons and Romulans at the same Star Trek convention. I may be geekily devoted to a story, but I have my limits. Writing fan fiction, like dressing up as a knobby-foreheaded alien, was crossing the line.

Flash forward to 1998: I’m a married mother of two with absolutely no clue that a computer programmer named Xing Li living in California is going to hugely impact my future life by creating a little thing called fanfiction.net.

Flash forward to 2003: A married mother of three living in Arizona with absolutely no clue of the impact she’s about to have on the world writes Twilight. Two years later, the book is released.

So what was my first impression of Twilight? Fear. Tingly fear. I had read and enjoyed every book my daughter ever recommended to me. When she recommended Twilight, I said no way. She pushed, relentlessly; I pushed back. My refusal frustrated her. She knew I would love it; why was I fighting her?

She couldn’t understand my fear: the fear of loving something so much you lose yourself. The fear of stepping through the looking glass and knowing there’s no way back to who you once were. Your world shifts and nothing is ever the same again. Some corner of my brain recognized Twilight had that kind of power, so I was afraid.

Naturally, I succumbed; I read it and discovered my fear was entirely justified. For the first time ever, my first impression had been right.

Here’s what I learned about fanfiction.net from that fount of all knowledge, Wikipedia: (Let me know if you’re interested in learning about Twilighted.net. They don’t have a Wiki entry, and I’m no journalist, but I’ll see what I can do…)

The website fanfiction.net is the largest repository of fanfiction stories in the world. The first story, uploaded in 1998, was about Twilight’s second-cousin-once-removed Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Today there are nearly 2.2 million users of the site, reading and writing tales regarding 9 different genres in 30 different languages.

Almost from the beginning, Harry Potter fics were the most popular and they still are today with over 450,000 fanfics. The anime/manga story Naruto is second with over 230,000 fics and…you guessed it. Twilight is third with (as of April 2010) 142,577 fanfics and rapidly growing. (Makes my eyes water thinking of all those fics just sitting there, waiting to be read.)

Something else I learned from Wikipedia that should be obvious, but perhaps bears mentioning, is the number of famous authors who refuse to allow fanfiction of their creations. (One word from any story originator and every fanfic written in that world is deleted from fanfiction.net.) Thankfully, Stephenie Meyer is not one of them. The Twidom wouldn’t exist without A. her story, and B. her magnanimous spirit in allowing us to carry on. I think this fact gets lost sometimes and we don’t give SM the appreciation she deserves.

So, the next time your favorite fic author writes a chapter update that totally knocks your socks off, send the fanfic writer your thanks and gratitude of course. But don’t forget that without Stephenie, we all wouldn’t be here, playing our various roles in the Twidom.

Now that thought gives me tingles.

Author Interview: AdorableCullens gets Cute

2010-05-04T07:11:00.003-05:00

Hmonster4

AdorableCullens

Silence and Security
Behind Enemy Lines
The Mirrors
Tips for Better Living

So in full disclsure, AC was a super trooper, giving this interview back in the late winter before releasing her new fic and losing the kitty mentioned below. She played along with my silly questions, poking fun at fic, life in general with grace and aplomb. My apologies for the delay and condolences on the loss of what sounded like an excellent cuddle buddy.

I’m Adorable Cullens – I’ve been reading since fall 2008, writing here since Christmas of 2008. I started writing Silence & Security on Christmas Day that year. That should tell you how much fun Christmas with my dysfunctional family generally is. It had been years since I had written any fiction and once the story started, I couldn’t stop writing. I wrote all the way home from my mom’s house – my hubby at the time thought I had lost my mind (not that I ever told him it was fanfic – also, he was driving, not me). He got his walking papers shortly into the new year though, so I guess that was hard cheese for him, wasn’t it?

(AC checks instructions from hmonster. “Keep it lighthearted.” Ruh roh.)

What is your idea of the perfect story?

I have to be emotionally invested for a story to stay with me. That means the characters need to be real and compelling, the plot tightly wrapped and the writing (whatever style it might be) solid. Fresh, original takes on the existing characters, interesting twists on canon and great pacing are all things I take note of. A nice romance never hurts.

What were you drinking when you came up with the idea for The Mirrors? Is it sold here in the States?

Labatts 50? I’m sure you can get it in some border states …

I get this question a lot, and I usually avoid answering it because people think I’m strange enough already. The Mirrors is based on the little folk tale that Bella’s grandfather, Jack, tells Edward and Bella about the warrior princess and her beleaguered realm in Chapter 18. The story of the princess and her time in our world was the first story I ever wrote into a full-length manuscript as a teenager. I still have it and referenced it several times while writing The Mirrors. (The pages are crispy and yellow!) It is a very poorly written and probably very reflective of my life experience at the time. (Read: None.)

But I always loved the story. As I was finishing Behind Enemy Lines and felt like I wanted to write another story, I started thinking about the image of the child in front of the mirror at night. It’s been with me all my life. Since the original story was not suited to fanfic, I took the original tale 12 generations into the future. Next thing I knew, I had Teddy and then Swan.

Busting into your room and watching you sleep – scary, sexy, creepy?

Uh … a person sleeping? I’m a single mom with a frighteningly demanding job and a fanfic habit on the side. All you’re gonna see is a lump under a pile of blankets with a cat that looks like the debil sleeping beside it.

What do you most dislike about your writing?

I can be too wordy. Sometimes I get stuck on a word (“just” is a repeat offender) and I use it a zillion times in one chapter. Mostly, I wish I could come up with good story ideas as easily as some authors seem to be able to. The idea for Silence & Security came out of nowhere. Behind Enemy Lines practically wrote itself. Writing The Mirrors was like shitting a bowling ball – that fucker hurt. Now is a quiet time for my creativity, so I’m not writing anything at the moment. I have confidence, however, that a new idea will come eventually.

Which character in FF do you feel the most empathy for? Which would you most like to smack?

Good questions, both, and interestingly, maybe the same answer. I have a ton of empathy for Bella. I know what it’s like to have one’s life bitterly disrupted, to have your hopes dashed by the departure of the one person you thought was always going to be there for you. At the same time, I wanted to bloody smack her in Eclipse. The dude came back – stop grousing already!

Under pain of death, MKF; Charlie, Aro, Mike Newton?

Fuck? What is fuck? Oh yeah – the smex thing. It’s been a while for me, dontcha know. I actually find that one easy. I’d marry Charlie in a heartbeat. I bet he could fix all sorts of things around the house really easy, and he’s got that terrific copstache. I’d kill Aro – he’s too creepy to live anyway. And I’d fuck Mike. I have the feeling he wouldn’t be the best lay, but I’m hardly in a position to gripe about the quality of sex now, am I?

Who are your favorite writers (both in FF and published lit)?

In published literature, my favorite author is Guy Gavriel Kay, a Canadian historical fantasy writer. I’ve bought multiple copies of some of his books over the years, having read the previous editions into tatters. MM Kaye’s The Far Pavilions about colonial India is another one I’ve had to buy a second copy of. I’ve read about half of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, and I’m enjoying it very much.

In fic, I fall in love with a lot of stories, but my favorite author’s list is a short one. Tarasueme is on there, of course – she’s a master storyteller. Algonquinrt, whose ability to switch from heart-rending realism to gut-splitting comedy is amazing. LolaShoes and MsKathy, both for their ability to write love – the emotion and the act – so beautifully. And a new arrival to the faves list is ItzMegan73 – she writes a brilliantly flawed human Edward in all her stories.

And I’d pretty much give my left tit for thatwritr to write just one more story. In the Blink of an Eye gives an interpretation of canon characterization (especially of Rosalie) that is unforgettable.

What would you consider absolute torture to read?

Anything by Leonard Cohen. I don’t care if he’s Canadian or how good his music might be, that guy is messed up. Oh wait, that’s not what you meant.

As for Twific, that list is long. I won’t read anything with rape or abuse in it. By personal choice, I do not read fics that involve the Holocaust. Those are my hard limits. Any story that involves a canon “parent” with a canon “offspring” of some kind is pretty cringe-worthy – Carlisle with any of the girls, Esme with any of the boys. Same with Edward and Alice. I have read some viable Charlie/Alice material, but it still squicks me out.

Silly, immature fic is a much more likely pitfall to encounter these days. Cardboard cutout characters with banal interpretations make me want to barf. Any summary (summery?) that has the words “Edward is a player” in it is a no-go. I also can’t stand stories with random characters (Bella’s previously unknown twin sister, new members of the Cullen family, etc.) who are obvious stand-ins for the author and who become the love interest for Edward or Jasper or Jacob. Isn’t anybody monitoring these children’s online activities?

And I cringe – literally cringe – when I read these fics about high school kids who do nothing but screw and do drugs all day long. I have a 7-year-old … those stories make me want to lock her up until she’s 40.

This doesn’t mean I don’t like younger fic – I’ve read some T fiction lately that is terrific. An Introduction to Swirl and Daisy is a great example, Satellite Castle is another.

Leg hitch – cock tease, or swoon worthy?
(Fucked if I didn’t have to ask hmonster twice what this question meant.)

Look, as an adult, I was howling with disappointment over the fade-to-black in Breaking Dawn. I didn’t expect a Jackie Collins sex scene in the middle of the book, but come on, woman – throw us a bone! Literally.

That said, I wasn’t surprised by the choice she made, nor did I feel misled in anyway – just bummed out. It’s a YA novel with an abstinence theme written by a Mormon. The main characters got married at 18. If I were in her shoes, I don’t know if I would have played it any differently.

If you could have written one story, what would it be?

That’s easy … I would seriously love to be able to write a comedy like Mr. Horrible. I tell a good joke and have the occasional guffaw in my stories, but algonquinrt slays me with her writing. There are other funny stories in fanfic. There are other stories that started out incredibly funny then turned into train wrecks, went in directions that didn’t speak to me, or lost their appeal after a few chapters. But Mr. H is fucklarious from beginning to end. I can write adventure, fantasy, romance and even the smex, but I can’t write the funny like Algie can.

Is there one of your stories that holds a special place in your heart? Why?

Make no mistake – I love all my stories dearly, and they all mean different things to me. But if I had to choose, I’d probably say The Mirrors – mostly because of Teddy. He was incredibly difficult to write because of his repressed emotions and memories; for the majority of the story, he truly is a lost soul. Some nights, he would simply elude me, and the chapter wouldn’t get written. And in the end, he found himself and the broken parts of his shattered personality knit themselves back together.

I actually bought a Berkeley hoodie at the San Francisco airport on the way back from a business trip, just because Teddy went there. I still refer to it as “my Teddy hoodie.” He wears it in Chapter 19 of The Mirrors, sitting on the front porch with Grandpa Jack. Teddy and The Mirrors remain very close to my heart. Maybe that’s why I haven’t been able to write a story since – I’m still too much in love with Teddy to write another Edward over top of him.

If you were to die and come back as a character or place from the saga, what would it be?

Anyone who gets laid will do nicely, thank you.

What is your favorite cliché?

“Orbs.” That’s a show-stopper for me. I will drop what I’m doing to report an “orb” sighting to Ms Kathy or Algie. It’s better than hunting for punch-buggies on the highways. (Anyone who does not know what a punch-buggy is can safely assume they are a lot younger than I am.)

Funniest moment in your fan fic history?

I’ve had an awful lot of funny moments, most with Ms Kathy and Algonquinrt. (A lot of them came at the expense of really bad fics, so let’s not talk about those.) Algie and I got into a screaming match one night when I was delivering feedback on a chapter of one of her stories. I couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t getting my suggestions and she couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t giving clear feedback. Turned out to be an “eyelash” problem – basically, a compatibility problem between the editing function on my PC and her Mac. The edits that were big as a house on my screen were the size of eyelashes on hers. A lot of shouting went into that misunderstanding. A lot of laughter came out the other end.

Maybe that’s the best thing about the friends I have made here … they are very “real” for people who are so very far away. We talk, we laugh, we drink … and we fight hard from time to time. But we always come back together. Since I travel a lot for work (and have a lot of frequent flyer miles as a result), it’s easy for me for to move around when I don’t have mini-AC. So I’ve met Algonquinrt and stayed at her place a couple of times. Ditto for Ms Kathy and philadelphic. I count myself pretty lucky there. Need to get with Feisty next.

Name fan fic characters (can be male or female) you’d take a run at if it were humanly (or vampirically?) possible and why.

You want me to run? Now? I had a really freaking hard day, I’ve have you know. (AC consults briefly with hmonster on what this question actually means.)

Yeah, my desire to bed fanfic characters and/or RPattz has waned since I fell in love with my waiter at the local diner. My shrink feels this is a positive sign since my waiter is 1) alive and 2) we know each other. The odds of actually bedding him are exceedingly low – he’s nearly half my age and is so far out of my league, it’s ridonk. Philadelphic has met him – what an epic day that was. Fuckhot Waiter is my own personal Edward – beautiful, wonderful and utterly out of reach.

If you could have spent 30 minutes with Bella in New Moon – October-January, what would you have said or done?

I was always rather impressed by Bella’s ability to maintain her funk. I got dumped by guys in high school and university, and I can tell you, I could only mope for a week or two, and then I got disgusted by my own filth. Moping is boring, IMHO. She did it for months! Impressive.

Snarking aside? Reading New Moon for the first time and seeing those pages empty except for the months on them was impactful. If I had had 30 minutes with Bella during that time period WITHOUT knowing the truth about the Cullens, I would have frog-marched her to a psychiatrist for treatment of severe depression. No hesitation. As a parent reading New Moon, I’m appalled that Charlie didn’t force her to seek treatment.

But if I got the 30 minutes and DID know the whole back-story, I don’t know that I would be able to do more other than sit and listen. Perhaps a bit of Patron?

Have an author you'd like to interrogate? Shoot an email to hmonster4@tlydf.com with who and why!

DrabblerScrambler: A Bad Habit

2010-05-03T08:13:00.005-05:00

A Bad Habit

Today's Drabbly Babblers

SebastienRobichard

unholy.obsession

Angstgoddess003

AngelEZrocks

Drabble #1:

She sticks out much like the faux crucifix that had been nestled amongst our supply of personal lubricant and condoms.

"It makes the costume," she says of the rosary. She then inspects my flimsy costume, expression shaded by the black fabric covering her head.

From a stack of distanced milk crates, our director motions for us to begin.

Ruby-sin lips curl and pucker. "Have you been a naughty boy, Edward?" A ruler smacks against her palm.

I nearly laugh. "Forgive me, sister Bella."

"I think you need forty lashes."

That's not in my contract.

I let her do it anyway.

Drabble #2:

"No one ever sends you Mother’s Day cards after you have a miscarriage.

But you’re still a Mother.

Aren’t you?

You produced life and carried a child, even if it was only for a few weeks or months.

What if you wanted the baby, loved the baby, named her and put her ultrasound picture on your baby daddy’s fridge?

What if you bought little pink booties, a pink onesie, and one of those Velcro clasped ribbons to stick on the fine baby hair of her head so everyone would know that she is a girl?

Shouldn’t you get a card?"

Drabble #3:

I had no business shaving my legs or reapplying lipstick in the middle of the night.

I’d been wearing pajamas, flannel ones, when Edward's text arrived at two-oh-one, exactly one minute after the bars closed.

Had no business hailing a cab as the Chicago winds whipped past, traveling to a man who inevitably tasted of cigars and Johnny Walker Blue.

But it only took one crooked smile, one path of green eyes along the curves of my body for me to melt into him, hearing the metallic flutter of wedding band against dresser piercing the darkness.

Least he still bothered.

Drabble #4:

"Bad habits?"

"Yes," said Alice. "When we took on this lifestyle, where we live in a community and interact with humans we all took on certain traits to seem more normal. Unfortunately, among the boys some of these became a tad habitual."

"Emmett?" Bella asked.

"Nose picker."

"Ew."

"I'm sure you noticed Jasper's," Alice said, "It's constant."

"No..."

Alice lowered her voice, "He touches it almost constantly. "Adjusting" apparently."

"Oh. Yeah I had noticed that."

Bella was almost afraid to ask. "Edward?"

"He's been a virgin for a hundred years, what do you think?"

"Really?"

"Really."

"Hmmm..."

Think You Know That Drabbler?

LikestoRead22 Goes Bed Hopping

2010-05-02T13:54:00.006-05:00

the bouquet
Strange Bedfellows
Mystery/Romance - T/PG-13
11 Chapters, 54,366 Words
04/18/2010 - WIP
[ FFN ] [ Twilighted ]

As Edward Masen uncovers the details of the incident that took Chief Swan's beautiful daughter Bella away from him, he soon begins to wonder why the weirdly perfect Cullen family seems too involved for coincidence.

LikeToRead22's

A couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of participating in the Indie Twific Awards and it was there that I stumbled upon Strange Bedfellows by the bouquet. I read an awful lot of good stories during my Indie judging stint, but this one immediately sucked me in and stuck with me. It’s a gem. In fact, I almost didn’t finish this review because once I started rereading the first chapter (looking for nuggets to mention) I got sucked in again and didn’t want to stop. But stop I did.

So here it goes…

This AU fic is a twist on Twilight, placing Edward into the role of Bella as the new kid in Forks who can’t help but notice the strange family of adopted kids sitting in the corner of the cafeteria. But, don’t start making any assumptions about what will happen. This story is fresh and different with interesting characters and a multi-faceted plot. Strange Bedfellows reads like a mystery with clues at every turn. And, like any good mystery, it’s evident that the story has been meticulously planned with crumbs for the reader to find in each chapter.

The story starts with Edward Masen, disgruntled high schooler, moving to Forks with his father to get a fresh start after the death of his mother. Edward is a typical teenager, brooding and angsty, fighting with his father, hoping he’ll make the track team and dreading starting a new school.

The intrigue starts his first day in Forks when a speeding Edward Sr. is stopped by Chief Swan, who Edward notices seems grief-stricken when he mentions his 17-year-old daughter. Later that day, Edward takes a walk in the woods and stumbles upon a beautiful meadow. His thoughts immediately turn to his mother:

Mom would have loved it here..."I wish you were here, Mom," I said aloud. I listened to the forest sounds, trying to imagine what she would say if she were here. The only responses that came to mind were trite platitudes about missing me too.

Edward’s grief is real and heartfelt. It’s with him at every turn, until his memories of his mother start to fade and dreams of a young and mysterious woman take their place. But, back to the plot summary…

After spending a few quiet hours by himself in the meadow, the sounds of the forest quiet and he has the “uncomfortable feeling” that he’s not alone. He reaches for his phone to check the time only to discover he’s lost it somewhere along his hike. But, when he returns home…

My phone was laying on the corner of the mattress, squared to the edge and face up. I was certain I hadn't put the phone down like that and the odds that it would have fallen out of my pocket in such a precise position were minuscule. I thought I had it with me when I left the house, but I couldn't be positive. However it got there, one thing was certain – no matter what, I wouldn't ask Dad about it. If he had put it there, I'd hear about it anyway.

The story uses oddities like these effectively to build the mystery and tension within Edward. But, I’m straying again from my description of the plot…

On his first day of school Edward quickly becomes disgusted with the popular group at Forks High, led by Jessica Stanley who’s bold and perky nature makes Edward wonder if she wants him “to think she [is] vapid and shallow.” But, things start to look up when his new Biology lab partner, Emmett Cullen, agrees to meet him after school to help him catch up on missed course material. Jessica warns Edward that the Cullens and Hales are "weird" and never associate with other kids, but Edward finds Emmett and Alice Cullen intriguing though he can’t help but wonder about their “strange golden brown eyes.”

This story is a great flip on Twilight canon because Edward doesn’t merely slip into Bella’s place in this story. He has his own character with a lot of depth. He’s a wonderful storyteller and a perceptive kid. You can feel his emotions as he struggles with the loss of his mother and his often absent and hostile father. Edward is yearning for more contact with people who will take the time to be his friend. He develops a touching relationship with Charlie and learns that his daughter, Bella, is in long term care hospital in Forks. After seeing her picture in Charlie’s home, Bella starts invading his thoughts and his dreams.

I considered making a private ritual of coming here [to the meadow] to think of Mom, but to my surprise, Bella Swan's face was behind my closed eyes. Although I'd never met her, the image in my mind didn't seem frozen like the photograph images of my mother. I could imagine Bella laughing, looking into my eyes….

As Edward learns more about the mysterious Bella Swan, his budding friendship with the Cullens stirs more questions than it answers and soon he’s on a mission to learn their secrets. At the same time, he learns his father is harboring secrets about his mother and Edward's frustration mounts.

OK, so that’s all I’m going to tell you about the plot. It’s a mystery and I’m not about to ruin it for you.

One of the real strengths of this story is the depth of the characters. Through Edward’s perceptive eyes we’re able to see so much. The Cullens aren’t merely canon clichés and their actions aren’t always predictable. Being limited to Edward’s point of view creates an air of mystery about the Cullens and makes them more interesting and darker. And Bella’s character, initially present only in Edward’s thoughts and Charlie’s descriptions, comes off the page.

But, my favorite thing about this story is the careful way in which the plot details have been woven together and are slowly being revealed. This story is a tapestry and each thread has been carefully placed. The pacing is excellent and each chapter brings something new, and often unexpected, to add to picture.

This is one story I’m happy to recommend to one and all. The Indie judges decided this was a WIP with great potential and Strange Bedfellows is certainly living up to that expectation. I’m going to sit back and enjoy the rest of the story. I hope you’ll join me!

LikeToRead22 is an avid reader and the author ofSand and Water and 24 Hours.

Fandom News - 4/30

2010-04-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the following authors for completing their stories last week!

A Cure for a Tragedy
by
zm4u
All that i Am
by
sdfreeze
Almost Doesn't Count
by
Mrs_Robward
Blind Dates
by
tiffaninichole
Brothers and Sisters
by
edwardandbellabelong2gether
Don't Forget To Remember Me
by
Oliviamk1218
Edward Leting Go
by
samekraemer
Eight Days A Week
by
107yearoldvirgin
EverClear
by
Chandler1200
Finding Myself
by
cbaty
Fire of my Soul
by
dolphin62598
First & Last
by
taoist_elf
Hands On Me
by
FadingSlowly
I Run to You
by
cucumber07
In Ruins
by
Adair7
Let Your Mercy Fall on Me
by
Robicorn
Risk and Return
by
catharticone
Saving Me
by
no.1Schizo
Summer Nights
by
Jenny0719
The Last Goodbye
by
jmeyer
The Wallflower and The Flyboy
by
A Cullen Wannabe
The Work-out Plan
by
Miss_Vic

Deadline to Submit Entries to “The Air, The Sun” Jacob and Bella Fanfiction Community April Drabble Challenge

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Nominations for the Twilight Twins Awards End

Winners for Volturi Love Contest Announced Today

Start Submitting Entries for the Taste on My Tongue Challenge

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Ongoing Contests, Open for Submission:

Forbidden Lemon Contest - 5/8/2010, Texts From Last Night Contest! - 5/9/2010, Taste on My Tongue Challenge - 5/10/2010, The Austenatious Endeavours Challenge - 5/18/2010, Silence of the Wolves Contest - 5/21/2010, We Don't Need No Stinkin' Coven! Contest - 5/23/2010, Key to the Kingdom Competition - 5/31/2010, Buffy/Twilight Crossover Contest - 6/1/2010, Seers Outtake Writing Contest - 6/1/2010, Don't Mess with the Help Contest - 6/4/2010, Til Death Do Us Part Contest - 6/5/2010, Monster in Law Contest - 6/6/2010, The Wolf and the Pack-Hag Contest - 6/7/2010, Under Her Thumb Challenge - 6/13/2010, Me and Mr. McCarty Contest - 6/14/2010, Obsession Contest - 6/20/2010, Alternate-Shippers Challenge - 6/27/2010, The BD Screenplay Challenge - 6/30/2010, Summer Review Contest - 8/31/2010

Open for Voting or Nominations:

Nominations for the Fictionista Workshop Awards ends 4/30/2010

Nominations for the Twilight Twins Awards ends 4/30/2010

Voting for the Fun With Your Clothes On Contest ends 5/5/2010

Voting for the Rosalie's a Bitch Contest ends 5/7/2010

Voting for the Best Domination Ever Contest ends 5/9/2010

Voting for the The Twilight Canon Fodder Contest ends 5/9/2010

Voting for the Total Eclipse of the Heart Awards ends 5/10/2010

Nominations for the Giggle/Snort Awards ends 5/12/2010

Voting for the The Faithful Shipper Awards ends 5/12/2010

Voting for the I Can't Believe It's Not Canon! Challenge ends 5/14/2010

Nominations for the Twilight All Human Awards ends 5/28/2010

Voting for the The Silent Tear Awards ends 6/20/2010

Deadline to Sign Up for Round Three of the Twilight 25 Challenge Is Today!

Deadline to Sign Up for the Fictionista Workshop Classroom is 5/10

Check out The FicBridge #readalong everynight on twitter by searching for the #readalong tag.

Got a contest or an event to add to the calendar? Drop a line to Kassiah with the deets and your graphics, please.

Fandom Hopping: Phantom of the Opera, Final Fantasy, and Trek 2009

2010-04-29T12:10:00.013-05:00

Your Name: Gondolier

The Fandom: The Phantom of the Opera (POTO), based on the musical/play/movie.

Your One True Pairing (OTP): Erik (The Phantom) / Christine

Your Favorite Fic: The Innocent by The Grasshopper (a modern POTO retelling with a twist ending)

What You Have Written in this Fandom: Fraternité (sequel to POTO), two short horror stories called Locked Door and Nightcaps, and a ballad, The Nacken’s Song.

How Long Have You Been There: Since 2003, off and on

Good Fan Sites/Archives/RecLists: I think most of the forums I used to frequent aren’t very active. Currently, there is phantoms-opera.com, phantomoftheopera.com. I also loved the Phanwank LJ, though years later, I’m a bit embarrassed by my youthful mean-spiritedness. You live and learn.

How You Got Sucked In:

Way back, when I was a wee lil boat, I adored Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera musical. I still adore it, it’s a guilty pleasure. Years later I read the book, and was surprised to find it so deliciously dark and frightening. Twilight fanfic is pure sugary fluff compared to a lot of POTO fic (phic, oh yes, we replaced F with PH). To draw a parallel, think Bratty_vamp’s Toye. Most phic is dark. If it isn’t, the writer kind of misses the point of POTO. It was delightful to channel the macabre side of creativity. And so many POTO stories are beautifully done—most never crossed lines into gratuitous violence and horror. Anyone who loves Darkward would enjoy Erik.

So, Why This Fandom? (Why This Pairing?)

Christine/Erik—your atypical teacher/pupil forbidden romance. Leroux’s Erik is truly a bat-shit crazy killer. He’s described as a “living corpse,” smells of death, has yellow glowing eyes, slays people with a Punjab lasso (catgut, shudder) for goodness’ sake. Some romantic hero, huh? And yet, he’s a freaking genius. He is a sensitive musician. He’s cultured and well-mannered, and lives and dies for one woman—Christine, the epitome of grace and naivety. It’s odd, because in canon, Christine actually ends up with Raoul in the end of POTO—the handsome, safe, romantic hero. And yet, she is drawn to the darkness and beauty in Erik. Leroux brilliantly parallels the Hades/Persephone myth, which is one of his many subtle allusions. If you’ve never read the original Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, give it a shot. Also, it’s in the public domain, nudge nudge.

As Leroux concludes, we are to pity poor, unhappy Erik, who would have been a great genius, admired worldwide, if not for the horror of his face. Of course, like any good book-to-bosom romance reader, I wanted to “save” Erik from his lonely fate. This fandom (phandom, get it?) has endlessly debated why so many women want the heroine to end up with a manipulative killer when it real life, that’s just asking for domestic abuse and an eventual restraining order. It’s because Erik is such a tragic character and we want to rescue and nurture this bad boy. And he’s brilliant! And strong! And talented! And OMG, tortured and mysterious! He’s a Byronic hero on crack with a bad case of fugly. Poor fugly phantom. So, because he has such a horribly sad ending, most Phantom “phans” want a cathartic resolution to his story. Thus, fanfiction.

Fandom Quirks?

I mentioned the fans/phans, fanfic/phanfic quirk. There are many dudes in the phandom. There also seems to be a particularly large number of Mary Sues with gold-flecked eyes who set about to find the phantom and become his “one true love” after he let his previous “one true love” go. A dear friend wrote a Sue parody called Buds Bursting Into Bloom and intentionally left it incomplete, as so often happens to Sue fics once the OC heroine sexes up the opera ghost.

Other Recced Fics: The Useful Personality by phantomy-cookies, Elainie by The Scorpion, Pomegranate Seeds by Titania of the Fae

Your Name: manyafandom

The Fandom: Final Fantasy; mostly FFX, X-2 and XII. I’m starting to dabble in FFXII as the stories roll in, based on the video games.

Your One True Pairing (OTP): Honestly, I like them all, but my favorites are; FFX, X-2 Auron/Rikku. What? Don’t look at me like that. FFXII Basch/Penelo. Again, don’t look at me like that. I swear it’s not as creepy as it sounds.

Your Favorite Fic:

FFXII: Vængir by sarasa_cat. On FF.
Unfortunately this story is permanently on hold :( Anything by her is great. She can do funny, crack, angst, drama, slash and smut. Borrowed Time & Beauty in the Breakdown by Rhianna-Aurora. Borrowed Time is incomplete, but still very effin’ good.

FFX: Fade With Me by koalababy; Five Steps by ChiCkkie; and Sandstorms and Pyreflies by Rhianna-Aurora

(What) Have Your Written in this Fandom: My first attempt at writing was a Basch centric story with hints of Basch/Penelo. It was so bad that I deleted it after a few weeks.

How Long Have You Been There: Since the games came out; early 2002 for FFX and late 2006 for FFXII. I’ve been reading fanfiction for over a decade, but Final Fantasy XII was the first time I ever actively participated in a fandom.
Good Fan Sites/Archives/RecLists: There aren’t that many good archives outside of FF.net and LJ that I’ve found. Here are some of the better LJ comms. Final Fantasy Fanfic Rec, Final fantasy fanfiction , Final Fantasy XII Fanfiction, Basch/Penelo (btw, I made the comm icon.), Balthier/Penelo, Aurriku (its dead though, sigh)

How You Got Sucked In: Hmm…with video games there is a story and back story told amongst all the game play, but it usually only applies to the quest the characters are on and used to move the story/game along. Basically, you’re dropped into this completely foreign world with all this mythology and magic and weird creatures (Moogles, Cauctars, Viera & Chocobos in FF’s case) and only given enough information of who the characters are and what the world is like to get by. That’s not very satisfying in my opinion, especially if there is a character that you like or are intrigued by. So you turn to fanfiction to expand and explore that world and characters more.

Does that sound familiar to anyone? Yeah, I thought so.

But what really got me hooked, was the way the fanfic writers took the world and the characters and made it their own, while still adhering to the rules of that world. It’s canon, but not. As the writers are expanding from known facts and creating detailed and lush back stories and stories based on what little information is available.

Again, sound familiar?

Video game love stories, particularly Final Fantasy, are the epitome of angst and UST. For the most part romance/love is mostly hinted at or vaguely implied. Sigh. In FFXII, I would go as far as saying there is no love story or set canon pairings. Usually the characters don’t admit their feelings until right before they are about to face the final boss, if they do at all. And most times someone ends up dead by the time the game credits roll. That’s not very satisfying.

Through fanfiction, we get to finally see the characters we’ve invested hours and hours (usually 80+ to complete everything) of game play in get their happily ever after or at least some freaking closure.

Also, because of the way video games are played/told there is plenty of room for in-game storytelling in fanfiction. Missing moments, relationship building, alternative pov’s, etc…

So, Why This Fandom? (Why This Pairing?): Why FFX & FFXII and not the other games? Well, I think that these two games are better than the rest. I love the stories, game play, characters and the world it’s set in. Also, the graphics are the pretty.

Now why these two pairings? First, I should state that there is a substantial age difference with both or these pairings; 19 & 20 years. There is a squick factor that is involved. I mean, Basch is 36 and Penelo 17 in game. And Auron is 35 and technically dead and Rikku is 15 in the first game and 17 in the sequel. Umm…yeah, I know. It sounds pedophilic, but the stories aren’t written that way or with that mindset. With that in mind, I tend to look for stories where some time has passed since the game ended and the characters are older or an alternative time line type deal to avoid the squick. I also really like the strictly friendship/mentor stories that abound with these pairings.

Now, back to why. First you have the older, hardened warrior that is all duty and honor and no life outside of that. Then there's the young, full of life optimist, which has had tragedy and struggle in her past and has no reason to be so hopeful and positive. Opposites attract they say. The optimist shows the warrior that there is something worth fighting for besides duty and honor. And the warrior shows the optimist that sometimes you have to sacrifice for the things you believe in. It starts out as annoyance, to mentorship, to friendship and ultimately to something more. They grow and learn from each other, discovering along the way that they’re perfect for each other. Who doesn’t love that?

Fandom Quirks: Hmm…there’s not a lot of smut. Don’t get me wrong, there’s smut, but it’s not common. Because of the loose world information there is hardly any AU going on. Drabbles and under 2k one-shots are the norm, instead of the epically long stories you read in Twific. The fandom is small. If you add up all the Final Fantasy fics on ffnet there are a little over 60k fics from 16 different games. Half of those are from FFVII.

Your Name: Pastiche Pen

The Fandom: Star Trek Reboot/2009/xi - depending whose naming it, based off the Movie

Your One True Pairing (OTP: I like Kirk-centric fics, so normally Kirk/McCoy or Kirk/Spock, and a sprinkling of gen-fic (AKA no romance).

Your Favorite Fic:
Interia or Law(s) of Motion) by cardslash.
Slash, Kirk/Dr. McCoy (Bones), epic-length, NC-17
Prompt/summary: It’s not like Romeo and Juliet because nobody dies and it’s not like a romance novel because nobody’s hair is flying in the wind but somehow or another, Bones and Kirk figure out that they’re in love anyway.
Rec: First, cardslash the best writer I've touched on so far in this fandom, maybe in all fandoms. Metaphor, glorious detail and humor-to-delight shape her stories. Second, they're character-driven, and the amount emotional intelligence going into characterizations is AMAZING. I think of her depiction when I think of canon McCoy. Oh, then there's the part where she writes really hot lemons... and finally, she's not a serial writer who falters have way through the story. The ending had my flipping out, happy and teeheeing over the conclusion.

How Long Have You Been There: Since the SnowApocolypse 2010 kept me inside for a week.

Good Fan Sites/Archives/RecLists: Crackenterprise is my ultimate favorite--for the widest variety of pairings. Great stuff at the USS Cupcake. Then there are the pairing specific communities: kirk/spock, kirk_mccoy, Kirk/Spock archive.

How You Got Sucked In:

Because I went, saw the movie--fucking loved it--and then um... there's the fact that the cast on the movie is probably the hottest cast of any movie this past year. Like, holy cow... Chris Pine, Karl Urban, Zoe Zaldana, Zachary Quinto... ~fans self~ Many months ago I went looking for one-shots on FF, and found one or two funny ones with Spock being all "That would be Logical" to something ridiculously pornuncular--but it wasn't until the snowacolopyse hit in February, and I found myself clicking on a few good rec lists that I went full-on hog wild in my trekkie love.

So, Why This Fandom? (Why This Pairing?)

1. Reboot is HUGE. Like, maybe not Twilight or Harry Potter huge--but HUGE, like the major pairings have a cluster of amazing epic-length fic. This is for two reasons: 1. The prexisting fan base for Star Trek was already established and expansive, and 2. the whopper success of the new movie brought in a huge sweep of new fans. Therefore, there's this wonderful fusion of old and new, and also, if you're addiction is still running wild, there's the added benefit that you can always go back and read The Original Series (TOS) fic, and just imagine your prefered actors as you read along.

2. Amazing slash. Like holy hell amazing. Between the gorgeous perfection of (Kirk) Chris Pine's eyes, the sultry, swarthy grouch of (Dr. McCoy/Bones) Karl Urban (!!!), and the intensity and make-you-shiver baritone of (Spock) Zachary Quinto--it's just a beautiful, beautiful combination of male-flesh, and we haven't even gotten to the side characters...

3. The plots are AWESOME. This fandom is so flexible (and yes, I mean like a contortionist yoga doll). Let's just start by talking about Vulcans. Spock is a Vulcan. Key point. Vulcans, who are supposed to be the epitome of controlled logic--have a mating time (called Pon Farr), which sends them into an animalistic sexing frenzy. ~P claps~ If you've read Harry Potter, this is not unlike veela fic... It is an excellent incentive to dive head first into Kirk/Spock. Second, alien-culture stories are hilarious. Naturally some planets forbid clothing. Other planets are occupied by teddy pair people. Some planets hate blondes. Most of them have monsters and or cannibals intent on eating the crew. Some planets just have tribbles. Oh, and then there's all the cool AU stuff with time-travel, warp physics, and stars exploding. And then for the "all-human" (sorta) type of fic: there's a whole genre of Academy!fic, where Kirk and McCoy are roommates who drink to much; Spock is an instructor; and Uhura learns every language on campus. It's space college with cool subjects.

4. Timing: The next movie comes out in 2011--so this is a fandom that's just going to get bigger and hotter, and possibly rowdier.

Fandom Quirks:

A lot of amazing gen/humor in Trek fic--considering that the original series was so campy, this isn't really a surprise. Moreover, there's a lot of The Original Series (TOS) versus Reboot griping still going on. You don't see much Next Generation stuff anymore--everyone is too excited about Reboot. Finally, because this fandom is so huge--you see the integration of not just the movie and the old TV episodes, but also books based off the series and future descriptions of Klingons from Next Generation, and then there are the old movies--there's just an enormous amount of universe to draw from--but because the ship centers around the five main characters, there's always the same solid story. Oh, and yeah, there's also the Reboot Spock (Zach Quinto) and TOS Spock (Leonard Nimoy)--they call Leonard's character "Spock!prime" as a standard label. There is also Kirk/Spock!Prime fic... ~snort~

Best Intro Fics:

Home by Lanaea
WIP (sorta, I'd say the final chapter is the end of the arc, although it's technically on hiatus), T
A misshap brings the Enterprise back to Earth for a while. Spock has no plans, and Kirk doesn’t want to face his mom alone.
Funny. Sweet. Excellent flow. This is one of those T fics where the characterization and storytelling is so delightful that you don't notice the "T" label, despite all the crazy UST. However, I'd label this more of an PG-13/R rather than a T, to be clear. There is inexplicit sexual content.

Other Recs:

My Rec List for Kirk/Spock and Kirk/Bones.

Past "Hops" to Check Out: Harry Potter: Draco/Harry, Bones (TV), and Dexter (TV), Harry Potter: Snape/Hermione, Star Wars, and The Mortal Instruments (books) and Roswell, Buffy (Spike/Buffy), and The Hunger Games.

Why So Fail FF?

2010-04-29T07:17:00.002-05:00

Oh Fanfiction.net...why do you fail us so?

Seems like we are saying that (or some other very colorful variety) an awful lot these days.

It would appear that system upgrades over the weekend changed the coding logic on fanficiton.net, eliminating a number of traditional section break structures like

********

and

~*~*~*~

It's not purely a repeating pattern, nor is it the use of *, so you might have to experiment to find a break that works best for you and the format of your story. Fortunately the breaks ARE still there when you export, so a search and replace can save you a little bit of time.

So consider this a PSA - go check your stories - especially if you use separators to show a shift in POV or time. You can export the chapter from the fanfiction.net "my stories interface." If you've never done this before - next to each chapter on the far left are a series of HTML Links - select the EXP option, it will send the chapter to document manager. Your breaks will still be there, you simply need to replace them with something that works.

Epic Sigh and Good Luck!

Fandom Fluff: Support Group Part 2

2010-04-28T06:56:00.006-05:00

Breaking Down Support Group

Part 2

By:

Hoosier Mama

New Guy: Welcome back everyone to Breaking Down: A support group for addicts of Twilight fan fiction. The national BD organization has recently discovered that male moderators work better than females. (He grins smugly.) Too often our women mods get “sucked” into the addiction themselves! Heh, heh, heh. (He snickers at his own joke.)

Alice: (whispers to Leah) What a loser!

New Guy: (Oblivious to the group’s negative reactions, he quiets his chuckles.) Anyway, your former mod, Mrs. Cope, succumbed to the addition, so I will be taking her place. I will lead you on the path toward Real Life by showing you how to turn your backs on fanfiction and embrace being normal.

Now, I understand this group uses names from the Twilight saga to identify yourselves; I happen to disagree with this practice, but I won’t make you all change your identities midstream. So, I guess I need to pick a name for myself. Hmmm, you can all call me… (He smirks hugely)…Edward.

Everyone: (pandemonium ensues) Hell no! No way! Are you freakin’ kidding me?

New Guy: Why not? Edward is a perfectly acceptable name…

Renee: (interrupting him, standing suddenly) Let me put it to you this way. We (waving her arm indicating the entire group) all feel like we’ve met Edward. We know Edward. You sir, are no Edward!

There is applause and nods of agreement from the group as Renee sits down.

New Guy: (exasperated) Fine. What would you suggest?

The group chatters quietly while some suggestions are called out. James? Aro? Jacob?

Emily: (stands) Wait! I’ve got the perfect name for you. (Everyone quiets while Emily smiles sweetly and tilts her head.) Mike Newton.

In a moment of solidarity, the entire group likewise smiles sweetly and tilts their heads.

New Guy: (annoyed and grumbling) Fine. Call me Mike. Ok, let’s get started. First tell me who you are and a little bit about yourselves.

Angela: Hey Mike? (She stands up and joins him at the front.) Allow me to introduce everyone. I’m Angela. Over in the slash corner are Alice and Leah (they wave). They don’t only read slash; they just prefer to read stuff about Jasper, gay or straight. Then in the back we have the PEGs or P.E. Girls. They’re big fans of all fics that are “Pretentious” and “Erudite”. (They are all grouped around one woman, staring down at her hands, unaware of Angela’s words.) Next to them we have the “init”s. They’re called that because they are just “in it” to read about sex. (The girls giggle.) Both of those groups spend a lot of time on their respective forums. Then we have our resident fanfic writer Renee (she nods). And this is Emily. (Angela turns to Mike and whispers without moving her lips.) Whatever you do, don’t mention O.P. around her.

Mike: (cluelessly loud) Opie? Like Ron Howard’s character on Andy Griffith?

Emily: No you moron. Not Opie, O.P.! It stands for Obscenely Popular! She’s my absolute favorite fanfic author…

Angela: (quietly to Mike, before returning to her seat) I tried to warn you…

Emily: (continuing without a breath) Her story “Freakin’ Fantastic Fic” has got the whole fandom in an uproar. Everyone’s dying for the next chapter update because B & E’s situation is finally going to be resolved…I hope. Oh, it’s such a good story. But nobody knows anything about O.P.; she’s very mysterious and reclusive. All we know is she writes Edward better than anyone else in the…

Leah: (interrupting) Oh please…

Emily: (angrily) Leah! I know you refuse to read anything with more than 2000 reviews, but not reading something just because it’s popular is…idiotic!

Leah: I’m not stooping to join the herd mentality. I read slash, Jasper fics, and little known authors. I’m not reading anything by anyone “obscenely popular!”

Emily: You don’t know what you’re missing. Maybe she’s obscenely popular because she’s simply a wonderful writer.

PEG leader: (looking up) According to Wiki, there is evidence that she’s Stephenie Meyer herself.

Init leader: Well, I read a blog that said she was really J.K. Rowling.

PEG leader: Oh c’mon! You can’t seriously believe that! If J.K. is writing fics, she’s writing H.P. fics.

Emily: You’re both wrong. She’s actually someone in this very room. (The group gasps.) Isn’t she…Renee?

Renee: Oh for the love of God! How many times do I have to tell you Emily: I am not O.P.!!

Emily: Then why won’t you ever tell us which fics you’ve written?

Renee: (Angrily) Fine. If that’s what it takes for you to end this delusion, I will. I wrote “There is no Story” and “Imaginary Fic”.

Emily looks crestfallen. Angela freaks out, approaches Renee and starts shamelessly fangirling.

Angela: Oh, I just finished “There is no Story” and I loved it! It’s sort of a takeoff on The Matrix, right? You’re a really good writer.

Renee: Yeah, thanks Angela. You can stop hugging me now...

Mike: OK, have we all forgotten the reason we’re here tonight? This isn’t a fanfiction book signing for crying out loud. We’re here to walk the path toward Real Life. Remember our Breaking Down saying:

Fanfiction.net is the devil’s own tool.
You’ll waste too much time & feel like a fool.
And never go visit Twilighted.net…

Everyone: (loudly in unison) Your brain will be turned on; your dreams will be wet!

Mike: (angrily) Hey! That’s not how it goes! You’ve ruined the saying! (Everyone giggles. Mike shakes his head in exasperation.) It’s like you people never left junior high.

Emily: (shrieks) My friend just tweeted that the newest chapter of “Freakin’ Fantastic” has been posted!

Everyone jumps up and gathers their stuff. Someone calls out “meeting adjourned!”

Leah: (looking shocked) Alice? You’re leaving? Don’t tell me you read it too?

Alice: Of course! You should get off your high horse and read it, Leah. It’s really…well…freakin’ fantastic!

The PEGs look up in surprise to see the room rapidly emptying.

Angela: (addressing the PEGs) We just found out “Freakin’ Fantastic Fic” was updated.

PEG leader: Yeah, we know. We’ve been reading it on my new IPad. Hey girls…let’s take this next door to the coffee shop, finish reading the chapter and then discuss it. (They all get up to leave.)

Mike: Wait girls! What about walking the path toward Real Life? Don’t you want to be normal? You know…like me? (No one answers. Mike sits down, dejected. Only Leah and Angela are left in the room.)

Leah: (trying to be nice) Look, Mike – being normal is completely over-rated. Deep down, nobody really wants to be like you. (She smiles sweetly, then gets serious.) Anyway, we all know that there are worse things in this world to be addicted to than reading and writing.

Mike: (frowns, then jumps up) I think I’ll get some coffee next door. I’ll show those PEGs how “Presumptuous” and “Erratic” Mike Newton can be! (Mike leaves. Angela walks over to Leah while shaking her head.)

Angela: Is that tool actually chasing after a PEG?

Leah: Oh I hope so. They’ll eat him alive. (They chuckle, then Leah looks nervous.) So…you beta’d it. Do you think they’ll be happy?

Angela: (grinning, as she gently elbows Leah) They’re gonna be freakin’ ecstatic, O.P.

A/N: With many thanks to OlgaNYC, ~~my beta~~, ~~my shoulder to cry on~~, my friend.

FicDive: The Horror! The Horror!

2010-04-27T10:24:00.001-05:00

Diver Alias: Receptive Raptor (aka arfalcon)

Mission: Find a frightening story where the horror doesn’t eclipse the romance

The Pearl: Château de Horreur by grayviolets

Summary: On a class trip to France, Bella Swan is taken and introduced to the clandestine world of vampiric royalty.

Rated: M - English - Romance/Horror - Bella & Edward - Reviews: 54 - Updated: 04-21-10 - Published: 02-17-10 - id:5754480

Why I Read This: Hoping to dredge up a scary love story, I hooked gore without romance and creepiness without heart. This story finally grabbed my attention with a smart, scrappy Bella who is determined to survive as she and hated classmate Lauren Mallory are kidnapped by the Volturi guard. Bella immediately notices the disturbing red eyes of her captors, but it takes her sixteen-year-old brain awhile to discover their secret. It doesn’t take the vampires any time at all to realize there is something special about Bella.

Forced to live as a domestic slave in an ornate French chateau, Bella holds on to her life long belief that nothing is impossible as she hopes to find a way to escape. Edward is a beacon of kindness in her nightmare, despite the fact that he shares the blood red eyes of the other “masters”. Bella fights her immediate attraction to him with enough wit and snark to capture his attention, and the pull between them reels us in.

The main characters are strongly crafted variations on the SM originals, the vampires here having fangs. Edward is the only compassionate one, despite the fact that he holds a special place in the Volturi hierarchy and drinks human blood. Emmett plays a surprising role as Edward’s mentor and father figure, with Rosalie as the maternal one. The other slaves include older versions of Angela and Ben, kidnapped while honeymooning in Paris years earlier, as well as Jacob.

The real horror starts when Bella faces the wrath of Alec and Jane as she bravely tries to protect Angela’s unborn child. During the weeks it takes for Bella’s wounds to heal under Edward’s intimate care, their feelings for each other grow until that first kiss is impossible to resist.

This story is crisply paced, and the author juxtaposes several tender moments with the dangers facing Bella. Edward’s character is imbued with true humanity, and I’m dying to see if these two will find a HEA.

Diver Alias: The Voice (aka Legna989)

Mission: To find a short story that gives me the good old-fashioned creeps.

The Pearl: Lost by girastelle

Summary: Three sisters are stolen from their father's farm by three mysterious, inhuman captors. Loosely inspired by Twilight and set in an indeterminate past, this story explores a darker side of the Cullen boys.

Twilight - Rated: T - English - Horror/Suspense - Chapters: 3 - Words: 8,203 - Reviews: 5 - Published: 1-19-10 - Bella & Edward - Complete

Why I Read This: In a fandom based on a series about vampires and werewolves, finding a decent horror story shouldn't be tough, right?

Wrong.

Perhaps it's because Twilight is, at its heart, a romance that just happens to involve vampires and werewolves. The result is that with few exceptions, even the stories that are labeled horror aren't really horror as I think of it--the type of story that makes you look behind you when you're walking down a dark hallway, that makes you want to check under the bed and in the closet for the boogeyman before going to sleep. I think I looked at over 700 stories, and was ready to give up my short story goal to settle for one of the handful of one-shots that had potential, until I stumbled across Lost by girastelle.

At just three chapters, it's a quick but creepy read. It's set in an indeterminate past, and the names of the three female protagonists are slightly changed to better fit with the time period. While that might normally turn me off, in this case, it works to enhance the otherworldly quality of the story.

Alyse, Isobel and Rosaleen are Charlie's daughters; their mother died when the girls were very young. They are taken from the fields they're working by mysterious captors, preternaturally fast and strong. When they awake, they are in a cave of some kind, and it is then that they (and we) get the first real look at their kidnappers.

"I think that perhaps he should have been beautiful, as beautiful as an angel,
as beautiful as summer. But his eyes glittered with a darkness that no firelight
could touch, and his slow wide smile had nothing human in it. It was the feral
grin of a jackal, a polecat, a screaming jay in a starling's nest."

These are not the Twilight men as we are used to seeing them. They are described through the story as "lost boys," and as they share bits of their story, we come to understand why. They have been abandoned by their creator, cast aside after years of being the favorite sons. Their emotional youth and vulnerability renders them almost sympathetic, which is an interesting storytelling choice on the author's part. Isobel--and in turn the reader--comes to feel sorry for them, even while being acutely aware of the horrors of which they're capable.

"The night had gone somehow. The fire was nothing but dying embers, and I saw
faint daylight, which must have shown the direction of the entrance to the cave.
The three boys sat together there in a circle.

I sat up. The fair
one looked toward me and grinned his slow grin. His teeth were dark as if with
wine.

Alyse was gone."

None of the boys answers any of Isobel's questions directly, and their actions are somewhat contradictory. Isobel's confusion only enhances the feeling of dread, and further adding to the creep factor is a vision Isobel has while listening to Edward tell his story: "My skin was icy and white like his, and we ruled this place together, undying, forever young, forever beautiful." She is terrified for herself and her sisters, but is also drawn to the creepy but charismatic Edward.

The author leaves the ending open, and the effect is haunting.

While Lost may not have had me checking my closet for the boogeyman, it has haunted me since I read it. What more could I ask of a horror story?

Guest Fic Rec: Twanza Is Not Lukewarm

2010-04-25T07:21:00.003-05:00

ThisColony & Houroflead
Lukewarm Alphabet - M/R
Drama/Romance
24 Chapters, 31208 Words
02/03/2010 - WIP
[ FFN ]

A story about separate states of reality, apathy, changing, and everything in between. A collaboration from ThisColony & Houroflead. E/B

twanza's

When I was asked to make a fic rec for TLYDF, I was excited for exactly one day, then panicked for weeks, because every story that I am reading is pretty popular. I am a fangirl first and foremost, and when one of my friends says "go," I usually run. So, I asked for suggestions on lesser known fics and found that those recommended to me already had a lot of reviews.

So I went on a mission.

I wanted to find the next Sleepers Awake because I say “Yay. Yay?” in business meetings to crack myself up. Where is the next Get Me To You? I wonder. I want that because I said “Candymouth” to a friend to describe a cute boy and she smirked at my cleverness. Where is the one that made me look up the term “slash?” The one that became one of the most beautiful romances I’ve ever read?

Where is the next Wide Awake? The one for which I joined facebook to get the scuttlebutt on updates, and now have to face messages from old boyfriends. Where’s the new Poughkeepsie? The one that will make me drive to the actual city of Poughkeepsie to take a photo of the train station? Where is the next Mr. Horrible? The one that has the line about vomiting that I guffaw at close to a year after reading.

Yes, by the way, I am egotistical enough to think that I can be the first one to find this story.

I rummaged around but became frustrated, because every one that was deserving already had lots of reviews and I still couldn’t find “my” story. So after a while, I threw up my hands in defeat and stopped reading. And at that moment I was handed something that I didn’t know I was looking for - which is sort of the lesson of this story. It lives by its own rules, reveals itself when its ready, takes its own time. And it makes me very, very happy.

The fic is called Lukewarm Alphabet. I read the name and my heart committed to it before I read a word. Just listen to the title. Say it out loud into the room. Lukewarmmmmmm Alphhhhhhhabet. mmmmmmmmmmm.

The first chapter is actually an extended Author’s Note called “A Word From Our Sponsors.” I am inordinately fond of A/Ns, for some reason, although they are absurd to write and usually unnecessary to read, a reminder that we have to share intellectual property rights with every flipping book we’ve ever read, every freaking song we’ve ever heard. When A/Ns are cautions, however, I read them closely, because I like to know there is danger ahead, love to know that I am willfully walking into a trap.

And right off the bat, I know that they are going to manipulate me, because This Colony says: We really want to play with the format of this fanfiction-ness. This hooks me because it suggests that they want to mess with my assumptions.

Hour Of Lead says: … I promise the story is at least 89723489 times better. I have no idea what it will be better than, but I love that her sentence is sort of incomplete and makes me want to do the math.

And the fact that there is a P.S. to the A/N cements me in their grip: We strongly recommend you change your page width to the 1/2 view. My pages are already set up this way, and I noticed that ThisColony has a play list on her profile, so got even more wiggly because these guys intend to deliver a visual experience as well as a auditory one.

From the beginning it feels threatening - like vamp - because isn’t that what life is? Sucking our blood until it’s taken everything. But it’s human, because isn’t that what living's all about? Giving all we have until we’re empty? In this story, Bella and Edward start out hollow, but find meaning by discovering one other, and in the process they are finding themselves. It’s about the human condition and you’ll recognize it in all of its detail.

Lukewarm Alphabet is almost a tone poem. The writing is circular, hypnotic, trance inducing. You will see where it’s going but not have a clue. It’s canon, but generous in that it’s told in a way that gave me space to insert myself. It’s clear and detailed, but not so insider-ish that I am excluded from the telling. And though I knew from the first that this was the story I wanted to rec, this is when I knew knew.

“The phone screen says ‘Emmett.’ I consider if the name really warrants the double t's at the end before I press the green talk button.”

All the world in two simple sentences. This is that story.

From here on in, I’m going to shut up and just let their carefully wrought words convince you…

(Bella, from Chapter 2, "Vultures") I smile a lot, and this is passable, this works in conversation, because people will just keep talking, and you never have to add anything of importance with smiles and nods. They love it, it's so agreeable. I don't have to waste my breath, and their heads and hearts feel lighter.... This is where smiling becomes dangerous. This is where listening or mimicking listening will become something else entirely. To men in bars with sweaty upper lips and that stinging cologne bath stench, smiles are invitations.

Dangerous smiling? *sigh*

(Edward, from Chapter 5, "Sure") I'm happy. That is, to say, I'm not sad. I can't say I think much about what I am and what I'm not. Do I believe in God? Sure. Do I think I'm a good person? Sure. Do I like chocolate ice cream? Sure.

Sad & happy, sappy & had. *swoon*

(Bella, from Chapter 8, “I”) Wine keeps pouring. I keep pouring. Red, red, red, and all I want is bitter. Which gets me thinking. Thinking about just how bitter I really am, and just when it really began, and how I can get rid of it, and what parts of me need that cleansing. I've been here before; this very dangerous territory where the inebriated wheels begin spinning, and reeling out of control. SELF! I say.

SELF! *smirk*

(Edward, from Chapter 9, "Birthday Indulgence #2") I'm dressed because even though I know better, I still touch the flame. Even though I know better, I still lick the battery.

Still lick the battery. *ZOMG*

In this story she is hard. He is soft. If I have a criticism, it is that his voice sometimes sounds female. I am militant about “voice,” but I also know that the first person who would agree with me is this Edward. So even my nitpicking reassures me that this fic knows itself, which makes me trust the authors even more. Not because I’m assured of perfection, but because even its little faults play into the whole. Its the real deal.

Lukewarm Alphabet marches to its own beat. Its demands to be dealt with. Its imagery is gorgeous. Its words are carefully chosen. Its authors are true. I am a reader before anything else and I love the juggernauts, the epic stories, the biggies, the - uhmm - stimulating ones, the ones that make me crazy. But I realized reading this story that it’s in the rowboats, not the speedboats, that the greatest lessons are learned.

Lukewarm Alphabet will lull you with elegance, thrill you with brevity, and capture you with pacing. This story is incomplete, but at the close of each chapter there is silence. Which is a really beautiful thing.

Read it. Now. Go. Shoo.

xot

PS: Are you still here? Do you really need more convincing? Fine. Name me another story that mixes the jingle from “Mister Bubbles” with “Mister Bucket.” Go ahead. I dare you. So go read, and then trot that one out in RL and be brilliant.

Twanza is the author of "Neverending Math Equation," which won the Winter 2010 Indie Twific Award for "Best Love Triangle" (WIP). Her entire story needs to be disclaimed as having been influenced by (among others): SMeyer, EAPoe, HMelville, JDSalinger, PBenchley, MMouse, SKMoon, LZeppelin, GDay, Shark Week on the Discovery Channel and the four corners of Atlantic & Clinton Avenues in the County of Kings/Brooklyn, NY.

Fandom News - 4/23

2010-04-23T01:58:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to the following authors for completing their stories last week!

Winners for A Very Sexy Un-Birthday Contest Announced Today

Winners for Men at Work Contest Announced Today

Voting for United Colors of Twilight Contest Ends

Nothing on calendar today! Why not check out the #readalong?

Deadline to Submit Entries to Rosalie's a Bitch Contest

Voting for The Public Lovin' Contest Ends

Voting for Rosalie's a Bitch Contest Begins

Voting for Fun With Your Clothes On Contest Ends

Voting for Volturi Love Contest Ends

Winners for Was That In the Books? Contest Announced Today

Voting for Fun With Your Clothes On Contest Begins

Deadline to Submit Entries to “The Air, The Sun” Jacob and Bella Fanfiction Community April Drabble Challenge

Deadline to Submit Entries to Best Domination Ever Contest

Deadline to Submit Entries to Crayola Contest

Deadline to Submit Entries to Eclipse FanFiction Challenge

Deadline to Submit Entries to I Can't Believe It's Not Canon! Challenge

Deadline to Submit Entries to Missing Moments Contest

Deadline to Submit Entries to The Sport of Love Challenge

Deadline to Submit Entries to Twilight 25 Challenge

Deadline to Submit Entries to Twilight Team DILF

Twilight Twins Awards

Ongoing Contests, Open for Submission:

Seers Outtake Writing Contest - 5/1/2010, Twiku Kung Fu Contest - 5/2/2010, Twilight Lexicon Facepunch Video Contest - 5/5/2010, "A Southern Twi-Night" Anonymous Contest - 5/7/2010, Forbidden Lemon Contest - 5/8/2010, Texts From Last Night Contest! - 5/9/2010, Taste on My Tongue Challenge - 5/10/2010, The Austenatious Endeavours Challenge - 5/18/2010, Silence of the Wolves Contest - 5/21/2010, We Don't Need No Stinkin' Coven! Contest - 5/23/2010, Key to the Kingdom Competition - 5/31/2010, Buffy/Twilight Crossover Contest - 6/1/2010, Til Death Do Us Part Contest - 6/5/2010, Monster in Law Contest - 6/6/2010, Me and Mr. McCarty Contest - 6/14/2010, The BD Screenplay Challenge - 6/30/2010, Summer Review Contest - 8/31/2010

Open for Voting or Nominations:

Voting for the The Public Lovin' Contest ends 4/26/2010

Voting for the Volturi Love Contest ends 4/28/2010

Nominations for the Fictionista Workshop Awards ends 4/30/2010

Nominations for the Twilight Twins Awards ends 4/30/2010

Voting for the Fun With Your Clothes On Contest ends 5/5/2010

Voting for the Rosalie's a Bitch Contest ends 5/7/2010

Voting for the Total Eclipse of the Heart Awards ends 5/10/2010

Voting for the The Silent Tear Awards ends 6/20/2010

Deadline to Sign Up for Round Three of the Twilight 25 Challenge Ends 4/30

Deadline to Sign Up for the Fictionista Workshop Classroom is 5/10

Check out The FicBridge #readalong everynight on twitter by searching for the #readalong tag.

Got a contest or an event to add to the calendar? Drop a line to Kassiah with the deets and your graphics, please.

Fandom Fluff: Fun with Edward

2010-04-21T07:22:00.000-05:00

Fun with Edward

By:

Hoosier Mama

“Oh Edward…”

I froze in horror for a split second. Uh-oh. What was I thinking?

An exasperated “Oh Edward” had been my first coherent thought as my husband woke me up with one thing on his mind…

As Jon Lovitz so tenderly describes it in A League of Their Own, “Giving the wife a little pickle tickle.”

The bad news? My husband’s name is not Edward. After 25 years being married to the guy, you’d think I would know this - along with his shirt size, social security number and what he likes on a hamburger. His name’s not Edward. It’s never been Edward and it’s never going to be… hmmm. I wonder if he’d legally change his name… Nah!

The good news? I didn’t say it out loud; I only thought it in a sleepy daze. I would have been mortified if those words had actually escaped me. Not because it would have hurt my husband’s feelings, but because his teasing would have been both merciless and never-ending.

I suspect I may need to cut back on my fanfic reading right before bedtime. I should be grateful for the wake-up call. The next time I may actually say it out loud (Yikes!) so I better protect myself from any possible future humiliation.

While I ponder a self-imposed fanfic curfew (cough*nevergonnahappen*cough) here’s a quiz for you to do. Match the Edward with the fic. I’ve given you hints: after each quote about Edward I have given the initials of the person who initially said it or thought it. Good luck!

“Edward Cullen…Many things, but never an underwear model.” EC
“A gorgeous, strangely mysterious, deliciously intelligent, incredibly intriguing, threesome-having, student-body seducing, golden-eyed asshole.” BS
“Fifty shades of fucked up.” EC
“Andrew Cludle is my alter-ego.” EC “Holy Crow, Edward is Lord Voldemort.” BS
“You’re a…a…horny, bipolar vampire!” BS
“Edward. Edward Cullen, Lily’s dad.” EC
“…because he liked Fruit Loops, I could tell that Edward obviously was an artist (because of the colors) and he ate healthy (because of the fruit).” BS
“My language was now a thick-glassed jam jar stuffed with sho’nuff and ah reckon…” EC
“Nice to meet you, jailbait.” BS
“Holy mother-of-the-bride, you are the single most socially ass-tarded person I’ve ever met.” JW
“Oh Hell, Bella thought. He’s a virgin. I can’t kill a virgin.” BS
“…you’re a shitty monster, by the way. Here you’ve had ample opportunity to chomp me up, and you blow it every time with the boy scout routine. Hasn’t your mother ever told you not to play with your food?” BS
“It’s Professor Masen…Any imbecile with a four year degree can call themselves a doctor.” EC
“…I had just imprinted with Edward Cullen.” BS

An Introduction to Swirl and Daisy by m81170
Master of the Universe by Snowqueens Icedragon
Bella Voce by Morgan Locklear
Elemental by TallulahBelle
Breaking News by WriteOnTime
Dead Confederates by goldenmeadow
This is Not my Life by isakassees
Hide and Drink by Savage7289
The University of Edward Masen by SebastienRobichaud
Geek Love by SassenachWench
Legendary by WhatsMyNomDePlume
Last Rites by halojones
Controlled Burn by staceygirl aka jackbauer
Sold, Sight Unseen by quothme

Answers:

A-5, B-11, C-2, D-14, E-8, F-7, G-1, H-6, I-13, J-10, K-3, L-12, M-9, N-4

DrabblerScrambler: Pink

2010-04-19T07:19:00.000-05:00

Pink

Today's Drabbly Babblers

Kassiah

Subtle Pen

MsKathy

Melissa228

Drabble #1:

As I slip the t-shirt onto my 4-year-old, I think of her: Renee. My mother. My best friend.

Grateful that she at least got to see my daughter born, I sigh deeply and finish putting my girl's hair in pigtails. The sparkles in the fake feather boa holders are framing her face as she beams back at me.

“Mommy,” she says. “Why we walkin'?”

Why?

A question I've asked myself a thousand times.

“We walk for Grammy, baby. She loved you so much. She'd be very proud of you today.”

I don my own pink ribbon t-shirt, and we walk.

Drabble #2:

Ironic that my mind should wander to the first time I’d peeked into a tiny window. Shaking, praying. Please. Not yet. Not me.

A decade of love and happiness and kisses and we’re ready. I find myself scared of windows for different reasons. Shaking, praying. Please? Not yet? Not me?

Years of specialists and predictor kits and procedures and waiting and, again, I was staring into yet another tiny window. Shaking, praying. Please. Now. For him.

Trembling hands clutch that piece of plastic—a lifeline. Minutes later, my tear-filled eyes snap up to his anxious gaze.

“Pink. It’s finally pink.

Drabble #3:

“You’ll fuck anything that doesn’t run away.”

I smiled, curious if the comment was driven by righteous indignation, or jealousy. “And?”

“You’re a fucking slut! Have you considered looking for more than just another piece of ass?”

I shrugged, getting a kick out of seeing him get himself all worked up.

“Asians, Latinas, barbies, book nerds, hell, I bet you’ve fucked an Eskimo.”

I had to laugh. I’d yet to bag an Eskimo. I wondered if his cousin from Alaska would count. What it all boiled down to, though, was one simple thing:

“It’s all pink on the inside, Edward.”

Drabble #4:

She was in a tight black dress, with sparkly things in her hair and bright pink shoes. She looked breathtaking.

Bella wrapped her warm hand around mine and smiled. A smile so trusting, it made my stomach churn, knowing what I was doing to her.

“Let’s go,” she said softly.

As we walked out to the Volvo, I noticed she smelled of perfume and cigarettes. Neither one of them belonged on my Bella. She never wore perfume. She hadn't smoked until recently. I hoped that, soon enough, the Bella I knew so well would come back to me. I hoped.

Think You Know That Drabbler?

Guest Fic Rec: Get Me to the Daisies

2010-04-18T06:10:00.004-05:00

Chicklette
Get Me To You - M/R
Romance/Angst
6 Chapters, 37558 Words
08/19/2009 - Completed
[ FFN ]

Winner of Winter 2010 Indie! Pet names and Pop Tarts. Sunday mornings with Etta and Ella. Cibola. Candymouth. You finally realize the truth. What if it's too late? M for drinking, drug use, sex and effing language. ExBxJxAxEm/POV, AH, OOC.

Daisy3853's

The first time someone recommended I read Get Me to You by Chicklette, I didn’t jump on it like I should have. I know you love Jasper, they said, and there’s no way you won’t love this one. Her writing style is so different, they said. You’ll love it or won’t, but either way it’s gorgeous and not to be missed. Give it a try, they said. I said yeah and okay and when I have time. I got busy with writing and work and other distractions, and lo and behold what pops up during final validations for the Indies but this little gem. I read it, I laughed over it, I smiled and cried and yelled at it and smiled and cried some more.

This story is lazy Sunday mornings in bed with Ella Fitzgerald, Van Morrison and candymouth kisses. It’s Jasper and Bella – easy and organic. It’s a story about finding love when you least expect it, learning to trust when you’re not sure who or what to trust, and figuring out what you need in your life to make you happy. It’s romantic yet realistic, because love is real and sometimes it hurts. It’s one of the most beautiful stories you’ll ever read, and if you don’t give it a try you’re truly missing out on something spectacular.

We start out with Bella, heartbroken and disappointed one more time thanks to an Edward who maybe loves her but maybe doesn’t, and the maybes are starting to kill her. He’s hot and cold and yes and no, and one day it goes a little too far.

“For one afternoon and one night Edward Cullen loved me. But in the morning? It was hustle and flow and get your shit together and what, did you think I was going to drive you to school? Make some big statement with you in the passenger seat, my arm around you like we're in love or some shit like that? Get going, Swan.”

Enter Jasper through her bedroom window, like it’s the most natural thing for him to be there – for him to be the one to notice she’s not at school and worry about her and hold her while she cries. And it is natural, because that’s who he is for her. He’s more than just her friend; he’s all she can count on, and they’re so alike that when you see them together it just fits.

“With Jasper it was chill and quiet and bluegrass on the stereo without being embarrassed and strawberry Pop Tarts right out of the box and fuck the crumbs getting all over. With Jasper it was holding hands and nestling into his chest because it was safe to be with him.”

Jasper’s safe because he knows she loves Edward, and he’s safe because she knows he loves Alice. Everything between them just sort of happens when they never really expected it to. He comforts her and it’s right. He kisses her and it’s right. She kisses him back and it’s just right, because he’s her Jas and she’s his (Bella)Trix. Their easy friendship turns into more, and the way it happens is just beautiful. They have their own language full of I love yous that say everything without saying anything that anyone else will understand. It’s one of my very favorite things about their relationship, and I swoon every time they do it.

“It meant I miss you, I'm sorry, I need you, please, yes, more, no, fuck you, don't stop, what are you talking about? It meant I adore you, I worship you, I need you, stop being an ass. It meant everything we couldn't say out loud. We funneled it into I love you and no matter what we meant by it, we understood. I love you.”

But things aren’t always easy when you think your love might love someone else more, and here you have Alice and Edward who suddenly miss what they never realized they would. Alice never even gave Jasper a chance before she saw him with Bella, while Edward strung Bella along with swings and switches and maybes. Seeing Jasper and Bella together opens their eyes, and neither of them like what they see.

“No more window, no more bed, no more Bella and fuck me. No more Bella because she's with Jasper and I didn't see it before I sure as fuck see that shit now, the way she touches him all the fucking time. How he keeps looking at her and they're talking in their heads to each other, you can see that shit and, oh, fuck, the way she just tugs on his collar and he gets up and follows and when they come back she's flushed and fucking exquisite and he does that to her and I fucking hate him.”

Chicklette’s style is different and fresh. I worried when I heard about it that it’d be hard to follow or get into, but nothing could be further from the truth. She weaves this tale seductively, with gorgeous language that flows so perfectly. Every word fits the story, and the story fits the style, and everything is good and right, just like Jas and Trix. She slips in subtle references to music and literature and history, and each one works so flawlessly that you’ll never stumble over them. Her descriptions are lovely and stunning, and sometimes there’s nothing you can do but smile at her words and say yes – exactly.

“I know that bourbon and mint were made for each other, and that this simple alchemy is proof of the divine. I know that watching a baseball game in the sunshine on a summer day, with the smell of grass in your nose and the sound of the crack of the bat in your ear is the epitome of what it means to be human.”

Something else that impressed me was that even though she uses multiple character points of view, the switches never disrupt the flow of the story. Each character has a distinct voice, yet the writing style never falters. Even when they’re living through the same event, you’re seeing everything under totally unique circumstances.

These characters become a part of you so quickly you might not realize it happened, but all of a sudden it’s true and their pain is your pain… and all you want is just one more lazy Sunday morning with pop tarts in bed and Ella. You’ll find yourself gutted and lonely the first time Bella's point of view pops up without the Trix when all the trouble begins, and hoping that maybe the next time he says Trix, cher, she lets him.

“So when I said I love you (are you alright?) he said I love you too but the words were so devoid of inflection, emotion, I had no idea what language he was speaking.”

Sigh. That one kills me every time.

As I sat down to write this recommendation, I reread the story to take notes and look for quotes to use (which let me tell you, narrowing down my favorite lines was no easy task). The second time around, I was just as moved, gutted, thrilled and devastated as the first time I read. I didn’t feel the need to skim or skip ahead, because every word – every unique description or turn of phrase – was just as gorgeous as the first time I read.

“She looks up at me and says, Jas? I feel that thing inside me swell, that feeling like my heart is attached to her smile and like there's balloons and butterflies inside of me, like I'm going to fly and no girl in the world can say that one syllable like she can. She says Jas and I hear love, love, love.”

Basically, you have to read this story. You have to read it if you love Jasper and Bella, because you haven’t read them like this. You have to read it if you’re not sure if you’d enjoy non-canon pairings, because this is the kind of story that makes you jump in with both feet and never look back. You even have to trust me and read it if you don’t usually like Jasper and Bella together, because I dare you not to get caught up in this story, despite your preferences. It’s something that will stay with you days and weeks later, and you probably won’t find anything else quite like it. It’s one of those stories that you’ll want to save and bring out on a lazy day when you want to curl up and read something that you know will make you feel. I really can’t say enough about it. So go. Read. Love. You’ll thank me later.

Daisy3853 loves the whole world, especially Jasper, and writes a Jasper/Bella multi-chapter called Underexposed.

Fandom News - 4/16

2010-04-16T02:15:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to the following authors for completing their stories last week!

All Cried Out
by
Hannah81
And with Thee Fade Away
by
Derdriu oFaolain
Angel Undercover
by
Kaitsa
Awake in the Infinite Cold
by
quothme
Bad Habit: Book One
by
AmeryMarie
Bare
by
stella luna sky
Bella's Revenge
by
Shakespeare's Lady
Brand New Eyes
by
acacia6583
Deadly Attraction 2
by
Elizabeth D.
Eve, the Apple of my Eye
by
bethaboo
How to Save a Life
by
unholy.obsession
I Plead the Fifth
by
teamedwardalways
If You Could Read My Mind
by
bella c'ella luna
In The Blood
by
fragilefoxes
Indian Summer
by
Tami Flournoy
Lost and Found
by
gemmabobella
My Boys
by
butterflybetty
Off Limits
by
lexiecullen17
Standstill
by
angelinlove52
The Amnesiac
by
eddiejazz
The Necklace
by
belladonnacullen
The Woes and what Nots of Dating
by
xtapx
Unexpected
by
Scarlet Simm
Wanted
by
troublefollows1017

Voting for A Very Sexy Un-Birthday Contest Ends

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Deadline to Submit Entries to Fun With Your Clothes On Contest

Voting for Men at Work Contest Ends

Voting for The Anon Whitlock Dust Contest Ends

Voting for The Faithful Shipper Awards Ends

Winners for Black Balloon Contest Announced Today

Winners for “Everything’s Bigger In Texas” Jasper Fanfiction Awards Contest Announced Today

Winners for The Anon Whitlock Dust Contest Announced Today

Voting for The Public Lovin' Contest Begins

Deadline to Submit Entries to Beyond the Story - Forks' Forgotten Friends One-Shot Contest

Deadline to Submit Entries to Volturi Love Contest

Deadline to Submit Entries to Word Lottery Day, Enter for Reviews!

Voting for Fun With Your Clothes On Contest Begins

Winners for Men at Work Contest Announced Today

Nothing on calendar today! Why not check out the #readalong?

Deadline to Submit Entries to "A Southern Twi-Night"
Anonymous Contest

Voting for United Colors of Twilight Contest Ends

Ongoing Contests, Open for Submission:

Rosalie's a Bitch Contest - 4/25/2010, Best Domination Ever Contest - 4/30/2010, Crayola Contest - 4/30/2010, Eclipse FanFiction Challenge - 4/30/2010, I Can't Believe It's Not Canon! Challenge - 4/30/2010, Missing Moments Contest - 4/30/2010, The Sport of Love Challenge - 4/30/2010, Twilight Team DILF - 4/30/2010, Seers Outtake Writing Contest - 5/1/2010, The Twilight Canon Fodder Contest - 5/1/2010, Twiku Kung Fu Contest - 5/2/2010, The One With All The Twilight Contest - 5/6/2010, Texts From Last Night Contest! - 5/9/2010, The Austenatious Endeavours Challenge - 5/18/2010, Silence of the Wolves Contest - 5/21/2010, We Don't Need No Stinkin' Coven! Contest - 5/23/2010, Key to the Kingdom Competition - 5/31/2010, Til Death Do Us Part Contest - 6/5/2010, Me and Mr. McCarty Contest - 6/14/2010, The BD Screenplay Challenge - 6/20/2010, Summer Review Contest - 8/31/2010

Open for Voting or Nominations:

Voting for A Very Sexy Un-Birthday Contest Ends 4/16

Voting for Men at Work Contest Ends 4/17

Voting for The Faithful Shipper Awards Ends 4/17

Voting for United Colors of Twilight Contest Ends 4/19

Voting for Best Domination Ever Contest Ends 4/23

Nominations for Fictionista Workshop Awards Ends 4/30

Nominations for Twilight Twins Awards Ends 4/30

Deadline to Sign Up for Round Three of the Twilight 25 Challenge Ends 4/30

Deadline to Sign Up for the Fictionista Workshop Classroom is 5/10

Check out The FicBridge #readalong everynight on twitter by searching for the #readalong tag.

Got a contest or an event to add to the calendar? Drop a line to Kassiah with the deets and your graphics, please.

Fandom Hopping: Roswell, Buffy, and The Hunger Games

2010-04-15T07:35:00.000-05:00

Your Name: moon.witche

The Fandom: Roswell, based off the television series

Your One True Pairing (OTP): Max Evans/Liz Parker

Your Favorite Fic: Captive Hearts by Breathless

How Long Have You Been There: I’ve loved the show since it’s premiere in 1999, but I’ve only been reading fic since last summer.

Good Fan Sites/Archives/RecLists: For all my Max/Liz I go to Roswell: The Promise. If you’re looking for other couples...I have no idea where to go...

How You Got Sucked In: It’s all Christine’s (cdunbar’s) fault. We were recording an episode of the podcast one time, and when talking about what we had been reading recently she said she’d been reading something that was over 100 chapters. 100 CHAPTERS! And it was in another fandom, so she didn’t really have much to add to the discussion that week. I asked what fandom, she answered “Roswell.”

And then I remembered that little show that I loved so much. I owned all the DVDs, loved all the characters (except for Tess... but no one actually likes Tess) but had never thought to read fic. And then Christine said the magic words. This fic was pre-Tess.

I asked for a link and quickly became engrossed in this huge story that, well, yes, it’s over 100 chapters but the action never stops and it spans years. Honestly, I wish this story could’ve replaced season two...that awful time of Tess-ness.

So, Why This Fandom? (Why This Pairing?): Well, Max and Liz have many Edward/Bella similarities. They have that eternal love thing, but are kept apart because of what he is and all the complications that brings about. They were even biology partners. And Jason Behr is hot.

For those of who haven’t watched the show, I’ll just say that things were going along fine until about midway through season two when, I suppose ratings were suffering so the network changed things up. A lot. And rather ruined everything for everyone’s favourite alien and human. They realized their mistake soon enough and by season three, things were on their way to being back to normal, except they had fallout of all this other crap to deal with.

Fanfiction doesn’t have that problem, and that’s why I read. I like to read about a Max that didn’t randomly turn into a dirtbag. I like fics that work Liz into being involved in the alien backstory. And not Tess. I really, really, hate Tess. Fics where she dies are awesome.

Fandom Quirks: The fandom is an older one, so there isn’t much new stuff coming out and it can be difficult to find recs, lists, and that sort of thing. Or you’ll find that linked recs take you to old style websites with frames that don’t quite work and ...well, it is a fandom over ten years old. So, there are going to be some broken links and such. But the gems that are out there, are worth it. And there are forums where you can request things.

Other Recs: Read anything and everything by Breathless. She is fantastic. Very, very fantastic. And, when perusing Roswell fic sites, keep an eye open for the words “no aliens.” That would be their version of “AU/AH” and is generally just a fun romance that everyone can enjoy.

Your Name: SereneCaffeine (Maria) (@SereneCaffeine)

The Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, based on the television series

Your One True Pairing (OTP): Spuffy! Spike/Buffy

Your Favorite Fic: Gee, there are so very many… I can’t think of just one that is my favorite, but I have some that I revisit quite frequently. Eurydice’s Rhapsody in Oil, Kallysten’s Baby Steps (no longer available), Avalon’s Love is Blind, Saber Shadowkitten’s Humanitis and Nautibitz’s Crash and Burn and Heart Don’t Lie.

(What) Have You Written in this Fandom: Under this nom de plume, I haven’t posted anything. I wrote many fics between 2000-2004 under a different name, but pulled everything when I left the fandom. However, I remained an avid reader ever since, and I’m hoping in the near future to start posting again.

How Long Have You Been There: Since forever it seems. Toward the end of 1999 was the first time I ever read fanfic and of course it was Buffy, because that TV show was my obsession.

I was 15… I was looking for spoilers for upcoming episodes and on one of the websites I saw a link called “fan fiction.” What’s fan fiction? I asked myself and clicked on the link. I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of stories I found there. The very first one I read was a post-Something Blue fic. It was a, what could have happened in that episode, kind of fic. It was so sweet and something I would’ve loved to see play out in that episode. July 2000 was the very first time I posted my own fic and I had a blast during my time writing Spuffy.

Good Fan Sites/Archives/RecLists: Hmm, a lot of the ones that used to be my favorites are no longer around, which makes me a sad bunny, but I’ve found that there are still a lot of really good places to find Spuffy.

The Bloodshedverse
Spuffy Realm
Nocturnal Light
Buffy and Spike Diaries

I’d also recommend visiting the author’s websites, blogs and whatever, because sometimes they have stuff there that’s not on general archive sites.

How You Got Sucked In: Basically, I fell down the rabbit hole. I got lost looking for spoilers and stumbled upon Saber Shadowkitten’s realm, and then I was lost in a world of all things Spuffy and fan fiction.

So, Why This Fandom? (Why This Pairing?) This fandom because I was a teenager and this was a hit television show with many of my friends also being loyal viewers, there was no way I’d choose another fandom. This pairing simply because, I like the unconventional. And ever since the season 2 episode Halloween, where there was that almost, gah! I’ve wanted Buffy and Spike together. :-) I’ve read other pairings (Buffy/Angel, Angel/Cordelia (because of Angel the series) but none of them ever held my interest the way Spuffy fics do.

Fandom Quirks: Years of being a reader and writer, I noticed that the Buffy fandom had bits of everything. From love stories to horror; from hetero relationships to guy-guy, girl-girl, threesome relationships; there have been bondage and piercing/tattoo fics… basically what’s popular in fics nowadays, was popular back then too. A lot of what I read in fics today, I’ve read in the Buffy fandom in the past. But most unbelievably so was my first exploration into blood-play. WARNING! It’s not for the easily squicked, but it was and still is popular in Buffy fics. For those that may not know, blood-play is kind of what it sounds like. I’m not talking dancing around in buckets of it, but biting and drinking purely for sexual satisfaction.

Other Recced Fics: Anything by Nautibitz (see link above), because she’s a genius and I love her like none other. Kantayra is also an awesome writer but no longer writes for the fandom so to find her stuff, Google is the way. And lastly, there is Jypzrose and Laure Alexander— a lot of greatness to choose from with them.

by ~starrylyndis

Your Name: ohaleno4

The Fandom: The Hunger Games, based on the books by Suzanne Collins

Your One True Pairing (OTP): Peeta/Katniss

Your Favorite Fic: The Hunger Games fandom is, for the most part, very new. The majority of the fics you will find are based entirely on new characters and new game scenarios, neither of which interests me. As far as the remaining canon-based fics, my favorite is a toss-up between Scars, which is a five chapter fic that the author is considering expanding, but for now is complete, and Clear Blue Eyes, which is actually a one-shot based on Katniss and Gale.

(What) Have You Written in this Fandom: Absolutely nothing yet. One of the fansites I participate in, however, is holding a ‘Missing Moments’ Challenge that I will be writing for very soon.

How Long Have You Been There: This fandom is new to me and, as far as I can tell, new in general. I, personally, have only been heavily involved since February 2010, although I read the books and dabbled in the fanfiction since November 2009.

Good Fan Sites/Archives/RecLists: OurDistrict13 (LJ) is the only one I frequent, and my favorite. I also occasionally visit Mockingjay.net and The Hunger Games Trilogy.

The First Book in the series

How You Got Sucked In: After reading the books, I knew I needed more, so I began to peek into the fanfiction. But after coming across a few too many stories that had me scratching my head, I decided to save myself from a giant headache and close the laptop. A couple of months later, PixieVamp, a Ranger at ADifferentForest.com (ADF) read the books and raved about them on Twitter and ADF. After we managed to spread our Hunger Games love to as many ADF campers that would listen, we decided to create OurDistrict13. As a moderator, or Mentor, at D13 we decided it was time to dive into the HG fanfiction, and I’ve been reading ever since.

So, Why This Fandom? (Why This Pairing?): Well, it’s sort of simple. I adore Peeta. Since the 3^rd book of the series has yet to be released, at this point we can only assume who Katniss will end up with. While I’m almost convinced she will pick Gale, it only makes my love for Peeta grow. He’s got that perfect boy-next-door attitude down to a T, while still managing to be fearless, self-sacrificing and a complete romantic. It’s rare to find a character that can knock you off your feet with only a few words and manage to not look like a complete douche. And did I mention he’s a baker? And an expert with frosting? Let’s just say he had me at frosting.

The great thing about the Hunger Games is that the other male lead, Gale, is also an amazing character. He’s rugged and a little rough around the edges but still considerate and caring. According to some, he lights Katniss’ fire like Peeta never will. I honestly have no problem with reading Gale/Katniss, I just haven’t found any fics with both quality writing and a well-designed plot.

Now, if I were to be completely honest, I would say that I would LOVE to read Gale/Peeta or Peeta/Finnick (and I do not read Twi slash, ever). But, sadly, I have yet to find any. There is very little M-rated fic in the HG fandom, so if you enjoy a lot of lemons you’re guaranteed to be disappointed.

Being an avid reader in the Twilight fandom, I think it’s safe to say I’ve become spoiled. There is such a wide variety of quality authors/stories, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to catch up on my never-ending tbr list. The Hunger Games fandom is very young and very much in need of quality writing. With the filming of the Hunger Games movie beginning soon, I’m hoping to see new authors stepping up and sharing their work.

Other Fics Worth Recommending: When you read the Hunger Games it’s nearly impossible to imagine reading HG fluff, but that’s exactly what The Great Escape is. It’s a short fic, only 6 chapters plus an epilogue, but it’s cute and is guaranteed to make you smile. Post-CF, Katniss/Peeta & Gale/Madge

I just came across The Last Hero. It’s a brand new fic, only 3 chapters in, but the author does a surprisingly good job with capturing Katniss’ personality. I look forward to seeing where she takes the plot. Post CF, Katniss/Peeta

If you’re looking for the Hunger Games from Peeta’s perspective, the best you’ll find is Through Another’s Eyes. I’m going to be honest: I do a little bit of skimming during some of the story, but overall she captures Peeta’s perspective better than any other I’ve come across.

Past "Hops" to Check Out: Harry Potter: Draco/Harry, Bones (TV), and Dexter (TV) and Harry Potter: Snape/Hermione, Star Wars, and The Mortal Instruments (books) .

AdminEssay: A Dash of This and a Dash of That

2010-04-14T09:29:00.000-05:00

A Dash of This and a Dash of That

Today’s article is going to be a little different from the others. I am going to give you some information about hyphens, dashes, and ellipses. What makes them different from commas, periods, and semicolons? While there are certain grammar and punctuation rules that we’ll always choose to use with some interpretation of our own, these three punctuation marks are some of those for which you will see a significant amount of diversity of usage. I am going to present suggested rules for usage—guidelines, if you will. From there, you can choose to do with them as you wish. My one piece of advice, regardless, is this: Be consistent. Whether you follow the below rules to a T or modify them slightly, pick one method and stick with it for all your works.

For all three topics, I will first focus on the Why and When and then get into the How.

Up first, hyphens and dashes...

The world of hyphens and dashes is far more complicated than most of us realize, and for simplicity’s sake, I am going to focus just on two types of little horizontal lines today, and not do something mean like tell you that the line you use between two numbers (i.e., twenty-three) and the one you use in a sports score (i.e., 35–7) is different. No, we’ll stick with the basics. At the bottom of the article, I’ll list some resources if you’re really interested in the nitty-gritties.

The Hyphen

We’ll start with the hyphen. There are a number of common situations in which to use hyphens, with which we’re probably all familiar (e.g., to separate compound numbers such as forty-three or one hundred twenty-five; to separate letters when spelling out a word: “My name is Elle. It’s pronounced like the letter L, but spelled e-l-l-e.”). But there are other uses that can be more problematic.

When to use a hyphen:

To join two or more words that function as a single adjective before a noun (i.e., “phrasal adjective”):

Ex: Whenever the Cullens move, Edward always makes sure his well-loved and often-played piano safely makes the trip.
Ex: He poured her some of the still-warm coffee.

Exception 1:
Do not hyphenate the adjective-forming words if they come after the noun.

Ex: No one could say that Edward’s piano wasn’t well loved; he often played for three or four hours a day.
Ex: Can you please check to see if the coffee is still warm?

Exception 2:
Do not hyphenate a two-word phrase if the first word is an adverb ending with “ly.”

Ex: She was wearing a barely there dress.
Ex: They had freshly baked bread with dinner.

To distinguish two similar-looking words:

Ex: When I resigned my position, they had me re-sign some papers I had filled out earlier.
Ex: When the teacher recovered from her illness, she had to re-cover the history of the Civil War with her class.

With some prefixes (e.g., all-, co-, ex-, and great-):

Ex: Her love suffocated him like an all-consuming fire.
Ex: Some said the brother and sister were co-dependent and couldn’t go anywhere without each other.
Ex: Luckily, I saw my ex-boyfriend before he saw me, and I was able to hide until he was gone.

How to make/use a hyphen:

A hyphen is the shortest horizontal bar on your keyboard. You only need one. When you use it, there should be no spaces between it and the words or numbers on either side of it. Please see examples above.

The Dash

No, not that Em.

There is more than one type of dash, but for the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on the em dash, and going forward, I’ll refer to it with just “dash.”

Strunk and White have this to say about the dash: “A dash is a mark of separation stronger than a comma, less formal than a colon, and more relaxed than parentheses.”

While commas and periods are essential punctuation marks (we can’t write anything without them), I consider dashes to be sort of optional—in many cases in which you will see an author use a dash, another form of punctuation could also have worked. Using dashes has a lot to do with personal style. Below, I’ll lay out some guidelines in case you choose to use them.

As a general rule, don’t use more than two dashes in any given sentence.

When to use a dash:

To link together two related independent clauses. In this case, a dash is less formal than a semicolon.

Ex: I hope we leave for dinner soon—I’m starving!

To set off a parenthetical phrase. Often, commas or parentheses would serve the same purpose. (More about that later.)

Ex: It’s that time of day—just after lunch—when I feel like taking a nap.

To set off a long appositive. These often replace colons, or possibly commas that aren’t strong enough.

Ex: Most of Twilight takes place in Forks—a small, rainy town on the Olympic Peninsula in the northwestern part of the United States.
Ex: Most of the Cullens—specifically Carlisle, Esme, Edward, Rosalie, and Emmett—had lived in this region before.

To summarize a list or idea, or separate a subject from a pronoun. Another situation in which a colon or semicolon (or even a period) might work.

Ex: Tomorrow is a big day—the new puppy comes home!
Ex: Empty beer glasses, the drunk guy in the corner, the clock showing two in the morning—it is time to go home.
Ex: Vacation—oh how I’ve yearned for you.

To indicate a sudden break in thought. An ellipsis can also usually be used in this case.

Ex: “I thought we were going out for—no, never mind. I’m not hungry.”
Ex: “I don’t know!” she said. “They were talking and laughing and then—” We all waited for her to complete her thought.

Note:
If a dash precedes a dialogue tag, use a comma between the dash and end quotes.

Ex: “Hey, have you seen my—,” I started before he cut me off.

Parenthetical phrases and when to use parentheses, commas, or dashes?

Dr. Rebecca Elliott’s Painless Grammar (my favorite go-to grammar book) has such a good, easy way of explaining this, that I will just quote what she wrote:

“Think of parentheses as hiding information (de-emphasizing it) while dashes highlight information—emphasizing it. Think of commas as being matter-of-fact, neither highlighting nor hiding information. If the parenthetical information is very closely related to the sentence, commas are usually better. If the parenthetical information is not so closely related, dashes and parentheses are usually better.” - Page 110

In all of the following examples, you could use any of the three methods, but I’ve tried to pick examples that follow Dr. Elliott’s suggestions.

Ex: For dinner tonight, rather than go hunt by the coast (which we did last night), we’ll head toward the mountains.
Ex: My sister’s birthday—she’ll be thirty!—is next week.
Ex: I could really go for some iced coffee, with lots of milk and sugar, right about now.

How to make/use a dash:

The traditional em dash is longer than both the hyphen and en dash (which I won’t be discussing). Applications such as Microsoft Word will auto-create the dash for you if you string together two hyphens and do not put spaces between the hyphens and words.
For example, Word takes this:

My puppy--he’s the cutest puppy ever--is named Bob.

And makes it into this, as you’re typing:

My puppy—he’s the cutest puppy ever—is named Bob.

Note:

If you are using an application that will not convert the hyphens, such as gdocs, use two hyphens instead. This is commonly recognized to be an em dash.

Ex: For dinner tonight--if we ever get around to having it--we’re making tacos.

The Chicago Manual of Style, and a number of other resources I used as reference, uses a dash with no spaces between it and the words surrounding it. Some authors don’t like how this looks, and choose instead to use either the shorter en dash with spaces surrounding it, or two hyphens.

Ex: Eventually – hopefully not tonight – I am going to run out of example sentences.
Ex: I am really sick of the cold weather -- is spring almost here?

Important!
This is where the matter of consistency comes into play. Choose the way that works best for you, and then stick with that method from start to finish. Your readers might forgive you for being creative with punctuation, but they won’t forgive you for being sloppy.

The Ellipsis

Ah, that little three-dot mystery, the ellipsis. Hmm, I don’t really have anything else to say, except that the plural is “ellipses.” Let’s get started.

When to use an ellipsis:

To indicate omission of words in a quotation:

Ex: “You’re worrying about all the wrong things, Bella . . . Our only fear is losing you.”
Ex: “You gonna back down so easy, little sister? . . . Did Edward tell you how many houses Rose and I smashed?”

To indicate that something that came earlier has been left out:

Ex: “. . . we were lost!” she was saying as I walked into the room.

To indicate a slow break (opposed to the fast break indicated by a dash):

Ex: Bella waited in the woods . . . but he never returned.

To indicate a slow-down in thought or conversation, or faltering or fragmented speech:

Ex: “Well, I was thinking . . . maybe . . . that we could go out?”
Ex: If he was here . . . and she was there . . . then who was that at my house?

Note:
As with the dash, if an ellipsis precedes a dialogue tag, use a comma between the ellipsis and the end quotes.

Ex: “Oh, I’m not sure . . . ,” he said. “I checked, but we never found anything . . .”

How to make/use an ellipsis:

Most sources I checked said to use three spaced periods surrounded by spaces, as I used in the above examples. In my own writing, I create them a non-standard way by using three un-spaced periods (or four, if they come at the end of a sentence). One reason I do this is for word count purposes.

For example, Mac Word 2008 counts the following as nine words:

“Mom, this is my . . . boyfriend, Bob.”

But this is only six:

“Mom, this is my... boyfriend, Bob.”

When you live and breathe word count when participating in something like the Twilight 25 or National Novel Writing Month, how it is calculated is an important consideration.

I also prefer the way they look when they’re all bunched together.

Again, consistency is king. Pick a method and stick with it.

All right, another one down. What’s up next? I haven’t decided. If you have suggestions, please leave a comment below or send email to elle@tlydf.com.

Happy punctuating!

Sources used for this article:

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, p 410; Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer, p 520;

http://www.twilight-quotes.com/

;

The Elements of Style by Strunk and White

;

“English Grammar” by SparkCharts

;

Painless Grammar, Second Edition by Rebecca Elliott, Ph.D.

;

A Pocket Style Manual, Fifth Edition by Diana Hacker

;

The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition

;

The Purdue Online Writing Lab

;

Wikipedia:

Dashes

and

Hyphens

ElleCC betas for – among others – americnxidiot, Pastiche Pen, and Project Team Beta. Her love of dashes and all other manner of punctuation is bone deep, regardless of her pesky Computer Science degree. She is currently lazing about her dining room, trying to think up ways to do awful things to unsuspecting characters.

FicDive - Mad Dash for Slash!

2010-04-13T07:46:00.000-05:00

Diver Alias: Little Miss Overacheiver (AKA Katinki)

Mission: To find a JxE O/s that’s more than smutty good times (not that I mind those

The Pearl: Cigarettes and Fingertips by tuesdaymidnight

Summary: One-shot. Edward is transfixed by Jasper. The way his nimble fingers slide along the fretboard and the way the cigarette smoke unfurls from his perfect lips. AU/AH/OOC. Rated M.
Twilight - Rated: M - English - Chapters: 1 - Words: 3,250 - Reviews: 14 - Published: 2-25-10 - Edward & Jasper - Complete

Why I Read This: So, admission time. I’m a kinda, sorta slash fic virgin, and I kinda, sorta wanted my proverbial cherry popped (gently, mind you). So, when I heard about the Fic Dive column resurrection and saw Mad Dash for Slash *gasp* as a category, I just couldn’t resist. And I must say, what I found was impressive.

And what did I find? A lovely, well-told story about two pretty boys finding a connection deep in the heart of Beale Street. From the twisting patterns of unfurling smoke to guitar-roughened, calloused fingertips, the story screams slow and languid sensuality.

Tuesdaymidnight does a fine job with a third person point of view (my personal favorite), and it’s told in the more interesting present tense, as opposed to past. As such, as the reader, you’re sucked right down into the tale, and you experience Edward’s journey.

There’s a melancholy sense of longing in the words, that feel of unrequited attraction, that oh-so-to-be-desired UST. And then, as the story reads on, there’s the surprise and elation that that attraction isn’t quite so unrequited after all. I love Jasper’s characterization in this story; he’s the elusive catch, the blues man, the one that just can’t be tied down in a traditional sense. And Edward just wants whatever piece of him he can have. Yes, please.

Mission: To find a slashy and preferably humorous Geekward

The Pearl: Fixing Precious: A Love Story by FarDareisMai2

Summary: Jasper's computer needs help from an expert. Enter Geekward. A little slashy o/s written for Yogagal's birthday.
Twilight - Rated: M - English - Humor/Romance - Chapters: 1 - Words: 5,144 - Reviews: 37 - Published: 3-22-10 - Jasper & Edward - Complete

Why I Read This: If it’s not perfectly obvious from my own stuff, I like Geekwards, like all of them. So, shoot me, okay? I like the awkwardness and shyness, the intelligence, the disguised hotness, the glasses. Unf.

And sure enough, I found a gemstone of a story. This is a light hearted, enjoyable romp, filled with the funny; what better way to start than with references to the MS Blue Screen of Death? There are Tolkien references, Clash sneaks, and Buddy Holly lenses. In other words? Fun.

The premise is easy enough. Jasper’s ‘Precious’ dies and he’s at his wits’ end. Enter Edward, Mr. Computer Repairman, not to mention Mr. I Wanna Jump You and Do Bad Things to You. But the author’s way with descriptions and actions makes this not-so-uncommon scene stand out.

There’s all the gracelessness and discomfort you’d want from a first meeting, as well as some lusciously lusty thoughts and actions. The author does an excellent job of depicting the two characters’ mutual, but uncomfortable, attraction. And she adds in some tenderness and that promise of “I want more than just the physical.” And then, well, of course, there’s a more than satisfying culmination of their desires.

I’d love to see this O/s continued.

Diver Alias: Here fishy fish (aka Starfish422 )

Mission: To find a compelling slash fic that didn’t contain the darlings of the Twi slash world, Jasper and Edward

The Pearl: Unanswered Questions by Sparabella

Summary: Resident Geeksper has been lusting after college quarterback, Emmett for two years...Are the two of them really so different? Can they overcome their pasts and find the answers to the unanswered questions they both seek? Rated M Twilight - Rated: M - English - Romance/Hurt/Comfort - Chapters: 2 - Words: 15,389 - Reviews: 49 - Updated: 3-30-10 - Published: 11-29-09 - Jasper & Emmett

Why I Read This: The long and short of it is, I failed. It’s difficult to admit, but in spite of diving again and again (that’s what she said) I’m rec’ing a story with Jasper. Yeah, I hear you – quel surprise, right? I’m telling you, I plugged as many character combinations into that search engine as I dared, but the pearl is a Jasper/Emmett pairing. I KNOW. But it’s not Jasper/Edward, and that alone separates it from much of the available Twilight slash. Also, it has Emmett, who is not on my list when I’m looking for new slashy stories.

This story was originally written as a one-shot for the Slash Backslash contest. Despite it having been written for the contest, I didn’t read it at the time, and found it during one of my many dives through the sometimes-scary dumpster of the FF.net search function.

I clicked on it because the term “Resident Geeksper” in the summary made my geek-loving brain go into overdrive. What I found was a well-written story that made me truly like Emmett in a slash role. Though Emmett-as-football-player could be portrayed as “strong like bull, smart like streetcar”, this Emmett is a sympathetic character. He defuses a potentially-dangerous situation with a locker room bully who harasses Jasper because he’s gay. He even goes as far as to give Jasper some instructions on how he can take down a much larger person, if he needs to defend himself against future attacks.

I love that with this Jasper, being an outcast at college does not translate to his life outside school. He performs with a band and is completely confident of his abilities there, even when his school world encroaches on his music world in the form of Emmett showing up at one of Jasper’s gigs. Jasper rises to the occasion, performing to an appreciative crowd, and wowing Emmett in the process. The confidence Jasper feels at his home bar, along with some interested cues from Emmett, finally give him the courage to take a shot at the guy he’s been crushing on.

Do they get together? I can’t tell you that – you’ll have to read and see. The collaborators recently updated it, and I hope, now that they’ve decided to continue the story, they don’t wait another four months to post chapter 3, because I’ll certainly be waiting to read it.

HEY! IT'S THE REC SO NICE WE DID IT TWICE! SAME DIVE - TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE - SAME REC - BETTER LISTEN UP!!! GRUDGE MATCH BETWEEN MIZTREZBOO AND STARFISH FOR THIS ONE LATER!!!

Diver Alias: Boo Boo Baby (AKA Miztrezboo)

Mission: Find an Emmett that isn't a total skirt

The Pearl: Unanswered Questions by Sparabella

Summary: Resident Geeksper has been lusting after college quarterback, Emmett for two years...Are the two of them really so different? Can they overcome their pasts and find the answers to the unanswered questions they both seek? Rated M
Twilight - Rated: M - English - Romance/Hurt/Comfort - Chapters: 2 - Words: 15,389 - Reviews: 49 - Updated: 3-30-10 - Published: 11-29-09 - Jasper & Emmett

Why I Read This: It probably isn’t a secret how much I love Emmett in fic. All fic. So when the opportunity came up to explore the slashy side of Emmett, I was all over it like butter on a hot potato. My excitement was short lived when everything I found was either a) already popular or b) not to my pedantic and picky requirements (when you’ve been around the fandom since August 08… you kind of have to have OCD like tendencies when it comes to what you’ll read). Then, just as I was giving up hope and thinking I’d have to settle for some Jasper and someone other than Edward.. I found a new love.

Originally written as part of the For The Love of Jasper contest held a whiles back, Sparabella (the combination of Clurabella and Sparagus) have written something sexy and different and that I thoroughly enjoyed! They pretty much had me at the description of Jasper – all golden curls and black frames and steel grey eyes – in a band no less. Then Emmett – oh I’ll just let them explain…Emmett's eyes were focused on the professor, his pencil tapping quickly against the notebook instead of taking notes. The artist in me noted the shades of red in his chocolate hair, the freckles that were barely visible across his cheeks, the angle of the shadows created by those dimples...

Where was I again? Right. Plot. Jasper, out and proud gay man with complete and utter lust of the Quarterback with brains. Emmett, not so sure on his sexual persuasion and an interest above friendship with to a self proclaimed geek in sexy glasses. Emmett helps Jasper out of a uncomfortable situation with another jock and they share a moment. The heat turns up a notch at the bar after Jasper’s band plays and he catches Emmett watching.

Unfortunately, Emmett’s buddy leaves him without a way to get home… how inconvenient, or convenient as the case may be when Jasper offers to give him a ride.

Emmett doesn’t just ride in Jasper’s vehicle, let’s put it that way.

There’s a few awkward moments with noob to the gay scene Emmett discovering the difference between Vaseline and Boy Butter (had to giggle at the name of that myself!) The loving is sweet and hot and completely satisfied this little black wombys need for a sexy Jasper/Emmett pairing.

And News Just In: they’re continuing this into a multi-chaptered story, chapter two is already up and it only begins to give you an idea of where they’re going with this one. Loved it, and cannot wait for the next update!

Fandom Fluff: Drawing the Line

2010-04-12T09:08:00.001-05:00

Drawing the Line

By:

Hoosier Mama

I need help.

My brain is a mushy pile of goo, incapable of entertaining a single sustained thought. I’m confused and disoriented; my mind is constantly in motion, spinning. I also firmly believe that I’m not the only one in this insanity-producing predicament.

And what, you may ask, is at the root of this evil?

Twilight fanfiction works-in-progress.

And story recommendations.

Yes, both equally share the blame for my brain-addled condition as well as the conditions of my fellow Twific fanatics. Now, far be it from me to point fingers, since after all, I am guilty myself of asking people for good story recommendations. No one is twisting my arm to make me read fanfics. I don’t have to listen to the “OMG!-you’ve-gotta-read-this-story” advice of people I’ve never met. I could choose to ignore writers who recommend stories in their author’s notes. I don’t have to heed the recommendations of a certain blog that shall remain nameless (*coughDiscerningFicstercough*)… but I do heed the recommendations… always…compulsively.

While it is admirable that the Discerning Ficster blog promotes excellent fanfics that are underappreciated by the masses of fans, have you ever stopped to consider that the blog is also guilty of contributing to the lunacy of the obsessed? Like Superman fighting an inescapable lump of kryptonite, I try to fight all the story recommendations, honestly I do, but I know deep down that I can’t. I…must…read…all of them. I…must…favorite all story recommendations. I must…not…forget a recommended story.

So…how exactly is this a problem?

I’ve always been a reader and I’ve always made it a point to never read more than one book at a time. I dive into a story; I savor every minute spent reading it, finish it, re-read it if need be, then go on to the next book. My concentration is never carelessly divided by different tales. They are read as nature intended: cover to cover.

Suddenly I find myself in the middle of fifty-five stories. (Fifty-five! Yikes! I’m honestly not bragging here, because I know there are other ficfans that are in the middle of even more stories than that.) So, there are 55 stories on my favorites list that I can’t finish reading simply because…the end hasn’t been written yet.

What’s worse is: all the characters have the same names. It’s exceedingly difficult to keep everything straight when you’re juggling so many fanfics in your head. Is this the one with crazy Bella, slutty Bella, singing Bella, or born-again Bella? Is Edward a vampire, a human, or a figment of the imagination? Is he a hit man, a doctor, a middle school student, or a guy in a suit working for the family firm?

Is Alice a colleague, a cousin, or a college roommate? If the story doesn’t update often, then I have to try to recall where we were in the story. Have they met yet? Kissed? Bumped uglies? You see what I mean; it’s disconcerting.

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in a good story, I don’t want to leave it, even to read a long-awaited chapter update from another beloved fic. I want to relish it, dwell on it during the many boring moments of my life, and fully inhabit the world a fanfic writer creates. But inevitably, the world must be left behind, because the rest of the story doesn’t exist yet, and a new piece of another puzzle begs to be read.

Occasionally several chapter updates of different stories will get posted at the same time. Generally, I’ll read the more light-hearted or funny fics first; short, sweet and smutty stuff gets read second with the major unresolved sexual tension stories going last. If I know for a fact that there’s going to be some seriously tormenting, heart-failing, kill-me-now angst in a chapter update, I will put it off until I find the courage to jump back in. It’s also good to be alone for several hours to spare the family my despondent blubbering and/or screaming.

Juggling 55 different plot lines, when you’re used to following just one at a time, would make anyone’s head spin like Linda Blair’s in The Exorcist. I often wonder, what is the number of ongoing fanfics the human brain can contain before total madness sets in? Is the limit 56? Or is it actually 54?

I’ll be brutally honest; this is my third rewrite of this article. (What? Like you authors never rewrite your chapter updates? Puh-lease!) The first draft from six months ago had me bitchin’ and moanin’ about 20 measly stories. (Ahh! Six months ago. Life was so much simpler then…) The second draft from two months ago, the number had jumped to 34. The number of incomplete stories I’m reading keeps getting exponentially higher. This does not bode well for my future sanity. I’ve already mentioned that I can’t refuse a story recommendation, so please authors…finish your stories. The ultimate mental health of the entire planet rests in your fingertip-calloused hands.

I’m curious…how do you keep your brain from becoming a mushy pile of goo? Do you limit your fics? Wait until they are complete to read them? Re-read previous chapters? Any advice would be appreciated.

The Lazy, Yet Discerning Ficster

Announcement: Slash Backslash 2.0 Winners!

The Winners are In!

Finalists!

OPEN VOTING WINNERS!

First Place: I Just Have to Ask by EchoesOfTwilight

Summary:

Why French Beans Loved It:

Second Place: Straight Edge by Lou-La

Summary:

Why Starfish422 Loved This:

Third Place: Stay by avioleta

Summary:

Why Capricorn75 loved this:

JUDGES' SCORING WINNERS

First Place: The Ungraceful Art of Falling by sareisle

Summary:

Why Einfach Mich loved this:

Second Place: The Measure of a Man by PolkaDotMama

Summary:

Why Starfish loved this:

Third Place: Happy Birthday Riley by TwiBoy

Summary:

Why TuesdayMidnight loved this:

SPECIAL CATEGORY WINNERS

Best Humor: McFearless by TeamBella23

Summary:

Why Pastiche Pen loved this:

Best Heartfail: Tears in the Snow by sweetp-1

Summary:

Why Einfach Mich loved this:

Best Fluff: Shooting Stars by Rosmarina

Summary:

Why Frenchbeanz loved this:

Most Anticipated Continuation: The X Games by TwistedforTwilight

Summary:

Why AngstGoddess loved this:

Most Anticipated Continuation: The Kindness of Strangers by VampiresHaveLaws

Summary:

Why Pastiche Pen loved this:

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Joy, Relief, Lust, Gratitude by SubtlePen

Summary:

Why Pastiche Pen loved this:

Dirty Laundry by queenofgrey

Summary:

Why AngstGoddess loved this:

Worth the Climb by ICMezzo

Summary:

Why Capricorn75 loved this:

Shifter by Adair7

Summary:

Why TuesdayMidnight loved this:

You All Rock!

Back from Our Irregularly Scheduled Programming: Chicklette Recs Bright Garments!

Chicklette's

Blog Update

Admin Rec: Pastiche Finds Love (Between the Sexes)

Comic Con, A List of Tens...plus one

Slash Backslash 2.0

Announcement: BRB

OMG AFK BRB LOL

expanding

migrate from Blogger to

Wordpress

please excuse our downtime

few short weeks

Highest Regards,

Fandom News - 5/28

Reunion

KeepersOfTheNaughtySparkle

ABSOLUTION

sdfreeze

Broken Doll

RowanMoon

Change Heartache Into Courage

Pixiestick-cc

Cien Años de Soledad

HappyInLove

Days of Eternity

First Place:
I Just Have to Ask by EchoesOfTwilight

Second Place:
Straight Edge by Lou-La

Third Place:
Stay by avioleta

First Place:
The Ungraceful Art of Falling by sareisle

Second Place:
The Measure of a Man by PolkaDotMama

Third Place:
Happy Birthday Riley by TwiBoy

Best Humor:
McFearless by TeamBella23

Best Heartfail:
Tears in the Snow by sweetp-1

Best Fluff:
Shooting Stars by Rosmarina

Most Anticipated Continuation:
The X Games by TwistedforTwilight

Most Anticipated Continuation:
The Kindness of Strangers by VampiresHaveLaws