The new black

So, that makes thirteen fics, now, in a little over three months. Since I write fanfic in spurts (or dribbles, or in this case alarming cascades) it's somewhat easy to pick out trends. Last year's Gregor Vorbarra Is The New Black was a really obvious one. This year I could call The Year Of Original Characters, not so much in the first lot (although the Antoniettis in "Rich and Strange" were an interesting bunch, and I am definitely the ficcer of minor canon characters for "Lewis" (I still need to write that Philip Horton fic)) but "Further Up and Further In," which was by definition full of OCs, seemed to release whatever inhibitions I have against tossing non-canon voices into the Vorkosiverse. (I think I had one, last year. Of course, an OC who tries to seize the throne is pretty significant.)

One could also call it The Year Of Getting Simon Illyan Laid, of course. Or, The Year Of Getting Simon Illyan Laid Using Original Characters.

I'll be getting a Lewis Secret Santa assignment soon, and I'm not ruling out more Vorkosigan fic, though I really do have other things to do. Are we doing Winterfair this year?

I don't think I'll be writing "Person of Interest" fic, not least because when we barrel through to the end of season one this week there will be no way to watch season two (legally. Which doesn't mean I won't manage it. But I wish all the networks would just get with the program and realize how people are watching TV these days). Yes, yunitsa and I did have the little exchange:

yunitsa: Yay, Mr. Finch :) I suspect he'd fit in quite well in the Vorkosiverse, being damaged and prickly, though the surveillance stuff would have to be slightly different. If anyone could write that crossover it's you :D

hedda62: I can see Finch being installed somewhere in the bowels of HQ and surveilling to his heart's content, and it's only when Simon catches on much later that he realizes Finch is controlling his own little empire. NOT GOING TO WRITE IT.

yunitsa: And Reese is an ex-armsman for some corrupt Count, maybe, whom he's illegally recruited to do his legwork. SURE YOU'RE NOT.

But since she's the only one who would read it, I really am not going to. She's written some lovely fic, much of it using Reese's POV, which led me to say that I thought Reese was a better character for text than for TV (not least because Jim Caviezel, while decorative, is not exactly the world's most expressive actor, especially when playing such a buttoned-up personality. Rather than, say, while being tortured on a crucifix).

They are both impressively buttoned-up, in fact. I'd said, earlier in my viewing (the show takes a while to get going, so if anyone does decide to watch it, hold on till mid-season) that I couldn't help comparing it unfavorably to "White Collar" - not that the plots are that similar except in the Together They Fight Crime sense, but they are both clearly meant as bromance - because WC has two great advantages: one, that Peter and Neal already have a relationship (adversarial but admiring) before the show starts, and two, that they are both extroverts. Finch and Reese are both SOOOO introverted, to the degree that they tend to suck heat and light out of rooms they're in (but it burns inside, baby). Okay, so Lewis and Hathaway are both introverts, too, though Lewis is (what I aspire to on my best days) an outgoing introvert. But they both like to talk, at least, and it's not all business. (Finch and Reese do have partners in Fighting Crime who balance their nonexpressiveness. I love Carter; she's wonderful. And Fusco's not bad, either.)

Yes, okay, I am pretty good (witness Simon and Gregor) at writing fic about characters whose self-expression is mostly internal. But no. Not this time. Decidedly not.

Oh, Mr. Finch. Bird names! You do know where my heart lives, don't you.

tell me a story

So here's a question for the fic writers, in the Writers Are Egotistical What A Surprise department.

If you had the chance to give one of your stories to a source creator (which is by way of saying book author, or writer/actor/director/producer/whatever in visual media) to read, which one would you choose? You are allowed to resurrect people from the dead for these purposes; you're also allowed to say no thanks.

I am uncomfortable myself with the idea of doing this with visual media fics, possibly because as implied creative responsibility is so fractured and also because I feel at more of a distance. I mean, I get book authors. I get actors, too, but the idea of handing Laurence Fox a copy of "And Love Itself Have Rest" freaks me out no end; Clare Holman and "Dear Stephen," maybe, but she probably doesn't care a fig for Patrick O'Brian in real life.

So I think we're looking at the Vorkosiverse here, not surprisingly. I actually had a second-hand report ten years ago that Lois Bujold had read one or more of my Snape crossovers, and had positive things to say, but I can't verify that. I do know that she read my essay on plants and gardening, and mentioned it on her blog (IIRC she said it was "nice in all the meanings of the word" or something similar).

So that's one of the reasons I'd point her to "The Emperor's Garden." Other reasons: It's good. :) I'm proud of how it turned out; the prose is accomplished; the story is coherent; it's constructed interestingly (being a fic about Ekaterin that never uses her POV); it has lots of characters in it, including minor ones (Tsipis!), and I think they are all in character; it's got funny bits and touching bits and long and lyrical bits. It's very me. It has one of the highest hit counts of all my fics, and the highest kudos count, despite being a story about garden design. It does not have sex in it, aside from Miles kissing Ekaterin's neck, so no squirming while wondering if the author thinks I'm debauching her sloth beloved creations. I would not be embarrassed if she read "Imperial Bedrooms," or even "L'oiseau qui vole," but I wouldn't want to know ahead of time. Also, it is set post-canon (I believe she's said she won't write anything chronologically past Cryoburn) and therefore is more or less legally safe, although for the purposes of this question I'm waiving that requirement. But I think that might help make the exercise easier for both of us, as long as reading something where Aral's dead isn't overwhelmingly uncomfortable.

So that's my choice, for this extremely hypothetical situation. :) Anyone else want to chime in with choices from their own oeuvre?