Miss Cellaneous

I may have decided to join mcshep_match -- or try to, anyway.

As requested by this our pre-season friendly, in small study breaks and increments, I made icons for the McShep Match --

check out my icons and vote for your favourites!

Right, you want to see examples....

sample#1	sample#2	sample#3

Now, go get 'em!

Before I'm off, here's a little someting that will ( make my SGA posse grin )

toomuchplor is hosting a new twist on the old challenge:

"So - six word stories in the comments, any fandom, any pairing, any genre."

Right now, it's way too Atlantis-heavy for some of you. & ;-) Come play!

Which reminds me -- she and I had the best-ever conversation regarding Rodney so-not-bottoming, thanks, over at thingswithwings, who had the liveliest fanfic!pet!peeves discussion. I think there's a certain Need To Know element, as in: Do I really need to know this ohmygod?, but really, if canon characterisation as applied to sexual preferences and habits interests you (and if you're reading this lj, it probably doesn't abhor you, at least), feel free to scroll down to my comment and the ones following it.

I continue to looove The Sarah Connor Chronicles. ::doodles little hearts:: Evil FOX, keeping me hangin' and hopin'. Icon recs, fic recs (gen so far, I'm thinking)?



ETA: Ooh, thanks to whoever it was who said awesome / things about me in svmadelyn's Valentine's Day Game!

If you're active in fandom, you should totally check it out; there's a good chance at least one friend left you an anonymous love note.

Kinda tired after a day of candy-catching, crowds-ducking, and sight-seeing with Jen, tomorrow's going to be X-treme Celebrating again. Exercises done, to the tune of Life on Mars (which she's really taken to *g*).

After reading the flist, I'll add something that might interest SGA folks (and not even all of those): the McKay-Sheppard comm policy changes as a result of the poll...and my less than happy response to it.

( Brief addition so I wouldn't be all tl;dr )

Auburn and I ride again! Into the sunset!

( Glimpses from our Ard-writin' transcripts. Warnings for the usual buttsex humour. Also, drug mentions. And profanity. This could forever destroy the innocence of a whole school district, no doubt. )

( 2007 Fanfic in Review )

I originally wanted to title this post TS;DB (Too Short; Didn't Bother) but then found out there was a leeettle more than I remembered, even though most of these are drabbles and the rest short fiction.

(I'm recommending an SGA story, but really, this is more like a review. You may want to read the fic first and then come back. Suit yourself.)

Maybe this is a case of Be Careful What You Wish for, but since it tends to be rare, I greatly enjoy fanfiction that doesn't just touch upon my story preferences but actual hobbies of mine. Photography is right there in the summary, so how I missed this story the first time around I have...an idea, actually: I don't usually pursue fic featuring Lorne for reasons both within and outside canon. He may be snarky, but he's also your model boy soldier, your perfect 2IC, your so-sympathetic painter with a sensitive soul underneath the uniform. Then, there's the fact of my general affinity to protagonists, as I told rez_lo very recently; minor characters generally don't do it for me unless they ping my very own radar. This story, though? Transcends that Lorne!fic category in my mind in several ways.

( More about the story I'm talking about, or perhaps more about me & my reading of the story in question )

Here you go, hopefully literally:

Tanlines & Dogtags by icarusancalion. Lorne and Sheppard, mild exhibitionism, NC-17.

***

While we're at it, may I add a pair of exceedingly well-written Sheppard/McKay smut that left me quite breathless? Pi and Aesc have never disappointed me with their longer, plottier, often humorous and/or lyrical stories, and I'm always looking forward for more from either-both of them.

PWP warning. (Hah, warning. "Incentive," to many.)

SGA, John/Rodney, no spoilers. NC-17. By apple_pi.

And its companion piece from Rodney's POV:

.pornlet. (John/Rodney) NC17. By aesc.

***

There was more. I know there was more. I should really make a habit of putting favourites of mine in the Memories.

Just had fresh veggie curry and must tell you that this particular (X.O.) Masman Thai curry paste is tasty but perhaps a leeettle to hot for my wussy Western palate. Am now eating Lingzhi Guilinggao Jelly for dessert. I like it. And while eating it up with a spoon, literally, I'm idly looking up lingzhi and guilinggao and the medicinal properties and traditional importance in Chinese medicine. (One could learn a thousand things every day.)

Speaking with machinistm and of Asian food, or rather, non-Asian food, I was reminded of something that's been bugging me: Several people have by now told me that milk and cheese are The Next Big Thing in East Asia, that our rising prices in dairy are due to that demand. I in turn keep making bug-eyes at people and muttering incredulously about high percentages of lactose intolerance in the Asian population. Can you clarify?

In fannish news, it's often interesting to talk to people not in my exact corner of the fic world.

Already studied a few pages and am off for some lessons now. Safe to say I'll want to do something else afterwards. As I need to flex my writing muscles to finally continue with Ard ASAP,

feel free to give me a drabble prompt.

Stargate Atlantis, Heroes, House M.D., Dexter, and Ugly Betty come to mind, but I might pick up my older fandoms, too, if the prompt is inspiring. Depending on the number of prompts, I cannot promise I'll get to all of them, but I'll try.

Apart from pairing or character, be specific, please? One-word prompts and very general concepts don't usually work for me; poems, sentences, a set of three words, an image etc. pp. do.

I was cleaning the dishes, as one does. And I idly wondered about fannish feedback culture. As one does.

We like responses to our fanworks. That's a no-brainer. But every time there's another debate or wank about the merits of a piece or the people involved or, fine, another instance of me giving in to the urge of posting unsolicited concrit, I'm baffled anew at people's responses.

Mona, you sigh say, haven't you learned by now that most fans don't want criticism? That a large faction of fandom hates anything but happysqueeyourock! comments?

But, but, but, I respond, WHY?

The question isn't whether we like criticism -- we generally don't. I sure don't. You probably don't. Your five-year-old neighbour with the crayon set won't cherish having all the flaws in his doodles pointed out to him. And yet, to me, that doesn't account for these emotional and occasionally anguished responses. ( ... )

I had more to say, but isn't that ALWAYS the case? My comments on women's characterisation in (good) slash, cqr's original post.

the_royal_anna, thank you! (She sent me this and a lovely card with handwriting that's still the prettiest. & :-)


If you're at all interested in characterisation as it pertains to reading and writing, run, don't walk over to rahirah's latest meta post, who, as so often, speaks my mind.

"Most of us have an image of the characters in our heads, based upon both the bare facts of canon ("Buffy wears what appear to be designer clothes") the inferences, logical or otherwise, we draw from those facts ("Buffy must spend a fortune on those/Buffy must be buying knockoffs on deep discount") and the interpretation we impose upon both facts and inferences ("Buffy is a canny shopper/Buffy is a spendthrift.")"

'you come in here with your guns and your brush cuts....' (some personal thoughts on FanLib) by telesilla

"I still believe that what we do in fan fic fandom is merely a modern version of what people have done since there was language. We tell stories, we use words to entertain. We tell the myths of the Greek gods in our own words as Homer did, we rewrite the Matter of Britain and put in that French OMC**, we piece together things from dozens of different sources and make something new out of it the way Chaucer and Shakespeare did. We are the latest in a long line of this kind of storytellers and when we're good, goddamn do we hit it out of the park."

If you haven't seen -- or want to see -- Joss's post to whedonesque regarding a crowd of young men murdering a woman by stoning her to death, here's the direct link to Equality Now. I cherish the fact they recommend different actions for different crimes against women; I feel concrete options for direct intervention are a wonderful thing (as I am both naturally lazy and unnaturally time-constrained).


::goes back to her books, sigh::

From everybody, her momma, and the dog:

If you had me under your command and could make me write anything, regardless of whether or not I know the fandom or if anybody even writes fic in that fandom and no matter how crack-addled it might be, what would you love to see me write?

ETA: Not writing anything new at the moment until Ard is finished; I'm just interested.

( Mammas, don't let your children become co-writers: A CAUTIONARY TALE told via IM conversations )

In case anyone wondered -- home safe & sound, although I made it back just under the wire.

( Written on my iPAQ this morning on the train. )

Fannishly, I am just throwing the recent memes out: I have Study Day tomorrow and don't have to get up/be back in darkness:

1. Reply to this post with your favorite icon of mine, and then I will tell you my favorite icon of yours.


2. ( The 'Tell Me What to Create' AnonyMeme! )


3. Name a character from one of my fandoms, and I will tell you a (random) favourite moment or scene of them.

If you've always wondered what gen-fic is, and how the gen categorisation works (or doesn't, really) -- my two cents.

wesleysgirl, wickedwords akukorax, whichwitch666, alizarin_nyc, geeklite, lizamanynames, shehasathree -- this is for you: ( 2006 Fanfic in Review )

( Turns out I was a gen writer by a wide margin. )

So I was thinking about drabbles and what eleveninches and solvent90 said, paraphrased: That there was a lot of story fit into these one-hundred words.

I'm pleased as punch not just because dig positive feedback as much as the next writer but because that, right there, is the very idea of a drabble( ... )

Anyway, the drabble mentioned? There was ( a bit of story behind it that never made it onto paper/screen )

So velocityofsound told her flist,

post a picture of the celebrity you most want to get it on with in the comments to this post.

I'm mentioning this because for some of you, there's eye-candy. I commented, too. Not hard to guess with whose pic.

Also started writing a McShep ficlet post-3x12, but you know me -- no sex without the introspection & awkward shuffle beforehand*; plus, I have to stop now to do the reading for tomorrow's class and jot down an outline.

Joy.

ETA: On the plus side, I turned in my vacation whatchacallit today: Dec. 20th to Jan. 7th. If I didn't have three exams from now to then, I'd be delirious with happiness.

* Oh, God, art imitating life.

1. The subject line is what the fortune cookie brought by my sweet colleague said.

The probability of a great destiny of mine is far higher than the probability of me developing patience.

2. ( Re: Crossover Meme ) The people I wrote the last three drabbles for didn't even bother to respond. No matter how bad the offering -- dude, that's not cool.

3. In more positive news, new Ard's been posted: Part 21, and yes, yes, there IS a light at the end of the tunnel: finite number of chapters outlined.

4. I'm reading through all your responses to my last question. Feel free to chime in still; I remain very interested in all your thoughts and reasons and will respond ASAP.

A good Feast of All Saints to you. ( Saints & Me, and what a juxtaposition that is )

My parents' house smells like freshly baked cake. ( I'll spare you pics this time, but not the story )

And all you folks who write but don't nanowrimo -- maybe wrisomifu is for you? & ;-) fitofpique has the Big Intro Post For 2006.