prison for jerks

Because there's just enough time left in the year to fit one more meme in, I guess!

END OF YEAR FEEDBACK MEME
my thread here

I'm not feeling totally inspired lately, so I've decided to try a new writing exercise. Here's how it works: comment to this with an AU I've already written in XMFC, as well as a trope prompt (sexy or not - wall sex! tending somebody's wounds! nightmares! whatever!) , and I'll try and write a couple hundred words of a ficlet set in that universe.

I've been way more productive the last few months than I usually am! I'm not sure why it's happening, but I'm certainly not going to complain. I know stuff gets lost in the shuffle pretty easily, so I thought I'd go ahead and do a round-up of the fic I've posted so far in 2012. It should not be surprising that it is all X-men: First Class.

( Fanfiction, January and February 2012 )

Stories written and posted this year (not counting fic exchange stories that haven't had author reveals yet): 18.

Stories written before mid-June: 0.
Fandoms written in: X-men: First Class and nothing else.

Places where I stole titles from: music from the Decemberists, Tegan & Sara, The Beatles, the Mamas & the Papas, Sleater-Kinney, the Gaslight Anthem, Aimee Mann, The Tallest Man On Earth, the Hush Sound, Bruce Springsteen, and the Weepies; poetry from Margaret Atwood; dialogue from X-men: First Class.

First, a couple of vignettes, which are more exploring the characters than anything else (as well as figuring out my views of the guys in XMFC vs the other movies) but they do have some sentences and observations I really enjoy:

Come Hell
Repeat, Repeat the Words
Longer Than The Road That Stretches Out Ahead
stars fading

Other stories:

At point blank range: the one that's pretty much an extended metaphor about Erik wanting Charles to shoot him in the head and how that is related to telepathic sex consent issues
I tell you it still will come: the sequel to the above, also known as "Charles and Erik watch each other sleep like giant creepers and also there are sex tears"

dissolve (in the heat of your charm): the one where Erik gives his first blowjob. The thing about this story is that even though it's total PWP, it might have my favorite Charles/Erik dialogue I wrote this year.

To be said and said: the one where Raven and Erik don't leave at the beach, but all the ideological differences are still there. Basically, me writing out all my problems with the ending of the movie MAKING NO GODDAMN SENSE and trying to figure out a why I could see the split more easily. Ravencentric, but has Charles/Erik in it, too.

A Harmless Green Burning: the one where it's post-coital Charles/Erik during the mutant recruiting trip. This was greatly influenced by a lot of discussions with zombieboyband about the differences between Erik's and Charles's sexual histories and how that can put them on slightly different places during the same conversation. Also, how Charles is really good at saying the worst possible thing. Also also, het and mental threesomes are really hot.

Amateur: Raven and Charles as teenagers, practicing kissing. My teenage Charles headcanon involves a lot of him not immediately understanding the difference between knowing that someone wants something - because he can see it in their head! - and actually obtaining verbal consent.

wasn't just the same old song
above these indifferent stars
share your tin man heart: the three are all set in the same alternate universe, with Charles and Erik as mutant teenagers who meet in a college class. Lots of underage makeouts and possibly comes perilously close to schmoop, but that's okay.

Swim From Your Heavens: the one where Raven and Charles lose their virginity to each other when Raven crawls into Charles's bed after her nightmares. AWKWARD HET INCEST SEX FOR THE WIN, yesssss.

Kicks and Bucks: the one where I somehow made myself love Erik/Moira as a pairing. Also where I indulge my love of stories where both people involved in the sex are thinking about the same third person.

My Push and My Shove: the one that is snapshots from Erik's POV as he and Charles run the mutant school together over the years.

That Secret Pact You Made: the OTHER one that is all about telepathic sex consent issues, and what Erik needs and what Charles can give him.

Sometimes Rain That's Needed Falls: The one that is a modern non-mutant AU where Charles is a sort-of-lost recent college graduate and Erik is his older boyfriend. This is a very me story, I feel, in the way where despite being my longest story in the fandom so far, it's somehow also the most - I don't want to say underwritten, but it's definitely sparse and subtle; there's as much unsaid as there is said.

SO THAT'S THIS YEAR'S OUTPUT. I appreciate you, new fandom. Here's to good things coming next year.

I am finally getting around to uploading some of my Smallville stories onto my AO3 account. So far I've done four, which means there are only approximately one million minus four left to do. Yay!

Coincidentally, uploading those stories puts the total amount of stories I have up there to 100 exactly. So, in honor of that milestone (and also a premature 10th fandom anniversary), I decided to make a list of my 10 Best Stories in 10 Different Fandoms, presented in chronological order.

Rings and Sores - Smallville, Clark/Lex. Written 8/02. This is a futurefic story where Clark and Lex are still together. It's not a story where Clark has turned Lex good, and it's not a story where Lex has turned Clark completely dark, either. It's somewhere in the middle.

Nutrition and Other Needs - Sports Night, Casey/Dan. Written 9/03. This is AU from the series finale - when Sports Night is cancelled, Dan goes to LA for a new show, and Casey stays in New York. There's banter and Dan's therapist and a wedding.

Sandwich as Aphrodisiac - Everwood, Bright/Ephram. Written 10/03. Teenage boys are stupid and in love and also: stupid.

How Many Ways - due South, Fraser/Kowalski. Written 9/04. This is totally kidfic; pieces from all over the timeline of a life of their adopted daughter. It has a sequel I'm pretty fond of, too.

When There's Nothing Left To Burn, You Have To Set Yourself On Fire - Twitch City, Curtis/Hope. Written 8/05. A love letter to Hope.

Swans mate for life - Slings & Arrows, Ellen/Geoffrey. Written 2/07. Backstory: Geoffrey and Ellen, at the beginning.

Only Congealed Snow - Hard Core Logo, Joe/Billy. Written 10/07. Billy with Joe, Billy without Joe. This is one of those stories where it pretty much says everything I have to say about their relationship, despite its shortness.

You Realize The Sun Doesn't Go Down - bandom, Mikey/Pete. Written 9/09. AU where the Ways die while Mikey is still in high school, and Gerard becomes his guardian. The pairing is Pete/Mikey, but the story is really about Mikey and Gerard and their relationship.

Sun Blast Your Shadow - Avatar: the Last Airbender, gen. Written 6/10. Zuko and the end of a war and figuring out what comes next.

At point blank range - X-men: First Class, Charles/Erik. Written 7/11. It's too early in this fandom for me to know what story I really like best and works most in the long run. But for now I'll say this one, because I like the tension, and desire, and the way Erik and Charles cannot ever be on the same page. This has a sequel, too, where a lot of those things are still present, but it's somewhat more hopeful.

First answer to the fake movie meme from the other day. Cast courtesy of strobelighted.

Our Mornings
Starring: Ellen Page, James McAvoy, Zoe Saldana, and Callum Keith Rennie

Music: "The Drying of Our Lawns" by the Tallest Man on Earth

( Synopsis and image behind cut )

Hello, bbs! Time for the end of the year fic meme, I'm afraid. Here we go.

favorite story this year (of my own): You realize the sun doesn't go down, definitely. That story came after a long drought of bandom writing for me, totally out of nowhere, and it's longer and has more of an overarching plot than most things I write, and I still think about that universe.

most popular story this year, in my opinion: Technically this might also be You realize the sun doesn't go down, but it was A Boat That Can Love the Rocks And the Shore (the Gerard/Mikey/Frank one) that really surprised me with the response.

most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion: there's no way to answer this without sounding like a douche, but the biggest difference between how much I loved something and how much response it got was probably with the Ray/Gerard 1940s AUs, especially the second one.

most fun story: gone to the moon about you is kind of jampacked with things I love about Pete/Mikey, which made it a lot of fun to write.

sexiest story: Uhhh I think it is probably the underage waycest genderfuck porn, but that really just says a lot about me, doesn't it?

"holy crap, that's wrong, even for you" story: I still don't know what's going on with My Dove is Home, aka the commentfic where Mikey is dead and Pete is a medium and then they have sex in Pete's brain. *hands*

story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: feel better the heavier they get. I've loved Gerard/Brian as a pairing for a long time, but I usually default to the way we see them in LotMS, that really strong caretaker Brian and freaky Gerard being cared for. Writing them present-day, with all the stuff that's changed since then, was really different.

hardest story to write: I guess my popoffacork story doesn't count, since it's not being posted until New Year's, so I'll go instead with break and take all the words from my mouth. I wrote the first part of this story and was totally, utterly stuck. It was only impertinence coming in to collaberate and add to it and fix it up that made it an actual story.

biggest disappointment: Reproductive Stategies of the Interstellarly Nomadic. In my head I have SO MUCH to say about the Crichton-Sun family, post Peacekeeper Wars, but I have no idea how to get it out.

biggest surprise: Bad Things Coming, We Are Safe. I was so not expecting to write Wizards of Waverly Place fic, but I am so glad I did.

most telling story: I always find this question impossible to answer, because honestly, I tell you guys everything in my entries anyway. There is no mystery here. I am not stealth.

And Bex's addition:

ambitions for next year: I want to write more Wizards of Waverly Place, maybe some Disney RPF (Selena/Demi or Selena/D.Henrie). I'd love to get a Star Trek:TOS story or a Middleman story out. I think I might have more to say in the universe of You realize the sun doesn't go down, but a lot of that depends on discussions of someone else's possible sequel. Also I would love to pass 10,000 words on a story, but that has been a goal of mine since I started in fandom, and I haven't reached it yet, so who knows. Mostly, though, I just hope that the burst of creativity that hit this fall continues on, at least to some extent, because I went a long time without writing, and I much prefer it this way.

Man, sometimes I forget just how much I love the Hush Sound. How so awesome, Hushies? Sing to me more, Greta. Oddly enough, my favorite song of theirs has changed yet again: now it's "Don't Wake Me Up" (even though I actually don't think the Patrick cameo fits the song at all).

SPEAKING OF FOB. How hot are they? I have to admit, both this picture and the election-themed one are just reawakening my desire for more Pete/Joe. Or me/Joe Troh. I can go either way. (BE MY BOOOOOOOOYFRIEND.)

I am cooking right now! Kasha with bacon and onions, om nom nom. I haven't had this in ages, but it's bizarrely good. Mmmm, buckwheat?

I am stealing a meme from foxxcub because, uh, I am an attention whore? I got nothing. In comments, tell me: What's your favorite story that I've written, and why?

In conclusion, I kind of want to read random het about Travie and Katy Perry being adorable on tour. I don't even know. Also inexplicable: all the dreams I keep having about being pregnant and having babies. DO NOT WANT.