Streets are filled with --

Day 9: Send feedback to two fannish people — they can be anyone you want. Done and done.

Day 10: In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme.

Oh, I don't think you're ready for this jelly... /laughs Actually, that's not true! I'm a big fan of tropes and trope inversion, but I don't actually write a whole lot of it, which is something I'm hoping to change in the coming year.

Segue: in terms of writing, it's hard to look back and pick out patterns sometimes. I've been in fandom more than half my life at this point, and I've been creating for a vast majority of it. And as much as it sucks to watch the years tick by, what's fascinating - on a meta-level - is looking back at your own fannish history and seeing how you've changed. In some ways, it's deeply embarrassing - there's a lot of stuff in my journals that I want to lock or delete or bury deep in the ground - but there's also growth (as a human being, as a writer) and constancy (the more things change, the more things stay the same). I feel crazy lucky to be able to have the benefit of this kind of geological record of myself.

Meta aside - motif-wise, I can't escape from urban and structural landscapes. Just slapping on a "worldbuild is my kink" bumper-sticker isn't quite true: I love worldbuilding when I'm co-writing, but when I'm on my own I think it's the cityscape or the office-entity-scape that I like to poke at. The fuck-you-structural things. Of the stuff I've written, the one fic I love best is all about urban development; the one fic that AO3 loves best is a finance-firm AU.

It's enormous fun to play with the larger picture and see how that affects characters. I think it's why I deeply like characters like Rufus (FFVII) and Balthier (FFXII) and Gregor/Simon (Vorkosigan). They're all integral to or deeply affected by their superstructures: Rufus, by virtue of being Shinra, is the superstructure. Then there are structures themselves: the Turks, the Judges, ImpSec. Prince of Tennis is divided up into schools; Hikaru no Go and Rakugo Shinjuu are all set in and around some sort of association. Homestuck's 100 made up Structural Things, especially relationship structures, are why I've read a lot of fic in that fandom without caring much at all about the canon proper.

*g* I think I'm going to cut myself off before I keep ranting. Got a trope you love? Talk about it in the comments! I'd love to, uh, comment worldbuild...

Day 3: In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator.

Oh boy.

My best received fics happen to be the fics I had the most fun writing, always and without exception. Ones like:

• Naruto: Model Behaviour (finance AU Kakashi/Iruka)
• Discworld: 'Tis Impossible To Be Sure Of Any Thing (Moist, Vetinari)
• Hikaru no Go: Machine Learning

Fun things flow, and things with flow write better and read better and lend better to just... everything. They might not be the most "hard hitting" of fics, and they might not be fics that ventured to say something important, but they are important and hard hitting to me (and hopefully some people out there!) because they stretched the imagination and were fun; they were play!

My personal favourites?

FFVII is my homeground, and Empery - a Tseng backstory AU - stands out in my memory. While it's not my best written piece anymore, or the subtlest crayon in the box, it helped me find my headspace on a lot of issues, including bicultural things and post-colonial things, and I just remember sitting down at 12 in the morning and writing it all in one long, electric go. A similar fic, Year One (Reeve and Midgar), also hits the list for similar reasons, though I like it better as an objective piece of work. If you like Midgar worldbuild, I can rec that one in all good conscience!

That said, I'd written in FFVII for so long that I never really quite feel like an... independent? Or mature? writer in that fandom - so much of what I write is derivative of derivatives, and while that's not a bad thing, it's not my own voice, per say. Batman Beyond (and DCU in general) is where I hit my stride, and Counting Down The Hours (Terry, Bruce, looking into the past) lives on in my memory of being lyrically strong and emotionally plugged-in.

Without a doubt, though, collaborative works are where I feel I learned the most, was pushed the most, and had the most fun. Executive Reform (FFVII/Pacific Rim apocalyptic AU) was born from a prompt from Elemental, is the gen fic I never knew I could write, and was somehow the seed inspiration for Crim drawing amazing doujin. It's strange, it's tiny, it doesn't get read by many people, but I love it to the bottom of my black heart and it's been a joint fandom bus effort.

And what an ingrate would I be if I didn't mention Nasdack, the FFVII/FFXII stockmarket AU (Tseng/Rufus, Tseng/Balthier, Tseng/Rufus/Balthier???) that I swore nobody would read but me and pendency. It was born out of the '08 crash, written on what I'm pretty sure were the dregs of the dregs of whatever energy she and I had leftover from real life, the desire to see Balthier fuck anything that moved and a good few systems that couldn't, and was just one giant route from beginning to badly defined, never written end.

If you do decide to try and give this a go, ignore the AO3 order and start with:

Is that a trust fund in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me? (18393 words) by karanguni
Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: FFXII, FFVII
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Balthier/Tseng/Rufus, Tseng/Rufus, Tseng/Balthier, Balthier/Rufus
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Real World, Stockmarket AU
Series: Part 4 of Nasdack
Summary:

'He's a Bunansa. You're a Shinra. Tell me how this will go well, Rufus.'

Tseng's in New York, Balthier's in London, and Rufus is in the sky as the world burns around them. Hedging on futures can be such tricky things.

Then:

There is No Witty Euphemism For Dividing And/Or Conquering (15382 words) by karanguni
Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: FFXII, FFVII
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Balthier/Tseng, Tseng/Rufus, Balthier/Rufus
Characters: Veld, Reno, Elena, Rude
Additional Tags: Stockmarket AU, Alternate Universe - Real World
Series: Part 13 of Nasdack
Summary:

Tseng's in New York, and so is the fledging Shinra-Bunansa empire: whether that is the point or the problem is anybody's guess. Hedging on futures can be such a tricky thing.

The fact that these collabs end up crossovers more often than not is a strange quirk of fandom that I will roll in till the day I'm too old to type. Good times!


(As I dug back through my AO3 to find all of this stuff, I've got to point out that AO3 isn't where the story begins: as much as I'd like to imagine I was always a decent writer, I started off with a Mary-Sue more-or-less self-insert Lord of the Rings fic on FFN. If that's not wince-worthy enough, I even stuck in little A/Ns involving the words "slash" and "yuck." I'm grimacing even thinking about it now, but that's really the fic that opened my eyes: I got flamed about flaming slash, and it made me think about why I'd said "yuck," and here I am like a million years later. I also got defended - people stood up for my (really shitty) writing, and told me to keep going even if haters were going to hate, and I wonder what might've happened to me if I never did get that boost of encouragement. I might never have written another word. My whole life would have been different – and that's... not really an exaggeration? I've met my best friends through fandom and fic; I've become an excellent academic writer (with third-party whatevers to prove it) because of writing fic; the way I think changed because of writing and fandom.

But that's not so much a rec as self-reflection. *g*)

I'm sure a grand total of zero people have thought very hard about how English translations of classical Japanese texts are forged into being, but here's a post all about it anyway. If you've ever wondered about what it is you're quoting, what might have been lost in between, or how to torture yourself by being excruciatingly thorough with a classical grammar, then read on. Otherwise, you'll probably fall asleep. You're probably already asleep. I'm sorry; I just needed a break (uh) from writing fic.

( Way too much about the opening lines of Tale of the Heike below )

Here's the gloss, sans particles:

祇園精舎Nの鐘Nの声N、諸行無常Nの響きNありV-SS。
沙羅双樹Nの花Nの色N、盛者必衰Nの理NをあらはすV-SS。
奢れるV-RT人Nも久しからずADJ(SHIKU)-MZ、唯ADV春Nの夜Nの夢NのごとしAUX-SS。
たけきADJ(KU)-RT者Nも遂にADVは滅びV-RYぬAUX-SS、偏にADV風Nの前Nの塵Nに同じADJ(SHIKU)-SS。




Key:
N: Noun
V: Verb
Aux: Auxiliary verb
Adj: Adjective, with subtypes "Shiku" and "Ku"
Adv: Adverb
Inflections: MZ, RY, SS, RT, IZ, MR as per the order above.

So now you know! And probably are making a point never to become a Japanese literature major.


tl;dr: translations omit and lie, but the people who chose to craft those lies are probably hugely overeducated, so just go cautiously with the flow

Okay, right, so I wake up this morning after popping a couple of tabs of paracetamol last night, and mostly I just feel like I've been rolled over by a violently angry trucker. Repeatedly. I have to get on a plane in roughly one and a half days, so that's not looking too shiny. *rolls*

That said, might as well make someone else's day! :D paceus asked for a DVD commentary for Ho ho ho (Discworld). Here it is:

( Things I do when low on sleep )

\o/ I am a pretty pathetic commentary writer for drabbles. *g* If anyone else wants one - for any fic, really - feel free to poke at!

Alternatively, if you feel like making a sick girl's day: the fanficcers love meme, continued

[edit] While I'm in the meta mood, might as well do the 2008-fic-roundup thing that everyone else and their mother has probably done. 8D

( The year in a couple of words )

(this goes out from under the cut, because people need the love:)

Things I love - again and again and again I have struck gold with the people I've met. It's insane - everyone seems to talk about fandom wank and such, but I've never encountered anything other than squee and constructive crit.

pere_chan: my most amazing Pere! I do not know if you are home to read this right now, but thank you so damned much. You went from being one of the first people that I felt comfortable squeeing with on AIM to being one of my closest friends outright. ♥ Your Batman art blows my mind away - your art in general blows my mind away - but not more than your generosity of spirit and optimisim.

dnatio_memoriae: I am so glad you came out of the woodwork! Thank you so much for the last couple of months; it has been one hell of a ride. *g* You're always around with something to say about Turkfic, for which I am ETERNALLY GRATEFUL IN ALLCAPS, and I love love love the concrit you gave for Restorations. I love you art so much that I have this entire folder with nothing but your pieces. I look at it and it brings a warm glow to my stomach. TOGETHER WE WILL MUSH LUCIFER AND FINAL FANTASY VII AND BLIND THE WORLD. *g* *rolls*

logistika_nyx: you are the master, and I, merely the little slavegirl thing. *g* You have constantly been around to flail at and with, and to have endless comment threads when one/both of us are bored at school/work, and god knows you've made me a better, more thinky writer than I would've been otherwise. I hope you and the Boy are home and settled into House! :D I am blessed to have got to know you. And, you know, write copious amounts of (mind)porn with you.

kabuki_chan: I hope that you are alive! And that the world has not eaten you! ♥ Thank you so much for the co-squee and the amazing art over the past year. You are the bestest!

_ice_lady_: LET YOUR THESIS NOT EAT YOU, PLEASE. ♥ Thank you for being around and always having time to comment spam and grin and glee. ♥

maho_kiwi: kiwi! I am so glad to have got to know you and Laylah - the both of you are such landmarks of fandomy goodness, and the both of you work so hard that I feel kind of star-fishy and useless in comparison. You guys have been amazing generous with your time and yourselves, so ♥ ♥ ♥!

My nose is starting to clog up and object to a lack of medicine, and I'm running out of the braincells needed to do a proper thank-you list, but nonetheless:

white_jenna, puella_nerdii, aikonamika, guingel, mithrigil, shadowwaker -- and everyone else that my brain's not remembering: thank you so much for the past year. ♥

To all the new flisters, especially the Yuletides mjules, numinicious, elishabet, liviapenn, dhaunea, kangeiko, deepad, autumn_belias, okay here I really *am* running out of braincells - I love you guys for #yulechat, and I lookforward to mm.org, and the next yuletide, and all the OTHER CRAZY. Oh, and five million NYRs. ♥

HI FLIST. Because today is the day that I spam with everything but the springkink things that I'm supposed to be writing, I give you this post full of meta-Final Fantasy VII drivel! 8D 8D

First up is The Morning News' guide to men's fashion. I personally consider their articles on suits and dress shirts the bible verse on how a Turk would buy his clothes. In fact, in my mind, these articles were written by a very, very snide Turk with a very, very good idea on exactly how sharp he's meant look for the job. Read them. They're hilarious. They're informative, too. But mostly hilarious.

Next comes my attempt at writing porn. I fail at porn, but I fail worse at resisting the siren call of new challenge communities, so here, have a porn_battle Tseng/Rufus drabble.

Then logistika_nyx and I were discussing the process of plotting and outlining fic, because obviously that is what sane people do in their free time, and out of it came the idea to do a behind-the-scenes kinda thing. And so this run-through of Empery for the Extremely Bored was born. 8D

You can click the cut to read it, or (for greater fun and benefit) you could check it out at logistika_nyx's pimpin' new community, bunny_bit_me. You've got to be a member, but it's a wonderful concrit place where you can read the twisted inner workings meta of a handful of really good and cool authors.

Oh god, writing behind-the-scenes stuff is so pretentious and and and big headed and I apologise totally if it sounds presumptuous to you guys. D: D: D: I are a tiny, scared author in a big world filled with authors and readers who are better than me.

( Empery: a director's commentary (or, this is how the rabid squirrel really swings!) )

Still workin' on those prompts, too. FORGIVE ME, FOR I WRITE SLOW LIKE A WOMBAT*.

* uh, even though I have no idea how fast wombats actually go

Author meme tagged by the goodly obabscribbler. Finally something that isn't Baccano!, huh? *grins at the Final Fantasy portion of the flist*

( Woah long. )

And a small RP pimp: go take a look at this_program; it's not started yet, so apps are open, and I know a good number of solid players who are joining up!