drinkin' fresh mango juuuiiiiiice...

[electricalgwen]

Actually, I'm eating fresh mango, which is even better. Although stickier and more of a threat to the keyboard.

I've been tagged by savoytruffle and kaygrr in the Five Favourite Fics meme: Post a list of your top five favorite fics you've written, regardless of fandom or the reason you love them. This isn't about the BEST things you've written, but what you LOVE most. Then tag five other people to do the same.

I think most people on my flist have been tagged or done it already, but here goes: virtualpersonal, madame_meretrix, nashmaveric, rowaine, and shinodabear.



1. Dies Irae (S/X, 10000+ words, NC-17)
I love this and was very proud of it because it really pushed me. It's the first multi-chapter I've written (though not the first I started), and the first that made any significant effort at ensemble, which still makes me nervous. I'm not a big fan of vamp!Xander usually, so to write a version that I liked was gratifying, and I even surprised myself by writing some Buffy/Angel which I think worked out pretty well. I get ridiculous delight from the title reference. This also marked a shift for me - before, I wrote mostly Spike or from Spike's perspective. This fic was much more about Xander, even when it was from Spike POV, and since this I'm as likely (possibly more so!) to write from the Xander side of things.

2. Resurgens (S/X, 2000 words, PG-13)
This is almost entirely Spike-centric. It's one of the earliest things I wrote, and came out of nowhere. There are a lot of unanswered questions (both in this world and in the Buffyverse) about what it means to have a soul, whether salvation exists and what it means, and how belief works and influences the world around it, whether or not the object/god/idea believed in is real or not. I really enjoyed exploring those, from Spike's POV, and I threw in several personal things (one of my favourite hymns, and a gorgeous piece of Renaissance polyphony, for instance). I wasn't sure anyone else would be interested in it, and I felt obliged to put a "Religion is discussed" warning on it. People actually seemed to like it, which reassured me that fanfic didn't have to involve porn - I was very new to fandom then, had come via a fanfic site with variable standards, and hadn't clued in to how many broad-ranging, intelligent meta and real world discussions go on around here. So although I love this story on a very personal level, I also like what it did to cement me in LJ/fandom.

3.Aftermath (Xander/Connor, 1000+ words, PG-13)
I didn't start out as a Xander fan. I only really got interested in him through Spike/Xander slash - now I can't imagine fandom/fic without him! *g* This is the only thing I've written yet that has Xander paired with someone other than Spike, but I want to write more Xander/Connor. There are so many parallels and links between them, and I think they make a weird kind of sense together. I also like this piece because it came out in a somewhat different style for me - quieter, more dreamy, skimming over big events and noting a few small ones, less dialogue - and has led to a couple of interesting conversations about whether/how the pairing in a story influences writing style.

4. Fault Lines (Lilah/Dawn, R for language)
This is an odd choice. It's languishing at chapter 1 of an uncertain number, and I have no immediate plans for getting back to it (although I know where it's going). It's f/f, which I don't like to read, and almost certainly won't get graphic. It's not going to win any popularity contests. And yet, I am inordinately fond of it. I enjoyed writing Lilah - it was surprisingly easy to get into her head space - and I think there are some very good bits in it, if I say so as who shouldn't.

5. Wrong (Spike/Faith, 1400 words, NC-17)
Written in a spur-of-the-moment burst of inspiration when entrenous88 requested birthday drabbles for someone I didn't even know at the time, tinpanalley. I don't know why turning somehow equated to birthday in my mind, or why I decided to write het, but I have a soft spot for this fic. I think Spike and vamp!Faith would be a pretty damn awesome team, not to mention hot together.

And since several other people have kinda sorta cheated on the numbers... Honourable Mention goes to my one complete crack posting, Where's My Cow? Inspired by reremouse's Donut Boy series and Terry Pratchett's Thud!, this rewrite of an archetypal kids' book still makes me laugh. I think I did a pretty good job of sending up the Scooby gang.

Comments

[laisserais]

whee! i completely concur with all of the above. except for the fact that you can only have five. each one of these was like a revelation when i read them (well, except for the L/D, which i haven't read, but think i might, because damn. that lilah/wesley drabble was smoking.) these are all truly awesome pieces, and i'm impressed with myself for stretching outside of my comfort zone to have read some of the pairings. (x/c, s/f) *g*

uh, lol. i can't play because i've only written 6 things. well, i guess i could... but how about instead i reply here with a relatively proportionate: my favorite one fic, so far:

The Bad Seed. i love it because i went from conception to posting in like, three hours. and i love it because i made them naughty and i was laughing all the way through. also, it was my first try at hau, and at "first" person narrative.

ps--> where's your awards post?

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

I'm really glad you read and enjoyed them - and I loved your comments on each, you always take time to say what exactly worked or hit buttons, and I value that a lot (especially as an active, developing writer.) I'm thrilled and humbled to hear that I pushed you out of your comfort zone, because I don't usually leave mine unless I trust the author (for instance, I would never have read G/X for the first time if it hadn't been savoytruffle writing it, and I can't believe how much I enjoy reremouse's ongoing untitled Xander/Larry, because I never choose to read Larry.)

Aw, I went and hit your tags, and I was sure you'd written more than that! But thanks for telling me about your top favourite! It's neat to hear what makes a fic loveable, beyond simply its quality - again, a dialogue with the author you can't usually have in RL.

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I would be interested in your views on the historical linguistics mentioned in this article (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/science/05cnd-brits.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5090&en=b9b6996d54ba5cc6&ex=1330750800&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss), if you've got time? Page 2 deals more with the linguistic aspect of things.

[laisserais]

hee! did you read that too? i got all excited about it the other day. hmmm. yeah, i think Forster's theory is pretty much unprovable. languages are notoriously slippery, particularly pre-writing. Not to mention, with the easy accessibility of england's coast from europe and the increasing understanding of the frequency of trade, there's no way to know for sure how static any particular language was.

Although, the lack of celtic place names had always puzzled me. i had chalked it down to various waves of invaders. and really, even if the number of invaders didn't have an effect on the genetics of the population, that doesn't mean they didn't have an effect on the language and cultures of the subjugated peoples.

have you ever read Scott's Ivanhoe? I always think of it when this subject comes up. there's some fascinating social criticism in it, particularly around the extant saxons and their language in the time of the Norman invasion.

overall though, i really thought that article was neat. it's a fresh look at the genetic realities of the island. and it's kind of funny, because as the man said, the folks in northen ireland have been fighting for 400 years. i don't think it'll ultimately stop people from feeling the whole "us vs. them" thing, but it's nice to reevaluate it all the same.

gosh, haha. more than you wanted for sure. thanks for the link!

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

I did read it - got the link through Neil Gaiman's blog. It's true that a small number of invaders could have had a large effect on the language and cultures, and yet I'd be surprised if they had completely supplanted/replaced place names. They're often the most durable things, aren't they?

I agree, the "us vs. them" isn't going to change because of this - not least because it isn't about genetics, or even religion really by this time, it's cultural and social - but it is rather neat. I like "genetic archeology" or whatever, "mitochondrial Eve" and all that. The animal kingdom taxonomical structure gets redrawn every so often due to similar discoveries, and I think it's cool that human interactions and populations can be tracked on such a grand scale as well.

[laisserais]

They're often the most durable things, aren't they? yeah, that's what i'd thought as well. along with everyday functional words like "brother" and "mother" and "water" and the like. it's a mystery for sure.

I like "genetic archeology" or whatever, "mitochondrial Eve" and all that. oh, isn't it fascinating! i love when they trace mitochondrial DNA! *g* we're nerdy. recently there was this whole special on the public channel calling into question the origin of the clovis point spear on the american continent, along with the route the first peoples took to get here. i was riveted. they traced the dna patterns and discovered a higher percentage of european ancestry in a particular population than could be explained by the migration patterns that we already know about. it was really neat. i love it when our notions of human societies get redrawn like that.

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

What she said. *points to icon*

That's neat about the migration patterns. I hadn't heard that.

Another thing I think is cool is trying to figure out how/why certain recessive genes survive in the population, when they're obviously deleterious in some way. They would tend to trend to zero, unless they're conferring an advantage that is not immediately obvious, when you only have one copy instead of two. The main example I'm aware of is sickle cell anemia in African blacks: having two recessive genes gives you sickle cell anemia and it's bad, but having only one is protective against malaria. Or at least, that's the theory - I'm not sure how far it's been proven. Similar theories have been advanced for the high incidence of Tay-Sachs disease among Ashkenazi Jews - lethal in its double form, but thought to protect against TB in single copy, so when they were forced into ghettos or camps, with poor living conditions, it would get reinforced. And I just heard recently that someone's proposed that the high incidence of cystic fibrosis genes in those of white European descent (something like 1 in 25 carry it! which is amazing for a gene that until recently killed off those affected before the age of reproduction) may be because having one copy gave you resistance to the Black Death - carriers were more likely to survive. So historical events can shape genetic drift in surprising ways.

[laisserais]

yeah that's absolutely fascinating. i knew about the link between sickle cell anemia and malaria, but the others are new.

did you ever see that special they did on the descendents of survivors of the black plague? wow. there were apparently a few people who survived in towns where the entire populations were wiped out, and they've traced modern folks' lineage back to them... the modern folks who are seemingly resistant to HIV. they think there may be some sort of gene that protects you from both. i wish i could remember more right now, but it's hazy.

what i think i might love most about genetic drift and evolutionary benefits of seemingly disadvantageous genes, is that it always surprises me. i have to shift my way of thinking, and then the answer seems so obvious, but at first it's always baffling. it's a little like the human genetic map is the greatest mystery ever told.

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

No, I didn't see that. I'm particularly phobic about plagues. I mean, not that most people aren't, but I just really don't like thinking or hearing about epidemic-type illnesses more than I have to. (I don't watch/read apocalyptic-type movies/books that revolve around plague, for instance; I've got no interest in documentaries on Ebola etc.; and when I had to read La peste in high school French it was a horrific experience.) But it sounds very cool! I wasn't aware of the suggestion that there was a link to HIV resistance; I'd only heard recently about the CF theory.

Oddly enough, the plague thing's more upsetting to me in thinky terms than a problem in RL - the SARS scare in Ontario in hmm, 2003? was just something to deal with - despite all the masks, and hysteria, and people actually dying from it.

Mm, yeah, it's cool that evolutionary biology is still such a WIP that it'll give us these mental shifts. And there are always going to be those kinds of surprises, because of the nature of selection pressure and the randomness of real-world events.

[laisserais]

it's cool that evolutionary biology is still such a WIP hee! i love that you said, 'WIP.' we must make it a universal acronym!

really, you get squicked by thinking about plagues? oh man, i guess there's no way we're going to get into the 'spanish' flu of 1918? ;) you know what squicks me? patterns in nature. yeah, like fractally things... the insides of pomgranates? eesh!

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

No, epidemics aren't my favourite topic for discussion, sorry! *g* However, I think patterns in nature are very cool! Fascinating, in the way they must have developed, and not squicky for me at all. To each their own. :)

[laisserais]

hee! i love your icons! you've got some really great ones. yeah, i don't know why, but one day i just realized that patterns in nature - like math incarnate - just scared me. lol. but it is fascinating how they came about. it's like the fibonocci (sp?) sequence was a precursor to evolution. really neat.

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Nearly all my icons are by others and shareable - snaffle anything you like! :)
I have been trying to remember where I read this discussion of the Fibonacci numbers, that was basically incorporated into a story - would have been sci-fi, maybe Frederick Pohl's Heechee series? or something totally different, I really have no idea. *facepalm* Anyway, it was very cool and yeah, now that I think back, slightly scary.

[apreludetoanend.livejournal.com]

I love your top five list! Like, literally! *g* I really hope you do explore some more X/C. "Aftermath" is just one of those stories that's... very, very good. And I love it. Very much. I also admire your ability to write about your stories--this was a really interesting post to read! =)

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

I have plans! I even have a tiny bit written, and a title! But.. the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We'll see.

Hey, glad you enjoyed my blithering on about them! *g* It was difficult to pick a top five, and I'm not even certain this really is (I seem to have gone for variety), but they're certainly ones that I like on a level divorced from how "successful" they were or how well they hit my particular kinks.