filling out the details, or Fanfic Author Appreciation Week, Day 4

[ciroccoj]

Yesterday I literally closed my eyes, jabbed my finger at my onscreen list of favourite fanfic writers three times, looked at which names I landed on, and decided to explain why I liked each one so much :)

Continuation of last night's blips:

1. woffproff writes some of the best Lennie lines evah, and her Lennie/Mike (friendship, get your minds out of the gutter) is some of the best out there.
   
   
   • I also admire the fact that she writes Lennie at all stages of life and all partnerships, and does each one so well. Yeah, the main dude is usually Lennie (no complaints from me for that ;) but Mike, Rey, Ed, and even Hector are all written with depth and accuracy as well.
     
     
   • I'm a parent. While I know L&O is an adult show and I don't like gratuitous parenting stories, I do like stories that show the parent side of characters and do it well (ie, not just turning them into saps for the sake of Teh Cute Babyfic). woffproff writes about Lennie the Dad, which so few people do, and it's very bittersweet. He loves them. He's doing his best. And he's not that bad... he's just not always that good at it either.
     
     Circus
     Shielded
     
     
   • In fact, that's one of the things I like the most about her writing: that she doesn't hide from Lennie's (or any character's) less savoury characteristics, but writes them so that you still feel for them. Even when she writes about them being really, really bad... you can still see it, and understand how they got there.
     
     
   • Also: she was also one of the first to pick up the TBJ challenge :)
     Aftermath
     
     
   • And also? She even, occasionally, writes Rey :)
     Tight Jeans
   
   
   
2. I still go back and read snarkhunter's L&O Fic-mas for the poultry and for the lines "Aren't you Jewish?" and "Hear hear!!"
   
   
   • Because L&O fic-mas? Is a scream. I remember laughing so hard I had to stop and take a break from reading, around the time that Claire rolled her eyes. Never did decide whether I loved it more for the affectionate mockery of the actual series or the not-so affectionate mockery of unintentional badfics :)
     
     
   • It's hard to believe that somebody could write something that funny and also be able to write a sensitive, yet very... well, cold fic about good people and bad choices. I literally shivered when I finished reading this.
     
     Oh, and best line? "Well, this is a switch." Hee!
     
     
   • Also, Abbie-fic! One of my most favouritest characters, whom almost nobody writes. (Except for SVU writers, who lure me into SVU fics for the sole purpose of reading about her, even though I don't really know any of the other characters.) And background-Abbie-fic, to boot!
     
     
   • And also? Alisia D. Crede. Nuff said ;)
     
     
   • My one complaint? She doesn't write enough! I mean, come on. Just because she's working on a PhD and teaching and a million other things, she figures we'll accept that as an excuse. What's up with that?
   
   
   
3. Only bast2 could have made me really, truly, care about Serena. And I still think she needs to put together all her drabbles in the Serena/Rodgers/Lennie arc. It's one of my main motivations for wanting to put together a thursday100plus archive.
   
   
   • If I had the Serena/Rodgers/Lennie arc here, I would so link to it. Unfortunately, it's posted in bits and pieces all over thursday100plus and thursday100 and fanfiction.net. It is my fond desire to gather them all some day. It's amazing how she managed to write a coherent story out of other people's inspirations, skipping around timelines, hopping from one POV to another, each installment totally self-contained, and yet fitting in to a beautiful story.
     
     
   • However. Best thing about bast2's writing? Serena Southerlyn.
     
     Now, I don't much like the woman. When I see her onscreen, I think 'meh'. And yet bast2 makes me see her as a person, with motivations and interests and a very definite voice of her own. Although it's frustrating that I can never put my finger on just what it is that makes her sound so... right, you know? And not in the relatively easy way that you can say that somebody else's Lennie sounds right - you know, cynical, pithy comments, trademark Lennie-isms. bast2 makes Serena say something, and you think Yeah! That's it! That's totally it! She's got this little... slightly 'off' thing going... damn it, what is it?
     
     
   • Because of that, her Serena/Elizabeth Rodgers is a delight. Both of their points of views, their needs, desires, and insecurities are written so well. Their relationship difficulties, which she takes beyond the obvious issues of discrimination and work-related conflict, and into the realm of differences in age and social background and personalities and needs.
     
     And then adding Lennie into the mix? Very tough to do. And yet, somehow, it works :)
     
     
   • I've never once watched Criminal Intent. Never laid eyes on Bishop. But this is just too hilarious for words. She takes a very minor character, who was apparently given very little onscreen and almost nothing in fic, and rounds her out. Makes her real and makes her likeable... sort of ;) At least, makes the reader really Feel her Pain that she has to work with Bobby.
     
     
   • And then, because writing Serena and Lynn Bishop sympathetically is just not enough of a challenge, I guess, she goes and writes Arthur Branch. And makes him human and endearing and heartbreaking.
     Anniversary.

Comments

[snarkhunter.livejournal.com]

Just because she's working on a PhD and teaching and a million other things, she figures we'll accept that as an excuse. What's up with that?

::snerk::

And thank you! Your commentary means a lot.

(And I have to admit that the popularity of the Ficmas Carol still takes me by surprise, even after all this time.) :)

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

And thank you! Your commentary means a lot.
You're welcome - and thanks ;)

(And I have to admit that the popularity of the Ficmas Carol still takes me by surprise, even after all this time.) :)

Oh, it's got staying power - lots of it :)

[bast2.livejournal.com]

i just saw this post with your comments about my writing--and i want to say thank you--i'm flattered.

and i do hope that someday you will compile my s/r/l arc--because i know i'll never do it.

i'm glad you enjoy my writing.

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

and i want to say thank you--i'm flattered.
You're very welcome :)

and i do hope that someday you will compile my s/r/l arc--because i know i'll never do it.
It's second on my to-do list for making up the t100+ website. After downloading each month and taking out the stories by authors who don't want me to archive their stuff.

[woffproff.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Wow, can I get you to be my press agent for my boring old academic book, so I might actually sell a few copies????!!!!! If USC Press would give me this much publicity, someone besides my close pals might have read it! :)

I'm still amazed that people like my work---I came to LO so late in the game, I feel like I'm playing catch up.

(And I'm kinda blushing because, well, my mind has been in the gutter a few times about M/L, actually.....)

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

Wow, can I get you to be my press agent for my boring old academic book, so I might actually sell a few copies????!!!!!
Hee - call me during the summer. I'll take a press agent night course :)

(And I'm kinda blushing because, well, my mind has been in the gutter a few times about M/L, actually.....)
LOL - culturevulture7's influence, or a home-grown idea?