This is an index of all of my fiction, fan or otherwise. It will be stuck to the top of my journal (until 2027, hello future readers!) and I will update it with new things and hopefully get caught up on old things.

GENERIC DISCLAIMER: Works in this journal may be based on material written by other people. This is Fair Use, and I'm not going to try to get money off these works, in any way, shape, or form. The characters and scenarios may very well belong to other writers or the suits of the corporations they work for. I'm not trying to muscle in on their territory.

POLICY ON FAIR USE: Speaking of which: Remixing (defined loosely as "taking the concept and running with it, and coming back with a new spin on it") the material/stories/etc herein is fine. I give permission. I would really appreciate it if you the writer kept the following in mind, though:

1. If you remix something of mine, let me know. Post a comment here! I'm friendly.


2. The above does not guarantee that I'll link to it, favorably or not.


3. Please don't remix the Babylon 5 short "Hidden Past, Painful Memory." Besides having a cruddy title, I've got my own clear view of what's going on there and I feel very sensitive with having it touched. That being said, if you do decide to write your own version based on the framework I've got there, just don't tell me about it.


4. Don't ask me to incorporate stuff you wrote in a story based on my stuff into my work. That's not how it works.


5. That being said, if you come up with something cool based on stuff I wrote, I might borrow it back without asking first. Um. I'll try to ask.


6. The author reserves the right to be unfair and petulant, not that it's going to change anything. The author also reserves the right to change these rules or the wording thereof at any time.

Fanfic on this journal is rated subjectively by the author in three categories: Sex, violence, and how much your brain gets a workout.

Unless indicated, links point to posts in this journal.

Stories by series/book/movie/originating universe

Babylon 5: Ode on Shadow and Form. Non-explicit sex, no explicit violence, thinky thoughts. (Epic)
Academic Pursuit. Some explicit sexuality, no violence, not thinky. (Short)
Insomnia. Explicit sex, mentions of previous violence, slightly thinky. (Short)
Ways and Means. Explicit sex, no violence, not really thinky. (Short)
Strength. No sex, minimal violence, thinky. (Very short)
Rumors and Legends. No sex, no violence, thinky. (Very short)
Colorblindness. No sex, no violence, thinky. (Very short)
Before Any Coming Storms. No sex, no violence, thinky. (Very short)
Women. No sex, no violence, thinky. (Very, very short)
Real Enemies. No sex, no violence, thinky. (Very short)
Roleplay. No sex, no violence, thinky. (Very short)
Hidden Past, Painful Memory. No sex, offscreen violence, thinky. (Very short)
Past Secrets. No sex, no violence, thinky. (Very short)
Primum Non Nocere. No onscreen sex, no onscreen violence, thinky. (Very short)
Pressure. No sex, no violence, minimally thinky. (Very short)
Two Rabbis Walk Into a Bar. No sex, no violence, thinky. (Very short)
Ancient Treasure. No sex, no violence, thinky. (Very short)
Cultural Understanding. No sex, no violence, thinky. (Very short)
Tangles. No sex, no violence, thinky. (Short)
Heart in Darkness. Very minimal sexuality, no violence, thinky. (Short)
Ties that Bind. Explicit sex, no violence, brain vacation. (Short)
Scenes, Triptych. Sexuality but no sex, some minor and some offscreen violence, thinky. (Medium)

Blow-Up: Deconstruction. No onscreen sex, no onscreen violence, very thinky. (Medium)

District B-13: The Space Your Body Occupies. Fairly explicit sex, no violence, not thinky. (Medium)

Doctor Who, Classic: Affections. No explicit sex, no violence, not very thinky (Fifth Doctor) (Short)
Precipitation. No onscreen sex, no violence, only slightly thinky. (Third Doctor) (Short)
School Holiday. Explicit sex, no violence, not very thinky. (Fifth Doctor) (Medium)
Compromising Position. No explicit sex, no violence, no thinky. (Fourth Doctor) (Very short)
Various short fictions part 1 and part 2. Little to explicit sex, no onscreen violence, minimal thinky. (Individually very short)

Doctor Who, New: A Girls' TARDIS Adventure. Non-explicit sex, slight violence, mildly thinky. (Tenth Doctor) (Medium)
Things Kept (Caliban Bass n' Drums Remix). No sex, some violence, thinky. (Tenth Doctor) (Short) Author's commentary.
Various short fictions part 1 and part 2. Little to explicit sex, no onscreen violence, minimal thinky. (Individually very short)

Harry Potter: All School Days' Innocence. No sex, no violence, fairly thinky. (Very short)

House, M.D.: Confirmatory Testing. Explicit sex, no violence, very thinky. (Medium) Author's commentary.
Not of Sound Mind. Explicit sex, no violence, brain-breaking. (Short)
Dubious Consent. Explicit sex, no violence, thinky. (Medium)
Dubious Practices. Explicit sex, no violence, thinky. (Long)
Dubious Choices. Explicit sex, minimal violence, thinky. (Long)
Directed'verse stories:
Directionless. Some sex, no violence, somewhat thinky. (Medium)
Change of Direction. Explicit sex, no violence, somewhat thinky. (Short)
Explicit Series of Directions. Explicit sex, no violence, moderately thinky. (Medium)
Magnitude and Direction. Explicit sex, some imaginary violence, thinky. (Medium)
Directional Field. Sexuality but no sex, sexualized violence, thinky. (Short)
Stop the World, I Want to Ask for Directions. Sex, sexualized violence, thinky. (Medium)

The Lion in Winter: Negotiations. No sex, no violence, slightly thinky. (Very, very short)

L.A. Confidential: Not the Same Thing at All. Somewhat explicit sexuality, no violence, no thinky. (Very short)

The Pentagon Wars: Flying Free. No sex, no violence, brain vacation. (Short)

Pirates of the Caribbean: And There Was Light (7/8 Time Love is Not Harmless remix). Sexuality but no sex, minimal violence, thinky. (Medium)
Bent Rule. Explicit sex, violence, thinky. (Medium)
Directed'verse: All Points of the Compass, Part 1, Part 2. Explicit sex, some violence, some thinky. (Long)

Stargate: Atlantis: Xenophilia. Explicit sex, minimal violence, some thinky. (Short) Author's commentary.

Ultraviolet (UK miniseries): In Extremis. Fairly explicit sex, not very much violence, not very thinky. (Short)

Crossovers:
House MD/Ultraviolet (UK miniseries): In Vivo. Somewhat explicit sex, non-explicit and offscreen violence, designed to break your head. (Long)
Babylon 5/Pirates of the Caribbean: Link to set 1. Link to set 2. Non-explicit sex, some violence, thinky. (Epic)
Babylon 5/Firefly: Link to set. No sex, offscreen violence, slightly thinky. (Long)
Babylon 5/Blade Runner: Link to set. No sex, some violence, somewhat thinky. (Long)
Babylon 5/House, M.D.: Hand More Instrumental. No sex, some violence, thinky. (Medium-long)
All Your Philosophies. No sex, no violence, thinky. (Medium)

Vids!

District B-13: Love Song to Motion. 3:33, to Hundred Mile High City by Ocean Colour Scene.

Stop the World, I Want to Ask for Directions
Maturity Level: Sex/Sexualized violence/Thinky

Wilson wants House. He's not sure what House wants. A sequel to Directionless, Explicit Series of Directions, and Magnitude and Direction. Some parts happen concurrently with Directional Field. House/Wilson, BDSM. Inspired by a universe created by helenish. Thanks to my betas.

( Read more... )

So once liviapenn gets those Man From Uncle DVDs (it seems like so long!) I'm going to have to steal them and make vids! Or at least, vid!

I want to do a Napoleon/Illya thing to Southwood Plantation Road by the Mountain Goats, though other slightly off-kilter love songs might be in the running.

The only question is whether to do black and white or color. Pros of black and white include that I'm more familiar with Season 1. Color means there's a lot more footage, though that might be distracting.

I suppose I could always B&W-ize the color footage if I need it... hmmm.

Rewatching PotC:AWE

That scene on the beach where Jack and Barbossa talk about the Kraken and the size of the world? Totally makes me ship them.

Stupid slash goggles.

All Your Philosophies
Maturity level: No sex/No violence/thinky

House is not fond of adorable children who aren't dying of anything diagnostically interesting. Circumstances seem to be conspiring to drag him into Dr. Franklin's newest charity case anyway. Set through Believers (Babylon 5 season 1), no spoilers for House. Sequel to Hand More Instrumental.

Challenge table for crossovers100 is here.

So I don't just write porn in my copious spare time; I'm also trying to teach myself photography. And, y'know, post-processing of photos so they don't look like crap.

To that end I just downloaded a trial of LightZone, which is not in any way a replacement for Photoshop, but it is a $200 photo-editing tool that has all the tools you could want to futz with photo processing--so no selectively blurring out pimples, or putting text on, or 'shopping in a cow. But it does make landscape photos awfully pretty, and it does a lot of cool effects very easily. Its region/mask tool is nowhere near as nice as anything in PS/GiMP, but the default toys to play with are cool and some of them are a godsend to people who accidentally take photographs in incredibly yellow rooms with no flash. Hem.

Tomorrow, back to writing porn.

Not much to say tonight, because I took a friend out drinking and spent the evening working on original fic.

I was briefly thinking about my writing style. I tend to work things out in advance. Er, a lot. I go through a story by visualizing every scene--heck, even most of the connective tissue, the stuff that gets cut because it's too boring to make it into the story--more or less in the POV character's head. Sometimes I make faces and quote dialogue at work, which is only okay because I'm the only person there for half the day. But what this means is I generally have a good sense of the background to any given scene--adding and removing exposition is pretty easy. I don't even count adding more description or more emotions as rewriting. This also means that before I start a project I have a pretty clear idea of what everyone in the story is doing with their time, on and offscreen--this was the genesis of the whole dubious House trilogy (Warning: BDSM and mature themes, read the headers.) Problem is, if then something has to be changed--the characters can't go to the hotel, they have to go to the beach--I have to sit and grumble and rethink the entire structure from that point and I get tripped up.

It also means that the point at which I get stuck isn't in generating a story, it's in getting the words out of my head and onto the page without sounding like boring gibberish.

Anyway! This was going to be about good things, so:

1. A good friend of mine just gave me a huge collection of hand-taped Classic Doctor Who serials. Pertwee through McCoy! As soon as I get the time I'm firing up the VCR and watching Invasion of the Dinosaurs, because Worst Dinosaur Models Ever for the WIN. Also, Sarah Jane Smith in a leather jacket. *loves*

2. liviapenn pre-ordered the complete Man from UNCLE collection. There will be squee. SO much squee.

I've been trying to rec something in every post I've made recently, but I do not have all my bookmarks accessible here and I don't have time to go hunting. Sorry.

I'm a dialogue person, so.

Five favorite (or most memorable) lines of dialogue.

I could probably do one of these for each season of Babylon 5, honestly.

S1: "What do I want? The Centauri stripped my world. I want justice." "But what do you want?" "To suck the marrow from their bones, and crush their skulls to powder." "What do you want?" "To tear down their cities, blacken their skies, sow their ground with salt! To completely, utterly, erase them!" G'Kar and Morden, Signs and Portents

I'd pick this over Londo's answer, which is actually more influential over the series--

"You really want to know what I want? You really want to know the truth? I want my people to reclaim their rightful place in the galaxy. I want the Centauri to stretch forth their hand again, and command the stars. I want a rebirth of glory, a renaissance of power! I want to stop running through life like a man late for an appointment, too afraid to look back or to look forward. I want us to be what we used to be! I want... I want it all back, the way that it was! Does that answer your question?"

Because I got to quote it anyway, sneaky me, and because it really emphasizes the difference between Londo's journey and G'Kar's journey. They are both above all other things patriots, but G'Kar starts out a warrior and ends up a priest, and Londo begins and ends steeped in politics and intrigue, winding up trapped by his own machinations.

S2: "No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by the force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power governments, and tyrants, and armies can not stand. The Centauri learned this lesson once. We will teach it to them again. Though it take a thousand years, we will be free." G'Kar, The Long Twilight Struggle

... Apparently I can just compile a list of G'Kar quotes, one from each season. Fine. I have a list on my hard drive of moments in movies and TV shows that always make me cry. This is one of them.

S3: "Negative. We have authority here. Do not force us to engage your ship." "Why not? Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else." Delenn, Severed Dreams

Because um yeah.

Seriously, there are other fantastic things said in Season 3, but if you ask me about S3 of Babylon 5, this is what pops into my head.

S4: "It's over because we say it's over! Now get the hell out of our galaxy! Both of you!" Sheridan, Into the Fire

... Also effectively what I think of when I think of Season 4, but I have to post my favorite runner-up from that episode:

"Yes, your ships are very impressive in the air, or in space. But at this moment, they are... on the ground." "That's right. They're on the ground. But they can sense an approaching ship miles away. So what're you gonna do, Mollari, huh? Blow up the island?" "Actually... ... Now that you mention it... ..." "... NOOOOOOOO!!" *click* *KRACKATHOOOOOOOM*

Because tee hee hee so emotionally satisfying.

And what the hell, one more runner up because TALK about emotionally satisfying:

"I--I was to be a god, you understand?" Emperor Cartagia, The Long Night

S5: "Mollari... understand... that I can never forgive your people for what they did to my world. My people can never forgive your people. But I... can forgive... you." G'Kar, The Fall of Centauri Prime

You know that list? The list of moments that always make me choke up?

Yeah. This is on that list.

Actually coming up with a list of five non-Babylon 5 quotes would be harder.

1. "Don't you have things you hate?" "I can't stand burnt toast. I loathe bus stations. Terrible places, full of lost luggage and lost souls... and then there's unrequited love, and tyranny, and cruelty." "Too right." "We all have a universe of our own terrors to face." Ace and Seventh Doctor, Doctor Who Ghost Light

I only recently saw this serial, and it quickly became one of my favorites. Nemo the Everbeing turned the Doctor's hatred of bus stations into an awesome fic called Lost Luggage and Lost Souls.

2. "Time to move." Vaughan to Michael, Ultraviolet

This is right after Vaughan has blown up a vampire in Michael's apartment. I also like the next thing Michael says on the subject, to his ex-girlfriend: "How did you find me? ... I mean, come in."

3. "Are your parents here?" "No. They're in Minneapolis. Worrying!" Napoleon and Susan, the best Innocent of the Week in Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Fiddlesticks Affair

This is probably my favorite episode so far, and not just because Illya spends much of it in a wetsuit.

4. "I wanted world peace!" "... Well, I don't know about that, but if you come with me you can defeat Narrin and save the game of baseball!" Mr. Oppenheimer and Big Pete, The Adventures of Pete and Pete

I love, love, LOVE The Adventures of Pete and Pete. And may I mention that it's actually good when you're an adult? It could have been one of those things that's great when you're a kid and sucky when you get taste, but it's AWESOME still.

5. "Empire Records, open 'till midnight! ... MIDNIGHT!" Mark, answering the phone in Empire Records

This... is the best line ever. Also, this movie makes me recall both the early 90s AND my first year of college, which is kinda impressive as they were about a decade apart.

1. Comment on this post.
2. I will give you a letter.
3. Think of 5 fictional characters and post their names and your comments on these characters in your LJ.

selenak gave me N!

1. Na'Toth (Babylon 5). The ambassadorial assistant to G'Kar of the Narn Regime, in Season 1 Na'Toth came in to replace Ko D'Ath, who had an unfortunate airlock accident after her actress had a severe allergic reaction to the Narn prosthetic makeup. Na'Toth rocked. She was fiercely loyal to the Narn Regime, and to G'Kar once he earned her respect. She was a warrior from a culture initially painted as two-dimensionally arrogant warmongers, but she was a strategist and a patriot. She has family history of the Dilgar war. She never gives up. Basically, for a character type it's sometimes hard to do nuance for, Na'Toth got a good story and a bunch of kickass lines.

We don't talk about Season 2 Na'Toth. I don't understand what she was trying to do with the character there. She got a couple of good licks in, but...

I do occasionally think about what would have happened if the original actress had stayed, and Na'Toth been raised to the same kind of prominence as Ta'Lon was in the later seasons. It would have been very interesting to see her journey--I think Ta'Lon, due to his experiences in the Streib ship with Sheridan, started out a lot more... mellow. Or thoughtful. Na'Toth was a lot less diplomatic. So it would have been cool to see that transformation.

My favorite Na'Toth fic is Funeral Feast by andrastewhite.

2. Nyssa of Traken (Doctor Who Classic). Nyssa, innocent from a society that knows no evil, whose father was to be the most important man in their society and was instead taken over by the Master. I haven't actually seen a lot of Nyssa episodes. She's young, and intelligent; she's also wise and kind and thoughtful. She stays behind on Terminus because she is needed. She's another companion of very few who is presented as, if not the Doctor's mental and scientific equal, at least within striking distance. (Zoe, Dr. Liz Shaw, and Romana are the previous ones. Though Romana is actually smarter than!) She's just also very quiet. It's the quiet ones you have to watch out for, though, isn't it?

My favorite Nyssa fic is Home-Thoughts From Abroad by doyle_sb4

3. Napoleon Solo (Man from U.N.C.L.E.). Napoleon Solo is the James Bond character, only a much better spy. For one thing, he doesn't go around telling everyone his REAL NAME all the time. He's suave! He's dapper! He rescues fair maidens! He dishevels beautifully! He gets well-meaning people in trouble! Napoleon seems at times incurably shallow, but he's dedicated to his mission and full of joie de vivre. And he and Illya are incredibly, incredibly cute together. Working together. In a completely heterosexual fashion. What with the girls.

I do not yet have a favorite Napoleon story, being as I am just starting to get into the show, much less the fandom; but here is hilarious picspam from liviapenn.

4. Noble, Donna (Doctor Who, New). Oh, DONNA. I am not one of those fans who believes that one's appreciation for a character is proportional to one's outrage at What Canon Hath Wrought. But I am irked at the end of Season 4, and that's all I'm going to say about that. Donna is awesome. She is awesome because she grows more childlike glee as the series goes on, she gets visibly smarter and more involved in things. And she doesn't put up with the Doctor's BS. She doesn't even need to know everything he's talking about--she has her own set of skills, and she'll use them, but she'll be the first to admit she's not a science geek--and she still knows when the Doctor is talking out his arse. And she's not caught up in the stupid romantic games that the rest of New Who has been playing. Donna Noble is her own woman, and she's chosen to go with the Doctor, she seizes life with both hands.

My favorite Donna story is The New Adventures of Supertemp by athousandwinds.

5. Norrington, James (Pirates of the Caribbean)--oh, come on, this is ME.

Okay. I'll try to be sensible about this. Besides the fact that he makes my brain switch off from an overdose of estrogen and woobie, so that makes it a little hard.

Okay. The most wonderful thing about Norrington is that in the first movie he's a really interesting antagonist--I mean, he exists to be a complication on the way to the happy ending. But he really could have been stupid, or boring, or unimaginative, and served the plot just as well. Instead, he's a full character--he's human, he has his own little plot arc, and he's sympathetic. Which means that when he goes through his disgrace-and-redemption arc over the sequels, the audience cares about him. Besides, he's competent and intelligent, he only makes the mistake of underestimating Sparrow once, and... and... *weeble* SO WOOBIE OH MY GOD.

One of many favorite Norrington stories is Dreams and Desire by gryphons_lair, which is the only one of these recs which is NC-17 and slashy. OH FINE, Carpe Diem by marinarusalka is perfectly innocent and makes me completely giddy.

And as a bonus, not beginning with N, Out of the Dark is a joyful New Who story by astrogirl2 about Jenny.

Thing: I've been watching The Man from U.N.C.L.E. with Best Roomie Ever liviapenn, who has purchased the full series! We have been having tons of fun watching seasons 1 and 2, which I've been keeping out of Movie Madness, the best video store ever. And she and frostfire_17 made an endrunkening game--seriously, from the state of the two of them, I cannot in good conscience just call it a drinking game. And evens loses. Or is that wins? ANYWAY, I am still in the state of fangirl glee where I watch anything that any of the characters does and squeal at a pitch that frightens bats, so--so it's awesome! GLEE!

Meme: Stump the writer! (I found this from shadow_truths)

[1] Go to the list of my fics and pick out a line or three from one of my stories. (Must be a full line, please -- no sentence fragments or speech tags or other such nonsense.)
[2] I will respond with which story of mine I think it's from. I SWEAR I WON'T CHEAT. (Addendum for this author: I may very well have to look up what I titled the fic. In my head these stories all have names like "Ace Kills Daleks Gets It On With Hot Young Derek Jacobi Master" and "Martha Jones: Lost In TARDIS". But I won't look past the fic list itself!)
[3] A ficlet about pretty much anything (and in any fandom) to whoever can stump me.

For an idea of how long I mean when I say ficlet, any of the stuff on the Doctor Who meme posts or either of the last two scenes in "Scenes, Triptych" are good examples of length.

Directional Field
Maturity level: Sexuality but no sex/Some sexualized violence/Thinky

A sequel to Directionless, Explicit Series of Directions, and Magnitude and Direction. Foreman still isn't really sure what to make of switches in general, Chase in particular. And accidentally running into him at a club wasn't how he'd intended to get an education. Thanks to my betas, and to helenish for the inspiration.

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There's a meme going around about first lines, which is awesome. I'm just going to post the 25 most recent things I've posted here (in reverse chronological order), so no unfinished stuff or sneak peaks, sorry.

1. By the time he got to the locker room, Chase's mind was running a pretty steady litany of "Okay, okay, okay..." except for the part which was helpfully suggesting, "Not okay."

2. House had actually read the part of the employee handbook that dealt with sexual harassment, despite what Cuddy and Wilson may have thought, paying particular attention to the section on employees harassing employers.

3. Wilson learned about it in one of those completely-by-accident-on-purpose statements that House made, in the middle of a conversation about something else.

These are the first lines of "Dubious Choices," "Dubious Practices," and "Dubious Consent", respectively--which are three points of view of the same set of events. They all do a pretty good job of setting up the respective moods, I think; Chase is completely in the moment and focused on his own experiences, House is calculating and has studied all the risks, and Wilson doesn't really know what's going on, except that House is in charge.

*glances at list* *pauses* Okay, I'm going to skip the PWPs for the kink meme.

4. Ace is tucking a couple canisters of Nitro-9 into the foundation of the Dalek base when she meets the Master again. I am pleased with how this came out... it sets the scene, and Ace plus explosions is always a good mix.

5. "What's this?" Peri asked, two days after they left Varos. This one, on the other hand, is pretty utilitarian. But the piece it's attached to is really short.

6. "How wonderful!" he said, when Martha told him she has--will have had--traveled with him before. Time-travel grammar confusion for the win.

7. After far too many moments of incineration the Master felt the familiar tug of a transmat and landed, painfully, on the floor of a TARDIS. More scene-setting... I think this one falls more or less between #4 and #5 above. Also, one would think that any moments of incineration would be far too many...

8. And then there was the time the TARDIS' internal time field collapsed. This is a brilliant opening line--and I didn't come up with it. Stole it from a friend. But boy does that explain everything.

9. When the vote of No Confidence passed, Harriet Jones seriously contemplated resigning; she believed in her party as firmly as she believed in her country, and there were others who could take over the government in her absence. Man, I write an awful lot of "Here is when this story is set" first lines, don't I?

10. Lyta sent the probe. In media res, for a very... disjointed fic.

11. Commodore James Norrington hated parties, especially ones where he had to smile at people who were making very polite and unpleasant comments. This one I like, if only because it suggests and sets up at the outset the OMG JAMES YOU ARE SUCH A FREAK UNDER THAT UNIFORM thing.

12. "Harry," the Doctor said, stepping through the doorway, "I've just had a thought." This I like because for this Doctor, that thought could mean ANYTHING.

13. Two days after the wall around Barrio 13 dropped, there was a knock on Damien's window. THIS I am happy with. Because you know who's knocking at his window, and it's easy to picture Leito at Damien's window, no matter how high up he is.

14. Elizabeth knew something was wrong when John wouldn't look at her. Already hammering on the lack of communication theme, here.

15. Delia Fanning couldn't help raising an eyebrow when the Colonel held the door open for her and waved her into the makeshift hangar on his uncle's farm. So. Much. Utilitarian scene-setting.

16. House closed the door of the exam room and threw a casual glance in Chase's direction. I do less scene-setting when the scenery doesn't really matter, it seems.

17. The Master, Martha noticed, looked much less threatening when he was pouting. This makes me happy. Actually, this fic is one of the ones I'm proudest of.

18. The funny thing about being dead was the number of people who noticed. This also works, but I think it might not strike quite the right balance of wryness.

19. Lahoya worked as a secretary for a firm on the twelfth floor of an office building in downtown Princeton. This is an opening I like--it's not quite scene-setting, because I'm not pointing at canon and going "This is where this goes!" but it is very precise.

20. The only upside to the whole situation, House thought, was that he got to watch his team attempt to manhandle the Vorlon's environment suit from a vastly underpowered stretcher to the bed in the isolation lab. Scene setting, but also House being a bastard, so there's that.

21. His grin was a flash of light on that cold black sea. One of these days I should really go back and look at how I used light in that story. Because I was totally winging it, but I think my subconscious was cleverer than I was.

22. When he opened the door, Wilson was standing on his step, clutching a suitcase, eyes red. Still scene-setting. But following House's gaze, picking up clues. So I kinda like it.

23. Robert stepped back and surveyed his handiwork with a smirk. The opposite of scene-setting, this is purely emotion-driven.

24. "So," Tessa said, fingering an orange and purposely not looking across the kitchen to where Lise was filling a teapot with water, "How long do you think Michael and Stephen were sleeping together on Babylon 5?" Run! On! Sentence! On the other hand, gay sex.

25. Dr. Cuddy seemed almost... disappointed when Allison Cameron met her for the first time. I fought with myself a lot about how much of the dom/sub universe conceit I wanted to put into the initial lines of this story, and how soon it should show up. I wound up pushing it back to the next paragraph and being subtle, but it's still there--Cuddy's disappointed because she knows House will walk all over this nice girl. It's just explicit in this universe what that dynamic is called.

So. Things I tend to do: point at canon and go "HERE! HERE IS WHERE THE STORY GOES!" I also tend to put the POV character's name in the opening sentence, or very shortly after. All of my prose is fairly utilitarian; there are few stories in this list where I was being deliberately evocative with my diction, and even then it doesn't always show in the first line (I'm thinking here of #4, which starts out fairly routinely, #13, which is also fairly normal except for careful choice of nouns, and #21, which was a remix and using imagery from the original story. But I was very deliberate with my language in that one.) A lot of settings--here are the characters and here is where they are. I do that to get it out of the way, but it doesn't necessarily provide for the best hook.

I start stories with dialogue rather less than I thought I did. I think I have a few WIPs that all start with dialogue, which would explain the disconnect in my head.

Anyone wanna do a last lines meme?

So despite having only really made one vid (Okay, two, but I lost all the project files for my Chasing Amy vid so it only exists as a small .mov on my hard drive), I still get ideas for more, some of them good, some of them not really so good.

Some ideas that I actively want to pursue, for example:

Kemopetrol, "Planet": a New Who vid. Not in the least because I think everyone should listen to Kemopetrol so that they become famous in the US and we get to import the two albums I can't buy on iTunes. Planet off "Teleport", which is a fun little album. And I would teleport myself to you / If your planet is big enough for two / De and rematerialize for you / If your planet is big enough for two... It'd be a Ten-and-Rose-and-Martha-and-Donna vid, all about movement and big shiny things and the Doctor not being lonely with people and escaping from mundane reality. Sorta like the show.

Voice of the Beehive, "Monsters and Angels": An SG:A Teyla-centric vid. There are monsters, there are angels / There's a peacefulness and a rage inside us all / There is sugar, there is salt / There is ice and there's fire in every single heart / There are monsters, there are angels... This is a fantastic, mellow song with a strong beat, and it's just very Teyla. This'd sorta be a team-and-Teyla thing. (It would also require me to watch more SG:A.)

Ok Go, "Don't Ask Me": New Who Doctor/Master vid. And don't say "it's been a while" / And don't flash that stupid smile... This is PERFECT for them, absolutely full of snark. Um. There would be dancing.

Reel Big Fish, "Suckers": Pirates of the Caribbean. This one's for all the suckers who still believe in love / This one's for youuuuuuuuu... This. Um. Basically just big goofy celebration of love going wrong and right. Slow-motion kiss under the chorus. Because yay. But also running around and angsty looks and people falling off things. Nothing goes better with ska than pirates, right?

Less good ideas:

Reel Big Fish, "I Want Your Girlfriend (To Be My Girlfriend)": Pirates of the Caribbean. Because nothing goes better with ska than pirates? Because we need a wacky everyone loves Elizabeth vid? Because it would be LOLARIOUS? Perhaps a little too on-the-nose...

Blue Rodeo, "Cynthia": New Who, Mickey/Rose. We could watch the spaceships, maybe they'll take us on a trip / To that neverending sky... ... I dunno, this could work, but maybe I'm just being silly.

Decemberists, "We Both Go Down Together": Multifandom pairings of aaangst. I think I just want to do this in order to put the jumping-off-building thing from The Princess and the Warrior under And as the seagulls are crying / We'll fall but our souls are flying... which, um...

Not good ideas:

Blue Rodeo, "Five Days in May": New Who Doctor/Rose. This song is beautiful. It's also something like eight hundred minutes long and way sappy. We don't need another sappy Doctor/Rose vid AT ALL.

The Dresden Dolls, "Coin-Operated Boy": House, Cameron/Chase. UM UM UM I HAVE NO DEFENSE. NONE. But it would be kinda hilarious. And kinda sad. Mostly sad.

... So that's at least four vids I need to be making, yeah? Sigh. Lemme find source...

So angevin2 ran The Great Post-RSC shaksper_random/thisengland Histories Ficathon and Lovefest. And if you like Shakespeare's history plays AT ALL you should check it out now now now, because it is fantastic. (Full disclosure: I was supposed to write for this, and I didn't finish my story on time; I'll post it here when it is done.)

Individually fantastic things:

An Awfully Big Adventure, the_alchemist. Richard III and young Richard(Edward IV's son) talk about kingship. Intensely creepy, a terrific look at RIII and a very effective child POV. Written for me, and I loffs it.

Yield Day to Night, or, The Problem with Imported Queens, roz_mcclure. From creepy to incredibly funny. Henry VI-era; Suffolk's problems with French queens didn't start with Margaret.

Mea Culpa, lareinenoire. Henry VI, the king who needs a hug. This is quiet and sad and lyrical.

Game of Roses, mirabehn. Elizabeth Woodville is AWESOME. This fic is also sad, but has a wonderful core of strength that will not give up. Man, I want to put her on a TARDIS.

The Giving Vein, gileonnen. A creepy Richard III/Buckingham story. I have some people reading my journal who like D/s, right?

Gross Flesh, the_alchemist. Let's go back to funny. Fabulous dead Edward II and fabulous dead Richard II are the best team ever. This story proves it.

The Good Son, angevin2. All about John, Hal (Later Henry V)'s priggish younger brother. A very cool POV on the events of... the events, and the ending is sweet and a little heartbreaking.

'Tis Not the Balm, The Sceptre and the Ball, the_red_shoes. This? This is yay. This is Richard II being *Richard*, all his complexities and games and grace, and Hal Not Getting Him and wanting to SO MUCH, and being just a little bit in love. Because it's Richard. And... and. Beautiful.

Bedroom Berlitz, borusa. Henry V/Kate. Warning: language. By which I mean, these two need a little more help with words, but their bodies do plenty of talking that needs no translation. SO FUNNY.

... In any case, go read everything, because I skimmed over a lot of the Henry IV stuff as I am very unfamiliar with those plays. Great stuff from everyone!