A Minor Variation

Let's wrap up 2010 with a fic meme. Because... why not.

Pick something from my list of things I plan to write that you would like to read. I will post at least a few lines of it here.

2009 wasn't so bad. I'm still living in the same place, still working the same job, and both of those things are okay by me. I bought a car, which has not, so far, been working out quite as well as I could have hoped, but I'm choosing to remain hopeful. I found at least one good place to eat in town that I hadn't known about before. I went to a con, which was pretty fun, and I went on a weekend trip with friends that was very fun. I got in a car accident, which was not fun at all. And, for the first time, I did not make it home for Christmas... but that turned out more or less okay, I guess.

( 2009 Fiction Roundup )

( 2009 Fandom Roundup )

More of the same. Spoilers for the Brecilian Forest, assuming I'm spelling that right.

I think this is my favorite part so far, even though it is kind of all over the place.

( 'Nothing like a brush with death to make you... not like death very much.' )

Next up: Redcliffe.

Yeah, so, remember when I said there would be fanfic? Here's a little bit of it, part of what will hopefully be a larger sequence dealing with some of the particular issues that spring from the human noble origin, and how they dovetail with Alistair's personal damage. It's a draft and needs some work, and I demonstrate at the end why I should not be allowed to wield either foreshadowing or dramatic irony, and aside from that I'm not sure what to call it yet - I'm kind of tempted towards "The Art of Losing Everything," but I know that it only comes to mind as a title because there's already a fanfic titled "The Art of Losing" posted to swooping_is_bad, so that's a no go.

Second draft, reposted now that I've fixed the timing some. It's still sort of fudging, since I think we're meant to suppose that Alistair doesn't hear anything about the PC's backstory until, as with the other companions, they mention it in dialogue - but all such references are glancing at best anyhow, so, pff.

Spoilers for the human noble origin and the main plotline through Ostagar, and bits of Alistair's backstory besides. And, yes, my PC's name makes it into this draft. I prefer to edge around specific details like that as much as I can, but DAO's PC unfortunately doesn't get the last-name-basis treatment that Commander Shepard gets in Mass Effect, so it's harder to work around.

( to the soldier, the civilian, the martyr, the victim - this is war )

Another Luck/Eve ficlet. Unexpectedly, this one is rated R. For sex, not for violence. Don't look at me like that, guys, I don't even know.

( Eve tilts the glass between her hands, and watches the pale liquid swirl within. )

Stolen from infinitepryde:

Inspired by Doctor Who's "Turn Left:" Pick one of my stories and tell me a point in the tale that you'd change. Something tiny (e.g. "and then Fay chose silver glitter instead of gold") or big (e.g. "and then Rose was arrested instead of Jack") and I'll tell you how that one difference would have altered the course of the entire story.

Since I usually write shortfic which doesn't especially lend itself to this sort of thing, I will expand "story" to include RP and canon. Have at.

So "Fortune Favors the Brave" stubbornly refuses to write itself, and although I've been carefully refraining from immersing in any other fandoms old or new, my brain persists in giving me unrelated ideas anyhow. So I'm turning back to a request fic that I did the first draft of ages ago and then stalled on completing - Gundam SEED, Mwu and Murrue, "before we end and then begin, we'll drink a toast to how it's been," which I'm sure a_white_rain has forgotten requesting by now.

Still working on it, but here's the first couple paragraphs because Mwu really amuses me right now.

( We learn one thing, if we learn at all, in the secret wars we call our lives: anything can happen. )

While I've got it on the brain, here's the first 500-some words of an as-yet-untitled Baccano! fanfic I'm working on. Because I have been inspired by Drugs & Dominos, and unexpectedly charmed by Luck and Eve, the smart and ruthless Mafioso with the unexpectedly soft heart and the innocent young ingenue with the spine of steel. I ship it.

Unfortunately it's coming out kind of stilted and awkward, which I think is the result of having my understanding of both characters' voices filtered through the translation from the Japanese. Watching the anime helps a bit, but since I only have the first four episodes, there's not a lot to work with. I'll have to work on refining the wordings a little.

I suppose I could wait until I've finished a draft before I actually start posting it, but awkwardness aside I'm kind of liking how it's coming out so far, so, ffff.

( It took Eve nearly a week to work up the nerve to see him again. )

Title: Persistence of Memory
Fandom: Final Fantasy VIII
Wordcount: 1405
Warnings: None particularly.
Summary: Squall, Irvine, and Selphie in a fireside interlude in front of the Tomb of the Unknown King. Would it be better to simply be forgotten?

( One must have a good memory to be able to keep the promises one makes. )

I broke 20,000 words - with great effort - for NaNoWriMo, but I've more or less hit a wall at this point, and I'm going to have to really dig in to keep myself from falling any further behind.

In order to let myself feel like I am actually accomplishing something, here's a fic. It's something like a second draft, and there are still rough bits that need work - the first several paragraphs before the dialogue starts leave me feeling profoundly "meh," and I suspect I'm not doing Kaidan's narrative voice any credit at all - but I am more or less content enough with it to put it up and maybe get some feedback.

Title: Easy as Life
Fandom: Mass Effect
Wordcount: 3,065
Warnings: Major spoilers for Virmire.
Summary: An interlude in the mess in the dark hours after Virmire: Kaidan, Shepard, and survivor's guilt.

Is this how the gods reward the faithful through the ages?
Forcing us to prove that the hardest things we've done
Are easy
( So easy )