Let's talk favourites

[andrew_in_drag]

So I have internet to scrounge off (the benefit of living in teeny-tiny close-together english houses is that your neighbours have their wifi all up in yo grill) and I paid the bill today, yesss!

So we should be reconnected in a matter of business days yada yada yada.

In the meantime, ladies and gentlemen, I want to talk favourites. My favourites, your favourites, everybody's favourites. (I can feel the Americans are melting at all these extraneous u's right here.)

If you got the time, kings and queens, I want to know all about your favourite oneshot, and your favourite chaptered fic. If you're a writer as well, I wanna know all about your favourite oneshot and chaptered fic from your writing inventory. What did you like about it? Don't be afraid to blow your own horn. Or anybody else's horn!

For me, my favourite oneshot is Casual Picture by sciencesaves. So now maybe she'll get embarrassed because I'm dragging things up from four years ago (sorry, and hi!).
This is purely the piece that speaks the most to me. It has an atmosphere that makes it come alive, and I just love it. It sounds like pointless sentimentality, but this feels like more than fanfiction to me. Like she started with a photograph and ended up somewhere totally magical.

Favourite chaptered fic: this is a hard one! Probably A Dirty Carnival, by minka_g, which sadly I can't link to because plagiarism has led her to f-lock. It was this fic which inspired me to write something yakuza-based, which led to Protect Me, which led to House of Cards! Honorable mentions also go out to all the oldies-but-still-goodies by bishonendreams, because even if she's humbly saying "they're just fanfics!" I'm saying that I read them when I was, oooh, fifteen? - and they were the first indication I got that fanfiction could be more than pretty boys being put in poses; it could be realistic, too. It was the first fic I read where I felt like even if it wasn't the Dir en boys, I would still be emotionally involved.

And finally, what's the thing you most love about fanfictions? I want to push myself to be better, so this is really pretty interesting to me.

Comments

[lady-sb.livejournal.com]

I think of Aoi and Uruha fics, life_giver Snowed In remains one of my favourite fics of all time (http://life-giver.livejournal.com/28698.html#cutid1). I always find it interesting that its my favourite because there isn't "sex" per se in it. Its basically very long foreplay, but I adore it.

She in general is a good author, but I find she isn't very consistent in updating and her tendency to go into reams and reams of unnecessary purple prose and overwrought angst makes my eyes cross >_< . However, for me Snowed In is just damn near perfect.

Another writer who I literally stopped and dropped everything to read was stupeur story Fugue in the Key of Regret is AMAZING, and its with a pairing that not many read TatsurouxMiya from MUCC.

In terms of Kaoru and Toshiya, I love yours ^^ A Momentary Lapse of Reason stuck enough with me that I still remembered it when you started posting again.

I also love novelcuisine Undone, starring Ni~ya and Sakito from Nightmare.

In terms of my own, for Aoi and Uruha, I wrote a series of snapshots in Memories that I enjoyed, and most people seem to love my kitten fic of them Home lol

For Kaoru and Toshiya, its Unwritten, but I also like my Sadie fics as well. However, my fave oneshot is also a MUCC story, As Time Goes By, based on one of my fave movies of all time, Casablanca.

[andrew-in-drag.livejournal.com]

Thanks for a good answer! As well as giving me lots of things to think about, you've also given me some new things to check out and read ;) I've never heard of a lot of these writers. Seems my few years out of the loop didn't do me many favours!

I'm also very flattered that you rate my KxT so highly! Based on that, I'm glad that I decided to give On a Highway the same treatment I gave A Momentary Lapse of Reason...I have a lot of fic requests and ideas stacked up but OAH was never intended to be that long, so I guess that one could be next. I'm really excited about it :)

And let's not forget that AMLOR was your fault entirely, haha! Without you I'd have forgotten I ever began it.

So thanks for a lovely detailed answer. I'm off to read and write!

[velvet-liquor.livejournal.com]

I think this might end up as a massive comment, but who cares.

I have to agree on minka_g fic, because, damn, that woman knows how to write and I am waiting for the day she starts writing again. She is also one of the few people that make me think that I just can't compete with native English speakers. I just can't. You, people, have a way with words that I might never get. I'll just have to expatriate myself in England one of these days (secret dream of mine).

So if I had to chose a favorite multi-chaptered fic (yeah, because who needs "u"s everywhere? *shakes head* ah, English people...), what would it be..? That's incredibly hard... But I'd go for tingedwords & koboshi_ichigo 's Learning (F-Locked). It's freakishly long and I've read it at least four or five times already. It's so, so good. Deals with hard topics, but, it's pure genius. On a lighter note, I also have a soft spot of disorder_haven 's Grains of Paradise. I definitely love reading this one again and again to dive back into that little world.
But really... Beautiful Killers and The End of my Prose (from deleted user reiyayel/matkashi or currently inactive bokunojinsei) have been on my fav list for a long time, even though they tend to be slightly more dramatic.
And any fic from life_giver, because... it's her. I'd sell my body to her any day. Yeah. And I love the little world in Until Tomorrow.
And if crucifyregret ever finishes her fic Forget Me Not, it might end up as one of my favorites, too...
So no, I just can't chose a single fic.

When it comes to one-shots... Change of Plans by koboshi_ichigo , because it's oh so good. I love the way she writes. She should definitely write more often. And it's almost 10.000 words. Still a one-shot. A nice Christmas-y atmosphere that just makes you want to burrow in your bed with a warm mug of hot chocolate.
But I do love aozoracomplex 's works, because whenever I read one of her one-shots, I feel like writing. It inspires me. It's poetic and beautiful. I love them. I might have a thing for It started with a cigarette.
invisiblehabits has beautiful and heartbreaking fics, too... and for once, it's not a native speaker! And she needs to understand that her writing is beautiful so that she can write more.
EDIT: Okay, and now that lady_sb mentionned Snowed in from Life_giver, I kind of have to admit Tell me a Secret was hot as hell. A bit more kinky than Snowed in, but still not exactly what one would expect..

I wouldn't even recommend my own fics, they aren't really good enough to me (I am aiming for better), though the last few ones are okay. But if I ever finish the one I have started with the despa boys, this might be one I'd like to recommend.

The thing I love the most with fanfiction is when I discover one, and get the feeling that it's gonna be good. I then start to read, and with a few lines, I get all excited because the writing is good, the plot line seems to be interesting, the characters look like they have a personality of their own, and if it makes me laugh, it's definitely a plus! I also love it when they are Bible-long. It gives me more time to get into the story, to imagine, to think of all those places, and I want to read more. And when they are so sad and beautiful that it tugs on my heart and make me cry... well, I kind of love that, too...

OKAY THAT WAS LONG AS HELL.

[andrew-in-drag.livejournal.com]

Massive comments are altogether the best kinds of comments. But only when they praise me unduly

Thanks for a big, big, big interesting answer! I'm a little sorry you feel that way about writing in English though - honestly, when I first met you I never assumed that English wasn't your first language. I thought you were American or something. And then it turned out you were from France!

Which is quite a Romeo and Juliet twist to our friendship ;D

I do love minka_g's fiction. Her characters are alive to the fingertips, but I am SO SAD that she never added me back! So I can't reread A Dirty Carnival. That fic is long as all hell (bible long made me laugh) but I really, really loved it; although maybe she peeked in my journal and saw I was writing something yakuza-based and thought she smelled some kind of conspiracy. Or maybe not everybody is as paranoid as me; who knows?

So thank you thank you thank you! I have a long evening of reading and writing ahead of me.

God, I'm looking forward to it ;)

[galhea.livejournal.com]

I also love minka_g's yakuza fic, and it's sadly unfinished sequel. *flails* There's never enough lynch. fic in the world, and I will forever mourn that she had to abandon the sequel before she finished it. T___T; I love her characterizations so much. I've been meaning to save those two fics to my HD, and I might as well do that sooner rather than later, so I could send you the files if you'd like? It might take me a few days or so since it involves a lot of cut+paste and then fiddling with formatting, but I'll figure it out.

I also second tingedwords. Her AU fics especially are awesome, and I already have them all saved (yes, all bajillion fics!) if you need a fix right away.

As for recs no one's mentioned yet, lemme see... *digs through bookmarks*

Pretty sure you know tcharlatan, but her fics are also wonderful.

sweetdepravity also has several great fics, too many to list. Her AUs are especially cracky and/or awesome.

gingersteps has some lovely fic.

And pandaprint has some good fics as well.

[sciencesaves.livejournal.com]

(#ﾟﾛﾟ#) Omg... you didn't! (笑) I'm so flattered (and really embarrassed.. because... old fic is ooollldd!), really, because there are soooo many amazing authors (oneshots, chapters, whatever), so it's crazy that you would remember that little ficlet (not to mention that it is a favourite!).

As for favourites, pretty much all of mine have been mentioned already, without the obvious

colberry

I have a few others to add to the list,

aleksiina_26 has some unusual pairings that I enjoy, and a lovely way with words.

mostlyspandex also has some really lovely fics.

xoxo

[andrew-in-drag.livejournal.com]

It really left a strong impression on me!

I actually go back to read it an embarrassing amount of times. The atmosphere in it is just perfection for me.

mostlyspandex, oh my god, navigating her journal cracks me up so much. Even though I can't do it. I feel like she's written some Dir en grey fic, but I only seem to come across Alice Nine, who I'm really pretty unfamiliar with. Though I think I'll give it a go anyway, in the interests of, er, research.

Thanks for the recommendations!