sara's writing and recommendations.

It was long past time to do this, especially because my memories are getting kind of messy and I just feel like giving up on archiving stuff that way.

Very old crap I wrote as far back as ten years ago included, lulz. Works-in-progress are also listed, many of them with short cookies.



( BATTLESTAR GALACTICA )

( HARRY POTTER )

( HEROES )

( TWILIGHT )

( SHERLOCK HOLMES )

( PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN )

( BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN )

( SKINS )

( STAR TREK )

( AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER )

( QUEER AS FOLK )

( COWBOY BEBOP )

Very rarely you find a standout fanfic that is a pretty unforgettable experience to read the first time. In this case, I didn't actually just happen to find this one because I was beta-reading it for Layla in advance for her to post it for the J/B big bang. Of course we have similar styles and tastes and I do pretty much praise all of her writing, but honestly she has rarely blown me away quite like she did with this fic. The subtlely powerful and somewhat ambiguous ending literally haunted me for a couple days after I finished it.

It's probably a good thing I wouldn't want to spoil certain plot points. Otherwise I could go on forever about what this story suggests about how the inevitability of death is what makes life meaningful and suffering endurable, in a way that goes beyond fixing what's wrong with canon as lots of fanfiction tries to do and makes these ideas relevant as more than just part of this particular canon universe, and also in a way that seems to recognize the subjectiveness of its themes by being all about Bella's unique experience and what she personally decides is right for her. In some ways Bella has been written as a stronger person in this than in anything else I've read, but others might completely disagree and think she's very weak. That it's not really easy to decide is a testament to the writing. This is probably much too good for a fandom like Twilight...but that doesn't really matter.


Title: The Last Sleep
Author: Layla (ninety6tears)
Characters & Pairings: Jacob/Bella, Edward/Bella, Rosalie
Rating: PG-13
Summary: When Bella's future is abruptly altered by brutal circumstances, she seeks comfort in an impossible balance between her life with Edward and a restrained relationship with Jacob. Post-NM AU.
Link: reckoner, you are not to blame for / bittersweet distractor / dare not speak its name

Eventually I'll be posting a whole rec list of lots of good fic/art done for the sherlockkink meme, but meanwhile this fic gets its own post all to itself because I've read a lot of awesome stuff there so far but this one is kind of in a whole other league.

Suffice it to say that after seeing the movie I dallied around the meme reading some amusing H/W slash but was not sure at first whether I could actually ship it seriously or if I just appreciated the cuteness and hilarity of it as a friendship...and then after I read this fic I was sure, and haven't stopped reading this ship since. Haha.


Title: A Wise Wager
Author: Xtine (xtinethepirate)
Characters & Pairings: Holmes/Watson
Universe: SH09
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Written for the prompt: "Gambling. I'm not sure how. Watson either loses his half of the rent and food money (again), a fic about Holmes having to hold Watson's money for him, Holmes being a sure bet in the ring, or something off the top of your head. Maybe victory sex after Watson finally wins one. I don't know. I just really want to hear more about Watson's gambling addiction."
Link: If you gain, you gain all...

Scotty bonds with various members of the Enterprise crew over the matter of a mysterious box of antiques found on Delta Vega during the time he and Keenser were stuck there for months. These two fics which go together as part of a series are too funny and show that what I didn't even know I'd been missing in my life is some hilarious Scotty gen, lol.

Title: Killing Time
Author: irisbleufic
Characters & Pairings: Scotty, Keenser
Universe: STXI
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Old Terran video games were the stuff of legend...
Link: Keenser, as it happened, was a pretty fucking sore loser...

Title: To Say Nothing of the Dog
Author: irisbleufic
Characters & Pairings: Scotty, Chekov, Uhura, McCoy, some Kirk/Spock
Universe: STXI
Rating: PG-13
Summary: There are some things it's best not to mention.
Link: "So there was all this weird shit down there, right?"

1. HEY MISOGYNY, GTFO OUT OF MY SLASH FANDOMS PLZ. ( Read more... )

2. Of course it's always very nice for people to leave reviews/comments at all, and just about any review is better than hearing nothing from people, but I can't help but be a little miffed when people leave me reviews on fics that are completed with nothing to say but "Great, I hope you'll continue this" or "Please keep writing!" ( Read more... )

3. I'm honestly tired of seeing people complain about the word "bromance" like there's something wrong with the word itself as opposed to the misuse of it. ( Read more... )

4. I could really do without all the Jacob/Bella-as-friends-when-they're-kids fic that is getting so popular. ( Read more... )

5. FYI, world, most of the time if you leave me a review that ends with you asking me to "R&R back" there is very little chance I will actually feel like looking at your stuff. For one thing, it's an obvious fact that there are people who go around leaving reviews like this on tons of fics they haven't even read just to try to get more attention for their stuff, so reading this at the bottom of a very general review that gives no clear indication you actually know what happened in the fic can sometimes make me kind of :/. ( Read more... )

6. I've started to get really frustrated with a complaint I've gotten several times about "What Music They Make" because I seriously just don't get it. ( Read more... )

7. I'm officially pretty tired of Naomi/Emily being over-praised like they're the greatest thing to ever happen in Skins and one of the bestest ships liek in the history of ever. ( Read more... )

SCORES OF 2009 SAMPLER
a mix of the best film and television music released last year


01 Deep Sea Ranch - Joe Hisaishi (Ponyo)
02 Enterprising Young Men - Michael Giacchino (Star Trek)
03 So Much Life - Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica)
04 Discombobulate - Hans Zimmer (Sherlock Holmes)
05 Dreamcatcher - Alexandre Desplat (New Moon)
06 Blood On the Scales - Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica)
07 When Ginny Kissed Harry - Nicholas Hooper (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)
08 Little Sisters - Joe Hisaishi (Ponyo)
09 Joseph and Daniel - Bear McCreary (Caprica)
10 Peter [Excerpt] - Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman (Heroes)
11 Marital Sabotage - Hans Zimmer (Sherlock Holmes)
12 The Signal - Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica)
13 Carl Goes Up - Michael Giacchino (Up)
14 Elegy - Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica)
15 Labor of Love - Michael Giacchino (Star Trek)
16 Memories of Edward - Alexandre Desplat (New Moon)
17 Underwater Town - Joe Hisaishi (Ponyo)
18 The Carousel - David Carbonara (Mad Men)
19 The Heart of the Sun - Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica)
20 To Boldly Go - Michael Giacchino (Star Trek)
21 End Credits - Michael Giacchino (Star Trek)

zip.

Title: 5 Times John Watson Quite Unintentionally Saw Irene Adler Naked (And One Time It Wasn't So Unintentional)
[first half here]
Author: Sara (paintedponyxox@flowrs4ophelia)
Characters & Pairings: Watson/Irene/Holmes (gen-ish w/ OT3 undertones)
Universe: SH09
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Even if the woman clearly has no shame, he still finds it a little uncomfortable himself whenever they encounter each other with these perpetual failings in decorum.

( This time he is perfectly willing to allow her to wear his coat... )

Title: 5 Times John Watson Quite Unintentionally Saw Irene Adler Naked (And One Time It Wasn't So Unintentional)
Author: Sara (paintedponyxox@flowrs4ophelia)
Characters & Pairings: Watson/Irene/Holmes (gen-ish w/ OT3 undertones)
Universe: SH09
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Even if the woman clearly has no shame, he still finds it a little uncomfortable himself whenever they encounter each other with these perpetual failings in decorum.
Notes: I seriously don't know how the hell this happened, lol, but I guess something sort of stupid and fun was exactly what I needed after all the angst of writing my last fic.
A pre-movie fic written for the sherlockkink meme in response to this prompt, though it ended up being kind of lamely not-kink-meme material with something sort of resembling a plot, idk. At least the same prompt got another response that was quite porn-a-licious, haha.

( It is dreadfully inconvenient that Mrs. Hudson should be willing to ignore the obvious when it comes to Miss Adler's repeated visits and Watson can't depend on her to be properly scandalized... )

The end-of-year fic writing meme everybody's doing...

The 2009 list:
- "Aerilon Girls Are Easy" (Battlestar Galactica; Kara/Lee)
- "Where Soul Meets Body" (Battlestar Galactica; Kara/Lee)
- "Strength of the Mind" (Star Trek XI; Spock/Kirk/Uhura)
- "Boys Will Be Boys" (Twilight; Jacob/Bella)
- "The Persistence of Gravity" (Twilight; Sam/Leah)
- 4 drabbles for the Twilight uncanon pairings meme:
• "The Garage" (Jacob/Quil/Embry)
• "The Importance of Being Edward" (Carlisle/Edward)
• "Red Wedding" (Carlisle/Rosalie)
• "Fair Arrangement" (Paul/Angela/Jacob)
- The final chapter of "What Music They Make" (Twilight; Jacob/Bella, Edward/Bella)
- "The Golden Phase of Dying Leaves" (Twilight; Jacob/Bella)




My favorite story this year (of my own):
If I count "What Music They Make" as part of this year since I finally finished it, that one, since it's hard not to have a special attachment to something I put an assload of work into over a period of more than a couple years. Otherwise I really like "Aerilon Girls Are Easy."

My best story this year:
Possibly "The Persistence of Gravity." It's totally got some big flaws, but it grew into so much more than I ever thought it was going to be when I started writing it about a year and a half ago. The whole meaning of the title even ended up being more complicated and multi-layered than I consciously planned. In a lot of ways it seems more like an original story than any other fic I've ever done since it involved developing two background characters much more than they're ever fleshed out in the series, and if I may say so myself I think I did a surprisingly decent job making them seem like very real people in a real relationship, which meant I got unexpectedly really invested in them and felt kind of like stabbing myself by the time I got to the tragedy, LOL.

( Read more... )

I'll admit all I know about the Sherlock Holmes stories is learned from episodes of Wishbone plus the general collective consciousness of pop culture. But I'd like to think even if I were a very knowledgeable fan of the classic character I'd be able to get past this movie's almost complete irrelevance to that Holmes, as I'm usually annoyed by purism of any kind as a sole reason for criticizing something. No timeless characters were harmed in the making of this film, and in fact it seems like Guy Ritchie must have made it with complete awareness that the more ridiculously he strayed from the original material, the more effective it would be in establishing that this isn't supposed to be anything but fun and crazy and its own thing. Honestly, if this was just about original characters and didn't have the added outrageousness of actually being called Sherlock Holmes, what would be the fun in that?

( No girl wants to marry a doctor who can't tell whether a man is dead or not! )

Title: The Persistence of Gravity
[Part I][Part II][Part III]
Author: Sara (paintedponyxox@flowrs4ophelia)
Characters & Pairings: Sam/Leah, some Sam/Emily, Harry
Rating: R
Summary: His father was a complete screw-up who hurt and abandoned everyone who needed him, but he tries very hard to be a good kid, a good student, a good friend and son. And he swears to himself as he watches Leah sleeping now that he'll always be good to her.

( If there is no choice then there is no right or wrong at all... )

Title: The Persistence of Gravity
[Part I][Part II]
Author: Sara (paintedponyxox@flowrs4ophelia)
Characters & Pairings: Sam/Leah, some Sam/Emily
Rating: R
Summary: His father was a complete screw-up who hurt and abandoned everyone who needed him, but he tries very hard to be a good kid, a good student, a good friend and son. And he swears to himself as he watches Leah sleeping now that he'll always be good to her.
Notes: Sooo it was finally brought to my attention that due to some coding fail on my part, the previous posts of this had the text showing up really big for some people even though it looks normal on my computer. Got that fixed so it doesn't look obnoxious anymore, LOL.
And oh look, yeah, it's in four posts now because I COULD NOT STOP and it got too long for three. Jesus.

( He would like to spend one afternoon not thinking about the loneliness of wandering the forest at night... )

There is not enough "WORD" in the universe for this post that is so totally perfect and pretty damn funny. Wise words that every newb writer needs to hear and which even some writers with years of experience on the internets may need to hear or could use hearing again. A lot of this is pretty good advice regarding any kind of writing, too. traveller especially wins for addressing the egregious use of epithets as well as descriptions of characters of minority races as "exotic" (Jesus Christ, kids, just DON'T DO IT).

so you want to write fanfictions on the internets
by traveller

Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile."
• I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity.
• Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
• Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.


My questions from ninety6tears...


1. Your novel that you haven't written yet is getting made into a movie. Who directs it, who scores the music, who plays any of the characters, etc.

( Read more... )

2. What is your favorite music video?

( Read more... )

3. If you could only write fic for one fandom for the rest of your life (god forbid), which one would it be?

Though I seem to have the most fun writing for Twilight for some reason despite my low respect for the canon material, I'll say Harry Potter since I can actually imagine people still reading HP fanfic twenty years from now, and that I'll also still like it. I mean shit, it's not like I think I'll look back and regret that Twilight was part of my life but I'm not sure I see myself not being pretty over it after enough time.

4. Favorite quote by a famous person?

"As for me, all I know is that I know nothing."
Socrates

5. Marlon Brando, James Dean, or Gregory Peck? (Hotness, not talent.)

That's easy, BRANDO. In Streetcar he was like the embodiment of all things indecently hot. Definitely wouldn't have thrown any of them out of bed in a million years, though.






+ As a much belated note, thanks so much nikki6 and lemomina for the v-gifts. Happy holidays, bbs. :)

Title: The Persistence of Gravity
[Part I]
Author: Sara C. (paintedponyxox@flowrs4ophelia)
Characters & Pairings: Sam/Leah, some Sam/Emily
Rating: R (hard R for this part)
Summary: Everyone knows his father was a complete screw-up who hurt and abandoned everyone who needed him, but he tries very hard to be a good kid, a good student, a good friend and son. And he swears to himself as he watches Leah sleeping now that he'll always be good to her.

( I don't ever want to feel like I did that day )

Title: The Persistence of Gravity
Author: Sara (paintedponyxox@flowrs4ophelia)
Characters & Pairings: Sam/Leah, some Sam/Emily
Rating: R
Summary: His father was a complete screw-up who hurt and abandoned everyone who needed him, but he tries very hard to be a good kid, a good student, a good friend and son. And he swears to himself as he watches Leah sleeping now that he'll always be good to her.
Notes: HOLY CRAP, I wrote something that's not Jacob/Bella! LOL.
Because I'm really interested in Sam and Leah as characters and their relationship we don't know much about, I wanted to write a fic trying to show their story in a very personal way that would make the heartbreak it caused Leah (and also the guilt Sam has over it) very real and understandable. Of course, this is also influenced a lot by my strong feelings that imprinting is basically everything love shouldn't be in a good love story (or, you know, life). And I was unprepared for how invested in this I actually got and how much it ran away with me and got much longer than expected, so I'm really crossing my fingers that there will be readers interested enough in these supporting characters to enjoy this fic in a bittersweet way like I enjoyed writing it.
As a nitpicky note, I know Seth's age in this is way off. At the time I started writing this I somehow had the idea that he's only about three years younger than Leah. But it's a kind of integral detail in one part that would have been hard to fix, so try to ignore it, LOL.

( You're kind of pushy, aren't you? )

Title: The Importance of Being Edward
Characters & Pairings: Carlisle/Edward
Rating: PG
Summary: The ways of human society make it rather easy for two homosexuals vampires to stay inconspicuous.
Notes: For ryuutchi's prompt "Carlisle/Edward: Victorian morals" @ the uncanon drabble-a-thon. I won't even lie, I only did this because when I saw an Edward-related prompt about Victorian times I automatically thought of Oscar Wilde and knew I had to write something that could have this title, LOL. I kind of wish I'd been able to do something a little more cracky with blatant references to The Importance of Being Earnest because it's such a friggin funny play, but I'm not that clever.

( Where are the cucumber sandwiches?! )

Title: Boys Will Be Boys
Characters & Pairings: Jacob/Bella, Embry, Paul, Quil, Kim, Jared
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Bella teaches Jacob a lesson in maturity while they're carving pumpkins with their friends.
Notes: Some silly and maybe slightly OOC pseudo-fluff that I did as an entry for sortofbeautiful's anonymous drabble contest, which had a 500-word limit. (At the time it was still seasonally appropriate to write fic about Halloween, haha.)

( YOUR FACE. )

“There’s a poem I’d like to recite to you,” Kirk says, leaning back in the boat, staring up at the clouds, “about roses and hay, I think, and maybe shepherdesses, and somebody’s mistress. Unfortunately, I don’t actually remember the poem. But I want you to know that I would recite it if I could.”

Nyota looks out at the horizon, which is blank and empty in every direction, and feels the rocking of the sea under their little boat. It’s not a good feeling.

“I may throw up on you,” she tells him. “Also, why would you recite a poem to me?”

“Weeell…” he says, leaning against the side of the boat and trailing a finger in the water, “it just struck me as a little more classy than just saying, ‘Hey, we’re about to die, let’s get it on.’”

That's right, it's a twenty-seven times fic. Hilarious, cute, and brilliantly written. When it sometimes seems like hardly anyone sees the appeal of this unlikely but potentially very dynamic ship, and even other people who do ship K/U don't find the same appeal in it that I do, this fic somehow captures everything I love about them, including their relationships with Spock being a somewhat inextricable part of theirs in a weird way.

Title: How Many Roads? or 27 Times Jim Kirk Hit On Nyota Uhura
Author: Deastar @ captanddeastar
Characters & Pairings: Kirk/Uhura, some Spock/Uhura
Universe: STXI
Rating: R
Summary: After the bar fight, Nyota thinks to herself that if this is what being hit on by Jim Kirk leads to, she’s very glad she’s never going to have to see him again.
Link: "Was that really some lame attempt at a Vulcan pick-up line?"

Three drabbles I wrote for the Twilight uncanon drabble-a-thon, which anyone who's into Twific should totally be looking at/participating in if they're not because it's been so much fun so far but is getting pretty slow. Crackpairings FTW.


Title: The Garage
Characters & Pairings: Quil, Jacob, Embry
Rating: PG
Summary: They're friends who live by the words "bros before hoes"...most of the time.
Notes: For b_o_w_a's prompt "Jacob/Quil/Embry: remember when..." I took a more bromantic than straightforwardly shippy approach, but I just couldn't resist this idea.

( Jake's garage had always been their hangout... )

Title: Red Wedding
Characters & Pairings: Carlisle/Rosalie
Rating: PG
Summary: Carlisle sees Rosalie for possibly the last time on the night she goes to kill the men who raped her and destroyed her human life.
Notes: For kapellmeister's prompt "Carlisle/Rosalie: interceptions."

( I never got my dance with my father. )

Title: Fair Arrangement
Characters & Pairings: Paul/Angela/Jacob
Rating: hard R (I think...)
Summary: How to live with two werewolves who have both imprinted on you.
Notes: Lulzzz, I write teh pronz. With imprinting. I crack myself up. Usually my fic is so not sex-scene-oriented, but for some reason when people start kink meme type things I'm like "Hell yeah, play time!" and I'll write anything. LOL.
This one's for autumn_whispers who requested Jacob/Angela/Paul with both the guys imprinting on her.

( She is the only one in the world now... )

Eight ships you like :
1. Kara/Lee (BSG)
2. McCoy/Chapel (ST)
3. Kirk/Spock (ST)
4. Kirk/Uhura (ST)
5. Jacob/Bella (Twilight)
6. Sam/Leah (Twilight)
7. Zuko/Katara (Avatar)
8. Peter/Claire (Heroes)

Four ships you're curious about :
9. Pike/G. Kirk (STXI)
10. Sylar/Claire (Heroes)
11. Carlisle/Rosalie (Twilight)
12. Jacob/Leah (Twilight)

Two ships you don't like :
13. Edward/Bella (Twilight)
14. Spock/Uhura...in fandom (STXI)



- Why do you dislike #14 so much?
I liked the way the relationship is in the movie and I see the logic of it (lol) because of their similarities, but as far as reading about them in fic or something, imagining what they would be like together any regular day bores me to death. All the fic I've tried reading that attempts to make them dynamically passionate and hot together just struck me as hilariously OOC. Plus the huge amount of shippers it has now has started to give it exaggerated importance. There were like two scenes of the whole movie involving the relationship, is it possible there's something else we could be more invested in as far as what will happen in the sequel? It's gotten so nauseatingly fangirly.

- Who is someone you know that ships #9?
I'm not sure. Hey guys, who else ships George and Christopher?

( Read more... )

Anyone who knows this fandom well has probably seen most of these already, but as usual I just like having my favorites archived in one place like this anyway.

"Avatar" (Aang, Katara, and Toph) by Charlie140588

Zuko/Katara sketch by NorthernBansee

"The Blue Spirit" (Zuko) + "Stormy Battle" (Toph) + "Dance With the Devil" (Zuko) by Pd-inc

"Revenge" (Zuko and Katara) by Missmands

"Mother and Daughter" (Azula and Ursa) + "Reunion" (Sokka/Suki) + Zuko/Katara + "Coils" (Azula) + "Love Just Is" (Aang/Toph) by xcgirl08

Aang/Katara by Blust-Art

Zuko and Iroh by Silent-clarion

"Piandao vs. Sifu Kisu" by Booter-Freak

"Piggyback" (Zuko and Toph) by Irrel

Zuko/Katara by Rikusumi

"Argument" (Comic w/ Aang, Zuko, and Katara) + "Fire Nation Summer" (Comic w/ Katara, Sokka, and Zuko) by Sora-ko

"Development" (Zuko/Katara) by Neptune47

"Mai's Hidden Knives" + "The Little Waterbender" (Katara) by Daskirtz

Mai + "Zutara Forever" by Yukina-chun

2 of Aang/Katara: "Sifu Katara" + "Take My Hand" by Jessnumbuh20

Zuko/Katara by Avatar-fan

Title: What Music They Make
Author: Sara (paintedponyxox @ flowrs4ophelia)
Previous chapters: Prologue + I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV | XV-pt.1
Characters & Pairings: Jacob/Bella, Edward/Bella
Rating: R
Summary: When an unexpected conflict with the Volturi brings Jacob back into her life, Bella finds that being a vampire only makes it even more complicated for her to be in love with two people.
Notes: Just clarifying that this post is the SECOND HALF of the last chapter, which starts here.
ETA: I've done a master post for this fic with lots of extra stuff including the soundtrack playlist you can download.

( one two three four five six seven / all good children go to heaven )

Title: What Music They Make
Author: Sara (paintedponyxox @ flowrs4ophelia)
Previous chapters: Prologue + I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV
Characters & Pairings: Jacob/Bella, Edward/Bella
Rating: R
Summary: When an unexpected conflict with the Volturi brings Jacob back into her life, Bella finds that being a vampire only makes it even more complicated for her to be in love with two people.
Notes: IT'S DONE. HOLY SHIT. A very heartfelt thank you to everyone who's followed this story and left me comments. Plus huge thanks are due to Layla (ninety6tears) for being my ever-reliable beta reader through this whole madness.
It probably seems kind of like beating a dead horse to finally post this last chapter after all this time, especially because Chapter 14 actually functions okay as a final chapter. But I still have a big attachment to this fic and I really wanted to end it more or less the way I always imagined ending it since I started the fic over two years ago rather than just give up and call it finished. It'll be interesting to see if I even get many comments, but it was something I just needed to do before I could move on with my life. LOL.
The chapter ended up pretty long so it's posted in two entries, with a link to part two at the bottom of this post.

( in dreams I'm moving through heavy water / the love is enormous / it's lifting me up / the water rising over my head )