timepiececlock

Title: Breathe That Fire Again . . . (mirror)
Spoilers: Season 2 finale
Rating: G, friendship
Time: 4:10 min
Text: read it @ FF.Net

Summary: [Theme: Homecoming] The hour is late and Dr. Sheldon Cooper cannot sleep.


Comments: This one is up on youtube for easy consumption! This is the first time I'm putting out a podfic that I've recorded and wrote. Not surprisingly, it's easier to record your own stuff! I think it's because I know exactly how a sentence should sound in my head, and I'm not trying to guess like I am with fic by other authors. I'm particularly pleased with this ficlet anyway; I'd say its my favorite one-shot I've done for S/P.

In her recent post, apocalypsos wrote this:

I just like knowing what ideas I've got on hand even if I'm not going to use them, you know? I feel like I want to do like I did with Heroine Addiction, where I kinda just sat down and made a short list of stuff I either like to read about or write. So, "bisexuals" + "superheroes" + "wee little cafe" = FUNSIES. I'm just going to end up throwing, like, "disasters" and "wizards" and "gay romance" and "mpreg" and "reality TV" and "cooking" and "travel" and "surprise pregnancy stories" and anything else I can come up with at a wall and seeing what sticks.

I thought, 'Hey, that's a great idea!' For my original fiction and for fanfic. So I tried it:



( See full page under cut. The concept of a 'short list' wasn't one of those things that sticks. )

HERE HAVE SOME FUN. There's two, possibly three things that appear twice on the list. Notice them?

Also, there appear to be some interesting groupings that I'm afraid to say reveal certain things about my psyche. For example, one column goes: secrets, amoral killers, redemption, vampires, demons, politicians. Did I ever tell y'all I was a poli sci major?


After that, I typed them all up, printed them out, cut them into little fortune-cookie sized strips and have them sitting in a plastic CD stack lid that's turned upside down to be my desk's interpretation of a grab-bag.

1. http://nkjemisin.com/2009/04/ways-to-describe-characters-of-color/ [note: read comments for diverse examples/opinions]
2.
3.


This is a link I am posting for myself, so I can add it to my LJ memories. I have started a memories section specifically for posts that focus on writing/describing Characters of Color. I've read many of them this year, and probably should have started bookmarking them ages ago.

If anyone has more recs along this topic, I always appreciate new information. Book recs too! Particularly since this applies to two of my current OTPs: Katara/Zuko and Spock/Uhura. With K/Z fandom I've had my first experience of writing about CoCs in a world where the CoC's point of view is predominant and the palest characters are still CoCs by white viewing standards. I've been mostly able to skate by on the whole description thing because a) you generally don't have to describe characters much in fanfic, and b) the ethnic baseline is Asian, not White/European like I'm used to, so I more described the differences between the Asian cultures represented than the difference between White and Asian. Also, the darker half of my OTP--Katara--- is visually presented as South Asian / Inuit, not Black, and I'm just realizing now that until Uhura/Spock, I've never had an OTP with a Black female character before, at least not one that I've written fic for. It's always been White, Asian, or Latina...mostly because I watch a lot of anime. I've also tried to convey culture through clothes and food and objects more than physical indicators, which basically means that I've never really forced myself to look into that aspect of description.

I'm not only interested in the nitty gritty details of description because of my new love for Star Trek's rockin' communications officer, but because I have started outlining a novel. A big, scary, superhero novel which I text irrel about at odd moments of complete terror. ( Brief outline of the ethnicities of my characters and how I feel about writing them and why the idea of writing a book at all terrifies me, and a bit about the ethnic make-up of where I was raised. )

I may add to this post as I find more blogs/sites that are not LJ-based and wish to include them. I know there are already several lists out regarding the cultural/philosophical/moral wank of RaceFail and how to avoid it; for my own purposes I'm trying to collect some links that deal specifically with writing fiction rather than the larger communication-between-fans kerfluffle of FAIL, which multiple people have already covered nicely.

For everyone who hasn't yet, if you love funny fanfics and you even mildly enjoyed the Star Trek movie, you really need to read "Four Consequences of the Unexpected and Unlikely Friendship Between James T. Kirk and Nyota Uhura", by trisfic.

Why is it awesome? There are so many reasons, but mainly, uh, it's a fic all about Kirk and Uhura as teenage girls. I mean "Bros." But more like sisters. With little bits of Spock and Scotty and Chekov in little moments of hilarious awesomeness that I can't quote back because I'd be quoting the entire fanfic. Which you should read. Promptly. Yesterday. THERE IS POETRY. And, um, a silent conversation scene that is just too funny to convey below.

"It's really not that different," Nyota said, prim voice and prim hands laid flat on her knees.
"Are you kidding me? Listen, Betazoid women when they're forty, they have this thing. It's called the Phase. Now, I'm not saying I have or I haven't, but oh my god. Alien life is beautiful. I hear." Jim slurped at his coffee.
"Jim, did you crash a PTA meeting when we were on Betazed?"
"Look, for your information, it was Ambassador Hwxeira herself. I mean, she told me about it. I don't know."

ETA: And, no, this isn't actually spoilery. If anyone was worried.


ETA 2: OFF-TOPIC, but, READ THIS. XI movie spoilers, gen fic, Spock-focused, multiple characters, it almost made me cry.

Drabble requests for Star Trek are still open! In the mean time, here's the responses so far.



( Request 1: ''Chekov and Uhura, homesickness.'' )


( Request 2: ''I want Uhura talking with Spock Prime, and I want it five minutes ago!''  )

For all the zutara fans on my flist who don't subscribe to the comm at the moment, I made a fic challenge at katara_zuko:

Bro Code article #150 - "Thou shalt not sleep with your Bro’s ex-girlfriend."

Go fic and stuff! Pretty please? Rumpelstiltskin?


ETA: I'm told the technical language is "No sex with your Bro's ex."

"There have been thirty-seven Joo Dees in the time since Long Feng took power. Every woman--every single woman--that takes the name Joo Dee was once a political prisoner, who was captured and tortured for dissidence, insurrection, and speaking the truth in the face of tyrrany. Nineteen of those women are alive at this moment. Eleven still serve the Dai Li, their minds suppressed and their willpower subverted to serve the government that enslaved them. Of the remaining eight, two escaped on their own and six were rescued by our campaign. We have cells spread across the city, and most of our number are benders."

"You're all women."

The woman with the tattoed palms smiled, a sickly twist of her features that evoked no happiness. "The Dai Li, of course, are all men. Surely you noticed, in your meetings with the king? When they hunt us, they either absorb our men into their number or they kill them. Most of the time, actually, they kill them, as men are not as receptive to the mental conditioning. They make...unreliable vessels. Women the Dai Li capture get what is perhaps a worse fate, but that hasn't hindered our actions as much as they'd like to hope. The women of Ba Sing Se are harder to hunt and harder to kidnap than the men, as we move in community circles they cannot touch. Our network grows every day, from weaver to school teacher to the child selling pastries on the street. They believe they can silence us; they believe they can kidnap, torture, rape, murder, and brainwash us, but we are stronger than they. The day will soon arrive when Dai Li will be disbanded or detroyed, and I will have Long Feng's head in a box on my desk. When that day comes, Avatar--and it will come soon--you must decide who you believe deserves to hold power over this city."

"I will not help you n a coup against the Earth King."

"No one is asking for your help, little Avatar. Just stay out of our way when the time comes. Those poor women with the dead smiles need to be saved, and Long Feng's corruption of our great city must end. This is about justice, Avatar."

I keep trying to read this author's stories on the Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive, but I can't find the goddamn text!

Every time I click on the title, I get taken to a page with author's notes. Where is the actual story?

I'm not being obtuse here--I really can't find it.


EDIT: Apparently it's an archive-wide server problem. And not just my imagination. That's good.

EDIT 2: That story's still not working, but I did spend a while on this story by Yahtzee instead. I admit I skipped all the flashbacks and most of everything that wasn't Logan/Marie porn or Bobby-and-X-Brats-infiltrate-Magneto's-camp. What can I say? The damn movies gave me ship goggles, and I have a soft spot for misguided espionage attempts.

FMA pairings, regarding Alphonse/Winry:

From a fanfic: She whispers the name that is never beyond their thoughts as they cling together, trying to keep some part of themselves alive. They both want him back so much... so they try to bring him back in these lonely midnight hours, trying to wash the pain away in the wrongness of this moment.


EEEEEWWWWWWWWWW! Okay, that's not how the pairing is in my head.

In my head, they're sweet and fluffy and they eat pie, and have hot kitchen sex, and own chickens or something. Alphonse and Winry are nice people, fun people, genuinely sweet people. They'd be happy, not depressed and both thinking about Edward while they have resentment!sex.