shapinglight | The Five Fics meme

The Rules: Sometimes it's ok to pimp yourself out. Post a list of your top five fic-favorites you've written, regardless of fandom or the reason you love them. This isn't about the BEST things you've written, but what you LOVE most. Then tag five other people to do the same.

I've been tagged by a couple of people to do this and have been meaning to, so here it is.

Tricky. I'm not sure I could say I 'love' any of my stories. I don't think about them that way. So I guess I'm going to have to go for the five ones I'm still most pleased with (or least displeased with). In other words, I'm not really sticking to the spirit of this meme at all. Sorry.

1) An early story: Deja Vu, Part 1 and Part 2. Liam/William, Liam/Francis, NC17.

This is the only all-human au story I've ever written. I don't dislike human au's, but generally speaking, I like my vampires to be vampires. However, I'm quite proud of this still, not because I think it's so great, but because in writing it, I had to leave my (up to that time) comfort zone and try and write about real(ish) people in the real(ish) world. How successful I was - particularly in writing actual gay men, as opposed to omnisexual vampires - I have no idea. Probably not very. But I'm glad I made the attempt. I also like the ending. I like it when things end on a note of uncertainty.

2) Brief Encounter. Spike/Darla NC17.

Okay, I guess I probably could say I love this story, though even so, when I re-read it now, I can see so much wrong with it. I think the post-war ambience is probably reasonably authentic, though, and I enjoyed using the medium of one of my favourite Buffyverse non-couples, Spike and Darla, to explain what struck me as a discontinuity in canon. Another thing I like about it is that it pretty much wrote itself. It's nice when that happens.

3) Family Reunion Spike/Darla, Spike/Angel, Spike/other NC17

I still think of this story as the highlight of my fic writing career. It took me two years to plan and six months to write, and though again, I can see things wrong with it now, I still think it's a pretty good story. Plus, it combines two of my obsessions, which are Spike and the London Underground. It's also my first sustained attempt to write OCs (okay, Annabelle isn't quite an OC, but we learn so little about her in canon that she might as well be), and I'm still quite pleased with the results. I guess this shows some forward progress as a writer?

4) Heroes in Hell. Spike/Buffy, R.

I still like this story a lot. I think that's mainly because I feel it's very close to the feel of the show, with the mixture of drama, angst and humour. I like to write humour. I also felt more confident about my ability to write a reasonably authentic Buffy after I'd written this, though I know I still have a ways to go.

5) Ennui Angelus/Spike, hints of Darla/Drusilla, NC17.

It's no secret I love the Fanged Four, though as

peasant_ will tell you, getting them all in a story and giving each of them enough to do is tricky. Not sure I succeeded here, as Dru isn't in it much. However, I like to think her part is still important. Anyway, I'm still pleased with how this came out, and it's my favourite of the small number of Fanged Four historicals I've written. Historical fics - also tricky, but I think I managed to bluff my way through this one reasonably well.

And that's it. Some of the links here lead to flocked posts, which I'm going to unflock for a week, in case anyone chances along who hasn't read those particular stories and wants to.

In no particular order, I tag

hello_spikey,

shylahmask,

peasant_,

missmurchison and

lyrstzha.