Yuletide!

[sholio]

The Yuletide archive is live! (Though understandably very slow.) I was gifted One Sour, Two Sweet, a short and lovely fic for Georgette Heyer's "The Foundling" - perfect Heyer voice, and the character relationship is that spot-on blend of affectionate, concerned and just the tiniest bit flirty that Gilly and Gideon do so well. I was afraid that I'd really throw off my writer by asking for gen when I made this request, so I'm delighted that they came through. :)

I wrote two stories this year. Both of them are sort of trademark "me" - friendship gen, one quite long (by Yuletide standards) and the other the sort of friendshippy missing scene that I've done a million times in SGA. I also got to revisit a beloved old fandom, although not one that I've ever written in before (though I had so much fun writing this, and there is so little of this kind of fic in the fandom despite the ample potential, that I may have to write some more for it later!). And I got wonderful feedback from my recipient, which made me bounce and squee.

I'm actually kind of worried that the other story might not be seen by its recipient, because she or he apparently dropped out or defaulted, and it's a very, very tiny fandom; I was thinking when I wrote it that no one else might ever read this thing, but at least the recipient would have one mega-long fic in their tiny tiny fandom. And then that person vanished from the fest, so ... I am not sure if this story will ever be read by anyone! I had fun writing it, though, and that's the important thing.

I'll do some Yuletide reccing when I have a chance to read more stories! Oh, and the sga_santa master fic list is up, though the authors haven't been revealed yet. I think this is the first year I've actually been able to kinda keep up with it while they were being posted (it helps that I'm reading very little McKay/Sheppard right now; that definitely keeps it more manageable *g*) but there are still a few I haven't read.

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it!

Comments

[kristen999.livejournal.com]

Maybe if your recipient is not around, you could find them on LJ and PM or e-mail them the link to the fic you wrote after a certain amount of time has passed?

I've tried getting into the site, but since I'm dial-up at home, it keeps kicking me out. Maybe tonight when I get back from being out.

[sholio]

The site is really, really slow - I was hoping it'd be faster this morning, but if anything, it's slower! It's very understandable, of course, with everyone using it at once; I guess it'll just make the reading last longer. :D

My recipient doesn't really seem to be active in fandom or on LJ. They have an LJ, but it's got no "friends" and just one placeholder post. I was thinking about giving it a try, though, after awhile. Of course nobody's really had much of a chance to look around the archive yet, so I shouldn't borrow trouble! It would just be sad if they never learn that there's a long story out there in a fandom that probably doesn't have any other stories for it.

[wneleh.livejournal.com]

(though I had so much fun writing this, and there is so little of this kind of fic in the fandom despite the ample potential, that I may have to write some more for it later!).

I feel the same way about the fandom I wrote a Yuletide Madness story. I'd never thought of myself as being a 'fan' of it, even, though looking back it kind of ate me for a few months twenty years ago. It was a solo thing, though, all libraries and used book stores. And over the years I've acquired new copies of the canon, first in laser disk, then DVD.

I don't even know if there are other stories in it; I'm ready to write more, though.

[sholio]

I think one of the really cool things about Yuletide is how it gets you to take a second look at fandoms that aren't really one's personal fandoms. Pretty much everything I've read so far have been based on source material that I really don't consider myself actively fannish about; I would never have gone specifically looking for Princess Bride fanfic, for example. And the main Yuletide story that I wrote this year is one for a source text that I've never considered myself a "fan" of, and still don't -- but I loved writing the fic. It's almost like being shifted into a slightly different headspace for both reading and writing.

[wneleh.livejournal.com]

I think my big revelation has been that I'm not really a fan of shows/books/movies as much as I'm a fan of a certain type of relationship. Or they're of the same intensity.

The Princess Bride is a good example. I *would* call myself a fan of it, in that I've seen it 20 times and can pretty much recite it as I watch it. But I've never sought out the source novel because, from what I've heard, it doesn't sound like something I'd like; and I've never sought out fanfic because I like buddy h/c and TPB just doesn't seem to be a good place to go looking for it.

I think a bottleneck is that you can be a fan of a TV show or movie or a sport, but not of, say, the explorer Richard Burton; though after seeing Mountains of the Moon I dived into Burton's life with as much gusto as I've ever done. What got me started was the Burton/Speake relationship in the movie, but of course Real Life is more complex.

It's almost like being shifted into a slightly different headspace for both reading and writing.

Or maybe this is it? Will think on it.