[Meme] AO3 fics at random

[edenfalling]

Oh hey, looks like this one is going around again. :-)

I currently have 387 works archived on AO3. Pick a number from 1 (the most recent) to 387 (the first thing I posted*), and I'll tell you three things I currently like about it!

*Technically this is not true, because backdating, but it is the oldest work which is the relevant point.

-----

#187: "Blueprints" [Inception]

#259 and #144: "What Isn't Broken (Can Still Be Fixed)" [Naruto] and "Narutostuck: The Mother of Necessity" [Homestuck/Naruto fusion]

#227 and #27: "Bluebell" [fairy-tale retelling] and "Mycophilia" [Homestuck]

#167: "Dreams From My Mother" [Black Jewels]

#184: "Lives by Mending" [Darkangel Trilogy]

#66: "Small Favors" [Naruto, specifically the 'Apartment Manager' AU]

#221: "Everything Ends" [Doctor Who with elements from Ender's Game]

#198: "Sparkly Rainbow Blood" [Homestuck]

Comments

[eos_joy]

227! And/or 27. ;)

[edenfalling]

#227 is Bluebell, which I actually wrote way back in 2001 but didn't bother backdating when I posted it to AO3. It's notionally a retelling of "The Firebird" (or at least one of the various fairy-tales that goes by that name) from the POV of the captive princess instead of the prince who carries her off as a prize. I wrote it before I knew fanfiction was a thing -- I actually used it as my Christmas present to most of my relatives that year, because I was flat broke -- so I'm not entirely sure whether it's properly fanfic or whether it counts as original fiction.

Here's some stuff I like about it:

1. This was one of my early attempts to mimic Patricia Wrede's narrative voice. I didn't hit the mark, but it was a useful exercise and I think the narrative voice I wound up with is kind of charming in its own right (excessive parentheses and all).

2. This is not Prince Ivan's story. It's Princess Bluebell's story, and she never loses her agency.

3. I like the ambiguity of how Bluebell and Ivan deal with the fox's request, respectively; they both have reasons for their choices, and I'm not sure what I would have done in either of their situations. I also like the ambiguity surrounding destinies in general -- things worked out for Bluebell and Ivan in the end, but was it really worth the price? And then of course there's the final ambiguity of whether or not they actually managed to undo the particular narrative pattern of which they were merely the latest iteration. You can tell that my interest in ethics (and my love for open-ended conclusions) goes back a long way.

-----

#27 is Mycophilia, which is a reaction ficlet to a Paradox Space comic -- specifically "Summerteen Romance." The original version of one page had Tavros reacting to sexual arousal by turning into... kind of a weird banana-chandelier-fountain thing? This later got first censored and then replaced by a patented Dave monologue because people objected to the untagged body horror.

I found the whole thing frankly ridiculous, because Homestuck itself is the epitome of terrible things happening with no warning so why anyone expected a sanctioned spinoff to be any different is beyond me. But the internet is a weird place.

Anyway, what I like about the ficlet:

1. I hadn't written pure reaction fic before, so this was a new experience for me. :-)

2. I love Rose and Kanaya, and it was great fun using them and their voices to discuss that particular bit of over-the-top xeno hilarity.

3. The aside about Alternian zombies and vampires being caused by fungal infections or something similar is a neat bit of headcanon that I picked up from somewhere I do not exactly remember (perhaps lantadyme?) and had always wanted to use.