annerb

I was re-reading Linda Bedroll's Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife for the millionth time last week, and I'm wondering if it's strange that I want fanfic for this fanfic book? I want Hannah/Goodwin fic to be specific. Because...yes. That would be awesome. And despite the idea for a fic circling in my head, I have neither the writing time nor the period knowledge to do it justice. So, the search begins. I am already sure it is futile.

Speaking of reading... my kindle just arrived! Why don't more of you have your stuff up on AO3? Hmmm? It's time to fill this sucker with a metric ton of fanfic. Oh yes. *rubs hands together* What do you have on your kindle/eReader?

And last, but not least: another writing lesson I refuse to learn, or rather, am forced to relearn over and over again. When I am writing a fic, there is often a passage (or ten, depending on the length) that I absolutely love, one I feel completely encapsulates the point of the fic, that therefore becomes the default fulcrum of the fic. But, to put it mildly, I revise. I mean, the similarities between my first draft and my final posted draft are very few. (I swear, I should post a before and after one of these days. I think it might amuse you all.) So, I revise. I rewrite sections, I move scenes around, futz, futz, futz. And there is always this point where everything stalls out and I am trying to work that Perfect Passage back in to the Perfect Spot and it just isn't working and I begin to assume 1) my writing mojo on this story is stalled out, 2) the fic sucks, or 3) that I just need to let it sit and marinate for a while. But then after much hair-pulling and swearing and bitching to Trout on IM, I usually realize that it is Perfect Passage that is holding everything up. That Perfect Passage is stating the blatantly obvious that is better off NOT being said. Yet, the fic never could have evolved without it, and Perfect Words are rare and special and it is SO HARD to actually delete them, even for the betterment of the fic. So I am forced to remember all over again: the delete key is your friend. (As is the backup draft.)

*goes off to delete stuff*

Those of you who like Jane Austen but aren't fans of WIPs, the excellent fic on ffnet that I've been following is finally complete! Check it out! Anne de Bourgh in Bath by SwordSwallower17. (PG, Anne de Bourgh/OMC)

Honest When It Counts and it's sequel Conversations in a Holding Cell by lears_daughter . These are little Leverage/Lie To Me crossovers that are made of win. Gen.

Make a Deal With God by monroeslittle (Fringe, Peter/Olivia.)
The summary kind of says it all: 
Alt!Livia doesn't like Gene, Walter only wants Peter to smile, that is not Ella's Aunt Liv, Elizabeth Bishop isn't going to pretend anymore, and somebody . . . somebody has to set the universes running right again and bring Olivia Dunham home.

An Act of Outright Stupidity by randombattlecry  (Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack/Elizabeth)
Short and perfect. Read it.

Safe in Magnetic Fields by openended  (SG-1, Sam/Jack, Alternative Realities)
Guy walks into the wrong reality, girl tries to get him home.
Angsty, real, and plausible, and oh so fascinating.

I had totally forgotten about this little ditty until I got a bit tipsy and let holdouttrout dig through my fic folder. Lol. I wrote this little snippet for a non-fandom friend last year. We share an unhealthy obsession with Pride and Prejudice sequels (one of these days I will write my comprehensive list of the good, the bad, and the WORSE). I think I probably had loftier goals for this at some point, but I've completely forgotten what they might be. Lol. So here it is in the name of ficamnesty. I claim no historical knowledge of the period or whatnot. Nor a grasp of the language. You've been warned. ;)

( That would do very nicely, for a beginning. )

+It's possible I just made myself cry while writing a scene. *breaks out the tissues*

+Summer is a lifetime away! Damn you, Leverage! You make me love you with your awesomeness and brilliance and joy and TEAM=DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY OF DOOM, and then leave me to live without you for months on end? WHY?

+Getting bored of Olympics. I *never* get bored of Olympics. What is wrong with me? Hm. Maybe I'd rather be watching Burn Notice. Must get hands on season 2 DVDs.

+I've started saving up Lost episodes rather than watching them as they air. That show is way too annoying to watch in one hour increments. I can appreciate it's awesomeness better in five hour chunks. (Why don't we watch all TV on DVDs instead?)

+Mmmm. Girl scout cookies. I think I'll even forgive them for the high fructose corn syrup. Just this once. *throws thin mints in the freezer*

+What in the world has happened to In Plain Sight, Eureka, Royal Pains, and Lie To Me? Dear network ptb, Making me wait a year between seasons makes me start to forget exactly why I love your show and get distracted by new shiny. Please to be adopting a predictable, regular schedule, m'kay?

+I've been watching White Collar and generally enjoying it. But there is something bugging me about it, like I feel embarrassed about liking it. Can't quite put my finger on it yet, but I'm sure it will seem embarrassingly obvious once I wrap my mind around it.

+If you're into Austen and don't mind WIPs, I'm following a fun fic over at the Pit. Miss de Bourgh in Bath. Darcy's poor cousin Anne de Bourgh leaves Rosings and finally gets her chance to actually, you know, live. Great slow awakening, and gentle evolution of Anne's decidedly warped view of the world when she finally gets to step out of Lady Catherine's dominant shadow. I'm not an expert on historical details of this period, but this fic seems to miss the major pitfalls of most Austen-era romances. At least so far!

+Speaking of Austen, nothing bothers me more than fanfic that hyper-sexualizes this period. I mean, sex between married people, whatever. (Say, Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife) But having Darcy and Elizabeth running around making out in shrubbery when they aren't even engaged, let alone married? No. (I'm looking at you, Abigail Reynolds and your Pemberley Variations.) For me the pull of Austen is the subtlety. The tension drawn so tight and subtle in glances and word play and dances and the flick of the fan. The capacity for minsunderstandings and constraints of propriety and the inability to just be able to say, "Hey, wait. I like you. A lot. Let's go out on a date." There's a place for smut, but I so appreciate the slow burn. So that when one tiny kiss or hand hold at the end finally happens, man do you feel like they've earned it.

So...I'm still alive. Really. I'm in this weird stretch I hit sometimes when the words just stop (usually because there is some plot hole or major issue with a story that I refuse to admit). This is when my reading phase kicks in. I get strangely voracious after not reading much of anything for a long time. I think it's the distraction factor. My brain is subconsciously churning away at whatever writing block I'm pretending doesn't exist, while I read, read, read, read until a solution presents itself, BAM, usually in the middle of something. (Got a lot of half-finished paperbacks abandoned around the house due to this.)

Unfortunately, I am reading stuff so fast that I'm desperate to get my hands on enough stuff. Inevitably this means I get desperate enough to hit the paperback historical romance rack, even though I know this only ends up torturing me. (BUT! I picked up 'Silent in the Grave' on a stupid supermarket whim once! I could discover another Lady Julia Grey to fall madly in love with! Really! Suuuuuuuuuuure.) Needless to say, I did not stumble upon my next great beloved heronine of snark this time. No. This time picking up the first novel with a minimally embarrassing front cover with no half naked people humping on it, I stumbled unknowingly into some of my most HATED elements. Some I had been fooling myself into thinking were only the foibles of young, eager fangirls writing their first grade school fanfic. I don't know why it's so much worse to find them in print. Maybe it's the back section where the author pimps all their other novels and you realize they've written 25 of these hideous things, many of which sat on the best-sellers list at some point and seem to repeat the SAME EQUATION. This particular novel's sins?

( Cut for ranting and mention of non-con )

Ok. I'm done ranting now. Really. And since I feel it's bad karma to dump vitriol out into the world without at least a little squee to balance, here are some things that don't suck and that I quite love:

Any Persuasion fans out there? As much as I love Pride&Prejudice, I think Persuasion may be my favorite Austen book. I think it's the maturity of the characters, the subtlety of their ship, not to mention the drawn out angst of missed chances. (no, I am not predictable in my kinks. Lol.) Anyway, I have just finished Susan Kaye's 'None But You' which is a retelling of Persuasion from the point of view of Captain Wentworth. I haven't read the second half 'For You Alone' yet. (HURRY UP UPS, do you have any idea what I have been reading in the meanwhile?!) But I can comfortably say that the first half alone is enough to make me love and adore it. Great tone, delicate touch, and more Mrs. Croft. What more could you possibly want?

If SJ smut is more to your taste today, make sure you don't miss: Drink That Sun by penknife 

Oh, and dsudis  continues her awesomeness with the next in her Bechdel Fix-it's for Stargate. Really great Sam piece. Solidarity

Yes, it's always good to remember that for every piece of crap out there, there are some pretty freaking awesome things too.

Flight of the Brochures (Gilmore Girls/SG-1 Crossover, Gen)
Emily Gilmore has a close encounter of the Chulakian kind.
750 words

Le Fantome (Last of the Mohicans, Older Teens, Angst,)
As Magua’s captive, Alice learns the importance of walking with the dead.
2000 words

who i am at the end of the day (SGU, Older Teens, Drama, Angst, Ginn/Greer)
Choice is a luxury Ginn has never tasted.
5000 words

Mrs. Darcy (G, Darcy/Elizabeth)
That would do very nicely, for a beginning. Ficamnesty.
1500 words

The Raggedy Edge (PG-13, Action/Adventure, Drama, Crossover with Firefly, Sam/Jack)
During a rescue mission gone awry, Sam and Jack end up stranded in another galaxy where they find themselves passengers on a ship called Serenity.
40,000 words

The Chainsaw Job (Leverage, PG-13, Apocafic, humor)
In case of zombies, please take the stairs.
2,200 words

Roanoke (SGA, Teen, Mystery, Horror, Apocafic, Future, Gen)
Finding Atlantis at all had been a miracle, but they've answered one mystery just to find a dozen more.
8000 words

Eclipse (SGA, PG, Gen)
Sam Carter and Ronon Dex. "Math isn't hard to understand. People are."
1800 words

Facets (SGA , PG, Drama, Elizabeth Weir/Various)
She’s many things to many people.
700 words

Still Here (CSI, PG, Angst, Sara/Grissom)
She waits to see where he'll be when gravity finally wins, to see if this is a stumble or a collision. ‘Committed’ post-ep
1750 words

Unexpected (House/SG-1, PG-13, Drama, Romance, Daniel/Allison)
She's not what he was looking for and she is never what he expects, but they keep coming back to each other.
7500 words

Pride & Prejudice

Anne de Bourgh in Bath by SwordSwallower17. (PG, Anne de Bourgh/OMC)
Awesome, awesome, awesome fic that gives Anne de Bourgh life.

I am Joining All My Thoughts to You by tosca1390  (P&P, Lizzy/Darcy)
“You are pretty, my Lizzy, but you must not be so quick to speak your mind!”
Great little snippet of Lizzy and Darcy during their engagement.

Books:
Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman Trilogy (An Assembly Such As This, Duty and Desire, and These Three Remain) by Pamela Aidan
Great retelling of Pride and Prejudice from the point of view of Darcy. Really great look into his motivations, his misinterpretations of Lizzie’s behavior, and his character development. (Not to mention that the vague promise of a fourth book dealing with Miss Darcy’s future made me so excited, even though it has yet to materialize.) The second book wanders a bit from the traditional scope of P&P, but explains Darcy's change of heart rather well.

Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife and Darcy & Elizabeth by Linda Bedroll
A big warning up front, this is the Pride & Prejudice for those who don’t mind a little marital romping. Or rather a heck of a lot of romping. Basically anywhere Elizabeth and Darcy can get away with it, and even some places they probably shouldn't be able to but do anyway. The book swerves into melodrama and cliché at points (particularly the second book), but I love it too much to care. Here is an Elizabeth still sparkling with wit, a Darcy fighting darker elements of his personality, and an evolving marriage with all the bumps and moments of adoration you would expect without the romantic lobotomy so often seemingly required in this genre. I enjoy both of these and re-read quite often, but I get that these are not to everyone's taste.

Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride by Helen Halstead
This novel is chock full of the unspoken, the restrained, the misunderstandings, and the wit that I so love about the original. This is not the book with steamy sex scenes, but rather titillating scenes of the most treacherous ground ever—the drawing room. I particularly love the evolution of the other characters around the main couple as well, particularly Georgiana and Kitty. They traverse their own romantic grounds and entangle themselves in real, heartfelt situations that feel true to their characters. If you only give one Pride & Prejudice sequel a chance, make it this one.

The Last Man in World by Abigail Reynolds
I know, I know. I basically couldn’t even finish a lot of Abigail Reynolds’ other Pemberley Variations, as she calls them, but this one out of the bunch I actually quite enjoyed. It is still a bit overly melodramatic at points, the characters a bit two-dimensional, but my major complaint about her other books, the hyper-sexualization of the two unmarried characters, is not a problem since they are married from the very beginning. It’s not perfect, but it’s an enjoyable read. Think of this as my indulgent pick. Angst and misunderstandings, oh my!

Persuasion

Armistice Summer by Reading Redhead (Austen, Persuasion--Anne Elliot/Frederick Wentworth)
In the summer of 1806, Anne Elliot meets Commander Wentworth for the first time.
There is something about the restraint and quiet of Persuasion that will always make it my favorite Jane Austen story. This is a nice look at how they could have met and first fallen in love.

Two-part harmony by dafna (Austen, Persuasion--Anne Elliot/Frederick Wentworth)
In which Anne explains how she came to play the piano-forte so well and Frederick tells the story of the first Captain Wentworth.
Anne and Frederick after they have reconciled but before they have told anyone else. Nice, quiet scene and just what I love about these two.

Books:
Frederick Wentworth, Captain (in two volumes: None But You and For You Alone) by Susan Kaye
I enjoyed the first half more than the second, but overall a very nice retelling of Persuasion from Wentworth’s point of view, maintaining the ache and restraint that I love so much about the original.