Can't say I'm surprised that LJ was planning to force users to subscribe to a gender. I'm glad they got called out on it.

The more I roll my eyes at LJ's wankiness, the more I'm impressed with Dreamwidth's class. So, on that note, I have a few more invites to DW available, free to a good home! I've been digging DW more and more - I really like the layouts, the icon management, the two friending options, and the crossposting. Come on over! The water's fine!

Invite codes
49PNWXFCF2CRMAAAARH2
SBBKE9ETNS7CJAAAARH3
QBYYH8HDP2NX5AAAD33T

Title: Winter
Fandom: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Characters: Malon, Ganondorf
Prompt: Winter
Word Count: 400
Rating: PG
Summary: A cold day in Hyrule field
Author's Notes: Can't believe I haven't written any Zelda stories since March! Here are my fanfic100 table and website.

( Ganondorf was an easy target: a black spear in the snow-covered meadow. )

Twenty-nine years ago, here in New York City, John Lennon was murdered.

Let me preface this by saying that The Beatles are my favorite band. Ever. They are the best band. Ever. I could on for ages, complete with jumping up and down and waving my arms wildly and probably convulsing on the floor, about how phenomenal they are, how they invented modern music, how important they are not just to rock and roll, but to the entire musical industry. HELL THE ENTIRE WORLD.

John Lennon.

Paul McCartney.

Are awesome.

Their relationship. Christ, I don't even know how to articulate the beautiful complexity of Lennon/McCartney.

Lifting Latches by thinkpink20
Pairing: John Lennon/Paul McCartney
Rating: NC-17 for sex
HOLY SHIT JESUS CHRIST THIS IS THE BEST STORY EVER WRITTEN. When Beatles Rock Band came out, I started joining Beatles communities on LJ. I worked my way through them all and eventually ended up reading RPS of the lads. It was mostly for the lol factor; I'd never been a fan - or even really interested by the concept - of RPS. For shits and giggles I started reading fics, though and I found "Lifting Latches."

So, this is a review coming from someone who has a thorough knowledge of and love for the Beatles; and while is a slasher and is interested in homosexuality, bisexuality, and sexuality in general, was never a John/Paul fan (am now, of course; partially converted by this fic). SERIOUSLY, READ IT. Paul's shyness and desperation to impress the older John; John's need to maintain his influence over Paul coupled with his own insecurities... AWESOME. The natural fluctuation of teenage desire during a conservative time period, and the fears of social rejection for an "unnatural" interest... AWESOME. The bond between John and Paul and their need to strengthen and explore it... SO AWESOME.

Besides that, this story is incredibly well written. thinkpink20 walks the delicate line between action and exposition. Her Paul is thoughtful and observant, but the story never slows under too much emotional analysis. At the same time, her action scenes are perfectly paced.

And the sex scene is HOT. A lot of slash - hell, a lot of romance - falls into one of two categories: 1) too impersonal, insert-tab-a-into-tab-b sex, and 2) overwrought, over-fraught purple prose sex. Then there's the weird clinicalness that some sex scenes take on, where I feel like I'm reading the minutes from a physical exam, and it's counterpart the author-is-actually-a-virgin stuff where manroots pulsate into love canals. In short, writing convincing sex is hard. But thinkpink20 MASTERS it. Paul and John's scene together is smoking hot. Paul's desire underlines the whole story, and by the time they get into bed, the passion practically palpitating through the lines.

Also, Paul is PERFECT. Fictional!Paul often suffers from acute weepy uke syndrome. This Paul is shy and uncertain, but he's often wiser than John, and while he's not as forward as John, Paul still knows what he wants and when they meet, they do so as equals.

And what's best about this fic?

IT HAS AN EVEN HOTTER SEQUEL: Sending Postcards.

This. Story. Is. The. Fucking hottest thing. Ever.

All the amazing things about the first story carry over to the second: great characterization, awesome Britishisms, flawless pacing. While the sex scene in "Lifting Latches" is incredibly satisfying, it can be (as Paul himself in the story reflects) interpreted as "just getting off." He - and the audience - worry that he/we read too much into it.

But wow, the climax (hurrrrr) of this story blows (durrrrr) everything away.

Again, the sex is perfect. Steamy and sensitive, it's both sexually arousing and emotionally satisfying. The first, second, and third times I read that part, I actually blushed. I won't spoil it, but John has a line that sets off Paul (and the reader, by extension) and it's so bloody perfect I want to tattoo it on my forehead. thinkpink20 deftly twists everything with that one little line - it's so perfectly John-like. The words aren't really profane, but the choice to use one term in particular is so effective: it's dirty and personal and raw and wow.

I was explaining it all to Pete last night - or at least trying to; this rec is evidence that I'm barely lucid: Part of the reason I'm interested in slash is there's the conflict of man vs self, man vs man, and man vs society. Will man choose to put into danger his place in his world for love? Is his love strong enough to be tested by the illegality of his relationship with his lover? Slash stories don't always explore that; a lot of the time, I find that the whole social consequences of sodomy stuff is ignored. Which is fine, not every story needs to try to dismantle (or even acknowledge) the heteronormative establishment. And sometimes slash stories get too involved with it, so that I'm not reading romance as much as I am a dissertation. But once again, thinkpink20 does it perfectly. Toward the end of "Postcards," Paul stops himself from fantasizing a certain something because of how "queer" it could be. (And then, because thinkpink20 is a genius), he immediately worries about John.

THIS SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR EVERYONE.

I grabbed Ken's hand before he or I or anyone could do anything about it and I ran hard across the street, dragging him behind like I was unruly dog barely contained on a leash. They tried really hard, but none of the cars - not even the truck of fish - ran us over.

Cross the street, sidewalk, up over the fence. I had to stop on the other side and do a dance of impatience while Ken dithered and dicked around.

"Daisuke-kun," he said from the other side of the bars, "this is probably the ultimate of bad ideas that your lifetime of ridiculousness has produced."

"Ok, I don't really know what you just said. But this isn't half as bad as the time I tried to climb up all the way to your window."

"Penultimate, then."

"I think you're full of shit and you were just setting yourself up so you could say 'penultimate.' Whatever it means."

Ken's eyes narrowed and I held my breath in my lungs until it burned and made me dizzy. Then a sigh slid out from his lips, and he lifted on of those long legs up and hoisted himself over the fence, smooth as water falling.

I jammed my hands into the darkest depths of my pockets so they wouldn't grab at him again. Once could be brushed off as meaningless, twice would be plain old friendship suicide.

NaNo is over!



This pleases the Beatles.

SQ
Working on: Rescuing Mari from the docks, bringing her back to Atlantic Ave for the final battle.
Word for this chapter: 1560

Have somehow miscalculated my score so that I'm 1000 words behind my previously estimated word count. Am back from my folks' house, am clean and have on fuzzy socks, will be making a second cup of tea. Am certainly not wasting time futzing around on DreamWidth. Nope. Definitely not doing that.

SQ
Working on: Outwitting the trolls that live under the Brooklyn Bridge.
Word for this chapter: 850

So close I can taste it!

I've been following the Harlequin vanity bodice-ripping wank! (Even more awesome than it sounds) since the Smart Bitches posted about it. Besides being a romance novel reader - and one who's a fan of Harlequin Historicals in particular - I've been fascinated by this debacle because I'm working on a romance novel myself, one that I hope to one day attempt to sell.

I'm completely against Harlequin here. WTF, guys, just WTF. Vanity publishing is the enemy of authors. You might as well drop your book in a vat of acid along with your life savings. I admire the hell out of RWA, SFWA, and MWA for taking a stand against Harlequin's idiocy.

Harlequin's already done some back-pedaling. It'll be interesting to see how this gets resolved.

Back in the days of yore when I was super active in fandom, I used FF.net. Really that was all there was. Other than that, I submitted my Digimon and Zelda fics to personal shrines/sites - Mostly on Geocities, if I remember correctly, so they're probably long gone. I have very little experience with fanfiction archives; after FF.net, I primarily used my LJ for fics, both for posting my own and reading other people's work.

Anyone get an invite to AO3? Even if you haven't, what do you think of it?

Found this great post when wandering around LJ this morning: To Develop Your Writer's Intuition, You Must First Read Like a Maniac by Justine Musk.

"Reading is living. It is a way of touching minds with some of the most remarkable minds that exist or ever did exist. Reading takes you deeper into the nature of reality, helps you penetrate the human condition itself. It enlarges your consciousness. It provides you with experiences you never could have had in any other way (or just haven’t had yet). And when you put the book down, everything you take away from it helps you live your life with added depth and richness. Fiction may not provide you with the same kind of information as non-fiction, but information is not always knowledge, and knowledge is not always wisdom. Fiction – the best fiction – is wise, and makes you just a little bit wiser, and you can take that wisdom and apply it across all the different parts of your life."

This is a great essay about what a person needs to be a writer - Namely books. I agree with Musk and I can relate to her as a compulsive, obsessive reader. Between The Boy and me, we've filled three bookcases in our apartment, filled them so that books are stacked in rows of twos or piled up. There are books on our desks, on the kitchen table, on our bureaus, and I've got a tower of books next to my side of the bed. Books! Love 'em!

"Reading is the inhale, writing is the exhale."

WOW. YES. YES THAT'S AN AWESOME WAY OF PUTTING IT.

SQ
Working on: Walking along the boardwalk as Mari comes to terms with her little death and Simonsant and Nine flirt/fight.
Word for this chapter: 89

Chugging along in NaNo. I've fallen a bit behind, but I'll be able to catch up this weekend. It's almost halfway done!

I'm not as happy with SQ as I was with TTBtM last year. My writing's just so bare bones; all my sentences are the same and my vocabulary so limited. I have a hard time writing descriptions. Reading Catherynne M. Valente makes me desperate to come up with metaphors and similes like hers, but I don't have her lyrical ability. One of the folks in my writers group said he didn't like my metaphors/similes - Too forced and awkward. Gahhhhhhh I have these images in my brain but somehow they get muddled up and crappy when I translate them into writing.

Blarggggggggggglepants.

I want to learn how to write/use/program PHP. Can anyone recommend any good sites or books that deal with it? All I know is that my HTML coding is ancient at this point. I haven't designed a website since high school.

I want to make a Jecht fansite, since all the sites dedicated to him and to Auron/Jecht have closed. Poor guy needs some loving! And while I'm at it, I want to make a Willis fansite, and maybe one for Yuffie. Or one for Yuffie and Rikku called "Double Trouble," which I started about a hundred years ago but never got off the ground.

So, where does an internetard like me start?

HAHAHA YES. This is exactly what I go through whenever I try to write. Graph's by Jim Hines, who gets more and more awesome with every day.

Title: Sick of the Sea
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Summary: Response for ffvii_100's challenge #17 - Illness
Rating: PG for Yuffie's language

( Being on a boat wasn't part of Super Hero Ninja of Doom Yuffie Kisaragi McAwesomepants' plan. )

When Princess Pretty Pants Cloud ditched them to party down in Junon, she was positive that the rest of his gang of losers would totally try to leave her behind. So she flipped them all off before they got the chance and trailed behind Tall, Blond, and Spikey as he skipped merrily through the city.

==

She couldn't believe how old the rest of the gang was. Old and city-polished, shiny like a Summon materia and just as cool. They totally tried to ditch her at Junon, but she knocked out a guard and stole her uniform and then sat grinning and flipping them off when they finally found their way up to Rufus McAsshole's lair.

"Everyone on the boat."

"Boat?" This was not part of her glorious plan. Yuffie took three hops backward and waved her hands. "No one said anything about any boats. I hate boats."

TTBtM
Working on: Getting Kate to Jane's house.
Word count for this chapter: Miserable. I think I'm at about 200 now.

Ugh. Why have I been so thought-constipated lately? Can't do this and I haven't finished my stupid FF-exchange story yet, which is due in two damn days. I'm hoping that little word bar will help inspire me. Ugh. UGH I SAY.

Maybe I should make a bar for "Fine Art," too. I'd really really like to finish that sometime this freakin' century. It's only been about 10 goddamn years since I started it.

Title: Hide Out
Characters: Ben, Dan
Summary: Ben and Dan hide out in barn for a night.
Warnings: This was for porn_battle, so: sexy times. Nothing too graphic, however.
A/N: Porn for great justice!

( Breaking into the barn was easy enough. )

Title: Insides
Fandom: Digimon 02
Characters: Willis, Mimi
Prompt: Insides
Word Count: 544
Rating: PG
Summary: Willis gets a tour of Mimi's apartment.
Author's Notes: I'm messing quite a bit with the storyline of Digimon 02; take that, canon! This story, as well as the others for the fanfic100 challenge, will assume that the second half of the season did not occur. Instead, Ken *chose* to be the Kaiser and then *chose* to be redeemed. And only the Chosen Children have digimon, not the entire world. I'm using Willis' American-dub name, rather than Wallace (simply because I like the name Willis more), but I will be using the Japanese names for the other characters. My little table.

( Insides )