Snowflake Day 10

[jadesfire]

Day 10

In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme. (Or a few!) Tell us what makes it work for you, and why it appeals to you so much. Talk about what you like to see in fanworks featuring that theme most. Feel free to include recs and examples!

Does Gen count? Gen feels like it should count, because it’s always a small minority of fic, but I suppose it’s more of a genre than a trope. Note to self: dig out that ‘Hardcore Genficcer’ icon.

My first instinct was "telepathy!" as that’s my favourite thing to write, but because I have such strong feelings about it, it’s not always my favourite thing to read. I think that would have to be AUs, especially fusions of one fandom with another. As someone with very little ability to write outside canon, I’m always fascinated by how writers take one detail and go off in a totally plausible but utterly different direction. And I love the cleverness of fusing one fandom with another, picking elements of each and crafting something new. It’s something I’m trying write at the moment, and man it’s difficult. It’s that cleverness that draws me in, the moment where there’s a detail in this AU world that is a damned clever take on the original one, and it just makes me grin from ear to ear.

One of my favourites is an old one, a Merlin/Firefly fusion, We are Stardust which I like because it does more than just take characters from one fandom and dump them in another. It takes elements of both and blends them into a seamless whole, and it’s the perfect length to give you enough and leave you wanting more.

There’s also Kianspo’s Let us Dare, which turns the world of Merlin on its head, with humour and warmth. I would have watched the hell out of this show, I really would.

SGA, like Merlin, spawned about three million AUs a week, but the one that sticks in my head is Greyias’ See No Evil. I loved how it kept Rodney and John perfectly in character, while changing their roles utterly. It’s a long, satisfying read. And I was just talking to Naye and Sholio about A Clear and Different Light, which is a stunningly complete AU with talking whales. Tell me, who doesn’t want talking whales in their fic?

More recently, I loved Lady Ragnell’s Hold me close and fear me not, which is a Daredevil/Fairy Tale* fusion. I like how it feels like it’s set in a world just a side-step from our own, and how the magical elements have their own logic.

Please do rec me your own favourite AUs!

*I’d heard of, but wasn’t familiar with the story of Tam Lin before reading the fic, and it really, really didn’t matter.

Comments

[summerstorm]

Gen totally counts, but I'd love specifics abut what kind of gen you like! I have this thing where sometimes having a plot makes it easier for me to write a romance story... I do go for romance most of the time, but I also have a weird habit of writing woman-centric gen? That I might not actually read if I found it in the wild, but I love exploring it and I think I'm good at it. It's one of those weird 'love writing it, but eh on reading it' things. So I share your telepathy thing but with gen, I guess.

Canon-divergence AUs are awesome. I'm so, so picky about full-on AUs (like, different professions, different backstory) but I love a good fork in the road. I want canon to go in different ways so many times that 80% of my requests for exchanges qualify as AU, in the canon divergence sense. And when I wrote more, I used to find fusions so much fun! I think that's another one I prefer to write over read, because I like contemporary universe fiction and because fusions often get a little... out of hand (too close to the second canon in unbelievable ways). When someone does it well, it is so good, though.

edit: just find it funny that I've written like three novel-length stories and one is gen with vampires and two are fusions. LOL.

[jadesfire]

For me, it’s very much an allergy to romance in general (which applies to real life as well, to my husband’s occasional despair). I don’t see the pairing that other people do, and automatically read close bonds as familial/friendship rather than romantic. I think some of us just have our brains wired that way! It’s kind of amazing I managed to get married... honestly, I don’t mind fic with pretty much any pairing, but it has to be exceptional to make me interested in the pairing alone - I need at least a semblance of plot. The only exception I can think of is Junk Cheap, and old SGA fic, but the writing in that was enough to lift it for me.

Heh, yes, it’s funny how what we like to write and what we like to read can be so different! I tend to avoid modern/mundane AUs for magical or sci fi fandoms, and I’ve read enough Daemon AUs that I tend not to bother. I’m intrigued as to what you mean by getting too close to the second canon. Do you mean it pulls the people from the first fandom out of character?

AUs are tricky things, which might just be why I like then so much. It’s so satisfying when the author pulls it off!

[summerstorm]

That's so interesting to me -- do you mean you don't see the pairing as romantic in the context of the fic, or outside of it? I get it either way. I'm amazed I managed to have a relationship this year but it's for different reasons, lol.

Oh yeah, if the fandom is magical I will BALK at no magic. Or no creatures or whatever. Those are usually the fandoms where I'm the most "NO FULL AUS PLEASE" about. Teen Wolf without werewolves! Harry Potter without magic! I'll take Merlin modern AUs without magic but I love when secretly Merlin is magic anyway. Daemons are eh. I read like 5% of those for the fandoms/pairings I'm interested in, usually if I trust the writer. But it's not like I was THAT into the HDM universe.

And yeah, that's exactly what I mean. Sometimes people try too hard to keep certain plot elements without thinking about how these characters would not do that and it becomes a farce. I was reading a Merlin fusion like that a while back and your post put me in mind of it, ha. I've read a lot of good ones.

[jadesfire]

Mostly, I mean that when people say "obviously Merlin and Arthur are in love" or "clearly John and Sherlock are a couple", I don't see it. A fic has to make me believe it, not just assume I'm on board from the start. Or the relationship has to be assumed and in the background, with the story about something else entirely, with the pairing being incidental. When that's the case, I'll read a story with almost any pairing (I have a few NOTPs, but not many). I don't require exciting plot, character interactions are fine.

Gen is one of those things that comes up in the cycle of fannish discussion from time to time. I think it's very much in the eye of the beholder! For me, it basically means "any fic where romance is not the point." And I'll get thrown out of stories that are labelled as Gen because there's nothing explicit, but are essentially romances. Like finding the right AU for you, you know it when you see it ;D

It's funny you saying that about fusion fics. One of the reasons I realised mine wasn't working back in November was that I was letting the plot guide the story instead of the characters. This has been a good reminder that the point is to put characters from one world into another, not necessarily to slavishly follow the plot of one canon using characters from another. If the canon is good, that won't work, because it will have been driven by the original characters! (I think that made more sense in my head, but hopefully you see what I mean) I have to go back to the drawing board and work out how the Daredevil characters would have been affected by living in the Guardians of the Galaxy universe, and take it from there. Maybe I'll reread We are Stardust for inspiration :D

[summerstorm]

Oh, that really makes sense. Especially when fandom juggernauts non-canon shit where you really have to squint. I tend to be more forgiving when there's a lot of fic because I feel like fanon did the legwork, but I definitely encounter my fair share of '...wait, they're interested in each other? Because you say so, or?' fic.

Yeah, that's what I think of as gen as well. There can be relationships in it, especially established, but they need to be a byproduct of the story rather than the focus. I was just curious as to your preferences because sure, in fanfic, you get SO much romance that gen is its own thing, but it's such a massively large category when you think about mainstream media. Like the thing I'm good at but don't like reading is character studies, and I wrote that one Pretty Little Liars canon-divergence AU where there were vampires and that explained everything, and I LOVE reading team/group dynamics gen... there's just so much.

You are doing The Good Work.

[teigh_corvus]

I'm with you on the Gen fic thing. More often than not I prefer my ships incidental to the rest of the story. I'm so much more interested in worlds and character motivation. I mean, I'm not gonna say no to smut out right, but given the choice between something long and porny and something long and full of adventure, adventure's always going to win.

[jadesfire]

I think Gen is very much in the eye of the beholder, and everyone has a slightly different idea of what they want. For me, it's more about tone than rating, and I have no objection to canon - or other! - pairings in my Gen fic, it's just that I don't want the focus on the romance. For other people, any pairing at all is a problem. I only get confused when a story is labelled 'Gen' because the characters only get as far as kissing, but it's otherwise about them getting together/making up/whatever. To me, Gen is a genre, not a rating, if that makes sense!

[donutsweeper]

You should check out Leveragehunters over on AO3- they write pretty exclusively Steve/Bucky and nearly always AUs but the romance is secondary to the story in most cases. One series has Bucky as both the Winter Soldier *and* a genie (with skinny artist Steve): http://archiveofourown.org/series/459382

[jadesfire]

Ooh, fab, thanks. Definitely sounds like my sort of thing!

[sholio]

Yay, gen. :D I've been writing more pairing fic lately, in large part as a result of doing a lot of exchanges (where gen isn't asked for as much) and also becoming more multishippish in general (though I always have kind of been that way). But gen is still my first love.

[jadesfire]

Yay gen! I think we're all hardwired to like certain things over others, and to parse things differently to each other. I do enjoy lots of fics with pairings (I'd have to, or I'd never read anything!), but gen will always be my home :D

[sunlit_stone]

I'm afraid I don't know your fandoms, but if gen "the relationship between the two friends is very much at the heart of the story, treated like it would be if they were a romance in typical fic, but also there's plot" is your thing, I can rec you a couple of fics?

As to fusions, I think my all-time favourite is the The Republic of Heaven Community Radio series. It's an HDM/WtNV fusion, but unlike most HDM fusions, it's not just taking the daemons--it's a full-on world fusion, and it's amazing how well the author makes them fit together. The whole series together is 567K. Unfortunately it does include a romance (more than one, even) as part of the main storyline; there's a lot else going on but their relationship is undeniably central to the story. I don't know if it matters that Carlos/Cecil is canon to Welcome to Night Vale?

I also wanted to say that those recs look really good, and I look forward to checking them out!

[jadesfire]

Ooh, that fusion sounds fascinating, thanks. I know WtNV by osmosis rather than listening to it, but that's probably enough to at least dip my toe into the series.

I think I mostly just mean "the pairing getting together is not the point of the story" - everyone's definition of gen is slightly different, but that's where I come down. Having said that, found-family and strong friendship is very much my first love, so those fics sound right up my street. I've got a pretty long list of fandoms - most of the juggernaut ones like Sherlock, Supernatural, SGA, MCU, Whoniverse - and an even longer one that I'll read in without knowing the source. Probably only anime and manga would be on my 'don't read' list. Otherwise, I'll try most things once!

[sunlit_stone]

I've only listened to a few episodes myself; I think osmosis will probably be enough to get you through.

All right, then! Let's see...

Merlin:
The Virtue, Chickens, and Destiny series, by Nyxelestia. 93K. The series is about Arthur, newly crowned, discovering that his loyal friends have (as in canon) been lying to him, and trying to build trust and forge a kingdom based on the truth, instead of the lies that haunted Uther's era. There's background Arthur/Gwen, but the relationship at the heart of the series is non-romantic and non-sexual Arthur&Merlin (the author marks it as a queerplatonic relationship). It's definitely one of my favourites. The first main work in the series is Tear the Lies Asunder: Starts after 'A Servant of Two Masters'. Arthur, worried about Merlin's excessive drinking and scars on his neck, starts trying to snoop around to see how he can help his manservant with whatever demons are driving him to the tavern. Instead, he stumbles across the webs of lies his friends are spinning around him. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, though Arthur had never needed to bear such weight on his own - but until he finds out what everyone is hiding from him, that is exactly what he'll do.

The Perfect Scry by DisaLanglois is a post-S3 AU where Arthur, upon finding out that Merlin can scry, comes to two conclusions: first, that Merlin has magic, and second, that Merlin doesn't know he has magic and must be protected from the truth. It's more serious than the summary makes it sound, though there are certainly some funny moments, and it's very good. I especially like the take on Arthur here, devoted to Camelot and his friends, but also willing to change his mind upon receiving new information. There's /very/ background Arthur/Gwen, and a moment that implies Merlin's in love with Arthur, but otherwise it's pure gen. 50K. The world is falling into winter. Camelot is falling into war. Arthur will do anything he can to keep his kingdom safe, and he will use whatever weapons are at hand - but, to his horror, his decisions turn out to have severe consequences for Merlin. Naturally, Arthur decides that it is his duty to protect his loyal servant from the shocking truth...

“Let me see if I’ve got this straight,” Lancelot said, beginning to grin. “You want to teach Merlin to use magic – without letting him notice that he’s using magic?”

“He must not find out. If he finds out he has magic, he’ll – why are you laughing? This is no laughing matter, Lancelot!”

Also by DisaLanglois, The best-laid plans. I think I'll leave the description purely to the author's own summary this time, but I do want to add that it's one of my favourite Merlin fics, it's often very funny, and it's purely gen. The best-laid plans of mercenaries and magicians...

In the aftermath of the rout at Ealdor, a mercenary leader tries to hold his small band of survivors together and extricate them from the mess he got them into. He thinks he’s come up with a simple plan to save them all, but things soon stop going according to the script. And then they meet with a group of knights, led by a knight who calls himself Sir Andrew of Dollop Head.

Arthur decides, for who-knows what reason, that he wants to spend his honeymoon chasing a gryphon all over Camelot. Merlin, as ever, is tagging along behind Arthur, but his usual plan of pretending to be a simple servant isn't working. Arthur has been behaving strangely ever since their return from Ealdor, and Merlin is worried. On the road, they meet with a small band of riders who insist that they are also Knights of Camelot, and Arthur comes up with a strange new plan all of his own...

Girl Genius:
Well Met at Mechanicsburg" by khilari and Persephone_Kore is a long-time favourite of mine, and probably the most accessible Girl Genius fic I can think of if you don't know the canon (though that's not saying much), since it's a pre-canon AU that ends up going in a different direction that canon and sometimes the kids in-fic need things explained to them. There is a romance, but it's really not the focus of the fic. 203K. AU. Never having concluded Klaus was working for the Other, Barry Heterodyne returns to Mechanicsburg just in time to interrupt the Wulfenbach takeover. As Barry and Klaus tackle Europa's problems and settle into their new responsibilities, Aaronev's plotting sends Tarvek to join Agatha and Gil in a new friendship that may disrupt everyone's plans. (If you end up liking this, the authors also wrote Jaegers as an Aid to Diplomacy" (gen) and the Agatha's Bad Plan AU (mostly so), and Persephone_Kore and adiduck wrote Correspondence (gen).

Finally, there's an MCU series, The Undone Universe by Teyke, which...I find nearly impossible to describe so I'm just going to quote my Day 3 rec:
"--I'm not even sure how to begin to describe this series. It's mostly MCU fic, but it diverges at the end of the Avengers and it's got a strong 616 influence. It's about 628K words. Each of the longer individual works forms a complete story in itself, nevertheless working to develop an overarching plot which ends beautifully. The beating heart of the story is the relationship between Tony and Steve; it's marked as gen but honestly the entire thing feels to me like a developing relationship which hadn't quite finished developing by the time the series ended. It's about pushing the boundaries of technology. It's about love. It's about doing what's necessary--and about working out what really is necessary, and what you might be tempted to think is necessary, in the moment. It's about compromise. It's about having a computer in your brain. It's one of my favourite things anyone's ever written, and it's great.

The first fic is called Saga, and I'll just give you the summary from the fic itself: Tony falls into the closing portal, but he doesn’t make it out the other side before it snaps shut. Trapped in a universe where time runs oddly when mortals blink, and accompanied by a Not-Quite-Dead Steve Rogers, Tony mouths off to a goddess of death, goes cross-dressing with Thor and Loki, and learns to hate Asgardian engineering. Oh, and he may have caused the end of the universe as they know it.

Highly recommended among all high recommendations."

I hope there's something here that you like :)

[themusecalliope]

Ooo! Yes. All the AUs! And all the Gen too.

I have some ancient links for Sherlock AUS somewhere (and H50) if you're interested.

[jadesfire]

Ooh, yes please! I do like a good Sherlock AU :D

[themusecalliope]

Here's my my ancient Sherlock BBC recs page

[jadesfire]

Awesomesauce, thanks! I love how you've classified them. I mean, I didn't know I wanted a fic where John is a tree, but I DO NOW ;D

[naye]

I didn't know you had a thing for telepathy! That's such a fun and creative trope... It made me so happy to see the Whaleverse recced up there!

I do love me a good AU, but I've been reading minuscule amounts of fic and don't have any good recs. I'll keep an eye on what people share with you!

[jadesfire]

Telepathy, mind-sharing, whatever. It’s not so much a favourite trope as a deep and abiding kink. Honestly, I’m now fussy about it because I’ve read so much good stuff, I demand it of everything else. If I’d been in the Star Trek TOS fandom, I would have ben all about the mind melds ;D

I’m not reading much either, hence 10 year old recs! But I’m building a spreadsheet, so hopefully I can start catching up!