Fic meme

[altariel]

wiseheart tagged me with this meme:

WRITER'S MEME: Sometimes it's ok to pimp yourself out. Post a list of the top five favourite fics you've written, regardless of fandom or the reason you love them. This isn't about the BEST things you've written, but what you LOVE most. Then tag five other people to do the same.

I tend to be very in love with pieces I've recently written or which have recently entered the wild. So I'll sneak in a plug for Torch Song, which you can read in the splendid and necessary Glorifying Terrorism anthology.

But I'm going to pick five fanfics. I also decided to try to represent all three of my main fandoms. I don't like tagging people, but consider yourself tagged if you want to try the meme.

***

The Fabric of Our Lives (DS9)
I don't think many people write Garak/Ziyal (apart from the excellent Cardie-ologist). I wanted to convey that exquisite combination of heartache and indefatigability that seems to sum up Garak, and I think I did.

A Kind of Valediction (Tolkien)
My homage to both JRR Tolkien and TS Eliot and as a result of such shameless theft great influences, I think some of my best prose is in this. It's also one of the most satisfying writing experiences I've ever had. I sat at the kitchen table and watched myself transcribe the opening chapter pretty much as it stands.

The Machine that Changed the World (Tolkien)
Amongst other things, this is a send-up of some of my experiences in the creation of a fanfiction archive, and consequently it makes me laugh out loud.

Flowers of the Forest (Tolkien)
I wrote this after seeing the photographs from Abu Ghraib. I woke up very early one morning with a splitting headache and put it down on paper and then the headache went away, although the taste in my mouth hasn't. I thought people would complain about the tense shifts, but nobody ever has.

Run, Anna, Run (B7)
Hmm, I haven't recced an AU and I love writing AUs. So here's one.

Comments

[altariel.livejournal.com]

"The Fabric of Our Lives"! Good story, that.

Thank you! And I'm very glad you like Flowers of the Forest. I have a recording of No Man's Land which switches between an English singer and a German singer - very moving.

[temeres.livejournal.com]

What exactly is the difference between the two? I only know them from a track on an album by The Men They Couldn't Hang (known to Virgin Records, according to my brother who was working for them at the time, as The Men They Couldn't Sell). It gives both titles, one of them in brackets. Is one the tune and the other the lyrics? Or is it one set of lyrics replacing those from an earlier song? Or what?

It's one of those things I've been idly curious about for years.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

To the best of my knowledge, they're two different songs: Flowers of the Forest is a traditional Scottish folk song, whereas No Man's Land is a modern folk song written by Eric Bogle which contains references to Flowers of the Flowers.

The Men They Couldn't Hang... that takes me back. I had a tape of some of their stuff that I'd copied from a cassette I'd borrowed from the library. So they never sold anything to me either.