Oh Look, She's Ranting About Fic Again.

[sevendials]

A revised, updated and expanded version of a comment from wk_fic_finds.

... okay, I admit the comment in question wasn't so much 'revised and expanded' for this post as this is what I'd written in response before character limits came and bit me in the ass. Given how long I spent filling out this stupid thing in the first place, though, I want some kind of permanent record of what, exactly, I decided I was going to say.


1. What is your favorite fic?
I'm not totally sure I have one. That said, though, the last fic that I read which turned me into an incoherent, fangirly wreck living from update to update was pichi's Divided We Stand. Read it, then imagine having to wait twenty-four hours between chapters. It killed me, seriously.


2. Where do you go for fic-reading needs?
I'm old-school enough to think fanfiction.net and adultfanfiction.net are worth the time and trouble. The quality of fic there has declined quite significantly, but there are plenty of gems for those who are prepared to take the time to look for them. There's also the Livejournal communities - I watch wk_fiction, like damn near everybody else - and personal recommendation.


3. What do you look for in fic?
Ken.


Well, that's the non TL;DR version. He needs to be in character, though (and so does everyone else). I try not to let pairing preference dictate what I read too much, but I'll definitely judge fics for pairings I like less harshly. I'm also a sucker for hurt/comfort and long, case-based fics.


4. What turns you off in fic?
Mary Sues, but not just the common-or-garden curves-in-all-the-right-places variety: any OC who isn't bound by the same rules as the regulars or doesn't earn their place in the story counts as a Mary Sue to me. MPREG is another big one, as is a lot of the infuriating fanon surrounding Aya and the tendency some fans have to play up his significance by doing down the rest of the team. Fangirl Japanese annoys me, too, but at least that can be cured with find/replace.


5. What was your first fic?
I honestly don't remember. The first Weiss Kreuz fic I remember really enjoying, however, was Bekampfen Sie das Kreuz by Vitani. It's mission-related gen, and one of the only fics which takes the Weiss-Schwarz team-up trope and makes it work. I reread it every so often, and it's still one of the best novel-lengths I've come across. Pity about the fangirl Japanese, though it's easy enough to edit out. I also remember reading Chalcedony Cross's Grausame Maskerade and Sidara's Sunde long before I had any real idea what the series was about, but those haven't worn quite so well.


6. Most underrated fic you've read?
A Sense of Dark by PenguinKye, gradually downward by Lupin, a fic called Perigee - unfortunately I can't remember the author's name any more and and it no longer seems to be online, but it's one of my favorite Youji/Ken fanfics ever - and just about everything by Nichts: Fragrance and Griffon are both absolutely beautiful.


7. Favorite line from a fic? From where?
I've read an awful lot of fanfic, containing an awful lot of moving, poetic imagery. Even the bad stuff contains the occasional gem. There are a lot of beautiful fics out there, and I dearly wish I could say that my favorite line was something moving, touching and profound - perhaps some deep meditation on the nature of life, the universe and everything.

It's not. My fangirl core is insisting that my current favorite line ever is "Fuck you with a pineapple, I'm not sayin' a word", from pichi's Divided We Stand. Oh, Kenken. Never change.


8. Hottest story you've read?
Can I have more than one of these? Monochromatic Whispers by Avium. I'm not amazingly enamored of the ficcer's reluctance to call an eye an eye and I don't see Crawford/Ken but good God, it's hot. They meet in secret, they have sex - they aren't allowed to talk. The second-person perspective won't be for everyone but in the context of this fic, it works. Then there's Setting 2 by cards_slash, in which Schuldig propositions Ken over a shopping basket and it's all downhill from there. (I wrote Ken's dialogue but the hot is all Card, so I hope I can get away with including this.) And last but by no means least, Pulse by Tenshi, which I found through wk_fic_finds in the first place.


9. Fic you've reread the most number of times?
I have absolutely no idea. I suspect I'll have to go with Koumori's Pat Benatar arc, though. Hot sex and an actual story arc? Oh Hell yes. (Some day, she says, I will get off my lazy ass and rec that thing.)


10. Fic that needed to be completed years ago?
I have quite a lot of these, though I'm in absolutely no position to talk what with my own WIP gathering dust. Still... The Poison Tree by Nichts. I have no idea where she was going with this but I really wish I knew. Blood Summons by Rapunzel and Small Acts of Kindness by Mockorange7... there are probably more, but thiose are the ones that leap to mind. There's also a fic whose title I no longer remember in which Omi has gone missing and Ken goes to Crawford for help, and ends up forced into sexual slavery. The last part posted finishes with Farfarello informing Ken, in as many words, that he is going to sodomize him. That's the end of the chapter, and the end of the fic as it stands. This needs to be finished, yesterday. I wanna know what happens to Ken and Omi!


11. Fic that needed to be written years ago?
Well, I've written or am in the process of writing at least three fanfics simply because I couldn't find anything like them on my travels. I kind of wish other people had written, say, epic case-based YoKen fanfiction, because it's a lot easier to read these things than write them and that would have saved me years of my life and several serious headaches, but I'd probably be writing the fics anyway...


12. Funniest fic ever?
Honestly? Probably the Five Ways series by cards_slash. Weiss and Schwarz are put in several conventional fanfic scenarios and respond with bewilderment - Ken, Omi and Schuldig tend to feature as resident voices of sanity. The more bad fanfiction you've read, the funnier these are, though I suspect they're pretty damn hilarious even without that grounding.


13. Saddest fic ever?
For various reasons, I don't read a lot of sad stories. I prefer my angst to be leavened with ultimate hope. My personal saddest fic ever, therefore, would have to be Deep Blue by pichi. It's not melodramatic; in the classic sense of the word, it's not even really a tragedy. But, to my mind, this deceptively simple story packs an emotional punch that rather more conventional angst-and-tragedy fics simply don't reach.


14. Fic you enjoy more than you let on (e.g. guilty pleasure)? Please indulge the fangirl in me!
Douka and Cat Got Your Tongue? by Generic Miko. I don't like the arcs they came from and the fics themselves aren't great either, but the Schuldig/Ken fangirl in me was thrilled. An AU, Boys in the Attic, by Lord Gackt - it features Youji as a stripper and it is very firmly not my kind of thing, but I loved it. And Blackwake Manor by Deena. It's crack and it's rather more fanon-flavored than is my wont, but it's fun so I forgive it.


15. Most memorable fic?
There are plenty of fics I remember for all the wrong reasons, but one I remember for all the right ones is Der Gefaltete Zettel by Team Bonet. That one's been with me years. More recently, there's been the absolutely magnificent Under Glass by vr2lbast, which I suspect will do much the same.