That "pimp your own fic" meme

[dreamflower]

So...

Sometimes it's ok to pimp yourself out. Post a list of your top five fic-favorites 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.



My first choice is my longest story. This was the story which more than any of the others, helped me to develop my vision of the Shire and its society, especially post-Quest:
A New Reckoning

Second is not a story, but a poem. A sestina is not a simple type of poem, and I think it was probably the most difficult of my poems to write, but I was very pleased with how it turned out:
I: Like Inspiring Ilúvatar

This one is in my favorite list, because it is such fun to write! I had a great time figuring out Miss Dora's personality. And there was no plot, I just get to think about hobbits being hobbity!
Miss Dora Baggins’ Book of Manners

This story is one that just *came* to me, just as if Merry were dictating it to me. It was like a gift. And the title is a line from one of my favorite songs:
Neither Have I Wings to Fly

Now like several others, I had a hard time choosing only five--so I cheated, because the last two were a tie.

This was my first attempt at a canon gapfiller. It was fun, and challenging. I do see some flaws in it now that indicate just how much of a newbie I was. (It was only my third story.) But I really enjoyed figuring out how all of those gaps could be filled:
A Conspiracy of Hobbits

And this is my Pippin/Diamond (though it is very nearly a Merry/Estella as well). I really liked discovering "my" Diamond:
It Takes a Took

I actually probably have several other favorites as well, but tonight, *these* are at the top of my list.


I'm not going to tag anyone! Seems like almost everyone else has done it already! But if you haven't I'd love it if you would!

Comments

[addie71.livejournal.com]

I've really been enjoying seeing what author's favorites are and why they pick what they did.

[dreamflower]

It was fun, though kind of hard, as well. And I daresay if I did it another day, some of them might be different, except for the first one, which is a given.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

yay, A New Reckoning! :)

[dreamflower]

Yes, it *is* still my favorite of all my stories! I recently re-read it as I uploaded it to TLS, and was reminded of how much fun it was to write.

[gamgeefest.livejournal.com]

It Takes a Took! *sigh*

[dreamflower]

Yep, I am a Pippin/Diamond softie. I'm glad you remember that one fondly!

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

Ah, but what about "The Dwarf Dagger" which has a fine sense of how one small event can impact everything yet still go unnoticed as the cause. Love that sort of thing!

"Reaping" Dark, but very honest and it makes me think. I like that in a fiction.

"Pippin's Pack of Pickled Pipers" very funny stuff!

"The Life of a Bard" music and humor and a bit of drama.

and finally, the first one of yours that I ever read, "When the King Comes Back" The Great Smials. This one kept me coming back and hunting down new chapters.

[dreamflower]

Those are also faves of mine as well--"Life of a Bard" nearly tied with the last two as well.

"When the King Comes Back", both Great Smials and Brandy Hall, actually, always amaze me, because I really did not know what I was doing when I wrote them--I keep finding things in them that I might have done differently if I had known.

"The Dwarf Dagger" and "Reaping" I am very proud of as stories, because I think that I did a good job with them, but they were very sad and angsty. The same goes for "Cousin Calla" and "For Folco". I am not sure I'd ever put such sad stories at the top of my favorites. I know that sometimes a story needs me to go there to the sad place--but I always feel a bit drained when I do.

As for PPoPP, that always makes me giggle too. But I still think you could have made it even funnier! *grin* I know I did not tag anybody, but I would just *love* to see *your* list of your favorite GW stories! I think I have loved every story you've posted!

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

I don't think the fact that you were new to writing hurt "When the King Comes back" at all. The story is fresh and because you hadn't posted anything before it was that 'finding a new author' thing as well. You put a new spin on things and that is always entertaining if it is done by someone who respects Tolkien's characters.

As to the sad ones, I don't usually go for sad stories but those two aren't sad just for the sake of making one of the characters suffer or sad in that way some people do where you get the feeling they are looking at the character and saying, "I wonder how much pain he can take? If we tie his feet to a waggon and drag him, how far can he go and still live?" I hate those. Your's both had a back story and with "Reaping", even though it is very sad, we know that he couldn't have come to a good end. Sometimes the stories have to be sad.

Oh, and my list of favorite stories would be a list of stories by other authors. I'm not a good judge of my own writing. I usually like it when I post it, I enjoy writing it, but a few months afterward I have that thing where I read it again and go, "that could have been much better if..." LOL

[lily-the-hobbit.livejournal.com]

I really need to go back to reading fic. I love Miss Dora's book - although my own characterisation of her is slightly different.

[slightlytookish]

Yay, Miss Dora! What a unique idea :)

[shirebound]

I love so many of your stories, but I think "Dora Baggins" is one of your masterpieces. :)

[labourslamp.livejournal.com]

Everyone else has commented on all the others, so...

No, seriously, I liked seeing that the poem made it on your list. It, and the Author's Notes, were of an amazing level of canonicity; and even though I don't have the patience to work with them enough I love strict form poems. Plus anything that involves Quenya in a proper setting = <3.

So, if it's in a meme, that makes shameless self-plugging okay? Hmm...

Let me wait till I've actually written and published more and I'll try it out...

[surgicalsteel.livejournal.com]

Ooooo, 'New Reckoning!' I've got that one on my Reader! :D

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

I too love Dora Baggins Book of Manners. and the Sestina is beautiful. Neither Have I Wings to Fly may be the loveliest, most moving thing you've written, at least for me.