On putting aside the denial of fannish glee

[hope]

You may or may not be aware that I've been reading Merlin fic pretty much constantly for about a year, now. I have a troublesome relationship with the show itself - it's so very pretty and cheesily written, and there are some characters I absolutely ADORE, but. BUT. There's also some stuff so problematic that it pains me deeply to watch. I dread every episode. But I can't stop watching, because I've grown quite fond of the fanon, and it doesn't entirely make sense out of context.

SO. Sigh. I had been getting inklings of fic ideas, and one that I really liked in particular - a Morgana story that was all twisty and clever and *fixing* all the things that shit me the most about the show.

But anyway. As usual, my grand intentions have been thwarted (though, hopefully not permanently - I really *do* want to write that Morgana story, quite a lot), because I have slipped and fallen into kinkme_merlin. And despite my best fixing-the-misogyny intentions, have naturally ended up writing MOAR SLASH.

(Not that there's anything wrong with slash. I'd just planned to get to it after I'd set my Morgana mind at rest.)

But anyway, it took me posting one story anon, and getting a few lovely comments of feedback, to be utterly hooked again. FEEDBACK, YOU GUYS, ISN'T IT GREAT? GIMME GIMME GIMME. And of course, writing is really damn fun and addictive too, especially when it just flows out, and when you can talk stories out with other people, procuring great glee.

And so I wrote two stories last week, and then finally just sat down and brainstormed all the other plots that I'd had lurking around (which turned out to be surprisingly developed, holy crap), and then grabbed all the kink meme prompts that sparked my fancy, and, well... I think I'll write them. WHY THE HELL NOT?

So here I am, about to start an epic ROMANCE story, of all things. I don't even know.


So, there's that. And now that that's out in the open: talk to me, Merlin peeps? The past couple of big fandoms I've had, I've had partners in crime to squee with and tell stories to, but I've been lurking in Merlin fic so long that suddenly I'M HERE and everyone else is kind of... over there.

For the record, I tend to enjoy reading Arthur/Merlin if it's AU, but if it's in canon era my standards for that pairing are much higher, and I find Merlin/knights more interesting (all or any!), not to mention poly relationships. I think my idfic buttons are pushed by the reincarnation/MFEO tropes in AU stories; but if I actually want to explore characters through relationships, the context of the canon setting is much more interesting and significant/influential.

I'm not sure I'll ever write an AU, unless it's some cracky context (I have an IN SPAAAAACE KMM prompt bookmarked to play with), and right now none of my story ideas are Arthur/Merlin either. The closest I come to shippy is Merlin/Gwaine, really (because THEMMMM), but like I said, I'm a bit more interested than the polyamorous/-morphous fun at the moment (she said misleadingly, eyeing her romance plot). Anyway. There are some good plots for playing with that on the kink meme.

And, speaking of the kink meme; I'm fairly certain anyone familiar with my recent body of work (and propensity for puns) will be able to spot my work fairly easily, but I'll probably de-anon in the nearish future anyway, because I like to have everything I do archived in the same place. And also, I want to talk more to the people who like it and MAKE FRIENDS.

With that in mind, I'm also turning comments back on on Livejournal, as so much fannish communing happens t/here, and what with being fannish again I'll probably be making more public posts.

So, hi! *blinkblink*

Comments

Yayes Merlinfic!

[vanessarama]

I am writing ummm, four Merlin fics at the moment. One straight M/A h/c, one Gwen-finds-queendom-hard, one Morgana's-missing-year and one sequel to my Merlin/Uther opus. I HAVE TOO MANY IDEAS.

Re: Yayes Merlinfic!

[hope]

WHEEE. I want ALL OF THEM.

I've got my Morgana bizarro AU (where Uther is dead, Nimueh & Igraine run the kingdom, and the dragon tells Morgana she has a destiny), my ridiculous romance where Gwaine tries to court Merlin and they send each other letters from different kingdoms, a vague idea for a dramatic!magic!reveal fic, and a considerable number of kink meme prompts to be poked at :D

NO SUCH THING AS TOO MANY IDEAS!

Re: Yayes Merlinfic!

[vanessarama]

I love Gwaine/Merlin :) Actually I don't have an OTP in this fandom (in fact I dunno if I've ever had an OTP in any fandom) and I pretty much go for Merlin/anyone :D

I prefer canon most of the time, partly because for me some of the show's attraction is in the Camelot 'verse with its magic and dragons and ridiculous anachronisms, and partly because the canon itself just offers so many awesome ideas for AUs or missing scenes or fix-it fic or whatnot. I used to not read any modern AUs; now I do read some but I prefer them to still have some elements of canon (like magic or Once and Future King-ness). I love canon AUs though.

I will try and get something finished before you lose Merlinficlove!

Re: Yayes Merlinfic!

[hope]

Yes! Ridiculous anachronisms. Every time I find myself thinking "I haven't researched this enough..." I REMIND MYSELF OF THAT.

Now that you say that, I think I pretty much read Merlin/anyone, too! Sigh, me. :)

Yay! I want more of your stuff!!

[flamebyrd]

I suffered a resurgence of love for Merlin fic recently, although I still haven't watched the show since first season. I also tend to like Arthur/Merlin most if it's A/U, but possibly that's because it involves less researching canon. XD

...still trying to get that epic modern day a/u where Merlin becomes prime minister so he can advise reincarnated!Arthur out of my head. >.>

[hope]

I read a few stories back when season one was airing, but I think what's actually sucked me in more at the moment is that there are a bunch of new characters this latest season that I'm really enjoying! So I'm glad I kept up watching to understand who they were in fic :D

Ooooh, PM!Merlin!! I like it! A fantastic twist on the typical Merlin-is-a-PA trope :D

[flamebyrd]

I will have to stalk your delicious for Merlin/knights fic, it does sound like it would be fun in-canon.

In my head PM!Merlin bears a lot of resemblance (in demeanour, not looks) to Hugh Grant in Love Actually...

[nixwilliams]

you know my feelings about merlin fic. i.e. YIS PLZ.

[hope]

HEE HEE. Even though you haven't seen the latest eps and won't understand half the people I'm writing about?

[nixwilliams]

well, maybe you can convince me of the eps i should watch!

[sophinisba]

Most of my friends in Merlin fandom are folks I've met through the multishipper comm camelot_fleet. It's a good place to hang out if you want to talk about problems with the show without running into a lot of character bashing, and there's more enthusiasm for poly ships and fanworks about The Ladies than in most other parts of the fandom. There's also a merlin_poly comm but that's fairly new and hasn't been too active so far.

I am in favor of Morgana-centric bizarro AUs! If you feel like reading one wouldn't interfere with your writing, I highly recommend netgirl_y2k's Pastimes and Lifestyles. If you'd rather hold off on reading that one, I also recommend everything else she's written.

[hope]

Awesome! Thanks so much for the links, esp to places on dth. Checking out now :)

[misswinterhill.livejournal.com]

I loved that fic. I did catch a few typos when I stopped being a flake and finally read it -- have you got them all, or you want me to note them when I get home from work tonight? I was a bit shy after being flaky :)

I'm excited about you coming across to Merlin. I love your writing! Merlin/Gwaine doesn't really have a champion right now, so... you could? And there's merlingwainebar and camelot_knights for Merlin/Gwaine and for Knights.

I've got 3 Merlin fics on the go at the moment, although I saw a prompt for a Sandman/Merlin crossover and so I might make it 4. Fics are: Merlin/Gwaine Quest (~20k, going to be ~60K), Big Bang (werewolves!) and glomp_fest (modern AU with magic).

[hope]

Don't stress about flaking! You were fine, I was just all impulsive and eager :D I did that thing where I didn't proofread again after my last round of proofing edits, thus the typos, sigh. I have made fixes in my gdoc, but if you've spotted any I haven't, could you point them out?

At any rate, yaaaay! I'm glad you like it :D I'm very glad you're writing in this fandom too (I am your big fan!)

Hahahah, I don't know about being a *champion*, keep! But I do think my romance story is going to be epic. SIGH.

Thanks for the community recs, I'll check them out :D

[lolafeist.livejournal.com]

Would it be completely stalkery if I friended you?

Your sex pollen fic wrecked me, I'm all about poly-pairings in this fandom, and hiiiiiii, hi. :)

[hope]

Not at all! I think I re-read your comment a million times, and YAY POLY.

Hi!! :D