Yuletide: Reveal!

[thefourthvine]

I wrote one story for Yuletide 2012, for the doughty shrift, who gave me the best prompts in the world.

This Side of Paradise (17031 words) by thefourthvine
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Losers (2010)
Rating: Explicit
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez/Jake Jensen
Summary:

"I'm a good boyfriend," Cougar said.

I tell you what: in the planning stages, this story seemed like it would be fun and short, but it really only delivered on the fun front. I blame Jensen. Key lesson learned this Yuletide: If you want to write a Yuletide story that's less than 10k, don't use the motormouth's point of view. Use the PoV of the laconic guy with the sarcastic eyebrows. I mean, Cougar doesn't go into lengthy digressions about rude Canadians and the etiquette of three-ways and Star Trek.

And speaking of geeky movies, I totally salute thehoyden and frostfire for pointing out, during my Fucking Chris Evans Is in Fucking Everything breakdown, that he's never been in Star Trek. (And I salute frostfire for this conversation via IM while I was deep in the middle of writing this:

Frostfire: Hi! How are you?
Me: WEEPING BECAUSE SPOCK.
Frostfire: Did you watch Wrath of Khan again?
Me: DANTE'S PRAYER.
Frostfire: Awwwwwww.

Fandom: the place where people will always understand when you're sobbing incoherently about how he TOUCHES HIS CHAIR OH GOD.)

So, anyway. This story, thanks to Why Jake Can't Shut Up Jensen, became so long that I was in the painful position of not even being able to complain on Twitter about how long it was, because that might de-anon me. But it was a barrel of fun to write, for real.

And Nestra, Norah, Queue, and thehoyden were heroes of Yuletide for beta-reading this with such aplomb. Thanks, guys! Next year, I will try for shorter, and also way fewer run-on sentences. I swear.

Comments

[kayim]

This one is on my "must-read-when-I-get-time" list.

But now I know it's yours, I might just have to *make* time :)

[thefourthvine]

Apparently you did, and I thank you!

[sasha_feather]

OMG I loved this story! It was great! I appreciated that it had a non-angsty, funny coming-out narrative.

[thefourthvine]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked that, since I tend to skew heavily towards non-angsty coming out experiences. (Partly, that's because my own coming out was approximately as angsty as your average stand-up comedy routine, and partly it's just more fun for me that way.)

[chalcopyrite]

Ooh, perfect timing! While writing and editing my exchange stories, I tripped and fell and accidentally The Losers (because what you need when writing in two related fandoms is a third, completely different, new fandom crush), and not being in the fandom, I didn't know where to look for good stuff. I look forward to this!

(I can read it when I am procrastinating from editing *another* story in no way related.... /o\)

[thefourthvine]

But isn't that always WHEN you get the new fandom crush, when you don't have time and seriously are like NO NO NO BACK, making the sign of the cross and waving garlic in the new fandom's face? Or maybe that's just me.

And good news: there's actually a fair amount of good Losers stories out there, which is surprising given that it's a Yuletide fandom. So, hey, there's a LOT to read while you're procrastinating. Um. Yay?

Nestra, Norah, Queue, thehoyden

[lemon_badgeress]

Psssssssst. Pssssssssst.

Next year, I will try for [...] way fewer run-on sentences. I swear. <----this is actually a lie

Re: Nestra, Norah, Queue, thehoyden

[thefourthvine]

I REALLY WILL TRY. I didn't say I'd SUCCEED. (Although I might! After years of patient editing from Q, I have really almost nearly weaned myself off my semicolon dependency.)

Re: Nestra, Norah, Queue, thehoyden

[lemon_badgeress]

*giggles* Okay, point.

But I regret NOTHING, I giggled the entire time I was typing the comment. >_>

[umbo]

I loved that story!

[thefourthvine]

*beaming face*

[paceus]

Hee, I read this post and then glanced back to the headers to see how many words there were, exactly. And my eyes widened. :D

I find motormouths easier to write, though. It feels more satisfying to write hundreds of words in an hour than being in agony for an hour, only to produce twenty words. I've found that to write a story where X, Y and Z happen, a laconic character might take thousands of words less to tell it, but I'd still be writing and thinking pretty much the same time as with a verbose character.

[thefourthvine]

My eyes spent a lot of time getting wider and wider. I passed the 10k mark! And then I passed my previous Yuletide word count record! AND I WAS STILL WRITING. It was terrifying.

And that was actually my reasoning for picking Jensen as the PoV character: that motormouths are easier to write, because any time you can't figure out what to say next you can just have them do lines from Monty Python or whatever. But THERE IS A DOWN SIDE, as I learned to my cost.

[katemonkey]

Oh heavens!

It was an utterly fabulous story, and I am so glad that it exists.

And, yeah, Jensen is a bit of a pain when it comes to his point of view, because good lord, boy, shut up!

[thefourthvine]

To be fair, though, I think everyone feels that way about him most of the time. "We love you, but SHUT UP."

(And thank you! I'm glad you liked it.)

[sophisted]

I would beg you to write more, but I know you probably don't have the time except to do it once a year. Even when I don't know the fandom, your fics are always extremely engaging. Just the way your write the characters, they always sound so real. Also, I watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang because of your fic, and it's become one of my favorite movies. ;) If you ever thought to write original fiction, I would be all over it in a heartbeat, just so you know.

[thefourthvine]

Actually, this year I have written a surprising amount! Just. It's all been hockey RPF, except for Yuletide. But I did write more than 100k words of hockey RPF, 60k of which are actually posted. So - yay? Yeah, I know: hockey RPF. (BUT HOCKEY IS REALLY GREAT OKAY.)

And thank you so much! I don't know that I have the kind of writing that ports to original fiction, but it's good to know you'd be on the list of potential readers if I decided to give it a try.

[lemon_badgeress]

*FLAILS AT YOU IN DISBELIEF AND POINTS INARTICULATELY AT LAST YULETIDE*

[thefourthvine]

I wrote Real Genius last year, complete and total fan fiction! Oh, but you mean The Cape As Red As Blood? That was indeed close to original fic. It was HARD to write, though, and it needed to be at LEAST 40k words longer, with way more time on world-building.

[lemon_badgeress]

OKAY SO I CAN'T TELL TIME.

Yes, that one. I still wish for a miracle in which you have TIME and DESIRE to write those extra 40K, and maybe some more. It was so good.

[veronamay]

Fuck Chris Evans, seriously. I'm on the tail end of a similar breakdown and that guy is just Not Playing Fair.

Looking forward to reading this! My love for Cougar/Jensen cannot be textually rendered.

[thefourthvine]

Originally, I had the entire date section written out with Cougar taking Jensen to see Captain America and the Avengers. I even had MEANINGFUL PARALLELS and DISCUSSION arising from that. And then I was going through the IMDb for some reason and I went: OH FUCK.

Much panicked emailing of betas ensued, and we switched it to Star Trek, which I actually think works better on every level. But for a few days there I was like, HOW CAN THERE BE ONLY ONE ACTOR IN ALL OF HOLLYWOOD? HIRE SOMEONE ELSE, YOU FUCKERS. I wanted to start a website: Reasons Not to Hire Chris Evans. (1. Seriously, we can only take so much. 2. You're setting unrealistic expectations for abs and pecs. 3. How are we supposed to write crossovers when EVERY CHARACTER is played by Chris Evans? 4. DID I MENTION WE CAN ONLY TAKE SO MUCH?)

[veronamay]

You know, I can see where you're coming from, especially since I'm spending serious time in the Marvel Universe lately and every time I read something with Johnny Storm and Captain America in the same room I kind of forget my own name, but OTOH ... rats, pleasure buttons, etc.

[thefourthvine]

I know, I know. They'll keep casting him as long as people keep coming to see him. BUT REALLY THIS HAS TO STOP. Pretty soon we'll be seeing movies where he plays ALL the main characters.

[veronamay]

RIGHT. And that would be, um, terrible. Yes.

And now that I've actually read the fic, yes, Star Trek worked better, along with everything else that was delightful and hilarious and hot. Guh.

[fairestcat]

I LOVE that story.

Also, of COURSE you wrote that fic. As soon as I saw the reveal I went, "really, I should have known!"

[fanofall]

RIGHT?!

[thefourthvine]

I'm going to assume you should have known because I have an actual writing style, and not because I famously CANNOT SHUT UP.

...Although both could be true, I guess.

And I am so delighted that you love that story that I even forgive you for addicting my child to hockey bandaids that are apparently only available in Canada.

[fairestcat]

Um...er...oops?

I swear the band-aids were Marna's idea!

It's mostly that you have a very distinctive quality for writing snappy dialogue, and a particular way of taking old tropes and making them feel incredibly fresh. Also, the Star Trek date.

[thefourthvine]

Both your names were on the package. YOU ARE BOTH TO BLAME. And I know for a fact that it was on purpose: you're luring my son up to Canada by plying him with illicit Canadian bandaids. This is a PATTERN, clearly documented in the Canadian Conversion Handbook. Bet you thought that book was unknown beyond your borders, but NO.

And, yeah, I actually thought putting all my Star Trek feelings in there was sort of like signing my name, but the great part about fandom is that like 15% of us share those precise feelings.

[shrift]

OH HEY LOOK AT THAT I THINK I WON YULETIDE *\o/*

[nestra]

I kept the secret! And seriously, my beta help consisted of her saying "Do you think shrift would like a story where they pretend to be boyfriends on a tropical island?" and me saying "YES, YES SHE WOULD."

[shrift]

Ha! A MOST EMPHATIC YES. ♥

[thefourthvine]

THANK YOU FOR BEING SUCH AN AWESOME RECIPIENT. (I had a great conversation with Nestra where I asked her to beta because she knew my recipient and just sort of - entirely failed to tell her who that recipient was. She was deeply amused once I finally coughed up a name, though.)

[fanofall]

Oh my god of COURSE you wrote that. I LOVED EVERY WORD OF IT, and I cannot believe I didn't guess it was you. I knew it was someone I knew, but I was not able to narrow it down further...

[thefourthvine]

I sort of thought the INTENSE SPOCK FEELINGS would be a dead giveaway, but apparently not?

I'm glad you liked it. YAY! Thank you!

[tevere]

I don't know The Losers! I should remedy that, clearly. I actually thought you'd written the Sports Night one!

[thefourthvine]

OH GOD DON'T WATCH IT WITHOUT EMAILING ME FIRST (thefourthvine at gmail). There are some spoilers you REALLY NEED, let me just say.

Also: I KNEW IT. I KNEW IT. I READ YOUR STORY AND KNEW KNEW KNEW THAT YOU HAD WRITTEN IT. This is my smug forever face!

[msilverstar]

Love that fic, it was perfect Jensen!

[thefourthvine]

*beaming face*

Yay! Thank you!

[dorinda]

Frostfire: Hi! How are you?
Me: WEEPING BECAUSE SPOCK.
Frostfire: Did you watch Wrath of Khan again?
Me: DANTE'S PRAYER.

I have been on your end of that exact same conversation! I have to be careful when I watch that vid--right before leaving for work, for instance? BAD TIME.

[thefourthvine]

That vid should come with some kind of built-in test you have to complete in order to watch it. "Are you somewhere it's okay to cry? Are you feeling reasonably well? Are you going to have to be a functional human being any time in the next hour?" Because, yeah, it is DANGEROUS. I don't think I have another vid in my entire collection that can reduce me to a puddle of weepiness as quickly and effectively as that one.

I mean. HE TOUCHES SPOCK'S CHAIR. How am I supposed to deal with that?

[lemon_badgeress]

...what the hell vid IS this? O_O

[thefourthvine]

Dante's Prayer, by killabeez. (I don't know if she has a post for it anywhere, but if you email her, she'll upload it.) SO GREAT. SO HEARTBREAK-INDUCING. OH, SPOCK.

[lorax]

I have that one on my to-read list!

And I am RIGHT WITH YOU on the "not being able to complain in public because it might out me" thing. I did that lengthwise on Yuletide AND another exchange this year.

[thefourthvine]

I salute you! We happy few, we band of people who write way over the minimum for Yuletide!

[out_there]

Dude! *high five*

Your story does deserve the awesome honour of "fandom I can't really remember but man, that plot idea sounds awesome and the first paragraph reads so well, I have to save this story to read later and eventually leave feedback".

...I haven't finished reading and so haven't left feedback, but it's still rare for me to commit to read something where I think of it as "Um, that action show that had the dad from Supernatural in it".

This Is Lovely, But...

[(Anonymous)]

I actually read through this story and enjoyed and now maybe want to read more fanfic of it (pretty much all of my fandoms have come through wandering onto a cool fanfic) but that isn't why I'm writing this.

I'm writing this because I think you're quite interesting (pretty cool? certainly awesome?) and being the person I am, I wanted to see if I could get you to read (or if you've already read) Closer by rainjoyswriting. It includes humour, banter, something that's mostly magic but involves a lot of science, and it is my very favourite slash romance fanfic I've ever read, even though it's incomplete and likely to stay that way. And I am not normally a romantic person. It does have one of your squicks (serious power imbalances, I did my research). That's actually one of my personal squicks as well - but I started reading Closer and loved it. It helps that the story actually addresses the issue and does it in a serious way that makes you believe that a relationship between the two characters is actually plausible.

I'd ask you to give it a chance. Just the first chapter. Which is at http://rainjoyswriting.livejournal.com/732.html I understand if you don't want to waste your time on something you can't be sure will be good, so if you don't intend to read it, please just tell me. I'll probably offer up other stories I like in an attempt to convince you I have good taste - unless you ask me to back off, in which case of course I will.

Re: This Is Lovely, But...

[thefourthvine]

Oh man. Okay, I tried! I did! And it's not that I distrust your taste or dislike getting random recs. (I love getting random recs!) But I just - am SERIOUSLY not into abandoned works in progress. I avoid WiPs religiously even if I'm sure they'll be finished. (I have a script that warns me for works in progress on the AO3, even, in case I accidentally click and don't check.) That's for a variety of reasons, but mostly because a) the experience of reading a WiP is pretty different than reading the same story once it's finished and b) lots of WiPs aren't finished, and it drives me nuts when I read stories that aren't finished.

And obviously abandoned WiPs are the extreme version of part b). And I tried, I totally opened the window and stared at this one, but I just couldn't go into it knowing it would never be finished. SORRY.

But thanks for the compliment to my story, and for wanting to share something you love with me!

Re: This Is Lovely, But...

[(Anonymous)]

I'm very grateful you (wonderful reccer and fanfic writer) tried it regardless of what you thought about my description. Thank you so much for giving my opinion (the opinion of random person on the internet) a chance. I can't blame you for not getting into a WIP. I try to avoid WIPs nowadays too - I read that one when I was young to the ways of the internet.

I'm afraid I've taken that and your comment on how you like random recs, put them together and ended up with 'I should offer up *more recs*.' Except not WIP ones. And maybe more than one, so hopefully you'll like some of them.

So. Here?

This is the only X-men First Class fanfic that changes the events of the movie that I really believed. It also doesn't seem to be well known, so I think you may not have read it before. It does focus a lot on the main pairing (Charles and Eric, of course) but it does it so well I barely mind. http://archiveofourown.org/works/321051/chapters/516370

I don't know if you've read it, but if you haven't, The Seventeenth Step has lovely, lovely stories about Holmes and Watson. If you haven't read it, I would advise starting with this one. http://liquidfic.org/soloviolini.html

Equally, bendingsignpost has very good Sherlock fanfic. My favourite one is where John leads four different lives in four alternate universes (one that mostly follows canon, one where he got a sane flatmate, one where he's still in Afghanistan and one where he never became a soldier). He switches between them when he sleeps, which I imagine would be hard to keep track of, but the fic makes it easy to understand. It's interesting. http://archiveofourown.org/works/334557/chapters/540728

People have probably recced this to you before, but in case they haven't, Some Things Shouldn't Be A Chore is amusing. It's cute and fluffy and only a little bit serious, with a happy ending. And it made me laugh, so that's why I love it most of all the Avengers Steve/Tony fanfics (of which there are a lot and I've read most of them due to fondness for Tony). http://archiveofourown.org/works/381185/chapters/622952

This is last because I adore it so much the name of it will probably be forever in my memory. I'm not even entirely sure why - it just has such strong, vivid characters. Unlike the others, this one is pretty short. It's set in the Naruto universe and it's just - I would really like it if you tried to read it. The description is 'Naruto's parents don't so much fall in love as accidentally trip over it.' and it's so very true and it's my second favourite romantic story and. I have to stop or I'll be talking about this forever and adding nothing useful. http://archiveofourown.org/works/243023

And...hopefully one of those interests you. If not, I have more and now that I know you aren't opposed to it, I will cheerfully rec more and more fanfic.