Yuletide Reveal!

[thefourthvine]

The themes of Yuletide for me this year were pinch hits (I was one, and OMG I got the best pinch hitter ever, and I finally got to write one, too) and rhyming pairings.

Notes for next year: rhyming pairings are hard. Pinch hitting, on the other hand, actually makes writing easier, because when you need to procrastinate on one, well, the other one is right there waiting.

My stories, in order of posting:

Noir Enough, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Perry/Harry. This story was for misspamela, the very first recipient I've ever had that I knew before I got her prompt. (This was extremely exciting. It's a whole different exchange when you're pretty sure what your recipient might want.) It was beta-read by the amazing team of lynnmonster, spike21, nestra, and qe2 - and Queue nobly watched the movie solely so she could beta my story. On short notice, too. She wins the Dedicated Beta prize. Please give her a round of applause.

Code 69, Men in Black, Jay/Kay. This one was for Amy Fortuna. And, um - I didn't write the whole thing. At a certain point in the Yuletide experience, makesmewannadie and I experienced severe, even terminal writer's block. But you can't stop Yuletide just because your characters refuse to get off. So we exchanged files. It turned out to be much, much easier to finish each other's stories than it was to finish our own, and Yuletide was saved. It was all very magical. My block was porn - ever my nemesis, as readers of Noir Enough will note. (I chickened out on the porn there, despite complaints from Certain Betas that I was leaving them hanging. My response: "Have you met me?") So, the porn in Code 69? All MMWD. And some other parts are hers, too, but I don't remember what - it was all a wild haze of aliens and sex pheromones and John Travolta. (You've been there, I'm sure. You understand.) Code 69 was beta-read by makesmewannadie (yes, I made her beta-read a story she co-wrote; I am merciless at Yuletide time) and qe2.

Audiencing, moral support, and reassurance that I wasn't completely crazy ("Men in Black is perfect for an aliens make them do it story!") came, as usual, from Best Beloved. Best Beloved also provided Yuletide snacks. (For Yuletide snacks, read: chocolate. Chocolate is what makes Yuletide happen. Unless you're one of the mods, and then I assume alcohol is also required.)

I had a fabulous Yuletide this year in every respect, and I thank everyone who played, and most especially the brilliant mods. Bless you, every one. See you in 2007!

Comments

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. It was a brilliant story, just what I had been hoping for without even knowing it, and totally worth the wait. (Plus, hey, by guessing your story last year, I prepped you to write my pinch hit this year. Obviously, I am a Deep Plotter, and I will never confess that it was totally unintentional. This way, I look sleek and smart and absolutely together!)

And thank you for claiming my scary, scary prompts. Um. You said you liked them, so I will not apologize, but know that I am taking a Remedial Prompts course, and next year I will do much, much better.

(And, uh, that I left my macro-generated = End = thingy on there and made it kind of even more pathetically obvious, cough.)

That was nearly your downfall. I figured out three of your stories this year, and if I could only have found the fourth before the reveal, you would have ended up writing my pinch hit next year, too. *grins*

Ah, well. There's always next year. *Yuletide-enhanced hugs*

(And a happy new year!)

[astolat]

I figured out three of your stories this year

!!!! :O

Okay, uh, which was the third??

*is kind of scared*

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

I noticed Ante Bellum, too. But I know nothing of Arcana, so I didn't read that one, and thus I could not find your fourth. Darn. (And no one believed me when I said, "Shalott wrote my story this year! I'm really pretty sure of it!" But I was right, damn it. *whines*)

And I bet you're now really, really glad you wrote the Arcana one, because between various Yuletides and various acts of great kindness, almost all of my longest-standing fannish yens have satisfied. The one that's left is the Charles Baudelaire one. And I doubt you want to spend the next year prepping for that pinch hit.

(I also figured out which ones Speranza wrote and which one Dorinda wrote. And that's it. I couldn't get anyone else's, and I never can; I'm horrible at guess-who-wrote-this games. *more whining*)