Dragons! Whee!

[solafiamma]

A very Happy Birthday to pensnest! Have a fabulous day, dude! And a fabulous year! In fact, may the fairies of fabulosity deposit the motherlode of fabulification on your most worthy shoulders.

In other news, I am desperate to read the stories from Pen's Dragon Challenge, but I have to WORK instead, OMG, HOW BORING!! Quitting time cannot come soon enough. But I wish it would.

I totally missed the hate meme, but in case you were all anxious about it, I don't hate any of you, even a little bit.

Comments

[pensnest]

*giggles* Well, I've done pretty well so far, since I didn't have tiresome work to prevent me having a more relaxed read of the Dragon stories. Thank you! And, happy reading, once you get the chance.

[sola-fiamma.livejournal.com]

What diabolically clever planning it was to have the challenge go live on your birthday! A windfall of popslash gifties! I'm so stealing this idea for my next birthday. Except the dragon bit, because that would just be rude.

[pensnest]

It was a Cunning Plan that worked out very nicely, thank you. Heh. I suspect the Dragons had much to do with it, of course, in fact, it's hard to think of something else that would be as obviously appealing.

[vaudevilles.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed Chasing the Dragon. I loved the sadness and the uncontrollable momentum of their relationship and Chris' inability to free himself no matter how fucked up their interaction.

[sola-fiamma.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! It was a pretty bleak story to write, and I wasn't sure anyone would actually read more than the first page, because, yeah. Bleak. I felt like a bad person for treating them so badly! I'm really glad you enjoyed it.

[vaudevilles.livejournal.com]

Um... and now I'm stalking you *blushes*

I found Best Laid Plans last night and have read it twice (in between having to put it down so that the couch will stop shaking from my giggles). Happy happy happy stuff - love the banter - and it's so different from Chasing the Dragon

[sola-fiamma.livejournal.com]

Dude, stalk away! I'm sorry I'm so late with responding, I've just been insanely buried in work for the past while.

Yay! You liked "Best Laid Plans"! Oh, man, how I loved writing that story! And you're writing, it's completely and utterly different from "Chasing the Dragon". In fact, everything I've ever written is completely and utterly different from "Chasing the Dragon". I have no idea how that story smuggled itself out of my brain.

Thanks for the feedback. Double feedback!!!

[vaudevilles.livejournal.com]

Well if I have your *permission* to stalk... *g*

I've just read all the rest of the fic on your website and am now bouncing in glee at the wit, snark and glorious banter - in fact I'm feeling a lot like Chris on a sugar high.

Oh... especially the talking during and after sex in Under My Skin - they're both so annoying and honest and right there present to the moment and yet it's completely sappy underneath. Loved it. And, in fact, the talking after sex in Something More was my favourite bit too.

Though - wow! - I can't imagine how anyone ever could have guessed you as the author of Chasing the Dragon if I'd read all your other stuff first. It's so different, which is just really impressive.

Um... I've friended you - I hope that's ok ;o)

[(Anonymous)]

You think you're bouncing in glee? After feedback like this, I'm pretty much glued to the ceiling! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!!

The banter! It's like my favourite thing ever to write and to read. And Chris, especially, who's so deliciously banter-y (banterful?) and insane and neurotic in real life, is way fun to write. (Well, they all are, really, except Joey. For some reason, love him though I do, I never feel like I capture Joey. Maybe it's because he seems to be the least neurotic and most emotionally stable of all of them. Hmmm.)

Hee! The talking after sex thing. I'm all about the talking before, during and after sex, anything to get me through the actual writing of the sex. :) I distract myself with banter, and then, boom! The sex is written and I'm so relieved, I have to indulge in a little more banter. Vicious circle.

And the sap? Oh, yes. Another little kink of mine, the sap beneath the snark, when one (or usually both) of the guys is wrestling with that awkward trepidation about revealing too much (or any) emotion so they smother it with smartass remarks and bad humour, but little glimpses keep bleeding through. Happy sigh.

I would have been astounded if anyone had guessed me as the author of Chasing the Dragon; it's so completely divorced from my usual style. Originally, I'd planned on writing a longer story, replete with banter and snark and snickery moments, but I ran out of time. I really, really didn't want to default on the challenge, though, so I promised Pen I'd come up with something else, and this is what happened. I wrote it in less than a day (also an aberration, usually I need great whacks of time) and was really startled at what came out.

Um... I've friended you - I hope that's ok ;o)

Dude, I friended you first! I ambled over to your lj last night after reading your feedback and clickety-clicked you onto my fl. Popslashery folk appear to be a dying breed -- we've got to stick together!

[sola-fiamma.livejournal.com]

Ahem. That would be me. Lurking furtively in my own lj.

[vaudevilles.livejournal.com]

*grins*

Well banter's my complete universal kink and when it's paired with hidden sweetness under protective funny bluster I just melt. So no wonder I like your stuff. And Chris in fic like yours - where he is just adorable and f*cked up in all his kooky, snarky madness with gentleness underneath - is *totally* my sekrit-boyf.

And I find it most difficult with Joey too. I mean because I'm searching out smart-talking fic to read it mostly tends to revolve around Chris and I don't tend to find much Choey interesting perhaps because I think as a couple they'd be really stable and comfortable and not have too many issues - and it's ALL ABOUT THE ISSUES *g*. About the only Chris/Joey I've really enjoyed is Helen's The Same Inside where Chris turns into a girl, which !tada! gives them all the issues they need.

Can there be more of your vicious circle? Please? I mean there is a place for pr0n with all the body parts clearly labelled and discussed, but most of the time I'd rather read reference to what's happening with genitalia overlaid (ha!) with talking or description that references the emotion obliquely while the characters are secretly worrying that they're giving too much away but carried away by their emotions/physical reactions anyway (I'm such a girl and I read for romantic subtext - and is this sentence *really* this long?).

Unfortunately I've got absolutely no ability to write banterific fic so I troll the internets looking for goodies instead. And occasionally try and perform something like it.