Fandom is just a goddamn hobby

[prillalar]

(In which I make plans to celebrate a Significant Fandom Date for myself and then miss it because I got the dates wrong.)

Ten years and one day ago, December 4, 1997, I posted my first fanfic story. It was The X-Files, of course. I'd been in fandom, reading and chatting a bit, for a couple of months, and I really wanted to play too.

The first story I started never saw the light of day, sadly. It was a casefile and a crossover with Sweet Valley High, based on a SV Kids Super Snooper book where, as elementary school kids, Jessica and Elizabeth and their friends are abducted by aliens and have to help out this alien princess. She gives them her necklace to say thank you and even though they forget about the abduction, they still have the necklace. My story took place when they were in high school and Jessica found the necklace in her room. She remembered the abduction but Elizabeth denied it ever happened. Mulder and Scully came out to Sweet Valley and Stuff Happened. God, it would have been so glorious. There was even a scene of Mulder and Todd Wilkins playing one-on-one basketball.

Anyhow, I don't have any new fic for you, because I'm beavering away at my smex pinch-hit, but I went through and picked one story from each year, as kind of a retrospective. But don't read the early ones because they kind of suck.

1997: Male Bondage
X-Files, R, humour.
Mulder, Skinner, Krycek, and special guest star Tom Colton (remember him from Squeeze?) attend a rather...different kind of seminar.
First story I ever posted.

1998: Free Agents
X-Files, Millennium, Twin Peaks, R, humour.
The annual meeting and mixer of the Free Agents of the FBI.
I drew the pairings out of a hat.

1999: Phantom Pain
Star Wars, Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan
...for love is strong as death...
This one still makes me laugh.

2000: The Rose, the Thorn, the Blood, and the Moon
LotR, Legolas/Gimli, R.
Sweet friends, sweet words, sweet deeds.
Pre-movie fic! But of course they're canon anyhow. And I couldn't quite not link to the Jar Jar slash too.

2001: As I Went Down in the River to Pray
Greek mythology.
Peirithous in the underworld.
I'm not sure what to say about this one. It's moody but I still like it,

2002: Three O'Clock in the Morning
LotR, Merry/Pippin, PG13.
Under the mallorn tree.
I love these two so much. SO MUCH.

2003: In Love
HP, Marcus/Oliver, PG13.
What's a boy in love supposed to do?
There was so much to choose from from this year, but I already knew this was the one. Oh, boys! I also made a recording of this one, if you want something to listen to on the bus.

2004: Kobayashi Maru
Stargate, Daniel/Paul, NC17.
Missing scene for 48 Hours. Sometimes Daniel doesn't want to think.
I always wanted to use this title. Also, to write Paul and Daniel having sex.

2005: Not the Triumph
Prince of Tennis, TezuRyo, R.
Beijing 2008. Tezuka's last chance.
They still make me sigh.

2006: 300
Prince of Tennis, InuKai, R.
Inui wonders why.
My favourite pairing, my favourite story. Which took me a freaking year to finish.

2007: Loser
Aim for the Sky!, Sato/Asakawa, PG.
In which Tachiki isn't a nice boy, Sato isn't a smart boy, and Asakawa isn't a natural blond.
Made-up fandom, true. But I love this story so much.

Wow, ten years is a long time. And so many fandoms I couldn't fit into that list. It's been so much fun and most of that is down to you, for reading. It's what makes it all worthwhile. ♥

So, uh, yay me. :) And if you have any questions you want to ask about my writing and such, go ahead.

Comments

[sarahofcroydon.livejournal.com]

Congrats!!! :D
And I just HAVE to ask. How serious was the JarJar story? 8D

[prillalar]

Everyone was writing these humour/parody Jar Jar slash stories. So I decided it would be more of a challenge to write a serious one. So, yeah, serious.

The most scary thing was when I got some feedback from a reader who said that Jar Jar was her favourite character.

[pixxers.livejournal.com]

I can't believe how organized this is. Your memory IS admirable. (Left out a word, sounded like a tard)

Okay, so I have a question for you. Why aren't you writing me some Haruna/Abe with pining!Mihashi on the side? Man, what a great day that would be.

[prillalar]

I'm behind on Oofuri still! I feel such guilt, after I pushed it so hard. By January I'll be caught up, I'm sure.

I was embarassed to see that my website archive ends in early 2006. I'll doubt I'll be caught up with that any time soon, though.

I don't know when I posted my first fic

[kormantic.livejournal.com]

but it was 10 years sometime in June, I think, that I discovered fanfiction. How lucky I am to have you, Hal, and to have had you all this long time! 100 years more will not be half enough. xoxoxoxoxo

Re: I don't know when I posted my first fic

[prillalar]

Aw, sweetie! I think I've known you pretty much all that time! I hope we'll have a mutual fandom again sometime soon, too. xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

[marksykins.livejournal.com]

Oh, you. ♥

So, 300 is your favorite story of yours of all time? Because it's mine of yours too. What makes it your favorite? Also, do you ever regret making up a fake fandom? (Hint: the answer is no.)

[prillalar]

Yeah, I think it is. (But In Love is a pretty close second.) Becuase I worked so hard on it and because I felt like I was finally writing InuKai with some depth -- it was so hard to hurt them at all that I usually just wrote fluffy stuff.

I only regret that I never actually worked out Tachiki's dark secret.

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

I was in comics fandom, and watched X-Files, both from 1993, but you were one of the writers that gave me the idea that I could follow *gasp* more than one fandom, and I dived into XF fandom. So thank you, and congratulations on the anniversary!

[prillalar]

That's so cool to hear! XF was such a weird and wonderful fandom. I really miss those days.

[reposoir.livejournal.com]

300 is my fav fic of yours, Hal. It's beautiful.

Here's to ten more years in new fandoms to come, ne? ^_^

[pixxers.livejournal.com]

Except K-pop. Because that's weird.

[zarahemla.livejournal.com]

Ah, I remember well the days when we were united in our love for Jeffy Spender. My favorite XF fic of yours, one that I recall with great fondness: The Rain, It Raineth All Around. (http://prillalar.com/fic/stories/000098.php) Sometimes when I don't have an umbrella, I think of that verse and smile.

[prillalar]

I wish I'd had some Spender fic on the list. Those were great days indeed! And it's so awesome to see you mention that story -- I think it's my fave of my TXF too.

[grasshopper.livejournal.com]

Goodness, you're a veteran! Now you're grizzled and hardbitten, in my head :D I feel I should stand you a drink! I'd actually like to do that one day. For now I will just drink one in your honor (jack and coke, if you want to know.)

Ridiculous question: You always say that you don't read TezuRyo, but I know for a fact that, upon watching Prince of Tennis, one of your first questions was "Where's the TezuRyo fic?" and I've seen your comments on one or two TezuRyo fics. Tell me truly: you read one too many bad TezuRyo fics and decided you'd put it about that you don't read the pairing at all, so no one would expect you to read and comment on theirs, y/n? For some reason I really hope this is true, I'm not sure why.

Serious question: when I told you I loved the title of Not the Triumph, you said you thought it was "too spiky" and I forgot to ask you what you meant by that. On my end, I thought it was such a perfect twisting of something meant to be uplifting and inspirational, and that that double meaning fit the tone and setting of the story to a tee. I guess I could see how maybe it could tip over into the... I dunno, the "too obvious" category, especially if you don't know where it was taken from, since then you only have the bitter part and not the sweet?

Random praise: I read In Love a while ago and totally forgot to tell you that I liked it. Which I do. So now you know.

♥: ♥

[prillalar]

Imagine me smoking a cigar and drinking scotch. :D (Though really, I'm drinking decaffeinated green tea.)

I don't read TezuRyo because I love them very much and I have a very, very specific idea of how they are together. I just never found that other stories, even if they were well-written, worked for me. (I was like that with Merry and Pippin too.) So I stopped reading them.

When I first got into the fandom, I did feel like I wanted to read and write gauzy romantic stories about them, but I knew that was wrong. One time, I even wrote a sappy TezuRyo and posted it on ff.n under an assumed name just to get it out of my system. *g*

Re Not the Triumph, I think it's mostly that I picked the title at the very last moment and never felt like I had chosen it, more that I'd settled because I couldn't think of anything else. In my head, it has a different tone than the story does. But I'm really glad that the meaning came across to you.

Re In Love: yay!

♥

[semielliptical]

Wow, 10 years - congratulations!

I love your fic retrospective. I think I had missed Phantom Pain before; it's hilarious. :D

[prillalar]

I wish I still had some Merry & Pippin icons left! I've been thinking about them a bit recently.

And thank you!

Re: fangirl squee time

[prillalar]

Oh man, did I miss replying to your email about that story? I'm sorry! It's been a crazy, crazy autumn.

I always thought Spender's most interesting relationship was with his mother. I can still hear her saying, "Don't cry, honey".

Your squee makes me grin. Thank you so much!

[akatonbo.livejournal.com]

I posted my first story over 12 years ago. *weeps* Also X-Files, and very, very bad. Everything that I have on gossamer is pretty awful with maybe two exceptions that are only marginally awful.

I was already basically out of X-Files by even early 1997, let alone late 1997 (by which time I was VERY distracted by anime), thus I seem to recall that I probably discovered your fic in SW:TPM (though the possibility exists that I might have already read something like 'Agent Scully and the Bawdy Story', which is a favorite of mine). I know I read the Jar-Jar story, though I always have trouble remembering whether it was you or Laura JV that wrote it. (I also always have trouble remembering whether it was you or Hth that wrote Star Trek: Aphrodite. Clearly I need to remember that you have written all the stories that I can't remember who wrote them! That one is also a favorite of mine. XD) When I tripped and fell into PoT it was a delight to finally have an actual fandom in common, and similar tastes in it, at the same time. :)

[prillalar]

I posted my first story over 12 years ago.

Ha, you're more of a freak than me then! *g* And, hee!, my fandom twins.

I was pretty die-hard over TXF. It was pretty traumatic when I finally let myself be multi-fandom. It was TPM that seduced me, though I ended up writing more classic SW.

[barkley.livejournal.com]

Happy Fanniversary!

And you will forever be remembered to me for TRUCKFIC! (that and because you like cheese.)

[eternalsayonara.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! (I find even the summary of your first attempt at fanfiction awesomesauce. I think Elizabeth and Scully would get along. ^^)

*laughs* I think my first attempts at fanfiction were in 1994 or 1995 when I was probably 10 or so. This was before I knew what fanfiction was and before I had read any other fics (and before I used the Internet). XD I didn't ever finish my stories, but I remember one was based on The Lion King and another was based on Misty of Chincoteague. Yay childish me! 8D I never posted them, though, or even continued with writing, except for a Sailor Moon story a few years later. Ah, me. ;P

And my question is how do you write your stories? Are you an inspired writer, or a writer who wants to know how something works, so she writes it out to find out? Or something else?

I wish you continued enjoyment and fulfillment in fanfiction! ♥

[alwaysaddled.livejournal.com]

It's your Scully/Phoebe story that always sticks in my brain.

[slinkhard.livejournal.com]

Am I crazy or did you once write a SVH fic, I think Jessica/Todd?
Anyway, congrats!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

In Love still makes me cry to this day. Y'know what? I figured out why, because I put together that post on fish-out-of-water-embarrassment recently, and that story touches on that. But it all works out in the end and it's so good, so I have to forgive it. ^_^

[shikishi.livejournal.com]

Huzzah for you and your brilliant decade of fic, Hal.

[don-amoeba.livejournal.com]

300 will always be the fic that sold the inukai to me. ♥

[leviosa8.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on your first fic decade!
And HOW GREAT it is your audio-fic!! It's one of my favorite fics ever, too. Your voice is so nice. I am so recording that archeological re-discovery!

[priestess123.livejournal.com]

Sweet Valley High! I LOVED those books!!! ^_^ Congratulations for 10 YEARS! I've been dabbling in fandom for about....two and half years and I didn't even post my first fanfic until about a year ago!! HAHA!

YAY FOR YOU! *SUPERHUGS*

[meemobunny.livejournal.com]

congrats for 10 years of awesometacular writing! ;)
(and y'know, if you were ever to write -and post!- sweet valley fic, i'd totally read it :D)

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Happy Anniversary, sweetheart. I love you, and your fic, more than words can say.

[alice-and-lain.livejournal.com]

300 is a story I can't make myself reread because Inui hurts so much in it, even though I know the ending is happy. I can't imagine what it took for you to write it.

I'm listening to your audio version of In Love right now.

[cellia.livejournal.com]

Happy 10th! Glad you're still here. Man, I've been reading fic for about 10 years as well... kinda scary!

[postingwhore.livejournal.com]

Does this mean you can beta Greek mythology fic? 83