~~subjective perfection. golden-standard hp recs.

[reenka]

so. i will spend today doing my duty to man, god, and betaness.
i pledge allegiance to my chair, and to the desk it is next to, and promise complete attention to my screen, undivided, with liberty and full ability to possibly get a cup of tea meanwhile. ahem.

i've been being sort of full of myself, i think. especially with the whole reccing thing. i get so excited about stories. i gush and i crave and i act like we're all geniuses or something. whereas some of my favorite published writers, i can nitpick to death and say, yeah, the style is great, but she really doesn't deliver on the clear plot and characterization sometimes. i -adore- patricia mckillip, but really, she has her strong points and her weak points. i can't say she's any kind of gold standard except in terms of lyricism. and even then, she's not alone. there are other writers equally lyrical, but not as unique overall. so maybe i don't even know what i'm looking for, always.

even neil gaiman, my fiction god. he's only a god with `sandman'. with `stardust' and his short stories and other things, he's only really really good. so maybe it was just the fortuitous combination of theme, visuals, and overall execution, combined with his particular genius for the particular tihngs explored in the sandman-- dialogue, mythic structure, quirky characterization, humor.

i worship and adore amalin's writing, for example. but she has her weak points. i'm just a -really- big sucker for emotion and lyricism. were i to be objective, i'd take off points for things like narrative/plot & characterization.

i am writing a list of recs, based on all the stuff i've recced here so far. i'm including pretty much anything that i find "good". and thinking back on it-- i wonder if any of it is -really- good. a gold standard. something i have no reservations about. something complete and shining and-- well-- perfect.

at the time, i'd gushed and bounced about almost -all- of them. and now i find-- looking soberly-- are most of them worth my true seal of approval? my saying, "this is so good, so good, this is better than most things published". not perfect, but close enough. something blindingly complete and strong on all counts. ok fine, i'm inevitably subjective. but even so, i can't think of much of anything that would truly stand up to my toughest scrutiny.

well, that's not true. this vaccilates. actually, audrey's `brief interval' popped to mind immediately. i dunno why. i think it's the memory of crying, having finished it. it was so good i couldn't even believe it. it was just-- perfect. i'm afraid of looking over it again, testing this theory. if it's not like i remember it, i don't think i want to know. the other things that jump out at me are amalin's ghost!draco, aja's 9-11 fic, and penguin's `falling'. and then the rest come rushing in. so of course, i made a link-list.

i've noticed that most of the things i have no reservations about are written in short form, snippets, short stories, non-narrative-based pieces, and so on. anything novel-like, it's easier to spot inconsistencies and flaws. i mean, i can name a number of amazing works, but they're all under 20 pages. i dunno what this says, really. maybe nothing is that good, and if it's really short, it's more condensed and not as glaring? you rush past it? or maybe the length makes one write tighter, like a poet. hmm.
    anyway. as close to perfect as it gets:



audrey's `a brief period before the resumption of play'*

penelope's `cocaine music', `his belongings', `carnivorous house'.

lc's `theme and variation'

kick flaw's `a gash of colour'

bec's `H(x)/D(x) = x^3 sec (x)' & `scratch'

trin's flies!draco & `adventures in ice-o'.

seri's ``6 ways of unpinning a butterfly" -- and it's gooooone...!! aaaaargh. if anyone knows where this story is now archived, tell me. please. in fact, `feast of apples' is the only thing of hers i could find, online. sigh. other than the brilliant poems on her lj, ie `secret agent potions man', which i should actually include here, heh.um. except i'd feel weird. ><

sky's tom/hagrid & hagrid/tom. probably all of `artful facade', but it's not as good as sky can do, at this point, if you can believe it. with sky, it's mostly-- oh my gahd, this -could- be better than anything, just give it time. she'll get there :D

wax jism's `second of our reign'

holographis' `gone'. maybe also `roses'.

silvia's `legend'. it's hard to pick with silvia. i'd worship her completely if she wrote more complete stuff, heh. i mean. guh. she's always on a whole 'nother level.

amalin's `ice', `absence', `losing again' & moonlit'.

penguin's `warm spell on a cold night' & `falling'. falling just-- i -have- no reservations about it. i just don't. guh. go. read. gasp. try and tell me what's missing.
    possibly all of `dragonweed'.

missi's `porcelain'

maya's `hatred' and `chains'.

ivy and libertine - `in dialogia'.

ivy's `fall on your knees'. huh. weird. possibly `origins'. possibly perfect. possibly without reservation. sounds weird. but it's true. i can't -think- of exactly why it's `not good enough'. i mean. it's not the be-all-and-end-all of all h/d fics, but nothing is. sadly. i can't even rec `irresistible poison' because like-- well-- life is sad. i have my reservations, having been spoiled by evil ip-hating people. sigh.

ishuca's `he says'

shinigamiforever - `his sleepless nights' & `sanctuary'

aja's `every second' and `twelvth night' - waaaahhhh, aja, don't destroy perfection like that...! *cries*

lizbee's `the language that god speaks'
---
EDIT - also:

tradescant's `hook and eye'

miss breed's `beware the fury of a patient man'. yum.

antenora's `rites of passage'

riddle's `stealing sweaters', heheheh. ok i'm getting silly now. must stop ><
---
my own - the AU i wrote for cassie claire. didn't include the Trilogy because, i haven't read it all. naturally, also didn't include various things i haven't read (yet).
~~


and now, to play catch-up.....

Comments

[penelope-z.livejournal.com]

You have good taste my dear. Of course the fact that I'm there twice, does not have anything to do with this, I'm oh so objective as you all know...

Anyway big cheers on the recs of: Audrey, because she is the queen. Her characters are so alive they seem about to burst out from the pages.
Theme and Variation because it's just it. My absolute H/D and a great source of inspiration.
With Trin I'd go for Penny Dreadful, Venus across the country and that Percy fic she posted in her diaryland journal.
Good girl, you like wax_jism too.
I feel kinda responsible for the IP thingy.

And now I feel I need to do my fave list one day. Hook and Eye! Petronius series! Chasing the Dragon! And some r i d d l e ...

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

actually, i've forgotten about `hook and eye'~:) *must add*~
and riddle... it's been so long... really. wah, he/she's like, the second thing i read after durendal. which is weird.
it's scary, how i really can't say any of the wip's are... y'know... "that good".
guh. actually, this gives me more respect for published authors who can manage to make a whole novel equally good.
like you know, um. the classics. man. genius is scary...

[penelope-z.livejournal.com]

Hmm I don't rec WiPs ever. There might be one or two that would sneak in my favourites list, but all of them are actually abandoned for a long time and probably won't be updated again, like The Pillow book or Unique Snowflakes.

I don't rec WiPs just because I can't judge a story before it's complete and I'm usually afraid that the writing will deteriorate after some chapters and will not live up to my expectations. It very often does. Just look at Protective Bonds. And a lot of other fics that I won't mention because I'm polite.

I feel compleltely anti-WIP for some time now. I won't read anything any more before it's completed. And I'm definitely never posting WiPs again, if I ever get to write a long fic I'll make sure it's all done before posting it. It's not just that it's a very annoying common tendency in HP, probably generated by laziness and the feedback now now! need, it's also that it's very easy to lose focus when you work like that.

Your focus shifts, the style changes, lots of things are usually left unexplained, plot lines are abandoned because it's just hard to keep track with previous chapters. Long fics that are completed before posting are usually a lot more tightly knit together and flow more smoothly.

[penelope-z.livejournal.com]

And poor r i d d l e, her personality has really gotten in the way of her fics, they are pretty good in my humble opinion, but are almost considered a guilty pleasure of sorts. And yes, they are often too overblown, too dramatic and too angsty for their own good. A hint of sarcasm here and there would be refreshing, but still I like them. Still, I can quote Cigarette in the dark and Perfect for me by heart.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

i know what you mean, about wip's of course. the only way to really look at it is not to take it seriously. you're definitely kind of humoring the fandom.
which, being a fan-- ahahah. well. i can't be totally against.
i mean-- on the one hand, integrity of the writing, the writer, etc.
on the other hand, i'm not so high-handed that i'm no longer a squealing fangirl who wants any tidbit she can get.
feeding the pigeons, don't you know.

i mean, it doesn't have to mean the work suffers, since you can always go back and edit anyway. but the fans are happy. it's all about how much discipline you have, and whether you let public opinion convince you it's perfect and doesn't need any more work.
i myself, haven't felt i could post my wip's in good conscience, actually. i mean, what if they never get finished? and they're in total flux, because chapter 3 can completely make me reinterpret chapter 1, for all i know. also, i don't exactly write linearly. it's not like i know -exactly- how it's going to go, and am just writing it out like a robot. i'm kind of making it up as i go along, usually, and premature posting for that sort of story is... not good.
on the other hand, like-- aja and rhysenn and cassie claim/imply they know what's going to happen throughout, so it's like, they can error-check as they go along, theoretically, and it's like the chapters are merely installments of a work already "finished" in their heads.
i mean, i don't know how that works, exactly, but yah.
don't you know how tuw is going to end up? i mean, that influences what you write in every chapter, right? what you know will happen the -next- chapter?

i don't know, there's still room for rewrites of course, but maybe extreme beta-work takes care of that.
and some people's style is pretty stable. some people's isn't. it's a personal thing. like maya is always pretty close to stable.... i'm definitely not ^^;;
and riddle -really- isn't.

with riddle's work, i'd say i would rec the whole thing, rather than any one story.
she is a notable author, but every particular fic has glaring flaws in something.
although i recced `stealing sweaters' along with the others because it was just cuter than anything else, which makes me giggle~:) even though it's still angst and all.
angst is just sap in disguise, have you noticed? melodrama is really sap that is depressed. `unthinkable thoughts' makes this the most obvious. though-- heh. i'm not saying your stuff is sap in disguise ^^;;
well. sometimes. but you're pretty good about totally avoiding weepiness. i think it's because no one is overtly -sad-. or worse, loveless and sad and mooning over said lost love. *shudders*

and wheeee~! now i have silver's fic to read~:)

~reena

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

Origins, yes, the best long work I've ever read. But AF makes it there? Ye gods, it's so badly written - the dialogue like essays, the description so overblown it contradicts itself.

H/D and maths. *shiver* I love KB.

And I don't know why, but I simply can't make it through A Brief Interval. Though I love Speak, Desire.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

well-- it's just-- sky's writing has moments-- lots of moments-- of sheer greatness. especially in her shorter pieces.
and the thing that gets me about af was the -intensity-. it's different, and it shoots high, even if it falls short.
i like the vision of it.
though i didn't mean to include it-- it's just-- i felt weird not including this, or UL, and antenora-- sigh. considering i just love reading certain fics, and yet, can't say they're just-- That Good. Yet. heh
ahh, this objectivity thing is a pain ^^;

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

Damn. She's totally going to read what I just said about AF. *worries*

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

this whole criticism thing shouldn't be a no-no, should it? i mean... if one's serious about one's writing (and i think sky is), one wants it, even if one can't handle it too well ^^;
i mean, i wanna know if something i wrote has major issues. if everyone just tells me that this is great, i wouldn't improve as quickly~:)
i mean, no one's perfect, and lots of people don't like things - like ip for instance. or twav *laughs*
btw, i really liked twav ;D
well not that it's literary genius, but i thought it was hot, and funny, and i didn't need much else back in the early days :D
no one's perfect - or even close to it.
*admires your honesty* hopefully we're serious, at least, if not about fanfic, then about improving our writing, and so on. so there's no need to make it a mutual admiration society, and stuff.
unless one takes one's writing as a direct correlation to one's self-worth. which one should learn not to.
so yeah. you're allowed to have as many issues with AF as you like ~:) it's in the rulebook :D

[ishuca.livejournal.com]

you rise a lot of good points, love, but i take issue with directly comparing chaptered fanfiction with bound books for the following reason:

books are realeased all at once, so when people read them they read them straight through, as an entire work. 'weaker' chapters can be and are masked by their surrounding chapters. the emphasis is on the whole as compared to the chapter. my god. take, for example, the council of elrond in fellowship. if that'd been released in a chapter by chapter format almost everyone i know would've given up on it. however, LotR is, in my opinion, a work of genius.

it's different, i feel, with chaptered fanfiction- and this regardless of the intent of the writer. i know that i, for one, write my WIP as an entire work. this means that the chapters build on each other, and it is, in fact, intended to be read entirely through. however, that is not the real case. with fanfic WIPs (and chapterized pieces in magazines as well) each chapter is read and scrutinized both as its own work *and* as part of the work-as-a-whole.

hence, weaker chapters stand out more clearly than they would were our works presented in bound format. and sometimes the problem of what constitutes a 'weaker' chapter can be an issue as well. there is such a thing as sensory overload in writing, and sometimes chapters are *made* weaker to compensate for that.

anyway, this is why i agree with penelope z on the whole WIP thing. and it's also why i stick with WIPs that i'm a bit unsure of. because who knows how they'll end? they are a large work, and should be taken as such. which brings me to series.

ivy's origins is a brilliant book. however, it is part of an overarcing universe that i have many issues with. her trilogy is lovely, but havens *needs* its rewrite, and belong only finds its stride chapters into the fic. however, it is all one work. i find it difficult to even *think* of seperating origins draco from haven draco from belong draco. and i wouldn't want to. it is one story, one work. and as a work, it has issues. though i love it.

anyway, that's why i think it's *easier* to rec ficlets, and even write them. but in terms of emotional satisfaction and impact, i tend to derive more from WIPs. and, now that i am experiencing what a bitch writing one is like, have extraordinary respect for those who (imo) do it well.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

mm, you're right, i guess i wasn't thinking ><
only feeling that weird semi-bitter feeling that gah, i've forgotten what actual `good' writing's like, reading fanfic and only comparing it to fanfic, y'know?
i mean, ok. if the Trilogy was a published work, i wouldn't coo over it so much, i wouldn't worship it, i would just enjoy it but i mean... i'd just it on its own merits, outside of how cool harry & draco are in it.
i'd look at the plot (ie, whether or not i think it's brilliant), and the other characters, the style, and so on.
i would -still- adore her humor and emotional facility with language and characterization... but just-- i mean... it would be "just one more" book that i find enjoyable, just one more author.

i mean-- joan d. vinge. i adore her, yet i can say easily that not all her works grab me like `psion' and `catspaw'. all my favorite authors, i can see how they have not-so-good books, and i don't have an investment in the plot so much that i can't say, "well, this didn't really work". i -love- the main character of her books, but i don't have a stake in what exact thing happens to him, so i only judge how well she does whatever she does.
i think cassie gets that-- people tend to say, it's ok no matter what happens. they approach it -almost- like it's a *gasp!* -- real book!

but still, not quite. and i guess i'm tired of not being able to see things i can fully go no-holds-barred on.
i've been living in a different literary dimension, almost. sigh. i should really stop reading fanfic, and soon, for awhile anyway.

but you're right, it's not fair to compare, except that i wish i could, because really, it's kind of a waste of time considering i can be reading finished, polished work instead. it can seem like it, anyway ><;;
and gahd knows enough published fic is actually worse than hp fanfic. which is why i'd kept reading so far. but.

yah, it's mostly borne of frustration. and um, i agree with you, i was just explaining why i was doing it in the first place~:)
and hmm-- re: origins. i kind of see it separately somewhat because i actually never -finished- belong and haven really isn't strong enough to stick in my mind except as vague background.
belong is what made me hooked, but origins is what made me a fan.

~:) hee. funny, since ivy is still one of my major h/d goddesses :>

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

*looks intrigued* Fancy. Nobody's ever said they liked my ficlets better than UL before.
I see where you're coming from, though. With everything.
It is much easier to make a shorter thing *perfect.* The focus is tiny. The characterisation touches only have to be tiny. Most people make a better job out of painting a greeting card picture than a portrait.
Nevertheless, I much prefer longer stories even if they don't give me that sense of perfection. Because without being engaged for longer, given the little details even though it's almost impossible to get them all right... I don't get emotionally engaged. And that's what matters to me.
Of course, I am an overly emotional t00b...

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

well... *laughs*
actually, i didn't. i love UL -- lots. i just really -enjoyed- your ficlets.
i think it was that whole "judging" thing i was trying to do.
i don't feel i can -judge- UL yet, just -- love it, you know what i mean?
it's like, growing and flowering and expanding with every chapter.
and er... yah i actually like longer stuff better in general, usually. more of a good thing, and so on.
and yesh, more emotional investment. more over-emotional t00biness for me, too >:D<

AF, which is the one wip i recced (with reservations), has been sort of stable in its quality/style/plot...
but like.. yah i realize how weird it is to only rec ficlets from authors whom i love mostly for their long work ^^;
say, aja. i wouldn't say, "oh, aja, author of that 9-11 fic". it's, "aja, author of the loffly LuW", of course~:)
'course, luw even more than UL, is so in-progress and changing it's delightfully alarming~:)

ahahah. don't worry. i am probably competition for anyone who claims they're UL's biggest fan~:)