2007 Fic in Review
Firstly, HAPPY NEW YEAR! :D I hope you guys had a great time! Wow. The year 2008 is here. Where did 2007 go?! It still owes me some porn, damnit! :P
Did a 2006 Fic Review so I figured I might as well do one for 2007 too. Think I wrote much more last year.
1. Blessings
Whaddaya know, the very first Danny/Flack story I posted for the year 2007 was a fanfiction request by ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
faces_of_angels. :) One of the main details of the request was lots of romance, and I knew she was fond of a certain slash genre that involves men and babies so I included an original character called Danielle from an older story called Nine Months. Danielle's a baby, and that's all I'll say here without spoiling that particular story. ;>
I went all out mushy for this one. I think I was countering a lot of angst I was writing for another story so this story was all happy sentiments and floofiness from the start to finish. Oh, it also happens to be the first time I ever wrote a sex scene involving levitation. :P
2. Serenity in the Palm of Your Hand
This one has a special place in my heart.
One, it was the first time I ever wrote a Mac-centric story. Two, it was the first time I ever wrote a full story where a main character from the show's paired up with an original character. In this case, a giant ex-Marine, ex-cop dude called Jon Turgis whom I created for my very first fanfiction, To DD or Not to DD. Was struck by the sudden inclination to write a story focusing on Mac ... but also write about Mac dancing the horizontal tango as the bottom and loving it. *lol* For a while, I considered writing it as a Danny/Mac story. Then, I received messages and comments from readers saying they were very interested in knowing more about Mac's relationship with Jon as hinted at in To DD or Not to DD and that was that, a Mac/Jon story it was.
I didn't expect anyone to comment on it, what with Mac being paired up with an original character whom nobody would know unless they read To DD or Not to DD. Wasn't surprised to see that it wasn't reviewed at Fanfiction.net either. I myself tend to avoid any fanfictions involving the pairing up of a main character with a character made up by the fan writer. Ya know, the whole Mary Sue and Gary Stu business. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised to see such positive responses to the story here. :)
There is a possibility I'll write another Mac/Jon story in the near future. As of writing this, I have this plot brewing in my head about a story set in Mac's young Marine days and their first meeting and how they ended up becoming on/off lovers for so many years. I'll see whether this one unfolds or not.
3. That's Amore
Awwww, this one has a special place somewhere in my left ventricle too. (Actually, all my stories do, now that I think about it.)
Ya know how the idea for this story came about? I was listening to the radio when the song That's Amore started to play. I've always loved it. The instant Dean Martin began crooning, I had this image of Danny and Flack on a gondola gliding through a calm, winding canal in a Venice-like setting, and Flack had this guitar and there he was, singing the same song to Danny. The thing was, Danny was somewhat stuck between smiling and grimacing because Flack sounded like he had a cat stuck down his throat. *lol* So in a way, that funny bit persuaded me to infuse some humor into the story rather than it just being purely floof and romance.
And I admit it, I think it'd be extremely hot of Flack to speak Italian and act like a sexy Italian gigolo. ;>
4. Amor Aeternus
Whoa, jumping straight from a happy, floofy story into a really, really angsty one! I've received mixed reactions to this one, mostly because of the ending, heh. I can't quite recall what inspired me to write this one ... was it having watched the movie Gladiator a second time or was it having watched 300 instead? Either way, the imagery of Danny and Flack as the reincarnations of gladiators in ancient Rome who were deeply in love just wouldn't get out of my head until I wrote the story out.
I was experimenting with a different style of writing here. The very first time I wrote a story in present tense, I believe. For some reason, this change actually helped me to describe the angst better (and I think this might be a reason why I've stalled on Atop the Broken Universal Clock).
Like Serenity in the Palm of Your Hand, I didn't expect positive reactions to this one but was pleasantly surprised that there were. :) I am glad I did write it. I wouldn't have thought of other similarly unconventional plot bunnies for Danny/Flack stories if I hadn't.
5. RNA and DNA
Oh my, the very first story featured a non-D/F pairing and was a pairing of Flack with one of the most unlikely main characters on the show, Hawkes. The mind-boggling thing for me was that all it took to inspire this story was that one scene Flack and Hawkes had in that magic shop in episode 3x18, their conversation about Houdini.
This was a tricky one. There was hardly any character background on Hawkes (and there still isn't, damnit!). Flack didn't have a lot of character background development either, so it was a case of me thinking up their pasts from scratch and hoping it'd fit them as best as can be. Moreover, before that magic shop scene, the two detectives barely had any scenes together. (The only one that stands out is the one where Flack told Hawkes off for giving his number out to a victim's family or something in season two.)
Heh, I think one of the best things to come out of this story was seeing the number of Flack/Hawkes shippers grow. Didn't think the story would actually get more people interested in the pairing, but it did and that's a good thing in my books.
6. You and I Unselfed
Oh man, another angsty story. *lol* Seems 2007 was a year for angst.
This was my response to the utter lack of continuity on Flack's serious injury as a result of the bomb explosion in the season two finale. I tell ya, when I saw episode 3x01 and Flack was walking around like nothing happened to him so soon after what happened, I wanted to headdesk. The whole one-and-a-half-months recovery period was very unconvincing to me. I mean, his whole abdomen was a bloody carnage. It was quite unrealistic that he was back to normal just like that within a matter of weeks!
There was also the issue of Danny's reaction to Flack being wounded so badly, or rather, the very uncharacteristic absence of it. I felt it was out of character of him. I was also annoyed at how blatant it was that characterization was sacrificed for the sake of pushing the story.
This story happened to be another fanfiction request too, and it was just perfect that it asked for details on Danny's reaction and how Flack's injuries would affect their relationship. Really enjoyed writing this one.
I am very amused that this story is linked in some places with the last word of the title changed to Unsettled, even though I took it straight from a translated poem by Rumi and specifically wanted the title that way.
7. Roses and Thorns
The sequel to RNA and DNA. This one was a monster of a story (although not as long as To DD or Not to DD, I think). It was gargantuan to me in the sense that it spanned a period of over seven years and I had to figure out how to maintain characterization for every character in relation to whatever occurred to them in the future in the story. (It goes AU after episode 3x19.)
This was a total angst-fest. *lol* I've had people tell me it made them cry! I sincerely didn't mean for the story to be so sad in certain parts but, what can I say, Danny and Flack, they draw the angst to them like honey does the honey bear.
I was very, very tempted to write a different ending than the current one. The main reason I didn't was due to the overload of angst that alternative one would create. It would have been too much even for me! (As of writing this, I am still very, very tempted to write that different ending. If I have the time, I just might make some Flack/Hawkes fans happy.)
8. Say What?
Yes, it's true. I wrote this one after reading a news article about the town of Fucking in Austria. *lol*
I had to write something funny because I was overwhelmed by all the angst I was writing in Roses and Thorns.
I'd love to visit Fucking one day. Maybe I can still snatch the sign!
9. The First Time
... it's another angst story, hahahah! As I said in the story post: Think of this as what canon might be like from the viewpoint of a Danny/Flack shipper. And yes, I did write it in response to how the show has been since season two, as well as what the spoilers have been like for the upcoming season four so far.
This was written before season four officially aired so, yeah, I was rather disappointed at a lot of what was hinted by Bonbon Anthony Zuiker would be literally be in-your-face in the new season. I just couldn't see things logically flowing the way Zuiker was claiming it would be and, also yeah, this story was my response to what he said and what I thought might make more sense in consideration of the foreshadowing in the season three finale and more.
And as of writing this, seeing how season four has unfolded so far ... it's good to know I can still trust my gut instincts. *g*
10. The 1 Sentence Challenge
Okay, not full stories per se, but more like teeny fics bundled up into a sentence each. A great challenge that made me think of many more story plots and imagery for Danny/Flack. If you're a writer and ya got a block, try this challenge out!
11. A Matter of Perspective
Total manly, humorous floof. I won't say anything more than that. ;P Was trying out a different approach too.
12. The Alphabet Drabble Challenge
Something like the 1 Sentence Challenge, except this involves creating 100-word drabbles using a set of 26 words, each starting with a different letter from the alphabet. The word limit was what made it interesting to me and helped me to see and write ideas in different ways.
13. Wherever You Go
Ahh, as of writing this, still a work-in-progress but one of my favorites. I'm hoping it'll be one of those stories that'll make the reader smile their head off no matter how many times they read it. :) After The First Time, I was requested by some readers for something floofy and happy with minimal angst. They didn't want to see Danny and Flack go through any more angsty suffering for a while. *lol*
Strangely enough, the first installment of this story is the only one so far that has ever received as many comments as the first installment of One Week, and that one was possibly the porniest thing I've written yet!
Well, well, it seems happy floofiness is right up there with extreme smut. Innnnnteresting.
14. The Way to a Man's Heart
A floofy one-shot I wrote after watching a season four episode where Flack mentioned loving corn beef, hahah. I just couldn't resist writing a story where Danny cooked some for him.
15. The Lover100 Challenge
Right, as of writing this, I've only completed seven out of a hundred prompts so far. Some of my stories for this challenge will feature the following:
- An AU where Flack is a vampire who saves Danny from a vampire attack and *ahem* gets under Danny's skin in more ways than one.
- An AU where the entire CSI team and Flack are superheroes and fight supervillains as part of their jobs. Flack has wings and can fly, while Danny is able to summon fire and also fly for certain periods of time.
- A modern-day AU where Danny is a merman prince who saves Flack from drowning, also a prince, after Flack's yacht is hijacked by pirates.
- An AU set in ancient Rome detailing the past lives of Danny and Flack as their first incarnations, a Viking called Darri and a Spartan called Dorotheos.
Phew, and that's all for my 2007 fic review! I hope to write many more stories for Danny/Flack and other pairings this year too. :)
refreshed
