Poll Time (because I am bored)

[hells_half_acre]

Hello,[Poll #1715106]
Sam is frightened of my poll:

Sorry, I just love this cap.

Comments

[dairygirl.livejournal.com]

Because you did not lock down the first question to one choice, I selected both the Demented timestamp and "Something else. I have a suggestion that I will leave in comments..."
My suggestion: another combo with Supernatural, Sherlock and Harry Potter? You did so well last time and I am one of those very demanding requesters who wants more! It does not have to be the same kind of story but I certainly would not turn down something more in the tripartite crossover you wrote for me.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Ooo, you always know how to give me a challenge that's hard to resist...

I make no promises, of course, but part of my brain started working on it the moment I read your comment.

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

I know the feeling. But I do have a suggestion, or at least something that sometimes works for me - try reading something in a fic genre you don't usually read. This usually works for me, because 1. I can read the "best" ones since I missed them the first time around and 2. since it's relatively new to me, I won't be so familiar with the hallmarks of those stories that it feels like I've already read them over and over again. (And if you'd like some recs in the AU department, which I know you're not a big fan of, I've got some good ones).

As to the writing thing- why not try something in a fandom (even if it's via crossover) you've never written for before? It's another way to conquer the fic reading/writing doldrums IMO.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Hmm, those are good suggestions. I'm not sure if I'm ready to try jumping into AU fic, but I'll keep it in mind. Though, I suppose for curiosities sake, I could have you rec me your favorite, most IC, AU fic.

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

My first instinct was to recommend a "gateway" AU (hehe), that is, something that's AU like WIAWSNB or The French Mistake was AU . But no, I think I'm going to go whole hog and recommend this: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4822628/1/The_Obeisance_of_Memory

Why I think you'll like it: Of the many AUs I've read, I think this one is probably the most easily cited example of how you can use an AU element (in this case, Dean coming back from hell with amnesia) to really explore a character. Here, you have a Dean who doesn't know he's dean, and even when he does....and thinks of himself as very different from "old" dean, the audience is just clobbered with the very dean-ness of it all, even as he does things that canonically would be very wrong. For example, this, which always cracks me up:

"Sam stares at him as if he's a retard, which makes Dean slightly anxious since Sam's supposed to be watching the road. "No, I meant you'd kill me. Slowly and painfully."

The emphatic stress makes Dean blink. "Aren't you exaggerating here a tiny little bit?" he furrows his forehead. "I wouldn't kill you."

"Sure," Sam says dryly, "that's what you say now, but someday you'll recover your memory and come after me with a machete for touching your baby. Much as I like saying I told you so, I'd really rather keep my head, thanks."

He rolls his eyes. "I'm sure I can -"

"Machete, Dean," Sam repeats insistently, looking utterly serious.

Dean opens his mouth, frowns, scratches the back of his neck. Finally he mumbles, "…Man, you weren't kidding about the unhealthy obsession thing, were you?"

Sam gives him a wry smile. "You call it 'baby' and talk to it when you think I'm not around. And when I am, actually, now that I think about it."

He stands there for a moment.

Damn.

"Well, maybe that's exactly why we need to take initiative and fix this," he says determinedly, plowing ahead. "You know, make the before-me realize it's just a car and – " he catches the horrified look on his brother's face and rolls his eyes. "Sam, I'm sure I wouldn't actually kill you. I mean, I think I can safely say I love you more than the car."

The younger Winchester blinks. Opens his mouth, closes it. Tilts his head to the side, shakes it a little bit, and just full out stares. Rinse and repeat, until it finally seems as if Sam's settled on just staring with none of that other stuff.

As is often the case, Dean has the feeling that there's something going on here that he's missing, but for once Sam doesn't look like dark and stormy night and more, well, more like he's just surprised. Stunned, even. He replays what he said in his head, but no matter how many times he goes over it, Dean can't think of anything that isn't incredibly smart and witty and normal. Maybe – well no, more like definitely– Sam is just weird.

Or maybe, he suddenly thinks with a flinch, maybe he's actually hit a nerve. Maybe this wasn't a joke, maybe the Impala actually is the kind of dealbreaker that would get a guy to turn on his little brother even despite all the sacrificing and going to hell to save his life. It doesn't make much sense, but the before-Dean doesn't sound like all that stable a guy to begin with – at least if ghost girl and his brother are to believed, and that isn't a completely unbiased audience, true, but it's all he has to go on.

"…Right?" he ventures, a little desperately, [...]

But Sam keeps on staring like he's going for a Guinness world record, which doesn't bode well.

Is that a no? Dean wonders frownily, and thinks wow, their relationship must have been really messed up if all that stood before Sam and disgraced exile was a muscle car.

...It would explain a lot though.

The silence stretches for a while. At one point Sam clears his throat, and Dean waits hopefully, but seems like no, Sam's not planning on saying anything just yet.

A full five minutes – a goddamned eternity – goes by.

"Uh, y-yeah," Sam finally says, dazedly. "Right, yeah. Clearly."

…More silence. Same awkward kind. Dean doesn't know what to think anymore, but asking outright whether he used to be a volatile psycho is a little too blunt, even for him.

Dean clears his throat.

Time for a subject change.

"So… ever thought about getting a haircut?""

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, ok...that passage sold me...*wanders off to read more*

Thanks!

[elsewhere-kels.livejournal.com]

I marked the "having no life" one, but only in a self-deprecating way that I tell myself it every time I feel like that. XDD Hope you get some good recs!

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Ha, I admire your honesty...because, yes, that is how I feel ;)

[elsewhere-kels.livejournal.com]

:) By the way, have you by any chance already read The Way Back by rainylemons? At first I had assumed you must have, but then you might not have and I didn't want you to miss out by not reccing it! It's excellently written, long, gen, and tugs at your heartstrings. :) I have plans to podfic it sometime in the future.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Boh! Shoulda warned me for WIP!

Ah well...it was entertaining. An interesting experiment...I probably could read a few AUs if they were done similarly. But I'm not sure if I like the mix of canon or not..like, if you're going to go AU, you might as well go all out.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Nope! It's an AU, so I haven't read it. I'm kind of a canon-nazi most of the time.

However, I will check it out in order to expand my horizons a little. :) Thanks for the rec!

[whistler-wren.livejournal.com]

This is a false alarm, though, because what I really want to say is the obvious answer is to ADD MOAR FANDOMS!

I'm sure there are lots of things people are willing to rec in that regard. Or just explore favorites lists. That's how I do most of my series-exploring.

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

Sorry! I forgot Yeah, this is definitely one of the episode-following AUs, and I kind of forgot it was a WIP because of that.

I tend to like the AUs that play a lot with canon rather than diverging greatly from it - that is, while I'm usually skeptical of the 'change one element, then rewrite every episode' types, I do love me some timey-wimey ball AUs where all the seasons get smashed together at great speed - Bellatemple's big bang last year was an excellent example of that.

[alexseanchai]

I remember prompting you with Sherlock and John investigating something that, were it in America, Sam and Dean would be investigating, might in fact be investigating during Weekend at Bobby's, busman's holiday sort of thing. WRITE THAT.

[kitishy.livejournal.com]

Um, I would like to second this motion for reasons of awesomeness. *grin*

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's still in the back of my mind. The reason I haven't dived write into writing it is that I'm really not sure how to go about writing soulless Sam. But, when I figure out how I want to treat him, I'll definitely write something along these lines.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the problem is that there aren't very many fandoms that "do it for me"...I mean, I used to watch Doctor Who and Torchwood, but I was never interested in fanfic from them. I used to read A:TLA fic, but grew extremely bored very quickly.

I got sick of the shipping wars in Harry Potter...though, maybe I should see if anyone's written any new post-series Scorpius centred pieces in the past 2 years. I really liked the WIP The Inconveniences of Being a Malfoy...but sadly, it remained an unfinished WIP :(

I don't actually watch that much television, and the television that I do watch (besides SPN and Sherlock) doesn't make good fic-fodder...and the television that did make good fic-fodder is stuff that ended years ago, and I've sort of lost interest in wading through the quagmire of recycled tropes to find any new good fic.

But yes, maybe I should see if I can find some reccing journals or favorite lists...

[alexseanchai]

*nods*

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Great rec!! Thanks so much, I REALLY enjoyed that. It's exactly the kind of AU fic that I like...see my own "Sam Is..." story for proof :P

Lovely, thanks so much :)