switchbladeeyes

thefruitbat very kindly beta read for me recently, and told me LaCroix was a "mean girl" in my fic, calling him Regina Georgecroix.

I laughed sooooo hard at that!! And now, I CAN'T UNSEE IT! 😆😆😆

Thus, this was born:



p.s. If you're not familiar, Mean Girls is a movie about a toxic high school clique. One of the girls in the clique desperately wanted to coin "fetch" as a new slang term and kept using it, hoping it would catch on. Regina George, the clique's absolute queen bee, finally told her, "Stop trying to make fetch happen. It's not going to happen."

Seen floating around DW, and because I've yet to see a fic meme that I said no to:

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

30 on AO3.

(Another 14 or so are still floating around out there NOT on AO3, but in older archives or print zines. I keep meaning to import some of them.)

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

171,170

3. What are your top five fics by kudos?

1. More Than One Prison - Oz - 45 kudos
2. TIE: Two Truths and a Lie - Oz - 41 kudos, and Expecting the Unexpected - Star Trek: Enterprise - 41 kudos
3. Zero-Sum - Oz - 26 kudos
4. Poison in Their Blood - Forever Knight - 21 kudos
5. Dust to Dust - Forever Knight - 19 kudos

4. What fandoms do you write for?

Since I got back into fandom two years ago, pretty much entirely Forever Knight. I dabbled with Oz in a couple fics, but all my current projects are Forever Knight.

Before my 15-ish year fandom hiatus, I wrote for a bunch of fandoms, but mainly Oz.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Usually. It’s nice to acknowledge someone taking the time to leave a comment. Also sometimes chat in the comments about the story. Occasionally though, I forget and then realize later, but, idk, it feels weird to leave a response “late.”

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Talking only of the fic on AO3, ummmm… not sure. Several have angsty endings. Not sure what makes one the “angstiest" though. I can't answer this one.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I don’t really seem to do fics where everyone is happy by the end. I favor “hopeful and bittersweet” endings more than ones that are “happy.”

I guess I’d have to go with Squid Pro Quo, an absurdist Forever Knight story in which Nick befriends a giant tentacle monster lol.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, thankfully.

9. Do you write smut?

No, but I have one in the works 😏.

10. Do you write crossovers?

No. I did a stealth crossover many, many years ago (the crossover reveal was basically the punchline of a short story).

The challenge with crossovers is you have to find people willing to read two different fandoms. And since I already write in such a teeny fandom, I’m not sure there’d be much appeal. (Though I still have it sitting in the back of my find to do an FK/What We Do in the Shadows crossover lol.)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Only Forever Knight fans will get what this means, but yes, because I was an active writer in a Forever Knight faction war back in the 90s.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

In my Oz fandom days of yore (like 20 years ago omg), the toxic canonical pairing of Beecher/Keller was definitely my jam.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

None. I do not doubt that I will finish the WIPs that I want to finish.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. This comes the easiest for me, and I think I’m pretty good at it. Most scenes I write start with the dialogue.

I think I also can construct interesting endings.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Describing action. Unlike dialogue, this does not come to me easily. My brain is not great at “spatial” things. So it takes a lot of effort for me to describe scenes that have intensive action. I can picture the action in my mind, but I struggle with articulating what I’m visualizing. Because of this, I spend a lot of time drafting and fine-tuning this kind of thing when writing.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

When reading, I don’t like it if the meaning is not made immediately apparent by a translation or context unless it’s a commonly known word or phrase, e.g., no one needs to translate "bon jour", or unless even the characters aren't supposed to know what the words mean like as a plot device to keep information from the characters. I never go to endnotes to look for translations. I just forge ahead and assume it wasn't that important.

Given my own personal preferences, when I put dialogue in another language, which isn't often, I provide an immediate translation in italics. Like so:

“Janette,” I whisper against her ear. “Qu'est-ce que tu fais ici?” What are you doing here?

“La meilleure revanche,” she replies, breathless, reminding me of our first night together a thousand years ago. The best revenge.

I only inject non-English dialogue very occasionally and briefly (not for the entirety of a scene, like the above was the only French in that scene). I only do it in Forever Knight fics because, canonically, it's just something a few of the characters sometimes do with each other. They'll slip between English and (typically) French, so I'll pop in a bit of French every now and then.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Forever Knight. Back in the 90s. I've come full circle lol.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

Of my old stuff, Two Truths and a Lie (Oz). Two characters trapped together, who have strong feelings for one another. They play a game that turns into a total mind fuck/power play because one is a psychopath. The other ends up just kind of having to accept it if he's going to carry on. A fave because I think I just really "got" these characters.

And of my new stuff, The Strangest Inklings (Forever Knight). Speaking of mind games and power plays, I had so much fun writing this one last year. I turned the tables on a character who, TBH, had it coming. I did not want the readers to see the twist in this story coming, just as the POV character didn't see it coming. Gotta say, the payoff was good in terms of feedback on that. A fave because it was just so dang fun to write.

I've seen this making the rounds, and I've never done it before so why not. I’ve been active on AO3 for a little less than two years. I have posted a lot of new stuff in that time (15 fics!) and also imported some old stuff (I keep meaning to import some more).

Share links to your fics with the most hits, second-most kudos, third-most comment threads, fourth-most bookmarks, fifth-most words, and fewest words

Most hits
Expecting the Unexpected (Star Trek: Enterprise) (T, gen, ~13.7k words) (404 hits)

This comes as no surprise to me given that it’s Star Trek, which, as a fandom, I assume has a ton of readers. If anyone was on Usenet back in the day and remembers the ASC Awards, this story won one back in 2001.

I wrote this while the show was airing, so sometime early in the first season, when I still maintained hope for it. As it turned out, I never actually finished watching the series. The show just could never quite live up to its potential for me. The fan fiction, I suspect, is probably better than the show. And maybe this particular canon-divergent story is better than the episode that spawned it.

Most kudos
More Than One Prison (Oz) (T, ~1k words, Beecher/Keller) (42 kudos)

This did come as a surprise. I would have thought Star Trek would have won out again, and it came very close. In a fit of Oz nostalgia back in 2023, I wrote this "20 years later" story for oz_magi's "Party in the Dress Factory." I'm pleased so many Oz fans enjoyed it.

Most comment threads:
Dust to Dust (Forever Knight) (T, ~34k words, gen) (16 threads)

Most comment threads, but few commenters. (Big shout out to Calliope24 for really coming along for this ride.) I'm proud of this one.

Most bookmarks
Expecting the Unexpected again (7 bookmarks)

Again, no surprise given the large number of Star Trek fans in the world.

Most words
Dust to Dust again (~34k words)

The longest piece of fic I’ve ever written by far. The next longest one clocks in at only a little over 14k words.

Fewest words
Seven drabbles written for “Hard Time 100” (Oz) (100 words each)

I wrote most of these maybe 20-ish years ago when I was quite active in the Oz fandom. However, one was from 2023, when I discovered hardtime100 exists here on Dreamwidth. Talk about a blast from the past.

And now for some bonus categories...

Most commenters
The Strangest Inklings (Forever Knight) (T, ~7k words, Nick/LaCroix, Nick/Natalie) (10 commenters)

As I mentioned, the fic with the most comment threads had few commenters, so I decided to track down the fic with the most commenters. This fic was a total mind game. I had a blast writing it. And 10 people in this teeny fandom found it interesting enough to leave a comment.

Honorable mention
Two Truths and a Lie (Oz) (M, ~1.6k words, Beecher/Keller)
(387 hits and 5 bookmarks)

Runner up on hits and bookmarks, for which it was overshadowed by the "Star Trek factor." Feels like it's worth mentioning because it's a much smaller fandom. This one is another total mind game. It's a personal favorite and I consider it one of the best things I've ever written in terms of grasping the characters involved.

I started this post to share a Forever Knight meme, but then I began brain dumping about LaCroix. So here we are.

For me, LaCroix is a super fun FK character because he's unpredictable. Is he going to fuck up some shit? Or is he going to be helpful? Or maybe somehow both? You just never know. He’s also fun because he can be quite witty.

There's a marked evolution in the complexity of the character and his attitudes across the seasons. IMO, season 1 LaCroix is basically Snidely Whiplash, a stereotypical mustache-twirling, cartoon villain. (If you don't know who Snidely Whiplash is, please get thee to classic episodes of "Rocky & Bullwinkle.") Wikipedia sums it up nicely:

Whiplash is obsessed with tying young women to railroad tracks; he has no reason to do so and realizes no gain, profit or advantage, but is simply compelled to do it.

I feel like this parallels season 1 LaCroix in some respects: he is obsessed with fucking with Nick; he has no reason to do so and realizes no gain, profit, or advantage, but is simply compelled to do it. (I mean, his ostensible motivation is to keep Nick in the fold, but then he also just pulls some wild, cartoon villain stunts. Turning Alexandra? Daniel? Just for the funsies of fucking with Nick? “I did it for the lulz.” - Season 1 LaCroix, probably.)

Season 2 starts out with some of that same energy, but then quickly retreats from having Snidely LaCroix trying to forcibly tie Nick to the metaphorical railroad tracks. He backs off and starts to morph into a more complex character. Instead of being Snidely LaCroix, he becomes instead, idk, Darth LaCroix. We get more of his backstory, which makes him feel like a more fully realized character instead of just an agent of chaos in Nick's life. He switches tactics from force to persuasion, resulting in quite a shift in dynamics. I mean, geez, Nick even seeks him out at times. LaCroix's behavior becomes more consistent with his objective of pulling Nick in. And he is actually helpful to Nick at times when he could just fuck things up for him.

Then along comes season 3 LaCroix. He still has his Snidely moments in some of the flashbacks (I'm still mad about Nick's dog), but in the present day? He takes a major chill pill toward Nick. So much so that he helps Nick preserve his modern self in "Night in Question" and "Sons of Belial," which I've previously commented struck me as quite strange of him to do. His backstory became even more complex during season 3. I also felt like Nick was starting to rub off on him just a smidge by the end.

Anyway, I don't really know where I'm going with this, but feel free to chime in.

As I said, this started with a meme. As I was toiling away at delightedly working on the challenge of fan fiction that tries to reconcile some season 1 cartoon villainy with the more complicated character we learn about in seasons 2 and 3, I made a meme lol.

Dumb, but funny lol!

(The French word for bread is "pain.")