a vaguely self-aggrandizing (to me) writing meme

Overly Devoted Archivist Uncategorized fanfic, fanfiction, me, my fanfiction, my stuff 0 Comments

Okay it isn’t actually self-aggrandizing, it just feels that way because I hate blowing my own trumpet. BUT I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE COOL to do a meme where everyone looks through their fanfics and picks out the five best lines they’ve written and posts them with commentary! Does that sound good? I’ll start, as you may have guessed…

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5. “I am not a solid creature,” said Grantaire. “I need many hands to mould me.”– Stone

God I miss Grantaire. I mean, you know, he hasn’t gone anywhere, but I miss him. I miss how everyone used to talk about him. This story was for a ficathon! And I actually had kind of a blast writing it, even though it deals with some extremely crappy stuff. I think I got Grantaire in-character, because he keeps saying seemingly meaningless-but-actually-meaningful stuff. Which is just the sort of thing I like to write!

4. “Many Of Them Were Killed. But I Can Say With Absolute Certainty That They Did Not Die.”
– Garnet to Mayor Dewey, Don’t Ruin It

With a gimmick (I mean that in a honestly adoring way) ripped off from Terry Pratchett, Garnet sums up my Thoughts On History. Also, I absolutely adore Don’t Ruin It, if only because “a Terry Pratchett-inspired Steven Universe/Les Miserables crossover that explores the relationships between Enjolras and Grantaire, Pearl and Rose, Pearl and Mayor Dewey, Mayor Dewey and his son, Garnet and Pearl, and humans and stories” is something that sounds nigh-on impossible to pull off. But I hope I did it.

3. “It’s very likely that this Amy was a prostitute,” said one of the men. – Amy

This line delights me on several levels, most of them sort of meta-y re: the treatment of women in art, be that art the paintings of Vincent van Gogh or the episodes of Doctor Who. Also that whole section of the story is I guess is a kind of – nod to? statement about? – the fact that Amy was indeed created by a man who has problematic views on women, but right now I’m creating her. I get to say what she is! Or perhaps she does? I would need a lot of time and effort to follow any of that through to its natural conclusion, but yeah. I like that line.

2. “We judge people by what they do, not by what was done to them.” – Amy Pond to Madame Kovarian, Things They Talked About In The Playground

dear GOD, TTTAITP. It’s still the fanfic I’m proudest of to this day. (its concept was, basically, ‘take all that icky stuff that happened to Amy during the pregnancy arc and actually RUN WITH IT, just like the writers didn’t’.) This is, um, a line. But a very very important one considering the fanfic’s subject matter. It shouldn’t have to be, mind.

1. I AM AFRAID OF WAR AND WEAPONS. I AM AFRAID OF THE LICH. AND I AM AFRAID OF YOU.
– Death (that Death? Sure) to Simon Petrikov, Humanity in the Abstract

Death from Adventure Time turns out to be the same Death from Discworld (it’s vaguely explained, don’t worry) and he pays Simon Petrikov a visit. They have a discussion about life, death, mental illness, Marcy and monsters, and then this line happens. It is important to me for Reasons. Hey, maybe they could be your Reasons too!

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If you’re a fanfic writer and you want to do this, you should totally do it!