By Slanted Light

Feeling desirous of thinky-thoughts today, so here's a TW fic that I've just quite liked...

Writ in Water by sam_storyteller.

I used to have a set of Hnaeftl - still do, probably, stored somewhere - but it didn't work like that... The story was written for WriterInADrawer, which is a Survivor/Big Brother type TW challenge, which is kind of interesting but I think would require a big fandom and lots of people with time to write quickly...

Can I go back to bed now...? No, no I can't... today is the first day that I'm pretending my job is to come into work and write! I have a fic to finish!

Okay, I'm back to reading Torchwood again (but I'm writing Pros too - hurrah!) and this has just been recced at torchwood_house, and I nearly didn't read it because it's really about Mica, Ianto's niece, but - ohmigod! Do go and read it, because it's fabulous - it's post-CoE (another reason I nearly didn't read it, cos I'm still loving and exploring the earlier seasons) but it's really, at its very heart, Jack/Ianto, and I'm just stunned by it...

Snapshots by tearoseandhoney.

And if you do read it, please come and tell me what you think so I can go wheeee with you! (Or not... *g*)

A couple of recs, for anyone who might be listening... *g*

Apparently I'm in the mood for being comforted and coddled and made to go awwwww, cos these are that kind of fic, even though they're more than that too...

Collective Noun: Pride by Miss WinterHill
Everything I like about a good fic - heart and soul and a bit of exercise along the way. Very much Jack/Ianto, but Gwen is right there with them so it's the team really; it's not just a story-about-something-that-happened there's a wee bit of think-y philosophy; and something does happen, it's not just sitting around talking... Plus, cuddly. *g*

Ooh, just now accidentally found this one, when I was looking for the link to another story: Borne by Wind, We Southward Blow by Miss Winterhill
Backstory for Ianto, which I'm not often into but I thought I'd give this a go and it's lovely - in fact I'd go so far as to say magical...

And this is the one I was looking for - Marry, Shag or Cliff by Miss Winterhill, which is just... Just really really good fun, a story that makes you feel good.

I'm really glad I persevered with misswinterhill - the first story I read of hers struck me as just wrong somehow - maybe a bit too American, or somehow out of culture (and thus character) or something. But it turns out that must have been a glitch, cos I'm really enjoying her other TW fic! Yeay! *g*

So it turns out that Crocs, laminate flooring and rain do not play well together. On the bright side, I didn't break anything. On the other side - ouch.

So I cheered myself up by watching Day Five of Torchwood: Children of Earth again, having watched one to four between Friday and last night. No, really, definitely did. *g* Because it is epic. It loses nothing on the re-watch, which I was a bit worried it might, and in fact now I want to watch the whole thing again. Bloody cracking bit of telly, and I'm sorry but the nay-sayers can just all fuck off. (*waves to flist and ducks*) I watched the Declassified bit at the end for the first time too, and I agree with everything RTD said about his decisions - if he'd done anything else it would have been something completely different, and something far less true. And I am so sick of spin.

And Ianto - I'd forgotten/skimmed over/wished otherwise, but he's the one who actually prompts most of Jack's actions through this, certainly in Day Four and Five. "The Jack I knew would have..." he says, so that Jack has to try and face down the 456, has to try and be that kind of hero - but he's not, he's not the Doctor, and it's not Hollywood (You know what I mean *g*) and he's just not the man that can do that - he's not got there yet. One day he will be, we totally have faith that he will be, but... he's not that man yet. And so they fail...

And it's bloody brilliant, and it's about real heroes and what they do to the world because everything has side effects, and everything has consequences...

And I know I'm just rambling to myself, but... it does.

Has anyone else watched it more than once? Bet not... I promise it's worth it, it's totally worth it...

Just... really, really liked this...

What You Forgot by harmyjo.

Oh, just realised, posted somewhere called thrilldivine... Oh, okay, looks like her own fic journal... and yeay, she has more Jack/Ianto there!

ETA - and yet none of the same standard as that first one, disappointingly...

... cos the last thing I heard before I walked into work and had to switch off the audiobook, was GDL saying "Ianto pressed his body up against Jack..."

Gaaaah! Timing!

Actually I've not finished reading this - don't tell me the ending (though I bet I can guess... *g*) - but I've got a question...

Ianto has an eidetic memory? Does he? I'm thinking this is fanon (I've come across it quite a bit now), unless it's maybe from that para-canon TW has from the Beeb etc? I don't remember it from the eps, but... anyone know/remember for sure?

The story's... good... You see I'm saying that with dots... *g* They're all a bit superhero for my liking, I guess - Ianto was a hero from Canary Wharf rather than just a bloke desperate to save his half-converted girlfrield, and Jack is ever so understanding, and has picked up various gadgets and knowledge and wisdom from his time with the Doctor, which... hmmn. And there are various original characters who are shaping up to be clever and witty and yet adorably rebellious and off-the-wall... Also (so far, and we find out pretty quickly so this isn't really a spoiler) Owen is not just a bit of a twat he's also an evil twat who betrays TW because he's a bad 'un through and through, and Gwen is dead, both of which smacks to me of I-don't-like-this-character-so-hah-take-that...

I mean, it's good in that I'm still reading it, and if it wasn't then I wouldn't be... *g*... but I've got to admit that so far it's most of the things I like least about telly - everyone's just a bit too shiny, you know? I kind of like that Ianto was average at school, was only good at saving Lisa up to a point, was really scared and separate from the team in Countrycide, and does lots of things through common sense ("also, it says so at the bottom of the screen") rather than because he has a PhD in geoastrocomputer physics...

Also - "Yan"? Do we ever hear Jack calling him "Yan"? Just... doesn't sound right... Okay, now I'm getting picky... *g*

PC Andy's in it! I like PC Andy! (Although Gwen was apparently only nice because Andy'd rubbed off on her - quit giggling in the back, you know what I mean... *g* - she was really a horrid person which we know because of the way she treated Rhys not matter what she said...)

I'm trying to think of a Pros equivalent... maybe it's in the Bodie's-a-superhero-merc, Doyle's-a-stingy-ex-plod type fic - well enough written, but with clear favourites, you know?

Anyone else TW-ish read this one? What d'you think? (It seems to be well-praised in general, a TW classic, and I think it won a fan award) It is good and long - 100+ pages when I got it all printed up... *g*

ETA - nicely written ending!

For izzie7 cos I said I would - even if I am late... *g* And not finished yet... *g*

Torchwood fic that's looked promising enough for me to print out - and that I now need to re-read, but I think it's pretty much all lived up to the promise! I'm about halfway through listing the piles - I'll add links/comments etc as I go on... hopefully. *g* (Hmmn - is there anything you'd like to know about the stories? I could comment about that beside each one (though bear in mind I don't do spoilers in the form of warnings - they'll be there via the links though, from authors, usually... *g*)

( Torchwood fic Wot I Have Read )

Was at Magistrate's Court getting the second batch of things signed this week, and having thought all was sorted and done as best we could and out of my hands, someone here in the office was chatting about visa applications and questioned the definition government's (NZ in this case, mind) use of "dependent" so now... now I'm direly in need of comfort-fanning... There's nothing I can do beyond re-reading what I read a dozen times before and coming to the same conclusions, but... just... gaaargh.

Still wandering the Torchwood fic sites, the occasional vid, and *points to new shiny* odd icon site, and I found some more good stories... I had all these good intentions of listing the fic I read in TW and making little notes or comments or reviews or whatever, but of course I'm just doing my usual voracious reading thing, where there's barely time to breathe between stories, let alone write anything down... What discipline? *sigh* But nice, and good for world-ignoring when required... *g*

Anyway have found some good ones, mostly through torchwood_house and fairyd123_recs. Also happily found someone else ranting about the idea of tea and coffee being served with cream (or worse, creamer) over here... Not just me then! *g*



The two pics are from a post telling the story of Jack/Ianto, which I thought was kind of fun - by aquila_star...

Guard Them and Him Within by etharei was posted to the Tardis Big Bang - it's 38,000 words, and rather cool - a bit different. Ianto falls through the Rift, and encounters a version of Jack...

ETA - buggrit, buggrem - have been trying to do this all day, and getting (quel surpris) distracted. Ah well - will post my entire two recs anyway... even if only one's a fic. But there are two pretty pictures... Don't think it's even worth a cut, actually, although let me know if it's pissing you off without and I shall immeejitly jump to it...

But for now I shall walk back to the Park and Ride, ponder the wisdom of stopping in to Waitrose to get a bottle of red wine, the bliss of London tomorrow, and the extra bliss that is my landlady and child away for the weekend - leaving me with the big telly to continue watching Doctor Who Cap'n Jack eps on... End of Season One last night, he'd just been left behind - oh his face, his face...

So, was taking a break from online mobile phone bills going back to 2007 (not mine, don't ask...) and followed a link from fairyd123_recs and came across a Doctor Who/Torchwood community called Tardis Big Bang - which of course turned out to be one of those write-long-story comms that people have apparently been talking about to encourage longer stories in Pros (mentioned by MsMoat? Callisto? at the Close Quarters con? I think, according to various reports...)

So while I was there I had a wander round... 'tis interesting - the idea seems to be that people commit to writing long fic (minimum 20,000 words) and others make artwork/vids to accompany the stories. There's a deadline schedule that goes like this (for their particular challenge/comm):

"# February 15: Signup deadline for Authors.
# April 26: Deadline for a rough draft of at least 15,000 words.
# May 10: Art assignments.
# June 14: Final drafts (must be beta'ed) and art/vids due.
# Late June: Website goes live!"

So it looks like the idea is that people have 4 months to write their fics/create their artwork - hmmn, in 2007 they had 7 months - maybe people wrote more quickly than they expected after all!

Oh, and here's the livejournal info page where it's all explained... and even better, here's their very first sign up post (in 2007!) to see how it's done... You have to post a synopsis with your sign-up, even if you don't specifically stick to it. And artists are sent out assignments for specific fics? But I think they volunteer for specific fics in their own sign up post? Being me I concentrated on the story bit, sorry... *g*

Anyway - now that I've seen what that sort of thing is about, I'm curious about what people think Pros-wise. Is someone actually practically thinking of doing one of these? Did the discussion get as far as planning, or is it very much in a ooh-look-what-these-other-fandoms-are-doing stage? We actually had a three-month-long challenge at Dialj not long ago, and didn't get much response, let alone long fic posted - would the excitement of having a whole separate community for it (and potentially a website, pdfs and e-books, if the Tardis Big Bang is anything to go by... *g*) be something that encouraged participation, d'you think?

It could be like a little flurry of online zines, which would be nice - longer fic at the moment seems to be locked up in the various new zines currently around. Readers would still have to wait months and months for the stories, but they'd be freely available, which would be nice...

Just wonderin', since I've seen an example now... *g* Whaddya reckon? Do we have enough writers and artists in Pros who'd be up for it? (The other fandoms I've seen the Big Bangs associated with tend to be really big ones) Would you be up for writing for it? Sticking to the deadlines? (Yes, you!? *g*)