Gwen: Demon, OK? The whole nine—cloven feet and horns and teeth. He wasn't wearing lamé though. Lorne: Yeah, the evil ones can't pull it off. It gets camp.

'Harm's Way'


Fan Fiction II: Great story! Where's the sequel?

This thread is for fanfic recs, links, and discussion, but not for actual posting of fanfic.


amyparker - Oct 14, 2021 9:41:45 am PDT #10282 of 10424
In the end it's only ever been one step, and then the next.

Since we're talking GO, does everyone know borealowl's Four Cups of Wine series? The last story is a WIP, but there's quite enough material to be getting on with.


Topic!Cindy - Feb 12, 2022 1:33:37 pm PST #10283 of 10424
What is even happening?

Not fic, but fic- adjacent:

"Son, Your Mother and I Are Worried About the Quality of Your Supernatural Slash Fiction," by Nathan Kamal: [link]

Son, I want you to know that this isn’t a criticism. Your mother and I are happy that you’re getting your ideas for the sexual tension between the troubled angel Castiel and that wisecracking scamp Dean Winchester down on paper. That scene when they end up having to sleep skin to skin in Hell because Lucifer has extinguished its fires and they lost their clothes and they need to stay warm? That could have been straight out of the show.

Except for the penetration, of course.

X-posted with Supernatural


meara - Feb 12, 2022 8:17:27 pm PST #10284 of 10424

Hah that’s hilarious, especially given that the folk here have had babies who are all grown up now, since we met (!!!?!!!)


P.M. Marc - Feb 13, 2022 12:05:27 am PST #10285 of 10424
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear

My kid writes fanfic now, that's how much time has passed.

Thankfully, not SPN.


JZ - Apr 15, 2022 10:52:34 pm PDT #10286 of 10424
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.

Is there a prescribed length for something that's essentially a character study? Should I be concerned that I'm 4300 words in? I feel like I should be concerned.


Dana - Apr 16, 2022 6:41:40 am PDT #10287 of 10424
"I'm useless alone." // "We're all useless alone. It's a good thing you're not alone."

Nope! Welcome to a common fanfic experience, aka "Wait, this thing is taking on a life of its own..."


JZ - Apr 16, 2022 8:11:04 am PDT #10288 of 10424
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.

Okay, no, to be more specific, is there an advisory length for what's essentially a character study and backstory-filling-in without a whole lot of what you'd normally call plot, and is definitely not a kissing story? At what point is it just self-indulgence?


Dana - Apr 16, 2022 8:39:20 am PDT #10289 of 10424
"I'm useless alone." // "We're all useless alone. It's a good thing you're not alone."

All fic is self-indulgence! That's why it's so great.

More helpfully, there will be plenty of readers who will devour a character study and not care what the length is. If they are your audience, there is almost literally no chance that anyone will think "This is too much of this awesome story."

There's a whole thesis in word count expectations across genres in fic vs. published literature, but if the story you're writing is making you happy, that's the story you should write.


JZ - Apr 16, 2022 12:30:50 pm PDT #10290 of 10424
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.

Well, great. 5500 words and still going (at least I have a vague idea of how to end it, which is great because I fucking suck at endings and I have way too many partial works sitting on various hard drives where the characters wouldn't shut up for 35K words and then just stopped talking and I didn't know where to go next, so it would be lovely to write something with a beginning, middle and END just once before I die), and I blame Dana.


Consuela - Apr 16, 2022 1:55:02 pm PDT #10291 of 10424
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

Go forward and write! Write what your heart wants, and it's likely to strike a chord with someone regardless.

As for endings, many years ago Nutty gave me some wise words: for a lot of stories, you can just have someone say, "OK, let's go," and then they go, the end. Possibly not the most poetic ending, but sometimes you just gotta give yourself permission to stop.