TQ: Have you ever read a fanfiction and felt inspired by it? Are there any particular pieces you read over and over again to give yourself that extra writing push? Yours or someone else's? Please provide links.

Oh yes I have. C: A lot of fics that I get from here - including this weeks - have given me a few ideas on what could happen in my own fics. For my National Treasure fics, there have been two: He That Is Not Jealous and To Catch A Thief (both NT fics). They're just amazing and well written, and inspire me to just write some good NT fic. XD For those slash fics that have two unwilling guys, it's got to be the X-Files/Torchwood fic Good People, because, honestly, I freaking LOVE that fic. I was fangirling all over the place with that one, haha. There have been a few good Red Dragon fics that I've read (they were emailed to me by a friend, but they weren't linked) that have really inspired me to do some really dark, dark fics and it even made me write my Sylaire fic My Phoenix.

Wow, sorry for the huge text wall. XD I'd add more, but I can't get all the links for them. D;


Critique:
The 'as such' seems really awkward in that sentence. I don't know if it's because I've been away from writing for so long or not, so if it doesn't sound awkward to you, don't worry about it. c:

That was the only thing that needed fixing in this that I found. I adored this, and I'm not that big of a fan of Without A Trace (for some reason, I thought it was Criminal Minds when I clicked the link XD) but you have definitely made me a huge Danny/Martin fan. C:

Okay, so the BEST things (everything was fantastic, but these stood out):

8D I just love that you have that first line in there. Like... ugh. It's just amazing.


The first paragraph was just great, and then the second one... OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG. 8DDD That's so what new couples think, it's just insane. <3


I think this is one of the most fantastic endings I've seen to a story. :]]

TQ: Yes, there was one Cold Case story in particular that influenced me to try writing my own. This one:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3071212/1/Do_No_Harm

It seems this author captured the spirit of the show perfectly, making a story that is literally identical to a tv episode in every way. He's got several others too, of similar quality. It made me want to try my hand and see if I could pull it off. I don't think I did (my story is way longer then a normal episode, but I was close enough)

Now onto the review:



Great opening. It really sucked me in and made me feel like I was really there. Very descriptive.




I liked this part too. It really drives home how conflicted he can be




So Danny's relationship with Elena doesn't count? That seemed pretty serious to me. Or does that not exist in this version? See this is why I find these Danny/Martin stories kind of hard to swallow. Both of them have had, or are currently having, relationships with the hottest female characters on the show. To go along with this story line seems to contradict everything I know about them.

Still, I gotta say I really liked the ending. It drove home your main point and resolved everything fairly well. One the main problems I have with one-shots is that they don't resolve enough, and that wasn't an issue here.

This story was written to be resolved, because it is essentially a story about resolutions. The title is actually "Remedies", though it's written differently at the top of this page.

And no, I suppose in this story, Elena and Danny's relationship doesn't count. And Australia's far enough behind that I didn't even know Martin had a girlfriend until, like, two months after I wrote this piece.

I don't usually include Danny and Elena stuff, because I'm too incompetent and it's hard to write yourself out of. That, and Australia hasn't yet really had the Danny/Elena thing, either. It's really just mean, but I know so little about their relationship (etc.) that it's hard for me to write.

And, like in regards to everything else, I'm just lazy. I think, too, that this is set around season four or five, so post-Samantha, pre-others.

...maybe I should put that in the Author's Note. Thank for pointing that out, though, Chainclaw.

TQ: Have you ever read a fanfiction and felt inspired by it? Are there any particular pieces you read over and over again to give yourself that extra writing push? Yours or someone else's? Please provide links.

I will admit to re-reading my own work, sometimes out of nostalgia (especially if it’s a piece or a fandom I haven’t visited in a while), sometimes to get myself in the right frame of mind (if I’ve been watching Bones all day and want to work on a CSI:Miami story, it’s important that I hear Tim Speedle’s voice in my head and not Agent Booth’s), and sometimes just for something to read. I’ve actually re-read some of my own stuff and found parts I didn’t remember writing! There is one piece of mine that I go back and read every once in a while for a more emotional purpose (it deals with Speedle’s death), but it hasn’t been posted anywhere yet (because it comes chronologically further along in a series I’m working on) so I can’t provide a link yet. I don’t even like to read it, honestly—it’s really sad—but sometimes I feel compelled to go back through it and I do. Mercifully, I don’t cry reading it anymore, but heads up for any of you that do!

As for other authors’ work, a lot of it inspires me, both in general and more specifically as well as positively and negatively. Generally, I’ll see a piece that badly needs a beta and feel the need to go back and proofread my own pieces. Lately I’ve had this idea for a Cold Case story worming its way around my head, but I’ve only just begun watching the show and the show hasn’t been released on DVD, so I don’t have access to the backstory that I need. Instead, I found a wonderful piece by oucellogal on ff.net (and a new member here!) called Sticking that has helped so much with that missing backstory. Plus, it’s so well written that I get involved in the plot, in the feeling of it all, and feel like I’ve been along for the Cold Case ride the whole time, which inspires my writing immensely, to the point where I might actually get the piece finished

I’ve been inspired in more specific ways, too. The most recent example is the last challenge piece I wrote a few weeks ago that involved a dog rescued from an animal shelter (Confessions). The idea to use the pooch was partly due to the fact that my own critter was a rescue, but I would never have even thought of it if I hadn’t read LLK’s To Rise Above And Beat It which deals with the same concept…though in a completely different way. I adored that story so much it stuck with me (now I get a big grin on my face every time I hear John Mayer on the radio) and it provided the missing piece for me in the challenge fic.


Critique

Things to work on:
Only three things I could find this time, so mucho improvement on the grammar front (not that you had a lot to improve in the first place, really).

• Apparently seeing the indecision in Danny’s expression, Martin made to get up, muttering something about having to leave. “Martin made to get up” just doesn’t sit quite right with me—maybe “Martin started to get up” or “Martin moved to get up”?

• Semicolon usage! Correct: A frown decorated his face; that had been an odd dream. Incorrect: Truth be told, it hadn’t really been a seduction; more an offered opportunity that was taken. Remember, it has to separate two clauses that could be complete sentences on their own. A nice dash would work really well instead though: Truth be told, it hadn’t really been a seduction—more an offered opportunity that was taken. There were a couple of other instances of semicolon abuse, too, where a dash would give you the separation you want but still keep everything together in one sentence.

• A question: did you mean for Danny to be standing, in his dream, on a pier in the ocean in Hialeah? Because that wouldn’t be possible—Hialeah’s landlocked. He’d have to take a bus or a car to get to the ocean (which I didn’t know either until I moved to Miami!).



Things that were good:
Well, you’ve got me watching WAT now, so I can comment a little on characterization I like the way you seem to be able to crawl inside Danny’s head (in this piece and in the other two from a few weeks ago). That’s the thing I always worry about most when I write—is this really what s/he would think/say/do?—and yet you do it remarkably well. Outside of the little grammar faux pas (which I honestly didn’t notice until I went back and looked for things to comment on) your style is really easy to read, so I’m not even thinking about the technical side of the story when I read it the first time, I just get to read and enjoy. I liked the way you incorporated the elements of the challenge, too. I waited until after I’d read through it once before I looked at them, and not a single one felt like it was forced or contrived, everything felt very natural, flowed very well. Nicely done

Hehe, sorry for the semi-colon abuse. I know I do it, but I can't stop. It's like an annoying habit - picking fingernails or something, which I also happen to do... Hm.

That probably says a lot more about me than it should.

Sorry about the confusion over where Danny was, though. I know Hialeah's landlocked, but it's a relatively quick drive to Miami Beach, yeah? If not, sorry again. My geography's always been shocking... I figure that a street-smart kid whose parents don't really care where he is would know how to get around pretty well.

Should have made that clearer.

And I have to say that crawling inside character's heads is one of my favourite pastimes. Sad, but true. I mean, hey, that's why I write. But I'll be sitting in class bored out of my brain and if I can't physically write, I just think, "What would so-and-so be thinking about right now?"

And my day becomes marginally more interesting, because other people's heads are far more amusing than my own. Even if they do exist in mine.

But therein lies the spirit of fanfiction, I suppose. Hehe.

All my love to you all!

Thank, guys!

Are you familiar with the letters O C and D?



It definitely wouldn't be difficult to take the bus out to the Atlantic Ocean/Biscayne Bay or to drive--he wouldn't even have to go out to Miami Beach (which is its own seperate island). There's nothing quick about the traffic in Miami, though...especially when you're in a hurry!

I promise I will try to critique this, but it won't be until probably late Monday night, as I have 2 finals tomorrow... But I will still try.

Critique:

So it looks like my first week back critiquing and I decide to critique a piece that I've already critiqued before. Haha.... that sounds so like me. But, I'm not even going to read my critique that I wrote last time so hopefully this will be a bit more useful or at least useful in a different way. Maybe. Either way, rest assured it's going to be wicked short. I've got finals to study for. (Which admittedly is probably the only reason I'm even working on a critique in the first place—damn procrastination.)

Okay so this time through the thing that stood out to me the most was the use of weather as a symbol in the first section. I'm notorious for doing the same thing—well maybe not, but I do it! Anyway, that was amazing! Every line it got more and more intense. It was like the weather was growing with intensity the more his emotions did. I dunno if I'm reading too much into it but it was just so intense. I reread that whole scene four or five times and I love it more with every pass.

Another thing, and I remember liking this a lot the first time, was the line “He was small enough that he couldn’t fight like a man, but big enough to get into fights with men.” I just love the image that line gives you—and how intensely you seem to understand this character. I don't think I would have ever thought so well into the psyche of a man to have come up with a line like that. I dunno...I'm not sure if I'm more amazed that the line is that good or that it's that good. Lol, okay that made no sense at all. I'm impressed is all—that I know and have the privilege of critiquing for the person who developed that line. It's probably one of my absolute favorite I've ever read in a fanfiction.

TQ:

Go to my favorites.

Thanks so, so much, LLK! I've never had two separate critiques on the same piece of writing before, and it is quite interesting to hear your opinions again. Hehe, not to mention ego-boosting...

I am really glad you think so much of this piece, though, because I quite like this piece myself.

The weather was sort of somewhere between a writing tool and a simple scene. I had to include a pier because of the challenge criteria, and this scene just sort of popped into my head, and it ended up working out really well as a feature and a setting. (Speaking of not making sense... Hehe).

I think it may be the one talent (though maybe "talent" isn't the right word) I have as a writer (and as a student, actually); to just invent things and basically fluke my way through. Other people's heads are just so fun to wriggle around in, especially the minds of fictional characters. The three main characters I write are men, and ironically, I find it really hard to write as a woman.

Hehe, should that worry me?

Again, LLK, thank you beyond belief.

Best of luck with your finals!

Giorgia

Critique: A little later than I had intended, but I still hold true to my promises.

To start:



That is just a beautiful paragraph right there, and I mean that with the utmost sincerity. It's both deep and dark, which are two of my favorite things with writing.



This is a great description paragraph. It's beautifully done and just amazing. And I can picture him standing on this pier in the way you've described him. Even though I don't watch too much Without a Trace, I have some vague idea about the characters (I've read up on it and seen a few episodes), this puts a good picture in my head of how he is.



This line made me laugh. I'm not sure why, but it's a good thing, because I like it.



Beautiful ending. I love it.

I really didn't find any things in it that weren't good, and I think this is such an amazing piece. Great job!


TQ:

I think both reading the featured pieces and critiquing them has inspred me. I'll read a piece and say, "Oh, that's a nice phrase" or something, and I get inspired. I aslo like to read a lot of people's pieces. I reread my own a lot, which is inherently dangerous, because then I think that I can write it better if I were to redo it. It's rather painful for me to read "Nostalgic For Disaster" or even "The Ghost of You"... so much has changed since then, and I think that reading some of those give me something else to think about, like, "Oh, hey, that's a good idea, but if I develop this part a little further, I'll really have something..."

I'm rambling, but my point is that I get inspiration from a lot of places, including a lot of my older stories.