I'm posting this comment here because it's about several of your fanfictions and I wanted to write it in one go and not split it up. Selfish me. I've read nearly all of your Fake News and SWC stories and I feel really bad for not commenting on them until now.
Reading "All the king's horses" had scared me away a little and it took me a while to return to your stories, but I'm so very glad that I did. So now that I finally have enough time on my hands, I'll try to make up for my laziness and put all my praise in one long comment (and I really hope you like long comments, cause it's going to be just that).
I'll just start by ranting a bit about the ones I liked best:
The first story I fell in love with was "The Thing With Feathers". It's the story that really sucked me into the fandom, and probably spoiled me for many other writer's work. The whole concept is ingenious. Mostly I can't enjoy RPF, but the way you integrated it into your story didn't give me the feeling that Jon and Stephen's real personalities were "abused" in any way. It all just fit together perfectly. The interaction of Jon and Stephen with their friend's respective parallel universe counterpart had me making all sorts of fangirly noises, and the idea of a universe, where everything they say or do on the show is real, brought a huge grin to my face x). (I'm sorry I can't go into more detail, but I read this one even before I even read "All The Kings Horses"... >.< sorry it took me so long to comment...)
"Truthiness And Relative Dimensions In Space" is probably the most awesome and hilarious crossover I have ever read. I was a little concerned at first that I wouldn't understand it, since I've only watched Torchwood and no Doctor Who, but I had no problems whatsoever. I loved Stephen meeting Jack and Jack trying to coax Stephen out of his shell a little. Teenage Stephen on the whole was delightful to read. The best thing however has to be the Wørd. How do you come up with ideas like this? The alien mind-groupsex, a psychic alien that lives in Stephen's mind, the psychic paper, and all the snarkiness that comes with it... marvelous. I really couldn't pick a favorite scene, but from all the creations in this story, the Wørd just stole my heart <3. The psi-moon that adapted to Stephen's mind was also utterly perfect. The many different Stephens made me literally laugh out loud. In an effort not to be too repetitive I won't elaborate on all the other instances that made me crack up, because there are just too many and I'd still be sitting here tomorrow (...the "alien stoners"... *snort*... hrm hrm....). Aaaand I love it when your stories have a happy ending <3. The moment I saw silver-clad arms giving Teenage Stephen a cup of hot chocolate, I knew it had to be Future!Stephen and I cheered for him, as he introduced himself as Mr Stewart :). Also, beginning and ending Stephen's "journey" with peaches, was a nice touch. I liked the peach-motif, though it always leaves me with a craving for peaches that can't be satisfied D: The Christmas special was just as good, even though I had no idea who most of the people were. Google helped me out with that ;)
"Expecting". This is one of the stories I thought I'd never read. I'm still amazed that you made mpreg work for me. But you pulled it off and again I was hooked and couldn't stop reading until I could hardly keep my eyes open. I think it was this story which invoked a totally new appreciation for Bobby in me :)I really loved how you integrated the staff into your story. And not just Tad and Bobby, all of them. The little talk Lewis Black gave Jon was priceless xD. Stephen actually getting more considerate and perceptive was a nice touch, too. Seeing him trying to change some of his habits, like asking if something is OK with Jon, instead of just demanding it, was great, because all in all you somehow managed not to make him seem too out of character. I was quite sorry for Stephen's wife though, after all, he kinda only did it for Jon and it was too late for her to really benefit from it. And then the conclusion of the story. It's made of so much win I hardly know where to start. During all those delightfully slashy bits I had to think of Jon's wife and his children and that it would destroy Jon's marriage as well, should he decide to start anything with Stephen. That thought wasn't appealing to me at all. As much as I want Jon and Stephen to "get it on already", it lessens my enjoyment considerably if a family is destroyed in the process. I honestly didn't think there was a solution for this kind of problem, until you proved me wrong by introducing Charlene.
"What I mean is...well, to make a long story short, it would be a loveless sham relationship designed to conceal from the public, and occasionally myself, the fact that I'm gay."
"Really?" The stranger looked — glad? "Me too!"
"Oh!" exclaimed Stephen, and their faces broke into identical relieved grins. "That'll work perfectly, then!"
And the resulting quadrangle-relationship looks very promising indeed ^__^. Yay for happy endings!<3
I was a little hesitant to read "State of Grace", because I was afraid it would erase the warm, happy feeling "Expecting" left me with. Curiosity won out, however, and again I'm glad it did. The ending left me smiling, so all my fears were unfounded. I'm afraid, my English-skills fail me a little when it comes to describing what this story did to me, so you'll have to put up with the slightly disconnected/incoherent(?) statements below. Sorry. It was very intense and sad at times, in a good way. It was also fascinating to see the different Stephens with their respective personality traits and Jon slowly figuring out that none of them was "first", but that they are all fragments. Interesting how Stephen's splitting is reflected in his show. I wonder, did you get the idea for this fic by watching Formidable Opponent? Yeah, I can't seem to express myself properly right now. -.- That's a shame really, 'cause this fic would've deserved better, but somehow I can't find the right words. I wish I was a native speaker, it would make commenting so much easier. Ah well...
Your art, especially that which accompanied "Expecting" and "State of Grace", is excellent! I like all your illustrations, but I prefer it when you don't draw chibis, so these illustrations are among my favorites :).
In general I'm really impressed by your ability to write about any topic and make it work. Your stories really convey the feelings of the persons you write about, so much so that it is painful to read some of them. Your Transverse stories, for example. The feeling of wrongness when you're trapped in a body that you shouldn't be in, really got to me. But you somehow manage to make even your tragic stories funny in some places without losing any credibility. And those that are supposed to be funny had me laughing until my stomach hurt. I'm truly amazed by your ability to capture "Stephen's" (and all the other's) character so well. No matter what version of him you write, it always feels real and is most of the time absolutely hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time. So real, in fact, that I'm now thinking of you and your stories rather frequently while watching the Colbert Report :). You've made me read and enjoy things I've never thought I could like (mpreg and gender-swap, e.g.) and kept me enthralled for many days and nights even though I should've been studying/working... I just couldn't tear myself away. Your AUs are all well thought through and I love your take on Liberal!Stephen. It's amazing how alike he and "Stephen" are and yet how different. And again it just works so well. Oh, and "Sweetness". I'm afraid words fail me again to express my utter love for your way of interpreting her. It's awesome, is all I can say.
A big tip of my hat to you! You're an amazing writer and I'm looking forward to seeing more of you in the future. It won't take me so long to open my mouth the next time, I promise :)
no subject
I've read nearly all of your Fake News and SWC stories and I feel really bad for not commenting on them until now.
Reading "All the king's horses" had scared me away a little and it took me a while to return to your stories, but I'm so very glad that I did. So now that I finally have enough time on my hands, I'll try to make up for my laziness and put all my praise in one long comment (and I really hope you like long comments, cause it's going to be just that).
I'll just start by ranting a bit about the ones I liked best:
The first story I fell in love with was "The Thing With Feathers". It's the story that really sucked me into the fandom, and probably spoiled me for many other writer's work.
The whole concept is ingenious. Mostly I can't enjoy RPF, but the way you integrated it into your story didn't give me the feeling that Jon and Stephen's real personalities were "abused" in any way. It all just fit together perfectly. The interaction of Jon and Stephen with their friend's respective parallel universe counterpart had me making all sorts of fangirly noises, and the idea of a universe, where everything they say or do on the show is real, brought a huge grin to my face x).
(I'm sorry I can't go into more detail, but I read this one even before I even read "All The Kings Horses"... >.< sorry it took me so long to comment...)
"Truthiness And Relative Dimensions In Space" is probably the most awesome and hilarious crossover I have ever read. I was a little concerned at first that I wouldn't understand it, since I've only watched Torchwood and no Doctor Who, but I had no problems whatsoever. I loved Stephen meeting Jack and Jack trying to coax Stephen out of his shell a little. Teenage Stephen on the whole was delightful to read. The best thing however has to be the Wørd. How do you come up with ideas like this? The alien mind-groupsex, a psychic alien that lives in Stephen's mind, the psychic paper, and all the snarkiness that comes with it... marvelous. I really couldn't pick a favorite scene, but from all the creations in this story, the Wørd just stole my heart <3.
The psi-moon that adapted to Stephen's mind was also utterly perfect. The many different Stephens made me literally laugh out loud. In an effort not to be too repetitive I won't elaborate on all the other instances that made me crack up, because there are just too many and I'd still be sitting here tomorrow (...the "alien stoners"... *snort*... hrm hrm....).
Aaaand I love it when your stories have a happy ending <3. The moment I saw silver-clad arms giving Teenage Stephen a cup of hot chocolate, I knew it had to be Future!Stephen and I cheered for him, as he introduced himself as Mr Stewart :). Also, beginning and ending Stephen's "journey" with peaches, was a nice touch. I liked the peach-motif, though it always leaves me with a craving for peaches that can't be satisfied D:
The Christmas special was just as good, even though I had no idea who most of the people were. Google helped me out with that ;)
"Expecting". This is one of the stories I thought I'd never read. I'm still amazed that you made mpreg work for me. But you pulled it off and again I was hooked and couldn't stop reading until I could hardly keep my eyes open.
I think it was this story which invoked a totally new appreciation for Bobby in me :)I really loved how you integrated the staff into your story. And not just Tad and Bobby, all of them. The little talk Lewis Black gave Jon was priceless xD.
Stephen actually getting more considerate and perceptive was a nice touch, too. Seeing him trying to change some of his habits, like asking if something is OK with Jon, instead of just demanding it, was great, because all in all you somehow managed not to make him seem too out of character. I was quite sorry for Stephen's wife though, after all, he kinda only did it for Jon and it was too late for her to really benefit from it.
And then the conclusion of the story. It's made of so much win I hardly know where to start. During all those delightfully slashy bits I had to think of Jon's wife and his children and that it would destroy Jon's marriage as well, should he decide to start anything with Stephen. That thought wasn't appealing to me at all. As much as I want Jon and Stephen to "get it on already", it lessens my enjoyment considerably if a family is destroyed in the process. I honestly didn't think there was a solution for this kind of problem, until you proved me wrong by introducing Charlene.
"What I mean is...well, to make a long story short, it would be a loveless sham relationship designed to conceal from the public, and occasionally myself, the fact that I'm gay."
"Really?" The stranger looked — glad? "Me too!"
"Oh!" exclaimed Stephen, and their faces broke into identical relieved grins. "That'll work perfectly, then!"
And the resulting quadrangle-relationship looks very promising indeed ^__^. Yay for happy endings!<3
I was a little hesitant to read "State of Grace", because I was afraid it would erase the warm, happy feeling "Expecting" left me with. Curiosity won out, however, and again I'm glad it did. The ending left me smiling, so all my fears were unfounded.
I'm afraid, my English-skills fail me a little when it comes to describing what this story did to me, so you'll have to put up with the slightly disconnected/incoherent(?) statements below. Sorry.
It was very intense and sad at times, in a good way.
It was also fascinating to see the different Stephens with their respective personality traits and Jon slowly figuring out that none of them was "first", but that they are all fragments. Interesting how Stephen's splitting is reflected in his show. I wonder, did you get the idea for this fic by watching Formidable Opponent?
Yeah, I can't seem to express myself properly right now. -.- That's a shame really, 'cause this fic would've deserved better, but somehow I can't find the right words. I wish I was a native speaker, it would make commenting so much easier. Ah well...
Your art, especially that which accompanied "Expecting" and "State of Grace", is excellent! I like all your illustrations, but I prefer it when you don't draw chibis, so these illustrations are among my favorites :).
In general I'm really impressed by your ability to write about any topic and make it work. Your stories really convey the feelings of the persons you write about, so much so that it is painful to read some of them. Your Transverse stories, for example. The feeling of wrongness when you're trapped in a body that you shouldn't be in, really got to me.
But you somehow manage to make even your tragic stories funny in some places without losing any credibility. And those that are supposed to be funny had me laughing until my stomach hurt.
I'm truly amazed by your ability to capture "Stephen's" (and all the other's) character so well. No matter what version of him you write, it always feels real and is most of the time absolutely hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time. So real, in fact, that I'm now thinking of you and your stories rather frequently while watching the Colbert Report :).
You've made me read and enjoy things I've never thought I could like (mpreg and gender-swap, e.g.) and kept me enthralled for many days and nights even though I should've been studying/working... I just couldn't tear myself away.
Your AUs are all well thought through and I love your take on Liberal!Stephen. It's amazing how alike he and "Stephen" are and yet how different. And again it just works so well.
Oh, and "Sweetness". I'm afraid words fail me again to express my utter love for your way of interpreting her. It's awesome, is all I can say.
A big tip of my hat to you! You're an amazing writer and I'm looking forward to seeing more of you in the future.
It won't take me so long to open my mouth the next time, I promise :)