This is my life

( Me rambling about Team Free Will and Wincestiel and some awesome recs. )

AND! I'm super late on this post, partially because life happened, but also partially because I posted a Wincestiel big bang a while back, thinking there wasn't going to be any art. Found out wifihunters was having a tough time IRL but was still working on the art and now it's live and holy crap IT IS AMAZING.

The story behind this story is that I signed up for a Wincestiel big bang last year, and the epic story I'd been working on (I had 25k words done going in – I really thought I could finish it!). But then I've realized it's roughly a 100k word story and I wasn't going to finish in time for the deadline. But it was a 10k minimum and I can pull that out in a day if I need to, so I came up with a second story and started to write. What if Cas asked the Winchesters out on a date – both of them? But then I couldn't finish that one either (though they extended the deadline by a month – I could've probably made it if they'd said something when I sent my defaulting email). And so when this Team Free Will Big Bang came up, I decided to finish that romcom idea because I loved it so much. I'm still working on the other epic story, and hoping to finish that one next year. I've got another one in the works, too, an alt!season 9 that I think will be awesome. But anyway – I finished this one, and there is freaking GORGEOUS art to go with it. :D :D :D :D

Title: The Three Body Problem
Author: kisahawklin
Artist: wifihunters
Art Post: Gorgeous art here
Pairing: Wincestiel
Rating: NC17
Word Count: ~36000
Warnings: None
Summary: Cas asks the Winchesters on a date. Yes, both of them.



Here is my December meme topics post, if you have something you desperately want to ask me.

Oh, man. Recently someone mentioned the old adage about the internet being made of cats, someone to whom I couldn't just shoot back "and porn!" because it was either my wife's family or someone at work. But it is true! So many cats!

And I don't know most of the internet famous cats, I'm terrible at internet memes, seriously, but I just got a work email full of funny ones (my workplace received 100% score on some index that rates how good companies are for LGBTQ folks to work for (second year in a row, strong work, company!)).

I think I shall have to give pictures of my kitties, though, because they are my kitties and I love them! Here are all four:

( ETA! Sorry! I had not realized how huge this pic is! Cut now. )

We have two sets of siblings. The first set is Jeeves and Wooster. But we call Wooster "Fatty" because he is. He is just a ginormous fucking cat. And he has no idea his name is Wooster, my mother-in-law calls him that because she thinks he'll get a complex, but he doesn't respond to it in any way because we just never call him that. He's just Fatty. But he's a loveable Fatty, and great for hugs (even though he hates it). Jeeves is the smaller of the two (obviously) and I think he was actually a runt? But he's a pretty good sized cat now - 12 lbs last time we weighed him. He's black and fuzzy and personable and purrs loudly and follows people around the house (and by "people," I mean "my wife"). We call him the best cat, because he is. No one else seems to agree with us, though. Most people like Fatty best, and our cleaning ladies loved Weebl (because he is the only one that doesn't go hide under the bed when new people show up).

And that brings us to the second set of siblings. Weebl is the boy - also 12 lbs though he's smaller-ish than Jeeves. He's a more solidly build cat. Ripley is the girl. When we got them, my wife had apparently picked out a name for hers (Weebl) which left me in a bit of a fix because I figured we were going to name them in a pair, like Jeeves and Wooster (whom I originally had suggested the names Sam and Dean for - which would've been totally appropriate as they are the incestiest brothers ever - and that was before I was in the fandom!), so I had to come up with a girl name for a cat when I wasn't expecting it. I think we had recently watched the Alien movies, and Ripley's pretty kickass, so that's where that came from.

( And now, pictures! )

Here is my December meme topics post, if you have something you desperately want to ask me.

Full request: What's on your playlist these days (or what apps/radio stations are you tuned into?)

Hilarious you should ask, as I have been struggling with 8tracks for a WEEK to make some playlists for solstice_calendar. I really hate iTunes right now; I've just converted roughly half my library from AAC, and there are 100 or so items that are "protected" so I can't convert them. The worst part is that I BOUGHT THAT MUSIC, and I'm basically being punished for it. Drives me crazy.

But, that said, I'm listening to our own collection lately; I haven't been in a radio mood. The last time I was really crazy about new music was the summer before last, and pretty much the app I used constantly was iheartradio, and I listened to radio stations for Imagine Dragons, fun, AWOLNATION, Fall Out Boy, Mumford and Sons um. Damn, a bunch more I am not remembering now because it's been a long while. I usually had KIIS FM from LA and DC101 in the mix too, just because I am a little nostalgic and those were my radio stations. Oh, and I had 104.7 WIOT because that is the Supernatural network! Apparently it's what Kripke listened to when he wrote SPN, and it's all that classic rock that the show's been getting away from recently.

We got an XM Radio trial in our car for two months, which seemed neat, but was actually not great. Changing channels took forever, and THERE WERE STILL COMMERCIALS. Why would I pay for a service that's still going to give me commercials? OR TALK? I mean, yes, if you want a talk radio station, great, but NO, not on a paid station! I JUST WANT MY MUSIC, OKAY?! I think I probably used the classical station on my commute the most, tbh.

We're looking for a new car, and the most important thing is that it have a USB input for the radio, so we can just use our iPods instead of making CDs (which we can only do with mp3s, again, ARG). One of the soundtracks I'm going to make is the songs from the CD we've got in that I don't skip (heh, yeah, it has 76 tracks and I skip about 60 of them). So anyway, look for those later today, and you'll know exactly what I'm listening to lately. :D

Here is my December meme topics post, if you have something you desperately want to ask me.

The whole request: what are certain trends you see in stories you like to read (and reread, if that's something you do)?

Hahaha, welllllll. The most likely thing for a fic to be, if I'm rereading it (especially if it's for more than the third time), is for it to be mine.

I'm not egotistical - really! I just generally like the stories I tell and am always sort of surprised at how well they turned out. I often see a nice turn of phrase and think... I don't remember writing that, but it's pretty good, eh? And I usually write stories that I'm interested in telling, which means I'm interested in hearing them again.

Now, that said, I also re-read other people's fic, and the most likely thing to make me re-read a story is the emotional content. If the story hit me in some way, made my guts twist up in a knot or made me cry salty, salty tears or laugh out loud in the middle of a Starbucks... yeah, that's one I'm going to re-read. Every single one of my bookmarks is a piece that gave me some huge visceral reaction, something that was so very satisfying at the time, and an experience I knew I'd want to repeat. (I read veeeeeery widely, so the only thing in common between most of my bookmarks is that emotional gut punch - though I do have a few tropes I really, really, really love. *cough*fakemarriage*cough*)

As for reading in the first place, that's a lot tougher. I'm super picky these days. I don't read stories with obvious typos in the title, tags, or header. I generally don't read stories with tumblr-style tags unless they're specifically done with tongue-in-cheek humor. I don't read stories where the author apologizes for anything upfront (yeah, even "I'm bad at summaries").

And then, even if you pass that gauntlet, I still might not read because the story isn't one I'm in the mood for, or I don't like the summary, or I'm generally pissy that day. It's pretty damn tough to get me to read (when I have the time - I haven't been able to read a thing for over a week because I've been too damn busy!).

So, um. Wow, I'm such an asshole. I know this about myself, and I accept it, but I usually don't admit it out loud quite like this. /o\

Here is my December meme topics post, if you have something you desperately want to ask me.

Oh man, I hope you are talking about Doctor Who. (And can I just say, because of my line of work, I always want to type it Dr. Who? Which is just wrong.)

So, I love Amy Pond a ridiculous amount. And I love Rory nearly as much (because he just loves the shit out of Amy, man, he is just so completely in love with her, it's nuts). And I love their daughter both as the baby and as River, because she's amazing and kickass, and simply perfect for the Doctor. I love their romance across time, it's just so amazing.

I guess I don't have very articulate feels about the Ponds, or even very specific ones, really. Just lots and lots of love and they are some of my favorite characters in all of Doctor Who.

Here is my December meme topics post, if you have something you desperately want to ask me.

Her whole request, for posterity: Tell me about London, England. Any interpretation that means to you - when you were here, it's place in history, how you'd use it as a fic setting....anything!

Oh, man. I looooooooooooooooooove London. Remember on the flight up to Seattle, we broke out how aging works in my vampire universe and we talked about where in London James would live? I have those notes, still. I may never finish VG, but man, I had a hell of a lot of fun with it.

So I've been to London three times so far in my life. The first was in college, and it was the end of a six week tour of Europe, and I was dead broke and living on jam and bread. What had started out as three of us, two friends, a girl and a guy, was down to two of us (the dude went his own way after the 'band tour chaperoning' part of the trip was over (at our suggestion - he was impossible to live with, honestly)). We spent a week wandering around London with no money, and I just loved everything about it, ever. Our last night there, I was sick of living on no money, so I bought tickets to the Royal Ballet for us on my mom's "emergencies only" credit card. She didn't even yell at me for it, and it was soooooooooo worth it.

The second time I went was for the ROTK premiere. I was only there for a weekend and I spent most of it waiting outside the Odeon theater in Leicester square. That was BRILLIANT, if exhausting, even though I had the tiniest hotel room in all of London (didn't really matter because I spent NO time there).

The third time was with my ex-girlfriend. (And she was recently my ex-girlfriend at the time... apparently I'm more of a masochist than I thought.) It was awesome and awful in about equal measure. We both had people to see and plans to do things in London, so basically even though we had planned the trip while we were together, it wasn't too much of a hardship to shift the trip after we broke up (and were staying on... relatively friendly terms). Then she pulled some manipulative bullshit and there was weirdness, so the first part of the trip was emotionally awful. Then I had a date to meet fyrefly101! So we did a bunch of cool things, walked halfway around London, if I remember correctly, did some shopping (I want to say Camden (spelled completely wrong, I think)) and had lunch and saw St. uh... Peter's? Paul's? You know, the famous one! And had beer at a very crowded pub somewhere. It was a brilliant, brilliant day, probably my favorite ever in London.

Unfortunately, prior to starting that day, when I told Finn I was meeting a friend of mine, she asked who. And I said fyrefly101! :D! And she was like... but she's an internet person. That's not a real friend. And I argued with her until I cried and then stormed out of the room, because omg what the fucking fuck, that is complete bullshit. Not to mention, if her argument was that I'd never met her before, that was patently wrong, as I'd met her several years back. So after that I spent no more time with the ex-girlfriend. I got up and out before she did, wandering around, taking the tube, just exploring London on my own. Most days I went to Leicester square, bought tickets to whatever show I wanted to see, and spent the day wandering around until it was time to see the show. I saw Les Mis, Billy Elliot (my favorite - and I ran into a fave actor of mine, too, James D'Arcy), The Woman in White (I think that's what it was called), Ian McKellen's panto performance in Aladdin, and Patrick Stewart's one-man Christmas Carol.

It was brilliant, and way better than dealing with the ex.

It's about time for another trip to London - it's been nearly ten years, my goodness! And I've been talking through things with my wife, so we'll be planning a trip soonish, I hope.

Even though I didn't finish last year. Even though I'll probably be spending a hell of a lot of time traveling.

Because I want to play along on theladyscribe's multi-fandom friending meme, and it's a pretty neat idea. If you want me to talk about something from last year that I didn't get to, last year's entry is here.

December posting meme

Pick a date in December and prompt me to write... anything! If you want me to try my hand at fic for you, you'll probably have the best luck with Supernatural, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try other fandoms - you never know what might strike my fancy. If I can't do a fic request, I'll give you a picspam or a rec set or something. If you want me to talk about something else (I'm game for anything, really), then that's totally cool too. Honestly, you're probably better off asking for not-fic, as I can (and will) blather on about most things without a second thought. Fic gets stuck sometimes. Feel free to ask for a voice post, too! Happy to blather at you while I'm driving.

( December )

ETA: kabarett is making a master post of December memes here!

Because OMG do I need it right now.

1. My wife
2. Sam Winchester's dimples
3. My friends and family
4. AUTUMN, OMG
5. Sleeping in on weekends
6. My current story, which is nearing the end
7. Driving
8. My ridiculously adorable and also annoying cats
9. Tapioca pudding. Maybe just pudding in general.
10. The stretch that pops my back after sitting for a while

Pick one, two, a few, or many, and I will answer in the comments! :D My collected works at kisahawklin, if you need that.

A. Describe your comfort zone—a typical you-fic.
B. Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?
C. Is there a trope you wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole?
D. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?
E. Share one of your strengths.
F. Share one of your weaknesses.
G. Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.
H. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.
I. Which fic has been the hardest to write?
J. Which fic has been the easiest to write?
K. Is writing your passion or just a fun hobby?
L. Is there an episode section of canon above all others that inspires you just a little bit more?
M. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?
N. What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever come across?
O. If you could choose one of your fics to be filmed, which would you choose?
P. If you only could write one pairing for the rest of your life, which pairing would it be?
Q. Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?
R. Do you use any tools, like worksheets or outlines?
S. Stephen King once said that his muse is a man who lives in the basement. Do you have a muse?
T. Describe your perfect writing conditions.
U. How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?
V. Choose a passage from one of your earlier fics and edit it into your current writing style. (Person sending the ask is free to make suggestions).
W. If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why?
X. Have you ever deleted one of your published fics?
Y. What do you look for in a beta?
Z. Do you beta yourself? If so, what kind of beta are you?
AA. How do you feel about collaborations?
AB. Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.
AC. If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?
AD. Do you accept prompts?
AE. Do you take liberties with canon or are you very strict about your fic being canon compliant?
AF. How do you feel about smut?
AG. How do you feel about crack?
AH. What are your thoughts on non-con and dub-con?
AI. Would you ever kill off a canon character?
AJ. Which is your favorite site to post fic?
AK. Talk about your current wips.
AL. Talk about a review that made your day.
AM. Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?
AN. Write an alternative ending to a fic you've written (specify by title, link or general description].

Hopefully things will be back to normal by August sometime.

I am so stressed I completely forgot about SYTYCD until I saw it on my DVR a few minutes ago (I'm watching right now - still not really interested in any of these folks yet).

A oldie but a goodie, from healingmirth:

Character List Meme

1) Make a list of fifteen characters first, and keep it to yourself for the moment.

2) Ask your f-list to post questions in the comments. For example: "One, nine, and fifteen are chosen by a prophecy to save the world from four. Do they succeed?", "Under what circumstances might five and fourteen fall in love?", "Which character on the list would you most want on your side in a zombie invasion?"

3) After your f-list has stopped asking questions, round them up and answer them using the fifteen characters you selected beforehand, then post them.

Half the fun of this meme is creating the character list. :D

Day 1. Discuss something old
Day 2. Discuss something new
Day 3. Discuss something made for someone else
Day 4. Discuss something made just for yourself
Day 5. Discuss something for a large fandom/pairing/character
Day 6. Discuss something for a small fandom/pairing/character
Day 7. Discuss something you're just really proud of

Just got this comment in my inbox:

I can't believe this is only the only Michal Pitt RPF on AO3. Someone needs to change that... thanks for this tho! cheers!

So I'm going to use this for my tiny fandom! It's Murder By Numbers RPF, Michael Pitt/Ryan Gosling. I was given a prompt for Murder By Numbers fic and the RPF, Michael's thought process about the character spoke to me more. And I believe you all know my love for behind-the-scenes stuff and character bleed, so. Without further ado:

Practice Makes Perfect (1149 words) by kisahawklin
Fandom: Actor RPF, American Actor RPF, Murder by Numbers RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ryan Gosling/Michael Pitt
Additional Tags: Roleplay, Character Study, Fade to Black
Summary: Michael and Ryan talk about what might have been for their characters.

Day 1. Discuss something old
Day 2. Discuss something new
Day 3. Discuss something made for someone else
Day 4. Discuss something made just for yourself
Day 5. Discuss something for a large fandom/pairing/character
Day 6. Discuss something for a small fandom/pairing/character
Day 7. Discuss something you're just really proud of

This is hilarious timing! Especially because I've been going back to tag reeeeeeeeeeeeally early posts (imported from LJ) and a lot of them are this weird not-quite-original fic based on a fanfic that a friend wrote. It was this sprawling vampire universe that I still kinda love but needs to be rewritten from the get-go (for the fourth or fifth time now). Even that wasn't written entirely for me, a lot of it was written for or with gayalithiel. Still, it was really inspiring, and I had a hell of a lot of fun.

I generally write for other people (probably half of my fics are gifts), and even when I write fic that comes from my own plot bunnies, it's because I think other people will enjoy it, too. There is one fic, though, that I started writing shortly after my best friend's wife was diagnosed with MS. Between that and my dad dying a few months before (infection finally overtook him; his heart transplant meant he was immunosuppressed) and my aunt dying a few months before that (of ALS), I started a McShep fic where Rodney had MS. I was planning to trace their relationship from Rodney's first symptoms to his death (many years later). I had many scenes in mind that really helped me deal with all those things, and writing that fic was clearly for me, and it was very cathartic. I didn't finish it - it went stale with all my other SGA stuff, but I posted what I got done and an outline for the rest of the fic as part of my Unfinished and Discontinued series:

Unfinished sick!Rodney fic (12721 words) by kisahawklin
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Characters: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay
Additional Tags: Terminal Illnesses, Angst, Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued
Series: Part 26 of Unfinished and discontinued fic
Summary: Rodney starts to have trouble at work and John has to figure out what to do.
Author's notes: Started this when I found out my best friend's wife had been diagnosed with MS. Between that and my dad's death a couple of years before, this fic was extremely therapeutic for me. I meant for it to come out the other side - it was going to end on them being reincarnated and toddling around Atlantis - but I didn't get there. Outline of the whole concept at the end.

Ahahahaha - my best friend just called me! His wife is doing well and we're going to dinner in a couple of weeks. :D