Twist on the "how you know it's me" meme

[amanuensis1]

I like the "top ten things that tell a reader it's one of my fics" meme, but I'm not so clueful as to recognize these elements in my own stories. You guys are boggling me with how insightful you are towards your own writing style. I mean, sure, I write certain characters a lot, and there are themes like smut and non-con, but I don't think about writing style when I write--I think about the specific story and where it's going and that's pretty much it. I just...write, the way that I do because that's what I do and how it comes out.

So, fine. A number of you have said you were able to peg my stories in the anonymous fic exchanges right away. Help me out here: tell me how. Yes, that's right, I'm asking you to do the meme for me. This is not a roundabout way of asking for compliments; I'd really like to know what I do that not everyone does in order to understand style better. And if it's just, "Well, you write those characters and you write non-con," let me know! That way I can know it's that simple and there's no other magic to it. (Well-meaning negative feedback is certainly welcome as well.)

Comments

[maelwaedd.livejournal.com]

You take every squick and make it totally and utterly hot. If somebody else writes them, I don't bother reading because I know I'm going to end up curled up into a ball on the floor, but if you write them I'll just click straight away. :)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, shoot. This is gonna look like I really was fishing for compliments, isn't it? XD

Well, darnit, thank you. That's incredibly sweet of you and I must be gracious even if I'm blushing and saying, "Eeek, but, I didn't mean...!" Seriously, that's lovely, thank you.

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

Sign #1 it's one of A's fics: Darkness and torture and stuff, yet the Fluff-Meister (aka Beth) finds herself reading to the end and then reccing!

(in other words, it's all magic!)

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

Honestly...I'm afraid that it's just that you're such a damned good writer. :)

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

The dialogue is definitely something I always notice about your stories - there's lots of it, and it's always spot-on and clever. (I think I notice this the most aside from the characters or tone you favour because I have trouble with dialogue and fangirl you madly for your deft hand with it.)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Lots of dialogue? Truly, that's what you see? Goodness, I perceive that there's never enough dialogue in my stories. That they're filled with description and internal narrative, and I think, "Why aren't people just talking?? Stories should be told by what people say, rather than what they think!"

But at least I don't go on for pages of italicized thought a la Mercedes Lackey. That drives me BONKERS. ^_^

I've never noticed you having trouble with dialogue, jeebus! You make it look effortless.

(And I read that line above as "fangirl you madly with my left hand..." Which of course led me to wonder, wait, what does that mean her right hand is doing...? XD

[gmth.livejournal.com]

Your interpretation of Lucius is what did it for me during smutmas_elves. He's very... smooth. And in control. Which doesn't help, I know, since a lot of fen write him that way. And the unbroken!Harry.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh! You know, that does show me something. Lucius is (I think) my control fantasy. Maybe all of my protagonists are, actually, now that I think of it, but Lucius is that way particularly, because of his implied elegance. What I mean by "control fantasy" is that he's competent, he's poised--even if something happens to take him off guard I'll show him recognizing his weakness and moving to compensate for it, the consummate "I meant to do that" kinda guy. He's clever enough to get subtle hints (and to lay subtle hints) that I deliberately make vague, because I don't want the reader to get all of their nuances--because I'm saving up a surprise for the reader and don't want to tip the story's hand completely. Yeah, I want to be that way. Super-competent.

This makes sense, the more I think about it. Even in the Lucius/Dementors story I couldn't reduce the guy to humiliation. He processed what was happening and that's what saved him from breaking all the way.

I think, for all my fondness to see humiliation in sexual fantasy, I may break characters in body and submission and spirit but I won't ever snap their minds. They may weep and submit and even go all the way to acceptance, but there's always the spark of self-awareness that can analyze their lot and not be truly broken. They can always say, "How far I have fallen," and aren't in danger of mindlessness. Interesting.

[meredyth-13.livejournal.com]

Easy ways to tell if Amy wrote it?

1. Exquisite use of language, with exceptional attention to detail,
2. Somebody is squirming,
3. By at least part of the way through, the reader is squirming,
4. By the end of it the reader wonders if they're going to go to hell, and if it will be as much fun as what they've just read.

♥

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

attention to detail,

I'm hoping that means my boredom with describing places or physical appearances and such is compensated for by other, jucier details! Unless maybe you meant grammarian detail?

Squirm. Oh, one of my favorite verbs, when used in a smutty or about-to-be-smutty context. Mmm!

*hugs you*

[son-of-darkness.livejournal.com]

You take a plot and turn it into an epic (even if it is only a one-shot) whereas most people with the same plot, would only be able to cough up about 5 pages. I love that.

[winningstreak.livejournal.com]

ITA

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Well, I can tell you what I did to imitate your style in An Eye For An Eye: tight Harry POV, noncon with the victim being forced to accept as well as give sexual pleasure, and lots of explicit sex.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

and lots of explicit sex.

I am happy to be branded with that assumption. ^_^ Yeah, the POV thing is something I do a lot, isn't it? I don't like pages and pages of italicized thought; that bugs me beyond all sanity. And first person isn't always what I want (I prefer 3rd as a rule), so, if the POV is tightly on that character--not merely limited to him but right in his head--I can tell you lots about the character's mood and thoughts without having to transcribe actual "But it's not like that, he thought. How can I convince him I'm sincere!" for pages and pages. Because people don't think in full sentences like that; it's jarring.

[satanbaker.livejournal.com]

Characters either have something they're awkward about, or they're so totally in control that they push themselves into awkwardness.

Which I appreciate, because it's realistic, and.. things. And you have a certain wordyness, that isn't really, really wordy, but it's like.. wordy-lite. You get the feeling without the substance.

... diet-wordy?

God, I need to sleep.

[ter369.livejournal.com]

Characters either have something they're awkward about, or they're so totally in control that they push themselves into awkwardness.

Excellent observation.

I've sensed that in a number of your stories, but hadn't found a way to express it.

[twistedrecesses.livejournal.com]

1. There's some aspect of the story, somewhere, that's got major squick-factor

2. Characterization is amazingly consistent and believable

3. The sex is Hawt

:)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Squick, check. Hawt? Thank you, I'm glad! :D Characterization? Woo, that's up to the individual reader, innit, and I'm very glad you find it so, thank you! *hugs*

[cellia.livejournal.com]

This isn't true for your very darkest stories, but: a sense of humor and an appreciation of the absurd. And usually an honesty about the morality of what is going on. This "honesty" ties into the way you get into the reality of a fantasy, like, say, non-con, and observe all these little truths... which somehow usually ends up in making the realistic-fantasy hotter rather than ruining it.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. Though I couldn't have put it into words before, I think I see what you mean; there's that thing in my protagonist's viewpoint where I want them to realize how very screwy it all seems, that the universe would be visiting these awful things on them. Eee, if you think that works, then, I'm happy dancing. ^_^

[viverra-libro.livejournal.com]

I am doing this without looking at anyone else's comments, for what that's worth. First, while the sex you write is amazing, and usually involves some common elements (prolonged restraint, thorough spanking, and earth-shattering sex), it's more your characterization that's so very *you*. You seem to have a pretty consistent vision of who the characters are no matter what they're doing; that was how I identified your smutmas fic, and I would have been able to do so even without the line of needles! Here's what I see:

-- Harry is beautifully ruthless, 'though this is more noticeable if he's not enslaved. He's also fundamentally, in his soul-of-souls, a hero.

-- Someone ends up with small painful objects running linearly down their body.

-- Lucius is a sex god, 'though he's far more ruled by his intellect (pragmatism, power games, and survival concerns) than his dick. And he usually suffers. (And hey, stop that, will you? ;) I don't think Lucius has had any consequence-free fun since "Their Worse Than Killing Lust")

-- Snape is, well, malicious, no matter whose side he's on. And he's nearly always a top. He's also extremely competent, very sharp-tongued, and On The Winning Side, whichever side that is.

-- Snape hates Sirius. Even if they're having sex. Especially if they're having sex.

-- Sirius is a slut.

-- Draco will snarl and spit, but he subs beautifully.

Does any of that seem to be true for you?

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

...Okay, I'm hot just reading this. XD Seriously, I loved this list, so, if it's not true, I sure as heck want it to be true! Yes, I love hero!Harry, and a Harry who's not afraid to hold fast. The linear thing! Bwah ha ha ha ha, oh, no, I certainly can't deny that. :D Sorry for making Lucius suffer. But he's on the wrong side and we're getting to the end here, and, well. Anyway, sorry. I love love love Top!Snape--the guy's been used and teased so wrongly in his life I think it hits my "dammit, no more!" instincts. I used to assume Snape had his own agenda but the last book told me he'd been following Dumbledore's. Doesn't matter, I can still enjoy him AU that way. ^_^ I don't think I have the skill to show Snape blossoming to love with Sirius, easier just to start from the hate and go right for the sex. ^_^ Sirius likes sex. Sirius is not afraid to like sex. With lots of people. Good for him. And snarly, subby Draco? Alla way, baby. God, this made me squee. XD

[greenmouse.livejournal.com]

I think your Lucius. I've honestly never seen anyone write him the way you do, and it's what made me completely fall for you as a writer. So, yeah. Umn. You rock!

Also: If ponderosa illustrates it.

[greenmouse.livejournal.com]

Scratch that. ponderosa121 -- I've no clue who ponderosa is but it doesn't appear to be the artist.

[sirjimmy.livejournal.com]

You always make the reader want a sequel. Your one shots leave off at unexpected places and you make people shout, "HEY! WTF? Where the rest? WRITE MORE NOW!"

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

The way you say it makes me think you believe it's a compliment, so, I feel safe in saying this: believe me, *I* take that as a huge compliment! I don't like things wrapped up too perfectly, I like to have a little "exercise for the readers brain" when I read stories, so, when I suddenly reach a line that feels like, "Oh! That's the end, everything else, the reader can fill in," then I know I want to stop there. I've tried, over the past few years, to see, "HEY! WTF? Where the rest? WRITE MORE NOW!" as a sign I'm doing it mostly right. ^_^

[jedilora.livejournal.com]

Titles, usually. If it's a fic that makes me squirm and has a title that Pervy!Shakespeare would be proud of, I figure it's you.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, titles either come right away or they make me struggle until five minutes before I post. I give up, pick something, and leave it at that. ^_^

[painless-j.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's a difficult question. I can't say anything about style (word choices and such), and I can't say anything about *all* of your fics either 'cos they can be very different. I recongize you fic on sheer gut feeling which probably can be analyzed.

Well, if there's something humorous in the story, your humour is most easily recognizable 'cos it's darkish, rather twisted and peculiar. I dunno, when I read, cringe but laugh. Or, like, "oh my, ah-ha-ha, she didn't, *snort*"

You created a Lucius that has become a cliche already but that never is just cliche in your fic, that how good he is :); the one very controlled, smooth, aristocratic, with a lot of torture instruments at his disposal that he loves to and can use.

There's something in your writing that makes me read and love (to an alarming degree!) the things that I don't like at all in other fics. You can make one love non-con and BDSM.

You are a magician, really. I know you didn't ask for compliments, but I'm bad at analyzing things. I only know that when I read a fic of yours (or one that will turn out to be yours), I often squeal "Magic! This is magic!"

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Gut feeling, I can understand! It's hard for me to put "what makes a style a style" into words, when I read. But I'm very pleased that you like the peculiarity of the humor (it's the sort of thing I like, so, I try to emulate it), and I can't disagree about the Lucius-with-torture instruments. :D And your compliments make me blush. Truly truly truly I don't deserve you. *hugs*

[ter369.livejournal.com]

Your character point of view is tight and unique to that character, even when the story unfolds in multiple points of view.

The tight pov is the most seductive element for me. As a reader, I'll know things other characters never know, which makes me a conspirator in the story -- or in surviving it.

The male characters seem ... well, male. In a wide variety of types, too.

Harry is a hero, in that he is the exceptional person who accomplishes what no one else can, or inspires others to do that, too. He has a genius for survival, that isn't luck but is the ability to learn and use what's at hand. That doesn't always mean he's admirable or nice, but he is the only one who can do a difficult task.

You're not afraid to break characters, to truly make them suffer or want to give up, because that reveals who they really are.

I recognize genre archetypes (from Shakespeare's History plays to Georgette Heyerish "the alpha male and the runaway") which you invert to explore new questions about the Potterverse characters. I still recognize the characters, because you've found how they might function in that template.

Your stories have satisfying endings, the right ending to the story question, which is often a happy ending for unexpected characters.

Even if you label a story as Porn Without Plot, I find a story goal drives events to a resolution. (And not just a climax {insertlaughhere}.)

It's immaterial if I like your characters, as I wind up understanding them.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Okay, I have to go look up this "the alpha male and the runway" of which you speak.

Yes, I agree that the tight POV is one of my characteristics! Sometimes I'm going for serious "look at the ironies of the universe" voice (whether for drama or humor's sake) and then I'll go off into lofty-narrator voice, but otherwise, yeah, I do that.

I am just plain pleased by your finding the endings satisfying and oddly, strangely pleased by your understanding the characters, the latter because it's not something I'd dare to credit myself, if you see what I mean.

[djin7.livejournal.com]

No. 10: You know it's Amanuensis when you finish reading, and realize, belatedly, that your heart has been ripped out, still beating, and it's currently on your keyboard, making a review nearly impossible.

[monzz.livejournal.com]

Seconded. *grin*

[silentauror.livejournal.com]

You know it's an Amy!fic when you find yourself lost in the story but still able to stop and marvel over the incredibly clever wording, the sly wit, the sheer level of detail and the often rather dark (but wonderfully so!) humour. The characterizations will be spot-on and Lucius in particular will devastate you. And you will read anything, absolutely anything by her, because you know it will be rewarding no matter what.

♥

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Darnit, you just want to render me incapable of speech, don't you? You dear, dear thing. Okay, I'll nod and say yes, I do try to put dark humor into my stories--but everything else, I fear, is just gonna make me blush and blush and blush. ^_^ *hugs*

How I knew it was you - five damned good reasons

[tori-siikanen.livejournal.com]

1. Sanguine, a Serpent knotted Sable.

Right from go, the title. For those who know, that's a heraldic description, and a touch of detail that I appreciate from your style of titling: there's something in them that connect to the story, a lot of the time I can get some information about the story just from that. Like A Spell to turn Tigers to Butter - I knew it was going to be connected to a Sambo story, and the trick that was going to defeat them.

2. The opening sentence.

the story has a voice - Pure Lucius. Pure Amanuensis!Lucius. You have a style on your interpretation of Lucius Malfoy that is pretty much all yours - no one quite does it that way. He's smooth. He's sophisticated. He's damned tough - so tough that he could very well walk out of Azkaban with his will intact even after all of his good memories had been taken. Your Lucius has a core of surving strength, a self-concept so strong that it makes it hard for me to read broken!Lucius - and the one time I tried to write it, it just didn't feel right.

And that's all your fault.

3. Oh FUCK eee squick squick squick I can't stop reading EEEEEEEE!

I will read some of the most awful stuff - the noncon, the chan, the image of Harry painfully bound and covered in enchanted scarab beetles in burned in my brain forEVER - and it's so compelling I have to keep reading. I think it's because the POV from the characters is so well immersed that I have to accept what's happening - it's presented to me so authoritatively that there is little choice.

4. The types of conflict, and the way they play out.

oh sure, there is the man vs. man conflict. it's always there. but in your stories what drives the story is always the internal conflicts of the point of view characters.

Most writers make the mistake of using internal conflict in a way that paralyzes their characters. you don't do that. the internal conflict of your characters spurs them to ACT.

5. details of movement and gesture.

Lots of people will anchor a scene by describing the setting details. you spend time on describing the small actions of a character that tell more about them by implication than explaining to the reader how they're feeling.

Re: How I knew it was you - five damned good reasons

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, criminy. What on earth are you doing, pouring out your cleverness and time into analysis of little old me?? I'm not worthy!

Okay, the squick, I freely, immodestly claim as true. ^_^ 90% of the time I'm not going for squick--I'm writing it as though it's the sexiest thing imaginable. Which is often true as I like kinky stuff. But occasionally even I'm thinking "Eeek!"--that's what has happened in a few stories where I felt I had to one-up myself from previous stories.

The titles--I am so delighted you got the heralding refs! That story had a hard time finding its title. I decided I needed to go with something thematic since there wasn't any one line in the story that grounded the story for me (except for a couple too pretentious to act as title; you know how that goes). As I've said before, sometimes titles come right away and other times they fight me tooth and nail.

I am bug-eyed over your comments about the internal conflict. I sure wasn't aware of doing things that way, but, wow, yeah, that's the way I'd sure like it to be if I had to choose. Internal conflict is usually more interesting to me than mere "and he did this, and then someone else did that..."

And, ooh, I'm especially giddy over the last point! I can't bear to have unnecessary window-dressing--literally--in a scene. I don't want "white room" syndrome to plague my stories, granted, but I'd much rather spend time talking about the characters and what they're saying and doing than get lost in four opening paragraphs of description. Yuk.

Thank you so much for this--I'm too shy to even address comment #2 of yours, above. I'll just have to say thank you and blush.

[foudebassan.livejournal.com]

You never fail to push every single one of my buttons. How, I do not know - and this must be the mark of a very good writer, as the lesser ones' style is easier to analyse.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, if it were that simple! If that were law I could accept that and believe it. As it is I can only blush and say thank you, I'm glad you think so--and then go off to work more on improving as a writer. ^_^

[silverhielm.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you asked, because I'm going to try and explain what makes your fics so special.
It's not just the characters and the non consensual situations, it's not just the plot...it's that when I read your works I'm stimulated on different levels. It happens only with your stories that I'm FORCED to stop and re-read a line because I'm so impressed by the words you used in that one that I can't help but repeat it aloud, and I shiver.
It's how you explain the character's (in)coherent thoughts, be it Harry's dismay in front of his raper's body or Lucius's delight in front of his young man's reactions. It's how you decode everything the characters say and just explain it in such a brilliant way that I squee *inside*. And the little comments you make your characters say, or think, even if you're narrating with the 3rd person, like AWNSBNW's "Oh, he would feast on this boy" or SASKS's "Oh, I know that please". It just kills me everytime, and it's impossible not to notice it.
And the brilliant metaphors!
What else...the irony, the details in the sex scenes, the way the reader can never understand whether the author hates the rapist or supports him, the way you explore every tiny sensation (the belt sliding through the loops in AWNSBNW, Lucius drawing Harry's moans through the kiss in SASKS, Lucius thinking about his boy's perfect scent in What do you get for the Death Eater, Lucius touching Harry's pregnant belly in ASAS, Narcissa's nipple forcing Lily's lips in MTM and zillions of other things!)

I'd die to be raped by someone instructed by you!!

[(Anonymous)]

"I'd die to be raped by someone instructed by you!!"

...

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH

...

ahem. ... so true.

[pushdragon.livejournal.com]

This is a hard question. What you do is write a great story racked up with constant tension - but what makes your work distinctive is what you don't do, which is waste a single word, ever. You never give us superfluous, show-offy details. Everything is important and adds to the tension. That's a rarer gift than you might think in a fandom packed with aspiring writers who want to throw in a sparkling image or a paragraph of character insight ... at the expense of the story.

So. You know you are reading a story by Amanuensis because you have read the story at a break-neck pace from start to finish, your heart is pounding, your palms are sweaty, and you didn't stop for a single moment to get distracted by flaws or indulgences in the writing.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Awwww! Okay, I can say that you're certainly describing the sorts of stories I like to read. Long dull descriptions of rooms and clothing give me the yawns, so, I'm not likely to plop them into my own writing either. I am awfully pleased that you, whose tastes I respect greatly, think I'm succeeding on that score. &hearts

[fabularasa.livejournal.com]

Chiastic sentence structure!

Ah, nah, just kidding. I couldn't actually think of anything. I don't think I could put my finger on anything, because as far as I'm concerned, if the story's any good, I won't be able to tell who wrote it. I hate glimpsing an author hiding behind the narrator's skirts; stuff that screams "Fabula wrote this!" could also be defined as "sucky stuff." Although, as far as the sentence thing goes, I do like the way you plot sentences, and the frequent and elegant use of parallelisms.

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I think that's pretty true for me about favorite authors - this *not* being able to tell it's them specifically thing. It's not that my tastes aren't consistent: I recced almost all my favorite authors' stories on merry_smutmas when they were still anonymous, but I couldn't tell who'd written what.

[antou-san.livejournal.com]

I must be totally honest: I was not 100% sure about this...you know, there was this "new" Lucius..I mean, generally your Lucius craves Harry so much that when he manages laying his hands on him, ehrm.. it's a hotnonconsexfest. In this fic, instead, he seemed a little..broken..I dunno how to say..maybe just a bit distant. Anyway, what made me 90% sure was the atmosphere and the style. So angst but still utterly sensual..and those long, detailed, expressive sentences that form Lucius' thoughts..like "As if he could possibly pass on this"...you always show us so much of Lucius' soul,which I imagine is really hard, given the little space he has in canon. In fact, generally fanon!Lucius is much simpler than yours. That's all, I think ^^
But..weren't you going to post something about Sanguine? *_*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Yes, I still intend to! I needed a little distance from the meta because I want to talk more about the story and less about "me and the story," which threatened to be whiny and dull. ^_^ So, if anyone is still interested, I will likely post some story notes on it at some point!

[sciencegeek.livejournal.com]

My first clue is that where it says author it says amanuensis1. I'm crap at deducing who wrote what in anonymous fic exchanges.

I'll just finish this comment...

[sciencegeek.livejournal.com]

...so I'm not very good at figuring out author writing styles. There are some things that may make me say "Oh, I think *insert name here* wrote this" but generally I can't name them, it's something I have to see.