amanuensis1 | Twist on the "how you know it's me" meme

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.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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*

No, that's just a side benefit! :) Seriously, I could quote whole chunks of your own fics at you to demonstrate what I mean, which might embarrass you even further.

.... hmmm. On second thought... okay, just a few! :D

From Rituals and Traditions, possibly my oldest favourite fic in the fandom (!):

Though Draco hadn't thought about him with that particular title for a long time; it was more like boy who grew up to be a very hot piece of arse even if he still is a Gryffindor do-gooder who isn't going to look at any member of House Slytherin even if I did turn out a pretty nice package as well if I do say so myself because for him to be gay as well is just too much of a coincidence to be possible and I may as well not even think about ever telling him that I want nothing more than to shag him senseless in the Quidditch locker room with about two gallons of chocolate sauce and a dozen studded-for-his-pleasure condoms.

I love Draco's run-on thoughts and all the little petulances implied in here, coupled with all of that wistfulness - such a skilled interweaving of the two! :) And this:

Harry buried his fingers deep inside Draco and moaned. "Oh, God, Draco... I need to be inside you, right now..."

Draco considered a number of things to say, from I can hardly stop you to Shut up and fuck me to Hold me closer, Tiny Dancer

OMG, I laughed so hard the first time I read that! I love the snark and just the fact that Draco wants it worse than anything, yet he's still snarking and always will - your Draco contributed a lot to my current Draco, so thank you very much! :)

Honestly, I could quote this entire fic back to you. Not going to, don't worry!

I've always loved this line, among others, from Animagus in Ten Days...:

"On your knees before the Dark Lord, half-blood," Wormtail barked--from him it was more of a yelp. It was also redundant, as Potter had fallen to his knees after the shove-and-stumble. Unless Wormtail was going for Explanation and not Command. Voldemort doubted Wormtail had planned it to that degree.

I love this! It's so detailed, so witty, and just a passing bit of the story. I always admired that particular bit particularly, though. :D

And from another long-time favourite of mine, Droit du Seigneur - your similes, woman! They take my breath away!:

Lucius did stop what he was doing, but only to move down to Harry's exposed balls and suck one into his mouth like a serpent stealing a bird's egg.

And:

"I can feel your pulse this way," that voice said, breath humidifying the hair just behind his ear. Harry suddenly felt as though the bone of his skull there was fragile as mica.

I could go on all night. You're amazing. :) You delve into deeper levels of the psychological/emotion side of everything, your smut is intensely hot, you find better and more creative ways to express more and it's all laced continuously with your incredibly clever inner monologue and narrative - reading anything by you is a privilege. You really should write professionally, you know. If you don't already.

Now I officially apologize for embarrassing you. I'll just be running along now. ♥

&hearts &hearts &hearts

Hee. You know, I love those metaphor-fests, and I'm glad I got to write Animagus In One Week! because it was a chance for me to go hog-wild on the over-the-top ones, and now having that perspective helps me to evaluate the ones I'm trying to use in serious stories and rein them in a bit more (she said, looking at some of the earlier stories ^_^ ).

*still loves the mica image, no matter what*

(Oops, where the the "ten days" thing come from??? I blame it on my cold! :P)

Ah, we all feel that way about our earlier stories. I still think that yours are brilliant - and just a league apart from the average fiction in the fandom, too. ♥

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

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