Holdouttrout

 graciecatfamilyband replied to your post: Tonight I’m going title hunting

Do you have a particular place you go where you’re likely to catch one? What kind of weapon or entrapment device do you use? Asking for a friend.* *The friend is me

So a lot of people like to use song titles, and I have nothing against using song titles and in fact am jealous of people who somehow find the right title or lyric to use for their fic title, but sometimes they’re evocative in the wrong way for me as I’m hunting down a title. That being said, one of my methods that uses song titles is as follows:

1. Look through a few dozen song titles and reject them all.
2. Hopefully, through the process of rejecting titles, find a few keywords from the fic or the idea of the fic that have come up in my brain to help me search for song titles that include those keywords.
3. Reject all those titles but write down a few.
4. Mix and match ideas from those titles and the keywords in my brain until I have something resembling a title.
5. Double-check with a trusted friend (optional step, sometimes I feel good enough about it and sometimes I need reassurance).
6. Spend another few minutes looking through song titles and rejecting them all.
7. Post.

The above method is how I got the title for  If I’d Known We Were Dating, I Would Have Baked a Cake and also kind of  It’s a Nice Day to Return a Wedding Dress (although that one was a lot easier because I had ‘Nice Day for a White Wedding’ stuck in my head the entire time I wrote the damn thing)

Alternately, if the fic is short enough and there’s one word or phrase that describes the fic well enough, I’ll just use that. (Mistexted or  In with the New)

ALSO, the shorter a fic is, the less thought I (try to) give to the title-hunting process as a sanity-saving measure.

A friend and I were joking around that it would be easier if we just put all of Taylor Swift’s song titles on shuffle and just used whichever came up next, no matter what the fic was about. That is also a legitimate method, btw, so don’t think that we’re mocking anyone who uses TS titles because honestly? They’re great titles! 

We are here again, my dear friends. It is time for the annual reckoning, that fannish evaluation that decides whether we live or die or join tumblr!

Okay, so I already joined/started actually using tumblr. What can I say? I appreciate the daily scroll of pretty! Tumblr is actually not a bad place for me right now. Most of the time, it involves pretty pictures of pretty people, cute animals, or funny comics. Some of the time, there are links to meta and essays that make me think. Sometimes there is even fic--though honestly, fic was a very small part of my life this year.

Still, I did write some.

Teamwork. Stargate SG-1, Sam/Jack.
Two Things Sam and Janet Don't Have in Common (and One Thing They Do). Stargate SG-1, Gen.

TWO?! I ONLY WROTE TWO FICS?! I guess that means I have to stay on tumblr.

I re-watched Legend of the Seeker (again). The epic hair, forbidden love, cheesy humor, beautiful scenery, pretty people, shiny swords, and female friendships all make me very happy--and the show is only two seasons long, which makes it easy to rewatch.

I got very fannish about Once Upon a Time.

I started a Farscape re-watch that I didn't finish… yet. I'll get there. It's SUCH a good show, but I totally got sucked into a Doctor Who rewatch instead--I was trying to get caught up for the Day of the Doctor, and I ended up starting back with Nine, because I could and because I had to wait a very long time for the latest DVDs from the library. I have part of a post put together about the Awesomeness of Donna Noble, which I hope to get together and post early in 2014.

However, I also tried to watch Torchwood: Miracle Day. Ugh. Just… ugh. Gave up.

I was really, really, really obsessed with Iron Man 3.

Past Years
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006

Five Lovers Helen Never Took. Sanctuary, Helen/OMC, Helen/OFC, Helen/John, Helen/James, Helen/Nikola.
Close to Perfect. Stargate SG-1, Sam/Jack.
Bedroom Situation. Stargate SG-1, Sam/Jack.
Pairings I have (most likely) not written. Meme responses. Sam/Caldwell, Sam/Rodney, Jack/Janet, GLaDOS/Bird, Darcy/Elizabeth, Hailey/Grogan, Daniel Jackson/Dana Scully.

Okay, yes, there are only four links. That averages out to one each quarter, as long as I include the meme responses. I don't know that I can even pick a favorite, because they are all so precious--not because they are so amazing, but because there are so few of them. It's a scarcity thing. What the Stargate ones show is that I'm still completely obsessed with Sam/Jack, and still have a tendre for the bed-sharing cliche.


Fannish things I did that were not fic
I posted my Super Nostalgic Sam/Jack recs list, which was totally fun and non-comprehensive.
I fell in love with SG-1 all over again.
I made up a silly poll to ask you who was the best character of all time and got the most awesome Sam Carter love fest in my comments.

My various fannish obsessions throughout 2012
Fringe
Stargate SG-1
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Really, really obsessed. Though I didn't write fic for it. Ugh. WHEN WILL I NEED TO WRITE COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF FIC FOR THINGS AGAIN?!)
Legend of the Seeker
The Avengers
Once Upon a Time


Past Years
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006

Title: Close to Perfect
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Rating: PG
Category: Fluff
Pairing: Sam/Jack
Summary: If something was going to happen, it would happen soon. AU post-Moebius.
Notes: I've been feeling nostalgic lately, and reading a lot of Sam/Jack fic. I thought, "Hey, if I'm feeling nostalgic, maybe someone else is, too." So I dove into my WIP folder and found this nicely indulgent little thing, waiting for a decent ending.
Read on AO3


( If something was going to happen, it would happen soon )

Title: Four Walls and a Blaster
Fandom: Star Wars
Rating/Warnings: PG (Character Death.)
Characters: Han. Leia.
Summary: Han left, and Leia couldn't fault him. What might have happened if he never came back at the battle of Yavin.
Author's Notes: Well, this is awkward. knightedrogue, this was supposed to be finished and posted much, MUCH earlier this last year. Hope you like it, even if it has been delayed for far too long. My sincere gratitude to annerbhp, who helped see the light of day by refusing to let it die several times, and whose birthday gave me a new deadline.


( Four Walls and a Blaster )

No, that subject heading is not misleading. This post is about WRITING. Namely my own! That is to say, I WROTE STUFF TODAY. Well, I wrote stuff last week, too, but it was awful maudlin Sam/Jack. I mean, really terrible. You don't believe me, do you?

Okay, fine. I'll prove it to you:

( It's so maudlin even Jack knows )

You see why I can't post that, right? Right?

I'm putting it out there because it's WORDS and because maybe it will help me get over my fear of failure in writing.

Anyway, I not only wrote that bit up there, but today I wrote over 1,000 words that I didn't immediately want to delete! That's not saying that they'll ever see the light of the internet, but still! Words!

I also wrote a drabble for the Hand-Kissing Promptathon, which I think is a fabulous idea but I had no idea where to even start. Apparently my brain decided to go with Daniel/Vala. IDEK. You're allowed to think and/or tell me the drabble is terrible. I'm really not so sure about it myself.

Anyway... WORDS!

Title: Dear SGC Advisor...
Authors: aurora_novarum & holdouttrout
Category: Humor; Gen; Classic Team Era
Word Count: 1600

Summary: With everything SG teams and staff encounter, who can they turn to and get some honest, practical advice?

Holdouttrout's Author Note: This is what happens when I make comments about random things to people with the time and inclination to write fic... and I like it. :-) I made some comment to aurora_novarum one time, and she started writing this fic. Then, as revenge, she shoved it my way. She'll try to take the blame, but she definitely deserves most of the credit.

Link to Livejournal entry. Link to Dreamwidth entry.

Title: Looking Back
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Pairing: Sam/Janet
Rating: PG
Category: Fluff
Summary: Janet's always watched Sam, but tonight, Sam's looking back. My thanks to pepper for the beta.


( If she was honest, it wasn't just envy she felt. )

Title: Bait of Pleasure
Author: holdouttrout
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Characters/Pairing: Highlight to reveal: Sam/Ba'al
Wordcount: 1700
Warnings: Highlight to reveal: Sexual situations, character death (the two are somewhat related)
Rating: NC-17
Summary/Notes: This is an alternate timeline of Continuum (Yes, an alternate timeline of an alternate timeline), in which Sam is not military or with NASA. It was written for 36_stratagems for the prompt "Hide a knife behind a smile. Charm and ingratiate yourself to your enemy. When you have gained his trust, move against him in secret." My abject thanks to ultranos for reading it first and to abyssinia, who shared my brainspace and betaed it for me.


( Click to read )

Title: Breathe, Damn it!
Prompt: Breathe from one_prompt
Characters: Jack, Sam, Daniel, Teal'c, Janet.
Rating/Category: PG, Gen
Spoilers: none
Summary: Janet and Teal'c are up to something, but Jack can't figure it out.
Notes/Warnings: My abject thanks to aurora_novarum for the alpha, the beta, and the refusal to back down from telling me it still wasn't right.

( Crackfic Below! )