Writing From the Inside

In Jerusalem Next Year and St. Peter’s Bones by peripheralsight.

Slash.

 Hard to discuss when I’m pumped fill of turkey and stuffing, but rather than face a midnight turkey sandwhich, I plowed my way through a discovered rec list, and found this gem. Meets all the criteria, except for the fact that the boys have a pre-existing relationship, except in this case, it’s just teenage fooling around, and the boys don’t consider it. Much. What drew me into these stories (more companion peices than sequential stories) was the insight into the characters, and the lack of maudlin-ness, if that’s a word. What does that mean? Well, it means that the story rings true, characters do things they regret, or say things they wish they hadn’t, but they don’t wring their hands and sob over it. The thing they did or said that they regret comes back to them from time to time, and they let it, let themselves feel bad, and then they move on, but they don’t forget.

Story includes one of my favorite ideas, that of how on earth Sam told Dad he was going away to college.  And then Dean’s reaction to it. Some nice on the road stuff, which always rubs me the RIGHT way, with lines like this:

“This was one of Dean’s favorite times, when the only real certainty in front of them was the nebulous lull of a destination. The Impala ate up the heat-shimmer infinity of the highway and purred under his hands, wrapping him and Sam in a private universe of fast food and AC/DC that never felt like limbo and no one else could touch.”

Cause in my mind, that’s how road trips are for me. The destination. The isolation. The road. Music. Landscapes passing by. On the road. Perfect.

The story, however, is mostly about Sam and Dean coming together, literally and figuratively, before Sam left, after he left, and after Jess died. It was nice to come to this good style of writing after about 10 dull stories in which the sex doesn’t mean anything, and the characters seemed off, and I was bored silly. This was GOOD. Want more from this writer.

This November Life by dontyouwaitup.

Slash.

Huge, long story that reads like an ep. Something Kripke would dream, where each action has a horrible consequence. Where the brothers are brothers, no matter what. Mostly fits the criteria, giving it a pass, and while it may seem like I only read good fiction and then recommend everything I read, that’s only because I go by Amalthia’s rec list, which cuts down on the amount of reading I have to do to get to the good stuff. Read the rest of this entry »

American Myth by candle_beck.

Slash.

Reading this story was like a slap in the face as to how far I have to go as a writer. Not to mention that this writer has multiple fandoms being written about and SPN seems to be a recent, low-key, walk in the park. La la la. Yet there I was, reading it, my brow furrowing, mouth dropping open, going Oh no! This is SO good! Now I’ll never be a teen model! (Not that I was ever going to be, but you see what I mean. Can’t compete, so why even try. I know, I know, we don’t compete with others, we compete with ourselves, yadda, yadda, yadda.) Read the rest of this entry »

To the End by Esohpe.

Slash.

Christ on a side car. That’s all I can tell you. I went directly to bed after reading this and should not have because I could not get it out of my head. It kept spinning around in there like a white sail distracting me from the darkness of sleep. I am SO exhausted right now because of it. Story fits the criteria all the way around, except for the realism bit, but I’m going to give this story the green light because of how well it was done. I just wish I’d written this story. Read the rest of this entry »

Valley So Low and coda Riding the Rim by kimonkey7.

Gen.  

Follows all the criteria and hits it out of the ball park. Dean runs away from a
spider and falls down a ravine. He breaks nearly everything in his body, can’t
rescue himself. The details of his horrific accident are marvelously well done and
I enjoyed being in Dean’s head as he assesses the damage and sets himself to
wait for Sam to rescue him. Which he does in Riding the Rim. I was so peeved
at the end of Valley So Low because that’s all there was and the author had
determined that that’s all there was gonna be. Someone, however, talked her
out of it (or threatened her, I’m not sure which), for we get the sequel. Read the rest of this entry »