the post-Sesa post

[brandywine28]

MtYG reveals were yesterday, which means I'm finally free to shake my fist at the heavens and howl the anguished howl of the sorry son of a bitch whose recipient is her beta. And not just my beta - she's also my major idea bouncer off-er and all-around headcanon twin. BLERG. (I know I'm not the only one who's been through this. Show yourselves, my brethren-in-pain! COME, COMMISERATE WITH ME.)

So...yeah. I drew the name of the graceful, swan-like zebraljb and for her I produced this fine example of overwrought Bassez melodramaz, aka The Hippie and The Yuppie, aka Screw The Establishment: A Love Story. It's an idea fragment I've been kicking around forever, JC as one of those 'free hugs' guys you always see in Midtown, and one I'm sure I've blathered about many a time to many a person - but mostly to one person in particular. Ahem. And frankly, just the fact that the 20th came and went without any word from me should've been a dead giveaway that I was her author; but then, on Christmas Eve night, I received the most timidly-worded email of all time ("...um, pardon me, miss, I hate to be a bother but...did you perchance write this Bassez AU?", etc.) and I rolled my eyes so hard that one of them actually got stuck up there. I had to reach into the socket with a plastic coffee stirrer and spin it back around. It was terrible. :)

The writing process, shockingly, was not the worst. Or, at the very least, this wasn't one of those times where you click 'submit' and then wake up the next morning with twenty-five incredible new ideas you'll never get to incorporate. (I hate those times.) I feel like my sex scenes were kind of bland, and about three days before the deadline, when it was far too late to do anything about it, I realized that the whole thing really should've been written from JC's POV instead of Lance's (a realization that set off my intermittent eye twitch) - but, mostly, I'm cool with the way it all came together. (Today. I'm cool today. Ask me again in six months.)

As for me, I think I made out pretty darn well. Santa brought me some tooth-decayingly sweet domestic!TrickC (with dogs! Sad, orphaned CHRISTMAS DOGS! And JC as a deceptively hot accountant!) AND one of his drunker elves decided, bizarrely, that it'd be a good idea to name a fictional baby after me (immortality = ACHIEVED!) which, before now, isn't something I ever really thought I wanted, but...then JC changed my infant namesake's diaper and crooned to her in a gentle, soothing manner and it occurred to me that yes, I really, really did.

Comments

[solariana.livejournal.com]

And with the field growing smaller, your odds of getting your beta/cheerleader/handholder only get better. Someone else on my f-list had the same thing. I suggested she write a *fake* story to give to her regular beta and offered to let her grab one of my old ficlets that no one would be likely to remember. I have no idea what she wound up doing. I can see where not even discussing your story with someone who you always discuss stories with should be a dead give-away.

I'm glad it all worked out. Even though I don't read/write in the fandom any more, I will always love MTYG and still like hearing about the guys RL now and then.

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

Gasp! A decoy fic! Omg, that is BRILLIANT. Too bad I'm way too lazy to be able to give a ruse like that the level of commitment it deserves.

Anyone who's not, however? Has my admiration - unquestioned and undying.

[solariana.livejournal.com]

So far I've heard that 3 people of my f-list drew their betas this year for MTYG. There were probably more not on my f-list. I do remember drawing one of my close friends one year when the field was larger. It's tough when it's someone you always chat SeSa with. I definitely went with the *fake plot* and told her I was having trouble getting any writing done, LOL. She said she knew it had to be someone on her f-list that knew her very well.

With our first NCIS SeSa, we only had 7 sign up. I drew the only person in the field that I had never heard of before. Lucky me! The only person who offered to beta was my regular beta and she specified a certain pairing she was willing to beta for. So I offered to beta, any pairing. Someone on my f-list put out a note later on looking for a beta. I was about to respond, then I started wondering why she hadn't asked since I had offered on the beta thread. Then it hit me that I could very well be her recipient. So I didn't offer. I didn't want to put her in a difficult spot if I she was writing for me. And yes, she was my Santa! I do hope we get a few more people next year. If not, it was still fun!

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's fun, definitely - but a STRESSFUL kind of fun. I thought about asking for some beta help on the mtyg-discuss comm, but then I had an ice-cold, terror-filled moment of "No! Don't! She'll see it! Eyes, eyes everywhere!! YOU ARE BEING WATCHED."

*shudders*

So, yeah. Long story short, I didn't do it. :)

[morgana-st.livejournal.com]

Damn. I've only been able to read 2 or 3 of the MTYG stories so far. I really need to get back to them!

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

You DO. There really was a pretty great crop this year - especially of you're into mutated and/or super-powered farm animals. :)

[pensnest]

As the pool of writers gets smaller, the scope for an individual to wield great influence increases! Mwahaha!

YOU ARE RIDICULOUS

[zebraljb.livejournal.com]

OMFG I had this entire reply typed out, and then I accidentally hit shift + escape and IT ERASED THE ENTIRE THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So...you are so ridiculous I had to open up your original post in my second monitor so I could reply to each ridiculous bit. Plus, you know, lists.

~ I'm your twin! Yay! It's funny, I was thinking this morning that the reason I have you read all my stuff is because we think alike. Creepy, that.

~ "graceful, swan-like" - you do remember meeting me, right?

~ The Hippie and the Yuppie - and you even ran the idea by me, asking what kind of corporate job Lance should have, and you said it was a TrickyFish story! You sneaky sneak, you!

~ I'm a selfish beast, apparently, because I didn't even notice you never showed me anything. I was too busy freaking out over my own nightmare.

~ Hee hee, that was timid, for me.

~ I must politely disagree with you, my love. Lance's POV was perfect, because you got to see his transition from disdain to OMGJCiswalkingsunshineheshallbemineforever. You'll just have to write a companion piece from JC's POV...or maybe I will...

~ I AM MORE THAN COOL WITH HOW IT ALL CAME TOGETHER OMG.

~ You got the dog story! AWESOME! Because dogs...and JC...and smart!JC...

~ Well, I hate naming people. And I love your name. And I knew JC singing to baby!you would melt you into a mindless puddle, so merry Christmas...

~ I love you.

Re: YOU ARE RIDICULOUS

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

~ Ooh, BULLET POINTS. We really are twins!

~ QUIET, YOU.

~ Yup, you got me. I told a bunch of dirty, rotten Trickyfish lies. Cuff me, Officer! Lock me up in fandom jail!

~ Understandable! Also, convenient. :)

~ Very timid. 'Bob-Cratchit-asking-for-Christmas-Day-off' timid. I was expecting a subject line full of @%*!&(#%-ing expletives, man! That's what I would've sent - for sure! (Which probably just means I'm way, way ruder than you, now that I think about it. Ah, well.)

~ "Oh goody, JC timestamps!", said...no one. Nah, just kidding. Maybe I will! It'd give me a chance to shoehorn Joey in there, somehow. (I felt bad for not including him! I still do!) (Addendum: OMG, BE MY GUEST. If you really want to, that is :)

~ you're cool, I'm cool, we're both practically frozen. We need mittens! And gore-tex! Swath me in gore-tex!

~ CHRIS COOKS JC CHILI. BECAUSE HE LOVES HIM. (This is NOT the kind of thing that ought to send me into paroxysms of joy...but it DOES.)

~ I still think you should've added a scene where baby!me pees all over Kevin's good suit...or something. Because pee humor!

~ <3

In closing, yes. I am fully, totally ridiculous. I accept it.

[pensnest]

I share your pain as one whose customary beta was Not Available on this occasion... On the positivie side, at least having shared story ideas aplenty means that you have a pretty good idea what your recipient will enjoy! And I really enjoyed the story, too. I think one of the interesting things I've learned from MTYG is that being a recipient-specific as possible makes a story that is much more interesting to *everybody*, because it has details, and details make the story world seem real.

I suspect that the only cunning way to avoid having your regular beta know that she's your recipient is to make a deal with one of the other participants and send your beta the other person's story for comments... a bit roundabout, but at least the story would then appear on the MTYG list!

[solariana.livejournal.com]

I suspect that the only cunning way to avoid having your regular beta know that she's your recipient is to make a deal with one of the other participants and send your beta the other person's story for comments

Sneaky and sly! Now if I tried that, probably the person I asked would have drawn me and would then have to find someway around me finding out they were my Santa. It would never end.

I got a close friend one year, but I don't think she ever beta'd for me. I kept giving her a fake plot and story line. I did a back-up story that year, too, so I could tell her specifics on that so she wouldn't know I wrote for her, too. Although, she said she knew it had to be someone on her f-list.

[pensnest]

In my own case, I knew nopseud knew I was her Santa because she's in charge of MTYG, and such knowledge is difficult to avoid. And it didn't occur to me to 'plant' a story, although next time, 'twould be a cunning plan indeed.

I'm impressed by the fact that *all* this year's guesses on the Guess The Author post were correct!

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

Hell, no one's more surprised than I am. I was two for two!

*relentlessly obnoxious fist pumping*

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely right! Insight is key. SO key. This may not be the best thing I've ever written, but at least I don't feel like it's bland and overly general, you know? (Which is my One Big Problem with the fic I wrote for my very first MtYG - in 2011? Whoa. Time, man.

Anyway, yeah, everyone was telling me they loved it and I was like, "really? But it's just so...SAFE!" And it was. Way too safe.)

So dastardly! I had no idea popslash was so full of criminal masterminds. :)

[pensnest]

It's annoying when a recipient has no journal, or their journal is locked and you can't find out those interesting little details... which has certainly happened to me. Sometimes a handy mutual friend can help out. I had just such a handy mutual friend in, hmm, 2008, which helped. But in the immortal words of every wise person ever, It All Depends. I don't think I included anything particularly personal-to-recipient in Hair.

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

That's what happened to me last year! My recipient didn't provide a journal link, social media info, ANYTHING. She did, however, write an awesomely laid back Dear Santa letter that basically amounted to her saying "eh, I'm not picky. Go nuts." So...I did.

Hair doesn't have an impersonal feel to it, though! Maybe that's because it draws upon some very fandom-specific in-jokes. Someone who doesn't KNOW the guys definitely wouldn't have the same experience reading it as someone who does - which pretty much means it's the opposite of generic!

[zebraljb.livejournal.com]

I need to find a way to get up to NYC and smack you. Repeatedly. And then tie you to a chair and force you to watch JC and Lance make out. Because

YOUR 2011 STORY ROCKED MY WORLD BECAUSE THERE WAS TIMID LANCE AND APRONS AND JUSTIN THE TOWN BICYCLE.

*ahem* Excuse me for yelling, but AWESOME!

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

I STAND BY MY OPINION.

But still, feel free to smack me around all you want. Lord knows I deserve it. :)

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

Also: last time I checked, you did NOT have the power to make boyband members grope one another with a wave of your hand, or whatever. But if you did? I can tell you right now you wouldn't have to FORCE me to watch. Nuh-uh. In fact, you could probably get away with charging me. (Because I'm a creep.)

[zebraljb.livejournal.com]

I DO have that power. I just rarely use it.

And for the record, Lance and JC would be making out, and whenever JC came up for air, he would say, "I'm sorry, Chris, I'm just not that into you," and then he'd return to lance.

So ha.

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

Don't test me, woman. Remember, I know where you live.

[sperrywink]

Glad it came together in the end!

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

Ugh. You and me both, sister.

(Uh, I mean...THANK YOU :)

Love your Story

[grishyc.livejournal.com]

I was so in love with this story... intelelligent, funny, quirky, beautifull.

Re: Love your Story

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, thank you for the lovely feedback! I can't even begin to tell you how awesome this is to hear! It's a good thing no one's in the room with me right now, or else I'd have to explain where this big, goofy grin came from. :)

\o/