Unseeing and Believing by @RoseMasenCullen

The TAT OS P&P contest is over! The winners were announced today. I would like to thank Belli486 and Ysar for including me in this. It was an honor working alongside an outstanding panel of judges. Above all, I’d like to congratulate the winners as well as all the participants for making this contest such a huge success. 

Now I’m finally allowed to gush about the stories that stood out for me.

Unseeing and Believing by @RoseMasenCullen

By the time I came to read this entry, I had already chosen a different story as my personal pick for the contest. Unseeing and Believing was entry #82 out of 97, and I was feeling quite confident that I couldn’t possibly come across a story better than the one I’ve  picked days ago.

Simply put, I was wrong.

Allow me to clarify that statement; my previous choice was by no means inferior to Unseeing and Believing. In fact, two of the other judges have picked it as their personal favorite! That, in part at least, spurred me to choose U & B; knowing that my first choice won’t go unnoticed.

Of course I didn’t know until the very end that Unseeing Believing also came third in the AH category. Just goes to show how wonderful the story is. The story is about Edward and Bella growing up together, lending each other strength and support as they traverse their way through adolescence. There is hardship, handicap, and heartbreak, but at the end of the day, they know who they are and what they mean to each other.

When I read a story, the most important aspect I look out for is whether it can evoke strong emotions in me. Unseeing and Believing pulled at many of my heartstrings. Very aptly, it made me feel hope (if you’ve seen the picture prompt, you know what I mean!). The emotions rang true and rich. The characters were human - resilient, sweet, and flawed. In a nutshell, I was moved by its simplicity and depth. I strongly suggest you read Unseeing and Believing. I can’t imagine you not being touched by its light.  

Congratulations to Rose Masen Cullen! All the best with your future writing projects.

Enough by @Coloradoperson

I spotted Enough fairly early in the contest and knew instantly that it would strike out from the rest. I was right. Two other judges (BettiGefecht and KitsuShel) also picked it as their personal favorite. For good reasons too.

Plainly put, it’s written brilliantly.

It’s a simple story of love where the two lovers come together before they are ready to be enough for each other. They drift away following separate paths. Life’s journey brings them back to each other again. Now they are older, wiser, and somewhat jaded. But most importantly, they have learned what’s truly important in life; their love. And that, in itself, is enough. 

I fell in love with the story for many reasons. I was really hardpressed to make a decision when I came across Unseeing and Believing. I couldn’t stand the idea of either story going unnoticed. I really wish I could pick two as my personal pick. But then I learned that I wasn’t the only one to spot this gem. How awesome was that!

I urge you to read Enough. Then come back and tell me if I am wrong.

Congratulations, coloradoperson! It’s been a pleasure reading your work. I wish you all the best in the future. 

WIP Vs. Completed

There’s something that has been irking me for a while now. It seems that a lot of people in this fic-verse are strongly averse to reading stories that are Work in Progress. Some are strictly against drabbles but are kinda sorta okay with reading regular length WIPs. Others wouldn’t touch either with a ten foot pole. Not unless it’s marked “complete”.

The reasons behind it are manifold: 1. Impatience for updates, 2. need for instant gratification, but most importantly, 3. the fear that the story might go into an indefinite hiatus, leaving the reader high and dry.

All are pretty valid points.

The first two are individual personality traits that no one should have to apologize for. After all, we read Twilight fanfiction for fun. If a quick fix makes you happy, then so be it.

However, I have a few thoughts on the third point. I’ve been wondering whether or not there is a correlation between readers shunning WIPs and writers abandoning their work mid way.

Authors may experience a myriad of issues that could result in them setting aside their writing. Heath problems, death or injury in the family, writers block, job loss, any of these can contribute to a story going into a state of limbo. There is little we can do to safeguard against such misfortunes.

Nevertheless, it occurred to me that there is another reason that might be at work, in at least some of the cases, whereby authors give up on their projects because they feel unappreciated and ignored.

Just imagine the case of a relatively new author who doesn’t have the benefit of a BNA’s pimpage as a launching pad or know all the nooks and corners of this fandom to get a fix on where to showcase their work. The interactive system that is ff.net, where the only tangible form of validation an author can get is through readers’ feedback, how long do you think this newbie will remain motivated to churn out chapter after chapter if s/he never gets any kind of response from the readers?

I know that it can be argued that one shouldn’t write for the readership but for one’s own incessant drive to get the words out onto the paper. That is true. But when someone takes that pivotal step to lay it all out before a public forum, and then is made to feel invisible, the blow can be crippling.

I speak from experience. I’m clearly still here, but my scars are still raw enough to recall how close I came to call it quits.

So, a humble request to those who avoid WIPs, not because they crave instant indulgences but because they don’t want to risk investing into something that might go on hiatus, please consider that maybe your decision is triggering a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Personally, I love WIPs. The wait, the anticipation, the speculation, the engagement, they all add up to what makes reading Twi fanfiction a unique and joyful experience. Being able to follow a story from its early days, watch it grow and unfold its wings, and witness it take flight is a precious and magical gift that one cannot acquire through reading a published book, or a completed fic. Not to mention the possibility of interacting with the author!

There you go. That’s how I feel about the topic.

Thank you for indulging me:)
X0X0

I Am Not A Fic-omnivore!

AH vs AU?

When it comes to reading twi-fics, I am not an omnivore. I started off reading AUs (vampy) only. In the beginning, I couldn’t really fathom why anyone would want to see Edward as anything other than what SM fashioned him to be - a beautifully brooding and dazzlingly sparkling vampire. So much of who and what Edward is, is integrally tied to him being one. That’s the character I fell in love with. Wouldn’t him being portrayed as a flawed, erring human somehow diminish his appeal? I mean, what’s the point of trying to improve on perfection?

Well, that’s what I used to think. Until I cautiously started checking out a few AH stories here and there. Today, 90% of my reading list is made up of AH stuff. Go figure! I think it was stories like Emancipation Proclamation, How to Save a Life, With Teeth, etc. that finally won me over to the idea of an all too human Edward.

That being said, I haven’t given up on AU stories. If you’re reading Bonne Foi by Amethyst Jackson, or pretty much anything written by windchymes, you know what an amazing experience reading a good AU can be. (Speaking of AUs, oh, how I miss lolashoes).

However, I just feel it’s getting harder and harder to find an AU that doesn’t give me a sense of déjà vu. I get it. There are only so many combinations, permutations, and “what if” scenarios one can churn out within the constraints of the rules and logic of SM’s vampire world.

Of course, much of it is true for AH stories too, but the boundaries are set further away and that makes it easier to come up with a fresh angle more frequently than with AUs.

So, in a nutshell, I do have a slight leaning for AH. But I love AUs too.  Which reminds me, I need to add a few AU stories to my “Stories That Own Me” page. It’s only fair, don’t you think?

Until later!

PS: The above rant describes my taste in twi-fic. I don’t make any apologies for them. We are all free to choose what/who we like.  I don’t mean to hurt the feelings of any die-hard AU devotees. I love a good AU just as much as the next Twi-loon.

The Truly Anonymous Twilight One-Shot Picture and Prompt Contest

Just finished reading and scoring the stories for the TAT OS P&P contest (Phhew! Quite a mouthful, ha?). It was a bit overwhelming at first when the number of entries kept climbing. 97 submissions. Wow!

Some of the stories I’ve read are absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to see how the public voting turns out. Which reminds me, it starts today (8 March, 2012). Check out the stories and vote for the one you think deserves it the most.

It’s been quite an experience for me. I always knew there are a lot of talented writers out there, but to actually get the chance to sample their work from such a large pool was something else completely.

Thank you, Belli486 and Ysar, for including me in this awesome project. You did a marvelous job organizing the whole thing. Kudos to you! And of course, thank you my fellow judges. It’s been an honor working with luminaries such as you.

X0X0

This is me...

Hello! I’m Issy. Some of you may know me as DreamOfTheEndless from ff. As you can see, I’m pretty crazy about The Sandman saga! I know, it doesn’t really mesh well with my Twi-obsession. Or, to be more accurate, Edward obsession! But you know what they say: reality is indeed stranger than fiction.

So, Edward Vs. Lord of Dreams?

Hmmn. Going just by the looks, I guess it's a no brainer! (Shame on me for being that shallow!) But are they really that dissimilar? They are both immortals, they are both brooding, tortured souls, they are both honorable to boot. Come to think of it, maybe it's not that much of a leap that I'd love them both.

So, this is my blog. I haven’t figured out yet what I’ll do with it. Maybe I’ll just come here to vent. Or gush about the stories I’m reading. Also, ff isn't allowing us to host any live links from our profile, so I can store all my banners here. (Click on "My Banners and Blinkies" on the right sidebar). 

If you have any questions about Beautiful Sorrow or Where the Streets Have No Name, feel free to ask me about them here. If you're curious about the fate of Forgive Me Not, here's the place to nail me! 

Thank you for dropping by.

PS: I swiped most of the logos on the right from Ysar. 
PPS: IcarusToSun sent me a button for my blog tonight! I'm so floored:)