grenegome | Turning of the year, a minor victory, and a Dresden/Marcone drabble

I am a little late in bidding farewell to 2010 and hello to 2011, but if we begin years as we mean to go on, then late and disorganised is probably a fairly accurate start to 2011. 2010 was pretty good to me. I did fairly well at work, I’ve fallen in with a group of people whose company I find a hilarious joy, and I’ve enjoyed being myself with enthusiasm. Here’s to continuing in that vein.

In the fannish arena, I got a hell of a lot more active. At the start of 2010, I tripped over the Mentalist kink meme, worked up the nerve to post, and then discovered prompts were awesome. I picked up the Dresden Files, devoured the books, fell for Dresden/Marcone, devoured the fic, and then had fun writing my own. I learned to beta, and might be having a little bit too much fun doing so.

My minor victory for 2011 is that today I just finished the (very very rough) first draft of a Harry/Marcone genderswap fic whose tentative title is Don’t Blink, You Might Miss (I hate choosing titles so much). It currently clocks in at around 49000 words, which once upon a time might have brought me out in a panicky fit of what are you doing?! But now I just take a peek at

lucia_tanaka 's word count and it seems a lot more manageable :-D DBYMM still needs a lot of work doing before it gets anywhere near a beta.

To make these musings post-worthy, here’s a Dresden/Marcone established-relationship drabble written while I was voice finding for their particular brand of contentious domesticity. Set up is that Harry is temporarily staying at Marcone’s and for reasons that don’t need exploring at this juncture, he’s brought Mister and Mouse:

A familiar weight hit the bed by my feet and I grinned at the fact Mister was making himself at home already. I lost the smile almost immediately as Marcone rolled away from me in the darkness. “No!” I yelled, hopefully before he could get his hands on something lethal. “Cat, moron! Not a hit-squad.”

There was silence then in the bedroom, everything still apart from Mister, who was kneading at the blankets by my feet. I reflected that a sane person probably wouldn’t be comfortable lying in the dark, knowing John Marcone was somewhere, unseen. Probably holding a knife.

After a moment or two in which my cat continued to not menace the life of anyone trying to sleep in his bed, John broke the silence. “Mister?” he said calmly. “I’d appreciate some warning in future. Perhaps a meow or two.”

“You can’t negotiate with a cat, John. They pretty much do what they like.”

“Perhaps if I approach him through an intermediary? The dog takes bribes, doesn’t he?”

“Get back into bed you freak.”

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The genderswap has a title and a rough draft? CONGRATS! I am looking forward to reading that.

Have I thanked you recently for the work you've done for The Matter of Chicago (best alt-title ever)? Because the fact you haven't run away screaming yet astounds me. Your insight is invaluable and the fic would be far, far worse without your aid. You are a clever, inspirational beta and an equally brilliant sounding board. Your little notes and suggestions are just.... wonderful. More often than not, your reaction to a scene helps me steer the rest of the fic-- I write in response to you, trying my best to get good reactions from you, and that may sound silly but, jesus fuck, it seems to be working, considering this fic is my most ambitious and also most popular project ever.

But if every one of my readers stopped commenting and following along.... okay, that would suck, but I'd keep writing anyway because you're the best audience a writer could hope for. I just wanted you to know that.

Thank you. ♥

Awww, Luce, my blushes! And it might sound a little daft, but I feel kind of like we're on an adventure- a huge, crazy, fun adventure with this fic :-D

And it's feeding back positively into my own writing too, I can see myself stopping to focus on creating a sense of place or rounding out an OC, because they're both things I've seen you do very well and I want to improve on.

We have... what's the word? Synergy. It's awesome :-) x

I concur. Synergy is a good word for it. 83 And I'm happy that I'm helping you even in the smallest way. Thank goodness I randomly mentioned needing a beta all those months ago. Best impulse decision ever.

Hi! Congrats on your rough draft fanfic. I'm looking forward to it.

I just read your drabble and was inspired by it. I drew it in comic form. I hope you like it. :D

http://kaishiro15.deviantart.com/art/DF-Freak-192353497

If you can't see it, I could post it on Mafiabanter.

Oh my gaaaawd *bounces*. That just had me giggling for ages. I love irked!John, with his bedhead and his shiny knife (oh, and I just spotted the crucifix!), and the fact that he's just introduced as an absence in the bed cracked me up. And the final panel! *dissolves into giggles again*

Thanks!For some reason, when Harry said “Get back into bed you freak.” I kept giggling. :D

lolz at ficlit. I look forward to reading your epic so very much.

Hee, I look forward to posting it! Eventually :-D

Oh, awesome. I just popped over to see what you were writing, and you have a giant draft. If you are in need of a beta at any point, I would be happy to. 'Cause apparently sexswap is what I do in this fandom, idek.

Hee, well if you do something well... :-D

Plus this fandom totally needs people writing the fannish staples. (Amnesia fic will spontaneously appear if I wish for it hard enough!) I saw in Luce's LJ you were contemplating kidfic, and ghost!Harry fic, and I'd like to say a big HELL YES to both. I was surprised no-one has run with the ghost thing.

Thank you for the beta offer! Much appreciated, though, yeah, I might be a while, lol.

:pokes head into the discussion: Late to the party, but who with amnesia?

*waves from train* Oh, either of them! I have stupid bits of dialogue for stories I'm not writing where Marcone thinks he's young!punk!Marcone and keeps hitting on Harry who is horribly confused while Hendricks stands there looking mortified going you don't do this anymore!. Or amnesia Harry where things look set to go down a Chicago's Most Wanted route and Marcone ends up in the baffling position of being Harry's moral conscience.

wtfuuuuch how did I miss this awesome ficlet??

Ahahaha, just. They're so hilariously adorable!

For a pairing with the potential for so much EPIC, I am totally addicted with writing domestic comedy for them instead :-D

I want to write this pairing so baaaadly but when ever I try I just keep staring at a blank scene for like... aaaages. I have so many ideas for them! And yet nothing comes ouuuuut.

They fit awesomely well for both epic and curtain fic. [nods]

Ooooh, keep going, I bet it'll click for you at some point! I did so much dialoguing for them which was never intended to lead anywhere before I actually stumbled into a moment that became a story. They have pretty distinctive voices, and it took me a while to get my head round them, I think.

*can't think, laughing too hard*

I love this ficlet - I've read it three times now and the mental image of it just cracks me up every time.

K, Marcone in the dark holding a knife and talking to a cat?

TOTALLY WORKS FOR ME.

Also: Bribing Mouse. AHahahaha!

Mouse is the sensible one in the family *nods*

Turning of the year, a minor victory, and a Dresden/Marcone drabble

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