An Exercise in Self-Critique 3

This is the third post in the series where I critique the beginnings of my own stories, written long ago, and try to make them better. Here are the first and second posts. Today I’ll look at one of my favorite flawed creations, The Candidate.

Misfire Anon Story Collection at smehur.com

I am delighted to announce that you can now read Mass Effect fanfiction written by Misfire Anon, my dear friend and partner in crime, here on smehur.com.

Included is the complete collection of the titular Misfire Fills, the phenomenal slice-of-life ficlets that laid the foundations for our shared Saren/Nihlus verse and inspired many fans to take in interest in this rare pairing. If you’ve never read these, it’s a must! And if you have, this is a great opportunity to revisit them in a new and more reader-friendly environment.

I also wholeheartedly recommend reading (and rereading!) Misfire Anon’s longer works, among which The Other Beginning is my personal favorite, followed closely by Vertigo and Marked.

Misfire Anon has an account on FanFiction, where some of their stories are posted, and on Tumblr, where you can see some of their lovely art.

♥ ♥ ♥

Image: The Fight Never Ends, by Misfire Anon

Dark and Divine

Mind-blown by this beautiful piece of art, I reblogged it on Tumblr and retweeted it on Twitter and posted in on Facebook and drowned the author, Sixtus/Gladius, with repeated outpourings of praise and glee. But I still have more!

Site Updates

Being short on actual content, this week I bring you an announcement of some long-postponed site updates. I updated:

The About page, with some almost personal information
The Gallery page, with some important credits and a note for artists who happen to find their art used here in a way they don’t approve of
The Fanfiction page, with content ratings
Such stories that have the MA rating, with content descriptors/warnings.

In other news, I managed to crawl out of the quagmire, I’m playing Mass Effect: Andromeda again, and Story by R. McKee is an excellent read.

Image: The Bubble Nebula, by Russell Croman

Muddy Middle

Recently, I bragged about having completed the first draft of my Mass Effect fanfiction novel seven years after starting to write it, and boldly stated that I wouldn’t mind spending another seven years polishing it. But several months into it, I’m ready to go nuts.

(There will be no spoilers. This is about craft and whining. Your suspense is safe with me.)

Musical Inspiration

I’m not often moved to write about music but this thing has been a relentless obsession for so many days now, it’s hard to imagine existence without it. I try not to binge on it, and only allow myself to hear it a couple times a day, but even so, it haunts me all the time.

It’s splendid, just splendid. I know nothing about how this kind of music is made and what makes one piece better than another, apart from my own taste. What I like about this one is the richness and diversity of all the little themes, how patiently they are introduced and layered one on top of the other, and how well they work together to evoke in me a sense of distant sadness, far-away places, or cherished memories. Not necessarily joyful, nor painful, but life-changing. And ahead, striving for lofty heights beyond reach, grateful for every step of the climb. It’s such a rush.