It's a Match!

[wickedwords]

The results are in! And team_angst squeaked by with a very narrow win. There were some incredible stories in the match on both sides of the angst-and-romance divide. There were some peanut butter-and-chocolate stories, too, with little bits of both teams mixed up for much tasty goodness.

My rec list of stories is here, and I have a few more left to read, too, so I will keep adding to it.

Trends! I can't leave a post without mentioning some of the trends I noticed:

1) Lots of stories with an established couple 'feel' to them, even when it was a first time story. I'm going to lay this at the feet of external situations holding the tension, rather than it being internal to the relationship. Sort of classic Hurt/comfort, other than the fact that it's not gen. (For example, Acidimia, where the tension is John-as-runner and will they be able to save him)

2) Horror! My god, there was so much great horror in this fest. It really made me happy, and I expect to see some of these recc'd again around Halloween.

3) AUs. Lots and lots of AUs, from the experimental like Life (sometimes it washes over me) to the more traditional such as Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

4) Not to mention the ever popular "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." *g*

Thanks to both trobadora and fluffyllama for organizing this, and team captains trinityofone and lamardeuse. I had a blast writing for team angst this year, and really enjoyed being a part of mcshep_match. I'm looking forward to next year's battle. Maybe I'll try to join up with team romance.

Comments

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

congrats!!! :)

Your observations are really interesting, and I actually noticed the established couple feel as well (mostly because I tend to not be interested in it as much, but it bothered me much less than I'd have expected!)...and the horror! Yes indeed!

Though, I think yours was the only story that felt like a punch to the gut...in a good way! I read everything but was in a weird no commenting phase the last few weeks, so I just wanted to tell you how much your story moved me...it could have been an excellent, well-written h/c...but with that relationship dynamic and John realizing too late what he wanted, it really, really became something else, though I love your ending because John would simply have to go on and suffer in silence....

Thank!!!

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

I liked a lot of the established couple 'feel' stories as well. Thinking on it, it's a little like 'gen with benefits', if you know what I mean.

And thank you so much! There's no classic comfort in my story, but it is the ending that feels right with who this John is. I tried a different ending, but Sandy waved it away as it just wasn't right. John gets his home, and he keeps his people safe, but at extreme personal cost.

And really, I love that. *g*