#five favourite fics

[materassassino]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

notto disso agen

We'll work backwards from 5 to 1.

5. Toccata [Axis Powers Hetalia, 2013, 17,340 words, PruAus and AusHun]

I can't believe this fic is 13 years old already, holy shit. So anyway, regardless of fandom, I'm still happy with this one, I think it's a really solid character piece where everyone is awful except Hungary and I love that I still get comments from people who come back to reread it after all these years.

4. Ever Decreasing Circles [Star Wars, 2022, 112,201 words, DinLuke]

This one goes here because it's still the longest fic I ever wrote. Looking back there's a bit I would change, especially in the earlier chapters before I'd hit my stride and gotten a good grasp on Luke (he was way too A New Hope and not enough Return of the Jedi, ugh) but I'm still proud of myself for finishing this at all.

3. Stitch by Stitch [DC Comics, 2019, 17,842 words, JayRoy]

I think this deserves to be here because I did a good job with characterisation and managing to fit a difficult pairing into a sort of pre-New!52 reality. I really like how I wrote Jason in this, super pleased with it, but my absolutely favourite part is Lian. She was a delight.

2. To Make Him Glorious [The Old Guard, 2025, 23,538 words, JoeNicky]

This was a much harder choice than number one, I hummed and hawed a lot, and this is probably a controversial choice because I don't think anyone really liked it, but I like it and I enjoyed writing it and I think it has some of my best pacing and some very nice prose. It was a struggle to actually figure out how Joe and Nicky would work in this specific scenario, and how to fit the others in, but I feel like I got there in the end. I would have liked it to be weirder, but I found that pushing it too far into weird made Nicky feel less like Nicky, but I do think I made Joe feel sufficiently crazy for it to still work.

SCRATCH THAT, CHANGING IT BECAUSE I FORGOT I FUCKING WROTE THIS?!

Actual 2. The Baffled King Composing [The Silmarillion, 2021, 13,007 words, Russingon]

NJVFDNVKFDN HOW DID I FORGET I WROTE THIS?! This was for the 2021 Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang and I had a blast writing it. I like to think I managed to capture a suitable sense of dread pre-Union of Maedhros with the reader knowing exactly what's going to happen but the characters obviously not. I really enjoyed writing the dynamics between the brothers and just small annoying acts of self-sabotage. Still very happy with it.

1. Even in Another Time [The Old Guard, 2024, 26,441 words, JoeNicky]

To the surprise of absolutely no one, this is at number one. The fic I'm proudest of and which means the most to me. The subject matter was very important, and I still hope I handled its fictionalisation with the correct respect and at least some degree of the gravitas it deserved. I'm very happy with the characterisations of the real historical people, and the historical background, and how I managed to fit Joe and Nicky into all of it. I care it, a lot.

Now to remember who I know who writes fics, good lordt.

[elodiah]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. If you do not write fanfic, then simply pass it on to those who do! Spread the self-love ❤

Thank you also @insomniaflarrow for sending the ask!

Five Fave Fics

The last time one of these went around I honestly couldn't choose a single fic to include, let alone five of them. I ended up being lazy and getting you guys to choose instead, pfff. But, after a couple of recent re-reads, I know that I have a definite #1 and #2 now, and #3-5 are ones that I really like at this particular moment, at the very least.

Wrap Me Up (11.6k, gen or pre-slash, whump and h/c with fluff)

A 5+1 fic in which Loki gets whumped in six different ways, and Mobius is there to make it all better. A recent reread made me realise that this is quite possibly my fave thing I've ever written, and it's certainly nothing to do with the quality, lol. This is basically an Elo/Sariele dream fic in terms of subject matter, whereby I took a Lokius kinkmeme prompt and inadvertently shaped it to feed my insatiable Loki-whump cravings!

2. Light Up My Life (10.7k, pre-slash, fluff and romantic tension)

Another 5+1, where Loki attempts to impress Mobius by showing him pretty, shiny things around the multiverse, only to discover that he never really needed to try so hard. I loved every moment of writing this one, because it was a joy to simply let my imagination go crazy. I reread it a few weeks ago, a long time between drinks, and legit made myself tear up during the +1 (yes hormones may have been at play, lol).

3. No Goodbyes (451 words, pre-slash, angst with hopefulness)

Duty calls, but Loki refuses to say goodbye. Pre-romantic poetic sap and angst that I smashed out on my phone lying in bed at 2am. I was so happy with this one that I low-key wonder if that's how I should write all my fics, lmao.

4. Derivation (5.5k, getting together, ANGST with a happy ending)

After tragedy strikes, Loki sets out to amend his most lamentable regret. This begins with heavy angst and (very very temporary!) major character death; the first and only time I've written it, and I reverse it ASAP anyway, lol. This one has timey-wimey wackiness that was a nightmare to work out in my head, and I'm insanely proud of the result!

5. Requiescence (3k, pre-slash/shippy gen, mild emotional h/c)

Lokius cuddling in bed. That's it, that's the fic! This was one of my contributions for Lokius Week, and as a result it could be a lot more polished, given I was smashing out seven fics for the event at the time. But I quite like the comforting snuggles and pre-romantic vibe in this one; I just reread it for the purposes of this post and despite cringing at some awkward phrasing, it still made me go "nawww".

[sweet-s0rr0w]

would you ever make more five favorite fic lists? i think i have read and loved every single one you have listed there so thank you for making the,m

AH thank you so much! totally didn't expect that anyone was still reading those, so that was a lovely surprise <3

you know, i was like - oh, it hasn't been THAT long, has it? and then i looked and my last five favourite fic reclist was JANUARY 2023 💀 the answer, i guess, is........ maybe? i have drafts with banners (obviously the most important part) sitting there for khalulu, fluxweed and moonflower-rose already... after those i'd vaguely thought about doing innerlilith and then who_la_hoop and perhaps feelsforbreakfast, and then i guess i'd move on to some of my newer faves, perhaps citrusses and garagepaperback and wolfpants?

i guess the reason i haven't come back to it recently is twofold: 1. i found reccing in particular much easier when i was able to be more active in drarry community, it felt a lot less like shouting into the void when i knew at least my mates would reblog :D , and 2. i was always so determined that i would read every single fic before i decided on my five favourites, and more recently i haven't always been able to read as much as i'd like! anyway, if it truly is something people would be interested in, i'll think about it :)

here are all my old five favourite fic reclists for anyone who might not have seen!

thestarryknight | vukovich | fwooshy | lq_traintracks (and 10 more) | tackytiger (and microfics) | m0stlyvoid | peachpety | magpie_fngrl | shiftylinguini | onbeinganangel | shealwaysreads | loveglowsinthedark | birdsofshore | maesterchill | frayach | graymatters | bixgirl1 (part one/part two) | skeptique | oknowkiss

[lisbeth-kk]

Self-reccing.

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favourite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. spread the self-love ❤

Thanks for the tag @raina-at

This is beyond difficult! I don't do favourites, and like most writers I do love my own fics. That being said, there are choices to be made...

The first on the list has to be a parent!lock I have a weak spot for.

The Secret Writer delves into topics which are dear to me, like reading to children.

Summary: Sherlock is about to reveal his secret. On Rosie's birthday. Will John understand what this means?

Enigma is my first entry to Fluffbruary ever, and I put quite a lot of effort into it as far as I can remember.

Summary: As a child Sherlock’s promised the perfect birthday present, but he never receives it, and he refuses to tell John what it was. John perceives that the thought of said present still haunts Sherlock decades later and he’s determined to solve the mystery and give the belated present to Sherlock himself.

Punishment for Being Fatuous is partly crack, and came to life because of a six year old prompt on Tumblr. (It's all in the end notes of the fic). The fact that I experienced parts of this myself togehter with fandom friends...well...you do the maths.

Summary: John's got tickets to a musical, and asks if Sherlock will accompany him. Sherlock's reluctant, and instead does something tactless to get John's attention.

Until the End of Time came to life after reading the magnificent @atlinmerrick fic Well Met Series. Chapter five of said fic stood out to me, and I instantly wanted to continue the story, which Atlin generously permitted.

Summary: Sherlock and John met on the tube, and they never looked back.

A Calming Effect is my homage and humble thanks to the remarkable @podfixx who lights up my day. Every day, in fact.

Summary: John is invalided home from Afghanistan. He's miserable with an inexplicable cold that's set in his bones and nothing he does can make it disappear. When his therapist suggests a podcast Mike Stamford has mentioned to her, and John reluctantly agrees to give it a try, things change. The velvety voice does things to John he isn't prepared for, and he's determined to meet the man behind the podcast. That proves to be easier said than done.

Tagging @arwamachine @holmesianlove @chriscalledmesweetie @notjustamumj @discordantwords

[herrmannhalsteadproduction]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

Thanks for this, @judymarch15! It's always hard to choose for these things so I'm going to go with picking my five favourites from my most recent BuckTommy fics.

Hey, I Just Met You, and This is Crazy BuckTommy | Rated: G | 2.9K

The BuckTommy speed-dating, crush at first sight, absolute fluff and shenanigans fic. Probably one of my most favourite things I've ever written. Fully ridiculous. Fully fun. (in my expert opinion 😂)

You Had Me at... (aka Get RomCommed, Idiots) BuckTommy | Rated: T | 1.2K

Short and sweet Valentine's Day fix-it fic. Tommy getting the romcom moment he deserves!

A Kinley Christmas Carol BuckTommy | Rated: T | 24.9K

A BuckTommy Christmas Carol that I wrote in a Billy Boils-induced fever dream the week leading up to Christmas. I regret nothing.

Big Brother is Watching (and Giving You Kudos) BuckTommy | Rated: T | 7.8K

Gotta Get Those Sweet, Sweet Ratings, Baby BuckTommy | Rated: G | 1.8K

Both of these fics are part of my 'Tommy Writes Hotshots Fanfic' AU series (the first fic in the series being Hotshots' Number Two Fans) This series is pure silliness on the one hand, big winking meta fic on the other, and a love letter to our amazing fandom on the other other hand. It brings me epic amounts of joy and if you haven't had a chance to read any of it yet, I hope you check it out.

Thanks again for giving me a chance to yammer about my fics!

[kiwiana-writes]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your five favorite fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers! Spread the self-love. ❤️

I love that you sent this to me while I was still asleep, BEFORE the conversation we had this morning about me having 259 fanworks on AO3. I mean, I think you would have done it anyway, but still: asking me to pick a top five is extremely cruel and unusual behaviour 🤣

So. In no particular order in reverse chronological order because I just went through my works list to decide, kiwiana's five favourite kiwiana fics (at least today, because I definitely have the 'can't pick favourites' flavour of neurospicy):

Like loving the stars themselves

[RWRB, Alex/Henry, E, 7.2k words]

When he emerges out the other end of the alleyway and almost runs straight into a solid blue wall that wasn’t there last time he visited this area of town, Henry assumes his wandering thoughts have conjured an illusion. He blinks, and blinks again, but it’s still there: NORA’s unassuming back wall, the broken chameleon circuit now over thirty centuries out of date to blend into her surroundings the way she’s supposed to, her anomalous presence a wrench in Henry’s carefully laid plans. Alex is here. Or, Alex is a Time Lord, and time is complicated; Henry keeps meeting him out of order, and it's been a while.

I just... I genuinely think this is the best thing I've ever written. Along with Much Ado, it's the fic that is most strongly Peak MJ Vibes, and I am really fucking proud of the story crafting in this one. I LOVE writing fics, particularly one-shots, that have such a strong sense of the wider world they sit in while still being a satisyfingly complete story in their own right, and I don't think I've ever done that better than I did here. If you have no knowlege of Doctor Who, I PROMISE you do not need to be scared of this fic lol.

Puck It

[RWRB, Alex/Henry, E, 9.7k words]

“I’m English, dear,” Henry tells him, and fuck if the nickname isn’t doing something to Alex too. “Our national sport is rugby, and we play it with a lot less protective gear. Though,” he adds thoughtfully, “rugby players do wear mouth guards, which means they have the significant advantage of generally keeping all their teeth.” “We wear mouth guards.” It’s a common misconception, and one that annoys the shit out of him. “And I’ve still got all my teeth. Wanna check?”

HOCKEY! HOCKEY! THE GREATEST GAME IN THE LAND! This fic is so wildly different to what I intended it to be, but I absolutely love what it turned into. The college hockey AU that is somehow not quite a college AU and not quite a hockey AU, but is also definitively both. I love love LOVE both Alex and Henry in this, and I adore this fic.

With so much of my heart (that none is left to protest)

[RWRB, Alex/Henry, E, 65.5k words]

Alex is a former child star struggling to make the transition into being seen as a serious actor. He jumps at an opportunity to perform on stage in the UK, seeing it as a way to break free from the typecasting and show what he can really do. But he wasn’t prepared to star alongside someone he hates. // Henry is a recent theatre graduate who accepts an amazing role in a queer reimagining of Much Ado About Nothing. And then it turns out his co-star is none other than the man he’s been hopelessly pining after for years—even though Henry made a terrible first impression when they met. // It’s… well, it’s practically Shakespearean.

First of all, I dropped chapter one of this fic one year ago today, so happy ficaversary to Much Ado! And... yeah. There's no universe in which this fic doesn't end up in my top five. I wrote this fic in a ~five week fever dream and it's probably only coherent because of @celeritas2997 and @ships-to-sail putting in a bunch of hard beta work lmao. It's just SUCH a love letter to theatre, to Shakespeare, to the power of queer joy. All things that are so fucking important to me!

And all the rest's illusion

[Schitt's Creek, David/Patrick, T, 1.8k words]

The first time David uses the word 'queer' to refer to him, it brings Patrick up short.

AKA 'MJ projects their feelings about how goddamn amazing the word queer is and makes a bunch of people cry, apparently'. This was a little bit of a spite reaction to ahistorical, ~q slur~ takes on queer as an umbrella term and I stand by that. Also, whenever I'm feeling like my writing isn't important/doesn't reach people/isn't adding any value to the world, I read through the comments on this fic and have a good cry. If YOU are feeling Not Queer Enough, I highly recommend reading through the comments on this fic and have a good cry even if you're not a Schitt's Creek person.

How much love will you happily take

[Schitt's Creek, David/Patrick, T, 8.0k words]

The trouble is, they don’t really have any privacy outside of the store — at least one member of David’s family is always at the motel, and Ray has never met a boundary he won’t cheerfully skip over. Neither of those seem like the ideal place to say 'so, I’m actually a virgin' or 'funny thing, apparently my dick’s so big no one wants to have sex with me', but the store hardly seems like an appropriate place to have that conversation either.

This started out as size kink and turned into eight thousand words of psychological kink analysis. I gave MULTIPLE people a humiliation kink with this one and I am, not joking, exceptionally fucking proud of that. LOVE to help people realise things about themselves with my writing.

[geekymoviemom]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

Ahh, thank you so much for the ask! ♥️ I’ve actually never done one of these before 😆

Shockingly, I actually do have a fic of mine that is a definite Number 1, my superfamily fic Forty-Seven Flat. I’d been toying with the idea of writing this fic for a couple of years, as a way of working through some personal baggage that I’d been carrying around since I was a teenager, and I finally just decided to bite the bullet and do it. I had absolutely no qualms that anyone would be interested in a fic about swimming, and so was completely floored not only by the overwhelmingly positive response that the story received, but also how cathartic it was for me to finally write it ♥️

The rest of my faves are in no particular order, as per usual 😆

* Pieces of Echoes, my very first superfamily fic ♥️ 💙 ♥️

* Fire Beats Roses, Everlark arranged marriage fic 🧡 💚

* Across the Worlds, Anidala post-ROTJ AU 💙 ♥️

* Tie between Immovable Mountains and The Phoenix Project, both superfamily ♥️ 💙 ♥️

Thank you so much for the ask, this was fun! 💖

Tagging: @mega-aulover @herogers @mollywog @endlessnightlock @hutchhitched @mtk4fun and anyone else who would like to participate 💖

[zaharya]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love ❤

Thank you so much for the tag @spiritofcamelot! 🥰 let's get into it then!

Horizons Over Battlegrounds — BBC Merlin, 14.5k Honestly, if someone only ever reads one thing of mine, I hope it's this one. It's a canon era fic, specifically based on that scene in s4 where the knights prank Merlin by pretending they didn't leave any food for him. I always hated this scene, it felt so utterly wrong that they would treat Merlin so terribly — this fic is my fix-it for that atrocity. It's also just some of the best writing I ever produced, and I never felt like I reached that standard again since. So yeah, this one is my pride and joy.

I wish I'd known then — BBC Merlin, 7.5k (WIP) Merthur watches Heartstopper, my beloved. Yes, this is a WIP, but it’s one of my favourite things I ever started. It was supposed to be a quick, fluffy Drabble for Dopamine, but has grown far far beyond that; it’s probably the most detailed character study I’ve ever done of Arthur — and also Nick and Charlie from Heartstopper 😅 Writing it is definitely a challenge, especially the pacing, but it’s very rewarding too when I figure out how to do a certain part. (Spoiler warnings for HS season 1!)

Get Him Back — BBC Merlin; Loaded March (by Footloose) spin-off, 14.6k If you know me at all, you know I love fight scenes, but because most my fics are short, I rarely get to write them properly. This one finally gave me the opportunity, and these scenes are among my favourite fights I’ve written, ever, and it makes me sad that only so few people will ever see them. I mean i get it, it's a spin-off but I’m sad anyway (maybe a bit less now that I have another fic with fight scenes; A Faire Fight).

Blackout Beaming Gold — BBC Merlin, 18.7k Steampunk AU my beloved! Originally written for Whumptober 2021, this one got a bit out of hand as well. I keep thinking that I wanna write a sequel, but I never find the energy to work it out in my head. My dear friend Sunfall also made amazing art for this, and it was such a joy to do this together. Featuring MurderFeline!Aithusa, low-key soulmates Merthur, pretty magic, and some quick fight scenes even.

My Breath In Your Lungs — BBC Merlin, 6.5k Another Whumptober fic, my Merman!Merlin AU; featuring a trapped Merlin, Arthur coming to rescue him, and one of my favourite not-quite-kiss scenes. I even commissioned art for it, and the lovely Miralya did an absolutely stellar job of it!

I know it says five favourite fics, but I have to give Mine To Protect an honourable mention, otherwise this just feels wrong. This is the first fic I ever published, and the older parts are honestly not up to my improved writing standards — hence why it didn't make the top 5 — but i’m still proud of having written something as big as this (213k WIP).

Tagging (without pressure of course) @tyalangand, @merlinlikethebird, @ask-geralt, @fabledfrog, @multishipperpirateking, @excited-insomniac and anyone else who feels like participating!