Bumping this thread because I've spent the past few days immersed in oldies but goodies as I reformat them to convert for my new Kindle so I can read them on that.
I know "Between the Lines" is a favorite of a lot of you on here, it's been brought up before, but I started really rereading that story last night and stayed up till 5 a.m. It's a story I always say I'm going to reread in April as baseball season's starting up, and then I never do because I 'm too busy or don't have the stamina to read more than a chapter at a time of fanfics anymore. But as soon as I got back into it, comfy in my bed last night, I remembered why I added it to my favorites list as soon as I finished it the first time. Such a good story! Amazing characters, both Backstreet and original, and such an awesome blend of humor and the sad stuff I love. It's still the best example of an good AU I've ever read.
http://www.tinylittlerumors.net/storycart/btl/index.htmlAnd now for a lesser known, but just as good story... "The Market." I tend to overlook this one when gushing about my favorite stories, probably for the same reason I tend to overlook more recent stories I've read on AC - I read this one as it was being written, by one of my BFFs; it wasn't one I found on my own and stayed up late to read all in one sitting, so I don't have the nostalgia associated with it that I do with the Where Can We Go From Heres of fanfic. But I just spent the last 3 or 4 hours betareading every word of it, adding some needed commas, and reposting it on my site that way, solely because it's an amazing story that deserves to be read and appreciated (and I'm a little anal about commas). But seriously, this story deserves to be in my top five, because it's amazing. If you haven't read it before, read it. It's the equivalent of Something Beautiful seven years before there was Something Beautiful. http://www.dreamers-sanctuary.com/hosted/market.html
Reading that story reminded me of the difference between writers like me, who can manufacture a very long, well-researched, perfectly-punctuated tearjerker with just the right cliches to make people cry, and writers like Susan, who can create a masterpiece that is beautiful in its short and sweet simplicity. I'd like to be that kind of writer, though I'm not sure I ever will be. I'm not sure that kind of talent can be taught or learned.
