When all else fails, there's always delusion.
-Conan O'Brien

God, I hate knowing everything.
-Rockhound, Armageddon

Drunken Racetrack is dancing in the little green-room of my mind, waiting to come on stage.
He's screaming, "GIVE ME TO SAKISAKI!" It's a little bit scary.
-Pennylayne, ff.net

Fanfiction Info

Favorite Newsies Character(s): Racetrack. Always has been, always will be. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a smartass, both in my fandom and in my life, and there's a darkness in those eyes of his that is just fascinating to me. Plus Max Casella is the shiznit. My favorite minor character is a toss-up between Specs (glasses+bowler hat=sex) and Skittery. Skittery is probably my favorite character to write for, and I'm like in love with Michael Goorjian, so that's a bonus (he gives me a bonus, eheheheh).

Favorite Type of Fics: Character studies, by far. Whether they're one shots or long and angsty, I love to see writers exposing and creating as many facets of a character's personality as they can. They're also the type I'm most interested in writing. I prefer 1899 settings generally. Epics are a favorite too - so apparently I like the very short and the very grand.

Least Favorite Type of Fics: Songfics. It must be said, I think they're a bad idea. I'm saying this as an experienced songfic writer- in fact, the majority of my anime stories in high school were songfics. I couldn't get enough of them. I thought they were the bees knees, and was amazed at how perfectly the lyrics of some of my favorite songs fit with my writing. But I've come to realize something: generally, IT DOESN'T TRANSLATE. A story, quite simply, should exist on its own. It should be strong enough without any need of enhancement through song lyrics. If it needs the song, then it's not a very strong story. If it IS a well-developed fic, then it doesn't need the song. See what I'm saying? Now, this is only my opinion, and if you love writing songfics, that's great. Go for it, indulge, and enjoy. But every time I see them, I must confess - I wrinkle my nose and wonder why it's there at all.

Opinions on Mary-Sues/Het: I'm not crazy about them, but I'm not completely anti-Mary-Sue either. There are some good fics out there, and I'm not about to discriminate just because it's over-done. If there's a female protagonist who is well-developed, flawed, interesting and just so happens to fall in love with one of the boys, then okay - I'm probably hooked. If it's the same trash over and over so the author can live out her fantasy, then I'll pass. They're easy to spot and avoid, fortunately. I just hate the whole Slashers vs. Mary-Sue-ers thing. Can't we all just get along?

Opinions on Slash: Though I've been involved with fanfiction for about ten years, if not more, I've never been a fan of slash until recently... and now I can't get enough of it. If it's well-written I'll accept ANY pairing, but I'm particularly fond of SpRace (Spot/Race) and Sputchy (Specs/Dutchy). My OTP is Spittery (Specs/Skittery), a name some people might associate with me since I seem to be the first person to specialize in it. Really, there's a lot of basis for it as seen in the movie! They are frequently side by side; see TWWK, KONY, and STD (plus the reprise) for just a few examples. Mmmm. If you write it for me I'll love you forever.

My Fics

Completed:

Suspenders Unhooked - featuring EvertheRomeo!Racetrack, because he is, after all, the King of New York.
Info: One shot character study. Rated M for het sexual content (woo hoo!). My first fic.
Why: Because timeis1800's A Girl to Keep is one of my favorite fics, and it just begged to be expanded... in the bedroom! At least, that's my opinion. Hopefully he feels the same. Also, I wanted to try my hand at something sexy and romantic, which I find quite challenging. It was an intimidating thought - my first fic being borderline erotica - and that's why I did it. I'm happy with the results. -huggles Race!muse-
Written Entirely While Listening To: The Newsies soundtrack!

Unobtrusive - featuring FootFetish!Itey (don't ask me, it practically wrote itself).
Info: One shot character study. Rated K.
Why: While working on a Skittery piece, I hit a wall. Taking a break from that, and humming "Carrying the Banner" while I took a shower, this idea popped into my head. The concept was conceived and the fic was written and published all in the same day. Normally I never do that - I give myself a few days with it, to tweak and revise - but after hours of writing it I couldn't take any more thoughts about feet, and felt I had gone as far as I could with the conceit. Plus I like Itey, and thought the site could do with more fics centered around him. As far as I know, it's the only piece to deal exclusively with Snitch's foot. I can't see why, who wouldn't want to write about that? ;)
Written Entirely While Listening To: The Newsies soundtrack, again! (Look, this is just when I was getting back into the film after something like nine years. I tend to obsess, just a tad.)

Winter's Waiting - featuring ByronicHero!Skittery.
Info: Five chapters. Rated T for language, violence, a hint of slash and general weirdness.
Why: The aforementioned Skittery piece I was working on. I can't remember how this quite came about - when I started it I really didn't have an interest in writing about Skittery. Now I can't get enough of the guy! But I do know that I started with the last line of the fic and worked from there, and wanted to have Skitts be really fond of little girls. I hope nobody's creeped out by that - it stems from my own hyper-affection for little kids (my face lights up whenever I see them). Plus, he seemed really good with kids in the movie. Anyway, I made a list of all the things that could go wrong during a newsie's day, but the bigger elements of the story - The Newspaper Man, the little boy and his sister, and the scene with Specs - were spontaneous whims that seemingly came out of nowhere. I ran with them and they ended up making the story. I'm really proud of this fic, and hope everyone find something to enjoy in it!
Written Entirely While Listening To: Fugazi's Thirteen Songs. Fantastic album, if you like American underground punk from the late 80s (and I do). One of the best punk albums ever released, in my not-so-humble opinion. Oh, and I was also listening to the Beastie Boys' Ill Communication quite a bit.

Under the Eyepatch - featuring Deranged!Newsies and PassedOut!Blink.
Info: One shot. Rated K+ for creepiness.
Why: I dunno, really. It was an idea that I'd been carrying around in the back of my head for awhile -I just had to write it. It was really fun, and I'm not totally satisfied with it (couldn't get the pacing quite right), but then again I also felt like writing something quick and outside of reality after pouring my heart into Winter's Waiting. Not too much thought required for this, although the concept is pretty disturbed. It was fun to experiment with present tense and Mush's POV, too. My favorite part of it is the title/summary combo, hehe... I have issues. Got kind of a controversial response - reviewers seem pretty divided over it. That's okay, I had a blasty-blast.
Written Entirely While Listening To:The Pixies' Doolittle.

Mud and Mosquitoes and Melanoma - featuring ClumsyGuitarPlaying!Skittery and SmithsFanFisherman!Specs.
Info: One shot. Rated T for language, boy-fighting violence, and slash.
Why: 'Cause I love the Spittery, and really wanted to get some experience writing slash, modern day and fluff. And I got to try all three in one go! It's for Signpost's "A Day in the Sun" challenge at the Refuge, and I think it's fairly successful. God knows I enjoyed writing it. Mmmmm.
Written Entirely While Listening To: Kaiser Chiefs' Employment.

Fight or Flight - featuring OMGPanicAttack!Specs and DancingNakedInAFountain!Dutchy.
Info: One shot. Rated T for language, angst, mild slash and a naked Dutchy. Written for Stage as part of the Spring Slash Exchange.
Why: The prompt was High School Graduation, and rather than some sweet coming-of-age-type fluff piece, which is what I initially intended to write, I ended up with a somewhat dark story about friends having to leave each other. This was the toughest fic for me to write so far, and I think it's because my OTP is Spittery, so Specs having to "betray" Skittery for Dutchy is a bit hard on me. I have no problem reading Sputchy - in fact, I love it - but writing it turned out to be a whole different story. Still, as long as Stage liked it, that's what matters! (I also based the ending on a supposedly real event where a newsboy danced naked in a fountain. Sweeeet.)
Written Entirely While Listening To: Foo Fighters' The Colour and the Shape.

Mush and the Magic Show - featuring IWantToBeLikeHoudini!Mush, WithALittleHelpFromMyFriends!Blink and PrettySmartForAKid!Les.
Info: One shot. Rated K+ for mild language.
Why: Written specially for Blink Week. Originally this was going to be in reverse, entitled Blink and the Magic Show, in which case it would have been mostly about Mush. I thought that was the wrong way to go, and besides, I can never resist alliteration (as you can see from nearly all of my fics). It was fun writing for Les especially, seeing as he doesn't get to do much in most stories besides say cute things and sit in the background. Mush and Blink are adorable and I'm really quite fond of their relationship (though I don't think I'm much good at writing about it). Anyway, I'm really pretty proud of this one, and wrote it entirely in two days in a frenzied state of inspired sweetness.
Written Entirely While Listening To: Blondie's Best of Blondie.

Incomplete:

Shoulders - with the spotlight on all the characters I haven't focused on in my previous fics.
Info: Collection of one shots of various lengths. Rated T for language, violence, possible slash, possible het, possible anything.
Why: Because I just can't be pretentious enough, teehee. And because it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Chapters:
-Small Operation - In which Spot admires, envies, resents, threatens, and looks up to Race.

Night of the Living Scabs - featuring Zombie!Newsies, and almost every character (given a name) in the movie, plus a few OCs.
Info: My longest work so far. Rated T for language, violence, implied slash and massive character death.
Why: I'm pretty sure this will be my opus, and it has ZOMBIES, so if there was ever a question about my sanity, this should confirm your fears. Inspired by Rustie73 and too much Shaun of the Dead and Evil Dead in one summer (as if there could ever be too much).

About Me

http://sammarine.blogspot.com/
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