Good Omens (hello again)

[louiselux]

I just went back and reread the Good Omens fic I wrote in 2003-4. That was quite a weird experience. Not bad, just weird. I thought I'd finally put it on AO3 because people have asked, and upload it with the caveat that it's book canon. But actually there's very little in them that goes against TV canon. I wonder if that's partly because it was a very good adaptation? It's at least partly because I never wrote anything very long or involved in GO fandom, and my stories were often about underpants or porridge or snake babies, and other silly things. 

Yeah, now I do want to write something long an involved. My writing efforts have changed a lot in the years since then, going from always short to always long, possibly reflecting the change in why I write. Not that I have written very much in the past year, really.

Anyhoo, I have a metric shit ton of feelings about GO right now. That adaptation has pleased me a lot. As I was saying just this morning, it's really quite something to go back to an old fandom but with a shiny new set of mental imagery.

Comments

[rheasilvia]

Some long and involved GO fic sounds absolutely wonderful! :-) I also enjoyed the TV adaptation a lot, and would love to revisit the fandom with a good story.

underpants or porridge or snake babies

All very excellent things!

[tiggymalvern]

actually there's very little in them that goes against TV canon. I wonder if that's partly because it was a very good adaptation?

Yes. And also because the TV adaptation was controlled by one of the original authors. And also because that original author absorbed the fanon over the past 20 years.

Good Omens wasn't a book about an angel and a demon. Good Omens was a book with an ensemble cast, of which an angel and a demon between them constituted less than a sixth of the pages. Much of the book was dedicated to Anathema, and the Them and the Four Horsemen, with Shadwell and Newton Pulsifer and Madam Tracy as additional occupiers of lines and words.

But of the ensemble cast of characters, the fans latched onto the angel and the demon. Those were the two who captured the imagination, the two the readers universally fell in love with. Those were the two the authors were continually questioned about in the decades since the book was published. And maybe the authors fell in love with those two as much as the readers did, because when Neil Gaiman talked about the sequel that was never written, he talked about the angel and the demon living in the South Downs.

So when Neil wrote the TV adaptation, he made the angel and the demon the central characters in a way they never were in the book. But because that's the way everyone remembers the book, with the angel and the demon taking centre stage, the TV adaptation feels absolutely perfect.

[horizon_greene]

I have nothing constructive to contribute re: Good Omens, but just wanted to say it's nice to see your name pop up! Also, very happy that you're feeling inspired by your shiny new (old) fandom :)

[luthien]

Hey, blast from the past!

I am back on here after getting tired of tumblr's shenanigans.

I enjoyed GO a lot - a lot more than I was expecting to. It's nice to see so many people around me getting all inspired and re-inspired by it!

[cimorene]

Oh, I would love to see fic from you again! I hope you do!

There's also separate tags for book and tv, but you can choose to browse both at once using the parent tag, so in principle you shouldn't really need any disclaimers.

I only ever wrote (remixed) one story, and I've been getting a steadily increasing number of notes on it for like... well, since quite a while before the show came out.

[daegaer]

I am so delighted by the whole series (as you know,ha ha), and am feeling all the fic feels. I would adore to see something long and involved from you!

So much new imagery! It's really such a relief we've finally entered the slow period at work, because , my God I. Am. Distract.

[lauand]

Dammmmiiiiiiiiiitttttt....

I do love some of the things Neil Gaiman has done. I can't adore the Discworld more than I do and I have never cried as hard after someone's passing than when Terry Pratchett diEd. But I sort of hated Good Omens. Which I should have expected because I bought the book before reading it in the library, which is something I've never done again after that because it wasn't the first time that I bought a book by an author I loved (or a CD from a band I was a big fan of) to then discover it's their crappiest work (for me, I mean) to date.

So, well, yeah. I'm not into canon, so I'm not into fanon, BUT I'M VERY MUCH INTO YOUR WRITING PROWESS AND IT PAINS ME THAT YOUR COMEBACK HAS TO BE IN THIS FANDOM I'M UTTERLY UNINTERESTED IN, DAMMIT!!!!

I will consider overcoming my misgivings if you decide to publish a link here, though. But I can't promise anything.

(I am really glad you are all happy with the TV adaptation, though. They tend to be tricky. I'm happy to see one of the co-authors is deeply involved.)

[enigel]

Helllloooooo! *jumps up and down from the back of the class* Hiii!

It's been literal years! I haven't watched a TV series in years, but I had to watch this one and AAAAAAAAAH! *flaps hands*

So goood! Had to binge-watch in one night and then be a zombie at work - all worth it.

Good to meet you again under the wing umbrella of the same fandom!

I've been getting a steady drip-drip of kudos on my ancient and rather tiny stash of GO fics, since the TV series was announced. Looking forward to my favourite authors responding back to a canonical take on the "4 times + 1" :D :D.

Hiiii!

[arcadiaego]

This is going to sound like such a creepy stalker comment, but partly inspired by the GO adaptation, I've been going through my extremely old fic bookmarks and updating them all if the fics still survive etc. Anywayyyy you were one of the authors I couldn't find on AO3! I have something of yours bookmarked that was posted in Lower Tadfield from 2004!

/creepy stalker comment. This adaptation has resulted in SO MUCH weird fandom nostalgia and memories, it's been amazing.