Fic Rec: Fruit On Offer (PG, by ristrettoette)

[irisbleufic.livejournal.com]

Title: Fruit On Offer
Author: ristrettoette
Pairing: John & Sherlock gen, but it could be pre-slash or even slash if you wanted it to be.
Length: 1,292 words
Rating: PG
Warnings: None, unless you count surprise!fruit-trees.
Verse: Sherlock (BBC)
Author's Summary: You can't grow oranges in England.

Reccer's Comments: In my opinion, ristrettoette is the most under-appreciated writer in this fandom. She doesn't post often, but when she does, her stories are flawlessly cut gems filled with warmth and luminous possibility. This is her newest piece after quite a long silence, and although the premise appears to have begun as something of an in-joke, she's transformed the concept into something utterly captivating (as only she can). John's experiences in Afghanistan hum quietly in the background; this piece positively buzzes with anticipation. I'm smitten.

Comments

[irisbleufic.livejournal.com]

The trouble is, it looks like she may never finish it. Would the deciding criteria then be to wait for an announcement from the author saying that it's definitely closed? I've noticed that a couple of other series that are currently open-ended have been recced, and one of them is my own (Drowning Man - there is, in theory, a fourth story coming, but I've been leaning away from it more recently, but still can't make up my mind as to whether it's really finished or not; the other one I'm thinking of is wordstrings's Paradox, as it's continually added to, albeit without warning). In other words, finished/unfinished is an incredibly grey area, and some things have already been recced here that are technically unfinished, but that seem stalled out or might, who knows, actually finally have dead-ended. Do you have protocol in place to handle this sort of thing? It's been months and months since ristrettoette added to her crossover series, so might it be safe for reccing? Sorry to be asking such nitpicky technical questions :)

[tanpopo03.livejournal.com]

No, those are absolutely valid points. Unfortunately we never specified what constitutes as a WIP. I will need to talk that over with the other mods.
Personally I don't view a series of connected fics (such as, e.g. the Paradox Series) as works in progress, since they could theoretically stand on their own. But I realize now that we really should have a definition for it.
My reasoning behind forbidding recs for WIPs back when I set the comm up was that I didn't want people to be left hanging when a recced story was never finished... I'd feel pretty bad about that.

[irisbleufic.livejournal.com]

(And my Drowning Man stories are capable of standing on their own, too, so I can see your point on that score.)

Some WIPs are never finished, I suppose, is the point I'm trying to make :) People will sometimes be left hanging. Maybe there should be a time requirement? I.e. if a WIP hasn't been updated in, I don't know, six to nine months, then it can be recced regardless of its status (as people have been left hanging for a long time, anyway)? Just a thought, I suppose, as people will miss out on some fantastic stuff if abandoned WIPs can never be recced!