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[Artalis]

No copy and paste needed, just an overview and maybe some background on what inspired it.

Also: Was it as a Story Crafter, NPC or as a PC?

[Merzedes]

I don't know Artalis--that's really hard to say. I mean, it would almost be easier to tell the best thing someone else has written and I have read

For me, it might have been the Death of Father Charles. How Dark is thy Blood, and my very first attempt at writing a murder/death scene. The action was interspersed with selections from the Priests Confession, in Latin. It made it rather surreal.

On the one hand I was still a beginner here, so while its one of the best things I've written here, it hardly stands up. I'm going to redo it someday.

[Artalis]

Actually, Merzedes I found that piece to be very surreal and moving. I don't think it needs redoing.

For myself I can't really narrow it down to one though and oddly I find that I'm concerned that it isn't only recent stuff that I consider among my best.

When a portion of the cast of 15 Gifted split off to create Gifted due to a disagreement with the original SC's way of running things, I rewrote my character's introductory post, starting her in the hospital after the accident that gave her the strange abilities that made her Gifted. I was very proud of that one and the one that followed. The exposition on her personality, the budding feminism and irritation towards her mother's embracing of all things Cosmo and Vogue, really brought her strong-willed nature into light.

I still remember one of the lines I wrote in that second post where her cat was licking tuna juice off her hand after accidentally crushing the can and Thalia questioned whether or not she was dreaming. "Dream or not, it was tuna-flavored," still makes me smile when I think of it. Unfortunately the SC deleted the story and I didn't save it, foolishly.

Another one would be for Where Angels Fear to Tread which was created by Argyle2001. Again, an introductory post, though this one was for a very hard edged US Army Airborne Rescue Ops Doctor. I feel I did an especially good job of establishing the miles-thick walls of disallusionment and nailed a few little nuances by doing some research into some Army slang and such. The character really felt solid. To this day Jennifer Korrie is the StoryKiller. No story survives her character submission.

The third and most recent example is Anna Clair of Damn the Dark, Damn the Light. ( http://www.storycrafter.com/story/index.php?storyid=4913 ) But I have a very hard time picking particular posts for her. Instead I would say that Anna is the best I have ever done overall. She is like the other two girls, strong willed and smart but her very human emotional vulnerability and my exposition of her thought processes brings her self-doubt, pain and fears through clearer than I have ever managed.

Anna also haunts me, I kid you not.

[Merzedes]

Anna should haunt you, she's a deep and well conceived girl. Well written as well.

And to answer the rest of your question above, which I missed the first time around:

I was writing both as SC and as an NPC since I was killing off an abandoned character. Oh, the death was necessary and timely but I was writing both pieces, interspersed, with the point of view of both characters. Again, I had never done anything like that before.

StoryCrafter has taught me a lot and definitely how to think outside the page.

[Shay]

I'm with Merzedes - it would be easier for me to list others works that I was really bowled over by.   When it comes to assessing my own...

"Best"   uhh...hm.    There are two classes of posts that tend to be very satisfying for me.   The ones where I get that sublime and elusive inspiration, and it just pours out in a way I'm gratified with at the time.  (Though what I may think of it in review, sometime down the road, is another story.)  And the ones where it's really challenging to get started, where for one reason or the next, it's not an easy post to write. Those latter really make me think or soul search, sometimes, and get outside my usual perspective. Which can be very rewarding.       

I don't think there's anything I've done on SC that would qualify as my personal tour de force, yet.   Mostly I just have fun here, try to learn something along the way, and don't worry about it too much.       

I do have some pride for FF Alt as a whole, just because it's not easy to maintain a story and manage a plot across years of real time.   Let alone one that I think makes a pretty good read from beginning to where it currently sits.  But were I to pick out its highlight posts, it would be things that you guys have written.  Really though, no SC worth their salt should feel otherwise, given a good (or in your cases excellent) cast.       

And as a player, for Lamplighters, for semi-similar reasons:  being a contributive part of what I consider an excellent whole - rather than any particular emphasis on what I've done there.     

There are times where I feel really putting my head and soul into writing a post, and turning out something that could be construed as good work, has made me enemies. Or at least stirred others into a rivalry that was subsequently no fun to deal with.   That sort of thing is always really deflating when it occurs.  For me, this isn't a competitive activity, in any sense.  It doesn't need to be.  Other areas of my life are heavily competitive, or even borderline combatitive, and one reason I engage in this hobby is to get a break from that stuff.    So it's almost a bit heart breaking when it intrudes in.   

Anyrate, I think the best post I've written here is the one I haven't written yet.  That perspective always keeps a point B out there for me to reach toward.