The ETA from You to Me
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The ETA from You to Me |
| Author(s): | tylerfucklin (zimothy) |
| Date(s): | June 18, 2012 to October 6, 2012 |
| Length: | 105,038 words |
| Genre(s): | Alternate Universe |
| Fandom(s): | Teen Wolf |
| Relationship(s): | Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski |
| External Links: | on the AO3 (link defunct) |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The ETA from You to Me is a very popular Derek/Stiles story by tylerfucklin that was posted in 16 chapters during and after Teen Wolf season two was on the air. The story is a futurefic Alternate Universe where Stiles Stilinski doesn't meet Derek Hale until he is in college (but werewolves still exist).
Author's Summary: In which Derek drives a tow truck and Stiles is the weekend dispatcher who attempts to woo him with his lack of a brain-to-mouth filter and affinity for run-on sentences.
As of 24 June 2013, the story on the AO3 had 717 comments, 3904 kudos, 1222 bookmarks, and 157750 total hits. Among Teen Wolf fanworks, it was ranked as the 16th most kudos'ed, 8th most viewed, 22nd most bookmarked, and 20th most commented on.[1]
On June 24, 2013, tylerfucklin added a note warning readers that the story would soon be taken offline and published as original fiction.[2] All but the first chapter of the story was taken offline July 1, 2013.[3] Some time later the fic was deleted entirely, and pleas from fans looking for a copy could be seen along with images of the published novel in the Tumblr tag.[4]
On June 2, 2015, tylerfucklin reposted the fanfic on AO3 with a note to say that the original fic and fanfic versions were different enough to make the fic available again. However, the fic was deleted again later.
Reactions/Reviews
Tumblr reviews:
I don't know how will I ever be able to recover from ETA from you to me. I mean, I read half the thing in one night, up until 4am and I wouldn’t have stopped until midday if it weren’t for the fact that I was going to get murdered by my grandma if I didn’t sleep. It had the best smut ever, which, I read a lot of smut okay, it’s so fucking hard to find PERFECT smut, and just. Wow. And just the general thing was so perfect x.x PERFECT. GO READ IT. It’s 100K+ words of perfection.[5]
I made the mistake of starting The ETA from You to Me last night thinking I would read a couple of chapters then go to sleep. I highly recommend you not try this as it will result in you staying awake all night trying to finish this amazing fic![6]
That’s right folks, even with 105K+ words she avoided the exchange of the ‘L’ word (and I don’t mean lesbian). And yet, by the end of chapter 16 she leaves you feeling satiated. She so well implies their affection and adoration that she tricks your brain into thinking that, “They must have said ‘I love you’ to each other, right?” In reality, the closest you get is an occasional passing thought from Stiles lovely inner commentary on how he feels about Derek. But that’s it! It really is a credit to this lovely author that she somehow managed to so instill this love within the readers thought process that we can do nothing but conclude it’s unquestionable, unconditional and absolute occurrence. Somewhere along the way, between the lines, we can’t help but hear it. And that is what makes “The ETA from You to Me” such genius![7]
Oh, ETA: come for the AU trope, stay for the bitingly funny writing. ETA is not only witty, it also knows how to build a story: longer fic (see the wopping 100k+ word count) needs to have a solid outline from day one, and ETA knows exactly where its going even from the first chapter. You only have to click on the ETA tumblr tag to understand its influence in fandom. This fic is novel quality and if you don’t yet know what a wolf plush in the back of a tow truck means, you will soon![8]
On Goodreads the fic received 10 reviews and was rated 50 times, for an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars.[9] The reviews span the range from hatred to love. One reviewer discussed the experience of reading the self-published version without knowing it started life as fanfic, then going back to read the fanfic:
It's pretty much exactly like the edited version but with....that's right, werewolves! Shocker. The fanfic is 105,038 words, around 300 pages (depending on variables) and the self-pubbed version is 180 pages. That's a lot of cutting. That involved cutting scenes with Scott and Allison (except a few short ones), one scene with Danny and Jackson (they're a background couple in this), KNOTTING, discussions of Kate, a scene with Laura, some sex scenes and a trip to a fall festival. And many conversations between Derek and Stiles. I don't know--in some ways it made it less rambly (though the pubbed version still feels rambly in a recognizably fanfic kinda way) but a lot of stuff that didn't make much sense in the pubbed version, make perfect sense as a fic. All in all, it's a better story and yet another example of why one shouldn't file of serial numbers and publish fanfic. CUZ IT'S FUCKING FANFIC.[10]
In a completely unsurprising turn of events, anons at Fail_Fandomanon didn't like it much:
It started out as a fun, tropey AU, but quickly got weird and annoying. I wouldn't call it OOC so much as character assassination. "Stiles'" boundary issues made me so uncomfortable I didn't even finish the fic.[11]
Inspired Fanworks
- story illustration by kickingshoes (September? 2012)
- Life After ETA by loversforlycanthropes, a fanart illustration of a fan's reaction to the fic
References
- ^ Among all fanworks on the archive, it was ranked as the 22nd most kudos'ed, 28th most viewed, 30th most bookmarked, and 171st most commented on. Statistics compiled on 24 June 2013 using the advance search feature.
- ^ Chapter 17: IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ posted on AO3 June 24, 2013. (archived Jun 2013).
- ^ See zimothy's July 1, 2013 Tumblr post.
- ^ Tumblr tag checked on September 17, 2013. The URL to the fic was generating a 404 error.
- ^ sterekmasturbationclub. Tumblr post, 1 January 2013. (Accessed 27 June 2013.)
- ^ bilesandthesourwolf. December? 2012 Tumblr post
- ^ gheydinosaur. What makes “The ETA from You to Me” so genius! posted to Tumblr 8 October 2012
- ^ sterekstaples. The ETA from You to Me by tylerfucklin. 2013 Tumblr post. (Accessed 2 October 2013.)
- ^ The ETA from You to Me by tylerfucklin, shutupbolinski, Archived version
- ^ Rosa, really's review of The ETA from You to Me, Archived version, 26 February 2015.
- ^ livejournal comment, 2013-11-16.