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Reader can you spare a jellybean?

Earlier this year we replaced the star rating system with jellybeans. Jellybeans are like a "like" or a "kudos" and you can leave up to 5 on a story. Now for various reasons, there are a lot of great stories on MTT that ended up with very few jellybeans so this is an attempt to remedy this!

Here we want readers to post their favorite stories on the archive that have ended up with fewer than 10 jellybeans (especially if it's fewer than 5). We also encourage you to briefly include why the story is deserving of more jellybeans. Any publish date is fine but an older story is more likely to have been forgotten and will benefit more from the boost!

One way to find worth stories to add:

If you have a good list of favorites or many stories on your bookshelf, while logged into the archive head to the Browse section, select your favorites or your bookshelf, sort by "least jellybeans" (you'll find that under the drop down that has the default of "most recent") and then you'll easily see stories that can be added to the list.

I'll try to keep the 2nd post of this thread updated with recommended stories. If you don't feel like posting here, you can also post your recs in the shoutbox

Comments

  • edited July 2018
    My first round of "Stories that deserve more jellybeans"

    * Everything by watchthesky84
    why: watchthesky84 writes one-shots that are wonderfully sweet with a touch of angst, and I have no doubt if she wrote in the peak years of 2007-2008 she would have had a great following. Like I said they all deserve more beans, you can start with Moonbounce or Don't Be. then give all the jellybeans from there.

    * Out of the Fog by Kat11
    This sexy story was the readers choice in our Valentine's Day contest this year and definitely deserves more than 3 jellybeans!

    * A Day He'll Never forget by Deedldee
    Told in the 2nd person, a great fic about Jim's first day and first time meeting a certain receptionist.

    * Vox by sophia_helix
    If you're familiar with the Office selection at AO3 then you know this one has gotten lots of kudos over there but has somehow ended up with less than 10 at MTT, which definitely needs to be fixed! Hot hot hot, but also with just enough plot to keep things interesting.

    *all the things that happened after casino night (and all the things that didn't) by thatsparrow
    This was published during our "rebuilding phase" at MTT before we got things more active and therefore didn't get the attention it deserved, a really good look at season 3, thatsparrow captures Pam's perspective perfectly.
  • My next round of "Stories that deserve more jellybeans!"

    Pretty Much everything by kells8995: Our Author of the month for December, kells was at archive pretty much since the start and wrote many enjoyable, mostly fluffy fics that sadly ended up with only a handful of jellybeans. Start with the angsty-but-sweet Rebuild or the smuffy may the four winds blow you safely home and go from there!

    Dukes by brokenloon: though fan reaction to Jim & Pam's Season 9 storyline was at best mixed, it did inspire a handful of great fics including this one by our Nov. AOTM brokenloon, who writes about the "fight" Jim and & Pam were fixing to have after "Couples Discount" and does a great job of cutting to the heart of their marital issues.

    Real and Imagined by shutterbug: We're lucky to have a great group of currently active writers and shutterbug puts such care and craft in her fics they're a joy to read. This particular one is about Jim reflecting on the voicemails Pam left him in "The Carpet" and is so leaves you feeling like you're in Jim's head. Her other fics are all deserving of jellybeans as well!

    Five Times Jim and Pam Almost Got Busted by NobleLandMermaid: if you can forgive a little shameless self-promotion, I posted this fic about Pam's and JIm's first summer back when MTT was still very much on life-support so I'm going to guess some readers missed it. I'm definitely guilty of gravitating to the S1-3 angst when writing JAM so this was an exercise in just writing something fun and fluffy and I had a lot of fun with it so I hope you have fun reading!

    And that should do me for now! Remember, if you have any favorites you think need more beans feel free to post, or post them in the shoutbox on the archive and I'll try to crosspost here.
  • edited May 2018
    I would suggest the following:

    That's when she knew by iwantphillyjim: A lovely peek inside Pam's head and the changes in her thinking that come about when the cameras come by. Warning: it isn't finished. But it's worth reading anyway.

    Love, loyalty, and friendship by Rach3l: A lot of Rach3l's stories are lower on jellybeans than I would suggest they deserve, probably because they get posted all at once and so people don't give separate jellybeans as they binge-read these amazing stories (another example of this is the wonderful Irish Spring). This one is I think the most egregious example, as it has a Dundie, is the fourth-most-read story on the site since S7, and still has a grand total of 7 jellybeans. It's a great version of that perennial topic, Jim and Pam's first date and the ensuing weekend.

    Voicemails by msteapot: This is a very frequently reviewed story that somehow ended up stuck at 9 jellybeans. It is technically unfinished, as the author had the ambitious plan of hitting every episode in the series, but the 10 chapters we do have are very much worth a read--or should I say, a listen, since the premise is that these are voicemails Jim and Pam leave each other after each episode.

    FIrst Loves and Second Chances by NobleLandMermaid: It would be a shame to leave NLM to do self-promotion, so I'll include this story here--and maybe also do some shaming in the hope that NLM will finish it sometime. Although it claims to be a NaNoWriMo, it's unfinished at 13k words, but it's freaking great: alternating times and viewpoints, it gives us an AU in which Pam and Jim were high-school sweethearts who broke up and lost touch and are now coming back for their tenth high-school reunion.
  • edited May 2018
    The Job aired on May 17, 2007 and in honor of the anniversary , I'm here with a First Date edition of "Stories That Deserve More Jellybeans"

    A Bad Date by Comfect: since Comfect was kind enough to give a shoutout to me, I'll return the favor :) Though less than 700 words, he make every single one count in this retelling of Jim and Pam's first week together.

    I also 2nd Comfect's feelings that Love, loyalty, friendship by Rach3l deserves far more jellybeans, give them in honor of the first date anniversary if nothing else.

    The Job (continued) and The Date : this one was completed a few months before we instituted the jellybean system so while it had a decent number of reviews it's jellybean count is definitely not reflective of how detailed and well written this first date fic is, but you can remedy that!

    A Wish Come True by perfect_match: great JAM banter and sweetness and a date that I could definitely picture happening!

    Well I Wish You Would by flowersformybrain: this one definitely skips the angst in favor of flirty romance and a touch of steam

    So Glad You Came Around by xoxoxo and brokenloon: this one is different and fun, the two writers alternate and write what they imagine Jim and Pam are thinking at the end of their date.

    Angels in Your Angles by bored at work: another kind of unique one for using first person point of view (or whatever I - you POV is called!) this one is a lovely trip into Jim's thoughts as he and Pam finally become more than that ;)

    ETA: ground floor by kells8995: not technically a first date fic but this is the only fic I'm aware of that was inspired by the alternate ending written in the Job script and is every bit as sweet as the "it's a date" moment.
  • Back with another round! While compiling our Month of Fic Recs list, many stories stood out to me as being deserving of more jellybeans, here are some fics whose jellybean counts are, IMHO, egregiously low

    She's a candle burning in my room by Sweetpea: written in 2nd person from Jim's POV, this fic gets pretty naughty yet still manages to have that JAM sweetness. Deserves far more than 9 jellybeans!

    Four Times Pam Almost Drove to Stamford and One Time She Did by unfold
    : a nice little five times fics that covers the summer between S2 and S3 then has the ending we all wished for before the merger episode.

    Second Chances by JAMsoundtrack: what if Pam had gone to comfort Dwight in the stairwell instead of Jim? Well it very likely would have gone something like this... A great premise and even better little one shot

    And Harder Still to Make Noise by sophia_helix
    : breaking my own rules a little here since this one is at 10 jellybeans, but this is one of my favorite fics of all time and deserves *all* the jellybeans. Sophia just *gets* Pam Beesly and while she goes canon divergent after the casino night kiss (in a very, very good way ;)), everything before that could easily be canon.

    Ontario by Talkative: another rule breaker, this one also has 10 jellybeans but deserves far more. Pam and Jim run away for a 2nd time on their wedding day and the result is sweet, humorous, steamy and just them.
  • Let's get back into the jellybean giving mood with some fics from 2019 that our readers highlighted as deserving more jellybeans:

    A Little Rough by MadiDavis: "My take on some of the thoughts and feelings of our favorite couple as they work through the changes and difficulties that Jim's new job brings"

    Begin Again by SprinklesTheCat: A brief snapshot of Pam and Jim's first date after "The Job", completely based on the lyrics of the Taylor Swift song "Begin Again".

    Chaotic Christmas by Coley: An office party is not an excuse to get really drunk, or confront someone, or have a cathartic experience of any kind. Also, Pam won't tell Jim what her favorite Christmas song is. [a sub-10 jellybean fic from Coley just feels wrong, lets make it right again!]

    I Heard Your Heart Say Love, Love, Love by JennaBennett: Another day, another conference room meeting with life altering consequences. Set Season 3, somewhere between 'The Merger' and 'Phyllis' Wedding'

    Say Something (I'm Not Giving Up On You) by agian18
    : Inspired by the deleted scene from Dwight Christmas. What happened that night when Jim decided to take the 5 AM bus instead?

    Second place is just the first loser by Duchess Cupcake: She might be in second place, but Karen Filippelli is no loser. [even as a diehard JAMmer I really liked this one, gives extra depth to a rather 2D character]

    Through the Door by Awimoweh
    : AU on June 10.
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