Yeah, it's that balance between standing alone but not being redundant that's the challenge for me. I think I've cheated a little on this year's and last year's by taking the POV of a character who's only there for a portion of the original story and then writing out stuff that's only obliquely referred to in the original. I really like it if the remix is compatible but still puts some surprising twist on the original and makes you interpret that differently, but that's mostly something I'm happy to run into as a reader, not something I've managed to do much myself.

I think I've written some good miniremixes but I'm not really satisfied with any of my longer ones. Also I have trouble judging my own work and remixes tend not to get comments, so it's hard for me to know. I was really disappointed the first time I wrote one and barely anybody read it (not even the remixee) but that was before I knew that that's kind of how remixing goes, so I'm more laid back about that kind of thing now. :)