Remix Thoughts
Still running a day late on this, due to limited connectivity and scheduling issues, but here goes.
As those who have followed out on the Big Reveal know already, my remix submission was “Otherwise a Perfect Sky (the Crashing Down Remix)”, a variation of deird1’s terse, haunting fic, “Come Crashing Down”.
The remix done for me was “Finding Freedom: The Bitter Aftertaste Remix”, by sunnyd_lite. She took an approach I wouldn’t have attempted myself, with results to be seen. Alternative view? Companion piece? Judge for yourself.
On writing the remix:
I’ve rarely had so painless an experience, at least so far as the actual writing. It started out daunting: I copied 165 files from deird1’s archive, and expected to take most of a week to read through them. Furthermore, it initially seemed that deird1 and I had such different approaches (aside from a few drabbles, I have almost no stories that run less than 4,000 words, and tend to focus on action and events, whereas most of her stuff seems to be very short and oriented toward character glimpses) that it might be difficult to find anything of hers that said I want you to tell me your way!
Then I saw “ Come Crashing Down”.
I knew. I just knew. I’d actually seen the story before - and very recently, since she posted it only two weeks before I got my remix assignment - but I’d forgotten the author, and it began speaking to me the moment I saw it again. I was busy with various duties as we did the handover of responsibility to the unit replacing us in Baghdad, so for several days I didn’t have a spare moment to begin writing … but that just meant extra time for it to percolate in the back of my consciousness, I didn’t actually even think about what I was going to write once I got the chance. A lot of my most productive brainstorming came during the time before going to bed and going to sleep, when my mind was untroubled by such mundane things as planning and logic, and could simply run free. When I at last had time to WRITE, it presented me no problems whatsoever. I did the whole thing, longhand, in the time after daily duty over five days.
On the other hand, I did apply extra effort in one area: I tried very hard to keep it from being immediately identifiable as my work. If you’re compulsive enough to check, you’ll find that there isn’t one single semicolon in the entire story, which can’t be said for any other fic I’ve done (except maybe some of the drabbles). To some extent, I made a conscious effort to modify my style as well, which actually tied in with the quasi-stream-of-consciousness approach the story seemed to want. I was only partially successful: sroni picked me out with ease, but then she always does.
(I had some small qualms regarding my treatment of sexuality in the story. Some things are extremely touchy issues, and my own history shows that I can be unaware beyond belief of where these sensitive areas might be. In the end, though, I simply followed out the story that wanted me to tell it, and the response so far doesn’t seem to indicate that I violated any cherished norms through failing to recognize that they were there.)
I enjoy the remixes, and I’ve been pleased with every one I produced but I think this is the best remix I’ve ever done, in the sense of offering my own version of a story while preserving the essentials of the original.
Recommendations:
This is something I should have been doing over the past week, but I’ve been stuck in a series of barracks (or even tents) with either slow and unreliable wireless connection or none at all; it was all I could do just to find and read various fics, so my apologies for tardiness but here are recs for some of the stories that stuck out for me.
Battlestar Galactica 2003
“Be My Mirror, My Sword, My Shield (the Girl All the Bad Guys Want Remix)”, by lls_mutant.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
“Microwave Meals (Quick, Easy and Sometimes Satisfying) - The I Can’t Get No Satisfaction Remix”, by cindergal.
“Outside the Box (the Dodeca-drabble Remix)”, by brutti_ma_buoni.
“Orientation (the Ways of Seeing Remix)”, by verity.
“Through the Wardrobe (the Three Worlds Remix)”, by Poetry. [Crossover with Chronicles of Narnia, Doctor Who]
“Weapon (the Unexpected Key to the Universe Remix)”, by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel. [Crossover with Doctor Who]
DCU Comicverse
“Being Wanted (The Aggravated Assault Remix)”, by Mara.
“Life Gives Do-overs”, by milleniumrex.
“On the Inside Looking Out”, by kirax2.
Farscape
“Dance in the Snow (the Chiana Was Here Remix)”, by AstroGirl.
“Everyone in Their Places (Jumping to Conclusions Disco Hustle)”, by Lizbeth Marcs.
Firefly/Serenity
“Something from Nothing (The Gratitude Sings in Me Chorale)”, by Laura.
“River Lays an Egg (Upside Down Remix)”, by eyebrowofdoom.
“ABC’s (Shadows in the Letters Remix)”, by Eustacia Vye.
Harry Potter
“Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes (the Ancient History Remix)”, by curiouslyfic.
“Shadow of the Veil (the Wedding March Remix)”, by SRoni. Pay special attention to this one. sroni is my daughter, and I’ve had the opportunity to observe her entire writing development; in my highly critical opinion, this is the best work she’s ever done.
Star Trek 2009
“The Moment of Our Greatness Flickers (The Love Is A Losing Hand Remix)”, by boosette.
“There is Joy in Repetition (But Sometimes You Have to Break Routine Extended Remix)”, by igrockspock.
Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles
“Autumn (the Ashes and Roses Remix”, by Medie.
Go. Comment. (Which is funny, because I’ve been too tied up to do much of that myself, so I’ll have to jump on in.) Good stuff here.