id meme
Several on the circle are doing an id meme. The original is an anon meme (over thisaway), though, I don't like anon memes much. So, I'm going to do it here on my own journals. So, do you see any recurring id candy in my work? Such as recurring elements, motifs, themes, tics... things that make you think "Oh, there's Ces's thing for ____ showing up again in her stories."
(This isn't about concrit! It's about noticing things like multiple stories by the same writer containing characters with bad knees, characters who are famous among their peers, sand planet settings, references to Shakespeare, etc.)
If you see id elements in my work, I'm interested to hear about it! Pls comment!
Here's a further explanation of the id meme that
helens78 quoted from
torches:
Plenty of writers talk about "showing their id", but our id is a vital and unavoidable part of the fic-writing experience - it shows itself in everything we write, whether we know it or not! The id is an awesome thing. Plenty of our favorite fics would never have existed without it.
But there's always that pesky question a writer gets to asking... am I getting my ideas across clearly? How much of my id is showing up when I mean it to, and am I showing off parts of my id I didn't realize I had? It's important to know these things! Conscious id-identification can only improve one's ability to evoke what makes that particular idea so enjoyable for us!
So... what parts of our id do you see?
A definition. I think id fic is fic that originates from the writer's subconscious desires and strikes a particularly deep, primal chord with some readers, in a way that most readers can probably recognize even if it doesn't hit them the same way.
A lot of people talk about "id fic" as a shorthand for a story that they found satisfying in that primal way despite its significant technical shortcomings. But IMO, id fic doesn't have to be bad.
An example. I think woobie fic is a type of id fic. A character is abused and put-upon and derided, and then the character triumphs over adversity. That plot satisfies a common, deeply rooted desire to identify with an underdog character, vicariously feel sorry for the character/ourselves, and then see them rise above their troubles. That's why Cinderella is such a widespread and popular fairy tale. Jane Eyre is a woobie story.
Does id fic necessarily need to be bad? I'd say definitely not. There are many beautiful versions of Cinderella out there, and Jane Eyre's no slouch.
But here's how I think id fic has become associated with badfic. Skilled writers tend to be good with subtlety, so the id elements of their fic are often well-camouflaged. Suggested, rather than made central and exposed.
Other writers may not be able or just don't want to hide the id engine that drives their work. And sometimes, it's actually more satisfying to read a blunt, unsubtle, obvious story that hits an id chord, rather than a more technically accomplished story that's less direct about scratching an id-itch for x-treme schmoop, fluff, smarm, AMTDI, woobie fic, hurt/comfort, angst, etc.
But there are good writers who opt to be unsubtle and aim for the id. For me, Commutative Property and Civilian, both by Crimsonclad, are woobie fics that are written with cleverness and skill. The first has Rodney McKay with an eating disorder, the second sets up a reveal that Rodney was sexually abused in the past. Very woobie plots, but they're set up in realistic, non-over-the-top ways, and leavened with dark humor.
There's a lot of id fic in SGA... so many AMTDI stories (I think these are a variation on id-licious rape/ravishing fantasies, because the characters' choice to consent is removed), so many trapped-together stories, a healthy number of stories that have the characters put into a harem or becoming sex slaves.
I think it's related to the concept of bulletproof kinks. There are some kinks that will always draw me into reading a story, no matter what the quality of the writing, because it features this kink I find so compelling that the writing doesn't matter to me.
I think id fic contains bulletproof tropes. Can't get enough of stories in which your OTP are trapped in a room or any small space, just the two of them, and they have sex/fall in love? Would you read a story with that basic plot even if it had a bunch of writing tics that you hate? It could be full of plot holes and typos, or it could be skillfully written, but you'd read it either way?
If so, it's bulletproof. But it's not a kink, exactly. It's a bulletproof trope that hits you in the id and satisfies on some fundamental level. That's what I think id fic is.
The interesting thing about id fic is that some can write it without being aware of the chord they're striking, or of how exposed the id engine of the story really is.
Example: say a story that's ostensibly about kinky sex contains a lot of references to the characters' advanced educational degrees. The degrees aren't relevant, so why do the references keep coming up in the story? Maybe the writer's id is showing: the writer's respect for, or jealousy of, academia (or the cultural power that academic success represents) is manifesting, even in a story that's putatively about something else entirely.
http://cesare.dreamwidth.org/67900.html |
comments | Comment at Dreamwidth
(This isn't about concrit! It's about noticing things like multiple stories by the same writer containing characters with bad knees, characters who are famous among their peers, sand planet settings, references to Shakespeare, etc.)
If you see id elements in my work, I'm interested to hear about it! Pls comment!
Here's a further explanation of the id meme that
helens78 quoted from
torches:
Plenty of writers talk about "showing their id", but our id is a vital and unavoidable part of the fic-writing experience - it shows itself in everything we write, whether we know it or not! The id is an awesome thing. Plenty of our favorite fics would never have existed without it.
But there's always that pesky question a writer gets to asking... am I getting my ideas across clearly? How much of my id is showing up when I mean it to, and am I showing off parts of my id I didn't realize I had? It's important to know these things! Conscious id-identification can only improve one's ability to evoke what makes that particular idea so enjoyable for us!
So... what parts of our id do you see?
A definition. I think id fic is fic that originates from the writer's subconscious desires and strikes a particularly deep, primal chord with some readers, in a way that most readers can probably recognize even if it doesn't hit them the same way.
A lot of people talk about "id fic" as a shorthand for a story that they found satisfying in that primal way despite its significant technical shortcomings. But IMO, id fic doesn't have to be bad.
An example. I think woobie fic is a type of id fic. A character is abused and put-upon and derided, and then the character triumphs over adversity. That plot satisfies a common, deeply rooted desire to identify with an underdog character, vicariously feel sorry for the character/ourselves, and then see them rise above their troubles. That's why Cinderella is such a widespread and popular fairy tale. Jane Eyre is a woobie story.
Does id fic necessarily need to be bad? I'd say definitely not. There are many beautiful versions of Cinderella out there, and Jane Eyre's no slouch.
But here's how I think id fic has become associated with badfic. Skilled writers tend to be good with subtlety, so the id elements of their fic are often well-camouflaged. Suggested, rather than made central and exposed.
Other writers may not be able or just don't want to hide the id engine that drives their work. And sometimes, it's actually more satisfying to read a blunt, unsubtle, obvious story that hits an id chord, rather than a more technically accomplished story that's less direct about scratching an id-itch for x-treme schmoop, fluff, smarm, AMTDI, woobie fic, hurt/comfort, angst, etc.
But there are good writers who opt to be unsubtle and aim for the id. For me, Commutative Property and Civilian, both by Crimsonclad, are woobie fics that are written with cleverness and skill. The first has Rodney McKay with an eating disorder, the second sets up a reveal that Rodney was sexually abused in the past. Very woobie plots, but they're set up in realistic, non-over-the-top ways, and leavened with dark humor.
There's a lot of id fic in SGA... so many AMTDI stories (I think these are a variation on id-licious rape/ravishing fantasies, because the characters' choice to consent is removed), so many trapped-together stories, a healthy number of stories that have the characters put into a harem or becoming sex slaves.
I think it's related to the concept of bulletproof kinks. There are some kinks that will always draw me into reading a story, no matter what the quality of the writing, because it features this kink I find so compelling that the writing doesn't matter to me.
I think id fic contains bulletproof tropes. Can't get enough of stories in which your OTP are trapped in a room or any small space, just the two of them, and they have sex/fall in love? Would you read a story with that basic plot even if it had a bunch of writing tics that you hate? It could be full of plot holes and typos, or it could be skillfully written, but you'd read it either way?
If so, it's bulletproof. But it's not a kink, exactly. It's a bulletproof trope that hits you in the id and satisfies on some fundamental level. That's what I think id fic is.
The interesting thing about id fic is that some can write it without being aware of the chord they're striking, or of how exposed the id engine of the story really is.
Example: say a story that's ostensibly about kinky sex contains a lot of references to the characters' advanced educational degrees. The degrees aren't relevant, so why do the references keep coming up in the story? Maybe the writer's id is showing: the writer's respect for, or jealousy of, academia (or the cultural power that academic success represents) is manifesting, even in a story that's putatively about something else entirely.
http://cesare.dreamwidth.org/67900.html |
comments | Comment at Dreamwidth