(no subject)
I've got to start doing a better job of keeping up with making entries in this thing. Maybe now that my head isn't constantly throbbing from my TMJ, I'll do better with this. *sighs* Jaw is still out of alignment after over a week. It's only a slight shift forward of the bottom teeth, so the other symptoms have reduced to a managable level. It bugs me when I eat, but otherwise, it's not too bad. I've gone all of today without muscle relaxers, so there's hope that it will fix itself soon.
I'll do the rest of the catchup on the past week later. Tomorrow, maybe. For now, I have much going on fic-wise and a rant I need to enter here.
I wrote a fic last Friday that I was thisclose to deleting entirely. My chat-chicks convinced me to give it a day or two before doing something rash. So, I waited. I'm planning on looking at it tonight, since it's starting to bother me that I've been ignoring it in the hopes it will go away. It exists for a reason -- as those smarter than I am pointed out -- I just need to figure out what that reason is.
If I feel really brave and not too traumatized by it, I may put it up here later. Anyway, on to the rant *eg*
There's a discussion raging on the ClarkLex list about the feminization of male characters (Lex in particular) in slash. I'm certain that others on the LJ circuit have chimed in on this, but in the spare time that I really don't have at the moment, I haven't looked. Hope, Te, Livia, and DebChan have done a better job than I could have managed in expressing my opinion on-list, so I've just read and giggled and kept to myself.
However, I am feeling the need to pontificate a bit on the more general underlying problem. To wit, canon characterization and the way some writers expect the reader to jump from point A (what the show gives us) to point X (their version of the SV universe -- where Lex cries at the drop of a hat, for example) with no work done to make it believable. I cut this due to length, so click below if you're interested. I'm sure someone out there has said this more eloquently, but I felt the need to vent. Be warned that I'm in rant mode here, and as such, the use of generalized "you" abounds within the text.
Does Lex acting like a wilting flower in fic make me gag? Yes. Do I hate it when any of the characters become funhouse mirror-images of themselves for no apparent reason other than to fit the author's particular kink or to serve a plot they simply had to write, regardless of how out of character it is? God, yes. Do I wish that the list discussion would lead to the disappearance of certain authors/stories who make character assassination de rigueur? I'd be willing to pay serious money for that blessing.
Do I think there's a chance in hell that it can happen that way? Nope.
Yes, I'm cynical. I've seen too many of these discussions spring up, and they go absolutely nowhere near solving the problem. This problem with people tossing out canon and characterization in the name of plot is like a fandom plague -- it happens everywhere. No matter the size of the group in question, no matter whether you're talking about slash, het, or gen -- every fandom has people who will argue against requests for good characterization with the old standbys:
"I'm just doing this for fun. It's my story. Who are you to tell me that my characterization is wrong?"
"It's just fanfic."
"If you don't like it, don't read it."
I'm not getting annoyed just reading those. I. Am. Not.
*growls*
Okay, one at a time:
"I'm just doing this for fun. It's my story. Who are you to tell me that my characterization is wrong?"
Well, if you post your story somewhere public, I'm your audience. I'm a potential critic. If you want to write OOC fic and put the canon character names on them because it has a built-in audience that an original story doesn't, I certainly won't stop you. I will, however, mock the hell out of you and put you in my email auto-filter so I won't waste my time reading your stuff until I feel having like a good laugh. If you can't take criticism, then don't post stories publicly. Enjoy your kink and don't traumatize the rest of us -- it's that simple. If you think others share your kink and you want to post publicly, then fine. Go to town, but don't then have the gall to bitch about it when people call you on your laziness/insanity/arrogance when it comes to characterization and canon.
I read fanfic because I like the characters I see onscreen. If you're not willing to go to the effort to make the characters believable then I'm not willing to waste my time reading your writing. I don't have enough free time to keep up with all the fic produced by people who I do think are talented and work hard for their stories. That being the case, if I don't recognize who you're writing about other than by naming convention, then I don't care to bother.
Well, except for the whole mocking thing, which is a hobby.
Now, this is not to say that the characters are immutable and cannot be made to fit a different mold when handled carefully. This is the whole foundation of AU writing, and people with a lot of talent and a willingness to work for it can make the most out-of-this-world plot work with a starting point of the characterization that we have in canon by showing the change. Notice that I said showing and not telling. Any hack can put a paragraph of exposition in a fic that tells me Lex carries a teddy bear with him to every LuthorCorp board meeting. That won't make me believe it. Show me why, and I'll follow you (almost) anywhere. But... don't throw unrecognizable characters into a poorly-developed, wackety-ass plot and expect anyone other than your fellow lazy hacks to appreciate it.
More on that point later. I want to move to the next one before I completely loose my temper.
"It's just fanfic."
AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!
Okay, so much for not losing my temper. This one pisses me off the most. Why?
It demeans an entire genre to try and justify the laziness of the person who says it. Cover it up in all the invalid rationalizations that you like -- a dead fish wrapped in silk doesn't smell any better after three weeks sitting in the garbage than one dropped in the can without ornamentation. Laziness stinks. Period, end of sentence. Every time I see this "argument" used, I do a mental substitution:
"It's just fanfic" ==> "I'm too lazy to develop a story properly."
So please, don't say "It's just fanfic" and expect me to sympathize with your point of view. You've just insulted me and every other writer who actually gives a shit about realistic characterization and plotting. Alter this statement to "It's just badfic", and I'll happily allow the comment to slide.
"If you don't like it, don't read it."
Finally. One statement with which I can fully agree.
"Don't read it" -- Heh... trust me, I won't. I'm not into torturing myself with crappy characterization, incoherent grammar, and obvious spelling mistakes. Context typos are another matter, obviously -- even beta'ed fics have these. However, when I see several instances of "teh" in your fic? That signals a delete and addition to the "not unless I'm feeling insecure" email filter. I have several friends in fandom who have a lot more time to read than I do and who very kindly point out when something is good and deserves a look (thankies to Bethy and Jenn and Wendi *g*).
Thus ends that part of the post. Good for my blood pressure that it's time to move on here.
So, one might read this and take me as being completely cynical about the ability to change fandom for the better. That's not really true -- I do have hope that maybe enough discussion can sway people who are borderline on bad characterization. The thing is that these are few and far between, as I've learned from a lot of wearying experience.
See, I used to send emails to writers I thought had potential if they got a good beta and worked a little harder. And I really did pay close attention to the wording so as to avoid having my attempt to help read as a flame (if I'm sending a flame, it is obvious -- trust me on that point). Despite the tone of this entry, I can be diplomatic when the situation calls for it *g*. For illustration purposes, let me breakdown the percentages on the (generalized) response type I got:
Dead silence -- 70%
"It's just fanfic." -- 20%
"I can't believe you hated my fic!"/"Why are you so mean?" -- 7%
"Thanks for pointing that out!"/"I'd appreciate more pointers, if you have time." -- 3%
If anyone is curious, I've received constructive crit and I'm the type that uses the last response. I'm always open to hearing what readers have to say and changing things when/if I agree with the crit. Even if I don't change something, I still enjoy a good discussion of character motivation.
Anyway, back to the stats above -- As you can see, I have very little inspiration to send constructive crit unless I already know the writer is open to it. I don't have the time to waste on people who [don't/won't/refuse to] get the point of constructive crit. Does that make me a part of the problem? Maybe so, for the 3% who do respond to constructive crit in a useful way.
As I see it, there are bigger problems.
For example, there's the self-fulfilling nature of badficcers who feed each other. It's a bizarre phenomenon, but that's the only explanation I can come up with for the massive amounts of praise given to some of the out-and-out garbage I've read during my time in fandom. Every fandom I've been in seems to have this subgroup that do a "feedback for feedback" thing which is so close to the email equivalent of a circle-jerk that it makes me want to vomit. "If you say my grammatical nightmare is a good read, I'll praise your psychotic characterization."
*shudders*
Oh well. To each their own, I guess. Maybe I'm wrong and there are people in the world who enjoy reading a fic littered with strange grammar. Is there fun to be had in doing a mental replace of "too" for "two" thirty times? Like a brain exercise? Are there actually people who like looking through a ten-part, eighty-page fic for the one instance of decent characterization in it? As though it's a textual Where's Waldo?, in which the reader searches for proof that a character they recognize is actually present and accounted for in the author's "reality"?
Please, someone explain this to me. I'm completely baffled. *sighs and rubs temples*
Here endeth the rant.
I'll do the rest of the catchup on the past week later. Tomorrow, maybe. For now, I have much going on fic-wise and a rant I need to enter here.
I wrote a fic last Friday that I was thisclose to deleting entirely. My chat-chicks convinced me to give it a day or two before doing something rash. So, I waited. I'm planning on looking at it tonight, since it's starting to bother me that I've been ignoring it in the hopes it will go away. It exists for a reason -- as those smarter than I am pointed out -- I just need to figure out what that reason is.
If I feel really brave and not too traumatized by it, I may put it up here later. Anyway, on to the rant *eg*
There's a discussion raging on the ClarkLex list about the feminization of male characters (Lex in particular) in slash. I'm certain that others on the LJ circuit have chimed in on this, but in the spare time that I really don't have at the moment, I haven't looked. Hope, Te, Livia, and DebChan have done a better job than I could have managed in expressing my opinion on-list, so I've just read and giggled and kept to myself.
However, I am feeling the need to pontificate a bit on the more general underlying problem. To wit, canon characterization and the way some writers expect the reader to jump from point A (what the show gives us) to point X (their version of the SV universe -- where Lex cries at the drop of a hat, for example) with no work done to make it believable. I cut this due to length, so click below if you're interested. I'm sure someone out there has said this more eloquently, but I felt the need to vent. Be warned that I'm in rant mode here, and as such, the use of generalized "you" abounds within the text.
Does Lex acting like a wilting flower in fic make me gag? Yes. Do I hate it when any of the characters become funhouse mirror-images of themselves for no apparent reason other than to fit the author's particular kink or to serve a plot they simply had to write, regardless of how out of character it is? God, yes. Do I wish that the list discussion would lead to the disappearance of certain authors/stories who make character assassination de rigueur? I'd be willing to pay serious money for that blessing.
Do I think there's a chance in hell that it can happen that way? Nope.
Yes, I'm cynical. I've seen too many of these discussions spring up, and they go absolutely nowhere near solving the problem. This problem with people tossing out canon and characterization in the name of plot is like a fandom plague -- it happens everywhere. No matter the size of the group in question, no matter whether you're talking about slash, het, or gen -- every fandom has people who will argue against requests for good characterization with the old standbys:
"I'm just doing this for fun. It's my story. Who are you to tell me that my characterization is wrong?"
"It's just fanfic."
"If you don't like it, don't read it."
I'm not getting annoyed just reading those. I. Am. Not.
*growls*
Okay, one at a time:
"I'm just doing this for fun. It's my story. Who are you to tell me that my characterization is wrong?"
Well, if you post your story somewhere public, I'm your audience. I'm a potential critic. If you want to write OOC fic and put the canon character names on them because it has a built-in audience that an original story doesn't, I certainly won't stop you. I will, however, mock the hell out of you and put you in my email auto-filter so I won't waste my time reading your stuff until I feel having like a good laugh. If you can't take criticism, then don't post stories publicly. Enjoy your kink and don't traumatize the rest of us -- it's that simple. If you think others share your kink and you want to post publicly, then fine. Go to town, but don't then have the gall to bitch about it when people call you on your laziness/insanity/arrogance when it comes to characterization and canon.
I read fanfic because I like the characters I see onscreen. If you're not willing to go to the effort to make the characters believable then I'm not willing to waste my time reading your writing. I don't have enough free time to keep up with all the fic produced by people who I do think are talented and work hard for their stories. That being the case, if I don't recognize who you're writing about other than by naming convention, then I don't care to bother.
Well, except for the whole mocking thing, which is a hobby.
Now, this is not to say that the characters are immutable and cannot be made to fit a different mold when handled carefully. This is the whole foundation of AU writing, and people with a lot of talent and a willingness to work for it can make the most out-of-this-world plot work with a starting point of the characterization that we have in canon by showing the change. Notice that I said showing and not telling. Any hack can put a paragraph of exposition in a fic that tells me Lex carries a teddy bear with him to every LuthorCorp board meeting. That won't make me believe it. Show me why, and I'll follow you (almost) anywhere. But... don't throw unrecognizable characters into a poorly-developed, wackety-ass plot and expect anyone other than your fellow lazy hacks to appreciate it.
More on that point later. I want to move to the next one before I completely loose my temper.
"It's just fanfic."
AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!
Okay, so much for not losing my temper. This one pisses me off the most. Why?
It demeans an entire genre to try and justify the laziness of the person who says it. Cover it up in all the invalid rationalizations that you like -- a dead fish wrapped in silk doesn't smell any better after three weeks sitting in the garbage than one dropped in the can without ornamentation. Laziness stinks. Period, end of sentence. Every time I see this "argument" used, I do a mental substitution:
"It's just fanfic" ==> "I'm too lazy to develop a story properly."
So please, don't say "It's just fanfic" and expect me to sympathize with your point of view. You've just insulted me and every other writer who actually gives a shit about realistic characterization and plotting. Alter this statement to "It's just badfic", and I'll happily allow the comment to slide.
"If you don't like it, don't read it."
Finally. One statement with which I can fully agree.
"Don't read it" -- Heh... trust me, I won't. I'm not into torturing myself with crappy characterization, incoherent grammar, and obvious spelling mistakes. Context typos are another matter, obviously -- even beta'ed fics have these. However, when I see several instances of "teh" in your fic? That signals a delete and addition to the "not unless I'm feeling insecure" email filter. I have several friends in fandom who have a lot more time to read than I do and who very kindly point out when something is good and deserves a look (thankies to Bethy and Jenn and Wendi *g*).
Thus ends that part of the post. Good for my blood pressure that it's time to move on here.
So, one might read this and take me as being completely cynical about the ability to change fandom for the better. That's not really true -- I do have hope that maybe enough discussion can sway people who are borderline on bad characterization. The thing is that these are few and far between, as I've learned from a lot of wearying experience.
See, I used to send emails to writers I thought had potential if they got a good beta and worked a little harder. And I really did pay close attention to the wording so as to avoid having my attempt to help read as a flame (if I'm sending a flame, it is obvious -- trust me on that point). Despite the tone of this entry, I can be diplomatic when the situation calls for it *g*. For illustration purposes, let me breakdown the percentages on the (generalized) response type I got:
Dead silence -- 70%
"It's just fanfic." -- 20%
"I can't believe you hated my fic!"/"Why are you so mean?" -- 7%
"Thanks for pointing that out!"/"I'd appreciate more pointers, if you have time." -- 3%
If anyone is curious, I've received constructive crit and I'm the type that uses the last response. I'm always open to hearing what readers have to say and changing things when/if I agree with the crit. Even if I don't change something, I still enjoy a good discussion of character motivation.
Anyway, back to the stats above -- As you can see, I have very little inspiration to send constructive crit unless I already know the writer is open to it. I don't have the time to waste on people who [don't/won't/refuse to] get the point of constructive crit. Does that make me a part of the problem? Maybe so, for the 3% who do respond to constructive crit in a useful way.
As I see it, there are bigger problems.
For example, there's the self-fulfilling nature of badficcers who feed each other. It's a bizarre phenomenon, but that's the only explanation I can come up with for the massive amounts of praise given to some of the out-and-out garbage I've read during my time in fandom. Every fandom I've been in seems to have this subgroup that do a "feedback for feedback" thing which is so close to the email equivalent of a circle-jerk that it makes me want to vomit. "If you say my grammatical nightmare is a good read, I'll praise your psychotic characterization."
*shudders*
Oh well. To each their own, I guess. Maybe I'm wrong and there are people in the world who enjoy reading a fic littered with strange grammar. Is there fun to be had in doing a mental replace of "too" for "two" thirty times? Like a brain exercise? Are there actually people who like looking through a ten-part, eighty-page fic for the one instance of decent characterization in it? As though it's a textual Where's Waldo?, in which the reader searches for proof that a character they recognize is actually present and accounted for in the author's "reality"?
Please, someone explain this to me. I'm completely baffled. *sighs and rubs temples*
Here endeth the rant.