The Movement of the Earth -- Author's Note

[audreyii_fic]

Title: The Movement of the Earth
Author: audreyii_fic
Fandom: Twilight (Team Jacob)
Rating: T
Characters: Bella, Jacob, Charlie, and others (J/B)
Genre: Romance/Angst/Wolfpack!Humor
Warnings: Language, violence, and references to adult behavior

Comments

[stigmata_crow]

And there's the pain I know.

I don't know if you've read my fic, but it's basically the product of me having a mental breakdown over how bad Meyer is and how much I can fix it. And I know what it is to go through those stages. And let me tell you, you did better than me.

I've thrown things I knew were patently stupid into the mix because they were fun to write (which was such a change), I've spent days rambling to bowls of fruit over trying to keep elements which suck (I kept imprinting on children in, which makes me truly, truly mental). I've waited six months in between updates because keeping up the pace I started was spiritually killing me. But yet, I persevere, because dammit, I know which of Meyer's characters are fun and how to use them, even better than she does, and while that is sad, it's like I'm sticking it to her every time I use Embry to his full potential. I'm laughing in her face every time someone tells me they wish my story was how Twilight turned out. So while it may be a masochistic endeavour, it's a fucking fun masochistic endeavour.

AND I. DON'T. CHEAT. AT. NARRATION. I had to turn Bella into a supernatural to do it, but I fucking DON'T, so eat that one Meyer, eat it raw. I gave her a goddamn reason to be the special snowflake that she is that doesn't involve the phrase "she's a very private person".

I don't think you were implying you don't respect your readers, but then I know this because I respect the hell out of my readers for liking what I write, because of the common ground we share. Twilight was set up to be the best thing we've read since Harry Potter, and it was such a monumental fail that it left so many of us pissed off and bewildered, to the point where we have to show just how easy it would be for Steph to turn her shit around and make her fail tale enjoyable. Anyone who can take me shitting on an author for 12 chapters to prove a point is a most respectable person. And if I managed to write something enjoyable while still trying to confine myself to very stupid rules (which I've near stopped doing, 100 000 words in it was way too much), then I've succeeded a little. And I don't think you would feel all that differently.

And yeah, I saw the lack of ending coming, since New Moon's ending is fail on toast, where nothing gets resolved except the fact that Bella firmly sucks as a character and a person, but I didn't think the set up would be that direct. I just thought it would sort of peter off into nothingness.

Oh, and your friend is a loon. Full stop. You don't have to be a snob to know drivel. You just have to have eyes and apparently have to had made it through your teenage years successfully growing up instead of being a girl-woman. I know that doesn't even cover it, since there are 14 year old girls who know it's crap, but as soon as I hear that someone likes Twilight (actually likes it, not just enjoys the mocktastrophe of a community the more involved antis have formed), I question as to whether they reached Piaget's fourth stage of development, and invariably find that they haven't.

So I've said it to a lot of the characters, but I think it's time to say it to you. YOU are an awesome person Audrey, keep being you.

[audreyii_fic]

I don't know if you've read my fic, but it's basically the product of me having a mental breakdown over how bad Meyer is and how much I can fix it.

It has been on my list. Now that I'm taking a break (I've got a little palate-cleanser one-shot percolating in the back of my head, but that's it, and I'm taking my time with it) I'll probably get a chance :)

But yet, I persevere, because dammit, I know which of Meyer's characters are fun and how to use them, even better than she does, and while that is sad, it's like I'm sticking it to her every time I use Embry to his full potential. I'm laughing in her face every time someone tells me they wish my story was how Twilight turned out. So while it may be a masochistic endeavour, it's a fucking fun masochistic endeavour.

Exactly. I honestly don't know how I can devote so much time to this level of hatred for what is, after all, just a book series. But since I read the first book two years ago it's just eaten at me. It's probably not healthy, but saying "fuck you" to Stephenie Meyer in every way I possibly can in somehow cathartic. (My therapist says it's displacement. She's almost certainly right.) And yeah, it's masochistic as hell. But I maintain it's still less damaging than, say, running a marathon.

Twilight was set up to be the best thing we've read since Harry Potter, and it was such a monumental fail that it left so many of us pissed off and bewildered, to the point where we have to show just how easy it would be for Steph to turn her shit around and make her fail tale enjoyable.

God, even mentioning Harry Potter and Twilight in the same sentence makes me break out in hives. Part of it might be envy -- 90% of the fics I've read have been notably better than what's published, so why her and not us? -- but I really thing that most of it is headdesking bewilderment. The Twilight series is like a microcosm of the downfall of Western Civilization. I feel this driving, obsessive need to understand it.

And yeah, I saw the lack of ending coming, since New Moon's ending is fail on toast, where nothing gets resolved except the fact that Bella firmly sucks as a character and a person, but I didn't think the set up would be that direct. I just thought it would sort of peter off into nothingness.

Heh. I honestly didn't realize the ending until about two-thirds of the way through (by which I mean beyond the Victoria scene and the basics of the touching scene). I kept the set-up for it very open and vague, because I knew I wasn't sure. Eventually I had a major Eureka! moment, wherein I realized the reason I couldn't find the ending was because there wasn't one. The last several paragraphs of the fic are direct (formatting) New Moon lifts. But, well, I figured the possibilities for the next book would at least be a lot less craptastic.

Oh, and your friend is a loon. Full stop. You don't have to be a snob to know drivel.

She's really not -- I am a snob, and a horrible one at that. The amount of very deserved eye-rolling I get is staggering. I really don't understand my friend's approval of the series at all, but she's a pretty sane person in most other respects. (By the way, the fact that you referenced Piaget makes me want to marry you. If you'd brought up Maslow's hierarchy of needs I'd elope this very afternoon.)

Thank you for the awesome compliment :) You, too, are awesome. We are partners in raving Meyer hatred and self-injury.