Comments | bironic: "Holy migrating nipples, Batman!" (On writing my first House MST)

bironic

"Holy migrating nipples, Batman!" (On writing my first House MST)

Aug 13, 2007 16:57

So I wrote my first MST* this week. I feel kind of bad about that, because the practice is mean-spirited and I believe that constructive criticism and offers of help are a more healthy solution to bad!fics than poking fun at them. But I guess all it takes is the right fic at the right time to overcome one's reservations, et voila -- 12,000 words (7 ( Read more... )

my writing

Comments 14

perspi August 13 2007, 21:02:24 UTC

Yes, perhaps the practice is mean-spirited. But oh, the funny it can bring. Especially when it's done well, with the running gags and the great characterization on the part of the MST-characters, which you nailed.

Kinda makes me want to put my first ever Housefic story up to be MST'd. Or write a story for MST-ing. Hmmmm.

nightdog_barks August 13 2007, 21:25:53 UTC

Or write a story for MST-ing.

Y'know what might be funny? A bad!fic in which all the ... er ... parts have their anatomical names but the characters are referring to them in the purplest of prose.

Wilson gasped, rubbing the head of his penis (commonly known as the glans penis) against House's perineum. The corpora cavernosa slipped back and forth along the delicate skin, occasionally encountering the wiry hair of House's scrotum.

"Oh, House!" he moaned. "I can't take much more of this! My love rocket is engorged and throbbing with beatitude!"

Or ... something. Hee.

bironic August 13 2007, 21:31:43 UTC

*makes a sound perhaps best transcribed as "snerf"* Throbbing with beatitude.

For a minute there, I thought you meant an MST where the bad!fic used anatomical terms and the characters used purple prose completely seriously. I'd attempt an example but it seems I'm all funnied out for the day.

bironic August 13 2007, 21:39:04 UTC

MSTing is funny. And I am mean, at least when it comes to making fun of poor writing. But I'm used to being mean privately -- either in my own head, or to friends, or via email -- so posting that felt weird and a little wrong. But only a little. :D And thanks!

Or write a story for MST-ing.

Wasn't that a suggestion at karaokegal's Halloween party? Write deliberate badfic and MST it?

Do you really think your first story would be bad enough for an MST? Although, really, stories of any caliber can be picked apart in some way or another, depending on the tastes and abilities of the parodier.

Thread 6

thirdblindmouse August 14 2007, 02:58:14 UTC

Hehe. Be assuered, it is very funny.

I suppose the practice is somewhat unkind (and horribly obnoxious if the critic has as bad understanding of a subject/point as the person she's critiquing), but what mostly bothers me is calling it "MST"-ing, as if that show invented talking back to bad movies.

bironic August 14 2007, 23:42:01 UTC

Huh. I hadn't thought about that aspect of it. I'm sure -- by which I mean "I dearly hope" -- people don't think MST3000 invented movie heckling, but it was probably an accessible pop culture reference to name the community after and a quick way to explain what the process was all about.

Also, thanks!

thirdblindmouse August 17 2007, 04:52:08 UTC

I've seen the term used elsewhere, and bothers me the way audiences chanting pre-conceived responses in unison to The Rocky Horror Picture Show do. There's something unsettling about spontaneity being denied or only practiced with authorized precedent and within authorized settings.

I've seen some of the MST3000 show, too, and joking around with friends in real life is a lot more fun (and funny) than watching filmed robots do it.

(The comment has been removed)

bironic August 15 2007, 00:17:54 UTC

*gasp* You naughty girl! LOL. I can understand the compulsion both to write and to hide.

topaz_eyes August 14 2007, 16:32:26 UTC

Yes, it's mean to MST anything, but OTOH, some of these authors almost beg for it. If they're going to post these without fixing at least the obvious mistakes, well, in my book, they'd better be prepared for the reception. They need to learn sometimes that they are not God's gift to writing, no matter what their mommies and buddies tell them. Because it's almost always those who think they *are* God's gift to writing, who won't listen to any well-founded criticism or advice, who deserve it the most.

And yes, that's harsh, but that's the real world sometimes. Besides, we all need to learn not to take ourselves so seriously. :-)

bironic August 14 2007, 23:48:08 UTC

So they're asking for it, eh? Actually, I agree, at least insofar as people should want to improve and be helped to improve and understand that they can improve; it's just that it feels different now that I'm in a community and the original fic's author is in the same community. The text doesn't quite exist on its own that way. I'm more aware of the person behind the thing I'm making fun of, and it niggles at my conscience in a way it wouldn't have if I'd picked some story off ff.net or a random personal website where I'd never heard of the writer.

topaz_eyes August 15 2007, 16:31:19 UTC

Yes, some are asking for it, IMHO. Those who post stories with "I suck at summeries", or "I wrote this during math class LOLOL," absolutely deserve it.

Maybe I'm not as generous as I used to be about bad!fic. (Was I ever generous about bad!fic? That's another question.) Thing is, these people are reading and commenting on good fanfic. So they should, theoretically, know better. Yet it didn't even look like the author did a spell-check.

If you hadn't MSTed this fic, someone else probably would have anyway. If you had found this fic on ff.net first, and learned later it was by author X, would you feel any differently now? What's done is done. We've all posted things we later regret. If you feel you need to apologize to the author and do penance by beta'ing her fic, that's up to you. If she truly is interested in improving her writing, she will look beyond this MST, hopefully even learn from it. If not, just chalk it up and move on.

catilinarian August 17 2007, 17:09:09 UTC

I suppose you could say the practice is a bit mean, but it's no meaner, really, than parodying a published author's work. I think that if you post something in a public forum/community/archive, you do have to be prepared for some criticism. It's noble to want to help authors improve, and there's certainly a less formal relationship between a fanfic author and her readers than between a published author and her readers, but at the same time, fan communities aren't the same as writing workshops. People aren't (or shouldn't be) presenting unfinished pieces for constructive criticism; they're presenting finished works to be taken on their own merits. Basically, I'm saying that I think you can criticise or even mock a story without feeling an obligation to help the author personally ( ... )