(no subject)
BLARG.
Can't get into the voice I want to use for my LBB fic. I can't find it, I can't retain it, I can't describe it. I want it to... I'd LIKE to mimic Dumbledore's tone from The Tales of Beedle the Bard, but I want it to be a little more Absurd than that. Like, a mix between Absurd humor and the tone Huysman uses in his book Against the Grain---- mocking, but not openly so. More subtle mocking, like, "My actual tone is detached and polite. To get that I'm making fun of you, you actually have to stop and consider the content with which I've put into the story."
Blah. I've never experimented with writing in this sort of voice-- writing where the author is separate from the characters. I might try reading some Austen (it can't be helped o.o) and seeing if I can write in that polite, Regency-esque tone. Which is EXACTLY the tone I want, but I want to incorporate dry humor as well.
(I guess all the humor is going to be humor in the sense that the Malfoys live an Absurd existence and they don't even know it. Following the first war, they really serve no purpose in life. I mean, THEY think they're social pariahs, but Lucius is going to be butting heads with Dumbledore. And in comparison, Dumbledore has fully given his life purpose. He looks at the Malfoys as Absurd individuals. That's where the Absurd humor comes-- the narrator AND Dumbles are both looking at the Malfoys' way of life and secretly snickering at the emptiness)
It makes more sense if you're familiar with Against the Grain, I guess. Here's a good example of Absurdity. In the novel, the main character is very rich, and from the upper elite. Randomly, he decides, "I'm going to buy a turtle." He buys a turtle. Or maybe it's a tortoise. Whatever. "I'm going to make this turtle BEAUTIFUL, so it reflects my status/way of living." He has the tortoise's shell gold-plated and encrusted in precious jewels. The main character leaves the tortoise in his living room, to compliment the rugs. The tortoise's shell is so heavy, it cannot move. I believe it eventually dies.
The story is told from the main character's POV, so the writing makes it sound like it is absolutely necessary to have this tortoise. And Huysmen talks about it in GREAT detail, for excessive amounts of pages. When the reader finally gets through it, s/he sets the book down, and reflects, "... he just spent insane amounts of money.... putting diamonds on a freaking turtle shell. And spent forty pages reflecting on it. FML."
That's... not EXACTLY what I want to do, because the book is freaking boring, but it's a good example of Absurdity. And it's kind of the life I want Lucius Malfoy to be experiencing. Dumbledore's off running Hogwarts and creating Philosopher's Stones... and Lucius is whining about a single book in the Hogwarts library.
Can't get into the voice I want to use for my LBB fic. I can't find it, I can't retain it, I can't describe it. I want it to... I'd LIKE to mimic Dumbledore's tone from The Tales of Beedle the Bard, but I want it to be a little more Absurd than that. Like, a mix between Absurd humor and the tone Huysman uses in his book Against the Grain---- mocking, but not openly so. More subtle mocking, like, "My actual tone is detached and polite. To get that I'm making fun of you, you actually have to stop and consider the content with which I've put into the story."
Blah. I've never experimented with writing in this sort of voice-- writing where the author is separate from the characters. I might try reading some Austen (it can't be helped o.o) and seeing if I can write in that polite, Regency-esque tone. Which is EXACTLY the tone I want, but I want to incorporate dry humor as well.
(I guess all the humor is going to be humor in the sense that the Malfoys live an Absurd existence and they don't even know it. Following the first war, they really serve no purpose in life. I mean, THEY think they're social pariahs, but Lucius is going to be butting heads with Dumbledore. And in comparison, Dumbledore has fully given his life purpose. He looks at the Malfoys as Absurd individuals. That's where the Absurd humor comes-- the narrator AND Dumbles are both looking at the Malfoys' way of life and secretly snickering at the emptiness)
It makes more sense if you're familiar with Against the Grain, I guess. Here's a good example of Absurdity. In the novel, the main character is very rich, and from the upper elite. Randomly, he decides, "I'm going to buy a turtle." He buys a turtle. Or maybe it's a tortoise. Whatever. "I'm going to make this turtle BEAUTIFUL, so it reflects my status/way of living." He has the tortoise's shell gold-plated and encrusted in precious jewels. The main character leaves the tortoise in his living room, to compliment the rugs. The tortoise's shell is so heavy, it cannot move. I believe it eventually dies.
The story is told from the main character's POV, so the writing makes it sound like it is absolutely necessary to have this tortoise. And Huysmen talks about it in GREAT detail, for excessive amounts of pages. When the reader finally gets through it, s/he sets the book down, and reflects, "... he just spent insane amounts of money.... putting diamonds on a freaking turtle shell. And spent forty pages reflecting on it. FML."
That's... not EXACTLY what I want to do, because the book is freaking boring, but it's a good example of Absurdity. And it's kind of the life I want Lucius Malfoy to be experiencing. Dumbledore's off running Hogwarts and creating Philosopher's Stones... and Lucius is whining about a single book in the Hogwarts library.