International Geek-Out Report (and a note on catching up)

[hmpf]

First, the note: I haven't gotten any further with my LJ catch-up plans because it was the last week-and-a-half of term and I was busy doing university stuff (except for the three days beccatoria was visiting me, when I was busy geeking out). Will get around to the catching up next week, I think.

***

Now for the International Geek-Out Report.

beccatoria arrived on

Comments

Short note (really tired, hence the shortness)

[hmpf]

(There's a meta essay or two waiting to be written in here, but I'm too frelling tired for anything like that today, after my first day on the new job.)

Of course the Maya fic isn't my best work. It doesn't need to be. I'm fine with writing something merely 'decent' on occasion. This is emphatically not 'selling myself short', at least not by my definition. It's the equivalent of deciding to just have fun playing in the sandbox for a little while.

I somewhat object to the classification of 'Normal' as emotion porn, btw, or perhaps rather to the comparison of the Maya fic with 'Normal'. They're very different animals. 'Normal' was the expression and culmination of everything I loved most about Farscape and John Crichton. It's the result of an enormous process of distillation that lasted considerably longer than the three years it took me to write the actual fic.

(Also, it was written from John's POV, which necessitated a certain style and a certain attitude and so on - essentially, a certain voice. That wasn't *my* voice. Neither is the one I'm using in the Maya fic, of course, though it's closer to 'my' voice than the one I used in 'Normal', I think. But a lot of the 'voice' in that fic is down to Maya, not me, even though it's not a first person fic.)

Now, the Maya fic is essentially fluff, popcorn (slightly angst flavoured), mental masturbation - and I'm saying that with a great deal of respect and love for these things, because I think they're a large part of what fanfic is about. This may be the/a part of fanfiction that you are uncomfortable with, I think. It's the 'easy' and artistically kind of pointless part, the part that marks it as a literature meant to be used and - possibly - discarded, a close relation to porn. If the Maya fic can be compared to anything else I've written it's 'Together', which is nearly identical not just in structure but also in purpose.

I continue to think/feel that the Maya fic does exactly what it's supposed to do (well, within limits, of course - it *is* unfinished, after all), in a way that is quite satisfying to me. 'Feel' is probably a more pertinent word in this context than 'think' - I know that when I reread what I have so far of that fic, and especially when I reread the beginning, I get exactly the kind of emotion I want to achieve. It conforms very much to the aesthetics of fanfic. It's not exactly paint-by-numbers, but it does stick closely to the rules of the genre. But it's a genre I love.

Okay, becoming incoherent here (brain falling asleep), so I'm signing off now. Sorry for the self-centred ramblings...

Re: Short note (really tired, hence the shortness)

[beccatoria]

I somewhat object to the classification of 'Normal' as emotion porn, btw, or perhaps rather to the comparison of the Maya fic with 'Normal'. They're very different animals. 'Normal' was the expression and culmination of everything I loved most about Farscape and John Crichton.

Then I'm sorry. By comparing them I wasn't intending to lower Normal's place or elevate what the Maya fic "should" be. I completely understand the difference between emotional porn and emotional oscar-winning drama which has sex-scenes in it (tastefully and in full service to the story!) But perhaps that's the point - both tell a rough story, both involve sex - finding the point at which emotional porn becomes something as awesome as "Normal" is tricky. I do feel that Normal has more in common with the Maya fic in terms of its evolution (angst!popcorn being, perhaps, it's long-distant ancestor) than, say, your HP AU Epic. Which is, perhaps, why it comes to mind when trying to think of what the Maya fic could evolve into.

That said, it's your sandbox, and in a way, I envy your ability to cut loose and revel in it without worrying whether or not it's your "best" (whatever that means anyway...)

For what it's worth, I agree that the Maya fic does what it's meant to do. It's higher quality fan-fic that conforms to the rules of the genre. Perhaps the only difference in our opinions stems from how much we each love the genre. My preference being from crack!fic... :P ALL HAIL ADAMA'S ORPHANAGE!

Re: Short note (really tired, hence the shortness)

[hmpf]

>I do feel that Normal has more in common with the Maya fic in terms of its evolution (angst!popcorn being, perhaps, it's long-distant ancestor) than, say, your HP AU Epic.

Oh, Misunderstanding Alarm! I didn't mean the HP AU epic. That has absolutely nothing in common with the Maya fic. If that HP fic has anything in common with anything, it is with the two Life on Mars AU fics I have started. All three have a lot of angst porn but are also intended to tell a longer, coherent story than I'm used to, their main point being to teach me how to do plot (well, actually, the horribly depressing Sam recvoery fic has several other points besides).

What I meant was the quick, throwaway fic 'Together' I wrote in 2003. *That* is very similar to the Maya fic - a focus for a burst of a particular kind of fannish emotion. It started in a very similar way, too - very unconsciously; it basically 'happened' without my ever consciously deciding to write it. Same with the Maya fic - I was half a page into that before I knew what I was doing (and the first half page, which just sort of 'happened', is still the part I like best about it.)

Re: Short note (really tired, hence the shortness)

[beccatoria]

>Oh, Misunderstanding Alarm! I didn't mean the HP AU epic. That has absolutely nothing in common with the Maya fic.

Ah, Misunderstanding Alarm! Sorry - I am actually aware that the HP AU has nothing to do with this. I was trying, somehow, to explain why I thought that "Normal" was perhaps a better comparison to the Maya fic than some others that you'd written without me thinking they were actually the same in terms of desired effect, emotional importance or effort involved. Like I said, the best way is perhaps to say that fics like 'Normal' evolve from the baseline of fics like the Maya fic. I could see the Maya fic evolving into something like that (though that would be difficult given the lack of source material about her), but I can't see it evolving into a great, plotty epic. And perhaps that's what I'm pining for (evolution towards "Normal" not towards plotty epic), even though there's nothing wrong with you keeping it at the base level and not "upgrading" it. If I'm making sense. Argh, it's hard when I can't stand in front of you and make hand gestures.

Ultimately, yes, I think it's a matter of genre preference. It's always harder to appreciate something written in a genre you aren't particularly enamored with, although...

>Quite possibly. I'm the one who has eight ringbinders of the stuff printed out, after all. *g*

Indeed, and I could legitimately be accused of writing it. ;)

Re: Short note (really tired, hence the shortness)

[hmpf]

>Argh, it's hard when I can't stand in front of you and make hand gestures.

Heh. Maybe you should have Kev and Adrian film you while you try to express it in the medium of dance?

>Indeed, and I could legitimately be accused of writing it.

Yes, but writing something is almost like a bodily function, sometimes - something just needs to get out, (pardon the horrible imagery here). My point is that to write something you don't need to love it particularly.

Now, printing out eight full ringbinders of the stuff - *that* takes serious love. Or at least a serious kink.

Re: Short note (really tired, hence the shortness)

[hmpf]

>Perhaps the only difference in our opinions stems from how much we each love the genre.

Quite possibly. I'm the one who has eight ringbinders of the stuff printed out, after all. *g*