What's so strange in Josan's stories?
Lately, I was reading stories by Josan (josanpq) and thinking about them a lot.
Stories (at the Severus Snape Fuh-Q Fest site):
Resolutions: A Story in 13 Parts; SS/SB; NC-17, but only in some parts
Not What It Was Supposed To Be; SS/RW; PG-13
Morgan LeFey; SS/RL; NC-17
Lost and Found; SS/?? Revealed at the end; PG-13
+
Aftermath: A Story In Four Parts; SS/RW; NC-17
Not being a native speaker, I can't speak of fine matters of style. Nor can I comprehend what stylistic devices make this or that impression on me. So I'll be speaking naively and I hope that you'll help me to understand what Josan does in her stories.
When I read Josan's novellas, I every time have the following impression: as if I were a child/early teenager, about 10-12 years old, and I had a friend of the same age. Imagine that one day we are left alone, it's evening, the weather is bad and we have to stay at home. We both are if not bookworms, then at least well-read. We are sitting in my dimly lit bedroom and telling stories to occupy ourselves. And this would be one of the stories a good kid tells to another one to disperse boredom. Or what a good parent tells to his/her children in long winter evenings. [Oh, yes, forget about slash aspect for a while.]
The common feature of the stories in question I can name is that the author uses consistent chains of events, preferably day after day after day. There can be gaps but no breaking of the strait time line. Also, the language seems to be deliberately simple, not flourishing; the descriptions are sparse.
It always seems to me when I read these stories that I'm caught on a hook and it drags me - further, further, what next, and what happens then, and so on until the very 'happily ever after' (which is also a usual feature). It appears that although there are descriptions of places or people there, and there can be characters' introspections, and dialogs, the main thing nevertheless is *what* happens and not *how*, the narrative sequence prevails over detail. But maybe I'm quite wrong and just can't see what is really important.
It seems to me that HP books (at least the first two of them) are written with a very similar principle.
When Josan's stories were first recced to me and I read them, I didn't like them. Their strange and simple narration seemed moronic to me. But, as almost always with the things I like, later they started haunting me with their images; then I re-read them. And now I can say for sure: I like them. I'm absolutely bewitched with their simplistic magic.
BTW, it also seems to me that a similar type of narration was used in the second half of Origins of Myth by Arsenic Jade (NC-17) and in A Nick In Time by Tira Nog (at Severus Snape Fuh-Q Fest site)(PG-13).
I would be very grateful if you help me understand what it is in those Josan's stories that makes them so unusual.
Stories (at the Severus Snape Fuh-Q Fest site):
Resolutions: A Story in 13 Parts; SS/SB; NC-17, but only in some parts
Not What It Was Supposed To Be; SS/RW; PG-13
Morgan LeFey; SS/RL; NC-17
Lost and Found; SS/?? Revealed at the end; PG-13
+
Aftermath: A Story In Four Parts; SS/RW; NC-17
Not being a native speaker, I can't speak of fine matters of style. Nor can I comprehend what stylistic devices make this or that impression on me. So I'll be speaking naively and I hope that you'll help me to understand what Josan does in her stories.
When I read Josan's novellas, I every time have the following impression: as if I were a child/early teenager, about 10-12 years old, and I had a friend of the same age. Imagine that one day we are left alone, it's evening, the weather is bad and we have to stay at home. We both are if not bookworms, then at least well-read. We are sitting in my dimly lit bedroom and telling stories to occupy ourselves. And this would be one of the stories a good kid tells to another one to disperse boredom. Or what a good parent tells to his/her children in long winter evenings. [Oh, yes, forget about slash aspect for a while.]
The common feature of the stories in question I can name is that the author uses consistent chains of events, preferably day after day after day. There can be gaps but no breaking of the strait time line. Also, the language seems to be deliberately simple, not flourishing; the descriptions are sparse.
It always seems to me when I read these stories that I'm caught on a hook and it drags me - further, further, what next, and what happens then, and so on until the very 'happily ever after' (which is also a usual feature). It appears that although there are descriptions of places or people there, and there can be characters' introspections, and dialogs, the main thing nevertheless is *what* happens and not *how*, the narrative sequence prevails over detail. But maybe I'm quite wrong and just can't see what is really important.
It seems to me that HP books (at least the first two of them) are written with a very similar principle.
When Josan's stories were first recced to me and I read them, I didn't like them. Their strange and simple narration seemed moronic to me. But, as almost always with the things I like, later they started haunting me with their images; then I re-read them. And now I can say for sure: I like them. I'm absolutely bewitched with their simplistic magic.
BTW, it also seems to me that a similar type of narration was used in the second half of Origins of Myth by Arsenic Jade (NC-17) and in A Nick In Time by Tira Nog (at Severus Snape Fuh-Q Fest site)(PG-13).
I would be very grateful if you help me understand what it is in those Josan's stories that makes them so unusual.