Pennzoil's New and Improved High Mileage Formula
Do you ever like, hit that point where you feel like maybe you've gotten your mileage out of a fic and you're done with it? (Regardless of whether the fic is finished, or whether you're satisfied with the result.)
Because like, this happens for me often, and I feel like on some level it's a completely valid reaction. You have the encounter, experience the moment, work out the scene--and you release that energy. You might re-experience it a few times while revising, or just reading your work back, but you're ready to move on. That's a lot of the point of fanfic, right? To have your time with a character or an idea or a piece of dialogue, express fannish energy so you don't explode, and move on.
I guess I kinda wish it were timed better? Like, ideally, after finishing the fic as a whole so you can enjoy it as a full, complete work before your brain trashbins it. Just a thought! Or maybe that's the best timing, because then you function as your own closed loop and it doesn't really matter if it happens that you're the only one who reads it, because you've already gotten what you wanted out of it and it then feels disposable.
But then there's always that feeling like, oh, but what if this feeling isn't "I've gotten my mileage out of this thing and I'm all good now" but actually, "Thing thing can be a better thing if you throw more time and thought at it and then you will love it again/love it more in the future." AM I WRITING TO SATIETY OR JUST LAZY. Because I don't wanna just routinely foreclose that second passage if that's what it is; it seems like bad practice.
Speaking less esoterically, I guess really I'm trying to close out this Bleach fic, which I thought I was going to be able to finish ages ago but it's been hours and hours since and I can't figure out whether I've re-read and re-written and added and subtracted scenes enough that I've had my fun with it and am ready to move on, or whether I should be doing heavy revisions to make it sing like it should. Because like, I've definitely really enjoyed working on it, but I don't know if I actually like the product? Even though I definitely have for various bits and various points--very much so.
I wrote a line last night that I'm very much in love with, even though it is THE MOST INNOCUOUS. It just feels absolutely perfect to the character--but like, very specifically, in an innocuous way. Not in a way that's like, "Oh man, this encapsulates his very being" or even "this is exactly the particular way he talks" but literally like, "this innocuous line is exactly what an innocuous line from this character would be." It's perfect in its sheer innocuous unimpressiveness. THAT SOUNDS ABSURD EVEN TO ME AS I WRITE IT but I still.... love it...
Because like, this happens for me often, and I feel like on some level it's a completely valid reaction. You have the encounter, experience the moment, work out the scene--and you release that energy. You might re-experience it a few times while revising, or just reading your work back, but you're ready to move on. That's a lot of the point of fanfic, right? To have your time with a character or an idea or a piece of dialogue, express fannish energy so you don't explode, and move on.
I guess I kinda wish it were timed better? Like, ideally, after finishing the fic as a whole so you can enjoy it as a full, complete work before your brain trashbins it. Just a thought! Or maybe that's the best timing, because then you function as your own closed loop and it doesn't really matter if it happens that you're the only one who reads it, because you've already gotten what you wanted out of it and it then feels disposable.
But then there's always that feeling like, oh, but what if this feeling isn't "I've gotten my mileage out of this thing and I'm all good now" but actually, "Thing thing can be a better thing if you throw more time and thought at it and then you will love it again/love it more in the future." AM I WRITING TO SATIETY OR JUST LAZY. Because I don't wanna just routinely foreclose that second passage if that's what it is; it seems like bad practice.
Speaking less esoterically, I guess really I'm trying to close out this Bleach fic, which I thought I was going to be able to finish ages ago but it's been hours and hours since and I can't figure out whether I've re-read and re-written and added and subtracted scenes enough that I've had my fun with it and am ready to move on, or whether I should be doing heavy revisions to make it sing like it should. Because like, I've definitely really enjoyed working on it, but I don't know if I actually like the product? Even though I definitely have for various bits and various points--very much so.
I wrote a line last night that I'm very much in love with, even though it is THE MOST INNOCUOUS. It just feels absolutely perfect to the character--but like, very specifically, in an innocuous way. Not in a way that's like, "Oh man, this encapsulates his very being" or even "this is exactly the particular way he talks" but literally like, "this innocuous line is exactly what an innocuous line from this character would be." It's perfect in its sheer innocuous unimpressiveness. THAT SOUNDS ABSURD EVEN TO ME AS I WRITE IT but I still.... love it...