The meaning of real

[kryssa_girl]

I heard about this woman in a Chicago newspaper a few days ago. However, what I read wasn't the objective news, but rather a commentary on her actions titled, Fake memoir proves novel is devalued. I found that much of what the writer was saying resonated in me, and I thought to share it (and my musings

Comments

[kryssa_girl]

You have some great points about people putting style above plot and emotion. Quite frankly, many of the bestsellers here in the USA suck balls because they're crap - they're grammatically accurate (but boring as hell when they use the same sentence structure a million times in a row), have characters that are nothing more than 2-D figures that exist only to make a point, and absolutely no viable plotline.

I'm hoping that all the fanfic writers I know will become published authors, 'cause they're infinitely better than the idiots on the Borders shelves.

I find that writing about sensitive issues is harder now because I want to make it real; the cost of reality is pain. Violence - blood and guts and all that joyful jazz - is a lot harder to portray when we, as adults, understand what it means. Most children and teens have little concept of certain realities; look at the Ouran ff.net page, and tell me that it's not mostly teens writing over-dramatic stories about suicide or twincest or what-have-you. I don't say that they never suffered at all, but they make the story so strictly about their own pain that it's hard for outsiders to empathize with the characters.

But now that we're older, we try to make our own pain and pleasures visible to the rest of the world. We put a different kind of self into the work; we don't try to make it about ourselves. Even romance is harder for me to write because I have the sharp awareness of having been in an adult relationship, and trying to express a realistic one in a story requires digging up both happy and unhappy memories. That's a risk I'm willing to take, and one that I see many good writers around me taking, too.

[sambucivox]

What do you mean, that the authors at ffnet aren't twincesty, emo twins themselves? I actually prefer the stories where Haruhi: 1) goes to an enchanted house and has sex with everyone and everything. 2) takes crack. 3)Ranka dies, and Haruhi decides -very rationally- to run away to get more crack for her and the baby. 4)In the end, Kyouya decides to carry her pregnancy because he's the mommy, only to discover at delivery that Haru was inseminated by Usa-chan. 5) Hikaru and Kaoru get teary!emo!lovey-dovey! and give the spawn the dresses that they had to wear as kids.

I have a serious phobia to hurting my characters, myself. Just as hurting my sims. I know that without pain, there's no plot, but I still don't feel like slashing their wrists. Or making them fall in love. Or condemning them to pregnancy.

Don't be so harsh in the lack of style of American writers. What you call repetitive structures, I call hammer of past tense -perfect for learning the basics!

Off to walk Doggie, talk to you tonight.