On writing and fandom
I have a feeling this is going to get long, so (Be ware of "Lucifer" spoilers behind the cut. I tried to double-cut them, but apparently that doesn't work on DW?)
Now that I've started writing again, I've noticed that I'm very descriptive in my writing, really focusing on getting into a character's (usually Mal's) head. I'm fairly certain this comes from the RP writing I used to do, and in that situation it's probably not a bad thing. But in fanfic? I'm not so sure it's a good thing? For instance, contrast this excerpt from one of my new WIP's:
In due course, he finds himself alone with Kaylee outside the infirmary while Simon tends to Jayne's wound. Loath as he is to question her choices, he figures he's sort of a stand in for her folks, and he's fairly certain they'd be sayin' a cautionary word or two. At least, that's what he tells himself as he asks, "You doin' all right there, Kaylee?" And if that isn't a stupid way to start this conversation, he don't know what is, since it's clear as day the girl's more'n all right. Still… It's a start.
She turns her attention to him momentarily and her face is alight with her smile. "Just shiny, Cap'n."
"Good. Good." He waves in the general direction of her neck, where the pricks from the Reavers darts still show. "No aftereffects from…?"
"Nope." Her attention shifts between him and watching Simon. "Dr. Webb gave me the stuff Simon said I needed, and I been good ever since."
And there's the opening he needs. "Speakin' of the doc, anythin' you need to tell me 'bout the two of you?" It's not subtle, but then he's never been very good at subtle. That's more Inara's thing.
Her eyes widen, and there's a faint blush on her cheeks, as she faces him again. "You noticed?"
"Kinda hard not to, mèimei." He smiles at her. "So, then there is somethin'. Mind you, I ain't askin' for details, but somethin's obviously changed. What'd I miss?"
There's a touch of exasperation in her voice, something he's used to hearing in Inara's when they're speakin' at cross-purposes, as Kaylee says, "It seems almost dyin' got him to open his eyes to what I been offerin' and to knowin' there's no good reason he shouldn't be takin' me up on it."
"Ah." He can think of one or two reasons off the top of his head, but he figures that's on them to figure out, or not. "Well, don't be too hard on him. For all his smarts, he's just a man, and we men tend to be a mite slow sometimes." She flashes him a knowing look that he ignores, well aware of her thoughts on him and Inara. "Just… Be careful, mèimei, don't wanna see you get hurt is all."
"Aw, that's sweet, Cap'n," she stretches up and kisses his cheek, making him smile to himself. "I'll be fine, I promise. It's just… life's short, y'know? Gotta live it while we can." She smiles at him then looks over his shoulder and says, "Hey, 'Nara."
with this one from the Poldark novel, The Twisted Sword, after Demelza learns Ross has been given a barontecy:
"Come on, come on," he said, as the tears kept falling. "This will never do. What if the children return?"
"They won't be home yet," she said. "They've gone to the Tower."
"How long will they be?"
"Oh, another hour, I should think."
"Let me have you."
She stared at him through big but watery eyes. "What can you mean?"
"What d'you think? I like you when you're crying."
"Dear love, it isn't done, it isn't proper, it isn't decent. In the middle of the day! When we have all night!"
"You sound like Jud."
"Now don't make me laugh." She tried not to hiccup.
"Stopped crying now?"
"Yes."
"Tears of sorrow, no doubt."
"I know what it is," she said; "now you've got this title it has gone to your head and you think to tousle a serving wench. But there's none handy, so you reckon your wife will do."
"Just so," said Ross. "Just so."
"In fact," she said, "I don't care a button for your title. But I still care a little for you."
"Tell me upstairs," Ross said.
"Oh," she said, "so it's going to be upstairs, is it?"
No inner thoughts and few motion descriptors, because they're not needed. Anyone familiar with the canon knows how Ross and Demelza feel about each other, knows their personalities, can imagine them in each others arms, etc. Nothing needs explained to leave the reader, at least this one, smiling.
Now, granted, there are other places in the novel(s) where description is given and necessary, but I feel like maybe I'm going overboard with it? And if I am, how do I fix it? Maybe one way to work on it is to branch out into other fandoms? Going back through my old fics as I post them to AO3, I wasn't quite so... wordy then. But by writing for another fandom, will I fall into the same trap of getting into a character's head? Things to ponder as I work at perfecting (hah!) my skills.
So, which fandoms? I've mentioned already about wanting to write some Drake/Morwenna for "Poldark" but maybe "Lucifer" as well? Before I get to that, though, let me digress a bit about "Poldark".
I am still enjoying the novels, for the most part, but I do have a fairly major quibble with them. Why the heck do these women not have more children?! I mean, this is the late 1700's/early 1800's when women generally had children every two years or so! Ross and Demelza followed that pattern early on, but then, with no mention of miscarriages or rudimentary birth control, there was an eight year gap between Clowance and Isabella-Rose, and another 10 before Henry came along. And, honestly, it's not that I want them to have a bunch of babies constantly underfoot, but... it just takes me out of things. I can see it with Dwight & Caroline, between his health and medical background, and Caroline's lack of interest in having children, I'll buy them possibly using some form of bc. But as active as R&D are, they should've had more children. Just sayin'.
And now, "Lucifer". ... I watched the first 3 seasons when they aired on TV, and thoroughly enjoyed the first 2. Then came season 3 in all of its annoying stupidity. Well, ok, the 1st half was interesting what with Pierce being Cain, but to have Chloe falling for him - to the point of wanting to marry him! - in the 2nd half was just... Ugh! At least it ended with Lucifer accepting his wings, and Chloe learning he is actually the devil, but it really put a damper on me wanting to watch more, so I wasn't all that concerned it was cancelled. But then it got picked up by Netflix, so... yay? Except I didn't have Netflix, so couldn't watch it.
But then my son hooked me up with Netflix a few months ago, so I didn't have that excuse. Still, I delayed. Until I heard that there's supposed to be a season 6, so I figured I'd better catch up. And here's hoping they actually do get that 6th season (thanks, Covid), because, OMG! I loved seasons 4 and 5! To the point that I binged them, then went back and rewatched the first 3 seasons (even the stupid Pierce/Chloe plot), and am up to the last episode of season 4 again. :D
Thank you, Netflix, for Tom Ellis' backside. And his front side, even if it's not full frontal. For sex jokes. For sex parties. And, oh, yeah, for decent plots. :) Seriously, though, Tom is soooo good at portraying Lucifer, whether as the party animal or the tortured soul, that I just love watching him. It's also amazing to watch him become Michael with just a change of accent and posture! I'm not a big fan of Lauren German's acting, but she does a good job dealing with all the ins and outs of Lucifer's devil-ness. And all the side character's subplots have me enthralled as well. And the ending of season 5A? Oh, boy, I can not wait for 5B to see where it goes!
So, yeah, think I might branch out into some "Lucifer" fic, as well. I've been reading some on AO3, and boy is that an active fandom! So many hits on most of the stories! I'm not sure I can deal with that much exposure. I like my small little corner of the 'verse. :) Still...
If I'm going to try writing in different fandoms, it might just be these two. We shall see.
Now that I've started writing again, I've noticed that I'm very descriptive in my writing, really focusing on getting into a character's (usually Mal's) head. I'm fairly certain this comes from the RP writing I used to do, and in that situation it's probably not a bad thing. But in fanfic? I'm not so sure it's a good thing? For instance, contrast this excerpt from one of my new WIP's:
In due course, he finds himself alone with Kaylee outside the infirmary while Simon tends to Jayne's wound. Loath as he is to question her choices, he figures he's sort of a stand in for her folks, and he's fairly certain they'd be sayin' a cautionary word or two. At least, that's what he tells himself as he asks, "You doin' all right there, Kaylee?" And if that isn't a stupid way to start this conversation, he don't know what is, since it's clear as day the girl's more'n all right. Still… It's a start.
She turns her attention to him momentarily and her face is alight with her smile. "Just shiny, Cap'n."
"Good. Good." He waves in the general direction of her neck, where the pricks from the Reavers darts still show. "No aftereffects from…?"
"Nope." Her attention shifts between him and watching Simon. "Dr. Webb gave me the stuff Simon said I needed, and I been good ever since."
And there's the opening he needs. "Speakin' of the doc, anythin' you need to tell me 'bout the two of you?" It's not subtle, but then he's never been very good at subtle. That's more Inara's thing.
Her eyes widen, and there's a faint blush on her cheeks, as she faces him again. "You noticed?"
"Kinda hard not to, mèimei." He smiles at her. "So, then there is somethin'. Mind you, I ain't askin' for details, but somethin's obviously changed. What'd I miss?"
There's a touch of exasperation in her voice, something he's used to hearing in Inara's when they're speakin' at cross-purposes, as Kaylee says, "It seems almost dyin' got him to open his eyes to what I been offerin' and to knowin' there's no good reason he shouldn't be takin' me up on it."
"Ah." He can think of one or two reasons off the top of his head, but he figures that's on them to figure out, or not. "Well, don't be too hard on him. For all his smarts, he's just a man, and we men tend to be a mite slow sometimes." She flashes him a knowing look that he ignores, well aware of her thoughts on him and Inara. "Just… Be careful, mèimei, don't wanna see you get hurt is all."
"Aw, that's sweet, Cap'n," she stretches up and kisses his cheek, making him smile to himself. "I'll be fine, I promise. It's just… life's short, y'know? Gotta live it while we can." She smiles at him then looks over his shoulder and says, "Hey, 'Nara."
with this one from the Poldark novel, The Twisted Sword, after Demelza learns Ross has been given a barontecy:
"Come on, come on," he said, as the tears kept falling. "This will never do. What if the children return?"
"They won't be home yet," she said. "They've gone to the Tower."
"How long will they be?"
"Oh, another hour, I should think."
"Let me have you."
She stared at him through big but watery eyes. "What can you mean?"
"What d'you think? I like you when you're crying."
"Dear love, it isn't done, it isn't proper, it isn't decent. In the middle of the day! When we have all night!"
"You sound like Jud."
"Now don't make me laugh." She tried not to hiccup.
"Stopped crying now?"
"Yes."
"Tears of sorrow, no doubt."
"I know what it is," she said; "now you've got this title it has gone to your head and you think to tousle a serving wench. But there's none handy, so you reckon your wife will do."
"Just so," said Ross. "Just so."
"In fact," she said, "I don't care a button for your title. But I still care a little for you."
"Tell me upstairs," Ross said.
"Oh," she said, "so it's going to be upstairs, is it?"
No inner thoughts and few motion descriptors, because they're not needed. Anyone familiar with the canon knows how Ross and Demelza feel about each other, knows their personalities, can imagine them in each others arms, etc. Nothing needs explained to leave the reader, at least this one, smiling.
Now, granted, there are other places in the novel(s) where description is given and necessary, but I feel like maybe I'm going overboard with it? And if I am, how do I fix it? Maybe one way to work on it is to branch out into other fandoms? Going back through my old fics as I post them to AO3, I wasn't quite so... wordy then. But by writing for another fandom, will I fall into the same trap of getting into a character's head? Things to ponder as I work at perfecting (hah!) my skills.
So, which fandoms? I've mentioned already about wanting to write some Drake/Morwenna for "Poldark" but maybe "Lucifer" as well? Before I get to that, though, let me digress a bit about "Poldark".
I am still enjoying the novels, for the most part, but I do have a fairly major quibble with them. Why the heck do these women not have more children?! I mean, this is the late 1700's/early 1800's when women generally had children every two years or so! Ross and Demelza followed that pattern early on, but then, with no mention of miscarriages or rudimentary birth control, there was an eight year gap between Clowance and Isabella-Rose, and another 10 before Henry came along. And, honestly, it's not that I want them to have a bunch of babies constantly underfoot, but... it just takes me out of things. I can see it with Dwight & Caroline, between his health and medical background, and Caroline's lack of interest in having children, I'll buy them possibly using some form of bc. But as active as R&D are, they should've had more children. Just sayin'.
And now, "Lucifer". ... I watched the first 3 seasons when they aired on TV, and thoroughly enjoyed the first 2. Then came season 3 in all of its annoying stupidity. Well, ok, the 1st half was interesting what with Pierce being Cain, but to have Chloe falling for him - to the point of wanting to marry him! - in the 2nd half was just... Ugh! At least it ended with Lucifer accepting his wings, and Chloe learning he is actually the devil, but it really put a damper on me wanting to watch more, so I wasn't all that concerned it was cancelled. But then it got picked up by Netflix, so... yay? Except I didn't have Netflix, so couldn't watch it.
But then my son hooked me up with Netflix a few months ago, so I didn't have that excuse. Still, I delayed. Until I heard that there's supposed to be a season 6, so I figured I'd better catch up. And here's hoping they actually do get that 6th season (thanks, Covid), because, OMG! I loved seasons 4 and 5! To the point that I binged them, then went back and rewatched the first 3 seasons (even the stupid Pierce/Chloe plot), and am up to the last episode of season 4 again. :D
Thank you, Netflix, for Tom Ellis' backside. And his front side, even if it's not full frontal. For sex jokes. For sex parties. And, oh, yeah, for decent plots. :) Seriously, though, Tom is soooo good at portraying Lucifer, whether as the party animal or the tortured soul, that I just love watching him. It's also amazing to watch him become Michael with just a change of accent and posture! I'm not a big fan of Lauren German's acting, but she does a good job dealing with all the ins and outs of Lucifer's devil-ness. And all the side character's subplots have me enthralled as well. And the ending of season 5A? Oh, boy, I can not wait for 5B to see where it goes!
So, yeah, think I might branch out into some "Lucifer" fic, as well. I've been reading some on AO3, and boy is that an active fandom! So many hits on most of the stories! I'm not sure I can deal with that much exposure. I like my small little corner of the 'verse. :) Still...
If I'm going to try writing in different fandoms, it might just be these two. We shall see.