Jack as the somewhat rogue publisher, Sam the brilliant established novelist, Teal'c the talented immigrant writer who Jack is championing, and Daniel as the bright young man who has just given up his Cambridge fellowship and is trying to get his first novel published. The System Lords are press barons, and Maybourne is the editor of a middlebrow weekly that pretends to be "literary" but panders just a touch too much to popular taste.
Please, please, please don't let me write any of this!!!!!!!!!!!
As for anxieties turning up in dreams, that, I'm afraid, is pretty common. Sometimes I have what almost feel like productive working dreams; certainly I dream about work a lot, whether it's productive or not. But this, I'm pretty sure, was the first work/fandom crossover dream.
Please, please, please don't let me write any of this!!!!!!!!!!!
Let you? I would never do such a thing. I might encourage you, however. :)
This is in part because I've spent half my afternoon with visions of AU!Daniel ranting about how modern society isn't erudite enough to appreciate real scholarship, and that he's going to take it upon himself to demonstrate that good literature can be fun, gosh darn it! And Teal'c raises an eyebrow and says, "Indeed," Sam smiles knowingly and launches into a treatise about how understanding your audience is on of the most technical and important aspects of writing, and Jack rolls his eyes and goes back to work.
No! Encouragement is bad!!! Or at least encouragement in this particular vein--because I'm quite certain I would go insane if I actually tried to do such a thing. :)
There would be a problem of tone, most of all, I think. Or maybe that's just my perspective because I'm used to reading about these ideas in 80-year-old English, which has a different tone. So Daniel, no matter his thoughts on the matter, would not express himself like Stanley Unwin does in this sentence I just finished reading: The very vulgar type of advertisement may be suitable for vulgar works intended for the vulgar-minded, but such advertisements would merely repel the more refined bookbuyer. (Although one of the great perks of working on this stuff is getting to read and giggle at sentences like that.) Sam, though, sounds like an analytical scholar when she talks about these things--in short, she sounds like me in my own critical writing, and I'm not writing that into fanfic, either.
Clearly, this is all going to be impossible. Darn. *giggles*
My intro US History teacher spent the longest time trying to help us understand that euphemisms change over time and that the things left unsaid in turn-of-the-century literature were often more important than what was obvious.
Oh, how I sympathize with her! The extent to which this sort of thing has to be taught hit home most forcibly when I taught Pride and Prejudice last year to 1st and 2nd year students. You forget, once you become so familiar with a particular idiom, how carefully it does need to be read when it's not familiar. And on top of having difficulty with how the language was conveying meaning, most of the students were at sea with the historical references, too; I spent the better part of an hour explaining the British class system in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Oh well!
But then it's yet another step to go from knowing how to read a particular tone or idiom to being able to mimic it in writing. That's not at all something I think I'd be very good at, though I admire those who can do it well.
But then it's yet another step to go from knowing how to read a particular tone or idiom to being able to mimic it in writing.
I've never actually tried to do that. My fanfic is all set in linguistically-present times, and I try to create new idiomatic language in my original fiction (which is invariably set in some sort of alternate universe/future setting primarily so I can play with the language). But actually adopting something from another time and using it adequately? The research time alone would be overwhelming . . .
And yes, we're definitely geeks. Isn't it grand! :D
But I'm sorry your anxieties are turning up in your dreams! *sends hugs*
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Please, please, please don't let me write any of this!!!!!!!!!!!
As for anxieties turning up in dreams, that, I'm afraid, is pretty common. Sometimes I have what almost feel like productive working dreams; certainly I dream about work a lot, whether it's productive or not. But this, I'm pretty sure, was the first work/fandom crossover dream.
Reply
Let you? I would never do such a thing. I might encourage you, however. :)
This is in part because I've spent half my afternoon with visions of AU!Daniel ranting about how modern society isn't erudite enough to appreciate real scholarship, and that he's going to take it upon himself to demonstrate that good literature can be fun, gosh darn it! And Teal'c raises an eyebrow and says, "Indeed," Sam smiles knowingly and launches into a treatise about how understanding your audience is on of the most technical and important aspects of writing, and Jack rolls his eyes and goes back to work.
Oh boy.
Reply
There would be a problem of tone, most of all, I think. Or maybe that's just my perspective because I'm used to reading about these ideas in 80-year-old English, which has a different tone. So Daniel, no matter his thoughts on the matter, would not express himself like Stanley Unwin does in this sentence I just finished reading: The very vulgar type of advertisement may be suitable for vulgar works intended for the vulgar-minded, but such advertisements would merely repel the more refined bookbuyer. (Although one of the great perks of working on this stuff is getting to read and giggle at sentences like that.) Sam, though, sounds like an analytical scholar when she talks about these things--in short, she sounds like me in my own critical writing, and I'm not writing that into fanfic, either.
Clearly, this is all going to be impossible. Darn. *giggles*
Reply
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Oh, how I sympathize with her! The extent to which this sort of thing has to be taught hit home most forcibly when I taught Pride and Prejudice last year to 1st and 2nd year students. You forget, once you become so familiar with a particular idiom, how carefully it does need to be read when it's not familiar. And on top of having difficulty with how the language was conveying meaning, most of the students were at sea with the historical references, too; I spent the better part of an hour explaining the British class system in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Oh well!
But then it's yet another step to go from knowing how to read a particular tone or idiom to being able to mimic it in writing. That's not at all something I think I'd be very good at, though I admire those who can do it well.
But the ( ... )
Reply
I've never actually tried to do that. My fanfic is all set in linguistically-present times, and I try to create new idiomatic language in my original fiction (which is invariably set in some sort of alternate universe/future setting primarily so I can play with the language). But actually adopting something from another time and using it adequately? The research time alone would be overwhelming . . .
And yes, we're definitely geeks. Isn't it grand! :D
There ain't nothing better!
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