Telepathic Bitches

[peppermintyrose]

I knew you'd all read it if I called it that, but I promise it wasn't an advertising gimmick - I'm actually going to talk about telepathic bitches. :D Mr. Minty and I were discussing the books, and some of the meta themes. Now, he's only up to All Together Dead, but we were discussing Eric's character, and how intensely interesting he makes the

Comments

[peppermintyrose]

Eric says "Speak" when he picks up the phone. :D Rude, uh? PMR is the same rude. :D

I do skim through fanfic - but only really wordy, bad fanfic. Otherwise I'd be bored to death.

Eh - I actually read that - in less summary form - in the last 48 hours. Sookie was fretting over that, and I rolled my eyes. I also read Eric as a manbaby. Sookie totally should have changed his bum and given him a bottle. :D

[peppermintyrose]

It's a bit of a shame that some people can't seem to understand that thoughts aren't out loud. I mean, it's a lesson that most of us learn relatively early. It doesn't seem to have stuck for some

[ext_376601]

It is through internal conflict that readers usually relate to a character in an intimate way. Rarely are we privy to another person's thoughts and internal struggles for a prolonged period of time, except when reading. Even with our own partners, we hardly ever know what they're thoughts are about everything, all the time

[peppermintyrose]

I agree - reading is the way that we share that with each other - the cohesion of social bonding. That's why readers are so invested in Sookie/Eric stories, rather than Eric/OC

[ext_376601]

That's what I like about the fantasy genre, it can take the reader to places where real philosophical debates about morality can take place. I'm not big on Anne Rice (sacrilegious I know) but the first thing that I discussed was the issue of pedophillia. The love between Louis and Claudia; a mature woman trapped inside a 5 year old's body opens a floodgate of questions that forces one to pinpoint the intricacies of which aspects of pedophillia is wrong.

Have you seen Todd Field's 2006 film called Little Children? It's a very good example of people being judgemental. I strongly recommend it if you haven't seen it yet.

[peppermintyrose]

Me too. The philosophical questions about what's right are the things that keep it interesting. They allow us to explore issues in a way, and give us really nutty problems to try to figure out.

I like the first 5-6 Anne Rice vampire books - basically before she found Christianity - even though I did find them a little too heavy on prose and description. I debated the whole mature woman trapped in a 5 year old's body, as well as the idea that life must be clung to so desperately that we would inflict a different kind of pain. Most of the vampires in that book seem to think when turning others that death is the worst thing that can happen to someone, when in fact, they are inflicting even more punishment by staying around.

I haven't. But if it plays on my movie channels, I'll give it a go.

[peppermintyrose]

I don't know that Sookie's internal conflict doesn't involve staying away from the "vampire" option of that.

I think it's more than that though. Even where they want Eric to be a murderous vampire, they never want to tell him he can't slaughter whole roomfuls of children. Writers love giving Sookie endless (out loud) lectures to Sookie about how she's a very silly girl for wanting to save her fellow man.

My AH standards tend to be pretty high. Since they are easier to write, I tend to be less forgiving. I used to be forgiving if writers had lots of porn, or covered up plot problems with a myriad of reasons, but once good AH writers entered the scene, well, other fics are blown away in comparison.

[ext_376601]

It's almost enough to turn me off reading some stories altogether when they come up with a pure evil, violent, snivelling Bill/Victor/Sophie Anne etc. AH or canon it just waters some really good plots that seem promising in the first two chapters.

[peppermintyrose]

Oh yeah, that's the way I ditch what I intend to review, more and more. It doesn't do writers any favours in my eyes.

[anonymous]

Your post reminded me of a birds-and-bees conversation I had w/ my daughter the other day. I’d been doling out the details bit by bit, gauging her reactions and need-to-know as we’d gone along. “How do parents *decide* they want to have a baby?” she asked on this occasion. Upon further discussion w/ her, I realized that her question was not a philosophical one a la how-does-one-know-one-wants-to-bring-a-new-life-into-this-world-and-nurture-it; rather, she’d been under the misunderstanding (based on my too vague responses) that simply desiring a baby makes it happen. This notion of ‘thinking makes it so’ is developmentally appropriate *for her age.* (I straightened her out right quick, btw, and neither of us burst into flames or suffered from any spontaneous pregnancies…but shame on me…*inner conflict here*…shoulda known better

[peppermintyrose]

Lol at your bursting into flames and spontaneous pregnancy - I think it's a really tough one. But yeah, the whole idea of thinking makes it so is just impossible. Or the idea that thinking is a bad thing - which is a completely and utterly alien concept to me - or at least as something I shouldn't do

Telepathic Bitches

[anonymous]

I think we’re on the same page re opinions and review history.

It's galling to think that fans would approach CH with their demands. I think it goes w/out saying that their behaviors are more about their own emotional “stuff” they bring to the table than any reasonable response to her choices about plot, character development, etc.

And yes, I could see how things that happen in a more or less anonymous world can have fallout in the real world. They’re not unrelated communities.

Good point about Gran & rural Louisiana. I feel better for her now. ;)

Re: Telepathic Bitches

[peppermintyrose]

:D

It is galling - and downright rude. And there's no real reason for them to keep reading the books - but I suppose, they're invested now. For all of those crazy fans, there's someone like me who loves the direction. I don't want CH to do it the crazy person's way - I love her way, and I'm mature enough to deal with things that aren't what I fantasise about (not that I tend to fantasise about much).

I know my online personality is the more forthright one - I'm way more polite in the real world, although it shows from time to time. Online, I'll call someone a dick, when in real life I just think they're a dick.

I know - I was thinking about the assumption that Sookie should move, and started to ponder why CH would have put her out in the middle of nowhere, and how she would fare moving even to Eric's, in a practical every day way.

[peppermintyrose]

Yeah, it's called desperation. If I stuck to canon, I'd have to read a lot more Bill fic, and there isn't enough. I still want my AH to have tensions in it, and actually be good. I have been burned a few times, getting invested in stories that had shitty endings, but so too with canon fic

[peppermintyrose]

I don't live in NYC, so I don't mind. I don't mind a little bit of convenience in the AH, because after all, it's character I'm looking for, not where they live.

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2326957/Ooshka - top notch stuff, full world (and I mean full - there's Bill, Lorena, Judith, Calvin, Amelia, Felicia, Sam, Indira, Clancy, Rashaun etc. etc.) maybe a whole 5 chapters (out of over 100) where plot doesn't move - her fluff. Characters in character. But, she has an English lit masters' degree - and it shows. In over 100 chapters, she's never failed to get a review from me, and I set the same bar for her every single time.