Remix: Friend or Foe?
So in case you hadn't noticed from my earlier post the popslash remix authors have been revealed. I, of course, wrote the only ridiculously cracked-out fic on the list, because it's me and I'm a big fat cheater: [Faggots Are Funny (the Adventures of a Reluctant Freestyle Poptart, Saving the World from Cylons and Single-Handedly Stopping Genocide Mix)]. I will probably post it here, later, for posterity and to force everyone who isn't a popslasher to read it, but for now, I have some thoughts on the remix process.
I had a really hard time with this remix, and I think the results were sort of... varied. My issues sort of stemmed from the fact that my remixee had written a lot, but in pairings I couldn't even think about attempting and in some cases, had no idea who the people were. So my choices were kind of narrowed down to the fic I chose, which was JC/Eminem, and another one that was Nick Carter/Eminem, and since we all know that I'm not really allowed to write Nick, that sort of left me with the JC fic.
And then I tortured myself over it, basically. Because the original fic was written quite seriously, and I have this inability to write anything remotely serious, particularly if it has to do with JC. The very idea of JC/Eminem was pretty much crack to me. So what I ended up doing was taking one scene and basing the entire fic around that. And I somehow managed to make it more about Nsync and less about Eminem because, let's face it, I don't know anything about Eminem beyond having been to Detroit many times in my life and seeing that movie once. I think there was a fire or something? Oh, and I murder his songs at karaoke. So anyway, I knew writing Eminem wasn't possible.
But then it became this fine line between writing crack that mocked the characters and the situation, rather than the original fic, which was by runzu, who is a very sweet person and I've had many conversations with and really, REALLY didn't want to offend by cracking out her fic.
A lot of people have been talking about the remix as a gift vs a story that can stand on its own. For me, I just wanted to make it through alive without offending anyone. I'm not sure how well I succeeded at actual story-telling. The biggest complaint I got on the fic was the JC characterization, which is obviously a very exaggerated crack-fanon version of JC, and pretty much resembles the actual JC not at all. Which is not how runzu wrote JC, so don't try to blame her for my wacked-out JC! No, that was all my doing. And I knew it when I wrote it, but honestly, that was the only thing that would come out of my brain.
As for the remixes people did of my fics, I am very happy with them. Which, yeah, that's the first time in a remix I've ever been happy with the results! Well, this and the RPF Remix, but I don't think authors have been revealed there yet. But now I sort of feel their pain because it's like, as much as I can't write serious fic and have to turn serious things into crack, I feel for the people who looked at my fic and went, "Okay, so I can write... crack, crack, or J-Fed. Greeeaaaat." They both did a fantastic job with the available options, so I very much salute them.
And I hope everyone is leaving feedback on these things. I know people worked really hard on their remixes (and remixes are really hard to write!!) so show some love for the writers.
I had a really hard time with this remix, and I think the results were sort of... varied. My issues sort of stemmed from the fact that my remixee had written a lot, but in pairings I couldn't even think about attempting and in some cases, had no idea who the people were. So my choices were kind of narrowed down to the fic I chose, which was JC/Eminem, and another one that was Nick Carter/Eminem, and since we all know that I'm not really allowed to write Nick, that sort of left me with the JC fic.
And then I tortured myself over it, basically. Because the original fic was written quite seriously, and I have this inability to write anything remotely serious, particularly if it has to do with JC. The very idea of JC/Eminem was pretty much crack to me. So what I ended up doing was taking one scene and basing the entire fic around that. And I somehow managed to make it more about Nsync and less about Eminem because, let's face it, I don't know anything about Eminem beyond having been to Detroit many times in my life and seeing that movie once. I think there was a fire or something? Oh, and I murder his songs at karaoke. So anyway, I knew writing Eminem wasn't possible.
But then it became this fine line between writing crack that mocked the characters and the situation, rather than the original fic, which was by runzu, who is a very sweet person and I've had many conversations with and really, REALLY didn't want to offend by cracking out her fic.
A lot of people have been talking about the remix as a gift vs a story that can stand on its own. For me, I just wanted to make it through alive without offending anyone. I'm not sure how well I succeeded at actual story-telling. The biggest complaint I got on the fic was the JC characterization, which is obviously a very exaggerated crack-fanon version of JC, and pretty much resembles the actual JC not at all. Which is not how runzu wrote JC, so don't try to blame her for my wacked-out JC! No, that was all my doing. And I knew it when I wrote it, but honestly, that was the only thing that would come out of my brain.
As for the remixes people did of my fics, I am very happy with them. Which, yeah, that's the first time in a remix I've ever been happy with the results! Well, this and the RPF Remix, but I don't think authors have been revealed there yet. But now I sort of feel their pain because it's like, as much as I can't write serious fic and have to turn serious things into crack, I feel for the people who looked at my fic and went, "Okay, so I can write... crack, crack, or J-Fed. Greeeaaaat." They both did a fantastic job with the available options, so I very much salute them.
And I hope everyone is leaving feedback on these things. I know people worked really hard on their remixes (and remixes are really hard to write!!) so show some love for the writers.