...writing in the New Statesman that he'd changed his mind about Christianity ( A few thoughts on the relationship between religion, mythology and fanfiction... )

Recently got into an altercation with a god-botherer in a review column on ff.net over the subject of whether dead characters should be shown enjoying an 'afterlife' in film or fiction to reassure viewers/readers. I disagree vehemently, even in a fantasy context. It is a form of sentimentality that I despise: it trivialises sacrifices made by ( Read more... )

Cheering myself up before tonight's venture into Dwarfageddon…

I came across a hilarious parody fanfic when the author reviewed my story. She's taken Oscar Wilde's Salomé and recast it as the Elven party in Mirkwood in The Hobbit. Arwen becomes obsessed with a noisy, hirsute Dwarven prisoner… Cue: Mirkwood Goes Wilde… (No Dwarves (or Elves) were ( Read more... )

This illustration…
This story…

Oh, I love my scheming Dwarves…

Something that just struck me lately is that many of the fandoms for which I write are ones where I am antipathetic towards the original narrative's/author's values and viewpoint. I suspect it's because they anger me sufficiently to make me want to give my own perspective on the characters and stories. (Tolkien is a current case in point: here's a ( Read more... )

On a cold and rainy morning, I could not resist a short jeu d'esprit:
Emperor and Gallifreyan

I'm home, back at work, and feeling bouncy. Dad and I watched The Hobbit twice on DVD: he loves it (and observed accurately enough that the Great Goblin bears an uncanny resembance to Hogarth's portrait of Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat: a picture which exudes sheer evil in a way that few portraits I know do).*   And I'm writing fanfic again, because - ( Read more... )

I was discussing this with a friend earlier. What I've never really 'got' is people wanting to inflict new damage on a character in order then to repair him/her. For me, it's always been about wanting to save characters I love from damage the original writers have imposed upon them in canon: over the years, I just got very annoyed at the fact ( Read more... )

I received a fanfiction review last night that took me a bit aback. I don't mind if someone simply doesn't like my writing style, or points out a genuine weak spot. But this writer seemed to be castigating me for the morality of the characters. I've encountered this once before, when I wrote an OFC narrator who was (to say the least) a prickly ( Read more... )