argh! *bangs head* (carefully)
So the horrible headache is mostly gone; what's left is my normal sinus headache. Seriously, I've probably had two or three days in the last TWO MONTHS in which I have not had some kind of headache. Most of them are mild enough that I can carry on, but it gets really freakin' old, you know? Particularly when you realize that, given my incredibly high tolerance to medication, over the counter pain medication isn't an option because it simply doesn't do anything for me. Well ibuprofen does, but only in extremely high hospital strength doses and I try not to do that too often.
But that's not the real thing that's got me banging my head, if only figuratively. There are two other things:
I used to be able to write totally porny short fics, things that were nothing more than a single scene for which you didn't need any background. That was why, back before we went on our trip in March, I asked for prompts. And what happened? One turned into a 5000+ word fic, one turned into a fic that needs at least one sequel and I haven't done the others yet. I'm trying to write a John/Teyla/Rodney porny one-off and I keep getting sidetracked from the original request--J/R/T with a focus on someone's back. I'm envious of people like apple_pi and 30toseoul who can write incredibly hot short fic without getting too hung up in all the unnecessary little details and complicated backstory stuff.
So it seems, we're into yet another round of "the fandom's main pairing vs everyone else" and...yeah. I have a hard time getting too wound up about it because I'm simply not an OTP kinda gal. I come closer to being an OTC (One True Character) person and I've been that way since I first got into fandom.
In TNG it was Picard; I usually wrote him with Q, but I also wrote him with Beverly Crusher and once, some backstory fic with Bev's late husband Jack, and I'd read him with just about anybody. In TPM it was Qui-Gon; now, given the nature of the casting and the fandom, yeah most of what I wrote was Qui/Obi, but I did write at least one Qui/Mace--because Liam and Sam together is too hot an idea not to--backstory piece. In Lotrips, it's a little different, because I've got three "true characters"--Bean, Orli and Viggo--and I switch them around depending on which dynamic I feel like playing with.
And in SGA, it's Rodney. Thus far, I've mostly written him with John, but I'm more than willing to write or read about him with just about anyone else. I love love love me some OT4 fic, but I also love Rodney with Teyla or Ronon, and I have a soft spot for the Rodney/Radek geek on geek dynamic. In fact, the only two people I usually don't read with Rodney are Elizabeth and Carson. Elizabeth because I really have a hard time imagining her putting up with him, although a good writer could probably make me buy it. Carson simply because, for some reason, I have a seriously hard time with the idea of Carson having sex with anyone; it's not anything against Paul's looks or acting skills, but Carson comes across to me as weirdly asexual and I can't get past that.
But my point--yes, I had one--is that because of all that, I simply Do Not Get OTPism. I do not understand how the very idea of any pairing other than your favorite can harsh your fannish squee. It's not that I think you're--the general you, of course--wrong for feeling that way or anything, it's just that I don't get it at all. On the other hand, I also don't get why someone saying they don't like a given pairing harshes anyone's fannish squee. Obviously if it's phrased as "anyone who ships Elizabeth/Rodney is a complete moron and waste of space" then yeah, that's a personal attack. But if someone says "wow I really don't like Elizabeth/Rodney" then it's not an attack against E/R shippers but just a statement of fact.
So yeah, when this comes up, I'm left sitting here with my brow all furrowed thinking, "why do people get so up in arms about this?"
Also, I would post my one piece of professional fiction in honor of International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day, but, a) it's about to be anthologized again and since it's a small GLBT press, I'd rather not do anything that would be problematical and b) oddly enough, I no longer have the file. It's on a CD somewhere, and of course I have at least one of the previous anthologies, but nothing on this machine.
But that's not the real thing that's got me banging my head, if only figuratively. There are two other things:
I used to be able to write totally porny short fics, things that were nothing more than a single scene for which you didn't need any background. That was why, back before we went on our trip in March, I asked for prompts. And what happened? One turned into a 5000+ word fic, one turned into a fic that needs at least one sequel and I haven't done the others yet. I'm trying to write a John/Teyla/Rodney porny one-off and I keep getting sidetracked from the original request--J/R/T with a focus on someone's back. I'm envious of people like apple_pi and 30toseoul who can write incredibly hot short fic without getting too hung up in all the unnecessary little details and complicated backstory stuff.
So it seems, we're into yet another round of "the fandom's main pairing vs everyone else" and...yeah. I have a hard time getting too wound up about it because I'm simply not an OTP kinda gal. I come closer to being an OTC (One True Character) person and I've been that way since I first got into fandom.
In TNG it was Picard; I usually wrote him with Q, but I also wrote him with Beverly Crusher and once, some backstory fic with Bev's late husband Jack, and I'd read him with just about anybody. In TPM it was Qui-Gon; now, given the nature of the casting and the fandom, yeah most of what I wrote was Qui/Obi, but I did write at least one Qui/Mace--because Liam and Sam together is too hot an idea not to--backstory piece. In Lotrips, it's a little different, because I've got three "true characters"--Bean, Orli and Viggo--and I switch them around depending on which dynamic I feel like playing with.
And in SGA, it's Rodney. Thus far, I've mostly written him with John, but I'm more than willing to write or read about him with just about anyone else. I love love love me some OT4 fic, but I also love Rodney with Teyla or Ronon, and I have a soft spot for the Rodney/Radek geek on geek dynamic. In fact, the only two people I usually don't read with Rodney are Elizabeth and Carson. Elizabeth because I really have a hard time imagining her putting up with him, although a good writer could probably make me buy it. Carson simply because, for some reason, I have a seriously hard time with the idea of Carson having sex with anyone; it's not anything against Paul's looks or acting skills, but Carson comes across to me as weirdly asexual and I can't get past that.
But my point--yes, I had one--is that because of all that, I simply Do Not Get OTPism. I do not understand how the very idea of any pairing other than your favorite can harsh your fannish squee. It's not that I think you're--the general you, of course--wrong for feeling that way or anything, it's just that I don't get it at all. On the other hand, I also don't get why someone saying they don't like a given pairing harshes anyone's fannish squee. Obviously if it's phrased as "anyone who ships Elizabeth/Rodney is a complete moron and waste of space" then yeah, that's a personal attack. But if someone says "wow I really don't like Elizabeth/Rodney" then it's not an attack against E/R shippers but just a statement of fact.
So yeah, when this comes up, I'm left sitting here with my brow all furrowed thinking, "why do people get so up in arms about this?"
Also, I would post my one piece of professional fiction in honor of International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day, but, a) it's about to be anthologized again and since it's a small GLBT press, I'd rather not do anything that would be problematical and b) oddly enough, I no longer have the file. It's on a CD somewhere, and of course I have at least one of the previous anthologies, but nothing on this machine.