writing about writing

[flambeau]

I used to have a bunch of essays up on my site on various fannish topics, but I took them down when I redesigned, because I just wasn't sure how I felt about them any more. Most of them were written in the late 90s, and I called them rants at one point, but they really weren't; I don't rant well. I've been thinking about making annotated versions,

Comments

[flamebyrd]

I enjoyed this essay. I think it didn't really tell me anything I didn't know, but it helped me think about how I approach writing and reading fanfic in general.

People don't seem to switch narrators in their third person stories all that often any more.
Oh no, really? *worries*

I used to find present tense and second person POV (both separately and together) really distracting, but there have been several incidents of late where I've been quite a while into a fic before I've noticed. I guess I'm growing more tolerant.

And I was going to say that I actually think there is less of a fashion for this kind of emotional introspection these days
I wonder if there has been a general (unconscious?) shift towards considering emotional introspection "unmanly"? Is it just the protagonists we're given? I feel like there was a fair amount of emotional introspection going on in, say, Highlander and due South that I can't really feel in SGA, (but maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention, and it's been a long time).

Readers are smart; if you

[flambeau]

Oh no, really? *worries*

Well, it's an observation, not a prescription. :) It just feels that way to me, and apparently also to at least one other person, but I don't think that's a reason for you not to do it if you want to.

I think there's been a trend shift re: emotional introspection, yes. Not sure I've been linking it mentally with any of the "but men don't" discussions, but maybe someone else feels it's totally connected.

"But h-how do you explain John turning into a bug in a bandom AU?" This is clearly the voice of somebody who has not read popslash/bandslash.

Oh, yeah. Popslash was very "free your mind!" Also I think that sounds like a great idea for an AU. :)

Yaks, on the other hand...?

Yaks breed and multiply and perform death-defying leaps from story to story, I've heard.

[flamebyrd]

re: "but men don't"
I am not sure whether I really think it's a movement on the part of the writers of fanfic, or whether I think it's just that it's no longer in character to have emotional introspection, in which case it would be a movement on the writers of the source material.
... there's a reason I don't usually engage in fandom meta.

[flambeau]

*grins*

It's an interesting notion, but I have to disagree. I don't think Methos was written in a way that invited emotional introspection to be written from his POV more than Sam Winchester is. (Thinking a little more about this: probably less. *g*) I'm more inclined to think of it as a fanfic trend, and to be a little puzzled by it for that reason because I used to think that emotional exposition was one of the cornerstones of slash.

[miscellanny]

*memories*

That was a really interesting read, thanks.

[flambeau]

Glad you found it of interest! :)

[slodwick]

Well-said; I was sitting here nodding my head along with each point. It all seems rather common-sense and logical, but at the same time, it's quite nice to be reminded.

[flambeau]

Glad you liked! It is very plain-and-commonsensical, but the funny thing is, I remember feeling vaguely radical when I put it together originally; I think I had overdosed on writing advice that had a strong air of Eat Your Vegetables about it.

[darkseaglass]

"A story designed to be solely about the sex scene works best if there's a sex scene in it."

♥

[flambeau]

I'm kind of hoping someone takes it as a challenge to prove me wrong! :)

[burntcopper]

...um.... I once had a story where when I was still writing it, I sent it off to have the story checked to see if the rest of it had consistency, character, etc (I have more problem with plot than sex scenes, which just flow) and left inbetween the evening before and morning after '_insert sex scene here_'

my beta fell over laughing and then told me that i'd have to really work at it to live up to that. because if not he'd tell me to leave it as that.

[flambeau]

Hee! So did you manage to insert something suitable? *innocent look*

[soundingsea]

To me, third-person omniscient and POV switches both feel rather dated, in terms of fic. In the fandoms I've read in recent years, I only saw those in older Buffy fic and almost never in Veronica Mars, Supernatural, or anything I've read in Yuletide or Remix the last few years. I wonder if there was a shift, perhaps the LJ jump, that led to both shorter and more immersive single-character stories?

[flambeau]

I wouldn't have said that about 3PO, but that's because I've never seen much 3PO. Then again, never hung out in Buffy fandom, either. Was it common there?

When it comes to POV switches, it seems we've seen the same things, or not seen the same things, however you want to put it. *g* And yeah, I think there's something about the actual technical presentation of stories that might have affected how they're written. maybe. I wish I could do actual stats research, but I can't even provide personal, anecdotal data.

[soundingsea]

I wouldn't have said that about 3PO, but that's because I've never seen much 3PO. Then again, never hung out in Buffy fandom, either. Was it common there?

I've seen it from time to time, unfortunately. It seemed to be more common in written-for-shippers mailing-list fic, the kind of stuff I dug up before I heard of LJ. You know, stuff like...

Buffy came down the stairs, stumbling a bit because her high heels were pinching her feet. She was regretting the purchase already, even though they'd been on sale.

Spike was amazed by how beautiful she looked. Of course, he always mooned over her. His cold undead blah blah blah something awful.

(Me: ARGV why am I seeing into both their heads and possibly hearing some authorial commentary as well??? *back button*)

[flambeau]

Spike's cold undead blah blah blah unnerves me. What's he been doing, standing outside in a snowstorm? But I suppose there's no drama or romance in Spike's room temperature blah blah blah.