Comments | flambeau: writing about writing

flambeau

writing about writing

Jul 25, 2008 15:21

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, ( Read more... )

writing, meta(ish)

Comments 62

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flambeau July 29 2008, 12:47:54 UTC

I'd love to see someone write something about show don't tell from the viewpoint of "this is a way to do good exposition." Sounds as if it could be really interesting. Not that I'm asking you to do it or anything. *nudge, nudge* For me, it's frequently about the scale of the exposition, how it's done and the point at which telling-not-showing turns the story into more of a report. (And the more I think about it, this is another place where I could have done another essay's worth of commentary. *g* But on the whole, it's more fun to talk about it with other people, in comments!)

an important part to remember about that, is that the narrator isn't the author

Yeah, I think this is a frequent problem when people try to find a narrator voice, that they think it has to be them, somehow. Or have trouble making it not be them, just as other people have trouble writing in first person and making it sound like Character A rather than Writer Q.

katie_m July 29 2008, 01:16:40 UTC

But, see, it's like this. Fanfic about Sam Winchester wearing a purple ball gown doesn't suddenly cause purple ball gowns to appear in anyone else's story. One writer's story about how Heero likes to take long walks on the beach with Relena, holding hands, doesn't change or invalidate anything about another writer's story about how Heero likes to be tied up and spanked by Rashid.

You know, I actually miss these conversations. Not the part with the screaming, obviously, but... I feel like fandom used to be a place where we talked about the show and the characters on a in-universe level a lot more than we do now. A great deal of that energy feels like it's gone to critical analysis of our fannish loves as texts. And that feels like a loss to me. As it would, given that the former is way more fun for me than the latter and really fandom is all about MY NEEDS, dammit ( ... )

flambeau July 29 2008, 13:01:18 UTC

I feel like fandom used to be a place where we talked about the show and the characters on a in-universe level a lot more than we do now. A great deal of that energy feels like it's gone to critical analysis of our fannish loves as texts.

Huh. Yes. I hadn't really thought about it like that, but seeing you put it in words, yeah. And I guess part of the reason I haven't thought much about it is that I'm very Doyleist by nature and usually have to concentrate a lot in order to be able to have Watsonian discussions. But I don't think you're the only one who misses that. I mean, I miss that, even if it's more from the perspective of seeing other people get into it than getting into it myself.

though on the other hand we seem to have to a great extent moved out of that period with all the drabbles and the weekly challengesDo you think so? I can't speak to drabbles at all, but the flashfic communities I know of are... hee, okay, I just went to look at the three I'm familiar with and while sga_flashfic seems to be flourishing still, the ds ( ... )

ceares July 29 2008, 11:02:48 UTC

Loved this! I'm always interested in they way people write, and the way they think about the process.

Aside #1-Popslash pretty much opened me up to RPF because it was so bizarre, and cracky and fun, and I still prefer that type of a/u RPF to the more realistic kinds in most cases.

Aside #2-Fanfic about Sam Winchester wearing a purple ball gown doesn't suddenly cause purple ball gowns to appear in anyone else's story. Okay, I want to read this story though.

Aside #3-I'm weird I think in that I pretty much never notice POV. I don't if it comes from just reading such a variety of pro-fic/non fic things before I encountered fanfic or what.

flambeau July 29 2008, 13:06:40 UTC

Glad you found something to interest you! And I'm kind of curious myself about why Sam is wearing that ball gown. Like, is it a situation similar to teand's Seventy-Six Trombones story, a dare from Dean, an expression of personal taste, a curse that's made him unable to resist anything purple...

I like it when I don't notice POV, because that usually means it's working for me. :)

ceares July 29 2008, 14:05:33 UTC

In my head, they are working a case, and go undercover at a Transvestite convention or something, and they need something for the formal dinner, and the only thing the thrift store had in Sam's size was the purple gown-with sparkles.

flambeau August 1 2008, 11:30:37 UTC

Works for me. So what does Dean end up wearing? I'm picturing something Twenties-ish, with fringe.

anait August 1 2008, 16:53:30 UTC

I like the way you covered the different topics point-by-point in this essay, and the funny, laid-back way you went about it. It was nice to get your perspective on how LJ writing has changed and is still changing, and a couple things you said made me stop and think about my own writing. Do you mind if I link to this post in my journal? (Hi! I really like your stories.)

You should do what you like to do, write what you want to write.
Yes.

People don't seem to switch narrators in their third person stories all that often any more. Maybe it also has something to do with story length.
I've never tried POV switches. I've also never written anything over 7,000 words. Now I'm curious to see if I can do it. It seems like giving too much away to tell everyone's side of the story, and also as though it would be harder to be subtle. I think I'm too stuck in the limited 3rd POV mindset.

hearing events retold by the equivalent of a Greek chorus isn't the same thing as having your protagonist experience them first-hand, and since this ( ... )