Comments | flambeau: mysteries of lj, descriptions in writing, cameron diaz, tbq

flambeau

mysteries of lj, descriptions in writing, cameron diaz, tbq

Aug 14, 2003 18:08

I don't think I get the concept of a defriending amnesty day. It's okay if you defriend me today, because today is defriending amnesty day, but if you defriend me tomorrow, I'm going to... to what, exactly? Glare sternly at the screen? Send a team of crack assassins masquerading as florists ( Read more... )

etiquette, writing, meta(ish)

Comments 25

ratcreature August 14 2003, 09:26:28 UTC

I don't have any smart solutions except to sneak observation and description in

Or, you know, people could just switch to fan comics instead of fanfic. *grin* Unlike tv or movies and videos or such the production value is low, i.e. a single person can without any problems create a comic without investing into more than paper, a pencil and some inking supplies, and you get cool visuals without clunky descriptions...

flambeau August 14 2003, 10:39:37 UTC

I like this idea. I'd like it even more if I could draw a recognizable apple, but, you know. Maybe what the fan world needs is a few good artist/writer hookups.

halimede August 14 2003, 13:59:06 UTC

and you get cool visuals without clunky descriptions...

Actually I've feedbacked fan-comics that had all the same narrative problems written fic can have only in visual form. Mostly really, really clunky exposition and telling instead of showing --even though it was all visual in the first place. It's just as hard to tell a good story visually, I think. That's why I admire Rumiko Takahashi (among others) so much. Brilliant storyteller. :)

ratcreature August 14 2003, 14:32:02 UTC

Well I don't know Rumiko Takahashi, which isn't surprising if s/he's a manga artist (the name sounds sort of Japanese, hence my assumption that it's mangas not comics) since I generally dislike the visual storytelling in mangas and much of the characteristics of "manga style" too (though I still like some manga styles better than others, it's not that I think they all look the same, or anything), whereas I really like the European/American comic tradition. I think they are quite different, so I don't tend to call mangas "comics." Obviously it's just a personal taste thing and from time to time I regret that I can't get into mangas, despite having tried a couple of times with recommended stuff ( ... )

Thread 5

kassrachel August 14 2003, 10:13:59 UTC

Seems like everyone I know is en route to Vividcon, too. Hey -- we must know the same people. *g*

flambeau August 14 2003, 10:40:31 UTC

Hee! Ya think? ;) We'll just have to have a wonderful time without them. Try to, anyway.

Homer nods anonymous August 14 2003, 10:17:05 UTC

Also, death to Homeric epithets. Unless you're actually writing hexameter, you don't need colorful character tags to fill out the meter.

Oh, bless you. Bless you and the flashing emerald eyes you rode in on.

Dorinda, the allergic-to-epithets woman

Re: Homer nods flambeau August 14 2003, 10:43:26 UTC

I was so thinking of you. :) And my eyes are flashing like anything! I could probably get a job sitting on top of a police car during chase scenes.

Re: Homer nods halimede August 14 2003, 14:10:51 UTC

I'd be tempted to manip this, if I knew what police cars look like in your neck of the woods. You I'd just depict as a fanfic goddess. Something inspired by Greek muses or something. ;)

Re: Homer nods flambeau August 15 2003, 13:17:11 UTC

Hee! Our police cars are blue and white. Volvos, natch. Usually not with statuesque women in classical drapery on top, though. :)

yonmei August 14 2003, 10:26:27 UTC

It feels as though everyone I know is off to ViVidCon. Have a lovely time, y'all. Without me. Sniffle

Hey, I'm not! You can come over and hang out with me any time!

flambeau August 14 2003, 11:22:20 UTC

Party in your livejournal? All right! I'll bring the cheese dip.

yonmei August 14 2003, 13:44:27 UTC

Excellent! I'll bring the crackers.

the whole friends terminology hederahelix August 14 2003, 11:45:25 UTC

I'm still relatively new to livejournal, but I have to say that the whole idea of calling the people whose journals you pick to appear in a digest kind of form on your journal your "friends" struck me as a very bad idea from the outset.

There are people whose journals I like to read, but who, as people, I don't know at all. There are other people who friend me, and I don't have the first clue who they are. None of this is news to anyone.

But calling those people your "friends" and then creating verbs based on that "Friending someone, defriending someone" seems only to reinforce the whole time warp back to 4th grade on the recess field mentality that can sneak or avalanche into communities, and then, whoa, there's a kerfuffle.

So, in short, about a defriending amnesty day? I'm with you. I doubt it'll solve whatever problem it's supposed to fix.

Re: the whole friends terminology valarltd August 14 2003, 12:33:26 UTC

Can I say I love your icon? Adorably metatextual.

And I'm not feeling one way or the other on the whole friending-defriending issue. Like what i write? Read me. Don't? Defriend me.
I know who my RL friends are as opposed to people I just read now and then.

Re: the whole friends terminology ratcreature August 14 2003, 14:38:51 UTC

I'm not disagreeing with you, but I think the term is less used because you read them, but more because they can read your friends-locked entries, unless you use customized groups. And hence the naming, "trusted with non-public entries" -> "friends". If they had chosen the name "reading list" or something like that instead of "friend list" that other "trust" aspect wouldn't be as obvious in the name.