Fun and games, concrit, non-con crit

[flambeau]

I seethe with the wrath of the frustrated gamer. I've owned FFVII for years, and it played really badly on my old computer, with which it was barely compatible. So I thought, new computer, yay! Hah. On the new computer, the credit sequence plays in a loop, over and over. That's it. I have a feeling that the game would have run perfectly on the

Comments

[kassrachel]

it's like hearing someone tell a story enthusiastically and fast with many hand gestures

Hee! If you haven't met Ces, then I'm impressed -- good intuition, there. :-)

I totally freaking love Enduring Distance. I can't entirely articulate why, except that maybe I have a soft spot for that story's Fraser. Although sometimes I think my favorite of her dS stories is Scrabble -- it's told in such a bizarre way, but it so totally works for me. I've seen other people try the dual-columned narration thing and they just lose me; the two sides are too alike, or something.

Eight Sessions I like because it makes me laugh. Which I know, is kind of horrible, because dark things are going on, but I just imagine that poor therapist trying to deal with Fraser, and I crack up every time. (Also, I like the way she doesn't show us exactly what the problem is -- that Ray would have killed to avenge Fraser's death, and that they're wrestling with that knowledge -- until way, way into the story.) Though maybe that's why you're not connecting with it?

[flambeau]

I've never met Ces in person, but sometimes you can practically see the gestures in chat. *g*

I'm going to have to look at Eight Sessions again to think about it (I haven't quite managed to reread every single Ces story during/after this post, but I'm getting there *g*), but I don't think it's the issue, as such. It's a good issue. ;) Could be something structural, though. Mostly when I think about that story I remember that it felt sort of pale grey, with wall to wall carpeting. (As opposed to Enduring Distance, which has snow and sunshine and a faint smell of detergent.)

I love Prospect - I'm still on it, though it's not quite the hotbed of fannish enthusiasm that it was. It tends to be very technically oriented, focusing on writing styles and story construction and not so much on themes and trends, but yeah, it's still the best forum I've seen for fanfic discussion.

[kassrachel]

You know, as soon as I posted that last comment, I thought, "I'll bet Torch was on P-L, you dope." *g* And sure enough, I was right. Sorry about that. It's been so long since I was active onlist that it's all kind of blurred together in my mind, into this tasty mélange of snarky crit and commentary...

I'm glad it's still around, even if it's not as cool as it was. It was so radical when it first opened up shop -- given Senad and the general trends of Sentinel-fannish culture at that point, who could have imagined 900 people would join Prospect within, like, 3 days? ::happy sigh:: It's kind of nice to feel like a fannish old-timer sometimes.

[stargems]

I know you aren't fishing. Hell, you straight out asked for the opposite of direct commentary/crit, but when I read this is hit me that I while I've never given you 'formal' feedback, I've talked about your pop slash stories a whole bunch. In short, your writing is refreshing and light, without seeming fluffy. The Grapefruit story was the first I'd read from you, and what I loved best was the fact that I had a chance to hang my head (copying your phrase) and sit back and laugh at the zippy dialouge and the spot on characterization

[flambeau]

Dude, there is no overstepping here. Feel free to say whatever you like to me. Ignore the way I shuffle my feet and look embarrassed. ;) Seriously, I'm so thrilled with both the "this works for me" and the "that didn't work for me." I want to know. :)

more pairing/character driven as opposed to plot driven

This definitely feels true in popslash fandom - I've been thinking a lot lately about plot in popslash, and my own lack of plottiness. Initially that was one of the things I thought was so cool, the way one could deal with emotional issues and setups without having to work out a whole elaborate "but what are they doing at work" setup to go with it, but now I feel a bit stuck with that, as though I gave myself a habit I can't seem to shake.

Also, thanks. :)

[stargems]

I did a double-take on the comment about character driven as opposed to plot driven, because I still think of you as being able to do both (China, Ghosts, and others, all the way down to VChron fandom). The combination of emotionally satisfying stories with the action/sci-fi elements that got me interested in the shows was something that made your writing stand out in my mind, pre-RPF.

Ana

[flambeau]

Ana! Hi! *waves madly* (I'd offer you an lj code, if signup weren't free now. *g*) I think my popslash fiction is more character-driven than action-driven, though. It's difficult for me to get both an A-plot and a B-plot going without resorting to AUs in a fandom where what they canonically do is sing and dance and go to parties and look pretty. ;)

[laurakaye]

OK, so now you've got me intrigued, because I don't connect with Enduring Distance or A Moment of Insight (even while admiring the writing! and the craft! and all) but Eight Sessions and Kowalski is Bleeding are actually my very FAVORITES, that I re-read fifty thousand million times and adore with a white-hot fiery passion

[laurakaye]

Obviously I forgot to close a tag and am too lazy to delete and re-post the comment. Sorry. *g*

[flambeau]

When nuns vandalize your car! That is so brilliant. anyway, yeah, it sounds as though you have the same click/not-click thing with the stories that I have, if not with exactly the same stories. A Moment of Insight is the Iowa one, yeah - I nearly called it "the one with the hotel room" in the post, but that didn't narrow it down as much as it could have. *g*

Maybe what KiB needs, for me, is a tiny bit more mush. They're so harsh with each other, yet there is all this repressed woobieness under the surface, yearning to breathe free... snrk. or not.

[halimede]

Will sit down and read the fanfic stuff in a moment, but first must comment on the gaming frustration. Have you tried going to the game manufacturer's site to see if there's a patch? They often write patches yeeeeeeears after the game came out, so you could be lucky. Or someone will have posted a work-around, either on the site or on usenet usually. (It's usually a dll thing, and sometimes quite easy to fix if you can follow instructions.)

Last but not least, you could always see if current-flavor-of-windows has updates available, though that might just as easily make everything worse, so proceed with caution on that one...

If heavenly sky-writing does appear, will you take a picture? Also, do you know if there are any sky-writing companies in your area who could do 'What do you mean dishes? Hie thee to thy fanfic, woman!' in a nice font? This is a purely hypothetical question, you understand.

[flambeau]

You are smrt, and I went to investigate the patch thing. Alas, I am still doomed. *sad sigh* There was apparently a patch for Morpheus at one point, but the companies involved in producing and marketing the game have gone belly up, and everything seems to have vanished long ago. (An additional difficulty is to persuade Google that I'm after Morpheus the game, not Morpheus the p2p program.) And Eidos says that yeah, there's a problem running FFVIII on XP, nothing much we can do about that. Apparently it's a DirectX problem, with the current version not being backwards-compatible with the program's dependence on an earlier version. There is a patch for in-game problems you can get with the graphics card I have, but nothing for the DirectX problem that makes the game not run at all.

No word on the sky-writing. But I've done the dishes now... ;)

[zing_och]

Thank you! As a reader-only person, I often wonder about the whole con-crit stuff - after all, I don't have a clue about writing, I just know what works for me when I read, so how could I say constructive stuff? How do I know what a writer wants/needs to hear to improve their writing?

Non-constructive criticism must be non-con crit, right? Maybe there should be warnings. *snerk* This will be my happy thought for today.

And since I'm here, a completely random note: We don't seem to share any fandom these days, and when I read and loved your X-Files back in the day, I was still very much a lurker, and now I feel as if I cheated you out of very well deserved feedback. Maybe someday we'll cross paths again (fandom-wise), and I'll be able to talk about your stories ;)

[flambeau]

I think that knowing what works for a person who reads the story is the most useful thing of all. Okay, I also think that what people look for when they say they want constructive crit varies a lot. Me, personally, I think stuff like "Snape seems a little off" or "that next to last scene is a bit moody when you look at what comes after" is way interesting and useful, and I don't mind at all if there's no "so I think you should make him greasier" or "why not give them all party hats?" as a follow-up. :)

Ooh, you were in XF? Cool! That was such a great fandom to be in, in all its twisted glory. :)