Comments | lucia_tanaka: In which I actually talk about the Matter of Chicago

lucia_tanaka

In which I actually talk about the Matter of Chicago

Apr 03, 2012 22:05

and I don't mean just apologizing for not having written more yet

( Story discussion, some problems I have with the story, and what it means to me as a writer )

fic, babbling lucy, dresden omfg

Comments 30

kitewithfish April 4 2012, 04:07:16 UTC

Can I put aside my reader's bias (PLEASEFINISHPLEASE)and respond on the basis of the work?

You may have outgrown your story. That's not a bad thing, but it's an itchy situation to be in, like finding out that Santa is actually your dad but still taking the presents anyways. Eventually, the shift becomes meaningful in a new way, as you look back on yourself through the story and can reflect on yourself as a changed person.

I think you've got a good instinct when you try to finish the work- the end and the beginning can go in different directions, and that's not a flaw. The story still speaks to you, and if you find yourself letting hints of a different aspect of Bakery!Marcone through, changing the old MoC1!characterization, that shows us something.

You can acknowledge the issues the story has, while still working to make it better. And, if you really need to, you can go back and re-write the whole thing from chapter 1 all over again and make it perfect. (Robin McKinley did something like this, no?)

lucia_tanaka April 4 2012, 04:19:32 UTC

I feel I've outgrown the original conceit, but MoC3 is still something I want to explore, as it delves deeply into free will, how far Harry is willing to go, and what makes John Marcone who he is. But as it sits now? Yeah, I've likely moved beyond the scope of MoC.

oh god, don't even mention that. I can't rewrite MoC, it's so big.

And, to be serious, the issues the story has are in a way so intrinsic that... if I did have 100+ hours to sit and rehash the whole thing, I don't think it'd be the same story in the end. If I knew then what I know now, I would not have written MoC, I think. Or at least, not in this form. If that makes sense.

(McKinley is Sunshine, isn't she? I keep meaning to read that...)

kitewithfish April 4 2012, 05:06:40 UTC

I honestly would be happy to read a Bakery!Marcone version of MoC 2.0, but it's your brain and your time-don't rehash to make me happy!

Sunshine is awesome, but I meant something else.

With McKinley, she did an interesting thing. In '78, she wrote "Beauty" which retells Beauty and the Beast in a really awesome way- it's one of my favorite books. And then in '97 she retold it again as "Rose Daughter" doing something completely different with it. Both are really good books. Both are doing really different things. The ideas mattered to her, so she spent time working them out.

Now, I don't think it makes sense to do that with you unless you want it, but when I read the DVD style commentary on fanfics, I'm oftentimes surprised by how much the final version of a fic differs from what the author thought she was trying to do. The fic finds a way to come out the way it wants to, so to speak, and MoC might have to be the baby steps to finish the really awesome fulfilled thing that you want MoC3 to be.

lucia_tanaka April 4 2012, 05:31:01 UTC

... Oh god, I cannot spoil the climax of MoC2 but. There is an opportunity that I plan to take to course-correct some of John's characterization. Something to keep in mind.

Sunshine is on my list of Books I Was Really Enjoying But Had To Stop Reading And Need To Pick Up Again. Right next to American Gods.

Oh, that's interesting. Exploring the same concept from two radically different angles is actually how the Bakery AU is going to turn out. I've written Harry's POV, and Grene is writing John's, and after that's posted I am probably going to write a stupid long essay about how Harry and John's perceptions were colored by Harry thinking he was in a tragedy and John thinking he was in a magical realism romance. /SO MANY FEELS MAN

I hope you're right, there. Man, MoC3. Live up to my own hype for you, baby.

Thread 5

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lucia_tanaka April 4 2012, 16:47:20 UTC

Are Dresden and Marcone in a stable, happy, equal relationship? Absolutely not, at least at the point that you've reached so far.This is one of my struggling points with MoC. As I mentioned on the DW side of this entry: sometimes I think MoC suffers from Twilight Syndrome, in that people think that I think the MoC Harry/John relationship is healthy and that's not true at all, but I have no way to get that across in the narrative. MoC is so tightly told from Harry's eyes and he has never had a healthy relationship outside of Susan, so in his opinion, he and John may not be perfect, but they're fine ( ... )

dkwilliams April 4 2012, 16:25:55 UTC

Boy, do I get what you are saying! I've written two extremely long stories, one of which I finished and one that is still a WIP. The finished one, I ended up going back and rewriting/tightening up (all 65 chapters of it!) in part because a friend was making a zine-PDF of it -- and it was nearly as painful as the original process, and still not perfect because there were some things I couldn't change without massively affecting the whole story. The one that is a WIP ran into problem with 1) canon diverging wildly and me trying to work out a way around that and 2) issues with a bit of skeeviness in the original power arrangement. Don't know if I can finish it, and most days I want to, but ( ... )

lucia_tanaka April 4 2012, 16:49:03 UTC

/FISTBUMP OF SOLIDARITY! Yes, that's it almost exactly! It's like we are Elseworld versions of each other. 8D

I really think I will finish it. Especially thanks to comments like these from everyone-- I want to finish the story for y'all, even if you know and I know that the story is intrinsically flawed.

shadowdancer909 April 6 2012, 18:32:31 UTC

First, I want to say that I love MoC and I dearly hope you continue it. You're right that there are power dynamic issues in the story, but I don't think that's a bad thing ( ... )

lucia_tanaka April 11 2012, 13:07:56 UTC

Oh man. The White Council bothers me so much for pretty much the exact reasons you mention. Because yeah, they are extremely medieval about things and personally I loathe them. I do not like that apparently being born with magic automatically makes them allowed to murder you without consequence. That's such bullshit in and out of canon and I don't really see how anyone would consider them a lesser evil in comparison to, for example, Marcone's mob, who do the same thing and we're supposed to frown on their blood money. How exactly is the Council not just as bad? I mean, at least IMO Marcone considers what he does evil; the Council seems convinced of their own righteousness ( ... )

shadowdancer909 April 11 2012, 23:15:59 UTC

You're welcome, I'm glad you could make sense of my comment, I know it was a little long ( ... )

regonym April 9 2012, 06:05:52 UTC

Hmmmmm. I'd love to see it finished of course! But go with what feels right to you. If the way you write Marcone now isn't compatible with MoC!Marcone, maybe it's time to move on to new stories, with the new things you've learned.

(but man it would be awesome to see it completed...)

:/ I guess I'm ambivalent, too, haha