A long post on brevity

[lydiabennet]

ADDENDUM: Due to comment spam on LJ, I've had to disable comments on this journal.*Blows dust off journal* Yikes, it's been a long time since I've posted here, hasn't it? I suppose it's only fitting that the first thing I have to say here in four months is about . . . well, brevity. I've been trying to gear up for fanfic again by drabbling

Comments

[lucilla_darkate]

Very nice. I liked all of them. Drabbling is good practice, and it's an added bonus when they also manage to tell a story and are really fun to read. Great job.

[lydiabennet]

Thanks! I'm really glad these managed to tell a story! And yes, practice: after faffing about for so long I need to be reminded of what fanfic is. ("Characters?" quoth my brain sleepily. "Plots? Wot?")

[applegnat]

Everytime I read a good drabble, it's like poetry. All the virtues of writing drabbles that you've listed - angles and word choice and so on - are exactly what I look for in poetry. Of course, one could also have Tennysonian drabbles, full of rhythm and music if not (currently) dazzling ideas, but perfect modernist drabbles evoke a simultaneous 'aha!' and 'guh' reaction in me.

Your third drabble was exactly like that for me. And I very much enjoyed the first two as well, especially the Tribble, as I adore pine for desperately need like fluff.

[lydiabennet]

Tennysonian drabbles, full of rhythm and music if not (currently) dazzling ideas

Heh. I know what you mean. I have perpetrated drabbles of that nature, which can sound very pretty but which turn out to be mostly about vowels. They fizz in the mind and disappear, like the Little Mermaid dying in the waves.

Glad you liked the third one; I fangirl Petunia dreadfully for the same reason Draco does. ("OMG it's Harry!) And thank you for being so kind to my Tribble (now that I think about it, Tribble might be a good term for fluffy drabble). I wuvs fwuff too, in a horribly embarrassing, wholly unreconstructed way, and snuck off here partially to indulge myself in it *points to icon*.

[sodamnquirky]

i loved these. but the first one gave me a fluttery, happy feeling that i wish i could bottle up and save for bad days.

[lydiabennet]

Thank you so much! I have an enormous soft spot for that fluffy Tribble too; the plot line had been haunting me for days before I saw the hd100 challenge and decided to give the thing a (very small) fic to house itself in.

I love your icon by the way! That's a Nagini-Harry rather than a Tribble-Harry, but one of the cool things about Harry is that streak -- more than a streak -- of darkness in him. Who's the artist?

[sodamnquirky]

you said it. that streak of darkness in harry is something i love.

the art is by the lovely miyoung_boz [http://miyoung-boz.livejournal.com/]
i spent the better part of two days just going through her posts, looking at all the beautiful art. her draco, harry and snape are lovely.

[lydiabennet]

Thanks so much for the art rec! I just spent a long time going through her images, too, and wow, great Harry and Draco *points to new icon.* She does dark Harry really well.

[ashkitty]

Oooh!! Yay!! I finally get caught up on LJ for real and you've gone and posted pretty things! My night is suddenly so much better. And I needed that, I've been drifting away of late.

Lovely, really. The first was beautiful, the second sad, and the last perversely satisfying. ;)

[lydiabennet]

Thank you! I'm so glad you liked these, and even more glad that you're not drifting away (though I saw a letter from Harry the other day that made me bounce up and down happily and gave me hope in this regard).

Glad too that you liked the third drabble: Petunia rocks my world; she's like a tiger trapped in the cage of her own expectations, and I've always thought it would be cool to see how much fight she's put up when she knew she had no choice.

[lame_pegasus]

Oh wow - especially #2 and 3. Bravo.

[lame_pegasus]

Oh - and:

b) drabbling is a good writerly exercise that lets you see how much you can strip away.

Exactly - especially if you are - like me - a passionate "describer", suffering from a never ending word-diarrhea. Drabbles help me to reduce a tale, a scene to the very bones, and they have the function of, in a way, "cleaning" my inner screen. The longer I am writing, the more I love them.

[lydiabennet]

they have the function of, in a way, "cleaning" my inner screen

Oooh, I love this metaphor. I have the same problem with yammering on and on and on (actually more of one, I've never really associated it with you!) Drabbles can be a good lesson in necessity, and once the inner screen is cleared, as you say, I feel a bit more ready to say something more extensive without accidentally detouring into a page-long description of a bush, or something. :D

[lydiabennet]

Thank you! I guess you're a Nagini-person rather than a Tribble. Drabbles thrive on little dramas to give them structure, and so they're a great way to explore the darker side of H/D, IMO. Glad you liked them!