~~baby-steps, they say.

[reenka]

i think there's some sort of rule that i get nothing done during breaks. i'm like, "heeeyyy, i have all this -time-, of -course- i'll do it..." and then i stare at the wall for 10 hours or something. i could've read every fic i wanted to get to, -and- do my reading for class -and- finish my longfic. okay, that's a tad -too- ambitious. which is why i don't do things-- because i get too ambitious, really. but anyway.

speaking of longfic. it occurred to me why so many people over-explain everything in many an "epic" tale. especially if it's a first-time fanfic, at least. i was reading through my first fanfic (and my god, is it bad), and one of the things i noticed was that (horror of horrors) i went and explained my pov character's motivations-- in first person. straight out. i mean. shoot me now.
    and then i was reading a bit of another tale, someone else's first fanfic-- and again, it seemed rather trite and expository. it occurred to me that if you're writing a chaptered fic-- especially if it's your first major chaptered fanfic-- you're going to have the need to get to know your characters. you're getting to know them as you write them, so basically-- maybe it's not so much that the writer is insulting my intelligence as a reader, but rather they're doing all this for their own benefit.

maybe you could even see this as a general thing-- instead of thinking that someone's merely being stupid by saying things that are "obvious" or shouldn't need to be pointed out to an intelligent audience, you could say that they're merely saying the only things they can think of. they don't know how else to conceive of it, so they trace over the known to get to the unknown. it's sort of like starting from square one.

on the one hand, if someone says, "harry is a boy", you could easily be irritated. but what if you need that to then say, "harry is a boy who missed his parents". and then only afterwards can you say, "harry is a boy whose sadness wasn't obvious". and then, "only the other could see it". and then you get to the point. or something.

i don't know. but what if it's true-- what if the author simply hasn't done any retroactive editing in that case, and what we're seeing is a process of growth. so, maybe in the next fic they wouldn't need to explain the same things again? when i was going over my old longfic, i could now take out a lot and condense and totally change characterizations-- i certainly don't need anyone to explain their motivations to me. but back then i was merely exploring them myself.

and now, writing my present longfic, i find that i'm tempted to have the characters or narrator explain things-- plot things. because i wouldn't know them myself, not in the same detail, otherwise. obviously, i doubt everyone's issues and motivations are the same, but it makes me more open to others' blunders, knowing they're part of a learning process. or something.

Comments

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

You're writing a longfic? Interesting - I thought you said you weren't going to? Or is it not HP?

Is it arrogant to say that I'm proud of my first fanfic? I don't know - most people, especially those with languid WiPs that never update or at least never get finished, seem to hate the opening chapters, especially if it's the first piece of fanfic they've ever written, as VM was for me. But I was rereading it this evening, just to try to get a handle on it again after such a long time, and I was actually enjoying it, even the first chapter. Actually, I really like my first chapter. The Draco bit's mediocre, but my italicised Veela are cool and I think Harry was distinctly IC. And erm, now I sound like such a freaking' egotist. Blame it on the fact that I should have been asleep hours ago. I guess I'm just pleased, and a little surprised, that I'm still happy with something I wrote nearly a year ago.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

hee. oh, it's hp alright. well, you know how it is. *laughs* i can never predict the future. it's not like a huge chaptered behemoth or anything, it's just-- it's a third done, at -most- (maybe even a quarter) and it's already as long as the longest one-shot i've written, so that makes it a longfic, right? :D
i'm not breaking it up into chapters though, 'cause that's just intimidating, man -.-

and, re: veela magic. ehehehe :D *bounces* write!write!write! :D

er. yah. you had a very definite vision there from a start, and a rather consistent quality and a characterization-- but then, you're lasair, a unique and beautiful snowflake :D *giggles, but is serious*

it's unusual, anyway. plus, when i was writing my idiotic first fanfic, i had no clue what i wanted to say, really-- i was spouting recycled nonsense. heh. (can't believe -anyone- liked any part of it, -ever-, but then, my writing itself isn't sucky, it's just what i do with it). but yah, my idea of why people over-explain comes from people who don't really have a very good grasp on things. whereas i wouldn't say that about you ~:)

and yah, my present fic is the one for armchair's `across a crowded room' challenge. i'm beginning to be rather excited about it (PLOT BABY PLOT!!!). i've sort-of started a chaptered fic several times-- `tangent', my friendship fic-- also `waking wishes' (though that's only 3 chapters). but they don't have a beautiful, lovely -plot-, eheheh. i also had an idea for an evil!draco fic i had a plot for, but no direct inspiration.

whereas this-- this has a plot. a big plot. oh, i love it. *bounces*

harry & draco save the woooooorld!! *laughs*
i almost want someone to read it, even though it's all raw and it's got pieces from the future sprinkled randomly. but sigh. it's got a draco who isn't cliche and ...i wrote dumbledore..!... and stuff. i'm pleased with myself.

hee. a bit of narcissism isn't a bad thing. you need some just to keep writing, i think~:)

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

*laughs* You know what? I think I've just got too much damn pride to let myself write crap, or at least to show it to people. Mediocrity, sure, unsatisfactory, whatever, but if it was bad, I'd just be in agonies over it! I'm bad enough at the moment knowing that Killa, my D/M goddess, is going to read that Kronos fic I wrote! Because I think it's okay, but hell, how do I know? *wibblewantcanonwibble*

Harry and Draco Save the World sounds good. And I'm very fond of long one-shots.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

*laughs* well. i'd stop short of calling `one good reason' craptastic. plus, you realize, i -didn't- show it to people, really. it was only ever up on my site, where no one goeth. like, -now- draco's characterization scares me (omg, i wrote fanon!draco armed to the teeth with angst and thwarted desire and rage against harry. ahahaha.) at the time, i was just feeling out my characterization, but i knew enough to know it sucked, 'cause i didn't have anywhere i was -going- with it.

i mean-- it's okay to be ooc, as long as you have a -point-, and aren't just ooc 'cause you don't know better. and your kronos fic was short and dealt with stuff outside canon, in which he was just a bloodthirsty devil who only showed up for a couple of episodes, right? just how wrong can you go, there? ~:)

the fic i was reading-- i dunno if it was craptastic either. but there's only so much fics that start out with the trio on the train talking about the coming year and making lame jokes you can -read- before you -die-. i was like, LET ME GUESS, AND THEN MALFOY COMES IN!!

i dunno if he does yet, but whaddya wanna bet? *laughs*
so yah. and the author was like, "yah, i know 'tis craptastic, but it gets better once i get to the plot". and i was like, -maaan-, a fic needs characterization and pacing too you know ^^;

and i don't tend to post things i consider awful. then again, i don't tend to even keep -writing- those. i mean, if i can tell it sucks, i just rewrite. or start over. no need to torture myself with something like, "and it was harry's seventh year, and hermione was nostalgic with him on the train." *sighs* but then again, they're doing that 'cause jkr does it, so i dont' get to complain, do i -.-

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

*dies at your description of JKR's writing*

Glad you don't hate your first fic - lots of people seem to be all Ahh, My Juvenilia, They Are Burning Me. And hey, nothing wrong with fanon!Draco in moderation. Thwarted desire and rage against Harry sounds perfectly IC to me!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Thwarted desire and rage against Harry sounds perfectly IC to me!
ahahahah. ya sure? :D

Each time I see you, I want to growl, have you quake before me. I want to release all this pent-up maddened energy any way I can. I want to fuck you blind. I want to hold your life in my hands, in these very hands, bloodless and girl-like, and oh so powerless. Be mine, be mine, be mine, sweet valentine. You make me enjoy my perversity more than I thought possible, with your purity and kindness slapping me across my face, a challenge to everything I was always content being. I forget what was it that occupied me, before. I can't decide whether I want to break you, or taunt you, drive you to the edge. Oh, how I love seeing you squirm. You can't ignore this either, can you-- my presence like a fist in your gut. This makes me smile. I have you, and you don't even know it-- this is what I tell myself. I have you already. It's just a matter of time before you realize it, before you come to me. I don't really know how-- or who you'd be, then-- after all, I like the chase more than the catch. I probably won't want you, Potter, if I got you. I'm not good enough for you-- you'd never want me-- so if I had you, I suppose that means your hands are just as dirty as mine-- and that bores me to no end, Potter. Everyone's hands are dirty-- everyone I've ever seen. Not the Boy Who Lived, oh no, he's going to save us from ourselves. Ha. Those fools. What do they know? Even if you saved them, they'd just fall prey to their perversions all over again.

I watch you, I taunt you, I needle you and ignore you and do my best to make your life the same living hell you make mine, but it's not working, is it? You have your precious Mudblood and that freak boy. The teachers dote on you, everybody's hero. You're the Dark Lord's number one annoyance. And I suppose for you, I'm less than that-- some sort of lesser annoyance, best not thought of. Who am I kidding. I'm such a fool, I can't even fool myself properly. All I want is for you to feel this too. I'd pretty much hand myself over to you on a silver platter, just like everybody else. Here, take me, Potter. What? You haven't noticed? Well, I'm offering. I -have- been offering, so long now, that if you took me now I think I might just cry. Yes I'm kidding, ha, that was a good one wasn't it? I hate you, after all. There are no limits to what I'd say to fuck with your mind. Or do. I might even fuck you. Careful, now.

*laughs herself silly* ;)

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

I like it! Well, the sweet valentine line is definitely going overboard. But I really did like it!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

maybe there isn't an easy way to make psychotic angst sit well with me in terms of realism, just because of its inherent melodrama. but it seems way too self-aware to me now. isn't he supposed to be more in self-denial that that? and why are his inner thoughts all pretty and poetic and rhythmical? on the other hand, this isn't uncommon. but, this isn't a draco for longfic. it's the draco for a short vignette where someone dies or throws themselves off astronomy tower while screaming their lover's name. or something ^^;

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

True, it couldn't be sustained for a longfic. And the last paragraph is probably too self-aware. But I think he could be perfectly well aware of what he wants to do to Harry.