~~baby-steps, they say.
Apr. 18th, 2003 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkai 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.
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.
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no subject
Date: 2003-04-18 07:27 pm (UTC)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 -.-
no subject
Date: 2003-04-18 07:38 pm (UTC)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!
no subject
Date: 2003-04-18 07:48 pm (UTC)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* ;)
no subject
Date: 2003-04-18 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-18 08:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-18 08:57 pm (UTC)