~~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 10:36 pm (UTC)am actually taking a break from penning PoL20 right now and... the first 8 chapters make me twitch. i mean, there's a lot of good stuff there, too, but- yeah. i was definitely still finding my way then. once i'm done with PoL i'm very tempted to go back and heavily edit the first eight chapters.
it also depends on the writer, though, i think. if it's someone who has been writing for a while then they are going to be more comfortable in their work. but if they are expanding their repertoire or experimenting or just plain beginning then there's a lot of room for growth.
oh, and, erm, if you were online in the past two days i've sort of not been online much at all and a bit down and avoiding things, so sorry if i missed you on chat.
:hugs and apologizes:
no subject
Date: 2003-04-18 10:49 pm (UTC)dunna worry, i do wanna see you, but. i mean. i wasn't about to hound you to edit me or anything. hee!
although i'm getting a buzz off of my "h+d save the wooorld" fic, so i might make you look at it before it's done. but i mean, not unless you want to :D
i know what avoiding things is like. i do it almost every second of every day. *laughs*
and i mean-- there are almost always -some- good things, just 'cause it's hard to write -total- crap. *laughs* and the reason i hadn't edited it -before- was 'cause i was like, "heeyyy, this isn't badly written". but now, i can look back on it and say, "but that doesn't matter, because this is soooo not draco malfoy", and that's that.
i mean, usually you write the stuff you write for a -reason-. it's just later, the reason isn't as important as is overall usefulness to what you're trying to say.
although i personally miss the tone of the initial bunch of chapters, back when i thought it was a fun fic about veela and flying hippos. or something like that. *laughs* okay, so it changed pretty quick. that scene in the changing rooms is -still- traumatic to remember. i lost my innocence then, i think. never have i felt so "meep!!"-like about a fic. i was all, "WAH, LOVE IS CRUEL", and stuff.
such fond memories of the flying sheets and the large animals. (i totally don't remember which large animal anymore). and then we entered the twilight zone.... *ominous music*... *draco's eyes start to glow red*... *blaise starts following them around and the walls start to melt*....*DEATH AND DESTRUCTION FOLLOW*
ahem -.-
no subject
Date: 2003-04-19 12:10 am (UTC)no, sure, i'd love to look at it. =^-^=
well, the initial chapters.... were lead up. and if you reread chapter two it is honestly quite dark, especially in how blaise acts. er. yes. reading dissection reports as bedtime stories? :personally thinks that's creepy:
and yeah, chapter eight signals the true switch, though it was building up to that bit by bit. ^~
heheheh, but i -did- label it as darkfic from the very beginning, remember. :snuggles the plot:
:cuddles death and destruction:
heh. and you think love is cruel now? :cackles evilly:
yeah. so. would like to edit, not for the feeling, because the sudden descent into madness is intentional, but for other stuff. yeah.
only thing i'm requiring of you is that if you still want your chapter dedication you have to be caught up on PoL by the time the chapter is released. if not i might have to rethink dedicating it. ^~
problem being, i'm not going to tell you when it shall be.... :evil grin:
:goes back to writing death and destruction:
no subject
Date: 2003-04-19 12:25 am (UTC)soooo. i'm getting this feeeeling like...
you want me to read ur fik >:D<
*bounces* it's just an intuition :D
hee. i'll see what i can do about that ;)
wouldn't want the fluffy-bunny chapter of lurve to go undedicated. ahahah. moi, that fluffy!pol!h/d shipper >:D<
oh and yes, they save the world...er... well. yes, it has magic in it :D
and like, spells. and stuff. shocking for me, i know.
it was alice's pic for armchair, with the circle and the flames and the wands.
mmmm, wands rubbing together in the witchlight.
'tis good~:)
no subject
Date: 2003-04-19 02:11 am (UTC)you want me to read ur fik >:D<
:laughs: well yes, there is that. but the chapter's not going to be published for a while yet. and i do mean a while. so take your time. ;)
but it is something you should know, since the dedication itself would be a spoiler, especially if you're not up to date. and you know how i can feel about those, so... =^-^=
lol, saving the world, huh? speaking of fics, though, how's that narcissa piece coming? since, you know, you haven't put that one out yet?
:hint hint:
no subject
Date: 2003-04-19 09:13 am (UTC)i've been all distracted by actually writing a bit for the longfic. but i guess, just as with the other one, any narcissism in my writing is likely to be premature at best, so. *laughs* i'm so impatient. i'll just post it to you (even though it's in bits and pieces, you can understand the general idea, which is what i'm interested in). wah! i want someone to know! *giggles*
but yes. narcissa, yes~:)