~~ tell the truth, but tell it slant.

[reenka]

First of all, this `very important announcement': I am updating links on my recs page and omg. Trin's fanfic reminds me of all the joy I've been forgetting a bit. Every single one. Wah. No serious plotty epics for me, no sir. Gimme the weird, the quirky, the insane, the gorgeous and the deeply unbalanced (but in a brilliant way). Guh. Fiction like a candy-drug-- melting in your mouth, not in your hand. I'm trying to think of "epics I have loved" in general, and am drawing a blank. I like small stories-- tight-knit focus, intense emotion, feverish madness, deep as nightmare and sharp as a knife. The long stories, you can wander in, get lost in-- but for me, that isn't fanfiction, that is a whole new world reinvented. Maybe that's it. In fanfiction, epics get repetitive, plot-devices overused, emotion diluted and momentum lost. If it takes me 25-fucking-chapters to get to a goddamn H/D kiss-- no thank you, goodnight. Hell, I don't even want 15 chapters, though that depends how much UST there is. No, seriously, I have no patience for so-called fanfic-world-building and painstaking characterization efforts. If a ficlet can make me feel the insides of a person in one page, one can -definitely- do it in 10 or whatever the length of a chapter is. Character development is great if you give me some -other- reason to read. I'm a picky biatch with a fickle attention span, what can I say. Being jaded isn't all it's cracked up to be.

In that spirit, a general review-disclaimer:


Sometimes (not often), I just feel so awfully old and jaded about writing (well, fanfic). I've never had tolerance for what I saw as "bad writing" in original fic either (say, Piers Anthony, gack), but for awhile my lust for moremoremore H/D slash overwhelmed any desire to outright reject fics beccause they didn't work for me on some particular issue. I suppose that was the honeymoon period.

spare_change said people's joy in fic seems to have leeched away, and I dunno about other people, I just know about me: I still adore a number of fics, even plebey ones. I have my happy-buttons like everyone else, and if you push them, I will squeal. The problem is, my happy-buttons have remained stable in quantity while my "yuck!" buttons keep multiplying. I don't mean squick, because few pairings or scenarios disgust me on a squick level. I mean fics which automatically am unable to enjoy because of that one particular thing in the fic, regardless of its other attributes-- unless it's very well-written stylistically, but even then-- it's hard to suspend your disbelief when you're constantly reminded of that one thing as you read.

I've seen people protest that these yuck-buttons are offensive if you act as if they're objective measures by using the discourse of "good" vs. "bad" writing or characterization. But the boundary between objective and subjective judgement is very blurry in lit-crit of any sort, it seems to me. I can only say what I think (and even that fluctuates in levels of coherency), whatever the source. If I can't dig it, that's all I know-- not whether I have a -right- to feel this way if I were to project it through some hypothetical objectivity filter, if that even exists.

I seem to upset some people with the confident way I proclaim my opinions, but I don't write in a premeditated manner-- I say it as it comes to me. By default, nothing I say should be taken as "truth", anyway. If I pass judgement, it remains in every case to be "for my purposes only". I can't control people's reactions to my thoughts and I can't control my thoughts-- all I -can- control is their transmission. And I'm too lazy and ultimately self-enclosed to even remember I -have- an audience half the time (the other half, I just wibble because mostly it's silent).

So. Blanket disclaimer-- nothing I say about fic, mine or yours or anyone's, should be taken as truth or as relevant to anyone but me. I ultimately don't -mean- anything as far as actions. I am just writing it to express myself, unless it's a recommendation, in which case I'm trying to give a head's up to people who've found they have similar pre-existing tastes to mine. And yes, I do believe I'm usually right, but that's a human failing that's both rather common and hard to overcome. So bear with me.

I've just bothered several people recently with opinions on fic, and here goes another one, so I had to make sure it's got a proper context this time.
~~

A list of my positive biases in HP fanfic (to the best of my knowledge) would be as follows:


- 1) Lyricism-- coupled with simplicity in prose-- highly imagistic is preferred.

- 2) Authenticity of Voice-- i.e., does this intuitively sound like the POV character. This will make or break an increasing number of fanfics for me. I don't care what they do as much as I care how they think about/through what they do.

    This is bumped up to (1) in importance if yuck-button in characterization is pushed.

    2a) Characterization biases (this makes me think of spare_change's idea of `emotional territory', because there are definitely repeating themes-- I like the kids snarky, angry, deranged, obsessed, in lust-love and awkward. Hmmmm... projecting much, Reena? Oh yeah, prolly, heh.)

- Harry & Draco biases: obsessive!Draco (a variant being obsessed-with-Harry!Draco); angry!Harry; brattish immature!Draco; unreasonable!Harry; insane!Draco (or Harry, sometimes); forceful!Harry; loser!Draco; hateful-but-loving!Harry; hateful!Draco; snarky!Draco; snarkier!Harry; doofus!Harry (or Draco); clueless-moron!Harry (or Draco); emotionally repressed!Harry; out of control!Harry (and Draco); virgin!Harry; happily nasty!Draco; passionate yet asexual!Harry (and/or Draco, hee).

- Ron biases: doofus!Ron; loyal!Ron; silly!Ron; jaded!Ron; snarky!Ron; put-upon!Ron; crazed!Ron (you'll see I like 'em all that way); smitten!Ron.

- Hermione biases: sensible!Hermione; smirky!Hermione; overwhelmed!Hermione; loyal!Hermione; ingenious-obsessive-planner!Hermione; same old!Hermione, basically. Er, but she has a crush on Ron in my head. Not Harry. At all. In any universe (in my head!).

- Various character biases: Nasty-evil-pompous-insufferable-deluded doofus!Lucius ('nuff said-- I don't like 'im); wise yet human!Dumbledore.

- Snape biases: Bitter and ugly!Snape; really can't let go!Snape; asexual!Snape; greasy bastard!Snape; amoral yet cautious!Snape; not in lust with Lucius or anyone, okay!Snape. Possibly, masturbates-with-snake-stick!Snape (I'm open to possibilities, yeah?) Or possibly a-huge-repressed-pervert-who-watches-boys-nekkid!Snape is okay. Mind the repressed, and the severely-in-denial and the severely-fucked-up, there. For reference, read Rube's `Garish', heh. 'Tis my idea of what Snape's sex-drive would be like, eheheheh. If he had one. I suppose he does, sad little man that he is. (Hey, I like 'im, I do. No, really.)

Also, in no place in my head is there room in Snape's heart for Harry, though I can see a sort of wary (re?)conciliation after which point both would move on & not talk to each other much. Harry does not, cannot, will not ever-ever-ever consider him sexy "just like that". I'd bet even his lovers didn't think he was sexy (and if they said it, he'd have thought they were lying-- his self-esteem doesn't seem to be the best). In my head, he only fucks in the dark. I picture him as masochistic and a really forceful bottom if he ever had gay sex (or any sex! heeeee!) which he doesn't (in my head). In fact, one of my issues with H/S, come to think of it, is that Snape nearly always tops in fic. I mean, yeah, he wouldn't let Harry top him, but that just means he wouldn't fuck Harry in the first place, heh. In my head(!!)

- 3) Various scenario biases-- lumped together last.
    romanticism, passion, creative magic-use, adventure/suspense plot, setting (Hogwarts or pre-Hogwarts, AU, whatever), kink.
    3a) Sexual kink biases in HP fic are: [highlight below if you really want to know]
...
wanking, voyeurism, angry sex, first-time, frottage, telepathic/magically-enhanced sex, rough quickies, up-against-a-wall, shower sex (hmm, also rain), helpless-bottom fic, public handjobs/blowjobs/etc, bad sex, light wrist-restraint maybe., spontaneous orgasms.

    3b) Current scenario biases are: in Hogwarts, 6th year, post-OoTP, smutty romantic-but-dark-with-humor. Heh.
~~

That said.

On to the fic I wanted to mention (finally!!)

    cupiscent's `Surface' isn't working for me. I mean, the writing (my number one kink, so to speak) is brilliant, but no. It's almost like a textbook case of a fic tailor-made not to do it for me, even though it was all unsentimental and well-told and yet.

It pushed not one but two-- a double-whammy of my multiplying yuck-buttons. For one, the Draco is extremely emotionally distant, of the icy breed. Harry is the one who's supposed to want him, which -totally- doesn't work for me, especially when combined with #2: the too-aware voice. Draco doesn't know -everything-, yes, but he knows all sorts of things he shouldn't-- and he acts on them. He's so manipulative that he puts fanon!Lucius to shame, contrasted with a Harry who basically has no chance against him, almost completely within Draco's power. (Will-less!Harry-- another pet peeve.) This could never work for me, ever. I don't care if you're a genius writer, I won't buy it, not in Hogwarts sixth or seventh year.

    One of the things I really dig in a fic above all else is a voice that stays true to being limited to its intended range of awareness. This is what JKR does so well in the books, almost too well, one might say-- Harry perceives, but with a slant. He is not wise or extremely reliable in his perceptiveness. He is bound up by his emotions. He is often -wrong-, most importantly. And it's not a matter of miscalculation, like with this Draco. It's a matter of complete inability to see outside his blinders unless forced to. And I -like- that about him, thankyouverymuch.


And I realized that in general, I have a huge bias towards these not-so-perceptive narrators. They feel real-- they feel -human- to me. I myself always perceive on a somewhat higher-than-average level as far as I can tell, and as a writer and ultimately the narrator, I am very conscious of the risk of filtering my own voice through the characters too blatantly. I'm just very sensitized to that.

I also happen to think that this high level of perceptiveness is hugely OOC for Draco (or Harry for that matter). It is possibly among my top 3 yuck-buttons in his characterization, somewhat related to the others because of their strong too-good-to-be-true feel (I never like fics that lie to me, which is what a too-good-to-be-true characterization fantasy basically is. I suppose this might be related to my issue with forced-feeling smutfic. Like, if you had to force it to happen, plot-wise or smut-wise or characterization-wise, most likely it'll translate as fake-sounding to me anyway. But what do I know. Which is why I dislike the idea of inscribing my own kinks onto characters that don't support them easily-- like writing sophisticated kinky sex for 16 year-old boys is a no-thank-you because if I can't see it happening, I don't find it hot. This is a problem in fanfic 'cause I just don't -care- about the sex-life of anyone outside my OTPs, and Sirius/Remus is only hot in `Drawing Down the Moon'. Thus I remain mired in fumbling angry handjobs. But hey, I dig it)

The other 2 huge yuck-buttons for me with Draco are emotional sensitivity (I think he -is-, but not in an empathic, emotionally-intelligent way) and ice-princehood, which is basically that certain sort of fanon which proclaims Draco is Spock Jr. for no apparent archetypally-based reason I can extrapolate instinctively (though I know there are reasons for these characterizations-- all of them).
    Regardless, combining sexually-savvy ice-prince!Draco and coldly-perceptive-thinker!Draco in one fic like with `Surface' is just the knell of doom, basically. I think all in all, it was actually a good show for a certain sort of fanon!Draco, but much as I love a few of his fanon incarnations (heeee *cuddles baby UL!Draco-kins*)... ahem... I hate the rest of them. Or rather, they leave me cold. I mean, why -should- I care? He's so sadly... boring. And perfectly doomed. And angstily boring. Why the bloody fuck does Harry want him, again?

So yeah, a Draco who's basically -right- about Harry rings so false to me as to be a deafening bell of wrongness. Only Hermione or Dumbledore or Remus would be so perceptive, and each would also have very strong slants to their vision of him. To have Draco simply wake up and be an adult who transcends petty tantrums "just like that" enough to see Harry in a revelatory light in a complete yuck-button to me. -And- I believe it's just plain OOC in a way I can't abide with. This over-perceptiveness is a very, very common lapse in many writers' characterizations of many characters, but that doesn't make it hurt my sensibilities less-- it just sensitizes me, actually.

I -want- characters to be wrong. It's... fun. I creates dramatic suspense. It's true-to-life. And in the overwhelming majority of cases, it will make for a better story as far as I can tell, no matter how intrinsic it seems to the whole structure of the plot as it stands. (And in `Surface', Draco's cold-calculatingness is pretty damn intrinsic).
    And while `Surface' has that lyrical spare style I adore, and I recced and loved cupiscent's other, post-Hogwarts story, this doesn't work for me at all-- not if it's set in Hogwarts. Not with no intervening experiences to allow Draco to grow up, basically. No amount of angst or H/D or good writing is enough for me to believe in this Draco anymore, and I'm not sad at all. I'm glad.

My unreasoning infatuation with H/D fic (not equivalent to H/D) may be dimming, but this is basically just me being true to myself, biases and all. There's a wide world out there, beyond fanfic, after all, and mere addiction to H/D porn isn't going to keep me away from it forever. So yeah. NaNoWriMo, man.

Comments

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I was kind of thinking about something related to this last night...about imperfect characters who are wrong. Hmmm...think I may have to work this out in my lj.

But anyway, yes, I think it's normal to start aquiring more and more turn-offs while your happy buttons stay more or less the same. In the beginning you're just so glad to see Harry and Draco together you read all you can. Then think start to get familiar. You realize wait, those stories that don't stay with me or end up annoying me do this and this and this so I don't want to read any further. Yesterday I started to read "True Faith" and stopped quickly because it hit something for me like that.

The thing with fanfic is that you really don't read it like you read non-fanfic. You're reading it looking for something. You've got canon for the "story," but then you want to see things opened out or explored. There's just no reason to stick with a story that's exploring the very attitudes or ideas you'd want to get away from in canon or in life.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

And, if you're me or thousands of other *slashers* (as opposed to people who are into the source text and like slashing it), at some point you may move onto a new playing field and get to rediscover all of *its* kinks and cliches and quirks and stuff...

Though, often people will bring their particular kinks with them; e.g., I didn't have to read a single hp rushlight story to know exactly what i would be getting, b/c i'd read her stuff in other fandoms (and hp proved true to form :-)

But that just gets me to my favorite theory about slash being like a drug and every new fandom briefly simulates that first big high but never reaches it completely...and we forever chase it *g*

As for fics...we're on totally opposite spectrums...while I very much appreciate the short and hard and fast little fic that cuts you up inside, I do like the chapters of unresolved or even resolved tension...but I agree that your taste gets more discriminating along the way, and I think that's not a bad thing...

Amazing how you can so clearly analyze what does and doesn't work for you...I'm usually more able to talk about a particular fic, but I don't think I've read enough in hp to have large-scale hatreds (unless they are utterly and completely ooc or it's marauder fic)...

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I can't decide whether I'm a slasher or not. I mean, I -am-, I just don't know if this fanfic-reading thing is a phase or not. I dunno. I've read Star Trek commercial novels and Star Wars novels before I knew about non-commercial fanfic or went online, but. That burnt out after a couple of years. So I think maybe I'll come back to it off and on, but in general it's HP that's grabbed me, even though slash is a drug-- it's just I have so -many- drugs o_0

I mean, I haven't been watching enough anime or reading enough comics or fantasy novels or whatnot lately-- it's all been slashslashslashslash. Even though I may change the fandom I'm reading it, it's not enough-- few fandoms really -do it- for me like HP, anyway. I -enjoyed- SW:TPM and even Voyager and Gundam Wing and Highlander, but on a light, several-months-tops sort of way. It burns out too quickly and there are just not enough fandoms out there and I'm too picky in terms of what dynamic I want for my slash couple. It's weird, 'cause I'm such a sucker for so many kinds of het pairings in movies & books, but because I tend to operate via OTPs in fanfic for some reason (because the pairing -can- be repeated so I -want- it to be), it really limits the possibilities.

And even if emotionally, I could dig a lot of fandoms, most of their environment isn't my thing, not in Western fandom. I like fantasy settings & anime-shoujo-High-School-type stuff (which is really badly fanficced when it is). I sometimes dig a setting (like Buffy) but cannot imagine getting into the fanfic because it's just so -complete- somehow, and I just think the source material is so highly satisfactory. I -do- want to read Really Really Good post-season-7 Spuffy but I won't because it just won't be Good Enough, somehow. I dunno how I know that. Also, a lot of these shows (Buffy, X-Files) that I've watched when they came out, I am too attached to the canon pairings & the canon itself to read -any- fanfic, really. With Star Trek, I never really watched canon much for the original-- I just read the novels. With ST:TNG and DS9, I -did- watch canon so I didn't read any novels or fic. But anyway, yeah. I see my days as being numbered ^^;

I do like chaptered fics and character-based tension-- which isn't the same as epics~:)
Epics are plotty-- not as character-tension driven-- have lots of set-up and world-building and extra characters and complications and blahblah who cares. I don't wanna read about Dean and Sirius and Dumbledore and Hermione and Parvati too, but that's what happens with real epics. Sigh.
I think Olympia's `Shining Prince' series is just short of an epic, btw. So is Ivy's Cicatrix series. They've very very character driven rather than plot driven, which just makes them long versions of fast emotional stylistic fics. I dunno. It's just how they write, I think.

I can analyze what works & doesn't work for me in lots of areas. Plus I'm obsessed with lists & analyzing myself. Hee. And I've read waaaaaaaaay too much H/D by now. Waaaaaayyyyyy too much. I can't even comprehend how much I've read of it. It's scary, man.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

I hate lj...I actually just went back through my flist trying to remember where I commented all day...otherwise I'd never have seen your response...

See, I define "slasher" as someone who is in it for the slash before the source text (and that's my own idiosyncratic definition; I'm sure many others feel very differently). That doesn't mean I don't like the source text, but it means I don't have to...in fact, as a reader, I can read the slash *before* seeing the show etc. (though if I were to write, I'd certainly get my canon straight...in fact, maybe part of my problem with writing is that I have never feel invested enough in any particular fandom after Buffy where I went from show to slash but am too much of a canon whore to just ignore canon.)

You don't seem to like older guys, so most of the cop shows are out...and I guess I won't even try to drag you into my sparkly world, right??? *bg* (though they're the right age...just not in high school :-)

I think I see where you're going with the differentiation between epic and long character driven fics...I like both! I like the world building, though it often deteriorates into body fics, but I have a special place in my heart for very, very long character driven stories...I mean hundreds of pages of angsting and I'm there :-)

Not that I don't like plot, but I'm more concerned with the emotional repercussions of a battle than the blow-by-blow for pages...

I actually do like the side characters, though, but then I read just about any pairing, so I do like large casts...

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Heh. Funny thing is, I -do- stick with these bad fics, unless they're -really- bad and they -really- piss me off (like `All Torn Down'-- for some reason I can't even imagine finishing that, like -ever-). I dunno if I start off knowing what I want from a particular fic-- though I always have what I want in general in the background. But yes... though I don't drop stories all that much. Sigh. I should, I think.
It's funny that so many things do work for me, considering how many turn-off's I have -.-