~~why spoon-feeding is the cardinal writer's sin (today). heh.

i heard many good things about "mirror of maybe", a harry/snape fic. i was told that even people who didn't like harry/snape and thought it was unlikely, liked this, because it was just -so- well-written. so i browsed it. and seeing it, made me come back to a niggling question i've had at the back of my mind for several days now.

there's nothing more off-putting in an otherwise decent piece of writing than being told everything. i realize people like it because it makes everything clear, but i find it's almost anathema to what i consider art. it's not a question of cliche, really. it's when i'm told, in minute detail, what to think and what to feel. i'm given what is on a silver platter and expected to just-- swallow it.

i'm not talking about the large scale-- fics that start off saying something like, "it was a thursday, and draco realized he hated the smell of pansy's perfume, thus he must have secretly loved harry from day one." although in "mirror of maybe", you definitely get that too. it's just-- everything. i try to resist saying there are rules, or patterns to follow. mostly because there'd be no point. still, it would be good if but isn't it obvious that you're not doing so good if you find yourself writing things like, "and their kiss was splendid." or, "it was the best night of his life". there are much more subtle and insiduous ways to do stuff like that, too.
    for instance, you could go and describe something down to the minutest detail, step by step, just to make some moral/psychological point at the end of it. and i don't mean at the very end of the story. no, i mean stories where everything seems to come down to a point. virtually all the time with a single scene. you're given the significance of what's happening, down to the character's most minute actions. and not only are you told this, but you're told in the most direct and simple phrasing possible.

( more pointless rambling ahead... )

~~

in other news.
I AM DEAD~!!!
( *weeps*. i found the most glorious watercolor hp artist. -and she doesn't draw harry/draco-! oh, woe. )

but, this sort of makes up for it. mmmmm, boys with swords (and, yes, i still want that fic). and, eeeee! he's so tragically misunderstood, hee!

also. as far as fanfic. venenatus.venustas is ok. i mean. you know. better than some, worse than others ^^

EDIT - eeeee~! isn't it sad, that my happiest thought at the moment involves getting a draco plushie for my harry plushie, because then i could make them cuddle together under a blankie!! ahahaha. yes. sad. i blame `clear' and all sleepy-cuddling fics everywhere ;p

~~i'm on a roll. with ketchup!

did i actually make sense? i mean... it would be really silly if my last post came out seeming like i was against detail and exposition and insight into characters. but well-- there's some basic difference between detail and insight in terms of storytelling and in terms of a literary essay, isn't there? in an essay, you state things and make them clear, and hopefully you do the same in a story, but there's some sort of inherent difference in terms of how you do it, isn't there?
    i am always paranoid that i'm not clear, that i will be misunderstood. this isn't because i'm a silly goose. i -am- very often misunderstood, and i hate that. i hate being confused as much as the next person. on the other hand, there's a whole range there, isn't there? that's why we have things like symbols, actions, dialogue, metaphor, contrast, subtext, unresolved sexual tension, suspense. etc etc. bleh. i'm just saying the obvious, but not being obvious about it, which sucks. anyway.
~~

( here i go on about my usual pet-peeve which involves doom, pretty boys, and that ever-elusive thing called `normalcy', which i try to avoid thinking about. )