~~wip's, pet-peeves, random twitchings.
Dec. 12th, 2002 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkai shouldn't really be so prejudiced against the simple phrase "raven-haired teenager". i mean, there's nothing wrong with it. is there? is there?? i mean, objectively. is there something wrong with it if it wasn't so ... commonly used? but i... i'm incapable of liking a piece of writing that has such florid description of eyes and hair. especially if you refer to someone as the "adjective adjective" teenager. that just really makes me want to rip something. hard.
also, why should the word "talented" make me want to throw up? it's a perfectly normal word. not even all that flowery. but, `talented dream lover' is enough to make me cry. in that -bad- way. lots of people use it-- talented mouth, talented fingers, talented extremities of various sorts. i want to write a sentence where someone uses their `talented nose' to sniff out the tiny dop of poison on someone's coffee, and grabs it from them, spilling some on their crotch, screaming, nooooooo! you can't drink that! my talented nose has detected danger! danger, will robinson, -danger-!!.
i hate stupid flowery descriptors, or stupid formulaic blunt description with a florid, loud, disturbing passion. in my own writing, it even works against me, because i tend to say `he' and `she' a -lot-, trying to avoid describing people (because saying people's names over and over again bothers me too, though it's fine, really. yes. you can say their names, -really-). but anyway. wasn't meaning to say that, just came out as i growled and bared my teeth at one particular story. misuse of english is a sad, sad thing. it makes me cry. very sad. if i taught english at a pre-college level i think i'd actually kill someone within a month.
er. on a completely unrelated note, one of the things that really annoy me about harry/snape stories (and thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
silviakundera's recs, i'll soon know waaaay too much about them, the way things are going), is the way they casually reference harry's formerly having a `fling' or crush on malfoy. i mean. please. why do they have to -torture- poor intrepid h/d-ers like this?? i mean. i'm trying to pretend draco doesn't exist, here, and they aren't helping. dammit. you don't just -casually- refer to harry giving draco malfoy a blowjob in his sixth year, as if it's something that goes away by seventh year. sort of like, it's not like you have a `fling' with -snape- in h/d stories, and get over it by seventh year. of course, this happens all the time in regards to girls, in slash fics. "oh yah, i used to date so-and-so for a few months, nothing special". grrr. this is -harry-. jeez. he doesn't just have a fling with draco malfoy, and then get obsessed with snape the next year. please. of course, what am i saying, harry's a flaming mary sue in most harry/snape fics i've read, anyway.
still, if it's laughable to have harry suddenly notice how arousing -draco's- sneer is, unless it's a total satire and doesn't take itself seriously at -all-, it's just as laughable to do that with snape.
see? see? i -try- to read outside my otp, and it's just. not. working. it seems -ridiculous- to me. of course, harry/snape is a particularly unrealistic pairing. on the other hand, the only other person to slash harry with is ron. and ron loves hermione, ahahahah. although it's annoying how harry/snape fics pair ron off with hermione just like harry/draco fics do-- desultorily. just to get them out of the way. and -please-. the idea of the kind of reactions ron and hermione would have to harry wanting snape??!! i don't even want to -think- about it. they'd think he'd gone insane, and they'd be right. ew. like a bad dream.
and why is this the second harry/snape story where you see malfoy being called more attractive than snape-- this time by ron. ron. *shudder*. ron. you'd -never- get away with this in a h/d story. never. never. never. not even compared to snape. malfoy is. not. the posterboy. for pretty slytherins. not. not. not to ron.
anyway. was thinking, initially, of thevanityfair's most recent entry speculating on the who/why/what re: The Kiss in the Trilogy. and i realized that this actually relates to the eternal conundrum of `to wip or not to wip'. since DV is a work in progress, and this wouldn't come up if we could just read it all at once. i was imagining being able to just turn the page and within 15 minutes, i'd know the answer.
this would make for a totally different experience, needless to say. but that's the keyword: different. i mean, it's maddening and brain-frazzling, trying to figure out whether it was draco who kissed harry or some impostor. but-- it has its own sort of excitement about it. you interact with the story more, you think about it, you analyze it, you try to solve it like a puzzle, day after day-- none of this would be going on, as much, if you were 10 (or even 100) pages away from the solution.
now, this is a particular kind of story-- ie, it's a mystery. with a humorfic, or a straight darkfic or romance, things are different. there is suspence, and angst, but you can't really -solve- it, most times, it doesn't really yield to thinking about in an analytical way as much. with `irresistible poison', there's really nothing in the way of excitement to be gained by waiting for it, and i would say it really -should- be read all at once. because it all hinges on emotional elements rather than plot elements, and even though we know the characters, we don't know them well enough to really guess which way they're likely to go if they interacted, in the end. with DV!harry & draco, we can actually -predict- with some accuracy, how harry & draco would act, and it's mostly a question of -plot-, as to what happens. because we -know- they love each other, and it's just a question of whether they realize it as well as stay alive.
antenora's `the losing side' is another story that does well being serialized. it also revolves around plot-based elements and mysteries, although there isn't really anything to `solve' that one can deduct very easily, mostly.
my approximate guess would be to say that `love under will' probably would do better -not- being serialized, but mostly only because i think it would be a more impressive work if one could see it from a distance, because it attempts large, broad-ranging themes that would become clearer the more it unfolds. on the other hand, stories like `underwater light' do well in installments, because the focus is mostly on the characterization, and slow-and-steady growth, so that you get things evolving steadily and incrementally, and the pleasure remains, even if you break it into smaller pieces.
i was just thinking about my tendency to want to read my comicbooks in trade-paperback format, one story-arc all at once. that is my -preference-, but i do enjoy getting one comic a month-- my only quibble is that usually they aren't very dense (this is much, much worse with manga). i prefer a large dose of story, if i'm getting only a piece. i want it to be a good, large piece, heh.
so it's not that i want a whole -arc-. i -would- prefer a mini-arc, per comic. which is what the most successfully serialized fics also end up doing-- you have a small arc per chapter, something that has a wholeness within itself, as well as a definite place within the overall story.
i think reading the Trilogy all at once, beginning to end, you'd actually -miss out- on some of the experience, some of the fun of it. it's like a sitcom by now, really. you sort of tune in for the bimonthly or monthly episode. and tv series vary in terms of how totally linear and dependent on one another they are, too. one series, you should watch every episode, and maybe even just tape them and then watch them all at once. some series, you can miss some-- some you can miss a half of. it depends.
personally, when i was writing my wip, i couldn't release it because i kept going back and having to revise after i wrote something. it was completely in flux. it's -still- completely in flux. but if you -know- what your plot is, and you know exactly what you're saying, i definitely think you can make each chapter be full of hints and foreshadowing and things that have nothing to do with plot, that you can appreciate for the beauty or the humor aspect.
and as i mentioned, suspense can be a fun thing. especially if you keep to some sort of schedule in your installments, and it's not like you keep your readers waiting-- and waiting-- and waiting. eventually, if one waits long enough, your interest and need for the story goes into hibernation-- sort of like with `real' writers, who take years between books (sometimes a decade or more). i mean, i could've -adored- a certain book, and -really- wanted that sequel-- but you know what? 10 years later, and i can't be bothered. so it goes. i don't know if i'll even read the third installment in mercedes lackey and andre norton's brilliant halfblood chronicles.
anyway. this didn't turn out to be an unexpected `yeay' for wip's, but i thought it was interesting that i found something -good- about them. they don't -have- to be a necessary evil. sometimes spacing things out increases our desire and gives us more pleasure, heh. mysteries especially, and probably the least with romances.
though maybe not. all those soap operas must be on to something -.-
~~
and of course, some fanart:
katho posted this on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
hpart saying that it's harry & draco and they don't look gay. *laughs* which i must disagree with. they -so- look like they're in the midst of foreplay. of course, try and draw me a picture of them and have me -not- say that :D they're -always- in the midst of foreplay :D ahahahahah
wootsauce linked to this loffly `season in hell' fanart on cassie's journal. *swoon* harry is beautiful in this one. *sigh*
and yes, i haven't gotten to my feedback today, but i will tomorrow. or the day after. you know how it is. but i haven't forgotten about you or you or you or you, or you for that matter.
also, why should the word "talented" make me want to throw up? it's a perfectly normal word. not even all that flowery. but, `talented dream lover' is enough to make me cry. in that -bad- way. lots of people use it-- talented mouth, talented fingers, talented extremities of various sorts. i want to write a sentence where someone uses their `talented nose' to sniff out the tiny dop of poison on someone's coffee, and grabs it from them, spilling some on their crotch, screaming, nooooooo! you can't drink that! my talented nose has detected danger! danger, will robinson, -danger-!!.
i hate stupid flowery descriptors, or stupid formulaic blunt description with a florid, loud, disturbing passion. in my own writing, it even works against me, because i tend to say `he' and `she' a -lot-, trying to avoid describing people (because saying people's names over and over again bothers me too, though it's fine, really. yes. you can say their names, -really-). but anyway. wasn't meaning to say that, just came out as i growled and bared my teeth at one particular story. misuse of english is a sad, sad thing. it makes me cry. very sad. if i taught english at a pre-college level i think i'd actually kill someone within a month.
er. on a completely unrelated note, one of the things that really annoy me about harry/snape stories (and thanks to
silviakundera's recs, i'll soon know waaaay too much about them, the way things are going), is the way they casually reference harry's formerly having a `fling' or crush on malfoy. i mean. please. why do they have to -torture- poor intrepid h/d-ers like this?? i mean. i'm trying to pretend draco doesn't exist, here, and they aren't helping. dammit. you don't just -casually- refer to harry giving draco malfoy a blowjob in his sixth year, as if it's something that goes away by seventh year. sort of like, it's not like you have a `fling' with -snape- in h/d stories, and get over it by seventh year. of course, this happens all the time in regards to girls, in slash fics. "oh yah, i used to date so-and-so for a few months, nothing special". grrr. this is -harry-. jeez. he doesn't just have a fling with draco malfoy, and then get obsessed with snape the next year. please. of course, what am i saying, harry's a flaming mary sue in most harry/snape fics i've read, anyway.still, if it's laughable to have harry suddenly notice how arousing -draco's- sneer is, unless it's a total satire and doesn't take itself seriously at -all-, it's just as laughable to do that with snape.
see? see? i -try- to read outside my otp, and it's just. not. working. it seems -ridiculous- to me. of course, harry/snape is a particularly unrealistic pairing. on the other hand, the only other person to slash harry with is ron. and ron loves hermione, ahahahah. although it's annoying how harry/snape fics pair ron off with hermione just like harry/draco fics do-- desultorily. just to get them out of the way. and -please-. the idea of the kind of reactions ron and hermione would have to harry wanting snape??!! i don't even want to -think- about it. they'd think he'd gone insane, and they'd be right. ew. like a bad dream.
and why is this the second harry/snape story where you see malfoy being called more attractive than snape-- this time by ron. ron. *shudder*. ron. you'd -never- get away with this in a h/d story. never. never. never. not even compared to snape. malfoy is. not. the posterboy. for pretty slytherins. not. not. not to ron.
anyway. was thinking, initially, of the
vanityfair's most recent entry speculating on the who/why/what re: The Kiss in the Trilogy. and i realized that this actually relates to the eternal conundrum of `to wip or not to wip'. since DV is a work in progress, and this wouldn't come up if we could just read it all at once. i was imagining being able to just turn the page and within 15 minutes, i'd know the answer.this would make for a totally different experience, needless to say. but that's the keyword: different. i mean, it's maddening and brain-frazzling, trying to figure out whether it was draco who kissed harry or some impostor. but-- it has its own sort of excitement about it. you interact with the story more, you think about it, you analyze it, you try to solve it like a puzzle, day after day-- none of this would be going on, as much, if you were 10 (or even 100) pages away from the solution.
now, this is a particular kind of story-- ie, it's a mystery. with a humorfic, or a straight darkfic or romance, things are different. there is suspence, and angst, but you can't really -solve- it, most times, it doesn't really yield to thinking about in an analytical way as much. with `irresistible poison', there's really nothing in the way of excitement to be gained by waiting for it, and i would say it really -should- be read all at once. because it all hinges on emotional elements rather than plot elements, and even though we know the characters, we don't know them well enough to really guess which way they're likely to go if they interacted, in the end. with DV!harry & draco, we can actually -predict- with some accuracy, how harry & draco would act, and it's mostly a question of -plot-, as to what happens. because we -know- they love each other, and it's just a question of whether they realize it as well as stay alive.
antenora's `the losing side' is another story that does well being serialized. it also revolves around plot-based elements and mysteries, although there isn't really anything to `solve' that one can deduct very easily, mostly. my approximate guess would be to say that `love under will' probably would do better -not- being serialized, but mostly only because i think it would be a more impressive work if one could see it from a distance, because it attempts large, broad-ranging themes that would become clearer the more it unfolds. on the other hand, stories like `underwater light' do well in installments, because the focus is mostly on the characterization, and slow-and-steady growth, so that you get things evolving steadily and incrementally, and the pleasure remains, even if you break it into smaller pieces.
i was just thinking about my tendency to want to read my comicbooks in trade-paperback format, one story-arc all at once. that is my -preference-, but i do enjoy getting one comic a month-- my only quibble is that usually they aren't very dense (this is much, much worse with manga). i prefer a large dose of story, if i'm getting only a piece. i want it to be a good, large piece, heh.
so it's not that i want a whole -arc-. i -would- prefer a mini-arc, per comic. which is what the most successfully serialized fics also end up doing-- you have a small arc per chapter, something that has a wholeness within itself, as well as a definite place within the overall story.
i think reading the Trilogy all at once, beginning to end, you'd actually -miss out- on some of the experience, some of the fun of it. it's like a sitcom by now, really. you sort of tune in for the bimonthly or monthly episode. and tv series vary in terms of how totally linear and dependent on one another they are, too. one series, you should watch every episode, and maybe even just tape them and then watch them all at once. some series, you can miss some-- some you can miss a half of. it depends.
personally, when i was writing my wip, i couldn't release it because i kept going back and having to revise after i wrote something. it was completely in flux. it's -still- completely in flux. but if you -know- what your plot is, and you know exactly what you're saying, i definitely think you can make each chapter be full of hints and foreshadowing and things that have nothing to do with plot, that you can appreciate for the beauty or the humor aspect.
and as i mentioned, suspense can be a fun thing. especially if you keep to some sort of schedule in your installments, and it's not like you keep your readers waiting-- and waiting-- and waiting. eventually, if one waits long enough, your interest and need for the story goes into hibernation-- sort of like with `real' writers, who take years between books (sometimes a decade or more). i mean, i could've -adored- a certain book, and -really- wanted that sequel-- but you know what? 10 years later, and i can't be bothered. so it goes. i don't know if i'll even read the third installment in mercedes lackey and andre norton's brilliant halfblood chronicles.
anyway. this didn't turn out to be an unexpected `yeay' for wip's, but i thought it was interesting that i found something -good- about them. they don't -have- to be a necessary evil. sometimes spacing things out increases our desire and gives us more pleasure, heh. mysteries especially, and probably the least with romances.
though maybe not. all those soap operas must be on to something -.-
~~
and of course, some fanart:
katho posted this on hpart saying that it's harry & draco and they don't look gay. *laughs* which i must disagree with. they -so- look like they're in the midst of foreplay. of course, try and draw me a picture of them and have me -not- say that :D they're -always- in the midst of foreplay :D ahahahahahwootsauce linked to this loffly `season in hell' fanart on cassie's journal. *swoon* harry is beautiful in this one. *sigh*and yes, i haven't gotten to my feedback today, but i will tomorrow. or the day after. you know how it is. but i haven't forgotten about you or you or you or you, or you for that matter.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2002-12-13 12:31 am (UTC)Yes. Yes there really, REALLY is. ;)
*goes to wash eyes out with a mix of hydrocloric acid and bleach*
oh, god. just the THOUGHT! the flaxen haired teenager stared lustfully into the shorter boy's luminous orbs and brushed away his raven-haired bangs...
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2002-12-13 12:57 am (UTC)however, it could be worse.
it could be: "raven-haired, slim, and alabaster-skinned young man"
translated: "black-haired teenager"
or try this: "He stirred the sunset-colored liquid in his delicately-crafted amber-hued goblet carefully and turned sparkling emerald eyes to rest lightly 'pon the alabaster-skinned face of Draco Malfoy, who was reclining aristocratically at the green tableclothed dining area of the Slytherins."
translated: He stirred his pumpkin juice (?... sorry, I don't know why he is stirring his pumpkin juice...) and stared at Draco Malfoy, who was sitting at the Slytherin table.
See. Description is ok. But we like readable. Since, after all, we are attempting to read. ;P
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2002-12-13 04:08 am (UTC)Unless you're referring to the emerald orbs in Harry's sword of Gryffindor/amazing new stick of evil/sex toy.
Or even then...
*glances back up at the post and is filled with anguished guilt*
yes... slow but steady... uh-huh... characterisation... I would never leave people hanging or torture them for my own sadistic pleasure and...
would you excuse me? I think I have some re-writ...
I MEAN, I MUST MAKE SOME JUICE. YES, JUICE, THAT'S IT.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2002-12-13 07:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2002-12-13 10:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:Hi!
Date: 2002-12-14 01:32 pm (UTC)Would you mind if I added you to my friend's list?
-ditCbear
Re: Hi!
From:Re: Hi!
From: