Dead Air/Other Fic Comms/Reviews
POSTED BY: biggrstaffbunch
UPDATED: Tuesday, July 3, 2007 02:39
VIEWED: 19536
PAGE 4 of 5
Quote:Asking for feedback is quite different from having a permanent beg line set up...
Originally posted by Desertgirl:
And I am guilty of asking myself. Mostly because it is a great way to get to know everyone out there. I’m not one for boards very often.
Quote:LOL! I love you desertgirl! This is so true. I mean, porn is nice and all, but it can get a little overdone.
I mean how many different ways can you write an orgasm? Been there done that. Next story please.
Quote:So very true - and therein lies the tragedy. We have an opportunity to do something more than the usual with this `verse. We have all the tools. So why be common with it? Why write the same married and pregnant and could be living in suburban Bumfuck, U.S. storyline that's been done and done and done? (Especially when that so departs from Joss's feminism... oh, that's another thread hijack. Sorry!
I think the reason that there is so much romance writing out there it that lots of folks in the country like romance novels.
)Which reminds me - so, I was catching up on GSB's Brain on Drugs fic today (sorry, didn't get to leave comments on the new stuff yet GSB) and that got me thinking. This is romance fic, and doesn't seem to be setting out to make any grand statements about deep issues. But it's being true to Mal and Inara and that means, by default, it HAS to address some very cool things. Inara's profession, for one, and how that comes between her and Mal. It's really good stuff.
See, that's the point. I believe that if writers really include the full depth of these marvelous characters, they have to include these "deep" topics. Good lord, so here I'm saying something that's been said a gazillion times: including all the juicy issues really comes down to writing In Character. If a writer doesn't have these issues popping up, odds are they're going OOC.
OK, really stopping now. Enough with the thread hijacking.
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hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left
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Fluff. Oooh, do I love it. Know why? 'Cause it's a nice, brief snapshot of a time in life. It's happy. It's sweet. And sometimes, it DOES include "issues." I am one of those authors who really, really likes to meta. Which means, I love to include my own opinions about show development, characterizations, etc. into story canon. So every one of my fics (well, okay, almost every one) deals with an "issue."
Even in one of my Kaylee/Simon fluffs, it turned into: Kaylee cleans the bunk because she thinks its something prim, proper Simon would get turned on by. Kaylee gets worried that Simon is losing desire for her and that's why he's ignoring her, when it's really just an, er, injury. So you have everyday relationship issues injected into something you think is just mindless excuse for humor/smut. I like doing stuff like that, and I'll echo Mal4Prez by saying that whenever you write a fic in FF verse that's IC, it HAS to deal with "issues."
'Cause otherwise its not our human, developing characters, it's some OOC Mary Sue. One of my pet peeves is Kaylee as eternally happy, Wash as just a jokester, Jayne as just a lout. They have LAYERS and I love writing that.
Quote:
By Mal4Prez: "This is romance fic, and doesn't seem to be setting out to make any grand statements about deep issues. But it's being true to Mal and Inara and that means, by default, it HAS to address some very cool things. Inara's profession, for one, and how that comes between her and Mal. It's really good stuff."
Well, first, thanks for referencing my fic, hee hee. I've been feeling out of sorts lately with all the backlash against smut on my flist. Tons of posts talking about how everyone is tired of smut, there's no character development, etc. etc. Now, most of my fics turn into R's and NC-17, and I was worried people would automatically dismiss them because of that. But you're right--TiYBoD was originally a crack!fic, meant to poke fun at how we M/I shippers want them to just do it already, in any fashion, under any pretense. But I found I couldnt do that. You'll notice the tone shifts between chapter 2 and 3, going from humorous to angst. That's because my inner meta came out.
It's impossible to have these two characters together without talking about what keeps them apart. That's why I love writing this. That's why a lot of S/K fics piss me off, personally. Too much time being cutesy, with Kaylee's vernacular and "country ways" clashing with Simon's background, but without any substance to that conflict. You get your great ones, though (shoutout to Leiasky, feeling the S/K love :P) and that's what reinforces belief in fic.
I think I love that list you made, Mal4Prez. We should call it the genfic challenge. See how many fics we can get out of it!
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Quote:
Originally posted by biggrstaffbunch:
I've been feeling out of sorts lately with all the backlash against smut on my flist. Tons of posts talking about how everyone is tired of smut, there's no character development, etc. etc.
Sorry for hijacking your thread. But it seems that we hae found here an issue in need of discussing. Thanks for sparking the debate.
Quote:
Now, most of my fics turn into R's and NC-17, and I was worried people would automatically dismiss them because of that.
I think what folks are saying here is that folks are tired of smut for smuts sake, especially when the characters are shallow and not true to the show, not exploring any deeper issues. Even the pro's have occasional smut in their books, when it is character driven.
I have a slew of friends who just don't get my love of sci fi. I frequently find myself explaining that with sci fi you can explore issues that are just too tetchy for a story set in the here and now. For example Season 3 of battlestar galactica exploring what ethical boundries you would be willing to cross to save your species? It was NPR that pointed out they are telling the Iraq war story from the Iraqi POV.
Its these deeper issues that make Sci fi(firefly expecially) exciting to both read and write.
I think what is really happening here is folks are calling out for more fantastic fic to enjoy.
Quote:
I love that list you made, Mal4Prez. We should call it the genfic challenge. See how many fics we can get out of it!
I have copied the genfic challange into my desktop and shall get to work. Although I think my next project involves exploring the results of an inequitable society.
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Yay! Desertgirl, I wish you lots of luck and happy writing. I fully admit that I'm sort of shallow in that I couldnt undertake the genfic challenge insomuch as you and Mal4prez seem capable of...my deepest moments within fandom are dissecting romantic relationships, and on occasion, other variances of human interaction. I particularly like the prospect of Mal's "mercy killing" of Tracy in The Message. I never get tired of examining Tracy's character...this morally ambiguous antihero-hero... so like Mal, but different.
No problem about the hijacking! I love the discussion going on!
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Genfic challenge....hmm....sounds like fun.
Which brings up a thought about stories that read like episodes. Does anybody else here like to go down that road, and if so, do you meet with any success? Can be pretty hard to get a story to read just like a TV episode and I wonder if that isn't another turn-off, if a body tries to write such a story and can't quite pull it off.
Anybody else feel to weigh in?
Jubal needs
To get a grip
River's turned
Into a ship
FIREFLY
Captain of the New England Browncoats
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Theres a couple of tricks from the TV episodes that I find really lend themselves well to fan fics.
1. Starting the fic with some sort of teaser letting us know where our BDH's have recently been or what is bringing them to the location/situation the fic is about.
2. Those dramatic moments just prior to comercial or a chapter ending. That make the viewer/reader want to stick around for more.
3. How stories are actually tied together at the end. Sequels may refer to previous episodes for background and motivation etc. But storylines do tend to be resolved on a fairly regular basis.
Of course my friend who writes regular novels really didn't like how I did any of these in my last fic. I told her "hey its fan fic."
Although are you tallking about writing in script format? I think that would be really tricky to get all the meaning out there without the exposition. Hence my attempts at prose
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Quote:
Originally posted by Desertgirl:
Although are you tallking about writing in script format? I think that would be really tricky to get all the meaning out there without the exposition. Hence my attempts at prose
Totally agreed - ergo I never write in script format, I'm all for novel format.
There's still them as like to write in what might be considered novel format, except that they don't put near enough detail into it to give a reader a clear picture of what's going on.Ai ya - ending a chapter on a suspenseful note? THAT is a hell of a trick! I can never seem to pull that off. Mayhaps I need to come up with some stickier situations for the crew.
Love with Kaylee
Doc will give
Hell with this
She's gonna live!
FIREFLY
Captain of the New England Browncoats
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Quote:
Which brings up a thought about stories that read like episodes. Does anybody else here like to go down that road, and if so, do you meet with any success? Can be pretty hard to get a story to read just like a TV episode and I wonder if that isn't another turn-off, if a body tries to write such a story and can't quite pull it off.
Anybody else feel to weigh in?
I write in an episodic form for my series. The first story takes place weeks after the last episode (OiS or the Message, doesn't matter which one you fancy as last) and I'm trying to fill in the gaps between the series and the BDM (pretty much excluding the GN, because yes I read it, but I sorta didn't like it).
Quote:
1. Starting the fic with some sort of teaser letting us know where our BDH's have recently been or what is bringing them to the location/situation the fic is about.
2. Those dramatic moments just prior to comercial or a chapter ending. That make the viewer/reader want to stick around for more.
3. How stories are actually tied together at the end. Sequels may refer to previous episodes for background and motivation etc. But storylines do tend to be resolved on a fairly regular basis.
Ditto all of that you said. I also try to keep my fics around fifteen chapters. I dunno why but it feels to me it's not too long, it's like an actual episode length. And I agree, it's hard to write like that because you're going for that specific feel.
Side question: Hows does everyone feel about OCs? any tips on how you work out an OC? I'm always massively frightened to create a Mary Sue or mine already are or something. I write notes on my OCs before actually writing them out, particularly with the two in my story because they're crewmembers and they need some symbolism and dimension, but I'm just curious as to what other people do with OCs. It's hard enough to get the crew in canon lol, adding another face or two to the story is nerve wracking IMO.
Ash
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I'm not a fan of OC's as a general rule. Most people can't write them well enough to make me like them, or the story. And I absolutely cannot stand an OC witten as love interests with any of the BDH's. They're always written far too mary-suish.
It does take a lot to get me to read stories (and not lose me) that have a bunch of OC's or a heavy focus on a few, but it does happen. Mal4Prez and Tamsibling write very convincing OC's.
I don't like the write them myself, though I do have some crop up here and there.
"A government is a body of people usually notably ungoverned."
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There's been a lot of OC discussion hereabouts. Truth to say, it can be tricksy to interject OCs at times because you've already got so many main characters - the hardest part is giving every main character appropriate screen time while making your OC worth having around. Mayhaps the reason OCs tend to be a turn-off is because, as it's been said, the BDHs are themselves such many-layered characters - and it would have taken a hell of a lot more than 14 episodes to get past the first of those layers - that it's hard to give an OC that kind of depth without Mary-Suifying them. That's one point for a series of fanfics that share a common OC, it gives you more room to maneuver without pissing off your audience.
And as far as BDH/OC romances....Well, to each their own, but I find them easier (and in some cases, far more believable) to read than some BDH pairings. (Y'all know what I'm talking on by now. ) Like I said, if you're thinking of writing a series - or even a long fic of the proverbial epic proportions - there's a good chance that a BDH/OC romance won't sour appetites from here to eternity.
Niska's got work
Crew needs money
Can we swing it?
Yes, sir, honey!
FIREFLY
Captain of the New England Browncoats
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