tartanshell

ap_aelfwine

ladystained: But I think that the skills a fanfic writer and an original writer learn are different...and also, they learn different things at different times, which may be why I see some (to me) weird ideas floating around fandom writing.

ap_aelfwine:Interesting. Do you think it's because of readers who approach fanfic differently to original fiction?

I write both fanfic and original fiction. I started with originals, and took to doing fanfic mostly cos I didn't have access to people IRL who were much interested in writing at the time and it was a way to Get Stuff Read (and commented upon).

From what I've seen, many fanfic readers have different criteria to readers of original fiction, different, I think, to even their own criteria for original fiction. I'm thinking of people who read only slash, or het, or femmeslash, people who read only one fandom, people who read only one pairing, etc.

There are people who will skip through a long series of stories (I've noticed this with my friend Azalais Malfoy's House of Ill Faith series) and read only the slash or only the het, or only the bits that contain some pairing they like. And they don't seem to care that they've got no idea of the continuity because they won't read the whole thing, even though they express liking for what they have read.

There are people who will read bad writing if it's in their category, and who won't read good writing if it isn't in their category. And the thing that really confuses me is that some of these people know the difference.

I don't meant to criticise anyone's tastes, but I just don't get it. I judge fanfic by about the same standards as I'd judge original fic. Maybe I'm not quite as severe as I would be with published, edited fiction, but I do look at fanfic much as I'd look at something that showed up on paper in a writers' group.

As the sheet music's notation demanded a moody crescendo, his body swayed in time with the notes his bow and quickly dancing fingers coaxed from the violin. Then it was done, the last note hanging in their ears, and his right hand and the bow raised towards the sky in a triumphant salute.

"What was that?!"

He shot a grin at his father, knowing full well the man took such extravagant and unnecessary movement while playing extremely poorly. "I was playing to the audience! They love it when I get into my music!" He lifted his bow and made as if to play the passage again, with even more sinuous body movement.

"There are only two times a man should writhe about like that in his lifetime--immediately after being disemboweled by a rabid beast in the woods, and in bed with his wife! Playing a classical instrument in front of a cultured audience is not the time for an upstanding young Harper to writhe!""

I thought it up while thinking of Robinton's relationship with his father, and how it was noted somewhere that Petiron hated unecessary movement when conducting. I assumed it'd carry over to musicians as well, and thought up this scene (which "appeared" first as only funny dialogue while I was driving home from work).

I'd love to use it in a fic, but I'd first have to beat it into a proper Pernese style, and then find some reason to write a story around it that didn't violate the Pern timeline too much.

::sigh:: That above is only a sketch, btw. No characterization, no real work on the wording...just an outline of the scene in my head that I found to be really funny. It works best if you're listening to music with some sort of violin crescendo in it, and then visualize characters speaking the lines (or the gist, depending if you daydream with words or not).

I think it's funny as hell, though...I just don't think it works well with Petiron's character...I mean, he might say it by mistake, not realizing it's funny, but I don't see Robinton purposely baiting his father in a way that'd provoke Petiron to say those lines. Although I suppose some other journeyman could be the one provoking him...
Current Mood: amused

Bok Globules
Named for the Dutch-American astronomer, Bart J. Bok, who first drew attention to them, these a small black clouds seen against star-filled regions of the Milky Way. They are dense clouds of molecules and dust, and are the sites of active star formation.

grei_twixt

Now--off to find some icons for the new journal!
Current Mood: amused