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@archersceptile
Murdered
went with “murder” instead because all of my sentences with “murdered” were a mite bit spoilery 🤐
“You were clearly inspired by the spirit of music and I was concerned that if the infection wasn’t treated you might suffer spontaneously spark failure. That’s a sad tragedy happening all over this planet, you know,” Chromedome said. “I mean, on top of the murder and war and death and suffering.”
So @rainbowrowell came to my job today and signed some books! So excited to actually get a chance to continue reading the series. Thank you so much for the signing!! https://www.instagram.com/archersceptile/p/By1eo0nHarp/?igshid=17vxlg39s8u7s
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Spider-Man (Comicverse), X-Men (Comicverse), Avengers (Comics), Wolverine (Comics), X-23 (Comic) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Laura Kinney, Miles Morales, Peter Parker, Logan (X-Men), Steve Rogers, Jean Grey Summary:
Peter Parker and Logan have been missing for a week. The Avengers, finally aware of the missing duo, alert the X-Men. Laura decides things are moving too slow and decides to find them on her own, and on the way, she meets Miles Morales, the All-New Spider-Man.
When I say “Fanfiction is free” part of what I’m saying is yes, you did not pay for the thing.
But I saw a comment from someone that made me realize the rest of the intention behind these words is being lost.
Fanfiction is provided for free, but it is not produced for free.
Authors pay their effort, including physical and emotional and mental. Authors pay their time, in planning the story (mental time) and writing the story (physical time). Sometimes it’s less than an hour for something quick and dirty, like askbox prompts. Sometimes it’s years of their lives in epic fic hundreds of thousands of words long. Authors pay additional time to alpha read their own stories, trying to make sure that they’re free of SPAG errors and make sense and sound good. Beta readers pay their time and effort alongside the authors for editing the stories. Authors pay for posting their stories with all of the anxieties that come from allowing their work - which to this point they have invested all of the above - into the public eye because while it has certainly cost them a good amount to produce the story, fandom history has proved that many other people out there enjoy fanfiction, and authors believe that at least someone else will enjoy their story, too.
What I am saying when I say “fanfiction is free” is that it costs the writers a lot of something in order to produce it. A lot has already been paid into a piece of fanfiction by the time it is available for readers to read. The expense of fanfiction creation is, by and large, resting squarely atop the shoulders of writers.
What I am saying when I say “fanfiction is free” is that readers don’t have to pay the cost of creating fanfiction.
What I am saying when I say “fanfiction is free” is that readers don’t have to pay in anything - not time, not money, not effort, not anything - in order for fanfiction to be created. It’s a donation. It’s a gift. It’s available for you to take or leave, at the expense of someone else.
Writers have, for a very long time, requested donations of one thing as remuneration for everything they put into making fanfiction: comments. Authors have asked, in so many different iterations: “If you have consumed what I have labored and invested in to create and if you have found any enjoyment in it, please tell me, so that I can recharge enough to do this again.” Some of them may recharge on critical comments, but most of us don’t because we’ve already paid everything we want to pay to create the story.
What I am saying when I say “fanfiction is free” isn’t just that it doesn’t cost you any money. I am saying “Please respect the time and effort you didn’t have to pay into creating this thing you enjoyed, by respecting the individual creator’s requests.”
What I am saying when I say “fanfiction is free” is “be kind to authors, they have paid a lot for this gift they’re sharing with all of us, and they deserve to feel like it was worth it.”
What I am saying when I say “fanfiction is free” is “please don’t charge authors more time and emotional effort than what they’ve already provided you at no absolute cost.”
I’m not saying any of this to argue. It’s a fact that authors pay into providing fanfiction. They do it for fun. They do it out of love. They do it because they enjoy writing. No one is making them do it. No one is paying them to start or finish the story. That doesn’t mean it’s not WORK. And the only return they get on what they put into the story is the kindness of strangers that invest a little bit back by leaving a nice comment. That is why they stay, that is why they do it again, that is why we have fanfiction.
What I am saying when I say “fanfiction is free” is “please don’t be the one charging authors so much more that they leave.”
What I am saying when I say “fanfiction is free” is “please keep it that way.”
Why are people ashamed of writing fanfic? I just saw someone who is writing a fanfic for NanoWriMo - who has dedicated themselves to writing 50k words of fanfic this month - say that fanfic was their ‘secret shame’ on a forum entirely made up of fanfic writers.
And you know what? That’s not at all uncommon. I can’t even count the times I’ve seen fanfic disparaged as something for teenage girls or unworthy all together and I think I’ve finally worked out why. And the reason irks me just as much as the fact that this happens.
Fanfic is, by and large, written by women. It’s a creative voice that fills a void left in Hollywood as well as in publishing houses. Only 9% of spec scripts (for movies) sold between 2010 and 2012 were written by women. In 2010, 84% of the reviewers for the New York Review of Books were men and 83% of the books they reviewed were also by men. Female writers make up only 29% of TV staff jobs, a drop of 1.5% from last season, with things looking even bleaker for minorities, who hold only 13.7 percent of TV staff writer jobs. All of these facts add up to one thing - these days, writing is utterly dominated by middle aged, white men. They floods our televisions, our bookshelves, and our movie screens and sometimes we fall in love with the characters but maybe we don’t see the story we wanted told. So we write fic.
But do you know what I think? I think that shame comes from being bold enough to dare to have a voice. I think we’re viewing our own perspectives as somehow less, unworthy in comparison to the ‘norm’ of ‘real’ storytelling that we see validated by being put on television and movie screens and bookstore shelves. While we might, as a culture, tolerate such daring activity amongst teenage girls, we also view it as childish, something women are meant to outgrow, something shameful to hold onto as adults. But it isn’t just fanfic we’re shaming. It’s our voices, our validity, and that makes me sick.
So be a fanfic writer. Be the best goddamned fanfic writer you can be. Use your voice and be proud of it because it’s yours. There is nothing ‘less’ about fanfic. And there never will be.
I think a big part of why I read way more fanfiction than books is that there’s just a hell of a lot less exposition
the first 10 pages of most books are always “these are the main characters and here’s some background on each of them and this is the setting etc etc” and it’s such a fucking hassle getting to the plot sometimes
fanfic is just like “fuck it you know all of this already let’s go”
That’s a really good point.
Same here but there’s actually a point here of well written exposition. Take AUs for example. Even in the most complicated, as-far-removed-from-canon settings we get at most a single paragraph before the actual fic where the author gives us a quick rundown of the rules for that universe. The rest we are left to figure out on our own and it works. We’re not spoon fed every trivial detail when all we want is to get to the plot. Everything that’s important is said at the moment it is important, not sooner not later. Especially in long fics characters often take on such a unique characterisation that you get to know them all over again but the readers do so organically, in the situations that define those characters as they happen. Same with looks. The fic author generally assumes the readers know what the characters look like and don’t spend paragraphs describing them, and only bring it up when it fits the plot. I’ve read a few fanfics from fandoms I’ve never been in and surprisingly it still worked out. I had generally a good idea of who these people were, what they did where and why and how they worked together. Point is, if you’re a writer writing original fiction, pretend it’s fanfic and everyone knows your setting and characters already. That way you’ll only have to add a few details if and when your beta readers mention needing more information and chances are they won’t need a lot.
Point is, if you’re a writer writing original fiction, pretend it’s fanfic and everyone knows your setting and characters already. That way you’ll only have to add a few details if and when your beta readers mention needing more information and chances are they won’t need a lot.
Bolding this fantastic advice.
Reblogging for the next time I write something original.
This is brilliant. I do a shit amount of world building but been blocked for the past week worrying about details and stuff.
Remember: you can always add in revisions. You just have to write first.
Teen Titans #26
Alfred defending Jason while dropping truth bombs is everything my heart needed today.
Bonus: Jason has a portrait!
Truth all the way. Damian definitely needed a reprimanding.
i dont know when it happened but somewhere along the way “shipping” got a new meaning for younger folk that seems to translate to “i want these people together for real asap”. i think the media had something to do with it. but guys.
guys.
shipping absolutely Does Not mean demanding anything from people/creators. shipping isn’t about expecting and waiting for the day it will certainly happen. it is not a direct translation to Happen Or Die.
shipping means you like the idea of two (or more) people together. you like the concept. you find it fun to imagine the dynamics. you even create fanon content of it (fic, art, edits). it’s all in your head and it’s Fine that way.
is it nice to have a ship become canon? oh my god, yes. but that’s not what shipping is about and yall need to take a step back and breathe because being a jerk to people aint gonna change their mind about ships.
have a good night.
We all need this reminder from time to time.
Why did this have to change?
Bring back sane shipping 2k19
Also STOP ASKING ACTORS ABOUT YOUR SHIPS.
stop making that a thing it’s super awkward for them how would you like it if some random person came up to you and asked when you’re going to pretend to fuck your coworker for their voyeuristic pleasure? does that sound like a comfortable conversation you want to have? no. So fucking stop.
I know I say Tim grows up to have a personality the reeks of “protected child”, but Dick grew up to have one that reeks of “indulged child”.
Like “oh don’t mind me, I’m just casually using Superman as a leaning-post NBD”
(Nightwing (1996) 030)
I can imagine that a lot of that comes from Dick being the first sidekick of his generation and being pretty fearless. Superman meets Batman’s new partner for the first time, and aside from liking the kid instantly and noting how different Bruce is when Robin’s around (He’d SWEAR he even saw Batman crack something approaching a smile, but that’s too unsettling to think about) he’s instantly treating Superman like they’re on an even footing as superheroes and he can’t do anything bur respond in kind because as non-sanctioned vigilantes, they sort of are. But still, Superman doesn’t quite know how to react, no one has EVER just casually leaned on him like he’s a lamppost whilst standing on a rooftop, chatting and surveying a potential fight, it’s just not something people are comfortable doing around him because he’s Superman. Even Jimmy wouldn’t do that. And yet… here’s the scrappy, 5′1″ kid doing just that, a kid with an accent that’s all over the place and a voice that keeps cracking, in a costume like a carnival, calling him “Supes” and “Big Blue” and it’s just so damned endearing he hasn’t got in in him to tell him to stop (and some of his tactical suggestions are pretty darned creative too).
It helps that Robin knows SOME limits. He feels he can do all this with Superman, but never with Wonder Woman, who he instinctively calls “Ma’am” VERY politely every single time, even when Diana says he can use her name. So it’s not just that Dick is indulged, it’s that no one knew how to react to him, so they were kind of bamboozled into following his lead.
Yeah that’s basically it. Robin was Batmans kid (really) who he brought with him to meetings and stuff. Like he’s a kid-kid not even an technically-kid (you know the like 16-17 yr olds who have their stuff together). And being Batman’s kid means he got really high access basically immediately.
He throws most of them by just turning up to like a high-level meeting in Batman’s toe. And Batman is pretty indulgent to him - at least from where everyone else is standing (yeah privately he has high expectations of Dick but he does give Dick a fair bit of free reign when it comes to social interacting stuff). So he’s Batmans kid, who Batman lets just be physically close to + interact with him (he’s just as likely to just casually lean on Batman as he is Superman), is treated by Batman as a partner (again especially from where everyone else is standing, Batman takes what Dick says into consideration most of the time and treats him with a high level of respect), and is also a little social butterfly who will strike up conversation with just about anyone as if they are complete equals.
If you’re a person looking for hope in the world to cling to while facing the horrors of it every day “cute charming kid who even The Batman is soft on” is a pretty compelling contender. And so they want to make this kid happy and that means so long as he isn’t being actively destructive (which yeah Dick does know what limits are so that rarely happens without a good reason) they tend to just let him get away with what he wants and comply with most requests he makes.
Plus most probably end up looking at Batman for cue’s as to how to deal with Robin and, again, Batman’s pretty indulgent of Dick. So if The Batman is letting this kid just grab his hand to bring his attention to something why should they not let him be like that with them as well?
So yeah it’s not that everyone is like “we’re indulging this child” it’s “I see no reason to say no to his request” and probably a little “try to show off to the kid”. It’s just ended up with Dick being the indulged-child and growing up to have this inherit expectation that most people will just like him and that he can be open and affectionate with them because if fucking Superman lets him why not try?
Dick goes into situations (especially within the superhero community) with the expectation that he can just do the thing he wants to do. Because in his experience most of the time he can.
Gods I love Slade.
(Nightwing (1996) 080)
Hey guys! here’s a early happy new year.
Thank you for everything in this year, see y’all in next year<3
btw, This is how I picture “Martha” scene would look like. ….XDD
support fic writers!
I definitely agree
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Teen Titans (Animated Series) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Garfield Logan/Raven, Dick Grayson/Koriand'r Characters: Dick Grayson, Garfield Logan, Raven (DCU), Victor Stone, Koriand'r (DCU), Robin (DCU), Beast Boy, Rachel Roth, Kory Anders, Cyborg (Character), Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth Additional Tags: Dick Grayson is Robin, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Post-Battle of Hogwarts Summary:
Teen Titans/Harry Potter Crossover AU Richard Grayson has had a troubled life. He's a muggleborn orphan, adopted by one of the most talented wizards in the Wizarding World, Bruce Wayne, and he feels he has a lot to live up to. After meeting new friends from all different houses and forming an unbreakable bond with them, how will they survive when secrets from Bruce's past come back to haunt them?
Read more on Ao3
Review of the book Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes by Cody O’Brien.
To sum up this book in a single sentence - “What would happen is Deadpool wrote a mythology book.”
Yeah, this guy-
Wrote a book. Here are some examples of why I think this.
GREEK MYTHOLOGY
The Greek creation myth.
The story of Hephaestus god of Blacksmithing and Aphrodite Goddess of Love.
The story of the Minotaur.
NORSE MYTHOLOGY
Norse creation myth.
Odin orders Loki to steal Freyja’s necklace. He does. This is so in character for both of them Freyja instantly knows who to blame.
EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY
Ra gets mad at humanity and creates Sekhmet Lion Goddess of Killing Stuff.
How Isis retrieves her huband’s coffin from the support pillar it got stuck inside.
MAYAN MYTHOLOGY
How to try and kill the god Zipacna and fail.
CHRISTIANITY MYTHOLOGY
How God made Eve from Adam’s rib.
The story of how King Solomon judges proper maternal instinct.
HINDU MYTHOLOGY
Men ask Shiva to stop Kali’s murder rampage.
And this is how he does it.
JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY
The Goddess Izanami gives birth to the whole island of Japan.
A story about Tanuki.
AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY
Creation myth
SUMERIAN MYTHOLOGY
Creation myth
The Epic of Gilgamesh: Being born
The Epic of Gilgamesh: Meeting his best friend.
NATIVE AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY
Do I really need to explain why I feel the Merc with a mouth was involved in the retelling here?
I have this book. I’ve read it about ten times and I love it.
@systlin
This guy has a whole website
It’s called Better Myths, and it is a GIFT
I need this book!
@infernoking @d20-darling @askkakuro @thefingerfuckingfemalefury @windows-operating-system
The norse myth thing is 1000000% in character.
on fanfic & emotional continuity
Writing and reading fanfic is a masterclass in characterisation.
Consider: in order to successfully write two different “versions” of the same character - let alone ten, or fifty, or a hundred - you have to make an informed judgement about their core personality traits, distinguishing between the results of nature and nurture, and decide how best to replicate those conditions in a new narrative context. The character you produce has to be recognisably congruent with the canonical version, yet distinct enough to fit within a different - perhaps wildly so - story. And you physically can’t accomplish this if the character in question is poorly understood, or viewed as a stereotype, or one-dimensional. Yes, you can still produce the fic, but chances are, if your interest in or knowledge of the character(s) is that shallow, you’re not going to bother in the first place.
Because ficwriters care about nuance, and they especially care about continuity - not just literal continuity, in the sense of corroborating established facts, but the far more important (and yet more frequently neglected) emotional continuity. Too often in film and TV canons in particular, emotional continuity is mistakenly viewed as a synonym for static characterisation, and therefore held anathema: if the character(s) don’t change, then where’s the story? But emotional continuity isn’t anti-change; it’s pro-context. It means showing how the character gets from Point A to Point B as an actual journey, not just dumping them in a new location and yelling Because Reasons! while moving on to the next development. Emotional continuity requires a close reading, not just of the letter of the canon, but its spirit - the beats between the dialogue; the implications never overtly stated, but which must logically occur off-screen. As such, emotional continuity is often the first casualty of canonical forward momentum: when each new TV season demands the creation of a new challenge for the protagonists, regardless of where and how we left them last, then dealing with the consequences of what’s already happened is automatically put on the backburner.
Fanfic does not do this.
Fanfic embraces the gaps in the narrative, the gracenotes in characterisation that the original story glosses, forgets or simply doesn’t find time for. That’s not all it does, of course, but in the context of learning how to write characters, it’s vital, because it teaches ficwriters - and fic readers - the difference between rich and cardboard characters. A rich character is one whose original incarnation is detailed enough that, in order to put them in fanfic, the writer has to consider which elements of their personality are integral to their existence, which clash irreparably with the new setting, and which can be modified to fit, to say nothing of how this adapted version works with other similarly adapted characters. A cardboard character, by contrast, boasts so few original or distinct attributes that the ficwriter has to invent them almost out of whole cloth. Note, please, that attributes are not necessarily synonymous with details in this context: we might know a character’s favourite song and their number of siblings, but if this information gives us no actual insight into them as a person, then it’s only window-dressing. By the same token, we might know very few concrete facts about a character, but still have an incredibly well-developed sense of their personhood on the basis of their actions.
The fact that ficwriters en masse - or even the same ficwriter in different AUs - can produce multiple contradictory yet still fundamentally believable incarnations of the same person is a testament to their understanding of characterisation, emotional continuity and narrative.
So I was reading this rumination on fanfic and I was thinking about something @involuntaryorange once talked to me about, about fanfic being its own genre, and something about this way of thinking really rocked my world? Because for a long time I have thought like a lawyer, and I have defined fanfiction as “fiction using characters that originated elsewhere,” or something like that. And now I feel like…fanfiction has nothing to do with using other people’s characters, it’s just a character-driven *genre* that is so character-driven that it can be more effective to use other people’s characters because then we can really get the impact of the storyteller’s message but I feel like it could also be not using other people’s characters, just a more character-driven story. Like, I feel like my original stuff–the novellas I have up on AO3, the draft I just finished–are probably really fanfiction, even though they’re original, because they’re hitting fanfic beats. And my frustration with getting original stuff published has been, all along, that I’m calling it a genre it really isn’t.
And this is why many people who discover fic stop reading other stuff. Once you find the genre you prefer, you tend to read a lot in that genre. Some people love mysteries, some people love high-fantasy. Saying you love “fic” really means you love this character-driven genre.
So when I hear people be dismissive of fic I used to think, Are they just not reading the good fic? Maybe I need to put the good fic in front of them? But I think it turns out that fanfiction is a genre that is so entirely character-focused that it actually feels weird and different, because most of our fiction is not that character-focused.
It turns out, when I think about it, I am simply a character-based consumer of pop culture. I will read and watch almost anything but the stuff that’s going to stick with me is because I fall for a particular character. This is why once a show falters and disagrees with my view of the character, I can’t just, like, push past it, because the show *was* the character for me.
Right now my big thing is the Juno Steel stories, and I know that they’re doing all this genre stuff and they have mysteries and there’s sci-fi and meanwhile I’m just like, “Okay, whatever, I don’t care about that, JUNO STEEL IS THE BEST AND I WANT TO JUST ROLL AROUND IN HIS SARCASTIC, HILARIOUS, EMOTIONALLY PINING HEAD.” That is the fanfiction-genre fan in me coming out. Someone looking for sci-fi might not care about that, but I’m the type of consumer (and I think most fic-people are) who will spend a week focusing on what one throwaway line might reveal about a character’s state of mind. That’s why so many fics *focus* on those one throwaway lines. That’s what we’re thinking about.
And this is what makes coffee shop AUs so amazing. Like, you take some characters and you stick them in a coffee shop. That’s it. And yet I love every single one of them. Because the focus is entirely on the characters. There is no plot. The plot is they get coffee every day and fall in love. That’s the entire plot. And that’s the perfect fanfic plot. Fanfic plots are almost always like that. Almost always references to other things that clue you in to where the story is going. Think of “friends to lovers” or “enemies to lovers” or “fake relationship,” and you’re like, “Yes. I love those. Give me those,” and you know it’s going to be the same plot, but that’s okay, you’re not reading for the plot. It’s like that Tumblr post that goes around that’s like, “Me starting a fake relationship fic: Ooooh, do you think they’ll fall in love for real????” But you’re not reading for the suspense. Fic frees you up from having to spend effort thinking about the plot. Fic gives your brain space to focus entirely on the characters. And, especially in an age of plot-twist-heavy pop culture, that almost feels like a luxury. “Come in. Spend a little time in this character’s head. SPEND HOURS OF YOUR LIFE READING SO MANY STORIES ABOUT THIS CHARACTER’S HEAD. Until you know them like a friend. Until you know them so well that you miss them when you’re not hanging out with them.”
When that is your story, when the characters become like your friends, it makes sense that you’re freed from plot. It’s like how many people don’t really have a “plot” to hanging out with their friends. There’s this huge obsession with plot, but lives don’t have plots. Lives just happen. We try to shape them into plots later, but that’s just this organizational fiction we’re imposing. Plot doesn’t have to be the raison d’etre of all story-telling, and fic reminds us of that.
Idk, this was a lot of random rambling but I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.
“fanfiction has nothing to do with using other people’s characters, it’s just a character-driven *genre* that is so character-driven that it can be more effective to use other people’s characters”
yes!!!! I feel like I knew this on some level but I’ve never explicitly thought about it that way. this feels right, yep. Mainstream fiction often seems very dry to me and I think this is why - it tends to skip right over stuff that would be a huge plot arc in a fanfic, if not an entire fanfic in itself. And I’m like, “hey, wait, go back to that. Why are you skipping that? Where’s the story?” But now I think maybe people who don’t like fanfiction are going like, “why is there an entire fanfic about something that could have happened offscreen? Is anything interesting ever going to happen here? Where’s the story?”
Yes! Exactly! This!!!
This crystallized for me when I taught my first class of fanfiction to non-fic-readers and they just kept being like, “But nothing happens. What’s the plot?” and I was so confused, like, “What are you talking about? They fall in love. That’s the plot.” But we were, I think, talking past each other. They kept waiting for some big moment to happen, but for me the point was that the little moments were the big moments.
This is such an awesome conversation, but I think there’s even another layer here that makes ‘fic’ its own genre. And it is the plot.
Everyone who’s experienced in reading fic has their little ‘trope plots’ we are willing to read or even prefer in order to spend time with our favorite characters. We know how it’s gonna end and we genuinely don’t care, because the character is the whole point of why we’re reading. And that is unique. That’s just not how mainstream media publication does things.
But there are also hundreds of thousands of fics people might call ‘plot driven’ and they have wonderful, intricate plots that thrill their readers.
But they’re not at all ‘plot driven’ in the same way as other mainstream genres.
The thing about ‘plot’ in fic is that it tends to ebb and flow naturally. There’s not the same high speed, race to the finish you’d get from a good action movie. There’s no stop and start of side plots you get in TV genre shows. The best fic plot slides from big event to restful evening to frantic activity to shared meals and squabbles and back, and it gives equal time and attention and detail to each of these things.
Like @earlgreytea68 said, “There’s this huge obsession with plot, but lives don’t have plots. Lives just happen. We try to shape them into plots later, but that’s just this organizational fiction we’re imposing. Plot doesn’t have to be the raison d’etre of all story-telling, and fic reminds us of that.”
Fic plot moves at a pace similar to the life of whatever character it’s about. Not the other way around. There’s a fundamental difference in prioritization in fic.
I think this only adds to the case of ‘fic’ as its own, distinctive genre. Stylistic choices of writing that would never work in traditional, mainstream fiction novels work for novel-length fic. Fic adventures spend as much time fleshing out the little moments between romances and friendships as they do on that plot twist. The sleepy campground conversations are as important to the plot as the kidnapped princess, because that’s how the characters are going to grow together by the end of the story. It’s not a grace note, it’s not a side episode or an addition or a mention - it’s integral and equal.
That’s just accepted as fact by fic writers and readers. It’s expected without any particular mention. And it gives a very unique flavor and pace to fic that makes a lot of mainstream stories feel like stale, off-brand wonderbread. They are missing something regular fic readers take for granted (and it isn’t just the representational differences, because we all know that’s a whole different conversation). There’s a fundamental difference in how ‘fic’ is written, detailed, and paced that is built on its foundations as a ‘character driven’ genre.
And it isn’t only action/adventure/mystery plots that have this difference in fic. Those ‘everybody’s human in today’s world’ AUs, those ‘friends to lovers’ slow burn stories have it too. They have a plot, but it’s the life - the grocery shopping, the dumb fights and sudden inescapable emotional blows, those moments of joy with that person you click with, managing work and family and seasons - that’s the whole plot on its own.
And that’s almost impossible to explain to someone who hasn’t really experienced fic as a genre, who’s used to traditional person A and person B work together/overcome differences/bond to accomplish X. In fic accomplishing X might be the beginning or the middle, not the end result of the story, and A & B continue to exist separate from X entirely. X is only relevant because of how it relates to A & B, not the other way around.
Fic is absolutely its own genre and it has a lot to do with plot. I’ve been calling this ‘organic plot’ in my head for months, because I knew something felt different about writing this way, how long fic plot ebbs and grows seemingly on its own sometimes. ‘Dual plot’ could be another option, maybe, though the character plot and life experience plots aren’t really separate. Inverted plot? Hm. I’m sure a good term will develop over time.
This last addition.
I’m reminded of this post, which got unexpectedly popular and so must have resonated with a lot of people. The contrast between the reader who will happily read 100k words of nothing but character dynamics and dialogue, and the author who is dying inside every time a chapter passes by without an explosion because they feel their work is too boring to put to page, is probably a result of the author internalizing mainstream storytelling expectations about what makes “good”/ “exciting” writing.
Forever indebted to @mostlysignssomeportents for this one.
THIS IS BRILLIANT
I should definitely start doing this. I’ve lost HOURS doing research for a line that I ended up scrapping.
Oh I like TK I usually do this with brackets like [number] or [thing].
Or, obviously, [joke] and [funny thing] and I think once [chad help].
TK (or whatever format you use–sometimes I highlight the blank space or just leave some random asterisks) is a lifesaver!
If this is the permission you need to write it a way that works for you, great!
In case there’s anyone out there who IS like me, though: for me this is a huge wad of horseshit.
If the detail I don’t know has stopped me then I’m not going to be able to move on without finding the answer because what comes after will be built on that detail.
If it turns out there AREN’T any Catholic churches in Brooklyn that could reliably be assumed not to say something that will piss off my character during their Midnight Mass on the 24th then his friend isn’t going to advise him to go anywhere for Midnight Mass which means this entire next part of the story where he has a particular convo that is PROMPTED by the experience of going to Midnight Mass is not going to happen.
And that means everything afterwards is going to be different and yes it will be in meaningful ways.
The thing is, for me, I won’t get interrupted in my writing momentum for anything that ISN’T like this. I might go back and add local colour details that weren’t necessary for the story later, but that stuff isn’t going to interrupt my flow.
Other people’s “composition brain” works different from mine. If I’m tired or having a hard time, my drafts get very spare - down to dialogue and (boring repetitively phrased) blocking plus any thoughts that are actually immediately relevant expressed baldly. They’re chunky and stilted that way. Because those are the absolutely crucial elements I need in order to find out how this moment happened, how this series of events led to another series of events.
Not everyone does that! So yeah.
I’m doing a social experiment called ‘agreeing with boys when they compliment you’.
the results:
perf example of how uncomfortable boys are with women owning their own awesomeness. for many men, beauty, coolness, desirability are gifts they alone can bestow upon women. they get baffled, even aggressive when you show you’ve known you possess those things all along.
i love this experiment!
I reblog stuff like this every time I see it, because I figure women who follow me need the reminder, and men who follow me also need the reminder.
If you pay someone a compliment and they accept it and that makes you angry? You weren’t really interested in paying them a compliment.
