inspired to fic!

[lobelia321]

As you know, my fic writing has sort of dried up of late, as I've been overtaken by the lust for narratological analysing and being jargon's bitch. But, hah! As these things go! Thinking about pov and tense and whatnot has got the fic juices going.

Mainly because I'm a perverse person. badgermonkey said she hated third-person present-tense instant-reporting so, of course, I felt compelled to write just that. And azewewish said she disliked omniscient 'head-hopping' so, of course, I felt compelled to write just that, too. And not to forget natasha1806 who egged me on.

So now I've started a fic that is (in part) third-person present-tense reporting-on-the-hop and (in part) omniscient and constantly intruding narrator and is (in part) second person but not second person character-bound ("you lean over to kiss Billy") but second person external narratee ("hello, dear reader, can you hear me?") and I am (of course, how else?) loving it.

Especially as I've always shied away from omniscient; it seemed to me just too difficult to pull off -- but somehow I've hit upon the trick that , for me, makes it flow. And I've realised that I've actually written omniscient for years. What is this, after all, but a narrator who knows more than either of the characters:


The big thing that had been encircling them all day was wrapped tightly around them, binding them together, twining its feelers about their throats, almost choking them. It was love, and love is big, love is terrible; it was wrenching the guts out of them.
(from A Perfect Day, May 2002.

In fact, I'm rewriting something that's been cooking on the back boiler for months and now I finally have found the tone and style to do it in, the one that keeps me gripped.

Now what *is* it that keeps me gripped to a fic? Because I've found it's not the pairing (not any more, anyway; it used to be: a new pairing could really get me going, e.g. Bern/John got me excited for three or more fics in a row but am now jaded veteran). It's not the plot (I have difficulty with plot, anyway, and as I'm rewriting an already existing plot, it's not about new plot). It's not being in a particular person's head (because I was in somebody's head, tight third-person pov, for this fic, but also objective, and I lost interest).

For me, I think (and at the moment) it is:

the setting (if I am somewhere that I love for the duration of writing, that is wonderful -- especially if I can smuggle in little reality-researchee detail-lets),

the words (I know the plot of this one so I don't need to hurry to get to it; I can take time and weigh up words and choose another one for the one that comes to mind first),

the rhythm of the sentences (sometimes a rhythm comes to me, a ta-da ta-da-da, and then I cast around for words of suitable length to fit that rhythm; and I like it when a particular style allows me to do that),

the feeling of doing something against the grain (annoying Demelza and Brenda is always immense fun, *gg*, as is pulling the rug from underneath cherished so-called 'writing wroolz' - but that is only one ingredient; that alone doesn't keep me going; I've tried basing fic on just that and it won't work),

the feeling that the choice of tone for this particular fic is just *right* (and that one is impossible to quantify; it's sort of a gut feeling, a 'click' in the solar plexus, an 'ah' of fitting a round peg into a round hole [whoops: inadvertent penile metaphor].

I've realised that for me fitting style to content is crucial to writing delight. And I came to that realisation in all the discussions I've had with you lot out there re tense, pov and omniscient narration. How heartening, and what wonderful interlocutrixes you all are, and who needs creative-writing classes?!!!



So what grips you?

Comments

[brightest-blue.livejournal.com]

So what grips me?

Egging you on, for one! I'm so glad you're going to write some smart-alecky omniscient, although you are absolutely right- those of us who write in third-person have undoubtedly always been writing omnisciently in one form or another!


the feeling that the choice of tone for this particular fic is just *right* (and that one is impossible to quantify; it's sort of a gut feeling, a 'click' in the solar plexus, an 'ah' of fitting a round peg into a round hole [whoops: inadvertent penile metaphor].

Ah, that is immensely satisfying, and probably the one thing that makes me sit back and say, "look at what I wrote!" Something "sounding" right in my head is the most gratifying thing, and when it's not right, I have a hard time getting very far.

I'm also rather obsessed with setting, for all I don't ever use many words on it. But if I find just the right ones, that make me feel like I'm right there, I'm very happy. If I have to get all flowery and descriptive, not so much.

I finished your narratological essay last night, and wrote something for the first time today since reading it. It was a completely different experience. I felt so much more conscious of what I was doing, and not in an oh-I-have-to-write-this-way sort of way, but rather an oh-look-that's-an-analepsis sort of way, which is a lot of fun. For me, understanding something about what I'm doing, whether it's making music, writing, or even travelling, makes the experience so much more enjoyable. For that alone, many thanks for your wonderful work. Expect more FB in the days to come!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you're going to write some smart-alecky omniscient,
Well, you know me. *sighs* What started out as smart-alecky has become all, well, non-smart-alecky. It's like that fic with Viggo/Kiran where I started out intending to mock both of them and ended up in a swoon of ethical respect for them. Heh. But omniscience is liberating! At least for me at the moment, because I've not really done it before, or not *consciously*!

Something "sounding" right in my head is the most gratifying thing, and when it's not right, I have a hard time getting very far.

Yes! Absolutely.

I'm also rather obsessed with setting, for all I don't ever use many words on it.
That's very interesting especially as you *don't* use many words on it. Maybe this shows how the space in our heads is as important as the space we create on the page, and also how little it takes, in the way of words, to conjure up a setting.

I finished your narratological essay last night, and wrote something for the first time today since reading it. It was a completely different experience.

Eep, I feel a bit bad now. Have I robbed you of your virginal innocence? In fact, I feared I would be robbed of my virginal innocence (*cough*), that too-much-analysis is like too-much-information and can spoil the fun but I also have found that it has, instead, galvanised me.

I felt so much more conscious of what I was doing, and not in an oh-I-have-to-write-this-way sort of way, but rather an oh-look-that's-an-analepsis sort of way, which is a lot of fun.
Eek! I feel embarrassed! But as long as it serves Wridding yourself of the Writing Wroolz, it cannot be but good, eh?

[brightest-blue.livejournal.com]

Have I robbed you of your virginal innocence?

*looks for virginal innocence* It's gone! But I believe it's been absent lo these many years, so it's not your fault.:) Besides, I believe there is no such thing as too much information. I find it inspiring as well!

[and_chocolate]

So what grips you?

An idea. Generally it'll be something character-driven, though occasionally external plots will grab me, too. It's better if they're something that's a little perverse, something that people might be squicked by. Because I am ev0l. *g*

My ideas are often sparked by some "canonical" event I read or hear about, and they're usually on a theme that I'm interested in exploring (though not always interested in in general, if that makes sense).

Examples:
* The DIY trilogy was the first RPS I wrote, and the whole concept of LotRiPS was perverse enough that I was absolutely enthralled with writing it.

* The New Truth was a young (almost too young for my tastes, actually), virginal Elijah who was unsure of his sexuality but who was assertive enough to get Tobey Maguire into bed with him. The spark for this was the memory of a blind item about Tobey and Leo diCaprio in a gossip column years ago.

* quincunx was on the theme of virgin!Elijah and was sparked by a combination of conversation with vegetariansushi and something Elijah said on Leno that got me thinking, "What if he's still a virgin?" (That theme has at least one more story in it, but I'm not quite ready to write it yet.)

* Subtext was born out of my obsession with the fucked-up relationship potential of Elijah and Josh Hartnett's characters in The Faculty, and how that might translate to reality. The spark was an interview with Elijah where he recounts how Josh is responsible for his starting smoking.

* Stop, Rewind, (re)Play was actually more of an external plot-driven story that came from a "what if" idea, though I don't remember exactly what started me down the "LotRiPS does Groundhog Day" path. It was also the hardest of all my LotRiPS to finish, because I wasn't as gripped by it as by other stories.

* Hooligans is bad/wrong/perverse and that alone made it possible for me to write it in under 12 hours. The spark was photos of Elijah and Charlie Hunnam, covered with make-up bruises and cuts for the filming of The Yank, though I'd had Elijah/Charlie slash ideas wandering around in my brain since I'd seen the first photos of them together (at a football match) in England.

* Wet (which is in progress at the moment) is a sequel to Hooligans and is also bad/wrong/perverse. The spark for it was an item in the most recent Popbitch column, as well as a desire to continue what I'd started with Hooligans. And maybe a little bit of obsession over the idea of three straight guys making what's damn near gay porn (QaF UK), and the impact it would've had on them.

I also seem to be gripped pretty exclusively by things written from Elijah's POV. It's like he's the catalyst that enables the idea to transform into a story. I've been much more prolific in RPS fandom than in any other fandom before, and it's a little bit frightening, actually.

Another point which may or may not relate to the topic but I'm going to include it anyway: I can't share too much of a story idea before I've written it, or else the impetus to tell the story fizzles and it sits, unfinished and lonely, on my hard drive. I think this shows that some of the drive to write, some of what really grips me about a story, is the desire to share the images in my brain with other people.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I absolutely understand the point about not sharing a story with others until it's finished. I've had that happen: I divulged a storyline to someone, and then lost interest in it.

As for the rest, I guess what I was trying to get at was not *bunnies* that grip (though god, I've had my shares of those) but what sustains during the actual writing process. What gets the pulse racing. :-)

[and_chocolate]

As for the rest, I guess what I was trying to get at was not *bunnies* that grip (though god, I've had my shares of those) but what sustains during the actual writing process. What gets the pulse racing. :-)

See, and my answer is: the bunnies. *g* It's the drive to share the story, to share the images that populate my head. The actual writing process is more like the purgatory I have to dwell in before I get to move on to where I want to be. (I think it was Dorothy Parker, who said, "I'd much rather have written than write."

I love language; I love to linger over words in other people's stories, and think about word choices and imagery. I just don't like it very much when I'm responsible for it. *g* That makes it too much like work and not enough like love.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

That makes it too much like work and not enough like love.
*smiles*

Yes, and I know the feeling of wanting to *have written something*... *sighs* Otoh, I have some stories where the writing process is as important as the bunny. So it's part this, part that.