dp question

[lobelia321]

Sorry, a DP question. Just scroll on if not interested.

Have just finished writing two fascicles so will revise tonight and post (hopefully) tomorrow (pending child arrangements, Good Friday, the builders unplugging my broadband and other such obstacles, *g*).

Now: it's grating more and more having these AU desert people called names like Sean ben Bean and Cate. That makes no sense. crazybutsound and ios_pillow already pointed this out. However, I started to do it because, AU or not, this is still Lotrps -- although meandering more and more towards independent characterisation with each new fascicle.

So: (1) should I keep the cheesy names, knowing full well they're cheesy and just putting up with it in the spirit of pastiche and easy recognition?

Or: (2) should I change the names to something more Arabic or Persian-sounding, leaving Lotrps-recognition to the cast list and risking confusing retrospective name-find-and-replace and alienation of readers expecting Lotrps and suspecting origfic?

At the moment, I'm opting for (1) because it's the path of least resistance although I have devised one or two names of my own names for them in my head.

Comments

[yellow-oranges.livejournal.com]

I'm torn! I'm all for easy recognition, but if there was a cast list I expect I could keep up. I guess I would say that more authentic sounding names would add another layer that will enrich DP, but if it's too much trouble I for one am happy with plain old "Cate."

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[bunnysquee.livejournal.com]

how about two versions? one for the name-challenged people like me who will eventually read it all in one go at the end, and; one for eventual publication as a full-pledged novel with all fingerprints wiped off.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

*waves off absurd flattery*

But two versions. Hm. *strokes chin* It's a thought.

I warn you: at the rate I'm going you'll be reading this fic in the year 2006... :-D

[brightest-blue.livejournal.com]

I'm personally in favor of No. 2, since I know you're just trying to pass of origfic as AU anyway, but I also don't see how there would be too much confusion, as long as a cast list was handy. But either way, GIVE IT!!!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

since I know you're just trying to pass of origfic as AU anyway,

*giggles*

I am a transparent vase to you.

GIVE IT!!!
Coercion will get you somewhere! I just want to revise! I don't want to saddle myself with terrible plot holes which I'll have to repair further fascicles down the line. Already I'm burdened with things I set up in fascicle 3... Does this not happen to you with Lonely Impulse?

[brightest-blue.livejournal.com]

I am a transparent vase to you.

Actually, you're more like a Greek vase with nekkid sheperds to me. Trust me, it's better!

Coercion will get you somewhere!

Excellent.
*throws screaming-crying-kicking-holding-breath-tantrum* GIVE IT NOW!!! *turns blue*

Already I'm burdened with things I set up in fascicle 3... Does this not happen to you with Lonely Impulse?

All the time. I suppose it's one of the great challenges of the WIP. A finished novel doesn't get put out there until the whole thing has been picked over multiple times. I keep remembering characters, or little things I just thought would give the fic "character" that I have to do something with. I think once I'm completely done, I will undertake a complete rewrite.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I think once I'm completely done, I will undertake a complete rewrite.
I like thinking about this as an option. For some odd reason, it has not occurred to me that I could do this. It always seems to me that once posted something is engraved in stone but, of course, this is not true. People revise and re-post all the time. On the one hand, that is reassuring (fuck-ups can be fixed later); on the other hand, I dread this option: will I never be free of this fic?

[brightest-blue.livejournal.com]

It always seems to me that once posted something is engraved in stone but, of course, this is not true.

To be honest, I have a hard time getting past this. While the fic is in process, I can't really bring myself to go back and make major changes. I've fixed a few glaring technological inaccuracies and anachronisms, but that's it.

on the other hand, I dread this option: will I never be free of this fic?

Me too. I think it's very likely that when I'm done, I'll be really done. Maybe I'll allow myself the option to go back someday, but I'm pretty sure I'll need a good long break before I do.

[pecos.livejournal.com]

Stick with the cheese. It's bad for you, eys, but delicious and nutritious and I'm sick of everything being so CORRECT all the time! Don't switch now, DP is so good as it is!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Thanks, sweetie! Heh. I sure don't want to be tarred with the brush of 'correctness'.... *laughs*

[ios-pillow-book.livejournal.com]

Um, my mind's such a sieve (or: "was kümmert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern"). But did I actually point out the names were cheesy? Maybe I noted it, but not necessarily as something negative. I found Sean Ben Bean or Rhys Ben Davis quite amusing. Ok, Liv or Cate don't quite fit, but I wouldn't see an immediate need to change that or create an alternate version.

On the long run, however, it would be fantastic if you could get this published. SERIOUSLY. In that case, changing the names would be a must, of course.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Now I'm worried that it wasn't even you who said this... but I can't be bothered scrolling through thousands of tigs, eek. So don't worry: it may just be that my memory is a sieve.

And published? *chokes on own tongue* I am touched by your faith but I am but a humble online hack.... *g*

[ios-pillow-book.livejournal.com]

Tsk, tsk, humble online hack ... Show me some well-written, really hot, modern porn that appeals to women. Preferrably with homoerotic content.

There are some excellent stories out there (yours among them) that would deserve to be published, but will never make it into a book not because of quality, but mainly because of legal issues. In my opinion, that's a pity.

I think it's about time that slash goes public because I believe it would appeal to a wider audience than just to some internet insiders. I'm sure some Anthology of Slash would be a smashing success.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I would love to read something that buzzes my buttons in the same way that slash does, published in book format so that I can recompense the wonderful author with my hard-earned dosh.

Because it needn't be non-origchars, as far as I am concerned!

But where, oh where is this stuff? Hidden away in one paragraph in Donna Tartt and bad prose in Mary Renault...

And re the origchars: why can I not write them any longer? It is a mystery to me.