writing stuff

[salixbabylon]

uinendolothen asked what my biggest pet peeves in writing are OR what appeals to me the most in fanfics?

Peeves :
+ Guys who cry.
+ Declarations of love immediately followed by hot sex.
+ Angst resolved and then immediately followed by sex.
+ Contemporary characters not practicing safe sex.
+ Women who rely on men to save them.
+ Rape as default-angst.
+ Non-consensual or unsafe kink.
+ Whiny helpless characters of either gender.
+ The happily-ever-after story, especially in gay male romance/porn, with the commitment ceremony and kids (do I even need to say mpreg?).

Hmmm... Most of those things piss me off in RL, too...

Elements that appeal to me in fanfic:
+ Character studies.
+ Humor, even if it's got an element of crack, so long as it's still coherent to an outside reader.
+ Love of the universe and the characters, because that honestly does come through.
+ Playfulness, sarcasm, and witty dialog.
+ Guys who act like guys and women who act like reasonable human beings.
+ Kinky play, especially power dynamics.
+ Writers pushing their own boundaries and experimenting with new styles/plots/etc.

In general, I'll read just about anything that's NC-17, under 3000 words, and looks like it might be funny. I avoid angst most of the time, because honestly? I'm here to be entertained and to get off. :)

Comments

[uinendolothen.livejournal.com]

Oh! Hear, hear, sister!!!

:D

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

This was surprisingly difficult. I tried to include non-slashy-fiction in my list as well, and the reasons why I rarely read "real books" just jumped out at me. Thanks for asking such an interesting question! :)

[ladykatiewench.livejournal.com]

Wait. Non-slashy-fiction?! My brain doesn't understand this concept!

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

I hear they have whole stores full of it...

[ladykatiewench.livejournal.com]

But....but....WHY?!?

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

I have no idea. I honestly am embarrassed to admit that I cannot recall what fictional book I last read. In the last 5 years, the number has dwindled to probably less than 3 fictional books per year.

[ladykatiewench.livejournal.com]

Well, I think it is also an efficiency issue. It just isn't efficient to sit and read a book. With online fiction, you can pick up a chapter or two at a time and still have other things going on around you (if you need to). I wish I had time to devote to a novel, but I just don't. There are one or two authors who I will find a way to work it out for, but with most of their books, I enjoy it so much, I can sit down and excitedly push through them in a few hours.

And reading things on here is so interactive. You aren't just looking at a simple finished product. You can ask questions of an author, you can see what the author is like outside of the fiction she writes, and all of that goes into the reading experience, making it more enjoyable.

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

I like the note about the interactive part. That's so true, and is one thing that makes online reading so much more attractive to me.

I miss getting lost in a novel though... I would like to make some mroe time for that in my life. :)

[shrinetolust.livejournal.com]

I'd say I'm with you on pretty much all, though I'm not so into the kink--I go in phases, actually. It's weird because I read more kinky stuff when I first got into the fandom and now I'm more into the funny quirky stuff.

Anyhoo, I like happy endings, but yeah, the commitment ceremony and the kids thing generally makes me rather nauseated. I think because it's usually done with characters where such a thing makes absolutely no sense and would never happen that way. Granted, very little RPS prolly comes close to true events, but I at least like there to be the essence of probability and realism to it.

One of my biggest hates in a story is the insertion of a female into the story strictly for the purpose of having her hated by the perfect gay men, cheated on, divorced from, abused or killed. I'm not sure why gay love/sex stories have to be synonymous with woman bashing.

I have made some of my male characters cry, I think, but hopefully they aren't blubbering 16 year old messes. Argh.

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

I confess, the first thing I wrote had a boy who cried a lot. (At least I made him self-aware enough to be upset at how he was crying like a little girl all the time, though.)

Sometimes I'm into kink, sometimes not. It totally depends on the writer. Bad kink is a huge turnoff to me, as is kink with no motivation and no headspace examination.

I'm not touching the women-part since I totally blathered all over heartofslash's LJ on a similar thread just now. Suffice to say that I agree.

it's usually done with characters where such a thing makes absolutely no sense and would never happen that way

Amen, sister. ;)

[luthien-af.livejournal.com]

I can only agree with the like/dislike list! I wouldn't know what to add, so I'll just say I agree with you ;).

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

Hehehe! Thanks! It was actually a little difficult to come up with what elements I like or don't... I could write a whole little tirade on each one. ;)

[luthien-af.livejournal.com]

*sniggers* I caught myself typing as well, but it turned out to be much the same as what you wrote, so I deleted it again ;).

[willys-digs.livejournal.com]

Um, do you mind posting a link to this in my forum Salix. Don't have to if you don't want to, but I like this kind of stuff there.

hugs

Jo

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

Hm... I've been thinking about this for a few hours and I don't really feel comfortable with that. There are a lot of people on my flist and in the community who like angst and drama and high romance and marriage and babies for everyone. While I don't hold back on my opinions in my own journal, I don't want to put my thoughts out there and rain on anybody's parade. I don't like starting or being involved in flamewars either, and a lot of people take these things as personal attacks, which this isn't meant to be.

I'm flattered you'd want my thoughts included, though, and feel free to say whatever you want, personally, about my post in your forum. I just don't feel comfortable doing it myself.

[willys-digs.livejournal.com]

No, it's ok. No problem. :D

hugs

Jo

[maruchina.livejournal.com]

Totally agree with most of that!

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

I think most people do - I was drawing from "literature" as well as slash for those lists. But still, some people do like more romance and mroe emotional men and marriage/babies than I do. Whatever floats your boat. :)

[maruchina.livejournal.com]

I don't mind emotional men / romance if it fits the character, but in the case of Snape/Harry, I don't think that's a very logical way to go. :)

[ladykatiewench.livejournal.com]

Yes. I second this!

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

*smooch* :)