mrsronweasley | (no subject)

A recent post by Minx reminded me of something I was going to write, just to sort of get it down on paper, as it were. I've been thinking a lot about writing lately, and what I do and don't like. This sort of has to do with things that work for me as a reader, as well as someone who dabbles in writing, and hopes to make it her number one way of making a living someday. So, this won't be in any order, it's both on fanfiction and any fiction at all. It's all just my opinion, obviously, so any pet-peeves encountered are my own problem.

For instance, I strongly dislike - STRONGLY dislike - characterization being upstaged by pretty language that is used to show off the author's skill. First of all, in fanfiction, that skill is often not enough. I mean, weaving interesting and pretty phrases and sentences is great - I love it, I love words, I love new and interesting ways of writing. However, when characters all read as cardboard cutouts with no personalities just because the grittiness would get in the way of the pretty, I get frustrated. Especially in fanfiction, in fact. Presumably, we write fanfiction because we like these characters, these situations, these worlds. How can we forget about them, and just write Any Two/Three/Whatever People without using their own personalities? Same goes for plot. I really believe that the characters need to control the plot, not the other way around. This may not go along with certain literary theories, ideas of art, etc, but that's the way I like it. I think about real life, and I apply it to my writing. It doesn't always work, obviously, but it does make writing more interesting and somewhat livelier (at least I hope it does.) If I can see a certain character in a certain situation, I like it. When I can't, it drives me nuts.

Of course - and that's a big 'of course' - in fanfiction, we may all see the characters differently, therefore our ideas of what they would do/are capable of are very different. This is where I just stick to the characterizations I like, obviously. However, there's also the fact that I've seen people talk about how they see certain characters, and then write something that doesn't go along with those ideas at all. Or, like I said, the characters are just blank canvases that never get filled. Or they're boring. Or whatever. I think you see my point by now.

I hate being told, as opposed to being shown. Yes, we've all heard this in our English/other first language classes, and it's so true. I want to BE in the scene, in that character's head, really SEEING the scene through their eyes. I don't want to be told that at a specific moment, they suddenly felt something new. I want to know how it happens, and for what reasons. It IS possible to show all this instead of outlining, I've seen it done, and it was perfect. So many writers tend to just skip the hard part and get to the easy part, and I've done it myself, and gone back to reread and wanted to throw up. I just love being in the scene, I suppose.

As for strictly fanfiction, my pet peeves are pretty well documented in various places. I like canon. I like turning back to canon as an anchor. Canon is why I started with this whole thing in the first place. Canon is where I'll stay (unless it's concerned with a certain Bad Event, in which place, I'll put on my Denial Shoes and dance the monkey). I don't like unbelievable (to me) pairings, I don't like slash for the sake of slash, or het for the sake of het. I want explanations. I need to know why, and I need the 'why' to make sense. (I'm a needy bitch, wow.) The way I see it is, if you want to write certain people together that wouldn't actually be together under any circumstances in canon, you should just suck it up and write original characters, ones that are clean slates and can do whatever they like, including putting on Denial Shoes and dancing the monkey. In other words, Harry really doesn't want Hermione, Neville really isn't going to fuck his toad, and Tonks is a big bad dyke and dykes and poofs don't have sex together. (Ok, that last one may not be quite CANON, but.. but... you know... We don't really know, do we?)

But like I said - these are my perceptions of canon, my preferences, and my beliefs. I've read things that have sucked me into them even with unbelievable pairings because the authors had done such amazing things with showing and explaining and, well, writing in general.

And, yes, I realize that I went through a Snape/Harry phase. I have two words for you: Minx and Cybele. I think I can rest my case.

Randomly, not having anything to do with writing: I hate doing the hard things.

Threaded | Flat

As with so many things, we share a brain on the writing stuff. Every word there gets a ditto. :)

And me too. Sigh, eh? *HUGS*

(here from

daily_snitch!)

Hmm, the thing with the pretty language is, I think that's just a different kind of writing. It's like prose poetry vs. traditional narrative, and as someone who has written both, and reads both, I think they're really intended to do different things, and have different effects, and either can be really, really sublime.

Anyway, that said, I have noticed a disturbing trend in every fandom I've been in, where people will have, during discussions, a really fascinating take on a character, and then when they write that all goes away and gets replaced by... something virtually unrecognizable.

And that pairing thing: AMEN. I've had this discussion with a friend of mine who used to be into a VERY unlikely couple (She's since become a vague canon!whore) wherein my basic point was that, to write them as a pairing, one would need to write them as entirely different people... and indeed, in stories where they are lovers, they are almost universally written as entirely different people. So what's the point? Confusing.

I really believe that the characters need to control the plot, not the other way around.

*blinks* This is why I had a problem with Mary Jane in both Spidermans! (She has Mary Sue, plot device written all over her *sigh*) *cough* Sorry, I'm slow to figure some things out. This is also, I think, why I can't stand action flicks in general.

I like canon. I like turning back to canon as an anchor. Canon is why I started with this whole thing in the first place.

I tend to agree. I also tend to get frustrated by a lack of things that I actually want to read. I prefer that fics have a heavy hand of canon in them, but I also have a huge soft spot for AUs and post-Voldemort fics because they're something new and different and it's an extrapolation of what someone thinks of a character and their situation. As long as I know it's going to be AU or that it's going to be a post-Voldemort fic, I can generally forgive deviations in canon. I'll also give the characterizations a lot of leeway as long as they don't do something that monumentally pisses me off. Like characterize Sirius or Ron as total morons or make Snape and every Slytherin in the universe the best thing since sliced bread. But then again, I think that might be more because I tend to be a really sloppy writer myself. *looks a bit shamefaced*

I don't like slash for the sake of slash, or het for the sake of het.

*totally agrees* Sometimes I'll let it slide if I'm particularly enamored by a characterization apart from the romance, but yeah, those fics do fall flat because then you really have no reason to care if the characters get together or stay together or fuck like rabbits. Like a KS/RL that I read. I loved the exploration of Remus' character, but really didn't understand Kingsley's infatuation with him or why they were even moving towards that whole 'being together' thing. In fact, I think it would have worked better for me as a gen fic. *shrugs*

*lop-sided grin* Not that you asked for my opinion on any of this, just sparked a couple of loose thoughts in my head. ^-^;;

I could write a lengthy reply, or I could just spare us all and say, "YEAH!" I agree with everything you've said here, including, of course, Tonks is a big bad dyke and dykes and poofs don't have sex together.

Sorry about the Snape/Harry phase. If it's any consolation, I'm out of mine, too.