writing about thinking

[mamajoan]

There was a discussion elsewhere in lj, and unfortunately I can't point you to it because I can't remember where it was, but basically it was about people posting things on fic-lists that are not so much complete fics as snippets, drabbles, improvs, or whatever other term you want to use. That is, the author gets an idea, types a few paragraphs, gives it a title and posts it on a list, just like that.

I hate to make generalizations, so I'll qualify myself first by saying that this isn't necessarily a bad thing. I mean, a short fic isn't bad per se. But too often it's just basically a brain-dump, glorified far beyond its merits by being called a fic.

And then, today while crawling the fic-groups to see what's new, I was reminded of another fanfic practice that I also really dislike. It's sort of related to the above. In this "genre," the author introduces the "story" by having a character sit around thinking about how much s/he loves (or, sometimes, hates) another character. Then follows a whole bunch of paragraphs which, basically, recap the plot (of the show itself) thus far. Each incident that has happened in an episode is recounted, with maybe a sentence or two added on about how our POV character feels/felt about that incident. And at the end, our POV character sits there thinking, basically, "wow, all this has happened and I really love(/hate) him/her. I wish I could tell him/her how I feel." Or something like that.

Dude, that's not a fanfic. At most, and I'm being charitable here, that's an expository essay on the history of the characters' interactions and the development of the 'ship. That's something you post to a discussion list under the header "My thoughts on this season's episodes and what they say about the [insert ship here] relationship." That's not something you post on a fic list as a completed story!

I dunno, maybe I'm just being harsh or something. And again, this is a generalization -- there's nothing inherently wrong with writing a story where you go through the episodes one-by-one and analyze how each one has furthered the 'ship. But you have to *add* something to it, you have to give it a form and a plot of your own, more than just "Character A sits around thinking about Character B." You have to make it more, in other words, than just a MightyBigTV episode summary.

I guess basically my problem is that "Character A sits around thinking" is a hard type of fanfic for me to get behind. I'm not saying it's necessarily bad (how many times have I said that now in this one post?) but it's something you really have to put a lot of care and thought into, if you're going to make it a worthwhile story. Because, too often, authors who do that type of fic seem to end up just telling us what we already know.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

The discussion was in Basingstoke's LJ (http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?itemid=23746024).

And I don't disagree with you that there has to be some movement to make it a story, it can't just be a rehash of the show/book/whatever. A mood piece or a thought piece like that needs to have some sort of revelation or decision or even a portrayal of the character's inability to make a decision, etc. Or, even better, some action taken at the end, as a result of all that thinking.

At least, when I write those short pieces, that's what I try to do.

Then again, in at least one thought-piece I've written, it was more an explanation on how the character got to where we first saw her onscreen -- sort of an autobiography where she explains *why* she wants to go to Alaska, which is what she's talking about in her first scene in the movie, and then when we see her again, she's on her way there (though she never quite makes it *g*).

I will admit to not having read the pieces Bas points out, but I'm so far behind in Smallville reading that it's not surprising. *g*

~victoria

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link! And yeah ... I don't actually agree with all the examples that Bas uses; some of 'em are fleshed-out enough to be what I'd call character studies. And it wasn't any of those that sparked my little rant here. It was another one, which really *did* read just like a recap of the last few episodes.

Then again, in at least one thought-piece I've written, it was more an explanation on how the character got to where we first saw her onscreen

See, that's perfectly valid AFAIC. At least it's SAYING something.