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stunt_muppet at 11:30pm on 09/02/2009 under bouncing ideas off y'all, homework-fleeing ten-minute lj break, things i want to write, writing
stunt_muppet at 11:30pm on 09/02/2009 under bouncing ideas off y'all, homework-fleeing ten-minute lj break, things i want to write, writingDear self:
You will not write fic in which character observations-cum-meta overlay a sex scene with varying degrees of explicitness. No, not even if you thought up some really good turns of phrase for it. Not even if it's for a ficathon and you could get away with it. And not even if it allows you to toss about wild conjecture with regards to Gallifreyan biology.
You will not write this fic because you've already written it. Point in fact you have written it twice, and considering your fic totals that's a greater percentage than needs to be spent in any subgenre. Please try to accomplish something else before you crawl back to your metapron cave.
Cheers,
Muppet.
...
...
It's called "Kama" and it's Three/Delgado and it's for the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
best_enemies cliche-fic-a-thon and it uses the slash cliche "christening the new vehicle/spaceship/whatever" only it's about christening the new body and the Doctor trying to recover a sense of self and ownership of his own body via the Master, since the Master despite the forced regeneration still sees him and knows him as the Doctor. And I get to write the sex all visceral and stuff and witter on about nerve endings
OH HOW THE WEIGHT OF THAT UNSPOKEN NARRATIVE BORE UPON MY SOUL. *falls over*
---
On another note, I don't know if I've been spending too much time on the Nightmare Fuel pages, but for some reason I really want to write something scary, or at least creepy and unsettling. Despite my own avowed wimpiness I'm fascinated by horror - one of the reasons I love Gothic literature and pulp fiction so much is that it's horror I can handle. And maybe because I forbid myself from seeing them so as to sleep better at night, but horror movies, particularly the legendarily disturbing ones - Takashi Miike's oerve, or Guillermo del Toro's, or David Lynch's, or David Cronenberg's - tempt me rather terribly. I want to see them myself, and know if they're really that bad. (Thankfully, some wiser part of me instantly cuts in with "YES THEY ARE" before I can follow through with this plan.)
Equally to the point, I want to know how they do it. I mean, obviously making a scary movie isn't the same as writing a scary story (but then, I don't know how Ellison and Danielewski do it either), but still, it's not as simple as thinking up what scares you and putting it to the screen or page and expecting it to scare the reader/viewer, too. And yet - and yet in some movies and stories, it is the mere inclusion of something shocking and horrific that creates the fear. It takes skill to be really scary, of course, but the fact that even subpar or less-than-brilliant movies can be scary is testament to the fact that content is a factor. See Example A: Bad zombie movies. Or that might be just me.
I don't think I even want to write an entire horror piece, because I don't know if I have the stomach for it. But I want to at least create something memorable - a monster that actually scares people in an adventure-fic, or a particularly disturbing image. I don't have the skill yet to make people run screaming or jump at shadows, but I at least want to make them uncomfortableand cackle in sadistic glee at them. And I don't know why, because considering how much I hate being scared myself, that's not really something to aspire to, is it?
What do you think? Has any fic ever scared or disturbed you (genuinely, I mean, not in a "so bad it's brainbreaking" way)? What about books and movies? What does it take to frighten you? Is there a specific scary subject matter that does it, or is it all in the execution - the directorial or writing style? Do you find anything enjoyable about being frightened?
Back to work with me.
You will not write fic in which character observations-cum-meta overlay a sex scene with varying degrees of explicitness. No, not even if you thought up some really good turns of phrase for it. Not even if it's for a ficathon and you could get away with it. And not even if it allows you to toss about wild conjecture with regards to Gallifreyan biology.
You will not write this fic because you've already written it. Point in fact you have written it twice, and considering your fic totals that's a greater percentage than needs to be spent in any subgenre. Please try to accomplish something else before you crawl back to your metapron cave.
Cheers,
Muppet.
...
...
It's called "Kama" and it's Three/Delgado and it's for the
best_enemies cliche-fic-a-thon and it uses the slash cliche "christening the new vehicle/spaceship/whatever" only it's about christening the new body and the Doctor trying to recover a sense of self and ownership of his own body via the Master, since the Master despite the forced regeneration still sees him and knows him as the Doctor. And I get to write the sex all visceral and stuff and witter on about nerve endings OH HOW THE WEIGHT OF THAT UNSPOKEN NARRATIVE BORE UPON MY SOUL. *falls over*
---
On another note, I don't know if I've been spending too much time on the Nightmare Fuel pages, but for some reason I really want to write something scary, or at least creepy and unsettling. Despite my own avowed wimpiness I'm fascinated by horror - one of the reasons I love Gothic literature and pulp fiction so much is that it's horror I can handle. And maybe because I forbid myself from seeing them so as to sleep better at night, but horror movies, particularly the legendarily disturbing ones - Takashi Miike's oerve, or Guillermo del Toro's, or David Lynch's, or David Cronenberg's - tempt me rather terribly. I want to see them myself, and know if they're really that bad. (Thankfully, some wiser part of me instantly cuts in with "YES THEY ARE" before I can follow through with this plan.)
Equally to the point, I want to know how they do it. I mean, obviously making a scary movie isn't the same as writing a scary story (but then, I don't know how Ellison and Danielewski do it either), but still, it's not as simple as thinking up what scares you and putting it to the screen or page and expecting it to scare the reader/viewer, too. And yet - and yet in some movies and stories, it is the mere inclusion of something shocking and horrific that creates the fear. It takes skill to be really scary, of course, but the fact that even subpar or less-than-brilliant movies can be scary is testament to the fact that content is a factor. See Example A: Bad zombie movies. Or that might be just me.
I don't think I even want to write an entire horror piece, because I don't know if I have the stomach for it. But I want to at least create something memorable - a monster that actually scares people in an adventure-fic, or a particularly disturbing image. I don't have the skill yet to make people run screaming or jump at shadows, but I at least want to make them uncomfortable
What do you think? Has any fic ever scared or disturbed you (genuinely, I mean, not in a "so bad it's brainbreaking" way)? What about books and movies? What does it take to frighten you? Is there a specific scary subject matter that does it, or is it all in the execution - the directorial or writing style? Do you find anything enjoyable about being frightened?
Back to work with me.
bored
long comment is long
I should let you know that your progress on "Memory" in part inspired me to get off my tush with the
I read seriously freaky fic in some anime fandom where the heroine had a stalker, but I was about 12 and ignoring the NC17 rating. But I remember it being well written, with a lot of suspense. Let's see, in particular I'm freaked out by rape, and injuries to the eyes. Cannibalism is gross, so I really disliked "Countrycide."
But in terms of freaked out that I like, I like suspense and good pacing, and leaving things to my imagination. This article cites my favorite example of why I like the trope, from Scott McCloud's Making Comics. McCloud = my hero. Oh, and to be more specific, I like mind control and convincing dystopia (both right and left; ie, I like 1984's slavery by pain as much as Brave New World's slavery by pleasure.)
long reply is also long!
The thing is, the things you mentioned freak me out as well - the first two especially - but then the trouble comes in translating that fear to the page. Is just putting in eye injury or the threat thereof enough, or is there a certain way it has to be written?
McCloud's Making Comics is such an entertaining read for what's essentially a book on art theory. We read it in my Humanities class a couple of years ago, and I just couldn't put it down. The thing is, though, even I know suspense and leaving things to the reader creates fear more effectively, actually doing so is...another matter. How much needs to be revealed? When do you pull the metaphorical mask off? How does that translate from visual media to writing without looking like you're deliberately obscuring the POV character?
Things to ponder.
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In summary: DOOOO EEEET.
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DISREGARD EVERYTHING. Write moar.
Love,
Kayliesaur.
P.S. my dog is a zombie and he will snuggle while he eats your brain.
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P.S. AAAAH ZOMBIEDOGS AAAAH. *flees*
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I'M SOOOOOOO COOL.
Next, my dog shall attack you with his chocolate orbs.
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Chocolate orbs are not nearly so disturbing as brain-eating. *snuggles Traf*