(no subject)

[caz963]

Because I'm procrastinating...

Gakked from zinke :

Ask me a question about one of my stories. It can be about absolutely anything in any fic and I will tell you the honest-to-god answer. Don’t hold back.

Comments

[caz963.livejournal.com]

The second part of that is easy - I think it has to be The Theory of Evolution (http://caz963.livejournal.com/51557.html).
It's a fic I'm quite pleased with, as I think it represents one of those "steps up" for me as a writer that I talked about further upthread. On the other hand, I did agonise about it and work on it a lot - and the reason is, I think, that it's one of those fics where I had to have Josh and Donna communicating without either saying what they meant or saying anything at all! And given the medium, that's very difficult! I mean how the hell do you write down what people don't say?!

As for the first question. Being completely honest, I've rarely had to do really major re-writes. And I know that sounds incredibly conceited, but I'm trying to just be honest. I'm sure coloneljack will correct me if I'm wrong, because she's beta'd practically everything I've written, but I think Number Eighteen (http://caz963.livejournal.com/127717.html) came out pretty much as I posted it, as did Changing Horizons (http://caz963.livejournal.com/143279.html) and some of the smaller fics like Syntactical Pedantry (http://caz963.livejournal.com/138491.html") and Carrying the Card (http://caz963.livejournal.com/113393.html). I think I changed two words in Flirting with Disaster (http://caz963.livejournal.com/100742.html) (which was a short, S60 dialogue fic). Oh, same with that daft WW/S60 crossover I wrote, Light Friday Nights (http://caz963.livejournal.com/93432.html).

[(Anonymous)]

I don't mean to just jump in here but you asked "how the hell do you write down what people don't say?"
As a reader, I've found that when a writer captures the characters and writes them very true to what I'm used to watching (frame by frame on DVD at times) it is very easy for me to get what you are trying to convey without writing it down. I think there are a handful of writers who understand and write the characters that well and I'm pretty sure they are all involved in this discussion so to you all THANK YOU.
BTW I also loved the one with Donna and the vibrating panties, I can't believe I forgot to tell you that.

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't mind your jumping in at all - the more the merrier!

I agree with that you say about the writing of the things unsaid - although of course that does rely on the reader to an extent; to trust that they see and understand that characters in the same way. But then I guess anyone who reads my stuff and doesn't like it won't like it because they don't see them in the same way. And if I was being really bitchy self-aggrandising, I'd say that's because they're wrong and they need to stand there in their wrongness and be wrong! *g*

Anyway - thanks for the kind words; and never feel awkward about contributing to a discussion - I'm all for it!

[(Anonymous)]

Well I'm just going to consider myself an elitist, Yankee, jackass fic reader and join you in mocking those who have to stand there in their wrongness and be wrong, because clearly they don't know what they are missing and the show most likely went over their moomoo wearing, chain smoking, closed little pointy heads.

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Hee! coloneljack often says she's a fic-snob, but I don't think wanting to read fic where the characters are ones we recognise makes us snobs. It just makes us discerning readers!