brigdh | (no subject)

New computer! New computer! New computer!

Feel my glee, y'all. ^_^ It's a Dell Latitude, and I'm so very happy with it. It still needs a name, though...

While I was in the computer store, which also does repairs, someone came in to drop off their laptop. It was the exact same brand and make as my last one, and it had the same problem that I'd had. Hah. I knew it wasn't my fault.

Okay, now a bunch of links:

gushoushinfiles. For all your Yami fandom needs. It's like

fandom_bb, but for YnM instead of Smallville. It'll keep track of new fic, icons, challenges, whatever. Such a cool resource. Much love for

animadri. She does way too much stuff for this fandom. ^^

rinoared wrote an excellent Tatsumi/Tsuzuki/Hisoka essay for

ship_manifesto. So cool.

And speaking of

ship_manifesto, do you realize that no one is signed up to do Muraki/Tsuzuki? That is just wrong. Someone should sign up! Don't make me do it, my essay would be far too strongly influenced by the fact that I really dislike Muraki. But we can't let the pairing just languish.

Meanwhile,

yasminm has collected 20 themes for Yami no Matsuei, plus a few bonus ones. And she's working on a list for Weiss Kreuz. Go suggest some! See, the idea is that you take these themes, and write a fic for each of them. Major, major cool points for anyone who actually manages to write all 20. But it's a very neat idea for a challenge.

And now I swear to stop pimping things out for a moment. I wouldn't have to keep making link-posts if so much stuff didn't happen. :p But I have a question that I'd like people's opinions on. At what point does fanfic become too self-indulgent? I mean, on some level, obviously all fanfic- all writing, even- is self-indulgent. It's telling stories that you expect people to listen to, writing down your daydreams- though hopefully with a bit more characterization and tighter plot- in the hope that it will make other people happy as well. But where's the point that it becomes too much? How do you know if you've gotten in to a project that's nothing but your kinks and ideas, with no interest to anyone else?

Is there a point at which some stuff just shouldn't be written? Or shouldn't be published, at least. How far can you reasonably expect readers to follow you? And how do you know when you've crossed the line?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's a fascinating question, and I wish I knew the answer. The thing is, I suspect that this is a little like the in-some-ways-related question of how a writer knows whether she's done enough research for a piece. The answer to that one, in my experience, is an ugly little paradox: a writer who's inclined to think that she's only done a fraction of her research is probably at the point where she should stop fretting about whether her characters would have shoes that laced, and should just write her story; the one who's confident that she's done plenty needs to go back to the library. I sometimes fear that, similarly, the writers who have enough self-awareness and skill to worry about how close they're coming to the self-indulgence line, and who hold themselves back because of it, may be cutting themselves off from doing remarkable work because of it. The people who don't worry about self-indulgence at all, meanwhile, are the ones posting the really embarrassing stuff.

But I don't know that, because if I'm right to worry, we just aren't seeing the cool stuff that the best writers might do if they weren't afflicted with taste and critical awareness. And if I'm wrong, then what's not making it through the filters is the material that in all justice ought not to.

As a reader, I know when the line's been crossed when a little voice in my head begins saying, well, this is all very interesting; but don't you think you should be discussing it with your therapist, not with me? But I find that happening with professionally published work all the time -- and that means, I can't help but think, that there's a huge audience that isn't bothered when the writer goes too far.

Not only isn't bothered, but may actually like it. Honestly, is there anything else that explains the popularity of Tom Clancy's later novels, which feature one of the most blatant Mary Sues in all pop literature? Or the readers who're defending Anne Rice?

Not, I suspect, that most of us here would want to be either one of them, artistically speaking. But their fans would probably be unhappy if they stopped doing the things that make us shudder.

Which is a hell of a long way to go round to repeat, damned if I know. But if anybody does have a better answer, or a good way to tell when you're crossing the line as you write, I'd love to hear it.

I definitely think you're right to compare it to research; that's an excellent way to think of it. Of course, that doesn't really with the question at all, because it makes the answer: always more than you think you need! Except when it's less than you think you need. Heh.

No one seems to have a good answer, though. I suspect it may be one of those timeless questions, like what style is best or how much description is good or where should I start and end the story or how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.

I suspect I just need to stop worrying and write it. Or at least get beta readers to reassure that I haven't become lost entirely inside of my own head.