Multi-chaptered fics, crossover central and SpecOps-27.

[raven]

So. Nothing happened today - I have not started revising and have spent a pleasant day reading, writing and lurking on the internet - so all I have to say will be fannish. Feel free to skip.

Firstly, a gripe about FictionAlley, of all things. I just submitted a fic to TDA, entitled Hunter's Moon. I was rather doubtful about the fic, but it got a good reception and both thunderemerald and language_idling pimped it, which made me very happy (thank you!). So far, so hoopy. But in the reviews, some people asked when I was going to write the next bit. Um. Well. Apart from an unpublished fic called "Paragons" and the untitled crossover epic amchau and I are writing at the moment, I've never, ever written a chaptered fic. When you reach the end of the page, my fics are over. Now, I do like FA. It's like Heliopolis used to be. It has its share of bad fic, but so does everywhere. It's a nice place and I like it and what's more, I'm a Niffler. I like it there! However, like the Pit of Voles, it caters for multi-chaptered fics. I am not saying that is a bad thing. But it means people are incapable of realising that there is such a thing as a one-shot!

Maybe it's me. Maybe I don't provide enough resolution to my fics. I don't know. It's part of my inability to write plot; I could feasibly end at any point. Choosing when to end is the difficult part. I have eight fics archived at FA (argh - when did that happen?) with a couple more forthcoming, and they are all one-shots. I don't do fics that aren't. I suppose I could email/owl the people who want to know when the next chapter is coming up, and tell them it isn't, but that would be curiously... lame. This sort of thing didn't used to happen in my other fandoms. Good Omens is inclined to short fics, as is M*A*S*H, and when I was in Stargate fandom, people did write epics, but because Heliopolis didn't allow multiple chapters, they had to write everything and then upload it all at once. I never used to read them. More than 50kb and I avoided it.

In other news, amchau and I are progressing nicely. We're having lots of fun, in fact. Harry and Neville are the parents of Ponder Stibbons, Remus went turtleback-riding in his younger days and had a torrid affair with Angua, and Draco shows unexpected affinity with granite. It's all good. We don't have a title yet, but this fic doesn't get a Fic From Hell number because it's so much fun. I shall have to write more tonight.

And lastly: would anyone be interested in Thursday Next fanfiction? I have read the first two books and will have to wait for school to start before I can get the third one out of the library, so I went hunting for fic. There is no ff.net category, and typing "Thursday Next fanfiction" into Google doesn't get me anywhere. Neither did "Eyre Affair fanfiction." I suppose part of the problem is that the three books are in themselves fanfiction. They may be published, but they follow the time-honoured traditions of metafic. I like that, actually; I also like the way they never, never take themselves seriously, but you do end feeling a real liking for the characters. I particularly like the names of the three sets of SO-5 operatives - Kannon and Phodder, Dedmen and Walken, and Lamb and Slaughter.

The other problem is that if there were a fandom - there doesn't seem to be one - it doesn't have a name. I noticed this when trying to find a relevant category on ff.net. You could call it "Thursday Next fandom" or "Eyre Affair fandom" or some combination of the two, but it's made difficult by the fact the trilogy doesn't have a title. Like His Dark Materials has a separate title for all three books taken together.

So, as always, if you want something done you have to do it yourself.

[Poll #223109]

For the record, Thursday Next is a person. She is a literary detective and registered dodo owner.

Comments

[mirazandar.livejournal.com]

I know wery well how you feel about the chaptered fic thing. Though I only ever published one fic, all the people asking for a sequel made me feel strange about it. When I have read a book, i don't WANT all the threads to be tied and all the questions answered. it made me think that perhaps I'm not a good enaugh writer. After a while, I decided that the thing is that fic readers aren't satisfied unless someone ends up in eachother's arms in the end. And I don't write fluff. I occationally do romance, but not happy romance, not explicit sex (though I read it all) hmm.. that was confuising...seems like I do'nt make sense today

[hathy-col.livejournal.com]

For the record, Thursday Next is a person. She is a literary detective and registered dodo owner.

You know, I've read about this book somewhere else and have quite fancied reading it myself. As you're normally a good gauge over what books are good (Good Omens, anyone?) I'll tak your word on it and possibly hunt in the library next week.

Do you still want me to bring Moving Pictures on Monday?

[thunderemerald.livejournal.com]

You know, the emphasis on chaptered fics on FA really bugs me too. I say that as something of a hypocrite, since I'm currently working on a multi-chapterer of my own, but seriously, I think that people assume that all fics SHOULD be chaptered, and if they aren't, well, they're just one-shots awaiting sequels, right? I've had to send numerous owls to people explaining that there would not, in fact, be any updates in the future -- that the fics to which they referred were FINISHED.

Actually, I'm a giant advocate of one-shots. They make up the majority of what I read, and in my Lupin fanfic nexus thingie, most of the stories I list are one-shots. Mainly because I just don't have a lot of time on my hands (usually), and I like to be able to finish a story on the same day that I start it -- but also because authors of chaptered fics, more often than not, will tend to use their unlimited space to ramble and ramble and just never get to a point. (I often use the infamous Cassie Claire as a prime example of this.) There are many, many exceptions, but for the most part, honestly, I avoid chaptereds unless they either come recommended or just look VERY promising.

[language-idling.livejournal.com]

I like a good, satisfying one shot. Very, very much.

What I must say about Hunter's Moon, though, is that the first time I read it through, I thought that you had only sent me the first bit of it. I did find that it lacked closure. After reading it a second and a third and a fourth and more times, however, I no longer felt that way at all. That is why I didn't say anything about it. I think the reason behind that initial feeling is that you get into a lot of detail about the war and what is going on in the fight against Voldemort, then shift from that to focusing on the relationship between Remus and Sirius. It isn't immediately apparent that Voldemort's attack on werewolves is the secondary plot in the story. The readers are kind of expecting a decisive battle to end off the story. Realising that they're not going to get that, they expect at least a kiss, Sirius finding the courage to tell Moony he love him and Moony reciprocating. I found the conclusion to the story deeply satisfying, but I think it only is so if you read the story slowly and really think about it, which most of us don't do when we're reading fanfic. You're a cerebral, literary fanfic writer and, because you're giving people something they don't expect, they get confused.

I did pick it up and start beta-ing it a few weeks ago. Procrastination. Y'know. ;) That's why I've read it through so many times. I'm not *that* obsessive.

[amchau.livejournal.com]

We don't have a title yet, but this fic doesn't get a Fic From Hell number because it's so much fun. I shall have to write more tonight.

It sounds like time to open up the title producing factory-- especially if we're giving the thing chapter titles as well.

I'm quite fond of "A Most Unlikely Family" for the title, actually. Although "Not Quite Where We'd Expected" or "A Rocky Road" would work, too.

For the chapter titles-- I've been thinking. Prologue-- I like "A Tradition In Wizarding Circles". Chapter 1: "Pronouns Have Become More Complicated"; Chapter 2: "The Introduction of Trouble"; Chapter 3: "Interesting Revelations"; Chapter 4: "A Night's Work Over Many Years"; Chapter 5: "Romantic Breakfast For Twelve (With Horsemeat)"; and Chapter 6: "Gregarious Granite".

Your suggestions welcome, of course. They'll probably be better than mine.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I have to ask - which fandom were you writing in? Some fandoms, like HP, are full of teenagers, and what you might call the more immature segment of readers and writers. They don't understand that real life does not work like that. Totally my opinion of course, and there's exceptions all over the place, but still. It's what I'm inclined to think.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Ooh, good. I think you'll like them - they have a very well-defined sense of the surreal.

And Moving Pictures - yes please! It's the last one left for me to read!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to tell you for a while how damn useful your Nexus is for this tortured Niffler. My next Niffle is going to be "Hate Myself" (by Hans Bokart?), and I found it through you. So there you go.

And I, too, am an advocate of one-shots. I only Niffle one-shots because they're all I read. I have never read the Draco trilogy (which I know makes me the only person in the fandom who hasn't) mainly because it's a WIP. I absolutely agree with you on the idea of most readers at FA having this insane idea that all fics must be chaptered. Before entering this fandom, I had never written a chaptered fic, but equally never considered them as a possibility.

And no, I do not think you're a hypocrite. Chaptered fics are not bad in themselves, it's just not considering any other way of doing things that is.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I love these chapter titles. The ones I've suggested are in the email attachment, but I think these are different. I particularly like the ones for chapters 2, 4 and 5.

As for overall title - I don't know which one I like best. Will get back to you on that!

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

First off, I have to admit that with "Everyone's a Stranger," I did have a part in a chaptered fic. But I have to agree with you that I don't understand the insistence on chaptered pieces in some segments of fandom. I don't remember it ever happening to me on the mash-slash list, but on occasion, I've posted pieces on ff.net (which were bad and subsequently removed, but this is not the point!) and had people ask for more. Well, that's flattering, I suppose, but I can't write more on a fic that's finished. It's a bit distressing to think that my fics have so little closure -- not resolution, per se, but closure -- that people feel the need to ask for more. After a lot of anxiety about this, though, I've started noticing what was mentioned in comments above: that, in general, it's the more "immature" readers who are asking for that; or, at least, who are asking seriously, rather than rhetorically and as a compliment. One thing I do dislike heartily about fandom is that so many people are in it just to have their kinks satisfied -- the happy ending, the smarm, the explicit sex, what have you -- and simply Don't Get It when someone isn't writing to those kinks.

(Usually, I also fail to understand the practice of posting chapters as a fic is being written. What if it fails in the middle? I throw away so many fics halfway through that I can't imagine putting myself in a position where people are reading a fic of mine that might fall apart at any moment.)

Your fics are gorgeous. You know that, or at least I hope you do. My personal preference is one-shot fics anyway, but yours especially lend themselves to that format. I like that yours allow for a certain measure of ambiguity; that's real, that's visceral, and that's what sticks with me. As I said to you a while ago, I really do agree with my English teacher: most writers, at heart, want to explain, to close the world down. It's the rare and brave writer who opens up the world. I wouldn't ever want you to change that about your fic.

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

Why do I talk so much? I'm sorry.

[mirazandar.livejournal.com]

i just wrote on fic, and it was on fictionalley.

And if JKR wrote sequels to everything - we probably would have very little fanfiction.

[thunderemerald.livejournal.com]

Oh, fantastic! "Hate Myself" is a beautiful story, isn't it? She's an excellent writer, usually a little too focused on the torturing-people aspect of her stories, but she really dug deep and came up with some good stuff in this one. And I'm glad the Nexus has been useful -- until I read your reply to my reply, I'd been pretty convinced that the only people who looked at it were my friend Danielle and, well, me. So thanks!

And no, I do not think you're a hypocrite. Chaptered fics are not bad in themselves, it's just not considering any other way of doing things that is.

Couldn't have put it better myself. My opinion is that it should only be chaptered if it (a) contains multiple ideas that would be better addressed in multiple chapters, or (b) is simply too long.

And as for the Draco Trilogy, there's no need to hurry. I read the first two parts of it (mostly because my little sister told me that she would read "Call of the Wild" if I read the DT, my favourite story and hers respectively), enjoyed them well enough when I got over the fact that they were so ridiculously out of character that it wasn't even funny, but couldn't read the third one at all. Because by the end of the second one, the author got to bogged down in clichéd descriptive passages that she forgot to tell the story. And that is one of my biggest pet peeves in the entire world. Which brings me back to my assertion that chaptered fics give the author an excuse to raaaaamble.....

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I hate, hate, hate LJ. It just ate a 500-word comment. I would like to kill someone now.

Usually, I also fail to understand the practice of posting chapters as a fic is being written. What if it fails in the middle?

In brief - I totally agree with the "immaturity" aspect of this phenomenon. Someone, I forget who, did post a list of signs of an immature writer, and posting WIPs was one of them. It's being a feedback-whore (not that we aren't all feedback whores to some extent) and thinking more about the feedback than the writing itself. Which isn't true in all cases, of course, but is in some. I've ranted about this before and got a chilly reception, but I still stand by it.

The kinks thing, too - immature readers this time. They want X to get with Y, and if that doesn't happen the fic is automatically crap, full stop. I hate that. Especially when the pairings are so canonically implausible. I have to say, though, being a slash writer, I write for my own kinks. Sirius and Remus (and Vimes and Vetinari and Hawk and Trapper) aren't officially together in canon (though the jury's still out on Sirius/Remus!) so in assuming they are, I'm writing to please myself. Although, I have to say that stretches to all fanfiction.

I am, as always, incredibly flattered by what you say about my fic, particularly because I have real faith in your opinion, but I do feel a little bit unworthy of it because what I do, I do not do consciously. I write it as it comes to me and then look at it later to see why/how it works/doesn't work. Like at the moment - my English coursework has been given back to me with notes for what I can put in the accompanying commentary. My teacher (wonderful teacher, it's the rest of the class that annoy me) has annotated and scribbled and said this signifies this and this is symbolic of that, and I really didn't decide to write it so it could be interpreted like that, it just happened. So much of my writing just happens, late at night when I'm in an in-between state and I just type till I'm tired.

Oh, and Leigh? Darling, if you talked twice as much, I would still hang on your every word and wish you posted more. :)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I wasn't terribly sure about this fic. I wrote it during the summer without school to adjust my perspective in between writing sessions, and so being immersed in it for so long warped my sense of closure. I think it was meant to be a "mood" piece - capture a moment, that's it - but on the way it developed a plot, which I suppose is no bad thing, but the structure and style are still left over from a pure slice-of-life.

I am glad you decided the conclusion worked. As I said, I wasn't in the best position for deciding if it did or not. And it's not a fandom for inconclusive endings, which made it more difficult.

Here's to one-shots. May they never die.