that perfect sentence

[kaigou]

I can't recall now who I was fussing at (oh, I do it so often) but sometimes the most aggravating thing about a good fic is knowing that in a chapter, there will be a sentence that makes me almost squeee in happiness. Alright, that probably sounds egotistical, but hey, us writers need our little moments of "yeah, that's exactly it." There are lines like that in nearly every story, that just stand out, and when I reread to revise or just refresh my memory, I always find myself just a little down that no one else ever noticed or commented on that throw-away line, that description, whatever.

"Doctor J," Duo realizes, tracking the words, inserting the lead frame between the bright words of Heero's stained-glass speech.

That's definitely one of them. Wrote that and had to stop and stare at the screen and think, wah. That's exactly what it'd be like, to parse aphasic speech patterns. Getting the nouns and verbs, not an, the, a, and, if, you, are... Just the bright parts. And for once (yay) I've gotten back maybe nine or ten comments that point out that single line as being one that stood out for the readers. I don't know if this means I'm getting better as a writer (though I hope so), but it does strike me as a beautiful symmetry, that I'm coming up with more lines that are memorable to me and memorable to readers.

So, I was regaling CP with the details of aphasia, the various types of head injuries - explaining if I didn't research this stuff and use it properly, sevenall would hunt me down and hurt me - and he just got this depressed look on his face. He says, "I don't get why you spend time on this, putting energy into this when you could use that in an original piece, instead."

Man.

I had to explain - and am I the only one who has to say this? tell me I'm not - that it's not like I can't use this plotline, or the style, or the ideas, or even the sentence itself, elsewhere. I wrote it, I own it. But the original fiction board I'm on, if I were to do a short piece like this and post for review...well, the response would be: "look, if you want to experiment, go take a class or something." And I hate taking classes in creative writing. Not because I hate writing on demand - but because I always feel like an idiot. "Oh. We were just supposed to write 500 words? I got kinda caught up, here's the first 20,000 words...and I'm halfway through the next chapter..." Teachers seem to dislike students like me, because the time required to read/crit such a length is, well, pretty intensive. I suck at short stories, too.

But fanfic is so much safer (if that's the right word?) for going completely into a different style, like I did with Kingfisher. Lesson learned? Writing an entire novel in this style would be damn hard, and my name is definitely not Eudora Welty. I'm rather proud I managed it for 10,000 words, damn it! I guess my point is that the requirements of an original piece - that not only do I present information, characters, plot, surroundings and get you to give a damn abou them - are somewhat alleviated. I don't have to make anyone care about Heero, Duo, or the rest - you already do, or you wouldn't be reading. That much work is already done, and it frees me to play around with the rest.

Just pondering. I still can't think of any story currently in my head for aphasia and that stained-glass description of speech patterns, but hey. Maybe someday. It's not like - as CP fears - that the line will be "gone," lost once it's used, like I'll forget about it. Hell, I suspect it'll be ten years from now and GWA will still be around. Woo! Scavenge my own work, way down the road...

*wanders off, pondering weiss kreuz*

Comments

[merith.livejournal.com]

You know, I paused on that line and though - wow, that would so be true. Fragmented, each piece maintained within itself and only brought together by the lead - only truly making sense when the whole picture is together. Heero's mind would reflect that - some of the lead holding his blocks of stained glass together has crumbled away leaving gaps in memory and skills.

And though I know we chatted about it, I'm still sad, but... it's a good fic. The writer in me likes what you did with it. The heero/duo fan in me hates that they're not together, no matter that he'll forever be remembered.

[solitude1056.livejournal.com]

I'm still pondering what to do to it, for continuity - got a comment from Aishuu (who's also on Scimitar) that there are things that seem to signify Duo is quite grounded, more so than one might expect. To me, it seems as though he should be - there should be things he does - little things that might freak the people around him (if they notice) - and are indication of how little they don't, being focused on something else. (Like Hil, never noticed the socks falling out of the container in the ship, though I might alter that.)

I promise. Next one will be a HAPPY story. Really. Uh, now to think of a plot...

[sarolynne.livejournal.com]

That is a good sentence. And very representitive of the whole fic, actually. It's sort of disjointed, but in a very surreal, pretty way. If that makes sense. I think that there was a grace to this story that was more apparent than in most of your work. In this case, I think it was a good experiment.

And of course you can reuse your own lines. I call that poaching off old stories. ;)

[solitude1056.livejournal.com]

Poaching is a GOOD thing.

rambling while at work

[drich.livejournal.com]

Personally, as a reader, I like your experimentation. It makes for stories that are worth saving and definitely rereading later to get even more out of them. Otherwise you just have a rehash of plot #39, character set #14, situation #8, basically brain candy or worse. Though there can be some outstanding brain candy worth saving.

Kingfisher was an emotional brick upside the head for me. I've read it through 4 times now, and even just thinking about it while writing this still has me tearing up. The impact is associative as I've had several relatives that have had strokes and/or headed into Alzheimer's. The symptoms are similar except most of my folks went in the opposite direction, not getting better. That's hard to watch. Being blindsided like that by your fic makes it hard to pick out just one memorable part.

Anyway, back to the other points. No research is ever wasted, whether you are a writer trying to add verisimilitude or a reader intrigued by some factoid enough to find more info. Once you own that piece of information, it's in your brain ready for future reference, later use, depth of understanding on the same or similar topics, or merely for personal satisfaction. Um, why yes I have spent far too many hours chasing weird bits of info all over the internet just so *I* could know.

The writing of fanfic, in regards to a writer looking to become published, seems like a fairly safe set of 'training wheels'. You wind up with a built-in, self-help therapy group ready to hash out the latest story, willing to be bourne along on an experiment, who seem to be somewhat more forgiving than the orig fic groups full of those wanting to write the 'great American novel'(tm). In the SF/F field I've noticed that some published authors will thank their writing groups and name names. Some of those names have also been published. Seems like sticking within a chosen genre you wind up with a better critical support structure regardless of whether you are writing fanfic or orig fic.

As I am so *not* a writer, all this can be taken with a shaker of salt.

Re: rambling while at work

[solitude1056.livejournal.com]

I'm beginning to wonder if the impact was so strong because I didn't set out to write angst. I just thought I'd trace the path of healing after a severe head injury, and look what happened. Perhaps this is why ...And Takes Away doesn't get the same reaction - there I was writing for angst, to provoke a reaction, and...doesn't work. IMO. And based on the lack of gut-wrenching emails.

Yah, I do think having a support structure that not only supports me (for real, as opposed to just telling me what I want to hear) but has the guts to follow me into new stories and 'gee, what's Sol's latest wacky attempt' and not balk at the content, style, or rating... yes, this would be why my corner of the fanfic world is worth its weight in frickin' gold, man!

;D