alias_sqbr

Haven't done one of these posts in a bit. Fanart, fanfic, and a guide.

Mass Effect/Pride and Prejudice crossover, Homestuck, isabel_lunnen's unpublished novel, Blake's 7, MDZS/The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Jack Jeanne, Howl's Moving Castle, TGCF/Heaven Official's Blessing

Includes me being inspired to try readerfic, which took me by surprise!
( Read more... )

For anyone who didn't see it on sqbr, I posted the notes while reading Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's "Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading; or, You're So Paranoid, You Probably Think This Introduction Is about You".

This is a 1997 queer studies paper about the limits of 'paranoid'/fear-based readings which focus on finding the hidden, darker meanings of things, and how these can end up suppressing other sorts of readings. She suggests that paranoia has its place, but we would benefit from creating space for the full range of emotions, in criticism and life in general. I didn't like/agree with all of the paper (especially the way she blurs the line between mental health diagnosis and critical theory) but it was certainly interesting and got me thinking.

I'm sure I misunderstood some parts, the original paper is a better option for anyone who feels up to reading it, and I link to a few versions of it. But my notes might be helpful as a glossary and relatively accessible summary for anyone else who has trouble parsing humanities papers.

I'm cross-posting here since my interest in the topic relates to how I write reviews and meta.

A post I really liked on tumblr made me realise something about creativity I don't think I've ever seen before:
It's not that taste is subjective, and what feels like "mediocre" to you may be amazing to someone else.
It's not just that creating while mediocre is a necessary step towards being good.
It's not even that it's ok to stay mediocre if you're having fun.
All these things are true. But it's also ok to be mediocre, and get worse, and still keep going anyway.

I have this huge fear of Getting Worse At Things and I'd just never questioned it being an inherently terrible thing as a creator that means you should stop. And I mean obviously I'd rather not get worse! And I don't think I am! But accepting it as a possibility that wouldn't mean the end of everything is very freeing.

So. We have a 'villain' character who has done objectively terrible things. In a rigid good-vs-evil dichotomy, they would generally be classified as evil.

And we have a fic where this 'villain' is now the sympathetic protagonist, possibly involving some sort of redemption arc or AU.

There are some villains I just can't read such fic about, but in this case I am open to the idea.

My preference is for the fic to not have a rigid good-vs-evil dichotomy, and instead either see pretty much everyone as having the potential to be good, or cheerfully wallow in shades of grey. There can be some glossing over of the villain's sharper edges, but for the most part I want the moral framework to be consistent with the events of canon, just one which has space for sympathy towards characters as "bad" as the protagonist.

But a great many fics just create a new moral framework with it's own rigid good-vs-evil dichotomy, and set things up so the 'villain' is now on the side of Good, and other canon characters are on the side of evil, even though their actions in canon aren't significantly worse than the villain's.

Which is perfectly valid as an approach, but unless I think canon is wrong about the villain doing bad things, I will not enjoy this kind of narrative at all.

Note that this is about fanfic based on an existing canon. My feelings on original works which turn bad guys into good guys etc are broadly similar, but harder to sum up.
( Read more... )

It seems to me that the trends for romance arcs in fanfic are different in romances about two people, and those about three or more.

Specifically, while counterexamples exist, the kind of "everyone pines and doubts themselves" romance that is ubiquitous in romances about two people is almost entirely absent in romances about three people.

And I'm curious to know if other people (a) agree that this difference is real and if so (b) have any idea why it exists.
( Read more... )

AO3 version Fanfiction.net version
Fandom: Yuri!!! on Ice 
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Mila Babicheva/Sara Crispino
Additional Tags: 5+1 Things, Fanfiction, Happy Ending, Romance, Humor, Not a fake dating fic despite all evidence to the contrary, Implied Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Background Emil Nekola/Michele Crispino, Background Slash, Past Victor Nikiforov/Cristophe Giacometti, Past Cristophe Giacometti/Sara Crispino, Background Yuri Plisetsky/Otabek Altin
Summary:
Alternate Title: "That One Grand Prix Final Where Sara Crispino Thought Her Life Was Fake Dating Het But It Was Actually Friends To Lovers Femslash"

I realised everything that could be wrong is either really minor or something I'm too attached to to change, so since getting it checked was taking a while just posted it. If I got something wrong, let me know, if only so my next fic will be less wrong :)

Speaking of which: The moment writing this fic where I went "Oh crap, why can't Sara just date Phichit? They'd be really cute together??" has led me to start poking vaguely at an actual Sara/Phichit fake dating fic (which may turn into Mila/Sara/Phichit if I ever finish it) Which led me to pondering what Terrible Skating Movie Set In Italy she would make him watch after she was forced to sit through The King and The Skater 1 and 2.

The only real world one I could find was The Cutting Edge 2, which looks appropriately terrible. But a true equivalent would be a real famous non-Italian movie set in Italy to which I would tack on a gratuitous skating plot, like the YOI writers did with the King and I. So I looked up movies set in Italy, and the two that came up that I've seen are Roman Holiday (could be cute, but a bit too similar to The King And I, maybe?) and...The Talented Mr Ripley.

And I just. The Talented Mr Ripley plus ice skating. Do I want to do this. We will see.

EDIT: Waaait. WAIT. The Talented Mr Ripley plus ice skating and lesbians.

Cliche in the sense of the asshole dominant dude and sweet innocent woman etc.

The dynamic I don't like:

Her: Sure, he's hot, but what an asshole!
Him: Sure, she's nice, but so plain!
Him: I'm warming up to her...but cannot admit it!
Everyone: Naturally! Because she is the perfect woman.
Her: I'm warming up to him...but cannot admit it!
Everyone: Naturally! Because he is the perfect man.
Them: You're right! Let's get married ^_^

The dynamic I do:

Her: Sure, he's hot, but what an asshole!
Him: Sure, she's nice, but so plain!
Him: I'm warming up to her...but cannot admit it!
Everyone: Makes sense: she's nice enough, and doesn't seem cowed by your crap.
Him: ACTUALLY SHE SUCKS (actually she is perfect ;_;)
Her: I'm warming up to him...but cannot admit it!
Everyone: WTF. NO. HE IS AN ASSHOLE. GO DATE THIS NICER DUDE.
Her: I KNOW. IT MAKES NO SENSE. AND YET.

I'm not saying this dynamic is good or feminist, and there's others I like more. But it's surprisingly enjoyable considering how much I hate the first dynamic.

Current example, which I read in a block when I had insomnia last night but in the light of day am having to finish in small chunks so I can take a break from the ridiculousness: Midnight Secretary, a manga about a secretary to a vampire who selfishly gives women amazing orgasms because it makes their blood taste better. Which is a pretty clever excuse for sexy dubcon blood drinking that DOESN'T MEAN HE LIKES HER HE JUST GOT HUNGRY OK, congratulations Ohmi Tomu.

Previous examples: the manga (also an anime) Wolf Girl and Black Prince, Jane Eyre.

This pile of links got so big I got intimidated and just... forgot about it. So it goes back a while. There was a broken link to a post that seemed to be about "missing e" (what we used to fix tumblr before xkit). And then I decided half of them weren't worth keeping, or belonged elsewhere, so in the end it's not even that big!

Given What You Now Know, What Would You Have Done Differently With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)?

Colloquial catchy statements encoding serious mathematics

Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Was Learning How to Code

Self-help for Anxiety Management I used this a few times, it didn't do a lot to help but might work for someone else.

What Sanguinity Likes (and dislikes) About Mathematics

Visualizing Algorithms

​A Beginner's Guide To All Things Dragon Age

Hapax and Heyer, Austen and Irony, or, What I should have said The differences between Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen

PAX Australia And The Strange Catharsis Of Video Game Violence

First, my Dragon Age Inquisitor cosplay.

Second, some random recs:
the movie Joint Security Area
Safety Not Guaranteed
What if my Baby Is A Squib Subtle, dark, Harry Potter fanfic that pokes at the squib=disability thing
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lianne Hearn (next year's guest)
Husbands (by Jane Espenson, ditto, omg)

Third, panel notes:

Has Science Fiction Changed Society?
The general consensus was that it reflects existing changes and can inspire/help individuals, but is rarely on the forefront of any change. It's really bad at predicting the future so not much good at preparing for or inspiring it. I might write up the rest of my notes but while I enjoyed the panel none of it seems worth the effort.

John Scalzi Guest of Honour Speech
The meaning of life is unverifiable.

Poison Elves
I went to this by accident but have always been vaguely curious after seeing the comics in shops, and was amused to discover the hero's name is Lusipher. I wonder if there's a Saetan too.

Science in Speculative Fiction
( Read more... )

Again I found myself writing a novel in repsonse to a link on tumblr, but this time I actually agree with it, I just got too wordy :)

BIOWARE MAKES STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: SEX & CONSENT IN RPGS

I find it a bit odd she gives Dragon Age as an example of a series where romance always leads to sex, and uses Solas the the headline image, when there isn't any sex in the Solas romance. There's none in Josephine's either, and apparently the developers did this deliberately for asexual players (though I have no source for this).

But I agree with her overall point. There's no reason romance has to lead to sex, and the fact it almost always does, and that the player may find their characters having sex when all they explicitely agreed to was love, is really unfortunate.
( spoilers for various Dragon Age romances )