alias_sqbr

Something I've been poking at lately is the fact I genuinely don't seem to enjoy writing original prose fiction, even though I enjoy creating fanfic, original visual novels, visual novel adaptations, and original art (and fanart). I definitely don't think it's lacking as an artform! It just doesn't fit my brain so well to make it. And I guess to some extent I also am less drawn to it as a consumer of fiction? That's harder to untangle and not so much the point of this post but I'm going to ponder it later.
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Tagged by leah_hazel: Share the last line of your wip and tag as many people as there are words in the sentence.

And I actually wrote something relatively recently! Behold:

"Not in a weird way!"

from an Eita/Momo "My Love story with Yamada at level 999" fic tentatively titled "The Lesbian Love Story of Momo and Princess Ruri". The line is said in response to "Isn't she based on your little sister?" lol.

I don't think I'll finish the story, and am iffy on the in-characterdness of that line in particular. But I guess this meme means the fic gets to see a brief flash of the light of day before going back into the drawer.

I tag anyone who wants to do it but ONLY if there's exactly five of you.

Via phlebasphoenician: First Line Game: List the first lines of the last ten (10) stories you published. Look to see any patterns you notice yourself, and see if anyone else notices any. Then tag some friends.
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Because I had fun playing with the data about my statistics from flamebyrd's bookmarklet when I was doing the AO3 Averages meme.

In short: Hits seem to not be very closely correlated to word count except for very long fics, which I think is caused by people coming back to multi-chapter fics multiple times, eg each time a new chapter is added.

Fanart seems to get about 2/3 to a half of the feedback that fanfic does by most metrics, and even fewer when it comes to bookmarks. But the feedback on fanfic is also more inconsistent, possibly because most of my fanart was posted for exchanges, where you're generally guaranteed SOME feedback. The most popular works by all metrics are long, multi-chapter fics.

And the thing people on the AO3 like least is Mass Effect fic with an unflattering depiction of Commander Shepard.

At least based on the data to hand. YMMV ;)
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I keep getting vaguely inspired to write a transmigration story but then the idea peters out before it goes anywhere. I was complaining about this to flamebyrd and she suggested I write down the kinds of things I'd want, so here I am!

A typical transmigration story: the main character, an ordinary person from our world, suddenly has their consciousness end up inside a fictional character inside a fictional story (often a cliched book they were reading). They have to work around being stuck as this character, who is often a villain or otherwise doomed. They make things better for the ill-fated character whose role they've been put into, and generally change the narrative to something more satisfying for both them and the reader.
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I am very sore today so this will be a bit incoherent and may not be as interesting as it feels. Anyway!
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phlebasphoenician tagged me (which is cool! I like being tagged in interesting memes even though I never tag anyone else) Posting on dreamwidth since it's long.

rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you and i’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

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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.
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Something I've been thinking about for a while is the assumptions people have about the motivations and purpose behind reading and writing reviews and analysis, especially the sort of amateur, social justice-tinged posts I make myself.

Specifically, as it relates to reviews and reactions on this blog: what is my goal here? And how much stuff I assume goes without saying isn't clear?

So here's a rough approximation of my goals, in vague order of importance:

• Let people who haven't consumed the thing figure out if they might like it
  
• Articulate and explore my own feelings about the work and how it fits into broader patterns, and express myself creatively
  
• Be entertaining
  
• Help others understand my POV and figure out their own feelings, even if we don't agree
  
• Give other people with similar feelings to me a chance to feel seen
  
• Have interesting conversations, both about the specific thing and broader topics
  
• Promote stuff I think is worthy or that my readers might like
  
• Encourage an environment where people can think and talk about this sort of thing without being made to feel bad or weird
  

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