Yuletide: the Home Stretch

[osprey_archer]

Just in case of too busy opening presents/pigging out/squeeing over Yuletide stories to post tomorrow: Merry Christmas, everyone!

I'm super excited about Yuletide. I'm excited about the archive opening tomorrow and the reveal on New Years and, well, everything really, although I've forbade myself from writing any more treats as there's no way they would get done in time.

This doesn't mean I can tear myself away from the treat list, though. It's a smorgasbord of distilled story ideas.

Also, I have a worrisome tendency to write stories that hinge on Pivotal Kissing Scenes, or more specifically stories that end right after the Pivotal Kiss. It's an understandable stopping point but a very lazy one, especially given it seems to have become my default ending.

The great thing about Pushing Daisies stories: no matter how much you want to plug in a Pivotal Kissing Scene, it won't fit. (Well, all right, I read one Pushing Daisies story that got around the whole "Ned and Chuck can't touch" thing, but that story was made of so much win that it doesn't really count on account of being beyond the reach of most mortal authors.) So know that I'm not writing for Yuletide anymore, I can dig out the dinosaur museum story again and torment Ned some more.

Comments

[visualthinker11.livejournal.com]

...soo. this pd story made of win? can i ask which it was? ; )

(also i'm super-psyched for the dinosaur story. let me know if you want another banner or whatnot.) ; )

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

It's from last year's Yuletide, so it may take a minute...ah, here is is: Twice Upon a Time (http://www.yuletidetreasure.org/archive/54/twiceupon.html).

The first bit of the dinosaur story is almost done, if you want me to send it to you.

[visualthinker11.livejournal.com]

many thanks. ; )

sure- are you planning to publish it in pieces or all at once?

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Probably all at once, as with the Wonderfalls fic. I figure its easier on people having the whole story right there, instead of waiting months between installments.

I kind of want to write another Wonderfalls fic too, although I can't think what.

Anyway, I'm sending you the first part of the dinosaur story tonight.

[visualthinker11.livejournal.com]

that makes sense to me...

hmmm. are you thinking full-episode style again or something shorter?

yay! i'm very excited to read it and start thinking about banner options. ; )

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how long the Wonderfalls fic would be - it would depend what ideas occur to me, if any.

Beyond just the pleasure of dealing with the Wonderfalls characters, it's fun writing fic for such a small community.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

And of course as soon as I posted that other comment I got story ideas, so.

The first idea is something about Sharon, because she's all interesting and repressed and she never gets a proper wrap-up for her story line. I'd probably call it "Sometimes a Cigar...", as a reference to her cigarette habits and the, ironic given she's a lesbian, Freudian symbolism of cigars.

The other, which has potential to be rather longer, is a story where Jaye finally does something that cuts through Eric's haze of admiration. There's a pretty clear difference between Jaye-as-Eric-sees-her and Jaye-as-she-is, and making Eric see reality has potential.

I can't quite think how to do that, though. So that will go on the backburner for a while.

[visualthinker11.livejournal.com]

well both of them sound really interesting, so hopefully plots and the other necessary fic components will come to you at some point. ; )

also i think it's really cool you like writing for small fandom communities; i feel like some people feel obligated to write fic for big communities (rather than original fiction or fic for smaller communities) because it gets a wider readership. which is just really depressing, and it's how fandoms like wonderfalls get neglected for, i don't know, twilight or harry potter or whatnot... clearly it's not a problem you're dealing with, which is a very good thing...

/vaugeish rant.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

It's not entirely unselfish on my part; I think the quality of the feedback is better in small communities, either because fans have fewer fics to read (hence more time to write considered comments) or because it takes more passion/intelligence to stay dedicated to a small fandom.

Also small fandoms are so much less intimidating, because there's no BNF aspect to worry about.

It's actually an interesting topic, how people pick which fandoms to write for (and which pairings to write in those fandoms) although I have no real data to work with except how I pick fandoms, and I suspect I use somewhat odd criteria.

[visualthinker11.livejournal.com]

...i feel like i should be able to guess what BNF stands for, but i'm coming up blank...

and, may i ask, what are your criteria? i know personally, as someone who only really writes fic when ideas float her way (and then only posts it when those ideas translate well to paper, or i guess to computer screen) it's fairly random. But you write much longer, amazing fics that take up more of your time... so actually i do wonder how/why you choose to devote that time to the fandoms you do.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

BNF=Big Name Fan - like cassandra claire in Harry Potter fandom. Everyone knows BNFs and they have clout and...this is really an entirely irrational thing to worry about, but I could imagine somehow running afoul of a BNF and that would terrible.

Also, I think in really big fandoms it's easy for fics to get lost in the shuffle.

I'd have to think more about the criteria thing. I do have some, but they're mostly subconscious, and also I think it might be an interesting question for a post just to ask other people how they pick fandoms.

[visualthinker11.livejournal.com]

but at the same time, aren't a lot of people against cassandra claire? (maybe that's just her particular case- but she's certainly been accused of plagiarism, etc.) i do understand the worry about being lost in the big fandom shuffle...

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think Cassandra Claire is a case of "The bigger they are, the harder they fall"

Although its worth noting that she still has a lot of defenders and she's managed to get a real-life book published, despite the fact that the plagiarism allegations seem pretty rock-solid.

Have you read The Ms. Scribe Story (http://www.journalfen.net/community/bad_penny/1074.html)? It's about Fandom Gone Wrong (the Harry Potter fandom, particularly), which colors my more paranoid speculations.

It's also worth reading just because it's absorbing, dramatic, and well-researched. Quite long, though, if time is an issue.

[visualthinker11.livejournal.com]

well she did blatantly point out in some of her work that she was using jokes from other sources... not sure how well that holds up when she forgets to pinpoint them in her fic, though.

hmmm. i'll have to favorite it, because research is awesome, and the hp fandom had a humongous part in jump-starting internet fanfic as a whole.