KWTH. The FFL has an alter ego now? /badjokejustignore
Um, hi.
too many people crawling out of the woodwork u_u
Anyway . . .
Which of these two fanfic types do you prefer: short and intense or long and detailed?
I like short ones, because I find it really hard to keep following a chaptered fic. There are many excellent ones here that I haven't actually read, but out of the ones I have (very few) I haven't been able to find one that compels me to follow it. idk why, it's probably to do with my up-myself-ness and stupidly high standards, but . . . I've been doing this with books lately too. I find it hard to find books that keep my attention, even if they're exactly the kind of book that I've devoured in a day or two in the past. I'm currently reading
Heaven's Net Is Wide by Lian Hearn (she wrote
Across the Nightingale Floor - you may have heard of or read it?), and it's great, but the last four books I got out of the library before that were hopeless.
One of them, though, had a really interesting concept, even if the execution wasn't great. It was one of those 'what-if' books. This example was 'What if the Roman Empire hadn't fallen?' It's set in 2004, and the technology level is roughly equivalent to what we have now (except they often have stupid names - helicopters are called spiralwings and webcams are called longdictors). In this alternate Earth, the whole planet belongs to three huge empires. The largest by far is the Roman Empire, still run from Rome. It controls Europe, Africa, South America, the southeast half of North America (known as Terranova) and the western half of Asia. The second largest - and most aggressive - is the Nionian Empire, which is clearly a Latin corruption of
Nihon, Japan. (Forgive me if I spelled it wrong) This empire controls the Asia-Pacific region, from Kamchatka down to Australia, and a large chunk of North America. The rest (China and central Russia) is the neutral Sinoan Empire.
I never really got far enough to get into the storyline, but there seemed to be a war on the way. The Great Wall of Terranova (a big wall cutting North America in half) was breached by the Nionians, and blah blah blah. But the problem was this: the book itself was a
piece of crap. The narrator voice drowned out the characters, character relations were stiff and unnatural, and the manuscript had evidently never met an editor. The narration is loaded with
purple prose, and
nothing ever really happens.
In short, it's like the Inheritance trilogy. Wonderful in concept, but inherently flawed in execution. Does anybody else have any books/fics like this to moan about? It's a real shame, because in someone else's hands, the book could have been one of my favourites. There were endless opportunities for a wonderful storyline, the fusion of two of my favourite cultures, but the author just kept stubbornly refusing to take them. It's such a
waste!
So instead, I'm reading manga. *sigh* I discovered the other day that the library in town stocks volumes one through four of
Code Geass, which really made my week. They also have
Love Hina, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and
Ruruoni Kenshin, although there weren't any volume ones. I'm reading a lot of manga online, though, as a substitute for books, really. Haven't been writing much, either, though I hope to get back into that soon enough - the sooner the better.
Shattered is begging for my attention.
Dammit, I just got back from that tvtropes link I put in a couple of paragraphs ago. Eesh. Don't go there. Just
don't. You will never come back unless you have extreme force of willpower, or an angry mum telling you to get your ass off the computer.
Do you prefer to review long fics where the author makes one or two mistakes and a logical error, or do you prefer to review short fics where it feels as though the author is out to break every rule in the English Language?
I actually prefer reviewing short, rubbishy fics by n00by authors that have no clue whatsoever. I don't know why; I guess I'm a little sadistic and like to tear people's stories to shreds. I don't flame, though. I always stop just short of that. If someone can't handle honest criticism, they shouldn't post their work. I actually get a little peeved when I see other people (who I know are good writers) reviewing rubbishy fics and saying they 'just need a little work' or something. I know you want to be nice, but some people need to learn to balance encouragement with honesty. I actually find it hard to do that myself, which is why I don't review anymore.
Aaand in saying that, I just realised that I, in fact,
don't review anymore. I hadn't thought of it that way before, but I guess it's true. I haven't reviewed anything since that fiasco back in . . . *checks* mid-October, where I left a somewhat snarky review on a friend's fic and subsequently got the crap flamed out of me by somebody who had no right to do so whatsoever. I deleted the review, which means that my last surviving review was probably back in September or even earlier, and used my Ignore list for the first time.
Ah, don't mind me. I'm just moaning about things that happened ages ago and have no relevance to the discussion at hand. My mind tends to wander a little, especially when I'm in the kind of mood that I'm in now. I wouldn't know what to call these moods, actually. A little melancholy would probably be the best term to describe them. But all of a sudden, I feel a little better because the chorus of my favourite song just came on. The first chorus of
Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari is the most beautiful sound in the world imo.
I now feel kind of like writing, but what? Although I'm a little brighter now that supercell's playing, the melancholy is still there. But that's a good thing. It's all about finding balance, right? Balance is essential when trying to be creative, I find. It helps because you can never guarantee that your characters are going to be feeling what you feel like writing. If you're all cheery and relaxed, it's going to be hard to write characters who are watching Pokemon die in horrible ways. And if you're feeling depressed, it's hard to write characters who have just saved the world - on the opposite end of the continuum, so to speak. If you're writing characters who feel how you feel, sure, it's easy, but it's harder to connect with those on the other end of the sliding scale, whereas if you're sitting comfortably in the middle, you can reach both ends fairly evenly. You guys get what I mean?
So let me ask this: How does your mood when writing affect developments in your story? Do you let it? And if you do, what influences said mood? Do you listen to your favourite music to brighten your mood, or what?
K, that was, like, four questions in one, but chew on it for a while anyway. XD Sorry, solovino, you're doing a sterling job with that index. Round of applause for the man spattered with black ink.
Gawd, where is that Shrike? It's like role reversal: I'm the one writing long posts and he's the one that's disappeared! ^_^;;
Speaking of which, I wonder how long this post is going to go on for before I run out of material to discuss. I've been writing this, on and off, for an hour now. I guess I'm bored. I'm waiting for our Christmas tree to be delivered. Personally, I hate real Christmas trees. They're itchy, smelly, hard to put decorations on and a hell of a mess to clean up afterwards, what with all the needles and crap. Eh? Dad just passed my room, carrying the Christmas tree stand. I wonder if that means it's arrived? Either way, I'll probably be called out soon to help.
Oh, man, that means I'll have to help decorate it, most likely this afternoon. That is, after the Santa parade (which I'm thankfully not attending) and before the Christmas barbecue. I am feeling so bah humbug this holiday season, and there's no logical reason for it. I'm not a big fan of celebrations in general; if everyone skipped my birthday, I wouldn't care at all. I thought Christmas was a Catholic holiday, celebrating the birth of the Messiah, right? So how did it evolve into nothing more than an excuse to get stuff?
And I'm at the age where I'm really difficult to buy for. I don't do toys, I hardly play video games other than Pokemon and the occasional bout of Final Fantasy, and my parents have no idea what music I'm into. I've told them - entirely truthfully - that I wouldn't mind at all if all I got for Christmas was the new
Muse album or something. Although I already know my sister bought me
Hybrid Theory, which is pretty sweet. The point is that they're actually asking me what I want for Christmas instead of just expecting me to bring out a wishlist, like my sister does. If we got her everything on this year's list, plus all the other crap she's hinted at, the total would most likely come out to be over a thousand dollars. @_@
I want the old Christmases back, the ones you see in the fairy tales where the family just spends the day together, happily. Pulling crackers, eating the Christmas roast, maybe playing a new board game together or something. Playing
SingStar and
Buzz, or something of the like. Maybe spending an hour or so in the pool, because it's summer, and even though I hate swimming, I honestly wouldn't mind if everyone was there.
Of course, I've done my Christmas shopping, most of it. The bookstore in town has a sellout sale going on, and I've done all my shopping so far there - two novels for Mum ($20), a cookbook for Dad ($15) and a diary for my little sister ($10) - which is all good, though I need something to go with the diary. I like giving people presents more than I like getting them - although spending large sums of money seems annoying as usual. The big companies and corporates have turned Christmas into a farce, a means to put more money in their fat wallets. People like my sister have gotten used to large amounts of presents, and the recession is putting pressure on parents. I'm trying to relieve some of that pressure by not being demanding, but it saddens me that I have to worry about money when it's Christmas. So basically, what I'm doing here is flipping the bird to those big corporations. It's nice of them to put on sales and all, but they're just commercialising what used to be a sacred holiday.
I hate economics. I knew it was a good choice not to take it this year, even though I would have already passed NCEA level one a year early if I had.
The world is slowly getting more dependent on money. It's always been an integral part of the way humans live, but . . . nah, let's not get into that now. Not enough energy
Anyway, the tree just arrived. I think it's stupid that they chose a tree that was
clearly too big for the living room. I just spent the best part of half an hour helping Dad chop half of it off so it would fit inside. :/ And even now it doesn't really fit properly. XD
So tomorrow, while sister is at school and Mum and Dad are at work, I'mma wrap all my presents up and stick 'em under the tree.
*tries to think of a way to connect all this crap back to fanfiction*
Y'know, I'm tempted to post the Christmas oneshot I did last year. It's a whole load of crap, though. I seriously cannot believe I actually wrote it, but . . . actually, no. I'm notr going to post it here. If your curiosity is piqued, it's
here. BAWWWWW, nooby lil' me. Please don't judge me by this. It's old and crappy, and the Jolteon beats up Celebi. Somehow. Because nobody really knows why Jolteon learns Pin Missile, but it seems to come in handy when trying to take down a legendary Pokemon so that it will fix Christmas for you. idk. I remember very little about this, and it's shameful just linking to it. So enjoy . . . or not. Most likely not, but we'll see.
(PS: I know there's a rule against posting links to fics, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't apply to this. It's just an example)
Ha, how do you like that? I brought it back on-topic (sorta). And Alter Ego, if you want any proof that the FFL is crazy, look no further than me.
EDIT: MS Word tells me this post (excluding this bit) was 2,212 words long. If I could write this much in one morning on my fanfiction, I'd be set. @_@
