![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Thinky Tuesday
An original drabblet that, um, popped out of nowhere a while ago. I just...what. No idea. 239 words, W for weird.
Thinky Discussion Questions:
There’s a hole in the back yard, deep and wide. The black of it scares you at night, but you dug it and you know how far down it goes, so you close your eyes and see patches of grass pasted over the gouge, glued there like construction paper. Soon, you think, and it helps.
Mid-afternoon is heavy and hot, beating down on your back in steady waves; your white shirts are soaked through before you’re half-done cutting the pieces up. Mommy might be mad if you take them off, though – good girls don’t run around without their shirts, you remember her saying – so you bear the weight and continue your tedious work, even though you’d rather be inside where the sun can’t reach you.
The bones are too hard to cut through with your knife, dull as it is from all the work you’ve been doing on the muscle and skin, so you leave the white alone as much as you can, carving flesh off to make it easier to smash the rest with a rock later.
Daddy used to keep a mallet in the garage, maybe that will help if you can hold it right, like Daddy used to. Your hands are smaller than his – you pause there to compare your palm with what’s left of his, just to make sure – but it might be worth it.
Everything has to fit into the hole perfectly, after all.
Thinky Discussion Questions:
- What's your take on Internet Romance: is it possible, is it not? Are there special circumstances that can make it more viable to you personally? Is there a certain point at which you think it has to translate into a 'RL' relationship in order for it not to fall apart?
- Favorite crack!fic trope? Ex: Wings, animal transformation, genderswap, bodyswap, etc. Recommend one if you can!
- What do you look for in a fic? Inventive premise, humor, angst, certain characterization, wordcount? And, inversely, what turns you off something the fastest?
no subject
2. WINGS.
3. Good writing, and turned off by BAD GRAMMAR. *twitches*
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Are you breathing better now?
no subject
no subject
Sorry about mum emos. Also, I cannot WAIT to take you book shopping. EEEEEEEEEEEE.
no subject
AND BOOK SHOPPING EEE!!!!! ALSO, this will sound sleezy, but do you want to come a sex shop with me? THAT WOULD BE FUN! Must get a present for Teh Jules. :D
no subject
Dude, there is nothing I would rather do. They CRACK ME UP. And what are you sending Jules?
no subject
1. Definitely possible, not always viable. It's the same as in real life, you need dedication and trust and all that, things which are harder on the internet than in RL.
2. I love love love bodyswap and
3. If there are a spelling errors (several of them, I can always forgive a couple) early on in the story, I'll have to click away, I just can't handle it. But anything else, I'll try to push through though. If I'm bored by the middle, I ditch it. I'm very, very easy to please when it comes to fic.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
in reference to spn fic only:
2. wings! genderswap but only if its done well - achy or funny. not if its just an excuse to write het porn. dont really like animal transformation in wincest, because it can be bestiality-ish, which is squicky (but this can be excused in well-written crack). body swap! i've never read! but it sounds like it would be awesome, imagine the havoc they could wreak in each other. i like cracky cases, like when the boys have to kill something that is as ridiculous as it is evil.
ps what does "trope" mean?
3. i like humour, and i love crack-fic, i dont mind hurty fics as long as they're done well, not with crappy cliched language. i dont really like to read hurty fics unless i'm pms-ing, because, why would i do that to myself if it's not great literature, you know? (that said, some of the stuff in some fandoms can be so well-written its worth it). poor grammar and 13-year-old-writing-her-first-fic kind of style turns me off the fastest. especially since the latter also usually involves pointless rambing to show off "style".
:)
oh, i'm also not a fan of first person in fanfiction, because it's difficult to really capture a character written by someone else. second person can be okay as long as it doesnt sound implausible. third person is usually the best, and in crack, authorial insertions like phaballa makes are usually hilarious.
no subject
no subject
a often-used plot device. wiki says: "a familiar and repeated symbol, meme, theme, motif, style, character or thing that permeates a particular type of literature."
oh, i'm also not a fan of first person in fanfiction, because it's difficult to really capture a character written by someone else.
AGREE! there's something about first person that almost ALWAYS comes off as very amateur, in my opinion. it may very well be a gorgeously written and lyrical piece, but first person will forever make me cringe and back away.
no subject
no subject
1. I'd like to think so. It might just be me being an idealist, but. I do think after a certain point you've got to have a rl relationship, because yeah, there are some things about a person that may not come across online. But it's possible...?? I DON'T KNOW.
2. GENDERSWAP!!!!
and also doggy!Dean.If you haven't read3. I...don't know?? Honestly, I just sort of start reading things, and if I like them, I read more, and if I don't - well, then I don't. Uhh.
no subject
#1 is definitely possible. A really good friend of mine and her boyfriend have been together since her Jr. year in high school (she just finished the first year of her masters) and they met on a Slipnot message board of all places. I have another friend who is from Canada who met his wife online (I'm not sure where) and they've been married for 5 years and have a 1 year old little girl. Both couples seem very happy.
#2 OMG! Another vote for genderswap. Something I never read before SPN.
#3 I'm not sure what I look for. Usually if it's well written I'll at least give it a chance. Luckily this fandom has a ton of wonderful authors. Things that will make me back click fast are shifting points of view, horrible grammar, and when easy canon facts are messed up (wincest excluded of course ;)). Oh, I'm another one who doesn't usually like first person.
no subject
2. Um. Changing into animals, silly conversations about nothing at all.. I don't really know. A crackfic grabs me or it doesn't.
3. Believable characterisation, interesting summary to make me click the link, schmoop and humour are a big plus. I can't stand bad spelling and/or grammar, no matter how good the story is. Cum/cumming is guaranteed to make me click the back button.
no subject
1. It all depends, really. I believe it is possible. For it to work out I do think that the people at least have to talk on the phone or meet or something. Then again, it all depends on the people.
2. KITTY FICS, OMG. *flails*
3. I like angst and not crappy angst with crying and thoughts of suicide, but the angst where the characters have to overcome a hardship it's wearing down on them. I also like subtle, satirical humor in fics - crack is good, but witty is better. Good characterization is key - if I read something that doesn't seem canon (unless the person is uber talented and can pull it off), it's an instant turn-off. And also bad grammar - it makes me want to kick things. I could keep going, but I'd be here for a long time and I have a unit to finish. =)
no subject
1. Yes, I think internet romance is possible, although I've not partook. "Partook" being the coolest word I've said today.
2. Iiiiii don't really have one, to be honest. I'm a bit OCD and like everything to be like it normally should be, which is why I like The Simpsons but hate Futurama.
3. I look for good writing, and I shy hastily away from anything that starts off with: "Harry Potter was having a bad dream. Again."
no subject
What I meant to say is, that I love that you sort of know where the drabble's going as a reader, but it still packs the punch very well and hits you right where it hurts. I especially enjoyed the very logical thoughts on cutting up the body!
---
1. I think Internet Romance is just another variation of the love at first sight thing. Either you believe in it or you don't. In the same way, either you really, really click with someone online or you just don't. So I think that yes, it is possible and I also think there are no special circumstances that make you more likely to fall in love online.
Personally, I think, that you can well have an Internet Romance for years, without ever meeting. If both people are fine with that, it can be a nice way to have someone to talk to. For the relationship to become more serious and also physical I think meeting in RL is inevitable. But I don't think there is a certain point where you either have to meet or the relationship breaks. Unless of course one party concerned really wants that meet-up. That would probably make things problematic.
2. Don't make me choose! There's so much crack fic tropes I love to pieces. Genderswap is still a timeless classic, but bodyswap is pretty damn awesome too. Personally, I think there should be more of bodyswap in SPN fandom. A lot more. But of course I also love them turning into all kinds of animals. And although I've never read it before, Dean as a chair would probably be pretty awesome too. In conclusion: Crackfic? *grabby hands* But then again you already knew that, right?
3. What makes me read a fic is either an especially juicy warning or the subject. If the warning says underage Wincest or daddy!cest I click the link so fast I get dizzy. Now with the subject it depends. If it's an interesting premise I'll give it a try and see if the first paragraph grabs me content- and style-wise. I've clicked away fics before, that had a perfectly good story and a very good style, but which I simply didn't like. I've also stuck with fics that had horrible writing but an awesome premise. So it does depend on the fic.
Now, if the subject line alone doesn't pinch it for me I usually look for other stuff in the header of the fic that might make me read or not. Usually the author's notes decide that for me. I couldn't say why or what has to be in author's notes to make me read a fic, but most of the time they either do or don't make me read a fic.
What turns me off fic fastest is: if it's a 'verse, an unfinished part of a series, a sequel to fifty fics I'd have to read before that one in order to understand it, if the person says it's unbeta'd or if they clearly state it's their very first fic. I know the last one's kinda cruel, because new people need to get a chance too. I mean, fandom gave me my chance too (Although I never said "This is my first fic"). But if someone states that it's their first fic, that changes my perception of the fic. I don't read it like a regular fic anymore, I read it like a first time effort and am a lot more gentle when judging. To me that's something that's destroying the writer/reader process the way I view it.
---
Sorry, this got rather long. I hope you're well, baby, looks like we're not gonna get to talk again tonight. I love you very much though! Maybe we'll make it tomorrow? ♥
no subject
1. the previous commenter put it pretty perfectly, so i'll... ditto.
2. i'm not sure, i'd like a list! wingfic is sublime crack, though.
3. i look for all sorts of things, depending. inventive premises are too often not followed up with good execution, brilliant fics have very dull summaries, that sort of thing. my biggest turn-off is preciosity.