January 13, 2004
playfulness
Robyn pointed me to a LiveJournal entry by Jane St. Clair which contemplates Farscape (most particularly the relationship between Aeryn and John), and heterosexual relationships across genres. The issues have to do in the first line (but not exclusively) with the wide wide world of fan fiction (if you go have a look, don't be startled at the word "slash" -- it's not about knives).***
She writes:
[...] I demand more stories in which people have bad first sex.
(For some strange reason, my urge to write an long series of tales in which people have extremely bad sex. So awful that they never want to see each other again. But it doesn't really satisfy anyone but me. No one expects their porn to include, "Can we stop? You're on my hair.")
This made me laugh, but it also made me think. Do I always leave out the not-so-nice parts about two people getting together? I think the closest I come to writing about a relationship that begins with a really rocky ride is in Fire Along the Sky, but I can't say more here without giving a major plot line away. So this is something I will continue to think about. Maybe when FAS comes out this summer people will have an opinion on this.
The other thing that really struck me was this:
My beloved Shakespeare prof spent a long time reconciling us to the notions of love the plays offered, which often didn't sync well with our own. What she led us to was the recognition that the strongest sign of love or affection is play. Sometimes teasing (Much Ado About Nothing) or wordplay (The Taming of the Shrew -- she had us quite convinced that Katherina didn't mean a word of her final speech on the place of women, that it was all humorously ironic and meant for Petruchio's amusement), or gameplay (The Tempest). But in most modern portrayals of love, we go for either deep drama (angst) or domestic tranquility (curtainfic), leaving no space for a healthy relationship interesting enough to hold its audience.
Jane St. Clair has put her finger on something here. My sense is that sex takes second seat to playful banter for many of my readers. It certainly does for me. But how it all these elements work together -- playfulness, drama, tranquility -- that's something to contemplate for a good while.
***I've got a longer entry on fan fiction I've been working on for a while. Hope to post it soon.
Posted 09:15 AM | Comments (0)
January 16, 2004
fan fiction: why I like it
But there's a lot more to fan fiction than the obvious. It has to do with storytelling in the first line, yes, but far more important: fan fiction has to do with communities of storytellers. People who get together (symbolically, of course, and mostly on the internet) and starting with a character they all love, they spin tales. Then they write back and forth about those stories, exchanging ideas. Five hundred years ago people sat together around fires and told stories about the gods, about heroes they all knew and feared or loved, about Coyote, about ancestors. That was a kind of fan fiction, too.
It's a simple thing, really: the writer of fanfic (RobynBender, for example; see below) follows a character (John or Aeryn) off the screen and out of the script that was written so beautifully (by David Kemper or Rockne O'Bannon or Ben Browder or one of the other talented screenwriters). She then goes wherever the characters lead. She observes things they think about and do. She spends time contemplating John's background and motiviations and what he's feeling when he sees Aeryn grieving or injured, what it's like to love that particular woman. And then she tells that story. Robyn and others who take the time and effort to tell these stories do so because there's only so much Farscape on film, and the story is much bigger than can be contained in any hour-long episode. And also, you'll see if you delve into these stories, writers of fan fiction can go places where television screenwriters cannot.
This is probably the right place to point out that a goodly portion of fanfic tends to the explicity sexual. Such things are usually prominently flagged, though; there's a whole vocabulary, and dictionaries too. The Writers University explains everything you might want to know about slash fic or het fic or smut. Just don't read fic marked with those abbreviations, if it's not your thing. If you'd like more of an introduction to the fanfic phenomenon before jumping in, the BBC has a good introductory site here.
It's true, of course, that not all fan fiction is good. Not even most of it. Often times people bring more raw enthusiasm than finesse to their fan fiction. Fan fiction can collapse into parody or cliche or mindless repetition -- just as there are some pretty awful novels out there on the bookstore shelf, there is poor fan fiction on the web. You've got to look for the good stuff. So here is some fan fiction that I recommend highly. I'll start (how did you guess?) with Farscape, because for those of us who love it and who are still operating in the complete faith that it will in fact come back from this unwelcome and undeserved hiatus, fan fiction is a way to get through the waiting. If you haven't seen Farscape (yet), these stories might well convince you to do just that, but be warned: they will also give away a lot of the plot. They will certainly make you curious.
Robyn writes stories that have to do with John Crichton and Aeryn Sun and their world, and she writes very, very well.
The pieces I'm going to recommend here are of two types: The Work of Her Hands is, simply, a hard, unblinking
look at grief. Any woman who has lost a well loved partner will see herself in this story. The second type of story Robyn writes is strictly, absolutely, adult-only. It has to do with longing and love and confusion and sex, and it's graphic. But it's also beautifully written, insightful, thoughtful, thought-provoking. I recommend it highly, but only for those over age eighteen and mature enough to handle it.
Here they are:
The Work of Her Hands (R; stands alone)
The Talyn Suite (in three parts):
Where You Should Be (R)
The Space Between
(NC-17)
Sauce
(NC-17)
The Well-Known Act (NC-17; stands alone)
Silver has one story to his/her name that I can find, but I wish there were more. It's called "In One of These Dreams" and it's striking, sharp, and a little rough around the edges. If you happen to be Silver and you're reading this, would you please get in touch?
My favorite of Ann's fanfic is "24 Hour Pass", but she's got other great pieces to look at, too. Tightly written, suspenseful, great stuff.
And to prove that I do live in a universe that is wider than Farscape:
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Buffy fanfic is a galaxy where anybody who loves a good story can get lost. Try Roz's vignette of the First Slayer: "Bed of Bones"
Laura's fic about Buffy's relationship with Willow and Tara (rated PG) is "Closed Circuit".
Robyn pointed me to this "Many Loves" fanfic -- which she refers to as the Definitive Spike site (warning: NC-17 in a b.i.g. way). The summary gives a pretty good sense of what you're in for:
A not-so-brief history of William the Bloody, including a hundred and twenty years, two girlfriends, three doomed obsessions, four continents, nine haircolors, four parties, three torture scenes, two blowjobs, twelve consecutive shots of whiskey, forty-three thousand eight hundred packs of cigarettes, and a car theft. RATING: NC-17 for violence, het and slash sex, and industrial-strength angst.
The Obscure Fandom Secret Santa Project has to be looked at to be believed. There are hundreds of pieces of fanfic over there, written as a part of this project. Have a look at this foot-noted wonder, "The Galactic Miscellany", from Hitchhiker's Guide fandom, by Rhianna.
Such goodliness out there, waiting to be read. Go to it.
Posted 06:48 AM | Comments (2)
January 27, 2004
practicing what I preach
1. Appropriate disclaimers. From the BBC fanfic article: "Fan fiction websites invariably contain a host of disclaimers, acknowledging the borderline legality of the pursuit. While not done for commercial purposes, fan fiction inevitably involves the use of copyrighted characters and settings, and fanfic authors basically operate at the mercy of [the copyright holder/author]. The good archives all recognise this - hence their clear legal disclaimers - and are usually only too willing to take down any material if [the copyright holder/author] ask them to. ...Any responsible site which archives fanfictions will have a blanket disclaimer on the main page and any index pages, stating that the stories were written for fun and are reproduced on the web for the enjoyment of other fans, and that there is no commercial intent. This is preceded or followed by a copyright disclaimer, stating - for general fanfic sites - that all characters and settings are the copyright property of their creators, or on specific sites stating to whom the rights belong."2. Anybody writing fan fiction about my characters must understand that I cannot and will not -- primarily for legal reasons -- read it. This is to protect myself from claims that I have stolen ideas that might show up in any such fan fiction. I just have to stay away from it, no matter how wonderful it may be.
I quite like reading the disclaimers on fanfic sites -- they are often quite funny. Somebody should compile a sampling and post it somewhere (not me; nope). But. This is what I mean: From Jess's Buffy fanfic:
DISCLAIMER: What's the Numfar of this fic? In other words, Joss [Wheldon] is the malevolent god that owns all, although sometimes I sneak Spike out the side door and do wicked things with him.And from Ann Harrington's Farscape fanfic:
Farscape is owned by The Jim Henson company, Hallmark Entertainment, Nine Network Australia and the Sci-Fi Channel. They own all rights to characters mentioned within this story. I have merely borrowed these characters to play with, and promise to return them in good working order.
Posted 08:40 AM | Comments (0)
August 07, 2004
sex scenes | part four | NC-17
This discussion is going to get very explicit, just to warn you. If sex scenes aren't your thing, you probably want to turn back now. You should also turn back if you are under eighteen. Really, go away.
Now that we're alone.
A few notes before I get started. First, if you are new to fan fiction, you probably should have a look at an earlier post (Fan Fiction: Why I like it), which will make some of the preliminaries clear. Second, this is Farscape fan fiction. If you don't know about Farscape, you must be pretty new to this blog, as I talk about it on a regular basis. So to catch up: Here's a good overview; here's one of my short essays on it, and in a few sentences (if you're really impatient to get to the fiction) here's the absolute minimum you need to know:
John Crichton is scientist who was running an aerospace experiment when he got stuck in a distant part of the galaxy; Aeryn Sun is Sebacean, a species very closely related to human. (One of my favorite tag lines: He's human. She's not. And you thought Romeo and Juliet had problems.) They spend two years becoming friends, saving each other's asses and minds in terrible situations, beating each other up (sometimes literally), and falling in love.The relationship doesn't become sexual until the third season. Because this is television we're talking about, it never becomes overtly sexual. Which is where Robyn's fan fiction comes in. Again, read Fan Fiction: Why I like it if you're confused.
Fan fiction exists mostly on the internet, so I could just send you over to read Robyn's "The Well-Known Act" in its entirety. In fact, you should do that, because it's an example of an extremely well done, very adult extended sex scene. But in the spirit of the exercise I began, I'm going to quote bits of it, anyway. For those of you too shy to take the plunge, so to speak.
The consummation of this very complex, very intense relationship is a topic Robyn handled in a series of short stories which deal with the emotional development of the characters as individuals and a couple, as well as with the physical. This is from Aeryn's point of view. I'm excerpting two bits here, from the beginning of the interlude (the first line of dialogue is John) and then a bit from the middle of it when things are in full flow.
"The Well-Known Act". Copyright Robyn Bender.When I re-read this, the first thing that comes to mind is how very playful it is without being coy. So often sex scenes are generic, forced, contorted, self-conscious, but there's a vitality here, a directness that works on multiple levels. If you know these characters, the way they talk to each other feels absolutely right. John is quick witted, self-confident; he likes word play; Aeryn has come to that kind of playfulness late in life and is often a half step behind, but appreciative. She's given herself over after long months of agonizing, and she's applying herself, now that she's taken the leap."The well-known act of sexual congress. I've had some thoughts."
"You think too much."
"But I do good work."
"Granted. All right."
"We ARE different creatures. We don't know how we fit, not like that, not for sure. I need to know that you're way more than ready. I'm thinking, we start with the usual stuff. Rev you up a few times. Probably more than a few. But just keep away from my cock, okay? I'll get far enough, fast enough, touching you, seeing you. Give me a chance." The towel was gone. He was kissing her, settling in.
Might as well lie back. Put herself in his hands. She knew the man couldn't be rushed.
She was right, of course. Things happened. Time passed. He could drive her all night.
========================
bodies entwined. How much skin could they press? Embrace and roll. His lips on her throat. Her hand caught the nape of his neck, run through that short, soft hair. Come here, you. Cup his skull. Capture his mouth for a wet, deep kiss
========================
on her back, shaking. Helpless with laughter. His mouth buried down in her sex. Those gleeful blue eyes peering up, eyebrows waggling. She stretched her arms toward him. He caught at her hands. Interlaced fingers, palms pressed together. She rolled her head back and stretched their arms high. Laughed and laughed as she came.
Note that the word choice is explicit but matter-of-fact; nothing flowery, no over extended metaphors. The most direct descriptions of sexual acts (his mouth buried down in her sex) are offset by simple images of affection (interlaced fingers, palms pressed together).
Things intensify:
"That okay?" he asked softly, voice in her ear.It's Aeryn's emotional transition as well as her physical one that makes lifts this scene out of the realm of the merely voyeuristic. Note the lovely balance between explicit acts; internal monologue; and dialogue. Take any one of those three elements away and the scene won't work nearly as well. We follow the natural progression from playfulness to absolute concentration not just because we are given the physical facts, but because we hear them in Aeryn's rather amazed, completely engaged voice. Her rational mind tries to take over, but her body and her emotions are in control."You bastard!" she laughed. Could barely say it. Breathed hard through her mouth. "It'll do."
He gripped her waist. "Baby, I want you."
"You have me, I think."
"Yes, I do." He moved deliberately, microns, fractions. Slow, so slow. He is going to do me, indeed, indeed. He intended to use everything he knew, his midnight thoughts, his very best skills. She was frelled. She laughed again. Too small a word. Who had known what it meant?
Her laugh faded out. She was straining up toward him. He held the same spot. Not so fast, my dear. Can't have it all. He slid his hand down, wet with the silk. Cool, slippery stuff on her lips, her clit. "Oh, you are BAD," she gasped, as his fingers skittered around, around. Just that little bit extra. Just one thing more. He watched the flush rise on her chest before he leaned down. His lips found her nipple. She jumped, and that jump hit his cock and she rippled around it, set off again. His mouth clamped down wetly and sucked. Can I come with my breast? Apparently so. God, only one mouth. But his palm took over, rubbed that wetness, his mouth to the other one, swirling his tongue. Yes. That!
She needed more brain. Too much coming in. Her hips rocked, her pelvis, she could feel each wet curl at his root. All circuits locked open, no filter. Squeeze her eyes shut. Try to swallow the waves in her throat. Was she making that cry, that call? His mouth clamped hers. Her throat still sang.
To follow the analysis I used in the other passages, the obvious contrast is in this author's willingness to use words considered by many to be taboo: cock, clit, nipple -- without resorting to technical terms or coy euphemism. It's very possible, even likely, that if you are writing fiction in which sex scenes have a natural place in the character and plot development you will not want to take things this far. I don't, not because I'm afraid my readers wouldn't like it or my editor would object, but because I don't think I could manage the delicate balance necessary to make it work. Which for me means that you can't substitute "and then they had sex" without losing things important to the characterization and narrative flow.
I've been talking now for three days about scenes that don't work because they are generic, forced, and coy in tone. Tomorrow I'm going to look at some of those. Then I'll look at a scene that isn't badly written, but doesn't work, for me, for other reasons. I've got a list of maybe four or five sex scenes to cover in the next week.
Posted 01:24 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
February 01, 2005
you have to have a sense of humor
... or you'll never survive in this business. Thus I point you to the Book of Fanfic by Manna at LiveJournal, starting with an excerpt from Chapter One.
1: And it came to pass that some people wrote fanfic, and they had themselves a high old time of it, and why not, for it was fun.
2: And it came to pass very shortly afterwards that others read these writings, and thought that they were not Good, and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
3: "Lo!" they said. "This badfic is a plague upon the nations of the Earth. For how hard is it to get a beta reader? Or to run spellcheck? Or use the holy powers of logic? Or write the characterisations *I* like? Or do *normal* pairings? Verily, these writers are crap."
If you are unfamiliar with fanfic and new to this weblog, you might want some backstory, here before you go read the rest of the gospel according to Manna.
Also, I am still finding broken image links since I moved the weblog to this server. I'm fixing them as fast as I can, so please bear with me.
Posted 10:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 16, 2005
said: the undead
Here's an interesting and rather disturbing post from LiveJournal, with GMTH reporting about her kid's homework assignment to write a short scene that would fit into a book they're reading (GMTH points out with glee that this is fan fiction the kids are writing). One of the instructions given by the teacher: said is dead. To help the kids beat poor old dead 'said' deeper into its grave, the teacher provided a list of about one hundred alternates, including things like brayed and warbled and vocalized. In the discussion on LiveJournal somebody else provides a link to this site that gives advice on writing Harry Potter fanfiction, where the same said is dead pronouncement comes up, with the same list. I found the original link to the LiveJournal discusson at Neil Gaiman's journal.
I am a great supporter of fan fiction, of storytelling in all its forms, and I also do really believe that anyone can learn to write a story, and write it well. Talent helps, but it's not strictly necessary. The things you do need: to be persistent, to be dedicated, to understand the process, and to read a lot. It also helps if people in positions of authority, especially teachers, don't give you bad advice before you're old enough to recognize it for the garbage it is. Can kids survive this kind of bad teaching? Sure. The point is, they shouldn't have to. The mystery is: where does this utter nonsense come from? How does it survive? I am reminded of my father, who grew up in rural Italy in the 1910s-20s. He firmly believed, no matter what kind of evidence presented to the contrary, that maggots were generated from dead meat. Flies? Nothing to do with it. He was taught this as a kid, and he never could quite let it go.
I can promise this: If my daughter ever came home with a list like this one with said is dead at the top, I would head straight for the school to have a serious discussion with the teacher.
Red Dirt Girl from the album "Red Dirt Girl" by Emmylou Harris
Posted 04:18 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack