Fanfic vs. O-Fic

[wordinista]

Best analogy, ever:

You don't get your feelings hurt when someone tells you about a crooked picture, do you? No? Of course you don't. You just get your tools and go to work fixing it. That is how professional writers have to take criticism. If someone says something needs to be fixed, we should just get our tools and fix it.

From: http://markpettus.blogspot.com/

I love that.  It's what I've been telling myself for the past few days as I've been working on some particularly frustrating revisions.  I also tell myself I need to finish up OGAM ch 53 and send it off to beta.  I ALSO tell myself that I might want to consider finishing up a few other things.  Lately, however, I keep coming back to the origific.  It's strange, because I LIKE writing in the OGAM universe.  I love it, actually.  It's like a little part of my mind that's become my fictional happy-place.

But the o-fic is more of a challenge.  Everybody is mine.  (Okay, if you've read it I realize you can argue that statement somewhat. Let me amend: Everyone's personality has been crafted by me.)  It's harder in a lot of ways.  And in a lot of ways, I think my fanworks are better.  They're more comfortable, at any rate.  Like putting on an old sweater.  But the origific is something I have to do.  And I don't mean "I have to" like "I have to take the garbage out."  It's an urge deep inside of me -- I have to do this.  Like... I have to prove to myself that I can do this.  I can write original fiction, and it not suck.

So far the folks who've read it seem to like it -- they also have loads of concrit, which I value like gold -- but, overall, the opinion seems positive.  (Of course it's possible y'all are just being nice.  If that's the case, I implore you to stop.)  It's like what mephistophela said about people reading your original stuff (and I wholeheartedly agree with this summation):

"...it can be quite tedious reading other people's things, and a bit of a lose-lose situation. If you like it, you're being polite, if you don't, you risk exposure to a lot of hysterical authorly overreaction and are put in an embarassing position."

'Course, anyone who's beta'd for me knows I don't do the hysterical overreaction part, but sometimes I think it might be fun to try. ;)

*wanders off to make more PG Tips and to "straighten pictures"*

Comments

[hyanan.livejournal.com]

I applaud folks that attempt to do writing of any sort. For me, it usually feels like pulling my own teeth out while on a tilt-a-whirl, so I try not to do it. ;)

"My fanworks are better"

[hecallaghan.livejournal.com]

How peculiar. I was reading through a couple of my own the other day (having a bad day on the O-fiction front (Hey! I was making my O-face! Well, my O-writing face, to which adjectives like "listless", "frustrated" and "vaguely neurotic" seem to suit, which don't normally apply to my other O-face, at least as far as I'm aware or anyone has observed).

And I was reading Interior Night and Version 3.0 and thinking to myself, "My God, what stellar meta-comedy! What clever structuring! What impeccable timing! Look at how Goddamned funny I am! I'm a genius! I love me! I'm awesome! *Mmwhah!*"

So. Why is it that weeks of angst can't squeeze a single good one-liner out for any of the idle, dull and morose jerks in my original writing?

Krycek was never this much trouble, let me tell you...

Cheeky Girls Pt 1.

[hecallaghan.livejournal.com]

See, that's a brilliant idea, but I can't use it. Because not so long ago in the UK we had some reality show about looking for bands (I can't keep them all straight frankly, there's that many of them). And one of the groups placed was a couple called The Cheeky Girls. They were Romanian or Polish or from somewhere in Eastern Europe, and 16 year old blonde twins in hot pants. They were managed by their mother and both performers and management had a minimal grasp of English.

Their song (naturally heavily accented, and accompanied by much gimpy dancing) went along the lines of:

"We are the cheeky girls, the cheeky girls, the cheeky girls
We are the cheeky girls, the cheeky girls, the cheeky girls
Touch my bum
This is life."

Seriously.

Anyway, this was of course a huge hit as you might expect, despite the cultural inappropriateness of urging strangers to touch your bum (the US equivalent would be "touch my butt", as you probably already knew. Just screams tender romance, doesn't it? The Immortal Jane would be beside herself). So you see, if I used your idea people would think I was referencing them and it would date the book. Downer, but there you go.

As an alternative, I rather fancied the idea of these lovable moppets being quite self-righteous little prigs about it all, and imagining themselves setting forth a revolutionary manifesto of freedom for the arts with their tiresome little ditty in praise of sodomy which only they could do of course because just about every other band in the universe was a chickenshit coward compared to them. They, however, are not afraid to stick to The Man.

The sequel of course to this is to have the lead singer declaiming on this topic outside a record store promoting the new album in front of the press and to have a little old lady attack him with a handbag in affronted temper. And then for him to throw a fit of temper and possibly even cry. Afterwards he can issue statements to the effect that it was a very heavy handbag, which the press have downplayed in their coverage of the incident, and that he ended up needing stitches. Of course no-one will believe him. I'm sure Danny and his crew would make excellent capital out of it all to while away the tedious hours.

It's also becoming a plot point, because one of Danny's stoner friends is going to attempt to download this song, being an idiot, and Em is going to show him how to do it for free. And that will be the start of the slippery slope.

To be continued...