Chatter Post!

[white_aster]

Yay and welcome! First of all, thank EVERYONE for joining the comm! We've been tickled pink by the turnout, and we hope that everyone will have an awesome time writing and reading!

In the interest of tiding us over until the bingo cards are given out on the 1st, why don't we have a good, old-fashioned introduction post! Feel free to mix and mingle, introduce yourself and your writing, talk about the weather, ask questions, or anything else that comes to mind! :D

Comments

This got way longer than intended.

[dingsi]

I'm late to the party, and signing up was a spontaneous thing. I'm still not sure how I feel about it: hopeful? scared? desperate? excited? - Possibly all of the above. My expectations are really low, though. In so many years I've only written a handful of drabbles when it comes to fanfic, and original fiction has gotten reduced to RPing with a friend -- which is much fun, btw, and I couldn't wish for a better writing partner... but it's still not the same as a story in prose. And I miss that. There's an origfic-shaped hole in my life, so to speak. I've considered joining challenge communities before, but usually they didn't allow for original fiction, or they had weekly prompts or such a tight deadline that I crumbled into an insecure heap just from reading the profile. I'm terrible with deadlines. Or pressure. Actually, let's just call it "I'm a bundle of writing-related neuroses" and be done with it. As your community has "NO PRESSURE!" practically written in bold red letters over it, my goal is as follows: I will hopefully finish something from my bingo card. And then I will feel accomplished because 1 > 0. \o/ The end.

So, what can you expect?

For one, my stories all started out as something to entertain myself with when I'm bored or before I fall asleep, so they don't have as much structure as, say, some novel you're planning. Basically, I'm writing snapshots. There might be a connecting story arc but there's lots and lots of "free space" available inbetween.

Two, the relationships and character development are more important than the worldbuilding or plot. Which doesn't mean I don't care for that sort of thing, or that there weren't constants and facts ... but they take a backseat and I don't keep a box of notes or online wiki somewhere. (Perhaps I should?) Usually mood and imagery are the driving force. (On rereading, this sounds terrible, like I'm just a hack trying to find excuses why he doesn't have to keep up with characterisation and stuff, but I don't know how to explain it any better.)

Three: I tried to write characters that weren't queer in some way, but it just doesn't work. I seem incapable of having totally straight main characters. Later it turned out I can't have 100% gay or lesbian main characters either. I'm not doing this because of the misguided and ultimately condescending opinion that "everyone's bi at heart" -- thankfully I outgrew that phase in my teens *cough cough*. It's just that a) I think sexuality and desire are both more complicated and complex than we're generally told, and b) somehow the charas grew that way. I mean, even the ones I thought to be gay or straight eventually piped up with "well, that one time at college..." or "okay I'm not into women but if I was I'd totally [gushing description of adored female person]". Or "but we were drunk!" *hands* (To be honest, I like them that way.)

Four: a lot of people described their stories and I tried, but it only made me think I'd suck as someone in charge of advertising. Goth vampire has a silly sense of humour! Watch him feed his frogs! Grumpy ex rock star struggles with abusive past! Is also kinky! Guy who had a crush on ex rock star in their teenage years is now happily married but the couple is open for moresomes! And kinky. There's really lots of kink, actually, but mostly in the "After doing the dishes, I hurt my lover in ways we find exciting, and they told me I look sexy in my Birkenstock's and grey sweater that my dog had gnawed on again" way. There's also magical tattoos and dead brothers and longevity treatment and laser-guided amnesia and dude someone shoot me already.

Re: This got way longer than intended.... but it sure was awesome ;)

[sterling]

I don't even know where to begin to reply to your post, but I have to reply because I think you're full of awesome sauce. ^_^ A lot of my ideas start out in that snapshot manner, and I tend to have to force myself to fill in the free space in between if I actually want to finish a cohesive story.


I think I'm going to friend you... (friend back if you'd like)! I would enjoy hearing your commentary as you work on the bingo (in addition to your other randomness). XD

[dingsi]

Oh wow. I really didn't expect such an excited reaction and now I don't know what to say. ^^° Besides, I'm afraid you might be in for a disappointment? I mean, I don't want to come off as unfriendly or ungrateful or whatever, but my journal is mainly 1. rambling, 2. ranting about gender/feminism/trans-related topics, 3. navel-gazing. If that doesn't deter you, I'd be happy to have you as a reader of course. :)
I haven't made up my mind yet about adding back because I very, very rarely follow fiction/writing journals. But I think I'd like to subscribe to your RSS feed and check in manually from time to time when I see something I can comment on. That okay with you?

P.S. I agree with you; filling in the space between snapshots sucks. I admire everyone who can do it, because for me it's like pulling teeth.

Re: This got way longer than intended.

[darthneko]

I'm still skimming as I'm still a ball of nyquil dosed fail, but I just have to say this - "to entertain myself with ...before I fall asleep"

This? THIS Is how ALL of my stories start out! Seriously! \o/ I'm terribly pleased to meet someone else who does this too. ^___^

Re: This got way longer than intended.

[dingsi]

I have the suspicion that it's actually very common, only that people rarely talk about it.
(Hope you're feeling better btw)