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icarusHow to guarantee I will not write a particular story:
- Bug me about it.
- Encourage me to read the pairing to get me back into it.
- Bug me about it.
- Bring it up in conversation.
- Bug me about it.
- Put down another character I'm interested in writing.
- Bug me about it.
- Put down a second character I'm interested in writing.
- Bug me about it.
- Offer to help with canon issues.
- Bug me about it.
Why getting me to read the pairing doesn't encourage me to write it:
I tend to write pairings that no one else is interested in, because I write my own reading material. I don't write Harry/Draco because there's plenty of reading material out there for those two. Back when I wrote Harry/Snape there were only a handful of novel-length Harry/Snape stories. Showing me how much Harry/Snape there is out there now does not encourage me to write it, especially as so much of it is excellent. I feel no need. I'm inclined to recline, pour myself a nice cold lemonade and read to my heart's content. I am fundamentally lazy and won't lift a finger where someone else has done it for me.
Why bugging me is foolish:
Bugging me about it is unwise, because I'm stubborn. If I start to feel pushed or dragged, my heels shall inevitably dig in and you will have better luck getting stories out of a mule.
Why putting down other characters I'm writing doesn't redirect my efforts:
As far as putting down other characters I'm intereted in writing, well, that does effectively kill my enthusiasm for particular stories from time to time.
But this doesn't move my enthusiasm neatly to another story. It kills my inclination to write altogether. Because the stories that are there, that want to be written, are the ones that are there. I don't want to be writing Lucius
Gen, but the story is there. It is not like weeding, where if you get rid of the unwanted characters/stories/weeds, your favourite flower will flourish. It's more like pouring concrete on the entire garden. Nothing will grow at all.
As for offering to help with canon issues, that is doomed from the start. My problem with certain stories is not that I need to coordinate with canon. It is that they are no longer even remotely original because JKR and I were thinking along the same lines (i.e., she foreshadowed successfully, I anticipated successfully and -- surprise, surprise -- we arrived at the same place). This has happened twice now, and with the same WIP. It rather takes the fun out of it when my story becomes a dry retread of canon.
The next person to bug me about either Snape Manor or Reunion will be treated to Filch/Kreacher porn... or perhaps a very limp G-rated story about Colin Creevey collecting water lilies to photograph. Or perhaps nothing.
I'm really getting soured on those stories and pairings, and I'm beginning to understand why Dien Alcyone abandoned Season of Healing.
- Bug me about it.
- Encourage me to read the pairing to get me back into it.
- Bug me about it.
- Bring it up in conversation.
- Bug me about it.
- Put down another character I'm interested in writing.
- Bug me about it.
- Put down a second character I'm interested in writing.
- Bug me about it.
- Offer to help with canon issues.
- Bug me about it.
Why getting me to read the pairing doesn't encourage me to write it:
I tend to write pairings that no one else is interested in, because I write my own reading material. I don't write Harry/Draco because there's plenty of reading material out there for those two. Back when I wrote Harry/Snape there were only a handful of novel-length Harry/Snape stories. Showing me how much Harry/Snape there is out there now does not encourage me to write it, especially as so much of it is excellent. I feel no need. I'm inclined to recline, pour myself a nice cold lemonade and read to my heart's content. I am fundamentally lazy and won't lift a finger where someone else has done it for me.
Why bugging me is foolish:
Bugging me about it is unwise, because I'm stubborn. If I start to feel pushed or dragged, my heels shall inevitably dig in and you will have better luck getting stories out of a mule.
Why putting down other characters I'm writing doesn't redirect my efforts:
As far as putting down other characters I'm intereted in writing, well, that does effectively kill my enthusiasm for particular stories from time to time.
But this doesn't move my enthusiasm neatly to another story. It kills my inclination to write altogether. Because the stories that are there, that want to be written, are the ones that are there. I don't want to be writing Lucius
Gen, but the story is there. It is not like weeding, where if you get rid of the unwanted characters/stories/weeds, your favourite flower will flourish. It's more like pouring concrete on the entire garden. Nothing will grow at all.
As for offering to help with canon issues, that is doomed from the start. My problem with certain stories is not that I need to coordinate with canon. It is that they are no longer even remotely original because JKR and I were thinking along the same lines (i.e., she foreshadowed successfully, I anticipated successfully and -- surprise, surprise -- we arrived at the same place). This has happened twice now, and with the same WIP. It rather takes the fun out of it when my story becomes a dry retread of canon.
The next person to bug me about either Snape Manor or Reunion will be treated to Filch/Kreacher porn... or perhaps a very limp G-rated story about Colin Creevey collecting water lilies to photograph. Or perhaps nothing.
I'm really getting soured on those stories and pairings, and I'm beginning to understand why Dien Alcyone abandoned Season of Healing.
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no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 03:49 pm (UTC)Honestly, though...I can't see how anybody thinks pestering a writer is going to get them to write anything. I *have* written pairings I wouldn't ordinarily be interested in writing as gifts for friends or as part of a challenge, but generally speaking, even otherwise nice feedback that includes a plea to turn a completed story into a series is almost always a turn off.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 03:53 pm (UTC)*bursts out laughing* Yes, actually, that will work.
A little encouragement is one thing. That concrete garden phenomenon, pissing on the characters I am writing? That's where it crosses the line into "herding."
Icarus
no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 04:20 pm (UTC)*quick comment while at the office*
Date: 2005-08-05 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-09 03:01 am (UTC)Hmmm... I think anyone who wants Filch/Kreacher might flee in terror of Ron/Hermione PG-13 Valentine schmoop. ;)
Icarus