![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 03:48 pm (UTC)LOL, is this a threat or an offer? =)
Really I feel similar about the bugging issue. Its a sure way to annoy me and make me feel anti-inspired to write something.
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 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 04:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 04:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 04:22 pm (UTC)::wipes hands:: My job here is done. I have no clue why people think that yelling at authors makes them want to write more. It seems counter-intuitive.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 04:32 pm (UTC)In the interest of reverse persuasion, please do not write this (because if someone bugs you to do so, you won't right?)
I think there are certain pairings that have lost their edginess now that the world and his missus is writing them. I started in SS/HG when it still had a bit of edginess left. By the time I left, it was mainstream with silly crap with Sevvie looking after the toddler whilst watching Barney. So, no I am not going back, never. I do not think SS/HP has quite gone that far down the u-bend, but for my part I only like Snape pairings if they are edgy and ever so slightly unnerving. The minute there is too much fluff, I'm off. And I'd never write SS/HP because there are enough brilliant stories, anyway.
So hi-diddle-dee - it's rare, bizarre or crack pairings for me.
like Snape/Pettigrew*coughs*, or Snape/Rosier (which I am doing) or (grab onto something solid) Snape/Palpatine (which I did), I did Snape/Umbridge too. No wonder the guy's utterly batshit.I do not think anyone should be told not to do any pairing, or whatever kind of story. I mean, if it is not to my taste, I can always look elsewhere, but I'd rather read what the writer was interested in, myself, that something that was produced as a response to pleading.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 04:35 pm (UTC)Draco/Umbridge, with Draco as seducer. You know you want to.
*runs*
no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 04:41 pm (UTC)The other pairings are great and I love them but these others are wide open still that you actually can get some original stuff happening.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 04:49 pm (UTC)Write it!
WRITE IT!!!!
(okay, hopefully that means you will NEVER write that pairing...)
no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 04:50 pm (UTC)pst ARTHUR/DRACO
*tries to force bunnies because there is no Arthur fic and it is SAD*
*quick comment while at the office*
Date: 2005-08-05 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 05:21 pm (UTC)It's also Summer in The Pacific Northwest. Bugging you to sit down and do a story when the sun is shining and the islands beckons with your sweetheart is rude and cruel! :)
*hugs*
Also, expect Percy's Day Planner by Sunday- I finally finished, and would love you to have a chuckle!
no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 06:13 pm (UTC)Otherwise I'm just waiting patiently 'til you come up with anything your heart desires. ;)
no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 07:02 pm (UTC)I can really relate to your "I write my own reading material" comment. That exactly describes where I am at. I write a certain story a certain way because that's exactly what I want to be reading, and nobody (that I know of) has done quite what I have in mind (or perhaps they have, but not with the *intensity* I have in mind).
Which explains why canon and you converging would kill the urge to write a particular story. Oh, yes.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 07:10 pm (UTC)I still haven't seen a Percy/Draco anywhere yet.
There are a few out there that I've seen, but one good one stands out in my mind because it was written for me. I'll see if I can find the link....
no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 07:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 07:38 pm (UTC)Ah, the possibilities . . .
no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 07:46 pm (UTC)Icarus
no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 08:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 09:55 pm (UTC)You, too, huh? I did that, too, when I was writing a lot of HP fic. People actually bugged me when they *knew* my grandmother had died and I wouldn't be writing for a few months. Sometimes I wonder what goes through the minds of people, lol. The best way to get me not to do something is to constantly bug me about it.
Some of my favorites!
Date: 2005-08-05 10:31 pm (UTC)Hasn't been updated in a while (check the comments for recent additions), but I maintain a Percy/Malfoy List for just such pairings. There's lots of Percy/Draco if you know where to look.
Third Party Loyalties is one of my favorites (partly for the plant) and as long as you're looking, I can't not pimp my own Percy/Draco Taken by Surprise
http://www.tittisrealm.com/archive/ is the Snape/Weasley archive for Snape/Percy
Happy reading!
no subject
Date: 2005-08-05 10:33 pm (UTC)Reversing the family/generational split, I'm continually surprised there's so little Ron/Lucius.
*still at work, busy but being bad*
Date: 2005-08-05 10:36 pm (UTC)Icarus