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letterbladeAsdlkfjlsdjf. Writing brain barely going. Commence musing in the Journal of the Live.
So yesterday I visited![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mllelaurel with the girlfriend, the Utena myu, and PGSM in tow. The first resulted in a lot of geeking about Doctor Who (as they are both Who-nuts), the second resulted in a lot of the first drooling over fem!Touga (and I must say, he's quite hot when his wig gets mussy), and the third resulted in us staying up 'til 5 AM watching through approximately the first story arc. Next episode she meets Kunzite; weee!
I made the mistake (?) of mentioning to them that my brain had informed me that, for the 750 words de jour (which I, er, didn't do), it wished to write the Captain Jack of the Harkness making with the going down upon the Doctor of the Ninth. I informed my brain that I didn't feel like I knew nearly enough about either of them, whereupon it harassed me with a tipsy Jack, a bemused Doctor, and thoughts of, er, dancing for quite some time. But the longer I listened to two well-informed Dr. Who geeks do their geeking about the show...and novels...and audios...the more I realized that I didn't know shit about this series.
They attempted to convince me that I did and that I should still write the, er, dancing. Merrrgh. How am I supposed to write in a universe where I don't know whether the protagonist is affected by alcohol? Particularly in such a huge, well-established fandom, with such an immense sprawly segmented canon? Aflack.
Was at least able to learn that the dear Doctor has human anatomy.
Today Cyn was sick and floppy for the entire day, which means I spent all my time taking care of her and cooking for her, between doing all the laundry and a major grocery shopping. I feel housewifey and worn thin, and my back and hands are Not Happy. I settled down in the laundromat with a notebook, intending to write the, er, dancing, already, and instead waffled around trying to write a PGSM pairing which I've had in my head for quite some time, but have never found the right angle on. Tried to write their first proper meeting several times, none of which worked, and then finally gave up and cut straight to the well-darn-we-just-slept-together wibbling. Well, wibbling on her part. He's a littleman-whore sweetheart, so no wibbling from him.
Ayup, het. This is a rare case of what I've come to think of as my "yente" pairings: taking two characters who, from independent analysis, would be quite compatible, but who have not necessarily much subtext or even interaction, and finding some excuse to get them together. (In this case we've got two built-in yentes, Usagi and Mako-chan, so getting them together was not a problem.) By itself the pairing is not interesting, but I'm planning to set it up as contrast for his canon romance. Phwee.
For the record, I'm talking about post-series Jadeite/Naru. Yes, I know I sound like a loony. But they could be cute!
And, yes, I do also possess a rather strong post-series Beryl muse. I'm actually quite fond of her.
Oh, PGSM, PGSM, PGSM. I am having so much NRE with this fandom. I want to fall into its shiny colored-contact-wearing eyes and write sprawling multi-part fics. But at the same time, I'm not sure I've ever been in a fandom this claustrophobic and moribund. SRSLY.
The moribund part is probably mostly explained by the fact that the series is a few years old, obscure, never released in the States, and tends to be dismissed by most people on the grounds of "Japanese drama, must suck." What fandom there was seems to be mostly dead or dying at this point. The site with all the really nice screencaps just disappeared, and I and my iconbunnies mourn. Now I've been in a few other moribund fandoms, like Utena, and been similarly frustrated. But moribund and large, or even small but relatively varied and open-minded (like Utena), is still a fairly comfortable place to hang out.
But this fandom is tiny. Okay, I've been in small fandoms before. Myst, for one. But I was in Myst when it was terrifically active and spawning wonderful fic left and right; we had this little writer's circle thing going at MC for a while, which was wonderful and interactive and creative even though there were maybe only five or six dedicated and talented folks. But small + moribund is never good. And from what I've seen of it, the PGSM fandom isn't just small and moribund, it's...close-minded isn't quite the word, but everybody has their Thing and nobody seems to pay much attention to anything that isn't already somebody's Thing.
I noticed this when I went and posted a pile of BDSM-heavy ficlets and realized, from the two responses I got, and from looking at the hits, that I am the only person in this fandom who reads, writes, or even thinks in BDSM terms.
That's bloody disconcerting.
I poked around the archive and came to the realization that the slice of the fandom represented there breaks down as follows:
- A moderate handful of folks doing gen or non-smutty canon-het.
- About two writers apiece for the following most popular fanon pairings...
...Nephrite/Ami. (I like this pairing; it's got a lot of potential and can be both very character-interesting and very hot. It's also got the most going for it in terms of canon support, imho; or rather, one half of it is at least entirely text.)
...Rei/Minako. (I tend to mostly ignore this pairing, which is entirely a personal choice in my reading of Rei's subtext. I interpret Minako (who through most of the series I view as Asexual Due To Extenuating Circumstances) as her platonic best enemy, and Ami as her girlfriend.)
...Zoisite/Minako. (I entirely ignore this pairing. I can see how somebody can read it in if they pick up on Zoisite's slight subtext of 'she's a respected enemy' and ignore the much louder subtext of 'I'm gay and in love with Endymion.' I can even see how somebody would find it interesting. But I just...mergh.)
- One writer doing a mix of gen and canon-het and vanilla Endymion/Zoisite. (As you might guess from the above, I love this pairing. I take it as Rapidly Approaching Text that Zoisite is madly in love with Endymion. Whether or not that's returned is ultimately up to interpretation, but I tend to think it is, especially if by 'returned' one means 'collared.')
- One writer doing my favorite area of subtext, which is say 'most if not all Shitennou are sleeping with each other at some point.' Very well done, and delightfully angsty and dealing with a lot of the shit going on in the series, but still fairly vanilla. <3 her work though.
And that's it.
TINY li'l fandom! And on the whole entirely uninterested in most everything I'll write.
......I need to introduce more people to this show now.
I've lost the momentum of this post, as I got distracted by the urge to write a long multi-part essay on the subtext of PGSM and why I read the show the way I do.
Mrr.
Should type in and continue my Jadeite/Naru at some point. Job interview tomorrow. Sick girlfriend napping in bedroom, probably won't be up again tonight even though she claims she will. Lots of laundry to put away, including sheets for said girlfriend's bed. Mrgh.
The end conclusion? Feeling quite isolated from the fandom portions of my f-list. Feeling quite isolated from fandom in general. Being on the outside in a tiny fandom doesn't help. Hrm.
Heh, I was just stalking friends of friends and some PGSM communities and doing some friending. Hi, any of you who happen to be looking at this. Not the best introduction to my journal, sadly.
So yesterday I visited
mllelaurel with the girlfriend, the Utena myu, and PGSM in tow. The first resulted in a lot of geeking about Doctor Who (as they are both Who-nuts), the second resulted in a lot of the first drooling over fem!Touga (and I must say, he's quite hot when his wig gets mussy), and the third resulted in us staying up 'til 5 AM watching through approximately the first story arc. Next episode she meets Kunzite; weee!I made the mistake (?) of mentioning to them that my brain had informed me that, for the 750 words de jour (which I, er, didn't do), it wished to write the Captain Jack of the Harkness making with the going down upon the Doctor of the Ninth. I informed my brain that I didn't feel like I knew nearly enough about either of them, whereupon it harassed me with a tipsy Jack, a bemused Doctor, and thoughts of, er, dancing for quite some time. But the longer I listened to two well-informed Dr. Who geeks do their geeking about the show...and novels...and audios...the more I realized that I didn't know shit about this series.
They attempted to convince me that I did and that I should still write the, er, dancing. Merrrgh. How am I supposed to write in a universe where I don't know whether the protagonist is affected by alcohol? Particularly in such a huge, well-established fandom, with such an immense sprawly segmented canon? Aflack.
Was at least able to learn that the dear Doctor has human anatomy.
Today Cyn was sick and floppy for the entire day, which means I spent all my time taking care of her and cooking for her, between doing all the laundry and a major grocery shopping. I feel housewifey and worn thin, and my back and hands are Not Happy. I settled down in the laundromat with a notebook, intending to write the, er, dancing, already, and instead waffled around trying to write a PGSM pairing which I've had in my head for quite some time, but have never found the right angle on. Tried to write their first proper meeting several times, none of which worked, and then finally gave up and cut straight to the well-darn-we-just-slept-together wibbling. Well, wibbling on her part. He's a little
Ayup, het. This is a rare case of what I've come to think of as my "yente" pairings: taking two characters who, from independent analysis, would be quite compatible, but who have not necessarily much subtext or even interaction, and finding some excuse to get them together. (In this case we've got two built-in yentes, Usagi and Mako-chan, so getting them together was not a problem.) By itself the pairing is not interesting, but I'm planning to set it up as contrast for his canon romance. Phwee.
For the record, I'm talking about post-series Jadeite/Naru. Yes, I know I sound like a loony. But they could be cute!
And, yes, I do also possess a rather strong post-series Beryl muse. I'm actually quite fond of her.
Oh, PGSM, PGSM, PGSM. I am having so much NRE with this fandom. I want to fall into its shiny colored-contact-wearing eyes and write sprawling multi-part fics. But at the same time, I'm not sure I've ever been in a fandom this claustrophobic and moribund. SRSLY.
The moribund part is probably mostly explained by the fact that the series is a few years old, obscure, never released in the States, and tends to be dismissed by most people on the grounds of "Japanese drama, must suck." What fandom there was seems to be mostly dead or dying at this point. The site with all the really nice screencaps just disappeared, and I and my iconbunnies mourn. Now I've been in a few other moribund fandoms, like Utena, and been similarly frustrated. But moribund and large, or even small but relatively varied and open-minded (like Utena), is still a fairly comfortable place to hang out.
But this fandom is tiny. Okay, I've been in small fandoms before. Myst, for one. But I was in Myst when it was terrifically active and spawning wonderful fic left and right; we had this little writer's circle thing going at MC for a while, which was wonderful and interactive and creative even though there were maybe only five or six dedicated and talented folks. But small + moribund is never good. And from what I've seen of it, the PGSM fandom isn't just small and moribund, it's...close-minded isn't quite the word, but everybody has their Thing and nobody seems to pay much attention to anything that isn't already somebody's Thing.
I noticed this when I went and posted a pile of BDSM-heavy ficlets and realized, from the two responses I got, and from looking at the hits, that I am the only person in this fandom who reads, writes, or even thinks in BDSM terms.
That's bloody disconcerting.
I poked around the archive and came to the realization that the slice of the fandom represented there breaks down as follows:
- A moderate handful of folks doing gen or non-smutty canon-het.
- About two writers apiece for the following most popular fanon pairings...
...Nephrite/Ami. (I like this pairing; it's got a lot of potential and can be both very character-interesting and very hot. It's also got the most going for it in terms of canon support, imho; or rather, one half of it is at least entirely text.)
...Rei/Minako. (I tend to mostly ignore this pairing, which is entirely a personal choice in my reading of Rei's subtext. I interpret Minako (who through most of the series I view as Asexual Due To Extenuating Circumstances) as her platonic best enemy, and Ami as her girlfriend.)
...Zoisite/Minako. (I entirely ignore this pairing. I can see how somebody can read it in if they pick up on Zoisite's slight subtext of 'she's a respected enemy' and ignore the much louder subtext of 'I'm gay and in love with Endymion.' I can even see how somebody would find it interesting. But I just...mergh.)
- One writer doing a mix of gen and canon-het and vanilla Endymion/Zoisite. (As you might guess from the above, I love this pairing. I take it as Rapidly Approaching Text that Zoisite is madly in love with Endymion. Whether or not that's returned is ultimately up to interpretation, but I tend to think it is, especially if by 'returned' one means 'collared.')
- One writer doing my favorite area of subtext, which is say 'most if not all Shitennou are sleeping with each other at some point.' Very well done, and delightfully angsty and dealing with a lot of the shit going on in the series, but still fairly vanilla. <3 her work though.
And that's it.
TINY li'l fandom! And on the whole entirely uninterested in most everything I'll write.
......I need to introduce more people to this show now.
I've lost the momentum of this post, as I got distracted by the urge to write a long multi-part essay on the subtext of PGSM and why I read the show the way I do.
Mrr.
Should type in and continue my Jadeite/Naru at some point. Job interview tomorrow. Sick girlfriend napping in bedroom, probably won't be up again tonight even though she claims she will. Lots of laundry to put away, including sheets for said girlfriend's bed. Mrgh.
The end conclusion? Feeling quite isolated from the fandom portions of my f-list. Feeling quite isolated from fandom in general. Being on the outside in a tiny fandom doesn't help. Hrm.
Heh, I was just stalking friends of friends and some PGSM communities and doing some friending. Hi, any of you who happen to be looking at this. Not the best introduction to my journal, sadly.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: Jan. 22nd, 2007 03:34 am (UTC)The other problem is that I just didn't have much time to read anything, but now that my life is calming down and I actually have time for fic again, I will definitely have to give your writing a shot.
Thank you for the kind words about my fics, too. I honestly wasn't expecting anyone to like my stuff, as the yaoi writers are seriously outnumbered and the pairings I'm writing aren't terribly popular, so I'm extremely happy that you seem to like it.
no subject
Date: Jan. 22nd, 2007 04:14 am (UTC)Are the fics in Contrary Virtues just not happening to wander far south enough (fics will do what fics will do, I've found), or do you find it difficult to write smut? Just curious...
I actually find it a lot harder to write vanilla sex than kinky sex. I mean, it happens sometimes, if I find a vanilla couple interesting enough, but most of the time I simply don't. (Besides, when a pile of extremely attractive men behave as the Shitennou do, I can't help but write lots of graphic kinky sex. ;))
Well, I'm a yaoi writer outnumbered right alongside you. :) And you have amazing character insight, especially with Jadeite, and a knack for simple brilliant little sentences that hurt so good.
no subject
Date: Jan. 22nd, 2007 04:35 am (UTC)As for vanilla vs. kinky...hmmm. I've never really written hard BDSM for some reason, although I've experienced several things - I've been on the receiving end of firecupping and electrical play, for example, outside of general flogging and whipping; I was a switch for quite some time and still play one if it suits me - but I can definitely see the appeal of Shitennou BDSM. Oh yes I can. ;)
Eee, thanks for the encouragement. I worry about characterization most of all, and I'm glad I seem to be doing something right!
no subject
Date: Jan. 22nd, 2007 05:20 am (UTC)I think I'm rather more long-winded than you in general, though, in fiction. Which sortof just by default tends to lead to more smut. ;)
.......and here I was making the mistake of thinking I knew at least the general gist of pretty much everything people do in bed, or in dungeon, as the case may be! What, may I ask, is firecupping?
Those experiences are going to come immensely in handy should you ever sit down to write hard BDSM, I must say...I remember getting horribly bogged down trying to write electrical play on challenge, as I had no personal experience with it or anything like it, and my brain just couldn't generate the faintest clue what it might be like. (I've been regularly playing as a submissive, mostly with my primary, for the past approaching-a-year, and sporadically before then...all my previous partners had been vanilla or also submissive, which kinda puts a cramp in things. ;) Not even had a chance to go all the way through the standard toybox, though.)
Mmm, Shitennou BDSM. :D Given how Zoisite behaves towards his Master and Kunzite behaves towards, well, everybody...I couldn't resist. ;)
And, dude, your characterization is fantastic. :D
no subject
Date: Jan. 22nd, 2007 06:31 am (UTC)And electrical play was well and good until the guy (different guy) decided to...ah...insert the wand. To risk TMI, I am now a whole hell of a lot more sensitive in areas that were already pretty damn sensitive, to the point of near pain. I'm not an electroslut to begin with (we discovered this early on), so it wasn't the most pleasant experience in my life, but I'm glad I went through it anyway, just to satisfy my pride. I'm not sure I could ever write it without serious bias against it because I didn't exactly like the experience, though.
And good lord, Zoisite. So very in love with Endymion. So. Very. Much.
And thank you!
no subject
Date: Jan. 22nd, 2007 06:59 am (UTC)Every Doctor is different in their degree of humanity ... the Third, Fifth and Ninth doctors are the closest to human, while the Sixth and Seventh are probably the furthest from it. (YMMV.)
And some of these questions just haven't been answered. I wish I still had my copy of the Discontinuity Guide -- it's massively spoileriffic but it's a great writer's resource, since it clarifies exactly when and where certain facts were established.
The big thing, of course, is that after the Time War most of the laws of time no longer apply ... while the physical universe responded to them, they were legal laws that someone had to enforce.
no subject
Date: Jan. 22nd, 2007 02:31 pm (UTC)Being as I'm at college and we have a 1GB download per week limit here, I can't quite torrent it just yet. But, for a manga and anime series fan who's been one for years, is PGSM worth checking out? I also have to wonder, how does it relate to the basic story set out in the manga? Is it like the anime, which keeps the central bits of manga storyline yet takes enough liberties to be a seperate alternate universe? Does it ever entirely contradict the basic storyline?
no subject
Date: Jan. 22nd, 2007 03:24 pm (UTC)I don't know the manga canon at all except from bits my girlfriend has told me, and have seen Super, as she wished me to meet the Outers and Eudial (all of whom rocked my ass). Offhand, I'd say the drama diverges as much as the anime, but in a different direction. Most of the characters are darker, more complicated, and more serious; the extreme example of this is Minako, who is almost unrecognizable and delightfully fucked up.
From what I can gather the stories are fairly similar through the first story arc (gathering Senshi) and some noodling around in between (during which Kunzite appears and starts royally fucking with people, as he is wont to do), until the Dark Mercury arc (ayup), and then after that, when Serenity and Endymion start coming into play and we get the history of Earth's destruction...radically different and much darker.
Some other specific differences that do not spoil major stuff:
- Usagi's likeable. Seriously: she is silly without being a clumsy idiot and sweet and adorable without being a Mary Sue. This is helped by the fact that her actress does a fantastic job with body language and can change moods like quicksilver.
- Rather than appearing as serial villains (one at a time, replacement comes when he's killed), the Shitennou all appear fairly early on and remain alive, albeit with assorted dormancy periods, for the entire series. Also, one appears free from Beryl's curse from the start and saddled with his own issues instead, and one breaks the curse fairly early on, and they're all quite well-developed characters. Their infighting and politics and subtext are fascinating.
- Less padding (Dark Kingdom story in 49 episodes), and the padding there is has a much higher quotient of serious, in-depth character development and genuine plot complication. And not just of Usagi and Mamoru; the Senshi are all fully realized characters with major arcs, as are the Shitennou, and also some of the secondary characters. Naru? Has her moments. Motoki? Major. Much less of the pattern of anime filler, which seemed to have episodes on end of crack+MOTW, which the drama only resorts to a few times, and often in the drama even the crack episodes can contain major character development.
The series can be YouTubed, and if you'd be willing to PayPal for DVDs and postage, I could send you a copy. For I give PGSM the hard sell. ;)
no subject
Date: Jan. 22nd, 2007 03:25 pm (UTC)Thanks though. :) If I ever wrestle the bunny to the page, I'll run it by you.
*snugs*
no subject
Date: Jan. 22nd, 2007 04:31 pm (UTC)Thanks for all the information! Based on that it sounds great and I'm definitely going to check it out. I'm surprised and intrigued by how Minako sounds, although I have to admit I loathe the hyper silly anime portryal of her- anyone who was Sailor V, pretended to be the Princess, and went through what she did before and during the Dark Kingdom arc should NOT be as foolish as she is in later anime seasons... *gripe* So I'm looking forward to a different take on her. Love the idea of a Dark Mercury. Earth's destruction was done differently? And I love the talk about how the Shitennou get more space (I've always adored them, especially Zoi), and I like how the secondary characters get more development. In short, it sounds great!
I'm flat broke till early Feb, but after that I would definitely pay for DVDs and postage, because PGSM sounds seriously amazing.
no subject
Date: Jan. 22nd, 2007 09:54 pm (UTC)Yeah, Minako is much different, and much more serious. I could be wrong about Earth's destruction being different, but if it is indeed different, it'll be one of the big surprises of the show, so no spoily. Dark Mercury rocks ass. And Zoisite...*points at icon and lapses into incoherence*
I actually just got a job, so no longer flat broke, and DVD money not as much of an issue. Email me with your address when you wish?
no subject
Date: Jan. 22nd, 2007 10:00 pm (UTC)I'd imagine the fire goes out pretty quickly, with the lack of oxygen?
And, eegh. Sorry I asked after it!
no subject
Date: Jun. 29th, 2011 09:00 pm (UTC)I don't write, I wish I did, but know that your fics are still being read (and saved to my hard drive), years after you wrote them.