Bored now

[gwyn]

Because I haven't had anything to post about in days, and I hate those coy things like telling people I have story ideas or hinting at what I'm working on so people will beg me to do it (not that, you know, I don't ever want to be begged!), and because I'm a lemming: I'm intrigued by the meme going around that says "Ask me what happens after one of my stories." So, yeah. Ask. If I know, I will tell. In some cases, I don't, though.

(I have issues, even though I'm intrigued. The remix concept apalls me in terms of fic [and vids, especially], and I told the local gang recently that if anyone ever tried to "fix" or remake or do a sequel to Cold Enough to Snow, I would hunt them down and kill them. Yet I also think it would be nice to just remember some of the stories, and think about whether I ever considered an after for the characters.)

Comments

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

Are you interested in saying more about why the remix notion appalls you?

I don't fully understand the remix -- well, I get the notion of rewriting a story from a different character's POV, but beyond that, it's kind of blurry to me -- but from what I've gathered, it seems like a reasonable way for one fan to offer an homage to another fan's work. But like I said, I'm not sure I understand it completely, so maybe I'm missing something.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

It's hard for me to talk about it in a reasonable way. I tend to get flecks of foam on my lips and my face turns red. But I'll try... Basically, it seems really disrespectful to me. I guess if people are willing to have their stories taken and rewritten and have elements of the story redone (and in some cases, participate with that), then more power to them, but I don't get it. I take great care with everything I write, even just stupid little fanfic pieces. For me, they are more than that, and it's one reason I write so slowly and edit to death before I'm willing to post something. A story is what I want it to be. It starts where it needs to start, and ends where it needs to end. The characters in the foreground are the ones who should be there, and the ones who aren't should be where they are. I spend a lot of time in setting up my own "universe" in relation to whatever the fandom is. Backgrounds, settings... it's all crucial to me.

To have someone come along and fix that to their liking... for me it's not unlike those folks who take edits to use in their own vids. Where's the line between taking the original product you crafted and reworking it to your concept, and stealing edits or plagiarizing a story concept? I can't find the line when I try to look at it. I realize consent plays a huge part, but... I just don't play in those circles. Fortunately it hasn't hit my major fandoms.

The story I mentioned, a Mag 7 story, is frequently referred to as a death story even though it's not. People are always telling me it made them cry -- one of the characters has an illness that was often terminal back then. For me it ends on a hopeful note with the sadness behind, yet I've had people repeatedly wish for a sequel to "fix" the ending and tell them what happened later. It ends where it *should* end and for me it ends perfectly... and the idea of someone remaking it so they could have their sappy cliche happy ending really disturbs me. I am out of step with most of fandom in that cliche happy endings are so not my cup of tea, and I often have wondered if this obsession with remixing (to me, that's a euphemism that disguises its nature) isn't just one more way people can make sure they have that tra-la-la skip through the tulips ending that makes me gag. It seems like from what little I've seen, endings are a huge motivator for rewriting.

I've had one person continue a story with my permission. It was an interesting experience. I tried to divorce myself from the way it played out, but it went in a direction I might never have wanted it to go. It was fine as is, but hard for me to separate from the universe I'd made up in my mind. I like it for what it is, but it's cognitive dissonance in a way.

I guess... Sandy and Rache get annoyed at me for thinking of it as "fixing" but to me that's how it seems -- creating the story you wished you could see from the story you read. (I would have liked more of Character X, I would have liked this to be romantic, I would have liked this to have a happy ending...) I don't know why people just don't, you know, create their own art. But I have this issue all the time with fandom -- I don't get why people gripe about stuff so much instead of creating it themselves. If you didn't like a story because you were much more intrigued with a background character, well, hell, write those guys yourself, don't take the original and work off what that writer created. It just doesn't make sense to me.

I guess what it comes down to is... if people are cool with it, whatever, but what I do, I do with a lot of forethought, careful effort, and precision, and I would really not enjoy having things I did remade in the image someone else would like them. I don't understand why they like it, but they're welcome to it. And fortunately, no one is putting a gun to my head, and I don't have to read remade stories.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I got cut off on the word limit. See? But one thing I wanted to say but had to cut out is that... we're in this really cool world of playing around with other universes already. We're reshaping episodes, filling in blanks, getting characters together who wouldn't get together in the series, all kinds of manipulation and retextualization. So, I am confused by why people don't want to take advantage of such richness, and instead want to manipulate or retextualize something that's already retextualized. People always criticize me for wasting time on fanfic, that it's not real creativity, and I try to point out to them why it is. Remaking something that's already retextualized... I'm not sure I get that. Why not just do what you want, instead of using someone else's work to start from?

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

So what happens after On Beds of Sorrow?

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's an ineresting one to think about. ::consults crystal ball::

I see Dom going back to work, going back to his life, very alone, feeling very solitary. He's a lot different -- quieter, more introspective, not the glory hound he has been or inclined to be all over the skanky hos. And he goes to races, but doesn't race himself. Kind of the father figure. I see him taking a really long time to get back into life, but does eventually. I like thinking of him finding someone good, someone who challenges him and values him, gets the different person he's become.

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

I figured I'd get an interesting answer, and I was right.

Do you think your answer could (or you would want it to) apply to your life after sis_r?

[aukestrel.livejournal.com]

So what happens after Cold Enough to Snow? Don't tell me, let me guess... Vin and Chris move to Mexico and the beautiful mountain air cures Vin. A local peasant girl offers to have their babies, and we fade out twenty years down the road to Vin and Chris with a passel o' babies and a tulip farm!

/snark

I can tell you thatone of the things that makes favourite stories stand out for me is that I can spend time after I've read the story wondering what happened next. It's sort of the reason I love due South - I loved the show so much, and I always wanted to know what happened when the hour was over, what ELSE they did, and so on. So I'm happy in my fantasy world going through various possibilities for the stories I like... they have the same effect on me.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

yes, that's *exactly* it. That's exactly what happens. ;-)

That's the only story I wouldn't even want to think about an after for. Some days, when I'm in a happy ending mood, I know that they both live to be 90 and die in each other's arms. Because people went to New Mexico to be cured and frequently lived very long lives there. And then other days, when I like the melancholy, I believe that Vin doesn't get that much better and doesn't live as long as all that. But it's very hazy in my mind. I never wanted a clearer picture because just as you say, that's part of the enjoyment -- thinking about possibilities. There are more than just those two possibilities for both of them, anyway... the possibilities are endless! Why wreck the fun by knowing, I say.

[deejay.livejournal.com]

*insert begging for a new 'Miracles' songvid here*

*oh, and insert a hug here, too*

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Funny you should mention that -- I've had this song in my mind for a long, long time and it's been a whole "can we do this, I'm not sure" thing... but then recently I heard a new song that hit me hard, right in the gut. I said, this is it. This is the new vid song and it's even better than an already good one. So. It will happen at some point!

[deejay.livejournal.com]

Splendid news indeed!

I have a couple of songs (one being The Mediaeval Baebes's 'Spiriti') that like to play inside my head with pretty 'Miracles' clips affixed to them. Sadly, they will remain for my own brain's entertainment only, as I have no way to share them with others quite yet (lame computer, no vidder program, nor mentor), alas.

[zebra363.livejournal.com]

Last One Standing!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Heeee.

Well, that is one where I don't know the answer, because I was afraid if I decided on one, then there was no way I could make it the kind of ending it was intended to be. But.

If I had my own choices to make, I would have Vin turn around. Because he passes the broccoli test with Chris, and he would just know that Chris needed him to do that.