Literary navel-gazing

[resonant]

I was tempted to do that meme where I ask you all about your impressions of me as a writer, except that I figure there's nobody out there who's half as fascinated by my writing as I am. So, taking my cue from godofwine, I'll give you my list of the telltale signs that you're reading a Res story:



1. It has a happy ending.

2. There's sex. Lots of sex. Detailed, mostly friendly, pretty vanilla, and quite verbal.

3. If you didn't already know what the characters looked like, you wouldn't learn it from reading the story.

4. On the other hand, nearly every bit of dialog will be tagged with an extraneous adverb telling you what their voices sound like.

5. Probably the title is one noun. Probably it's a noun with more than one relevant meaning.

6. If the title is a phrase, it's from a poem (obscure) or a song (dorky).

7. It's not very ensemble-y. If other characters appear, they're very much in the background of the main pairing. Sometimes you may wonder whether a plague has mysteriously killed off the rest of the cast. Sometimes in longer stories, the rest of the canon universe has been replaced by a cast of original characters with eccentric names.

8. Eyes widen, flutter, or fall shut all over the place. There's also quite a bit of shuddering and shivering.

9. There's little groaning and no screaming, but there's an overabundance of whining and whimpering. People whisper, or they speak thickly, hoarsely, or grittily. There's a lot of breathlessness. Probably the phrase "flushed and panting" appears.

10. Conflict generally revolves around one character's reluctance to be known deeply, to be vulnerable. The pairing, in other words, involves one character with serious intimacy problems. The other character, by contrast, will be drawn as fairly impervious to emotional pain -- and lucky for him.



Also, last night I dreamed I was playing bingo with pirates, so clearly my life is lacking in excitement.

Comments

[soho-iced.livejournal.com]

Playing bingo with pirates sounds pretty exciting, also rather risky.

[celandineb.livejournal.com]

LOL! I think that's a pretty accurate list. Although you forgot one:

11. The reader can't stop reading until the end. And then wishes there were more.

*g*

[sp23.livejournal.com]

11. The reader can't stop reading until the end. And then wishes there were more.

Yeeeeessss!

[eliade.livejournal.com]

Hee. You are adorable. :)

[giglet.livejournal.com]

Cut-throat bingo! You inspired me:
http://giglet.livejournal.com/201319.html

And now I really want to see a "write like Res" fic challenge.

[jadedwallflower.livejournal.com]

that was hilarious. good job!

[jadedwallflower.livejournal.com]

i know i've read things of yours and loved them. and the fact that you can spoof your own work is pretty entertaining and endearing :)

[godofwine.livejournal.com]

I love these lists; keep 'em coming!

Also, I tend to associate "Damn, that was a good sex scene" with your stories.

[justacat.livejournal.com]

## 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 10 pretty much encapsulate everything that makes me love a fanfic.

Boy I miss being in a fandom that you're writing ... *sigh*

[skuf.livejournal.com]

1. And no-one writes happy endings like you. I really need to stop being such a wuzz, and read some of all the fics you have written in other fandoms!

3. (etc.) I've never really thought about this! Good call that you wrote the list, as I'm sure it's much more interesting and varied this way. Gave me something to think about, at least :o)

[skuf.livejournal.com]

Or wuss, with s's…

[fullygoldy.livejournal.com]

Wait! Doesn't "Transfigurations" kinda break rules 3 & 7?

The rules don't matter to me, all that matters is that sometime in 2005, it became official: I will read anything Res writes. I live in a balanced state of fear and anticipation over what the next fandom will be...

[giglet.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Also, last night I dreamed I was playing bingo with pirates, so clearly my life is lacking in excitement.

Hey, that's MY story. *G* I'm going to make "they're playing bingo with pirates" the first item on my list.

1) they're playing bingo with pirates

2) clowns, puppets, parrots, or mimes

3) a road trip through a flyover state...

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

3) a road trip through a flyover state...

... Res waves at them as they whiz down 74 en route to more interesting places ...

[read-300300.livejournal.com]

I think I may kidnap this meme- if I can muster the courage to think of any fanfic at the moment, much less my own.

*shudders* Okay, maybe not.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was a pretty scary game, and I didn't get the impression the prizes were that great, either.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

[beaming at you]

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

[beams at you, too!]

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Come on, you do it. All the cool kids are navel-gazing.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I already told you you were cool over there, but you're cool over here, too.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Aww. Thanks!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Hee! Glad to hear it.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Aww! Well, everything converges eventually; it's a law of fandom. (And everything flies apart eventually, too, but you know what I mean.)

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

People probably never notice this stuff about other people's stories -- unless I write or beta something, I tend not to see these patterns.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Hee! I'm flattered! Lucky for you I'm not interested in, say, Olsen twincest or something.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Do it! It's kind of fun!

[fyre-bird.livejournal.com]

I love this meme! It's inspiring me to reread several authors' works.

I have your website bookmarked in my favorites... and suddenly, it wants to download a file when I select it. I'm telling it "No," of course, but then the website won't load at all. Am very sad about that.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

That's weird. Did you double-check to make sure your bookmark says http:// and not ftp:// ? Other than that, i have no theories ...