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...but there's one category that gets missed off.
Impulse fic.
Now, before I get leapt on from a great height, I know, I know; once you put out a fic, it's fair game, shouldn't post it if it's not ready, blah, blah, caveat cakes.
But still.
What I'm talking about here are the fics we dash off on a whim, run through spell check, cast a cursory eye over, and post; fics that weren't meant to stand the test of time or be a lasting jewel in our fic-writing crown. Fics written directly into an LJ post because a friend wanted porn, fics posted ten minutes after someone said they wanted an improbable pairing and, as luck would have it, a plot bunny bit and you could do it for her, so you did.
Whim fics. Impulse fics. The ones that people read, drool, gasp, shiver or giggle at and forget. Disposable fics.
Not fics you expect people to find months later, post about on a blog and suddenly you're getting f/b on them...
I'm talking about my Spike/Dilbert fic. Wrote it in September, and then in April got two or three emails about it one day, and after a bit of research found out someone had mentioned it to someone who'd put it on her blog
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/
and someone else, in May, saw it there and linked to it on her one...so suddenly people who don't know me are reading that fic and thinking - what? That I'm insane?
Heh. Well...possibly. It's not that I'm ashamed of the fic; it's not on my web page because I'm not sure how Scott Adams feels about fanfic (not that I think it's likely Adams would ever see it; it's more of a scruple I have). It's no worse than anything else I've done.
But I just have this feeling that I want to point out it's not the best I can do. Not excuse it, just...explain it a bit ::broods:: Is that crazy? Because I love doing and reading impulse fics; I'll overlook a typo or two because I know the conditions under which it was written, I'll factor that in as I read; but six months later, when it's on a web page, no one else will, and the typo might have been fixed but it's probably still a little raw. Does that mean it doesn't deserve archiving? And, sure, you could get it beta'd, but this is an impulse fic; it's like washing a paper plate.
I think it's my Vamp!Zebra fic that sparked this, well, I'm not ranting, more of a chunter really, off. Now that story's never going to make sense unless you know how it came about, but I'm not weighing the fic down with an Author's Note that's half the length of the story itself.
So. New warning needed :;nods firmly::
:-)
Impulse fic.
Now, before I get leapt on from a great height, I know, I know; once you put out a fic, it's fair game, shouldn't post it if it's not ready, blah, blah, caveat cakes.
But still.
What I'm talking about here are the fics we dash off on a whim, run through spell check, cast a cursory eye over, and post; fics that weren't meant to stand the test of time or be a lasting jewel in our fic-writing crown. Fics written directly into an LJ post because a friend wanted porn, fics posted ten minutes after someone said they wanted an improbable pairing and, as luck would have it, a plot bunny bit and you could do it for her, so you did.
Whim fics. Impulse fics. The ones that people read, drool, gasp, shiver or giggle at and forget. Disposable fics.
Not fics you expect people to find months later, post about on a blog and suddenly you're getting f/b on them...
I'm talking about my Spike/Dilbert fic. Wrote it in September, and then in April got two or three emails about it one day, and after a bit of research found out someone had mentioned it to someone who'd put it on her blog
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/
and someone else, in May, saw it there and linked to it on her one...so suddenly people who don't know me are reading that fic and thinking - what? That I'm insane?
Heh. Well...possibly. It's not that I'm ashamed of the fic; it's not on my web page because I'm not sure how Scott Adams feels about fanfic (not that I think it's likely Adams would ever see it; it's more of a scruple I have). It's no worse than anything else I've done.
But I just have this feeling that I want to point out it's not the best I can do. Not excuse it, just...explain it a bit ::broods:: Is that crazy? Because I love doing and reading impulse fics; I'll overlook a typo or two because I know the conditions under which it was written, I'll factor that in as I read; but six months later, when it's on a web page, no one else will, and the typo might have been fixed but it's probably still a little raw. Does that mean it doesn't deserve archiving? And, sure, you could get it beta'd, but this is an impulse fic; it's like washing a paper plate.
I think it's my Vamp!Zebra fic that sparked this, well, I'm not ranting, more of a chunter really, off. Now that story's never going to make sense unless you know how it came about, but I'm not weighing the fic down with an Author's Note that's half the length of the story itself.
So. New warning needed :;nods firmly::
:-)