Tis the season to be Jolly. Not the season to be upset over things that are written between friends and writing partners. I have to tell you, I am so sick and tired of people getting so wrapped up in something that is supposed to be fun as if it is a life and death matter. Who gives a damn whether or not something follows absolute canon or not? Are people *not* allowed to write and please themselves – even if it is Meta? Is it ok for people to breathe, live and create or have “what if” conversations just for the fun of it? It is, isn’t it? I mean the world isn’t going to end if someone bends the rules just a little bit in order to PLAY is it? No? I didn’t bloody think so.
Listen up, people. Until you get paid to do this shit, – and most of you actually don’t – then shut the fuck up and have some fun already. Jeezus. Far too many as of late act like the entire fate of the civilized world is in their hands. If we don’t follow the canon of (enter fandom here) then OMG – the world is gonna come to a screeching halt!! Thank God the fate of the world doesn’t rest upon the balanced minds of the fanfic writers. We’d be in some real trouble then!
I have thread with other writers and muns that my muses (plural) interact with that are not days old, not weeks old or even mere months old. I have threads with some of my most beloved playmates that are going on YEARS old! Years, people. And you know what? It can go on for another few years for all I care! I know that we will eventually pick up the threads and play with them when and if we are able. If not, ok. Things happen.
Come on. Just grow up. Most of us can all agree that we have lives, jobs, homes, families. In my case I have these things and in a very short while I am going to be thrust headlong into the ever-exciting (and scary as hell!) path of film production. That means, if I get to breathe from time to time *looks at her boss the Executive Producer, who is most likely reading this* then I will be doing well. So yes, boys and girls, that means I get to tell people where to go all day long for months at a time! I tell you, the control freak in me cannot wait…and if you think I was a control freak here?! HA! I have now become the High Priestess of *WTFCYBT.
Let’s all just get back to the fun and amusement of WRITING. You know. Pick up your pens, act as if you *might* enjoy yourself. Act like you care about doing it for you and not for praise or reaction from anyone else. Who knows, if you start doing that, maybe you might end up actually getting paid for it. That is if you can develop a sense of humour and stop being so bloody rigid about every stupid little thing!
WTFCYBT =” what the f*** could you be thinking?!”
Life Belongs to Sekhmet 
*HUGS* I love you. But you knew that!
And Happy New Year!!!
OH…SQUEE!! Hector Barbossa iconz!!! *purrs*
I love you, too! 🙂 And I KNOW you knew that!
*flashes Barbossa icon again!* 😀
I wanted to add to this comment, since I was very sleepy and not really coherent at the time (having had a crazy New Year’s Eve of partying at home with my cats). I just loved this post; you reminded me of how important it is to just take a few deep breaths sometimes. This isn’t a problem for me as far as going all LJ drama over other people’s stuff, but I do tend to get way too uptight over my own writing. I think if I made more of an effort to remember that the FATE OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT does not rest on how awesome my posts/RP comments are, I wouldn’t end up neglecting so many pups and plots.
I have thread with other writers and muns that my muses (plural) interact with that are not days old, not weeks old or even mere months old. I have threads with some of my most beloved playmates that are going on YEARS old! Years, people. And you know what? It can go on for another few years for all I care! I know that we will eventually pick up the threads and play with them when and if we are able. If not, ok. Things happen.
I may have just fallen in love with you.
In the end, we must write for ourselves, prompt for ourselves and create for ourselves. For what happens once someone reads to it and possibly responds to it is out of our hands as it is another’s REACTION. Rping for attention will ultimately fail every single time, for how can we control what gains responses, and what does not? Any more than we can control the pace at which stories develop. Most often I find the longer I dedicate myself to something, the more satisfying it is. NOW does not always mean WOW.
You rock.
Aww! Thank you!
I would completely agree with you. I think alot of people – far too many in fact – live vicariously through their characters. Maybe that is why they get so attached emotionally to how RP is going. It’s supposed to be fun, and if an element in a collaborative story doesn’t work, then you can, I would think, be able to rework it! I love long projects, and I think that is why Rochefort! mun and I and Hsu! mun, for example, and I have done so well together is we have very long-term projects and the end result is so much more pleasing because we have time to develop with no pressure involved.
So….we need to collaborate sometime, too. That is if you can stand long drawn out RP and writing! 😉
I would love to collaborate on something for the girls! I read where your schedule will be hectic, and I am a retail manager so that she mesh — well, we love our slow RPS. But if you don’t mind a one or two slow, yet thoughtfully written tags a day? Well I am beyond excited!
Excellent! My schedule isn’t going to be that bad – yet. I just have to be ready to move very quickly with little or no notice. Anyway, that’s what a laptop is for! 😉 Let’s talk about it in email then. My email is
fanny fae at gmail dot com. We can discuss it there. 🙂
IAWTC.
This is wonderful and highly appropriate. For all that I love new things, the things I’m most proud of took a while but were worth the wait. Quality, not quantity. =D
Thank you for that! Well written and to the point as always.
Happy New Year, and sending my love as I head to Bed. *hugs*
*HUGS* You know you are always in my heart, dear one! You’ve made my year absolutely magical. You are the gold standard of writing partners against whom all others shall be judged. Seriously. You have been a dream to work with! 🙂
*HUGS* Happy New Year, sweetie! I will try to connect somehow tomorrow. 🙂
It can go on for another few years for all I care! I know that we will eventually pick up the threads and play with them when and if we are able. If not, ok. Things happen.
Amen. My Gino LARPer is now in Grad school and our Real-time game fell to dust years ago, but now Gino!mun is ready to play by email/AIM again. Personally, Izzy and I are delighted, but know that there are things that take the driver’s seat. Real life, family, livelihoods, and pursuit of advanced degrees come to mind.
The same is said for Cesare!mun who lives in Germany and also works where smutting threading cannot always be accomplished on my schedule.
So, Izzy and I write to write, and if in the doing I prime the creative well for my original works, then it is a doubly good day.
And that is EXACTLY how it should be! BTW, I love what you do with your writing and what I have seen. That is what I mean. You are writing to please you – and that is what counts. It definitely shows. 🙂
Thank you! I do adore Isabel and her own peculiar twists that she takes me on. If you do not mind the comparison, I feel that we (muse/scribe) are in the young stages of the relationship that the Lady Faelyn and you her scribe have survived/endured. I offer both terms as I know how muses can be, and because of the great learning curve involved.
The journey of Isabel back toward humanity will be a great challenge, as I can see her going 100% mental if/when her current love affair ends. That’s not too much a problem as the writer, but the other more quiet muses are already beginning to cover in fear.
*flexes fingers* If that happens, we’ll have to have the novel-in-90 muses take over until normalcy is restored — or what passes for normal here on a given day.
As someone involved in several of those long running storylines, I totally support you on this. All of the muses I run are essentially “canon” characters however anytime I enter into RP with them I make the conscious choice to begin to deviate from that “canon” storyline and take them into whatever direction the RP happens to take them. For most of my muses this doesn’t prove a problem because I play them at jumping off points that take place either after their storyline has ended in the series they originated in, or at a point before the series began. In most of those cases, I may only have one or two details and anything else I’m working with is entirely of my own creation.
With Luka, I have on occassion found that something I created within his backstory or personal life has ended up inaccurate because a new episode has revealed new information. When this happens all that can be done is to either modify the old posts, or, chose to ignore the change, in most cases I modify. It is also not unusual for me to freeze my RP and wait for the series to reveal plot developments rather than second guess what might happen. The point is, you have to do what works best for you just as I have to do what works best for me.
We all RP for different reasons but, the one common factor we all share is that we want to enjoy it while we’re at it. In my opinion, when RP becomes a chore or an obligation then it’s time to reconsider whether that particular partnership is one that you really want to be involved in. I like to think that I’ve been lucky in that every storyline I’ve begun with you is one that offers not just interesting characters developments, but which also challenges me to be the best writer I can be. Maybe we don’t write together as frequently as either of us might like, but, that doesn’t take away from the quality of the work, or the enjoyment of the time spent on the scenes when we find the time to devote a few hours to it. So, as we begin 2008, I say thank you, it’s my pleasure to count you among my friends and writing companions, I wish you much success and happiness and I look forward to all the new year brings.
JD
Exactly. We have been working together a very long time and we both know that life happens. I knwo we will pick up a thread and there is never any pressure to do it. And if something doesnt work we can redo it with a minimum of teeth gnashing and ego flailing. *hugs* Thanks for sticking with me on that and being so flexible! 🙂
Not a problem. Plus, it never hurts to know you have someone who you can vent to when you need to let that valve open before you explode too.
Amen. I’ve finally come to the point in my life where I realize that I have to be writing for me, and that it is what it is. There are many polarizing opinions about my character and a lot of people who want nothing to do with her no matter how hard I try…that took its toll on me for a while but I’m slowly accepting that none of that matters if I love what I’m doing. It’s hard to realize that but it is an important lesson to learn. Thank you for putting it into better words than I ever could.
*LOL* *hugs on you muchly*
I love you. 😛
Amen. Well said.
As a mod, I have to deal with the wank and drama of people who do not realize that RP is not a real life junior high school where the frickin’ prom queen gets to dictate to the rest of the class.
People need to chill, and let other people just play their game. But more than that, they need to embrace that, celebrate it, and applaud the differences.
Oh…and they need to grow up.
I kind of love you a lot in the more than kind of way. Kudos to this.
*HUGS* Thanks! I love you alot in the more than kind of way, too! I have to say I adore that icon!! It’s so great!!
Amen!
People should write because they love to write, because it brings them joy.
It’s been a joy to read Fanny over the years, in all her times. Happy New Year!
I can’t add much more to this, other than to say that I’m in full agreement. Like you, I’m just not the type because of time and family commitments (and with having to seriously look for full-time employment now, moreso) to rush things. I have several threads that have been going on for more than a year, and they still will. I have threads that I haven’t tagged in quite a while, not because I don’t want to, but because my time has been spent elsewhere and the replies deserve thoughtful, detailed answers that my mind just hasn’t been on. It’s just not my style to bang out a quick reply just to be able to reply…sure in meta, one-liners I can…but in the more “serious” stuff, no. And I’m very grateful to those who I write with who can put up with the fact that I’m not a fast writer, and I need to think about the muse’s replies.
I also want to add my agreement to ‘s comment that we write primarily for ourselves. I know I do, and I don’t mind admitting that. What I write with any of my muses is not there to please or look for attention from any one else. Yes, I’m happy that people like Hsu, but even if he weren’t popular I would be doing the exact same things with him.
And beause of the care and craftsmanship you put into your replise as a writer, I will never *ever* complain about how long threads take. I love the fact that you put effort into your replies and I hate with a fiery passion those RP’ers and writers who will do one and two liners after I’ve put a good amount of effort into what I am doing. It’s maddening. And I am quite sure you know what I am talking about!
Anyway, I know that one of ours, or rather Hsu’s and Frances’s is one of those ones that is going on years. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. It isn’t worth it to me to hurry up or demand that you hurry up because I know you have a family and a life and hey, if I have to be patient as the price for getting to write with you – so be it! 😉
I completely understand where you and are at on that issue. I had thosw who have tried to dictate what I did with Fanny and those relationships most definitely and in very short order. It has taken me a bit to get all her elements down, but she has always been adamant about who she Is at her core.
Having had problems with writers that only give one or two lines after a detailed reply, yes I indeed know what you’re talking about. It is aggravating and is, to me, lazy writing. But then I know that I’m one who takes my writing quite seriously (even when I’m having fun with pretendy funtime games), as you are. And I’m not even touching those who write something and give you nothing to work with!
And that’s what it is…it is remains true to the integrity of our respective muses. If I wrote what people wanted Hsu to be, he wouldn’t be who he is. You’ve worked hard in developing Fanny, as I have Hsu, and they are, quite simply, who they are.
PS…I love that icon! *g*
Heh…thanks! I lifted it off the Mists of Avalon movie that was on TNT. The moment I saw that scene, it reminded me of the scene we did with Hsu and Fanny when they met. 😉
My own thoughts? I think that people adore Hsu the way that they do BECAUSE he is very clearly written for you first, and all others after. He is, simply, always wonderful. You know, in that complicated, fascinating please-don’t-get-mad-at-ME way!