kriadydragon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kriadydragon) wrote2007-10-23 02:53 am
kriadydragon) wrote2007-10-23 02:53 am
Entry tags:
Concerning Castles in the Sky
(Speaking strictly about fanfiction, not original fic...) A while ago I read a comment by somone mentioning some of my fic, how they like them but tend to be disturbed by them. It got me thinking about my two darker fics - Squaring the Circle and Eyes Wide Open - and if those stories had inadvertantly chased several readers off with them thinking that most of my stories are like that. I know I go nuts with the whump but not all my stories are as heavy with it as those two. In fact, there's one that doesn't even have any whump.
If a reader doesn't like a story of mine because it was too disturbing, I'm cool with that. I would never ask anyone to read something that bothers them in anyway. But I would hate to think that all my stories have been prematurely judged from those two stories alone. I put warnings on my fics and, lately, I've been trying to lighten up the whump a little, make it less heavy-handed like with what was done in Eyes Wide Open.
If a reader doesn't like my stories for other reasons (chracterization, writing style, etc.) I'm totally fine with that. I'm just talking about people who might think every story of mine is going to be like the two aforementioned horror tales. Although it is probably rare for people to be that way. But, just in case.
Don't judge a writer by one fic. I've been guilty of jumping to conclusions about a writer's work just from reading one story myself, only to realize my mistake on finally giving the rest of that writer's stories a chance. Granted, I'm not a big fan of all their works, but have found favorite stories among them.
If a reader doesn't like a story of mine because it was too disturbing, I'm cool with that. I would never ask anyone to read something that bothers them in anyway. But I would hate to think that all my stories have been prematurely judged from those two stories alone. I put warnings on my fics and, lately, I've been trying to lighten up the whump a little, make it less heavy-handed like with what was done in Eyes Wide Open.
If a reader doesn't like my stories for other reasons (chracterization, writing style, etc.) I'm totally fine with that. I'm just talking about people who might think every story of mine is going to be like the two aforementioned horror tales. Although it is probably rare for people to be that way. But, just in case.
Don't judge a writer by one fic. I've been guilty of jumping to conclusions about a writer's work just from reading one story myself, only to realize my mistake on finally giving the rest of that writer's stories a chance. Granted, I'm not a big fan of all their works, but have found favorite stories among them.
As for Castles, I hope no one jumped to conclusions about it because it's a slave fic, thinking "oh, it's just going to be a lot of Sheppard being smacked around by his masters, rescued, with a bunch of H/C at the end." (Not that there's anything wrong with such fic in my opinion). Castles is not like that at all. There's a reason I said this was the hardest story I've ever written and it has nothing to do with how I had Sheppard smacked around. The whump was the easy part, actually. There is so much more to it than mere whumping.
This is not a plea to read my story. This is a plea that you don't jump to any judgements about it just because I called it a slave fic. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but this was the toughest story I've ever written, so for that reason I'm feeling a little anxious about it. I've never written a story like Castles in the Sky, and I'm a little worried that me making a big deal about it being a slave fic may have deterred people from reading it.
If not reading for other reasons (don't like whump, dark fic, are finding it disturbing, etc.) that's cool.
And I apologize for this. Again, I am not begging that people read this, I'm just asking that people not judge it just because I called it a slave fic. Like I said, normally this wouldn't bother me but the level of difficulty with Castles has me kind of playing favorites with my stories at the moment.
This is not a plea to read my story. This is a plea that you don't jump to any judgements about it just because I called it a slave fic. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but this was the toughest story I've ever written, so for that reason I'm feeling a little anxious about it. I've never written a story like Castles in the Sky, and I'm a little worried that me making a big deal about it being a slave fic may have deterred people from reading it.
If not reading for other reasons (don't like whump, dark fic, are finding it disturbing, etc.) that's cool.
And I apologize for this. Again, I am not begging that people read this, I'm just asking that people not judge it just because I called it a slave fic. Like I said, normally this wouldn't bother me but the level of difficulty with Castles has me kind of playing favorites with my stories at the moment.
no subject
Now, that said, I have to also admit that some of your stuff has been a bit too intense for me. I greedily gobble up your TC chapters as fast as can be, but I tend to be a bit more wary with SGA. Generally speaking, with SGA, I wait for the whole story to be posted, then peek ahead at a later chapter to get feel for how intense it's gonna be before diving in. :\
And, while I'm confessing, I have to also admit that it being a 'slave fic' is pretty much entirely the reason I haven't checked out Castles yet. I'll do my best to steel myself for a gander, though, k.
no subject
I only have myself to blame for that, but I really have been toning down the whump aspects of a lot of my fics (although my idea of "tone down" may not be the same as yours.)
With Castles, it's really a lot more mental whumping, and the physical whumping doesn't dominate the whole story. In fact, I would have to say Hounds of Hell you Cry had more intense whumping than Castles, but that just might be my opinion.
That's been my biggest worry with this. I know that most slave fics tend to be rather generic in plot and disturbing in the whump, and that when people see "slave fic" their immediate reaction is "meh." Castles became a lot more than a slave fic and I really, really don't want it to be judged by that label.