Concerning Castles in the Sky

[kriadydragon]

(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.

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.

Comments

[sholio]

I hear you on not pre-judging a writer based on their past works, though I think we all do it. As a writer, I really do try to stretch myself -- write different characters than normal, write different sorts of scenarios than the the ones that I default to -- and I love seeing other writers do likewise. Actually, I had noticed that some of the stories you'd been writing lately were a little different from your usual fare. I enjoy that, really I do.

But slave/prison stories are ... well, I don't have too many plot-related deal-breakers in fiction, but they come about as close as I get. I don't usually enjoy prison/mental ward episodes of TV shows either, not because I'm philosophically opposed to them but because I have, for lack of a better word, a powerlessness squick. I don't cope well with seeing characters with whom I identify put in a position of powerlessness and degredation and humiliation -- because I identify with characters easily, seeing them struggle and struggle with no way out makes ME feel powerless and ill. That is the main reason why I quit watching LOST -- the way the characters are continually used, abused and made to feel powerless and small ... it's very hard for me to deal with on a psychological level.

This is not to say that I have never read prison/slave stories, or even that I would never write one. (There's actually an unfinished "John and Rodney in prison" story floating around on my hard drive -- it may remain forever unfinished, because it started approaching a level of h/c that I'm really not comfortable writing, so for now it languishes in the seventh circle of WIP hell.) There are even a couple of slave/prison/power-struggle stories that are among my favorites in the fandom.

But due to all of this, and knowing that the stories you write are often very intense and dark, I figured that "Castles" was likely to trip my squicks big-time. I was going to wait until it was finished, and then give it a try, because sometimes I can get through something like that more easily if I have the whole story to read at once. (Kodiak's "Autumn" story is an example of that, because while I thought it was just brilliant and I ended up loving it, I think I would probably have given up on it if it'd been individual chapters with a wait in between. As it was, I had to skim some parts because they were hitting my psychological-rape squick so bad. What really gets to me worse than torture is Stockholm Syndrome, brainwashing and things of that nature -- that's where LOST has really, well, lost me.)

But again, I know that these are just my particular set of biases; it says nothing about a particular story if it trips my squicks, and everything about me as a reader.

[karri-kln1671.livejournal.com]

But slave/prison stories are ... well, I don't have too many plot-related deal-breakers in fiction, but they come about as close as I get. I don't usually enjoy prison/mental ward episodes of TV shows either, not because I'm philosophically opposed to them but because I have, for lack of a better word, a powerlessness squick. I don't cope well with seeing characters with whom I identify put in a position of powerlessness and degredation and humiliation -- because I identify with characters easily, seeing them struggle and struggle with no way out makes ME feel powerless and ill. ... it's very hard for me to deal with on a psychological level.

Yup, exactly!

Ruse likes possession fics but doesn't write them often because she knows they squick me. She's asked me several times why they squick me and that describes it really well. I'll have to point her this direction. (Thanks :)) I don't deal with powerlessness well. Slavery and arena/gladiator scenerios squick me less than possession/mind-control, but still I get a bit queasy.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I find myself sometimes waiting until a fic is complete for the same reason - in case there are things I need to skim, or if it hits one of my squicks (there was a WIP I sarted reading and commenting on until it turned into a very graphic rape-fic and I couldn't continue.)

If there's too much to squick about in my story making it hard to read, I totally understand that. At least it was given a chance and that's all I really ask.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I don't cope well with seeing characters with whom I identify put in a position of powerlessness and degredation and humiliation --

I've come to realize that I'm kind of the same way when it comes to certain types of humor fics. I like a good humor fic but I'm never comfortable with the ones that involve humiliating a character in some way. The higher the level of humiliation, the less I like that story. I tend to take them personally depending on how they're handled - like if the writer has the other characeters ganging up to tease the one (I've had first hand experience of being on the reciving end of that kind of teasing during my Middle School years and it was -not- fun. So even if the character teased deserved it, I still don't find it that funny.)

So I know how it is. Powerlessness of any kind if frustrating to witness. So Castles is probably best read all at once.

[tristen84.livejournal.com]

That's exactly how I feel too, and you explained that wonderfully. It's the helplessness and brainwashing stuff that gets to me, not so much physical whump.

I haven't looked at Castles yet, because for once in my life I'm waiting for this story to be finished before I start reading. But I will definitely give it a go, even though I realize now that I did think 'meh' when I saw the label 'slave fic'. You're absolutely right, kriady, you shouldn't judge a fic just by its label or by the author's previous work.

Good post!

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

It's fine that people are waiting, I was just worried people had jumped to conclusions because I said it was a slave fic. If you find you can't read because it squicks too much, that's fine too.

I will say this much, though. The slave part doesn't last that long (i.e. it's not the entire story.) In fact, now that I think about it, the slave portion is a rather small chunk compared to the rest of the story. So it's not so much a slave fic as... well, I'm not sure what to call it. It might give too much away and I think I've said too much as is.