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

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I know when you post a story, it will be a great read.

*Blushes* thanks.

Write the story you want to write in the way you want to write it. Trying to please people never works.

I have been having such issues with that, lately, it's driving me crazy. I used to write what I wanted, how I wanted and my stories did just fine. Lately, my muses have been tainted by a need to please others, write what I think others will like instead of what I enjoy writing. I try hard not to think that way but it's slick about popping in unawares. It's been making me try "too" hard when writing, if that makes sense, and making me generally unhappy with the stuff I've been writing lately.

[sholio]

Oh, definitely write for YOU, always! I know what you mean about writing in certain ways to please an audience. As I've built up an existing audience for my fanfic, I will sometimes find myself writing certain kinds of stories, or writing the characters in certain ways, because I don't want to disappoint my readers. But I try to rein myself back from that, when I become aware that I'm doing it -- because the stories I've done that I've liked the most were the ones that I wrote for me, without worrying about what others thought of them. And generally, when I've been worried about alienating readers by posting a story, it's still done fairly well. I got a great response to the very dark Sheppard head injury story that I posted awhile back, and I was fully expecting to get flamed for that one.

All of this is not meant to imply that you shouldn't push yourself and write different sorts of things, if you're so inclined. Personally I think that it's very good for a writer to stretch themselves and write a variety of different kinds of stories. But I've found that writing with a specific audience in mind, rather than writing with the best interests of the story in mind, is a total mood-killer for me. Especially if it makes you unhappy and displeased with your stories, it sounds like something that is best fought against.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

because the stories I've done that I've liked the most were the ones that I wrote for me, without worrying about what others thought of them.

I'm really starting to miss those days. Yeah, all the stories that have done well are the ones I did more for myself, because they were the kind of stories I liked.

Another tainting factor is seeing stories with such wonderful, clever, interesting poignant ideas that become kind of a drive for me to do stories similarly wonderful, poingnant, etc. Which, in turn, makes me try too hard, overloading the story by pushing themes rather than letting the themes come to me.

What's funny is that my own story, Of Coloring Books and Lt. Colonels, kind of started this drive. What I achieved with Coloring Books I hoped to achieve again. But the thing about Coloring Books is that I was just writing it for fun, letting it go in whatever direction it would.

I need to get myself back into that mindset - writing for fun instead of writing to please.