Penny wrote:
I find it hard to imagine how one would use emoticons in dialogue, though. "Vila, you're an idiot, colon hyphen right round bracket," Avon said.
I think the text equivalent would be 'Well, hurrah for us,' said Avon, heavy sarcasm evident in his tone.
(And, by the by, were any of said proofs connected to any paranoid types whose pseudonyms mean "trashy Victorian literature"?)
To be strictly truthful, I haven't a clue exactly what *he* was reading. *I* however was reading proofs by a paranoid type whose pseudonym ponces around with a certain line of TS Eliot dialogue. Neil wrote (regarding my suggestion of internet and e-mail usage influencing style):
It might be a contributory factor, but this style of writing seems to
stretch
way back into the dawn of fanfic history (well, early Horizon zines
anyway),
certainly way before internet use was commonplace (which has only happened over the past five years or so).
Internet usage might be recent, but I seem to recall overusing e-mail, a precursor to chatrooms and a certain bulletin board which shall be nameless way back in 1989 or so, and plenty of others were doing so many years earlier than I. (I learned to touch-type in order to be able to hold several simultaneous notify (chat) conversations and do some work.)
I think Betty's explanation is closer to the truth - an attempt to recreate the tone of the series, and especially the characters, as exactly as possible. What someone recently described as 'reprographic mode'.
I think it was me who described it as the 'reprographic mode', but I was deliberately quoting you, Neil.
It's strange, most writers have a fair idea in their heads what their characters sound like and how they pronounce their lines, but they (we) don't seem to feel the necessity to point them quite so strongly when putting them in the mouths of original characters, despite the fact that nearly all readers will know what Blake or Avon sound like and their nat ural manner of delivering lines, while our own original characters don't start with that advantage.
Tavia
From: Tavia Chalcraft tavia@btinternet.com
It's strange, most writers have a fair idea in their heads what their characters sound like and how they pronounce their lines, but they (we) don't seem to feel the necessity to point them quite so strongly when putting them in the mouths of original characters, despite the fact that nearly all readers will know what Blake or Avon sound like and their nat ural manner of delivering lines, while our own original characters don't start with that advantage.
Neglect of original characters is something I've moaned about more than once in the past, since in many (though not all) cases they are severely underwritten, underdescribed, badly named, and little more than one-dimensional cyphers to give 'our heroes' something to play off against. Some of them make Gamete look like a deeply developed well-rounded character.
I don't think it's all that strange. Fan writers want to write about their favourite characters, and some fan writers want to write about *no one else*. Anyone else whose presence is necessitated by the plot is an irksome irritation on whom to waste as few words as possible. Likewise settings, which can be nothing more than an abstract locale in which the action takes place, and consequently left all but undescribed.
Neil
On Sat, Feb 10, 2001 at 11:10:42PM -0000, Neil Faulkner wrote:
Neglect of original characters is something I've moaned about more than once in the past, since in many (though not all) cases they are severely underwritten, underdescribed, badly named, and little more than one-dimensional cyphers to give 'our heroes' something to play off against. Some of them make Gamete look like a deeply developed well-rounded character.
I don't think it's all that strange. Fan writers want to write about their favourite characters, and some fan writers want to write about *no one else*. Anyone else whose presence is necessitated by the plot is an irksome irritation on whom to waste as few words as possible. Likewise settings, which can be nothing more than an abstract locale in which the action takes place, and consequently left all but undescribed.
Don't put all the blame on fan writers. Fan readers are just as much to blame. In another fandom, I've seen people say that if writers aren't writing about the main characters, then they shouldn't be writing fanfic at all, they should be writing original fiction. And readers simply want to *read* about "no one else" but the main characters. And I can understand the sentiment, really I can -- because the point of fanfic is that one is using someone else's characters and setting, so if one isn't going to use them, then why is one writing it?
And yes, there is a reaction against Mary-Sues (and by extension, all Original Female Characters) -- but why shouldn't there be? They are *awful*. Bad writing is bad writing, and reading someone else's wish-fullfilment fantasy is going to be a bore whatever universe it's set in.
All that said, good writing is also good writing, and watching someone explore the setting or the minor characters in a show is going to be enjoyable to me too, if it's well written. (Such as Neil's interesting excursions into that area...) But I'm not going to read that kind of thing all the time -- I'll go read some original SF, more than likely.
Kathryn Andersen -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Nick: Expecting anyone? Mrs Deveraux: No, why? Nick: Somebody at the door. (knock at door) Mrs Deveraux: You should work up an act, Mr Parker. (Blind Fury)
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Kathryn Andersen -
Neil Faulkner -
Tavia Chalcraft