On writing, archiving and related stuff

[wiseheart]

Half of "Birthright2" has now been posted to otherworlds_lib. I must admit I have great fun with it. I've managed to weed out a few typos my betas (both native speakers) happened to overlook - heh, heh, so much about my horrible grammar that really, really needs a beta - but other than that, I must admit I enjoy my own writing.

Yeah, narcistic, I know. But I haven't touched this story for at least a year, and re-reading it afterwards is, well - fun! Especially having read so much mediocre rubbish disguised as fanfiction lately.

The Atlantis fandom seems to be infested (beyond the sheer unbearable amount of McShep and inane Weir/Zelenka romances) with a particular sort of fic that seems to be the "mature" equivalent of the horrible high school fics. All of a sudden, Atlantis doesn't exist, and the author's fave characters happen to work as music producers, bookstore owners or only the Ancients know what.

Honestly, this sort of "creativity" throws my WTF meter off scale. Who cares for Carson Beckett if he is not the brilliant geneticist and soft-hearted doctor, deadly afraid of his own ability to handle Ancient technology? Who cares for Rodney McKay if he's not the irritating - and always irritated - genius? And if an author is only interested in getting together the HOTT!!! guys somehow, why isn't s/he honest enough about it and writes original fic, putting up the "casting" in the notes?

Of course, that would demand true creativity, and the author would have to give up the advance of very popular character names. It's likely that nobody - or only their close friends - would care to read the story if it would not contain those names. But honestly, why writing Atlantis fanfic that not only doesn't take palce in Atlantis but doesn't even have to do anything with Atlantis and the characters' true occupations?

This is really beyond my understanding. Just like the fact how many people seem to love this sort of crap. I can understand 13-year-olds write high school fic for other 13-year-olds; after all, that's the only thing they really know. But this... What makes me really sad is that one of the culprits is a really good writer who writes, IMO, the best possible Ford ever. Which is no small feat, considering how little personality Ford had in Season 1 to begin with. And then she jumps on this particular bandwaggon - I'm completely frustrated about it. Yeah, I know, I need a life.


I finished the first part of dolamrothdame's anniversary fic. Which is a pleasant surprise, as I haven't hoped to get anywhere with it. Not that I'm completely happy with the written part - it's getting way too sappy, and it's probably in desperate need of a good beta, but at least I've managed to write something. By 35-38 °C it's a respectable thing, I believe.

Comments

[ardath3.livejournal.com]

i've re-read the "birthright " story as you've posted it and am enjoying it tremndously again. i hope this inspires you to continuue the story.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)
It's good to know that I'm not the only person who appreciates my own efforts put into that story.