I live in Houston. As in, inside the Loop (about as inner city as you can get in this behemoth). Six or eight years ago, I could cut through downtown on my way home (8 mile commute) and downtown would be *empty*. I half expected to see tumbleweeds (not that we have any here). Since then, we've experienced what I call "suburban flight". Suddenly, people started wanting to move into the city proper. Now there are condos and townhouses and lofts scattered all through downtown. Stores and restaurants and clubs moved in. Two major sporting facilities (baseball and basketball) are smack downtown now with a soccer stadium being discussed. There are two malls, a movie theater (not to mention the growing theater district), an aquarium and an amusement park. We've got our first rail line with more planned (and fought over - deal with it, folks, we need it). An area down on lower Main has been cut off to traffic and turned into pedestrian space. While it's annoying to find all these interlopers in MY EMPTY CITY, it's very nice to see that even a city that grew up in the car heavy post-war era can grow to include people. I'd live downtown in a split second if I could afford it. Sadly, I will probably have to move out when I retire in a few years since I doubt I'll be able to afford it any more. But no way will I get trapped in suburban hell if I can avoid it. If I could find a spot just outside the loop I could afford, I'd settle there, but the Belt's too far out for me and it looses all the flavor of my hometown. So, barring finding a place like that, I'll end up in a town somewhere, maybe outside of Austin, if I can afford that.
Mr. Stross. I stand in awe. ;-)
Anyone have a copy of Eye of Argon handy?
Thanks for the update. We're sitting down here in Houston waiting for the storm to hit us tomorrow night.
Here's hoping everyone's better off than the sff.net servers.
Here it is the tag end of July and I'm finally finishing this thread after finding it over the weekend. Yeah, yeah, I know. I stumbled on it in a google search and got sucked in. I'm speaking from the standpoint of a straight woman who is a once, occasional and probably future fanfic writer (media only) who is also working on what is currently an itty-bitty pro career. I also have been known to write slash (an exercise in 'never say never' since it grew from a discussion of "why we [my then co-author and I] don't write slash"). That said, there's something that either hasn't been mentioned at all, or that I managed to miss in my marathon reading sessions here.
Those who've said that having seemingly straight characters just falling into bed with each other is bad writing, are, IMO, quite correct. It takes time, effort and *hopefully* some sort of canon chemistry to pull it off well. On the other hand, I've only found three couples that I consider slashable. YMMV, of course. When I see some of the pairing some writers put together I just have to shrug and move along.
One of the things that personally draws me to slash is that I find it much more interesting (when well done) than het fic. As I jokingly said to a friend not long ago, 'het fic is *so* 20th century'. As a writer, slash provides a much greater challenge and potentially offers more dramatic options (especially when set in the here and now) than boring ol' het. As a reader (and yeah, as a writer, too, for that matter ;-), I couldn't give you two cents for a sex scene with a woman in it. She doesn't interest me at all. With slash, no matter which POV is being written from, there's a hot guy on the other side of it. It's a win-win situation. :-)
On the subject of what happens when the original source goes sour for the readers/viewers but the fanfic doesn't, well, it doesn't *necessarily* push the consumers out of the market. There is one particular universe that many fans are royally ticked off with because of how one character has been portrayed in the latter seasons. This is currently giving rise to what I've been calling "catharsis fic". Fanfic writers taking what they've seen as TPTB ruining a character and carrying it to what they see as the logical conclusion (and it ain't always pretty). But, interestingly enough, it *does* keep at least some fans continuing to watch the show. Maybe it's for the trainwreck we hope to see, or maybe to see if the once-loved character will eventually be redeemed. Might just be for more fuel for their 'revenge fics'. But the catharsis provided by the fanfic eases the outright anger some feel toward TPTB. It's a safety valve of sorts.
As to how I'd feel if fanfic writers eventually start writing fic about my 19 book opus that makes me millions of dollars (no, I couldn't type that with a straight face :-), well I hope I'll be able to accept it as flattery.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2007 | 4 |
| 2006 | 1 |
Total: 5 comments. View all these comments on a single page.
The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Julia Kosatka:
Show all comments by Julia Kosatka.