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byslantedlight.livejournal.comI know it's Thursday, and there's a Reading Room coming up to chat about Free Trader shortly, but ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cornishcat brought up something really interesting in reply to a Pros-y post of mine the other day, and I can't resist seeing what other people think... *g*
Does knowing the author of a fanfic have an effect on the way we read that fanfic? And whether it does or not, do you think you're more interested in "the finer detail of the writing" or in "the destination of the story", when you read?
I've thought about the first part of that before, because there are various Pros-y writers who say they'll only ever write happy endings, and I'm aware then that I'm going into their stories with certain expectations - that there are unlikely to be what I think of as interesting twists, or emotional turns, and that the end of the road will always be in the same place. I might think the road's pretty enough, but it'll only ever be a particular road. It's generally the same with authors that I know well from reading as much of their fic as I can - if they've never done anything except end a story in a certain way, then I'd expect the same from any new fic of theirs that turned up.
Cornishcat's comment made me wonder about the second part though, which came from thinking about the first part - what do I value most in a story, the journey to an unknown destination, or the scenery along the way? She thought that if she was secure in the outcome of a story (through knowing an author), she could sit back and enjoy the "finer details of the story" - and thinking about it, I suspect I'm the opposite! I want to have confidence that the scenery itself is going to be sound and nice to look at, but I also want the excitement of never quite knowing where I'm going to end up - what's going to happen! I want a surprise at the end - hopefully a happy surprise, but still a surprise...
And I've gone with the journey metaphor, because I rather suspect that's how I travel in real life, too - I want the journey to be pretty and generally interesting, but I love most the thrill of arriving somewhere and seeing it new and for the first time, and hopefully beautiful. If it turns out to be a big, grim, industrial city - well that has its impact as well, and as long as I know I don't have to live there forever, I can enjoy that interesting experience too... Conversely, if I'm going to a known destination then I might sit back and enjoy the scenery, but I am sitting back, which is a completely different experience... I've just read Gil Hale's stories, for example, and having come to most of them for the first time, and knowing nothing about the author, I've been thoroughly enjoying the excitement of wondering where we'll get to...
So for me the experience (of a story or of travelling, or I suspect of life!) is tipped towards discovering the ending/destination - whilst for other people it might be more about what they see along the way. Which is probably a much more zen way of seeing things!
So - alot of us, I'm sure, want both the finer details and the ending, but which way d'you think your balance tips, and why - do you prefer to know where you're going, and read the pretty fic that takes you there, or d'you prefer to enjoy the pretty fic but look forward most to the discovery of destination?
cornishcat brought up something really interesting in reply to a Pros-y post of mine the other day, and I can't resist seeing what other people think... *g*Does knowing the author of a fanfic have an effect on the way we read that fanfic? And whether it does or not, do you think you're more interested in "the finer detail of the writing" or in "the destination of the story", when you read?
I've thought about the first part of that before, because there are various Pros-y writers who say they'll only ever write happy endings, and I'm aware then that I'm going into their stories with certain expectations - that there are unlikely to be what I think of as interesting twists, or emotional turns, and that the end of the road will always be in the same place. I might think the road's pretty enough, but it'll only ever be a particular road. It's generally the same with authors that I know well from reading as much of their fic as I can - if they've never done anything except end a story in a certain way, then I'd expect the same from any new fic of theirs that turned up.
Cornishcat's comment made me wonder about the second part though, which came from thinking about the first part - what do I value most in a story, the journey to an unknown destination, or the scenery along the way? She thought that if she was secure in the outcome of a story (through knowing an author), she could sit back and enjoy the "finer details of the story" - and thinking about it, I suspect I'm the opposite! I want to have confidence that the scenery itself is going to be sound and nice to look at, but I also want the excitement of never quite knowing where I'm going to end up - what's going to happen! I want a surprise at the end - hopefully a happy surprise, but still a surprise...
And I've gone with the journey metaphor, because I rather suspect that's how I travel in real life, too - I want the journey to be pretty and generally interesting, but I love most the thrill of arriving somewhere and seeing it new and for the first time, and hopefully beautiful. If it turns out to be a big, grim, industrial city - well that has its impact as well, and as long as I know I don't have to live there forever, I can enjoy that interesting experience too... Conversely, if I'm going to a known destination then I might sit back and enjoy the scenery, but I am sitting back, which is a completely different experience... I've just read Gil Hale's stories, for example, and having come to most of them for the first time, and knowing nothing about the author, I've been thoroughly enjoying the excitement of wondering where we'll get to...
So for me the experience (of a story or of travelling, or I suspect of life!) is tipped towards discovering the ending/destination - whilst for other people it might be more about what they see along the way. Which is probably a much more zen way of seeing things!
So - alot of us, I'm sure, want both the finer details and the ending, but which way d'you think your balance tips, and why - do you prefer to know where you're going, and read the pretty fic that takes you there, or d'you prefer to enjoy the pretty fic but look forward most to the discovery of destination?
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