Signs you're reading a story by me
Jan. 20th, 2006 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altariel1. At least half of it is by TS Eliot.
2. Much of the rest is by Wilfred Owen. And I call it "intertextuality" rather than "ripping off other people".
3. The climax is whether or not someone will kill someone else.
4. A male character will be struggling with a dysfunctional relationship with his father; the cycle is broken later in life through a functional relationship with a daughter.
5. "Why," asked the beta reader, "do you insist on breaking up dialogue with pointless speech tags? The effect," she added, "has long worn thin."
6. Everyone bangs on about politics all the time. Or bureaucracy (unnoticed by me until recently, when
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
gair pointed it out). Basically, it's all about authority. 7. Italics are overused for emphasis.
8. It's an AU.
9. There's probably torture, or at least some interrogation or politicized betrayal.
10. Involving Garak.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 09:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 10:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-21 12:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 09:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 10:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 10:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 10:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 10:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 10:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 10:33 am (UTC)And I call it "intertextuality"
Homage is another good one.... Anyway, if it's good enough for Chris Boucher in Rescue....
I use too many italics. Then I take most of them out but forget the rash of ellipses.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 10:34 am (UTC)Exactly. Hmm, now I'm wondering if, when - er - homaging Chris Boucher, I've unwittingly homaged someone else?
no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 11:09 am (UTC)I so sympathize. *grins*
1. At least half of it is by TS Eliot.
O yay. And then go and find a good translation of those lyrics.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 11:14 am (UTC)LOL! *bows deeply*
no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 03:12 pm (UTC)And it's Eliot's own fault for making intertextuality so canonical ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 04:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 03:23 pm (UTC)2. Much of the rest is by Wilfred Owen. And I call it "intertextuality" rather than "ripping off other people".
Haha! I always say, if you're going to steal, steal from the classics.
You're definitely reading a Crossbow fic if at least half of the dialogue is by Shakespeare. Once when I was stuck for a plot my best friend said, "Just steal one. That's what Shakespeare did." And a fan fic career was born.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 05:04 pm (UTC)*snork*
Date: 2006-01-20 03:25 pm (UTC)Not nearly as thin as the paragraph of uninterrupted speech!
Dwim
Re: *snork*
Date: 2006-01-20 04:31 pm (UTC)Re: *snork*
Date: 2006-01-20 05:47 pm (UTC)::mistral grabs nearby ellipsis and attempts to crush it by jumping up and down on it.::
Re: *snork*
Date: 2006-01-21 07:20 pm (UTC)Dwim
Re: *snork*
Date: 2006-01-22 12:18 pm (UTC)Re: *snork*
Date: 2006-01-22 04:08 pm (UTC)All right. You may be reading a Dwimordene fic if:
1. The sentence pattern '[adverb/adverbial phrase/sentence fragment] colon [dialogue] comma [dialogue tag] comma "and" [rest of sentence]' occurs repeatedly.
2. — — — — — — —.
3. You find a lot of italicized thoughts lacking tags inserted as commentary on narration.
4. You find yourself thinking you're reading a thinly disguised morality play.
5. The source of drama is essentially the quest for understanding even when (ok, especially when) it hurts.
6. Angst, angst, angst, angst, angst—did I mention the angst-fixation? If it doesn't hurt a little, you're probably reading someone else's story.
7. Especially in earlier fics, there's a fixation on ! points.
8. You find yourself wondering how warrior characters ever got any fighting done with the amount of introspection they end up doing chapter after chapter.
9. The story suggests vague philosophical pretensions.
10. If there's a good reference to Aragorn to be had, it will be there. Repeatedly.
Re: *snork*
Date: 2006-01-23 10:04 am (UTC)8. You find yourself wondering how warrior characters ever got any fighting done with the amount of introspection they end up doing chapter after chapter.
Both Beholden must be my favourite example of this - not that I minded, the introspection was exquisite.
Re: *snork*
Date: 2006-01-23 05:13 pm (UTC)Dwim