foxinthestars (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
foxinthestars) wrote2013-03-21 10:23 am
foxinthestars) wrote2013-03-21 10:23 am
Holy crap, I'm actually revising things
Been awhile, lots of random babbling...
I mentioned awhile back that doing Natsume Yuujinchou fic is breaking a long-established pattern for me (in that my favorite character is not being as horribly savaged by the bunnies as I'm used to), and now I'm finding it's breaking other patterns, too. For one thing, I'm not making any effort to come up with an over-arching headcanon on this one. Usually when I get obsessed with something I construct an elaborate personal myth-arc for it which I then only self-consciously depart from, but this time not so much. Mirror's Depth is my headcanon for Matoba and will probably stick where relevant, but now I've got Seven Year Promise, which I still just love, but after it I'm willing to just go on and write whatever strikes my fancy and whether it happens in the same timeline as 7YP, I don't really care; it would just be a matter of the new story's convenience. (And actually, I don't care whether Mirror's Depth and 7YP are in the same timeline; they have no characters in common so it just doesn't matter).
I'm also finding myself doing at least a little bit of actual revising on this stuff. Revising is a weak point for me, I admit; I'm such a perfectionist that I generally can get something presentable on the first try (knock on wood) and then I tend to just fuss around the edges, but now... I'm still working on revising 7YP (no one but Branch has read it AFAIK, so I'm just doing the best I can; if you want to have a look, I would appreciate it, but just LMK and I'll send you the RTF, I'm sick of updating posts every time I change it), and yesterday I did actual revising as in "Hm, I could make a stronger narrative decision than this. Check the logistics... Yeah, I'm gonna re-do this whole scene and make it happen different." (Spoiler: for complicated reasons, Natsume will die if he gives back my youkai guest star's name before we resolve things, and we can't tell him what's going on, which leads to Tanuma stealing the Book of Friends; originally I just had him do this while Natsume was asleep, but in the new draft, he tries telling Natsume in a general way not to return the name yet, backs off in the face of Natsume's reaction, and then has to walk out with the Book right under Natsume's nose; the original version was kind of cute in its way, but yeah, the new one is a stronger narrative decision I think.) After 7YP, I promised myself I could write some fluff, so I have a little 1000-word thing that amounts to a cheap gag --- and I have two complete versions of it; in the first one I used the context/set-up in which the idea first came to me, then decided that made it too heavy and re-wrote almost the whole thing (I'm gonna let that one rest for a little longer; it amounts to a cheap gag and I've fussed with it enough I can't really tell if it's funny, but LMK if you want to see it).
This makes me kind of proud.
And anime. The season's winding down; only going to comment on a couple of things right now.
The last act of Shin Sekai Yori is actually getting good reviews, and I probably will have to finish it sometime. If I'm honest, it's not that I don't care, it's that I care too much. My rants about it were probably just self-protective hackling to some extent --- but at the very least, they will always stand as a testament to what a hard ride that show is.
Also, one of the ones I've been looking forward to in the upcoming season, RDG: Red Data Girl, was previewed online and fansubbed, so I got to see ep. 1, and it's not blowing me away yet, but I'm in for now. Part of what was so promising about this one is that it's based on novels by Ogiwara Noriko (Dragon Sword and Wind Child, Good Witch of the West), and "based on a novel" seems to be a good sign for anime. It's slowly hinting so far, but the basic setup is the heroine, Izumiko, who is some kind of destined medium of divinity/spiritual power, and the hero, Miyuki, who is her destined guardian (kind of like Hiiro no Kakera but it plays better; HnK hit an unhappy medium for me where the otome game basis was painfully obvious but not shamelessly brazen like in Amnesia). The big thing that strikes me in episode one is that the lead characters are very immature, each in their own way, and it's a bit irritating to watch but very understandable given their circumstances. Izumiko has been smotheringly sheltered her whole life and so has arrived at this point mousy and uncertain --- the huge deal everyone makes about her cutting her fringe is ominous on two levels: both as a sign of how constricted her life is and a hint that we're in a story world where this really could have momentous consequences. Miyuki for his part gets dragged in and told that he's destined to be Izumiko's servant; his reaction of "fuck that noise, she's ugly and stupid" goes right to the point of being childish (as the show subtly but effectively points out), but is quite understandable given what was just done to him. As I said, it can be uncomfortable to watch them at this point, but the show seems very aware of their immaturity; I sense a real promise of watching them grow, and at least for now I'm looking forward to it.
(The other one that looks promising to me is Karneval, but really won't know about that one until I get to see some.)
I mentioned awhile back that doing Natsume Yuujinchou fic is breaking a long-established pattern for me (in that my favorite character is not being as horribly savaged by the bunnies as I'm used to), and now I'm finding it's breaking other patterns, too. For one thing, I'm not making any effort to come up with an over-arching headcanon on this one. Usually when I get obsessed with something I construct an elaborate personal myth-arc for it which I then only self-consciously depart from, but this time not so much. Mirror's Depth is my headcanon for Matoba and will probably stick where relevant, but now I've got Seven Year Promise, which I still just love, but after it I'm willing to just go on and write whatever strikes my fancy and whether it happens in the same timeline as 7YP, I don't really care; it would just be a matter of the new story's convenience. (And actually, I don't care whether Mirror's Depth and 7YP are in the same timeline; they have no characters in common so it just doesn't matter).
I'm also finding myself doing at least a little bit of actual revising on this stuff. Revising is a weak point for me, I admit; I'm such a perfectionist that I generally can get something presentable on the first try (knock on wood) and then I tend to just fuss around the edges, but now... I'm still working on revising 7YP (no one but Branch has read it AFAIK, so I'm just doing the best I can; if you want to have a look, I would appreciate it, but just LMK and I'll send you the RTF, I'm sick of updating posts every time I change it), and yesterday I did actual revising as in "Hm, I could make a stronger narrative decision than this. Check the logistics... Yeah, I'm gonna re-do this whole scene and make it happen different." (Spoiler: for complicated reasons, Natsume will die if he gives back my youkai guest star's name before we resolve things, and we can't tell him what's going on, which leads to Tanuma stealing the Book of Friends; originally I just had him do this while Natsume was asleep, but in the new draft, he tries telling Natsume in a general way not to return the name yet, backs off in the face of Natsume's reaction, and then has to walk out with the Book right under Natsume's nose; the original version was kind of cute in its way, but yeah, the new one is a stronger narrative decision I think.) After 7YP, I promised myself I could write some fluff, so I have a little 1000-word thing that amounts to a cheap gag --- and I have two complete versions of it; in the first one I used the context/set-up in which the idea first came to me, then decided that made it too heavy and re-wrote almost the whole thing (I'm gonna let that one rest for a little longer; it amounts to a cheap gag and I've fussed with it enough I can't really tell if it's funny, but LMK if you want to see it).
This makes me kind of proud.
And anime. The season's winding down; only going to comment on a couple of things right now.
The last act of Shin Sekai Yori is actually getting good reviews, and I probably will have to finish it sometime. If I'm honest, it's not that I don't care, it's that I care too much. My rants about it were probably just self-protective hackling to some extent --- but at the very least, they will always stand as a testament to what a hard ride that show is.
Also, one of the ones I've been looking forward to in the upcoming season, RDG: Red Data Girl, was previewed online and fansubbed, so I got to see ep. 1, and it's not blowing me away yet, but I'm in for now. Part of what was so promising about this one is that it's based on novels by Ogiwara Noriko (Dragon Sword and Wind Child, Good Witch of the West), and "based on a novel" seems to be a good sign for anime. It's slowly hinting so far, but the basic setup is the heroine, Izumiko, who is some kind of destined medium of divinity/spiritual power, and the hero, Miyuki, who is her destined guardian (kind of like Hiiro no Kakera but it plays better; HnK hit an unhappy medium for me where the otome game basis was painfully obvious but not shamelessly brazen like in Amnesia). The big thing that strikes me in episode one is that the lead characters are very immature, each in their own way, and it's a bit irritating to watch but very understandable given their circumstances. Izumiko has been smotheringly sheltered her whole life and so has arrived at this point mousy and uncertain --- the huge deal everyone makes about her cutting her fringe is ominous on two levels: both as a sign of how constricted her life is and a hint that we're in a story world where this really could have momentous consequences. Miyuki for his part gets dragged in and told that he's destined to be Izumiko's servant; his reaction of "fuck that noise, she's ugly and stupid" goes right to the point of being childish (as the show subtly but effectively points out), but is quite understandable given what was just done to him. As I said, it can be uncomfortable to watch them at this point, but the show seems very aware of their immaturity; I sense a real promise of watching them grow, and at least for now I'm looking forward to it.
(The other one that looks promising to me is Karneval, but really won't know about that one until I get to see some.)