Wow, great comment! It means a lot that you'd go through and catalog your thoughts so completely. Here's some thoughts back your way:
It's interesting that you prefer to be vague on canon details when you're writing, but when you're reading you prefer canon compliance.
Yeah, I don't really get it. I'm working on putting more canon in my stories, though.
I don't know if I prefer past or present tense when I read. Unlike POV it's not something I really notice unless the writer is messing up badly.
That's the way it should be, I think. Unless the writer's trying to make a point, most stylistic elements should be invisible or at least not super obvious to the reader. It's hard to get writing to the place where only the things you want seen are seen, but it's definitely worthwhile. Especially when people who really care about craft understand how much work goes into being successful.
I like dialogue quite a lot. It can be very entertaining to read. It's definitely something that fits better in certain kinds of stories than in others though so I can understand the need to keep it in check.
Yeah, it's like anything; it's great sometimes and completely inappropriate at others. Hard knowing which that is sometimes.
It's funny because I usually tend to tell people that I like plotty stories, but I really like a good character-drive story. I love to see a character develop and change and how that affects the people around them. I'm less interested in relationship-driven stories, possibly because there are so many of them in bandom.
That's a good point. Before bandom, I came from fandoms where I read and wrote a lot of plot-centric fic, so relationship-driven stories were a big revelation for me. Mostly because I didn't really get it before. But I'll always prefer character-driven above everything else - I think the best relationship-driven stories are the ones that give characters the space to be who they are - even if I tend to write plot better (or at least more frequently) than characters.
I really liked the bit where Frank discovers that he can't in fact tell Mikey everything. It felt very true to my own experiences.
That was definitely a lifted-from-life moment. I love how many people write MCR as completely honest with each other and intimate, but I'm super intimate with my friends and family, and we still hold things back.
I'm so sad that bareteeth took down all her stories! Not only did she write What We Become, but she also had some really good Gabe/Gerard stories that I miss being able to rec to people. I tried to convince her to upload them to AO3 and then orphan them but she wasn't interested.
Aw, now I'm twice as sad. :( I can really understand why even orphaning wouldn't be appealing, but it's such a loss. There's so many older bandom stories that people have talked about that I'll never get to read. (And Gabe/Gerard! Excellent pairing is excellent.)
There are some stories where the guys attend award ceremonies and afterparties, but you're right in that it isn't very common. When people write them as being on break from touring they almost never do any band related stuff at all. It would be nice to see more writers include work-related stuff like this.
I agree, obviously. Networking and keeping up relationships aren't always exciting, but it gives the bands other plausible places to be.
I like werewolf fic in spite of the metaphors and angst. I'm in it for the werewolf-y friskiness!
Metaphors and angst can definitely be overrated. :D
House of Wolves totally counts! And they'd a wolf head hoodie among their merch for some time IIRC.
Did they really? :DDD Wow, good thing I have no money, or I'd be digging through eBay right now.
I seem to remember that What We Become used silver in the same way as yours. I wonder if so few bandom stories use it because in most stories at least one of the characters knows what they are so there's no need to do the silver test?
I reread the story after I wrote this commentary (hurrah for PDFs I made for my ereader), and you're right. And you're probably right about the silver bit, too.
I've been in the fandom since 2007 and I still find out things! It's the curse of RPF, there is just so much canon. Noone can keep up with all of it. Without Miz's timeline I don't think I would know what to do!
It's good to know I'm not alone in my lack of knowledge! And I think the amount of people/characters around makes it harder; I've been around J2 circles nearly as long as you've been in MCR ones, and I feel a lot more confident about what I know about those two than I do about anyone in bandom. But there's also only two people.
I really like that you don't use nicknames much. Fandom has a terrible tendency to use them far too often and in situations where they're completely out of place. I never use them at all when I write about the band, it feels as you say far too familiar. If I was a writer I would probably use Frankie in the same kind of situation as this. And the band seem to use Gee occasionally - I remember back when they first started blogging and fandom jumped on the few times it happened. Different band members even spelt it differently. I don't remember who did what now but they used both Gee and G.
Fandom and nicknames are very odd. I love that real people use Gee and G, though! ♥
I loved that Patrick's a werewolf in this universe!
ME TOO. Um. Obviously.
I like domesticity in the face of weirdness too. It makes things feel more real to me. No matter what weird or scary or happymaking things are happening someone still has to make breakfast and get groceries into the house and I like when stories acknowleges this.
That's so true. Really good way of putting it.
I have to say that I've never really understood the point of using chains on werewolves. Particularly not when it happens in a completely empty and werewolf-proofed basement like in Fit To Be Tied. It just seems so unnecessary to me. But that's probably because I never remember to look at the bondage potential of it unless someone points it out to me :-)
Ah, bondage potential. Always great! :D Come to think of it, I actually haven't seen chains much; locked basements and cages tend to be more common when they're necessary.
Finishing this story so quickly was totally a sign that this fandom is the Right Thing for you :-)
Totally! I've an easier time writing fic in the past year than I have in the last four or five before it combined. Not to say it's always easy, but the inspiration's definitely there.
And did Frank get Brian for calling him a good doggie? ;-)
That's an excellent question, actually. Hmm. I'll have to give that some thought!
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It's interesting that you prefer to be vague on canon details when you're writing, but when you're reading you prefer canon compliance.
Yeah, I don't really get it. I'm working on putting more canon in my stories, though.
I don't know if I prefer past or present tense when I read. Unlike POV it's not something I really notice unless the writer is messing up badly.
That's the way it should be, I think. Unless the writer's trying to make a point, most stylistic elements should be invisible or at least not super obvious to the reader. It's hard to get writing to the place where only the things you want seen are seen, but it's definitely worthwhile. Especially when people who really care about craft understand how much work goes into being successful.
I like dialogue quite a lot. It can be very entertaining to read. It's definitely something that fits better in certain kinds of stories than in others though so I can understand the need to keep it in check.
Yeah, it's like anything; it's great sometimes and completely inappropriate at others. Hard knowing which that is sometimes.
It's funny because I usually tend to tell people that I like plotty stories, but I really like a good character-drive story. I love to see a character develop and change and how that affects the people around them. I'm less interested in relationship-driven stories, possibly because there are so many of them in bandom.
That's a good point. Before bandom, I came from fandoms where I read and wrote a lot of plot-centric fic, so relationship-driven stories were a big revelation for me. Mostly because I didn't really get it before. But I'll always prefer character-driven above everything else - I think the best relationship-driven stories are the ones that give characters the space to be who they are - even if I tend to write plot better (or at least more frequently) than characters.
I really liked the bit where Frank discovers that he can't in fact tell Mikey everything. It felt very true to my own experiences.
That was definitely a lifted-from-life moment. I love how many people write MCR as completely honest with each other and intimate, but I'm super intimate with my friends and family, and we still hold things back.
I'm so sad that
Aw, now I'm twice as sad. :( I can really understand why even orphaning wouldn't be appealing, but it's such a loss. There's so many older bandom stories that people have talked about that I'll never get to read. (And Gabe/Gerard! Excellent pairing is excellent.)
There are some stories where the guys attend award ceremonies and afterparties, but you're right in that it isn't very common. When people write them as being on break from touring they almost never do any band related stuff at all. It would be nice to see more writers include work-related stuff like this.
I agree, obviously. Networking and keeping up relationships aren't always exciting, but it gives the bands other plausible places to be.
I like werewolf fic in spite of the metaphors and angst. I'm in it for the werewolf-y friskiness!
Metaphors and angst can definitely be overrated. :D
House of Wolves totally counts! And they'd a wolf head hoodie among their merch for some time IIRC.
Did they really? :DDD Wow, good thing I have no money, or I'd be digging through eBay right now.
I seem to remember that What We Become used silver in the same way as yours. I wonder if so few bandom stories use it because in most stories at least one of the characters knows what they are so there's no need to do the silver test?
I reread the story after I wrote this commentary (hurrah for PDFs I made for my ereader), and you're right. And you're probably right about the silver bit, too.
I've been in the fandom since 2007 and I still find out things! It's the curse of RPF, there is just so much canon. Noone can keep up with all of it. Without Miz's timeline I don't think I would know what to do!
It's good to know I'm not alone in my lack of knowledge! And I think the amount of people/characters around makes it harder; I've been around J2 circles nearly as long as you've been in MCR ones, and I feel a lot more confident about what I know about those two than I do about anyone in bandom. But there's also only two people.
I really like that you don't use nicknames much. Fandom has a terrible tendency to use them far too often and in situations where they're completely out of place. I never use them at all when I write about the band, it feels as you say far too familiar. If I was a writer I would probably use Frankie in the same kind of situation as this. And the band seem to use Gee occasionally - I remember back when they first started blogging and fandom jumped on the few times it happened. Different band members even spelt it differently. I don't remember who did what now but they used both Gee and G.
Fandom and nicknames are very odd. I love that real people use Gee and G, though! ♥
I loved that Patrick's a werewolf in this universe!
ME TOO. Um. Obviously.
I like domesticity in the face of weirdness too. It makes things feel more real to me. No matter what weird or scary or happymaking things are happening someone still has to make breakfast and get groceries into the house and I like when stories acknowleges this.
That's so true. Really good way of putting it.
I have to say that I've never really understood the point of using chains on werewolves. Particularly not when it happens in a completely empty and werewolf-proofed basement like in Fit To Be Tied. It just seems so unnecessary to me. But that's probably because I never remember to look at the bondage potential of it unless someone points it out to me :-)
Ah, bondage potential. Always great! :D Come to think of it, I actually haven't seen chains much; locked basements and cages tend to be more common when they're necessary.
Finishing this story so quickly was totally a sign that this fandom is the Right Thing for you :-)
Totally! I've an easier time writing fic in the past year than I have in the last four or five before it combined. Not to say it's always easy, but the inspiration's definitely there.
And did Frank get Brian for calling him a good doggie? ;-)
That's an excellent question, actually. Hmm. I'll have to give that some thought!
Thanks again for the awesome comment. ♥