Poll: How about some story notes?

[sholio]

An initial misreading of a post at with_apostrophe's LJ reminded me that I have been thinking about writing up some behind-the-scenes notes on my fic and posting them here. I hesitate to call it "DVD commentary" because I honestly don't really get the appeal of DVD commentaries, either on actual DVDs or fics or whatnot; I'm not saying they're bad or that there's anything wrong with other people for liking them, just that a line-by-line breakdown of a story with author notes doesn't really hold much appeal for me. However, I do love "making of" featurettes, so that's what I'd like to do ... a brief "making of" featurette for one or more of my fics.

[Poll #1109014]

Comments

[alipeeps.livejournal.com]

I love "making of" featurettes to and with regard to fic it would be fascinating to learn more about the process of creating some of my favourite (and, IMO, some of the most well-written) fics! So I've cast my votes... :)

[sholio]

Thank you! :) Hopefully it won't be just a bunch of self-indulgent rambling. Well, check that, I know it'll be self-indulgent rambling, but hopefully it'll be interesting to other people as well as me. *g*

The Killing Frost...

[fitzwiggity.livejournal.com]

I like all of your fanfics, and my two favorites were on there, which gave me a difficult choice...to choose either the Killing Frost, or That Which is Broken. I read both of those, and I still think that the Killing Frost is my favorite, even though I really enjoyed That Which is Broken.

Re: The Killing Frost...

[sholio]

Thank you so much! If I stick with this, I'll probably get around to most of the major ones in due course...

[leesa_perrie]

I voted for The Killing Frost, but any fic you want to do it on is fine. I just have a special love for The Killing Frost, because of the Caldwell/Rodney and Caldwell/John interactions - it's so nice to see a well-written Caldwell! And plenty of Rodney angst, whumage etc too!

[sholio]

I love writing Caldwell! He has such a neat dynamic with the main characters -- antagonistic, but not wholly so. I just wish there was more fic out there for him.

[greyias.livejournal.com]

I love all of your stuff, of course, and sometimes when I finish a really good story, sometimes I wonder how things came about. Especially when authors manage to fit so many tiny little details in their narrative. However, I was torn between three (you gave me the multiple choice option! Evil!)

Killing Frost and "Whatever Can Go Wrong" were awesome in their own ways (the seagulls still make me chuckle when I think of them), so any notes on those are always fun. Your Texas AU just fascinates me in so many ways (partly because it takes place in my beloved home state), so if I have to pick between three, it's definitely "Long Road Home".

[sholio]

Yeah, I was gonna make it tough and only let people pick one, but I figured heck, why not throw it open wide. *g*

[naye]

Ooh, I'd love to read something like this! Any story you feel like doing it for would be fun - I didn't vote for any one in particular, since I really couldn't decide. But you know I love them all, and I've got a soft spot for the Texas AU, if you feel like elaborating any on how that came into being. ♥

[sholio]

At this point it's looking like Running on Empty will be first -- not only is it coming out ahead, but I sat down last night and wrote up some notes on it, and had two pages before I knew it! Guess I *do* have something to say! But this doesn't mean the others will be neglected either.

[naye]

Oh, you've got notes already? Cool! Really looking forward to reading those, as well as any others you might feel like writing later.

[derry667.livejournal.com]

Heh. I'm more a "making of featurette" kinda gal myself - as opposed to a "DVD commentary" gal. (I do, however, take back some of the previous comments that I may have made in ignorance about fic DVD commentaries - *looks for a foxhole to hide in*)

Anyways... I voted for The Light of a Fading Sun. It looks like its got no hope of winning the poll, but that was a particularly fascinating fic to me because it actually took something that I tend not to like in fics - intense Sheppard vs McKay conflict related to Doranda and other issues - and completely turned it on its head. It also took me by complete surprise at certain points. In retrospect, I can see some of the devices (like foreshadowing) that you used, but you hid them away or dropped them in with such subtlety that I didn't recognise them until you delivered your coup de grace. So yeah, out of all your fics that I love (and let's face it, that's a lot of fics), this was the one that amazed me the most. How did you do that? ;-)

[sholio]

Oh heavens, you don't have to change your opinions on DVD commentaries on my account...

Even the "making of" featurettes are a total ego self-indulgence; I admit that freely. *g* But then, fic itself is that, to some extent.

And thank you for the comments on Fading Sun; I suppose we talked about that story a little bit in Boston (and, for me, how weird was it to actually be able to talk to someone about fanfic in person?). I was really thrilled that people seemed to get what I tried to do in that story, because it really was something of a departure from my usual writing and a very deliberate attempt to subvert a certain genre of fanfic. *g*

[iamrighthere.livejournal.com]

I did up a DVD commentary for "The Known World." Sent it to my betas because they asked for it. Writing about writing is very enjoyable, which is why some authors do it. Some even do up commentaries for stories that aren't their own. The part of LJ that I frequent often resembles a writer's community, so the DVD commentary part feels very natural here.

[sholio]

LOL ... I did actually offer my fic for the DVD commentary meme because I'm all about the whole idea of openness within the fanfic-writing community; I believe that we ought to be as open with our own work as we want the source material to be open to us, and I try to make mine available in that way. I don't have a problem with people doing them; they *are* a total self-indulgence, but so is 99% of what we do, as writers of fanfic or original writing! It's just not something that appeals to me personally, kind of like I don't like doing love memes (in fact, I actively do NOT want to be included in them) but I have no problem with other people doing them.

[ceitie.livejournal.com]

That Which is Broken is my favourite, I think, but I'd love to see a making-of for The Killing Frost, because I adore its plot and OCs.

[sholio]

Thank you!

You actually raise a good point, because the stories that one likes the best are not necessarily those that spawn the most interesting discussions. I think the same is true of a lot of other things too; for example, some of the people I find the most interesting are also those that I'm not personally fond of, and those I like the best lead quite dull lives in a lot of cases ... it's interesting to think about.