the things you think about when editing

[aesc]

I spent my day having cramps and reworking part of a paper, and toward the end when I had gotten tired of writing WTF DOES THIS MEAN??? in the margins, I thought it would be sort of amusing to try to write a fic in a fandom whose canon I know almost absolutely nothing about--just, say, what I could pick up on my flist or through a handful of fics--just to see if I could pull it off.

I also thought about when I was nine years old and had surgery, and going under the general anaesthetic and concluding that this undefinable, blank space of nothing (bounded as it was by two very clear memories: the nurse placing the gas mask over my mouth and waking up and seeing blood on my pillow) must be what death is like.

These two thoughts were not related, although I am intrigued by both of them.

Also, pentapus made this terribly adorable Castiel icon (and some Captain America and Merlin, if you're into those sorts of things) here. LOOK AT HIM!


Iiiiii should probably stop for the night.

Comments

[pennyplainknits.livejournal.com]

I haven't got to S4 of SPN yet, but your icon looks like an adorable, befuddled, angelic Columbo.

I thought it would be sort of amusing to try to write a fic in a fandom whose canon I know almost absolutely nothing about--just, say, what I could pick up on my flist or through a handful of fics--just to see if I could pull it off.

Well, since I've started writing a Psych/SGA fusion out of NOWHERE I think you should totally do this, so I'm not alone in my insanity.

[aesc.livejournal.com]

but your icon looks like an adorable, befuddled, angelic Columbo.

HA! You know, I was seriously thinking about that the other day! The similarities are really rather striking: dark and somewhat disheveled hair, trench coat, badly-done blue tie... Castiel would just need to start smoking a cigar :D

[pennyplainknits.livejournal.com]

And hitting people with the killer question just before leaving the room!

[aesc.livejournal.com]

Well, Castiel usually does get the last word, since he can up and vanish whenever he likes. It's sort of nice watching Dean flail a bit :D

[rilestar.livejournal.com]

but your icon looks like an adorable, befuddled, angelic Columbo.

Kinda apt, considering Peter Falk played an ex-angel in Wings of Desire, only the angel in that was called Cassiel, not Castiel :-)

[aesc.livejournal.com]

Oh yes yes! Although I don't think he played Cassiel, who was Damiel's friend/companion... he was the ex-angel-turned-movie-star, IIRC.

But still, so appropriate! Even though I read somewhere that Kripke was inspired by John Constantine, I will take Columbo as the source for Castiel's appearance... or at least his tie and trench coat :D

[rilestar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he played himself ... as an ex-angel (awesome!)

*sigh* I need to watch that again. Must clean the heads of the vcr. Or, you know, buy it on DVD .... *flits off to scour ezydvd.com.au*

[aesc.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen Wings of Desire in ages, either... I remember I watched it for a film and literature class on love and monsters, and it was pretty awesome. Clearly I should rewatch as well :D

[amberlynne.livejournal.com]

Well, since I've started writing a Psych/SGA fusion out of NOWHERE I think you should totally do this, so I'm not alone in my insanity.

OMG SERIOUSLY?!?! THIS BRINGS ME SO MUCH JOOOOOOOOOOOOY!

[pennyplainknits.livejournal.com]

psssst (http://pennyplainknits.livejournal.com/45110.html)

[ruggerdavey.livejournal.com]

Your icon is made of SO MUCH awesome.

[aesc.livejournal.com]

pentapus draws the most adorable things! And clearly this particular Castiel needs a hug :D

[ruggerdavey.livejournal.com]

A hug from Dean! Hee.

[aesc.livejournal.com]

Well of course! That goes without saying :D

[rilestar.livejournal.com]

I thought it would be sort of amusing to try to write a fic in a fandom whose canon I know almost absolutely nothing about

... and it would probably turn out to be better and more in-character than at least half of the fics written by those actually familiar with canon.

[aesc.livejournal.com]

Heh, we'd have to see about that :D :D

[rilestar.livejournal.com]

The odds are in favour.

Given: a) your writing abilities; and b) the prevalence of appalling fics in most fandoms, I think there's a good chance you'd be better than half of those in that fandom! :-)

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

I thought it would be sort of amusing to try to write a fic in a fandom whose canon I know almost absolutely nothing about

... okay, I totally want to steal this idea and run a comment ficathon or something for it, because that would be hilarious. XD

[aesc.livejournal.com]

Heee, I did not intend to be taken seriously :D

But go for it, I say!

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

I knew you weren't serious, but the idea totally cracks me up. It reminds me of strangefandom, only probably with 100% more crack.

I just can't figure out if it's so bizarre that no one would want to play ...

[aesc.livejournal.com]

It might work if you offered some guidelines? Like, say, you can read a couple of fics, or the squee on your flist, or look at picspam, but no direct and/or sustained contact with the canon: that means no watching the movie or episodes, no reading the book, no visiting official sites, and so on.

For someone taking this not seriously at all, I am thinking about this too much :D

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Or maybe it would be okay to have seen a couple of episodes of the show; I think a lot of us have some random, minimal exposure to shows in that way, but haven't actually sat down and watched enough of it to get into it.

I'm also *awfully* tempted to use Wikipedia's random article generator for prompts. I just got done collecting and sorting a list of prompts for SGA Genficathon, and I don't feel like doing that again soon. But making people click on the Wiki random link and then write a fic ... maybe that would be too cruel, though. :D

[aesc.livejournal.com]

Ha ha yes, perhaps! Maybe just something very informal... like "Pick a fandom with canon you've only had minimal exposure to (i.e. you haven't seen the whole series, read more than a couple chapters of the book, seen the trailer for the movie) and write a fic about it." Maybe with list of prompts, either generated by you or submitted by others. But I'm not a huge fan of very stringent challenges ;)

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I like them more informal myself.

I was also thinking that a comment-ficathon might be less intimidating than having to write a whole story with an actual, you know, plot and everything, and that's where the Wiki random link generator comes in, to give people a non-binding starting point for their story.

[aesc.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm not sure how much a person could be expected to get out of limited knowledge of canon. Probably whatever the character limit is on a comment, though, I bet :D

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

I feel like less of a freak, now, because when people whose writing I love get into fandoms I know nothing about, I tend to read the fics anyway. Once I got into it enough that I bought the book and read it, and then I was disappointed because certain things that my favorite ficcer had set up as part of her framework weren't in the original book. And I liked her version better!

If I were sure I could muster the focus, I'd write you a McShep because my knowledge of the original series is based entirely on your fanfics. ;)

[aesc.livejournal.com]

And I liked her version better!

It's true that sometimes the canon does pale next to fannish transformation :D

If I were sure I could muster the focus, I'd write you a McShep because my knowledge of the original series is based entirely on your fanfics.

That would totally be awesome to see, if you ever mustered the focus :D And I'm 100% sure I would like it!