Creativity on LJ...
Jan. 7th, 2005 06:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valis2Recently someone on one of the lists I belong to mentioned that it's off-putting when a writer draws attention to an allusion or bit of foreshadowing they've made. It does seem to smack of "Look how clever I am!"; I can see doing a separately archived annotated work, if there is enough demand, but to point out the clever bits in the fic itself or even in the author's note seems distracting.
However, it started me thinking that, on the other hand, annotated versions are few and far between. Artists spend all of this extra time putting in clever touches, and so many of them go unnoticed. I thought it would be nice to have an entry where we show them off. I'd love to read about the thoughts behind the creation. I'd love to see what the artist created and hear what influenced the work or why they think it's particularly clever. (I'm not much of a fan of Formalism.)
Seeing that I have a wonderful flist, full of amazing fanfic writers, fanartists, and photographers, I thought that it would be fascinating to hear a few stories.
So here is a little exercise for the flist, if anyone is interested.
1) Find something you've created that you're rather proud of. Art, poetry, fic, whatever. This is the Ego Stroking thread...don't be afraid to add to it. I'm certain that you've created something that's rather clever...here's a chance to celebrate it!
2) Comment to this entry, or make your own entry, and either provide a link or a sample of your creation.
3) Explain why it's clever or why it was particularly difficult to create or why you love it so.
4) Mention anything else of note about it.
I'll be the guinea pig...I think what I'm most proud of in fandom is, quite surprisingly, one of the shortest things I've ever written. It took a while to really shape it in the exact manner I wanted. It was a response to the First Line Drabble competition that swept through LJ some time ago. I wrote a creepy little drabble on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
switchknife's LJ based on one of the first lines of one of her works. It's mature, of course, so don't say I didn't warn you. The first line I used was The body is his book.
----------------
The body is his book. Lucius can always tell the lies it conceals, and this one should be no different, pale, sallow, spread out over the table like parchment. Black eyes like ink. He touches the warm flesh, lightly running his fingertips over one jutting hip. This body should have held no lies from him. This body should have known better. Its traitorous heart intrigues him.
He can control every last muscle, can do things with Imperius that even the Dark Lord might fear. It only takes the slightest effort to keep this body quiescent. He wonders where the treachery is written; the soles of the feet, the tender scalp, the delicate webbing between fingers.
This body is a mystery he will illuminate. He will have to sink deep to bring out the hidden letters, the dark morass of perfidy, the black word of betrayal that sprouted through the flesh.
-------------------
It was particularly difficult not to have Severus interact with Lucius, but I thought that would have spoiled it. I wanted to build up tension, to have the writer imagining him violently afraid under Lucius's fingertips. I love the clinical detachment that Lucius has affected; now that Severus has been found to be a traitor, Severus is nothing but an experiment to him, all human emotion divorced and withdrawn.
My favorite bit is "dark morass of perfidy"...so melodramatic, which you know I love. I kept that phrase in my head for weeks. I also love how the traitorous impulse is described as a plant, wending its way through Severus's body and bringing him to betrayal. I also love that Severus is described as parchment and ink in the second and third sentences, bringing inswitchknife's first line, and then continuing the book comparison with "where treachery is written", "a mystery he will illuminate" (as in illuminated manuscripts), "the hidden letters", "the black word of betrayal". Oh, I had so much fun with this drabble, and I completely forgot about it until I thought of what I'd like to bring up for this entry.
Heh, the explanation is longer than the work. How amusing.
I am so hoping you'll respond...I think it will be really interesting. I am always amazed by the talent I see on the flist (and in the fandom/LJ in general), and I'd love to hear what you have to say!
EDIT: I fixed teh ebil bolding tag.
And another thing: You, flist, are cool. I knew it already, but still. Keep responding...have fun!
However, it started me thinking that, on the other hand, annotated versions are few and far between. Artists spend all of this extra time putting in clever touches, and so many of them go unnoticed. I thought it would be nice to have an entry where we show them off. I'd love to read about the thoughts behind the creation. I'd love to see what the artist created and hear what influenced the work or why they think it's particularly clever. (I'm not much of a fan of Formalism.)
Seeing that I have a wonderful flist, full of amazing fanfic writers, fanartists, and photographers, I thought that it would be fascinating to hear a few stories.
So here is a little exercise for the flist, if anyone is interested.
1) Find something you've created that you're rather proud of. Art, poetry, fic, whatever. This is the Ego Stroking thread...don't be afraid to add to it. I'm certain that you've created something that's rather clever...here's a chance to celebrate it!
2) Comment to this entry, or make your own entry, and either provide a link or a sample of your creation.
3) Explain why it's clever or why it was particularly difficult to create or why you love it so.
4) Mention anything else of note about it.
I'll be the guinea pig...I think what I'm most proud of in fandom is, quite surprisingly, one of the shortest things I've ever written. It took a while to really shape it in the exact manner I wanted. It was a response to the First Line Drabble competition that swept through LJ some time ago. I wrote a creepy little drabble on
switchknife's LJ based on one of the first lines of one of her works. It's mature, of course, so don't say I didn't warn you. The first line I used was The body is his book.----------------
The body is his book. Lucius can always tell the lies it conceals, and this one should be no different, pale, sallow, spread out over the table like parchment. Black eyes like ink. He touches the warm flesh, lightly running his fingertips over one jutting hip. This body should have held no lies from him. This body should have known better. Its traitorous heart intrigues him.
He can control every last muscle, can do things with Imperius that even the Dark Lord might fear. It only takes the slightest effort to keep this body quiescent. He wonders where the treachery is written; the soles of the feet, the tender scalp, the delicate webbing between fingers.
This body is a mystery he will illuminate. He will have to sink deep to bring out the hidden letters, the dark morass of perfidy, the black word of betrayal that sprouted through the flesh.
-------------------
It was particularly difficult not to have Severus interact with Lucius, but I thought that would have spoiled it. I wanted to build up tension, to have the writer imagining him violently afraid under Lucius's fingertips. I love the clinical detachment that Lucius has affected; now that Severus has been found to be a traitor, Severus is nothing but an experiment to him, all human emotion divorced and withdrawn.
My favorite bit is "dark morass of perfidy"...so melodramatic, which you know I love. I kept that phrase in my head for weeks. I also love how the traitorous impulse is described as a plant, wending its way through Severus's body and bringing him to betrayal. I also love that Severus is described as parchment and ink in the second and third sentences, bringing in
switchknife's first line, and then continuing the book comparison with "where treachery is written", "a mystery he will illuminate" (as in illuminated manuscripts), "the hidden letters", "the black word of betrayal". Oh, I had so much fun with this drabble, and I completely forgot about it until I thought of what I'd like to bring up for this entry.Heh, the explanation is longer than the work. How amusing.
I am so hoping you'll respond...I think it will be really interesting. I am always amazed by the talent I see on the flist (and in the fandom/LJ in general), and I'd love to hear what you have to say!
EDIT: I fixed teh ebil bolding tag.
And another thing: You, flist, are cool. I knew it already, but still. Keep responding...have fun!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Part 2
Date: 2005-01-07 07:26 pm (UTC)"I waited for a long time to get my revenge, I planned and hoped for it for years, so why would I allow Voldemort to kill Potter when I had my own plans concerning him? Then fate helped me so beautifully, that night when I found you behind the Leaky Cauldron. And then what happened later – I knew I
could have you. You were an absolute pushover, Hermione. Many women have found me repellent – but not you, the easiest conquest I ever made. What kind of woman has sex with a comparative stranger when she is engaged to another man?" The things I said were vile and cruel lies, but I had to keep her away from considering the story I was feeding her – which was
filled with gaping holes. I saw her flinch at the vicious sting of that last remark.
"That day we spent together was most entertaining, but in the morning I knew what I had to do, so I turned you down because I knew how you felt about me – I knew I'd permanently messed you up and ruined you for Potter. The thought of his being married to a woman who was hopelessly in love with me, of all people, you can have no idea how enticing that was to me. And then fate played even more into my hands, and we met again. Once again, you fell into my arms. You have been so very accommodating, my dear. When I thought of how he would feel if he discovered we were having an affair, it was wonderful – and I must say – having our affair was no real hardship – you are a good little fuck. A bit shameless, and a bit over eager, but I was never going to complain about the fact that I could reduce the wife of Harry Potter into a little bitch in heat, if I so much as looked at her…"
"Stop that!" she shouted, with tears in her eyes. "Stop it! I don't know why you are saying all this, but stop. I know you are lying, I just don't know why!" She ran at me then, and flung her arms about me. I wished she'd stabbed me in the heart. It would have hurt less. I had to act quickly, or the pathetic yammerer inside would break down and confess that I was lying, that I did love her, more than life or honour, and that I was just trying my pathetic best to save her from a fate worse than death. So I did the worse thing I have ever
done, without qualification, the worst in a whole line of terrible deeds, I raised my hand, and struck her hard across the face, with bone shaking force – my darling, my only love. I had to turn her love into hate, had to, so I hurt her with a terrible blow to destroy her love for me, and which destroyed my own heart at the same time. I vowed then to punish my own right hand later. With a terrified scream, she fell backwards and landed in an ungainly heap. Only by
the exercise of every possible power of restraint was I able to refrain from running to her.
.............
Melodramatic stuff, eh? He's lying his head off, and I've had a few people suggest she should not believe him, but essentially I felt that the way he spoke, plus the head busting smack at the end (which I did not like writing at all - I detest violence against women, and so does my Snape) would clinch things.
Why I liked it was I hinted at this back in chapters 4 and also 13. I liked setting it up that far back, and then having the whole thing come to roost for Snape. Harry has the Dementors at his back in this chapter, too, and I also liked having an echo of Snape's threat against Sirius Black in the Shrieking Shack scene finally come home to roost, too. The fun bit was weaving canon into a heavy duty emotional scene, and having it play. I felt it worked, most readers did. And Snape is horribly nasty here, even though we the readers know he is not nasty really. I liked that too. Still my bestest bit (though currently being overtaken by the chapter under edit, because there's stuff in that I shall like better if I can get it just so.