Remix Redux IV: Discussion/Invitation
Open invitation to discuss the remix
remixredux is the first time I've taken part in a major multi-fandom remix. I really wasn't sure what to expect, and to be honest I'm still not, as there seems to be this big silence going on. I mean, over 300 people took part, and yet I can't find any conversations about it anywhere! So I thought I'd extend an invitation: if anyone would like to discuss the remix, you're welcome to do so here. Anonymous posting is fine (we don't give away any secrets before the big reveal ;).
I'll kick things off...
The writing
The writing ended up being much harder than I thought it would, because my assigned author and I have tastes about as wildly divergent as it's possible to get and still be in the same fandom(s). What I found interesting was trying to find a way to be honest to the material and still write something that appealed to me. It was a challenge, and I don't think it ended up being my best work, but I'm still really glad I signed up. I could feel my writing muscles stretch until they squeeked!
Choosing the story was probably the hardest part, and not because of the reasons I'd envisioned. I'd thought I might have problems with writing a new pairing (and psyched myself up for, um, Aeryn/Dargo or something). But in the end I was okay with several different pairings I could have chosen. I'd thought I might have problems with canon, because I don't have the technology to see things not on free-to-air tv, which means I'm at least a season behind everyone else (and sometimes more. Damn all that study for sucking up all my tv watching time!). But that ended up not being an issue either. The really big problem ended up being something that had never even occurred to me: once I started really analysing the short-list stories I'd picked out, it became clear that the original author makes very different scene-framing choices to the ones I favour. That just totally threw me for a loop. I didn't know where to start my remix, where to end it, how different to make it. Just... it took me ages to work those basic things out.
Remixes of my work
Which brings me nicely to the remixes of my work, because now that I've seen some strategies applied to the scene structures of my stories, I've been able to backwards engineer the techniques, and I have some much better ideas for the next time I do a remix. Thank you Remix Authors!
I'm absolutely thrilled with both the remixes of my stories, and for more than technical reasons. I admit I wasn't expecting much, because I thought there was a good chance the writer(s) would end up with the same main problem I had: very different taste in either content and/or style. But I'm impressed with the creativity both writers used in coming at the problem--they were much more outside-the-box than I was.
I found the story choices very interesting too: I picked "Grounded" as an obvious remix choice. It's the story of mine I would have chosen because it's short, open, simply written and, as a future fic, easy to re-slant (in terms of characterisation, canon, plot, etc). The author took it places I never would have dreamt of, but I can see why ze chose that story.
But "Forbidden Fruit" is a story I would never have picked to remix in a million billion years! About the only advantages it has are 1) it's short, and 2) it has a fixed POV. But the style is so extreme (because I was playing around with action-writing technique), and the POV so central to the tension, and so little happens... and bascially, it's just a nightmare to remix! So I'm still kind of boggling at how well the remix works! Kudos to the author for being so brave.
Feedback
I wasn't expecting much (just as well :) but I have had some. Do people feel weird about sending feedback while the author is anon? I know I do a bit, which is silly. I think I might gird my loins and try to send some tomorrow. So far, I've only sent it to my remixers. How about you?
Recs
There are a set on polyfandomrecs, here. They're the only "set" (as opposed to one-offs) that I've found so far.
Despite my 48 hour reading binge, I haven't read all 300+ stories yet. I've mainly read remixes from my current favourite reading fandoms. My picks so far have just gone up on rec_room.
Open discussion
And now it's over to you. What have your impressions been? What stories have you liked? What problems did you have?
*waves hands invitingly at comment button*
remixredux is the first time I've taken part in a major multi-fandom remix. I really wasn't sure what to expect, and to be honest I'm still not, as there seems to be this big silence going on. I mean, over 300 people took part, and yet I can't find any conversations about it anywhere! So I thought I'd extend an invitation: if anyone would like to discuss the remix, you're welcome to do so here. Anonymous posting is fine (we don't give away any secrets before the big reveal ;).
I'll kick things off...
The writing
The writing ended up being much harder than I thought it would, because my assigned author and I have tastes about as wildly divergent as it's possible to get and still be in the same fandom(s). What I found interesting was trying to find a way to be honest to the material and still write something that appealed to me. It was a challenge, and I don't think it ended up being my best work, but I'm still really glad I signed up. I could feel my writing muscles stretch until they squeeked!
Choosing the story was probably the hardest part, and not because of the reasons I'd envisioned. I'd thought I might have problems with writing a new pairing (and psyched myself up for, um, Aeryn/Dargo or something). But in the end I was okay with several different pairings I could have chosen. I'd thought I might have problems with canon, because I don't have the technology to see things not on free-to-air tv, which means I'm at least a season behind everyone else (and sometimes more. Damn all that study for sucking up all my tv watching time!). But that ended up not being an issue either. The really big problem ended up being something that had never even occurred to me: once I started really analysing the short-list stories I'd picked out, it became clear that the original author makes very different scene-framing choices to the ones I favour. That just totally threw me for a loop. I didn't know where to start my remix, where to end it, how different to make it. Just... it took me ages to work those basic things out.
Remixes of my work
Which brings me nicely to the remixes of my work, because now that I've seen some strategies applied to the scene structures of my stories, I've been able to backwards engineer the techniques, and I have some much better ideas for the next time I do a remix. Thank you Remix Authors!
I'm absolutely thrilled with both the remixes of my stories, and for more than technical reasons. I admit I wasn't expecting much, because I thought there was a good chance the writer(s) would end up with the same main problem I had: very different taste in either content and/or style. But I'm impressed with the creativity both writers used in coming at the problem--they were much more outside-the-box than I was.
I found the story choices very interesting too: I picked "Grounded" as an obvious remix choice. It's the story of mine I would have chosen because it's short, open, simply written and, as a future fic, easy to re-slant (in terms of characterisation, canon, plot, etc). The author took it places I never would have dreamt of, but I can see why ze chose that story.
But "Forbidden Fruit" is a story I would never have picked to remix in a million billion years! About the only advantages it has are 1) it's short, and 2) it has a fixed POV. But the style is so extreme (because I was playing around with action-writing technique), and the POV so central to the tension, and so little happens... and bascially, it's just a nightmare to remix! So I'm still kind of boggling at how well the remix works! Kudos to the author for being so brave.
Feedback
I wasn't expecting much (just as well :) but I have had some. Do people feel weird about sending feedback while the author is anon? I know I do a bit, which is silly. I think I might gird my loins and try to send some tomorrow. So far, I've only sent it to my remixers. How about you?
Recs
There are a set on polyfandomrecs, here. They're the only "set" (as opposed to one-offs) that I've found so far.
Despite my 48 hour reading binge, I haven't read all 300+ stories yet. I've mainly read remixes from my current favourite reading fandoms. My picks so far have just gone up on rec_room.
Open discussion
And now it's over to you. What have your impressions been? What stories have you liked? What problems did you have?
*waves hands invitingly at comment button*