Self Improvement, Part II

[formerdinosaur]

Comments

also thanks for the oysters

[sekrit_omg]

This fic is the best gift because it is essentially tailor-made for me, with every pairing and characterization in which I delight. I can't thank you enough for writing this for me! But it's good, too, because it also works on a meta level. And it's a really sensitive portrayal of Cartman, too, which I love -- and I don't mean it's "forgiving," it's really not forgiving, he's a largely abusive entitled asshole shithead, who's a bad person. But what makes this fic so clever, and what makes it such a good consideration of Cartman, is that nearly every character in the fic is aware of this. They all know Cartman, they totally get him, and they articulate it both unaware that he is present and directly to his face. I suppose if the fic is supposed to be a meta-commentary on fandom takes on Cartman, then Butters is the naive segment of the population that doesn't understand him quite as well as Butters thinks he does. But even if not it still works on a glorious level, because Cartman is despicable, but his despicable nature is so inept

Re: also thanks for the oysters

[formerdinosaur]

Ahh, you're very welcome, and thanks again for being into this idea, because it was really fun to write. My first real ~~inside the mind of Cartman~~ fic, aw. And yeah, I absolutely didn't want it to feel forgiving of Cartman, but I wanted him to be flailing and vulnerable in his authentically Cartman way. I wasn't thinking about it when I was writing, but there has been a lot of meta discussion about Cartman in fandom this summer, and I like the idea that this is reflecting that in terms of the Butters approach vs. the more deservedly critical rebukings of everyone else. I'm glad you liked Stan physically removing Cartman from the conversation, too - I have this feeling that Stan is very good at ignoring Cartman, and to some extent he can't flip out every time Kyle starts to engage Cartman and become enraged by him, but after a certain amount of exchanges he just calmly flings Cartman away

(this is stannmarsh.tumblr.com)

[anonymous]

holy SHIT

Re: (this is stannmarsh.tumblr.com)

[formerdinosaur]

Thanks so much for reading and for leaving a comment! Really really happy to hear this was funny, and that the sweet and sad elements worked, too. I do love the idea of Cartman losing some of his talent for scheming as he ages, yeah, and if he was to become some kind of slick tycoon I think he would at least struggle with personal relationships and wouldn't have that ~charming little boy~ ability to fool people as easily as an adult

nice

[anonymous]

You wrote Cartman sooooo well!!!

Re: nice

[formerdinosaur]

Thank you! He can be hard to write from a POV standpoint, but his dialogue is so distinct that it's hard to mess up :3