No sooner does gjstruthseeker quote someone else's rant about drabbles or someone else goes and posts this HP drabble which pretty much redeems the whole form. Go read. It's only a 100 words. :)
Honestly, I think it's another case of 'unless it's done well'. The pitfalls of the short stuff she points out are real and specific to the form, but hey, it's just as valid to say the problem with epics is that they tend to be aimless, that they drag and swerve plot-wise and trudge on and on without ever resolving anything. Unless it's done well, of course. *g*
And that's why I pointed to this example where I can't believe it's only 100 words, there's so much in there, and things happen and there are consequences and stuff.
It's a form quite specifically auited to a genre which relies a lot on shared information. In fanfic you don't always have to spend time establishing chracters and place, and setting up killer endings, cos someone already did that... so drabblers can and often do go straight to the killer ending - one reason astrogirl2 says she likes drabbles and other short fic. Thanks for this ref.
Huh. Interesting. The HP drabble is self-contained, has a plot, has many characters - all admirable things and very very hard to achieve in this form, I think - yet it didn't do much for me. Am I missing something meta that would make it funnier? Or is it just me?
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Honestly, I think it's another case of 'unless it's done well'. The pitfalls of the short stuff she points out are real and specific to the form, but hey, it's just as valid to say the problem with epics is that they tend to be aimless, that they drag and swerve plot-wise and trudge on and on without ever resolving anything. Unless it's done well, of course. *g*
And that's why I pointed to this example where I can't believe it's only 100 words, there's so much in there, and things happen and there are consequences and stuff.
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