i lay traps for troubadors
So I'm really exceptionally bored all of a sudden at work, because most people are leaving or have left and I can't yet, and I'm avoiding answering comments again by working on one of my pinch hits, and I was going to wait to talk about remixing - I talk about it every year, usually after the fact, because I don't want anyone to think I'm making some kind of "I am the mod and this is how it must be done!" statement - which is also why I am not posting this on remixers_lounge and why I haven't joined any of the discussions there that aren't specifically mod-type questions - because I'm totally not. I have a fear of stifling discussion via modly presence that is probably outsize, but I'd rather not say anything than say something and have everyone stop talking.
Anyway.
The story I've chosen to remix is something that I never would have ever thought to write in a million years, which is one of the reasons it's perfect for remixing, because it allows me to stretch and do something different, and also it allows me to see ways in which I can make the story different, make it my own.
And that's the thing I think a lot of us lose sight of when we remix - this is not, in my opinion, a normal fic exchange. We are not, technically, writing for our remixee. We are taking our remixee's story and making it our own.
I am going to stop talking in the royal we now because it's freaking me out.
What I mean is, I have to stop thinking of this as Jane Fangirl's story and start thinking of it as my story. I take her plot, these specific events - River going off to the Companion Academy for a year, or Harry rebuilding an old motorbike - and I write the story from the ground up. I often don't do this, and and I end up with safe, POV-shift remixes that are decent reads, but don't really explore the potential of what a remix can be. And sometimes, hey, I'm under the gun, I'm doing a pinch hit that needs to be done in two days so the archive can open and I don't worry too much - I would never post a story I was ashamed to put my name on, so it's not that I don't think those remixes are good; I just don't always think they live up to what they could have been.
There are just so many avenues to explore beyond a simple POV or tense shift - screw with the chronology; leave all the dialogue the same and change who says what, or what it means when it's being said; change the tone - take the serious events and make it a black comedy; take a comedy and play it straight; expand the timeline beyond the original story, showing the before or the after; narrow the timeline down--choose one major event to focus on in detail and make the rest prelude and epilogue; foreground background characters and/or promote secondary themes; etc. Make judgements as to what is and is not essential to the original story, and trust yourself.
The goal is to have a new story that is yours, in your voice and style (or, perhaps, not), but which complements and/or comments on the original story, as well as on the source.
I know I say this every year, but it really is about challenging yourself and making a mess. The person doesn't see canon the way you do? It doesn't matter. Make the basic plotline of their story conform to your interpretation. Don't slag on or mock what they've written, but don't treat it with kid gloves, either - you don't treat the source that way, and while it's all a little closer to home because we're all in the same giant sandbox on this one, as long as you make a good faith effort, most people will respond positively. Where I can see them, anyway.
Anyway, that's just my 11 cents. I just got the word that I may leave early, so I'm aiming to catch the 4:24 train. So in the half hour I have left here, I'm gonna try and write some more.
***
Anyway.
The story I've chosen to remix is something that I never would have ever thought to write in a million years, which is one of the reasons it's perfect for remixing, because it allows me to stretch and do something different, and also it allows me to see ways in which I can make the story different, make it my own.
And that's the thing I think a lot of us lose sight of when we remix - this is not, in my opinion, a normal fic exchange. We are not, technically, writing for our remixee. We are taking our remixee's story and making it our own.
I am going to stop talking in the royal we now because it's freaking me out.
What I mean is, I have to stop thinking of this as Jane Fangirl's story and start thinking of it as my story. I take her plot, these specific events - River going off to the Companion Academy for a year, or Harry rebuilding an old motorbike - and I write the story from the ground up. I often don't do this, and and I end up with safe, POV-shift remixes that are decent reads, but don't really explore the potential of what a remix can be. And sometimes, hey, I'm under the gun, I'm doing a pinch hit that needs to be done in two days so the archive can open and I don't worry too much - I would never post a story I was ashamed to put my name on, so it's not that I don't think those remixes are good; I just don't always think they live up to what they could have been.
There are just so many avenues to explore beyond a simple POV or tense shift - screw with the chronology; leave all the dialogue the same and change who says what, or what it means when it's being said; change the tone - take the serious events and make it a black comedy; take a comedy and play it straight; expand the timeline beyond the original story, showing the before or the after; narrow the timeline down--choose one major event to focus on in detail and make the rest prelude and epilogue; foreground background characters and/or promote secondary themes; etc. Make judgements as to what is and is not essential to the original story, and trust yourself.
The goal is to have a new story that is yours, in your voice and style (or, perhaps, not), but which complements and/or comments on the original story, as well as on the source.
I know I say this every year, but it really is about challenging yourself and making a mess. The person doesn't see canon the way you do? It doesn't matter. Make the basic plotline of their story conform to your interpretation. Don't slag on or mock what they've written, but don't treat it with kid gloves, either - you don't treat the source that way, and while it's all a little closer to home because we're all in the same giant sandbox on this one, as long as you make a good faith effort, most people will respond positively. Where I can see them, anyway.
Anyway, that's just my 11 cents. I just got the word that I may leave early, so I'm aiming to catch the 4:24 train. So in the half hour I have left here, I'm gonna try and write some more.
***