That Writing Meme

[sharkflip]

Stolen from avocado_love and like everyone else.

I think it would be fun to talk about stories, but the usual memes are like, "What happens next?" "Tell me about Character A?" Which isn't so much talking about stories as it is writing more of a story. But you know how sometimes you read something and you're like, "I got ___ out of this story, I wonder if I have

Comments

[beboots]

What prompted you to start writing "Enslaved"? Like, when/why did you think of reversing of the "usual" order of things?

[sharkflip]

Honestly, I read a bad fic in which Zuko got Katara as a slave. There were two that I remember, and I don't know which one was the specific prompt

[beboots]

That's an awesome origin story for this fic. I admit that I have yet to find a good multichapter fic with Katara as a slave. There are so many other ways to force the two to work together without making the dark skinned woman an object, people! D:

For so many reasons, many of which were highlighted here, I love that you wrote this fic your way. You portray Katara and Zuko in an in-character way, have actually done your research in portraying native cultures, have clearly thought deeply on the culture clash and language issues... and have gotten an original storyline out of it to boot! :)

[sharkflip]

The slavery trope doesn't work in reverse for me, because neither of them are going to give up without a fight

[cxrdevil]

Why did you decide for Thuko and Katara to actually get married instead of drawing out the foreplay more or asking his daddy to give him away

[sharkflip]

First, who's daddy what

[redbrunja]

I noticed that in "Enslaved" the Fire Nation doesn't appear to be as imperialistic (or successfully imperialistic) as in canon. They're not attempting to wipe out the Water Tribe, Katara doesn't have history with the Fire Nation, and there is no Avatar.

Why did you choose to leave that those pieces out? I realize it makes the Zuko/Katara romance easier but do you feel you've lost any depth or possible conflict that you regret?

[sharkflip]

Ah

[redbrunja]

Oh, I didn't mena to imply that your fic has a lack of depth (in some ways, it has more than canon).

First, no plague. No smallpox or syphilis, no influenza or cholera or typhoid or whatnot. That element of reality was so devastating that I just don't want to write about it.

Understandably! And that ties into you stepping away from the Fire Nation as The Evilest.

[sharkflip]

Oh nononono, I didn't think you were implying that! I just will, at some point, be writing more about the Fire Nation, and I'm hoping that the subtle conflict will have as much depth as OMG SAVE THE WORLD.

[sableambiguity]

EVERYONE IS ASKING ABOUT ENSLAVED. I figured I would be different?

Truthfully, I'm going to rain on the parade and say the reason I first fell in love with your writing was because of that all-too-overlooked little gem Beneath a Dawning Sky that you did as an extension of DamageCtrl's fic. And to this date, I think that when I really just want to admire your voice and style and how emotive and smooth your writing can be, that oneshot is where I go.

So my question is... whether or not it was actually the first piece you wrote, it's the first you uploaded. Why? I could even go so far as to ask how did you, working with someone else's material in your "first attempt," feel confident enough to write and post that piece? And just because I know the fic and the endless possibilities, what made you focus on just that singular instance of their reunion upon her waking?

/nerd

[sharkflip]

*laughter