Really, quite interesting. I spent some time in Mercades Lackey and Le Guin -esque fantasy and sci fi, wandered over to Bordertown and De Lint and such, but was never drawn to stay in those. I read those, but I don’t re-read them, or at least not often. But the Vorkosigen novels, those I read over and over again, til my copies are incredibly dog eared. This essay, I think, is articulating part of the reason why. I want the Hero and the Bag, the fully fleshed side charaters and the unsustainable head long drive.
I think you see that more in fanfiction, or are at least able to find it better. There is a stronger tradition of fully fleshed out worlds, because fanfiction is where we take the side charaters and pull them, like taffy, in strange ways and make up their stories, like A J Hall’s Lust over Pendle series. This may be why I’m reading more fanfiction then novels right now.
Thank you. I would agree that fic has a special claim on this kind of writing. Most of the time, we are telling /about/ Heros, but our styles tend much more toward the Bag, toward elaborating and wondering and exploring. And often toward the emotional behind-story instead of action, though Hall certainly does wonderful adventure while she’s elaborating on the emotional stories.
I don’t really have much more to say, but just wanted to add that your very quick replies are very nice. Makes more of a conversation then comments to an author normally end up being.
Really, quite interesting. I spent some time in Mercades Lackey and Le Guin -esque fantasy and sci fi, wandered over to Bordertown and De Lint and such, but was never drawn to stay in those. I read those, but I don’t re-read them, or at least not often. But the Vorkosigen novels, those I read over and over again, til my copies are incredibly dog eared. This essay, I think, is articulating part of the reason why. I want the Hero and the Bag, the fully fleshed side charaters and the unsustainable head long drive.
I think you see that more in fanfiction, or are at least able to find it better. There is a stronger tradition of fully fleshed out worlds, because fanfiction is where we take the side charaters and pull them, like taffy, in strange ways and make up their stories, like A J Hall’s Lust over Pendle series. This may be why I’m reading more fanfiction then novels right now.
Thank you. I would agree that fic has a special claim on this kind of writing. Most of the time, we are telling /about/ Heros, but our styles tend much more toward the Bag, toward elaborating and wondering and exploring. And often toward the emotional behind-story instead of action, though Hall certainly does wonderful adventure while she’s elaborating on the emotional stories.
I don’t really have much more to say, but just wanted to add that your very quick replies are very nice. Makes more of a conversation then comments to an author normally end up being.
*laughing* My pleasure; I like conversations better, myself, and I’m a complete notification junkie whenever I’m online. *rueful*