30 days of fanfiction meme (day 11... and now it's day 12)

11 – Genre – do you prefer certain genres of fic when you're writing? What kind do you tend to write most?

I'm more clear on my hobby horse tropes and settings than genres, I think (particularly "fandom genres"). At this point I can no longer write any fic without it turning out that I'd been unconsciously recreating a story I'd already written, or at least plotted mentally. My cold comfort is that at least each iteration is better written than the last... so far. Maybe in another ten years or so they'll start degenerating.

( Stuff that turns up in my stories )

( Stuff that doesn't turn up in my stories )

Somewhere in there are two clusters of preoccupations: one centred around perception and creativity, the other around... teamwork and unspoken competence, or something like that. I'm more likely to write about Team Evil Pragmatic than Team Good, not even because Good Is Boring, but because Evil Is Hilarious. Eg., psychopathic assassins who're roommates because everyone has to live somewhere, due to work constraints (the Schwarz way of life is not dissimilar to that of, say, fashion models). There is probably something of this in my immediate instinct at the end of XM:FC that Team Erik would be more interesting to follow around, even though Charles is actually the pragmatic one (the "genetics" of X-Men is worse than that of JoJo - think about that - but assuming an actual Darwin's Radio scenario? Obfuscate, buy time, wait for demographics to do the bulk of the work!). I think Emma Frost's characterization in the thing is a travesty, but structurally speaking, she's Schuldig with boobs. Riptide can be Nagi. I'm ruining this for people, aren't I?

Et de douze

12 – Have you ever attempted an "adaptation" fic of a favorite book or movie but set in a different fandom?

Not that I remember. (It's late.) This is a Borgesian thing for me: no way am I writing 10K words when I can get a cheaper laugh by describing the idea. Which I do, constantly, because my mind works like this. Remember Trapped In Rukia's Closet? Or Everybody Loves Johan? Or Dude, Where's My Zanpakutou? In the past week lazulisong kindly reblogged Sherlock x The Hobbit x Temeraire crossover fanart so I didn't even have to talk it out. I'm waiting for someone to do this with X-Men and Jane Eyre.

30 days of fanfiction meme (day 13)

13 – Do you prefer canon or fanon when you write? Has writing fanfic for a fandom changed the way you see some or even all of the original source material?

In my earlier anime fandom days my principle was to ignore canon and write to fanon, because in many cases fanon was better developed (WK, I'm looking at you) and canon made no sense (Gundam, I'm looking at you). This turned out not to be ideal either. All my longer stuff from that era stalled out because I should have come up with my own theories and assumptions, instead of gacking unexamined ones that I couldn't work with.

I'm cautiously selective about cribbing from fanon these days, but there are still lots of cases out there where I find fanon more delightful than canon. NuTrek ficcing fandom - hey, finally I get to talk about NuTrek in this meme! - created all these clever and nuanced updates of TOS female characters, such that I've been dreading the eventual collective re-cognizance that, um, Gaila and Number One and Janice Rand are not going to be in the sequel next year, and even if they were (T'Pau?) they're unlikely to bear any resemblance to what fandom has agreed to do with them. The creative team may be more responsive to this type of concern than I'm expecting (DW was, this season), but well. I'm not even sure we got WoG that Gaila isn't dead.

I've talked about this at some earlier point, but reading fanfic is what nuances and complicates my opinions on the original source material. I sort of hold up every idea against a mirror - does this make sense to me? Does it fit with or add to my view of things? Does it make my ass look fat? Writing fanfic is about creating a coherent picture, perhaps as much a reaction to the pile of rejected ideas as accepted ones.

My fave DJ mix of the past month or so

Max Cooper Live - Reflections/Contortions [For Gottwood festival] by Max Cooper

Tracklisting

1. Max Cooper - Solace (Traum)
2. Microtrauma - Contrast - Max Cooper Remix (Traum)
3. Max Cooper - TBA
4. Max Cooper - TBA
5. Fairmont - They Live in the Moon - Max Cooper Remix (Traum)
6. Dominik Eulberg - Sansula - Max Cooper Remix (Traum)
7. Max Cooper - TBA
8. Andrew K - The Doppler Effect - Max Cooper Remix (Vice Versa)
9. Hot Chip - I Feel Better - Max Cooper Remix (Flash)
10. Ricardo Tobar - Mi Pieza Llena De Cosas - Max Cooper Remix (Traum)
11. Xircus - Rolf Harris - Ronan Portela Remix (Trapez)
12. Max Cooper - Heresy (Traum)
13. The Good Natured - Animal - Max Cooper Remix (Unreleased)
14. Kura - Crystal Clear - Max Cooper Remix (Bujakasja)

Plus, all the good things in life are free: http://www.maxcooperdl.net/mixes/MaxCooperLive-Reflections.mp3

Another one here I haven't had a chance to listen to yet: http://www.maxcooperdl.net/mixes/MaxCooperLive-Modus.mp3

The first ten minutes of this is sweet ("Contrast"!) but I habitually skip ahead to "Sansula" (far superior to the original tbh). The 25-odd minutes between that and "Mi Pieza Llena De Cosas" are pretty much the summer techno mix I would have tried to make right now anyway... kind of, Border Community hauls its pasty English ass to the beach (Ryanair microtrance?). Watch the speedometer if you drive on the highway to this.

Meanwhile, uploaded some tracks for tonight's radio show here here (Marianne Faithfull, PJ Harvey, Youssou N'Dour...). And some Dominik Eulberg in the parent folder. I am pretty sure "Wenn Es Perlen Regnet" was the twinkly bit James Holden was playing at Piknic, which only goes to show as Eulberg himself did nothing of the sort. It was very BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM with decided peaks and breakdowns. And then he played (his own remix?) of "Emerge", and all the ancient ppl in the audience cracked the hell up eg. me, the guy working the official video camera, etc. And then I got to meet Eulberg totally by accident as wandered behind the tents looking for a friend just as dude came down and was collared by half a dozen enthusiastic fanboys in a row.