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jedibuttercup... that when I'm surfing AO3 and see something like "(Y/N) Stark is the youngest daughter of Eddard and Catelyn Stark" in a fic summary, I immediately think "Yes/No" instead of "Your Name". It trips me up every time, and even after I remember, I have a hard time seeing the appeal. I did read some of those Choose Your Own Adventure books that were popular when I was a kid in the 80s; but even then, I had to sit down with a notebook and plot out which pages jumped where so I could figure out which was the most satisfying ending -- and most of them actually weren't. I read -- and write-- fic to explore the characters and/or world(s) I loved in canon, not to insert myself into it, especially not a reader-fic version of my self that will (because genericized) be by default OOC.
I know, I know. Different people want different things out of fic; a lot of people do prefer it as escapist wish-fulfillment. Or ... maybe it's just that online fandom wasn't a thing until after I was through my own Mary Sue phase, and the shape of that trope's changed a lot in the years since? For me, it was a bunch of short stories scribbled in erasable ballpoint pen in a spiral-bound notebook, telling stories about how I and my BFFs and my defected-from-the-enemy made-up boyfriend survived an apocalypse in my hometown, or got caught in a time-loop and had to save the world, or became sexy spies, or were born into a fantasy universe where different bloodlines had special magic powers, etc. I'm pretty sure those stories still exist, somewhere in a dusty box; I'm equally glad they'll never again see the light of day. Maybe I would have been one of those people writing up those kinds of fic-ified imagines to share with others, if wifi and smartphones and Tumblr were a thing when I was thirteen instead of dial-up slow-as-fuck AOL. :)
Anyway. You may have noticed I've made a resolution to blog more this year; I'm hoping more engagement will help keep me from sliding back into last year's blue fugue.
Along similar lines: I'll be signing up for this year's![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
getyourwordsout - signups run through Jan 15, and their commitment levels start at 75,000 words. I'm not sure yet which level I'll sign up for, but their accountability posts should help keep me going. :)
I know, I know. Different people want different things out of fic; a lot of people do prefer it as escapist wish-fulfillment. Or ... maybe it's just that online fandom wasn't a thing until after I was through my own Mary Sue phase, and the shape of that trope's changed a lot in the years since? For me, it was a bunch of short stories scribbled in erasable ballpoint pen in a spiral-bound notebook, telling stories about how I and my BFFs and my defected-from-the-enemy made-up boyfriend survived an apocalypse in my hometown, or got caught in a time-loop and had to save the world, or became sexy spies, or were born into a fantasy universe where different bloodlines had special magic powers, etc. I'm pretty sure those stories still exist, somewhere in a dusty box; I'm equally glad they'll never again see the light of day. Maybe I would have been one of those people writing up those kinds of fic-ified imagines to share with others, if wifi and smartphones and Tumblr were a thing when I was thirteen instead of dial-up slow-as-fuck AOL. :)
Anyway. You may have noticed I've made a resolution to blog more this year; I'm hoping more engagement will help keep me from sliding back into last year's blue fugue.
Along similar lines: I'll be signing up for this year's
getyourwordsout - signups run through Jan 15, and their commitment levels start at 75,000 words. I'm not sure yet which level I'll sign up for, but their accountability posts should help keep me going. :)
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Date: 2019-01-10 05:40 pm (UTC)I vaguely remember finding a CYOA like that that didn't have a 'real' ending, too ... those frustrated me so much! I skimmed all the jump-to's first without actually reading much of the text to make notes like this:
1 - 4 - 11 - 44 - 27 (or whatever, etc.)
and then once I had all the paths written down, went back and read all the different versions properly. The ones that didn't make a proper story seriously annoyed me!