next_to_normal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
next_to_normal) wrote2009-02-26 11:20 pm
next_to_normal) wrote2009-02-26 11:20 pm
Entry tags:
Association Meme, part 2
Already did this one once, but I commented on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gabrielleabelle's post, so she gave me five more things to talk about. Her list:
Fanfic
Spike
Rape
James Marsters
London
Fanfic:
Heh, I pretty much already discussed this one in my last post, and let's face it, I was reaching even then. I feel like I should have something new and insightful to say about fic, but I may be fresh out of ideas. Perhaps that comes from not writing at all and reading a lot less lately; I'm just not thinking about fanfic as much as I used to. One thing I can say about the experience is that I definitely gotten more serious about my fic in this fandom. I've written in two fandoms before this, Sliders and The West Wing, and although I've always been a decent writer, I definitely pushed myself with BtVS and set higher standards for the things I posted. I've never aspired to write professionally, so this is about as far as I'm ever going to go, but I wanted to do it really well.
Spike:
I guess in a sense, Spike is my muse, since I've never written a fic (other than the occasional drabble) that didn't feature him prominently. He's a fascinating character, though I think a great deal of that is inseparable from James Marsters (whom I'll talk about in a minute), since his performance has a lot to do with how compelling Spike is. But Spike as a character has so many interesting layers, and it's fun to explore that. We all seem to have our own Spike, no two versions exactly alike. Hell, even the Spikes I've written aren't all the same.
Rape:
An unusual choice, lol, although I do kind of understand why she'd associate me with it. But it's definitely not something I'd associate with myself - in fact, as much as I've written about it and talked about it, rape has always felt a little bit like a foreign concept to me. When I was in high school, it was something that happened to other people - people I didn't know - but it could never happen to me. Once I got to college, rape became more real to me - I knew people who'd been raped, I knew people who were rapists, I went to Take Back the Night every year, and it became an issue I cared about. But I still kind of feel like I don't really have the right to talk about it, because I've never been through the experience. It was an enormous hurdle in writing "Closure," as I've mentioned, because I didn't think I could do it well without knowing how it feels. Writing the story was a really good learning experience for me.
James Marsters:
Ah, the man who brings us all together. Once, I had an obsession; now, I'd say it's downgraded to just being a regular fan. :) My first introduction to JM was in London, where my (American) flatmate had a Spike/James calendar on her wall. She was all, "Isn't he the hottest guy ever?" but I thought the pictures were terribly overposed and unnatural looking. Didn't win me over, and he quickly got replaced by Orlando Bloom once Mary realized JM wasn't really British. About a year later, I started watching Buffy, and was like, "Hey, it's that dude from Mary's calendar!" Once I saw him in action, I was a Spike fan pretty much from the beginning, and JM easily made the biggest impression of all the show's actors. As pretty as he is, I still love him first and foremost for his acting (no, really!). For a while, I went through a phase where I desperately wanted to go to a con and meet him and do the fangirly thing, but was still too cheap to actually pay for it. I'm kinda... over that, lol, although this "Marstersclass" thing is awfully tempting. I do like his music, and go to gigs when it's relatively convenient (i.e. driving distance and under $30).
London:
My favorite place to be! I did a semester abroad there in college, and it was the best thing ever. I love to travel, but I hate being a tourist, so getting to actually live in a foreign city and spend months perfecting my "no, really, I'm a local" act was like a dream come true. My workload was light enough that I had time to do plenty of sightseeing, but the true fun is in really getting to know a place - grocery stores, bus routes, knowing where the good shopping is, having a regular bar. It sounds boring, but that's how you meet interesting people and find the unexpected, hidden spots that aren't in the guidebook (because you were trying to find the grocery store and got totally lost and why the hell are there three different streets all named Marylebone anyway?). My favorite memories aren't of Buckingham Palace or the London Eye or Harrod's, they're of sitting on my regular bench on the South Bank, and walking along Portland Place, and the crazy-ass carnival rides, and talking about the Presidential election while standing in line for theater tickets. I'd love to go back - would love to live there, though it's unlikely with my job, but I'd settle for a vacation.
I figure anyone who wanted to do this replied the first time around, so let me know if you're just commenting or if you want to play.
gabrielleabelle's post, so she gave me five more things to talk about. Her list:Fanfic
Spike
Rape
James Marsters
London
Fanfic:
Heh, I pretty much already discussed this one in my last post, and let's face it, I was reaching even then. I feel like I should have something new and insightful to say about fic, but I may be fresh out of ideas. Perhaps that comes from not writing at all and reading a lot less lately; I'm just not thinking about fanfic as much as I used to. One thing I can say about the experience is that I definitely gotten more serious about my fic in this fandom. I've written in two fandoms before this, Sliders and The West Wing, and although I've always been a decent writer, I definitely pushed myself with BtVS and set higher standards for the things I posted. I've never aspired to write professionally, so this is about as far as I'm ever going to go, but I wanted to do it really well.
Spike:
I guess in a sense, Spike is my muse, since I've never written a fic (other than the occasional drabble) that didn't feature him prominently. He's a fascinating character, though I think a great deal of that is inseparable from James Marsters (whom I'll talk about in a minute), since his performance has a lot to do with how compelling Spike is. But Spike as a character has so many interesting layers, and it's fun to explore that. We all seem to have our own Spike, no two versions exactly alike. Hell, even the Spikes I've written aren't all the same.
Rape:
An unusual choice, lol, although I do kind of understand why she'd associate me with it. But it's definitely not something I'd associate with myself - in fact, as much as I've written about it and talked about it, rape has always felt a little bit like a foreign concept to me. When I was in high school, it was something that happened to other people - people I didn't know - but it could never happen to me. Once I got to college, rape became more real to me - I knew people who'd been raped, I knew people who were rapists, I went to Take Back the Night every year, and it became an issue I cared about. But I still kind of feel like I don't really have the right to talk about it, because I've never been through the experience. It was an enormous hurdle in writing "Closure," as I've mentioned, because I didn't think I could do it well without knowing how it feels. Writing the story was a really good learning experience for me.
James Marsters:
Ah, the man who brings us all together. Once, I had an obsession; now, I'd say it's downgraded to just being a regular fan. :) My first introduction to JM was in London, where my (American) flatmate had a Spike/James calendar on her wall. She was all, "Isn't he the hottest guy ever?" but I thought the pictures were terribly overposed and unnatural looking. Didn't win me over, and he quickly got replaced by Orlando Bloom once Mary realized JM wasn't really British. About a year later, I started watching Buffy, and was like, "Hey, it's that dude from Mary's calendar!" Once I saw him in action, I was a Spike fan pretty much from the beginning, and JM easily made the biggest impression of all the show's actors. As pretty as he is, I still love him first and foremost for his acting (no, really!). For a while, I went through a phase where I desperately wanted to go to a con and meet him and do the fangirly thing, but was still too cheap to actually pay for it. I'm kinda... over that, lol, although this "Marstersclass" thing is awfully tempting. I do like his music, and go to gigs when it's relatively convenient (i.e. driving distance and under $30).
London:
My favorite place to be! I did a semester abroad there in college, and it was the best thing ever. I love to travel, but I hate being a tourist, so getting to actually live in a foreign city and spend months perfecting my "no, really, I'm a local" act was like a dream come true. My workload was light enough that I had time to do plenty of sightseeing, but the true fun is in really getting to know a place - grocery stores, bus routes, knowing where the good shopping is, having a regular bar. It sounds boring, but that's how you meet interesting people and find the unexpected, hidden spots that aren't in the guidebook (because you were trying to find the grocery store and got totally lost and why the hell are there three different streets all named Marylebone anyway?). My favorite memories aren't of Buckingham Palace or the London Eye or Harrod's, they're of sitting on my regular bench on the South Bank, and walking along Portland Place, and the crazy-ass carnival rides, and talking about the Presidential election while standing in line for theater tickets. I'd love to go back - would love to live there, though it's unlikely with my job, but I'd settle for a vacation.
I figure anyone who wanted to do this replied the first time around, so let me know if you're just commenting or if you want to play.
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