ranting about fic again
Feb. 25th, 2007 06:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI know I've said before, but, on the nose? Not particularly useful in stories.
Saying exactly what you mean when you mean it, doing exactly what you want them to do, these are things that are good in 3D but utterly, utterly boring in stories. Because we're fanfic readers, most of us are 'shippers of some kind, and we've read the header. So we know Jack loves (Ianto, the Doctor, Rose, Passing alien 355 from a new ship full of Sycorax, etc etc). If the story starts with him saying "I love (them)" and ends with him saying "I love you" to (them) then... where exactly was the story? It just spent a whole bunch of words telling us exactly what we already know.
Also there's no tension. Even if it's a can't travel with the Doctor because he loves Ianto thing it doesn't add up to tension if everyone is all 'go be with Ianto!' and pushing Jack and Jack wants to be pushed and Ianto catches him when he is pushed.
Also also, it doesn't actually make sense to have the Doctor send Jack back to be with Ianto because - and this is important - the Doctor is a time traveller. They could travel together for hundreds of years and, excluding universe shattering accidents, Jack could come back a few minutes after he left. This is pretty much what the Doctor has done with assorted 20th century Earth persons, most notably the Brigadier, who has met almost all of the Doctors. And yet not lived any longer than is plausible. It's possible the Doctor is rationing him or something, except for that thing where 2 broke the laws of time a teensy so he could visit him after the others of him had. So a more plausible bit of advice from the Doctor would involve "back in five minutes, promise" and "but if you stay with him he'll be old before you know it".
But in a more *general* sense, making a story? Does not mean telling us X+Y=4eva, because we *know* that.
... I need to stop speechifying and start writing.
*sigh*
Saying exactly what you mean when you mean it, doing exactly what you want them to do, these are things that are good in 3D but utterly, utterly boring in stories. Because we're fanfic readers, most of us are 'shippers of some kind, and we've read the header. So we know Jack loves (Ianto, the Doctor, Rose, Passing alien 355 from a new ship full of Sycorax, etc etc). If the story starts with him saying "I love (them)" and ends with him saying "I love you" to (them) then... where exactly was the story? It just spent a whole bunch of words telling us exactly what we already know.
Also there's no tension. Even if it's a can't travel with the Doctor because he loves Ianto thing it doesn't add up to tension if everyone is all 'go be with Ianto!' and pushing Jack and Jack wants to be pushed and Ianto catches him when he is pushed.
Also also, it doesn't actually make sense to have the Doctor send Jack back to be with Ianto because - and this is important - the Doctor is a time traveller. They could travel together for hundreds of years and, excluding universe shattering accidents, Jack could come back a few minutes after he left. This is pretty much what the Doctor has done with assorted 20th century Earth persons, most notably the Brigadier, who has met almost all of the Doctors. And yet not lived any longer than is plausible. It's possible the Doctor is rationing him or something, except for that thing where 2 broke the laws of time a teensy so he could visit him after the others of him had. So a more plausible bit of advice from the Doctor would involve "back in five minutes, promise" and "but if you stay with him he'll be old before you know it".
But in a more *general* sense, making a story? Does not mean telling us X+Y=4eva, because we *know* that.
... I need to stop speechifying and start writing.
*sigh*