Fannish UP!date

[amatara]

Busy, busy first half of the week-end, but a lovely relaxing Sunday to even the score. Husband and I got married exactly one year ago today, which is a peculiar sensation, to say the least; receiving cards from parents and family members saying "happy anniversary" invariably invokes thoughts of ancient married couples, and is making me feel suddenly older than I am...

Speaking of old married couples: we went to see Pixar's new one, "Up!", today. Well, yes, I realize in the rest of the civilized world it's not all that new anymore, but Belgium is often a bit behind on the movie front, especially when it comes to kids' movies. Maybe the fact that those have to be dubbed and subtitled in Dutch and French has something to do with it, or else we're just a bit backward, I don't know. In any case, the movie (pun intended) simply blew me away; if I had any doubt that Disney's taking over Pixar would affect the quality of their productions, that doubt has now vanished completely. As with their previous films, I was very much impressed by how they manage to infuse their stories with a quite deep message - deep for a children's movie, at least - without being at all preachy about it, and without making their endings so "Disney-ishly" happy it stops being realistic. Comparing it to my other favorites 'The Incredibles' ("It's okay to be ordinary, but it's just as okay to be special") and 'Ratatouille' ("Criticizing is easy, it's doing something that's hard, and even if the result is not great, the attempt in itself is always worthwhile"), I'd say I'm finding 'Up!' the best one yet. Testimony to that is the fact it made me - me, the person who never sheds a tear over anything on the screen, who is physically incapable of crying in a theatre! - blubber like a baby during the entire first twenty minutes and most of the last ten of the film. Which was, actually, somewhat embarrassing, given that there was a ten-year old girl next to me who didn't bat an eyelash the entire time. *g* I don't know why, but it seems that the older I'm getting, the more themes like aging and losing a partner and so on are affecting me - which is a bit scary, knowing that I haven't even reached thirty yet...

On the fannish front: I actually wanted to start up some kind of meta-ish meme thing about relationships and intimacy in fanfic, but alas, it's late and my brain is pretty much fried due to the wine I had during our anniversary dinner... So the meme will have to wait until later this week or next week-end. The reason I'd like to do it, is, that my attempt to experiment with various genres of fic has now taken me to the stage where I'm trying to write a story with explicit sex. That's to say, the story features the act of sex, but not an explicit description of the sex itself, which makes it less than pr0n but probably more than PG-13. *g* And it's hard - unexpectedly so - but also a lovely thing to be writing, and it made me start asking myself all kinds of questions about writing and reading fics involving relationships, which I'd love to discuss with y'all. So - stay tuned for that meme! 

As a small prelude to it - I've been wanting for ages to do that other meme that's been doing the rounds on and off around here, being the "shag, marry, cliff" one. In case there's still anyone who doesn't know it: the bottom line is you get three fictional characters, and you have to choose which of the three you want to marry, shag, or chuck off a cliff. So, here goes:

• Name 3 or more  - male - fictional characters from any of my fandoms (Babylon 5, Star Trek, Stargate SG-1, New Who, Star Wars, Harry Potter, LOTR, ... all qualify). If you list more than 3 names, add a fourth, fifth, etc. option next to the marry/shag/cliff ones. I'll then discuss my choices in a next post. 
• If you wanna join in the silliness, leave a comment telling me your fandoms (and, if relevant, whether you want male and/or female characters listed) and I'll give you characters to choose from!

Comments

[vjs2259.livejournal.com]

Aargh. Explicit s*x. Never ever did manage it. It's hard. Look forward to the discussion/meme thing.

Ok, do B5: John Sheridan, Vir Cotto, G'Kar.

And I'm looking for a meme, so forward! You can do B5, Trek TOS, LOTR, Eureka, New Who. Any or all of the above. Male, female, or mixed is fine.

[amatara.livejournal.com]

It is hard. Yes. *nods* Which is probably why I've been stuck on that fic for about three weeks now. (To answer your previous question: I tend to work on one at a time - that's more than slow enough going ;) ) In any case, much as I'm boasting about it now, the "explicit" will almost certainly have to be taken with a grain of salt. It'll be more like semi-explicit foreplay interspersed with lots of talk and followed by a semi-fade to black. *facepalm*

John, Vir, G'Kar... aah, nice one! Will post the reply later this week... For you, as mixed as mixed goes: McCoy, Eowyn, Mickey, Ivanova. :) You can make it Snog, Shag, Marry, Cliff.

[vjs2259.livejournal.com]

"It'll be more like semi-explicit foreplay interspersed with lots of talk and followed by a semi-fade to black."

Oh oh! I've done that one! I'm always embarrassed when I present my 'this is pron, really!' stories to betas who gently tell me that it's PG at best (or worst, depending on your point of view.) It's NC-17 in my head, it is!

Man, that's some list of characters. Gulp. Too bad there's not a 'go into battle with' or 'go on a pub-crawl with' category. Or even better, a 'go into battle then go on a pub crawl afterwards' category!

And come to think of it, that'd be one hell of a pub crawl...

[amatara.livejournal.com]

It's starting to look more and more as if this story will fall into exactly the category you describe - the talk/action ratio is increasing by the hour, and I still haven't made it to anything R-rated yet, I think. *sighs* Ah, well, small steps.

I'm looking forward to your answers! Making the choice a hard one is half the fun in this game, wouldn't you agree? ;) Just checking: is the "gulp" because you like them, or because you don't wanna touch any of them? (I tried to make a good guess that wasn't too obvious, but it's always hard judging attraction...)

[vjs2259.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is fun. My choices are made, I just need to find the time to write them up. It was an interesting exercise, and your picks were good ones.
Hee.

[mithen.livejournal.com]

Which was, actually, somewhat embarrassing, given that there was a ten-year old girl next to me who didn't bat an eyelash the entire time.

That's definitely to be expected...the young are relatively immune to the fear of the loss of love. Losing parents is one thing, but it's hard to imagine being with someone for longer than you've been alive, and how it would feel to lose them...

Sex writing! It's difficult but fun for me. Like you, I've tried to write the whole range from fade to black to non-explicit descriptions right up to the full monty--the last is hardest because I loathe using the rauchy terms, and yet sometimes there's no way around it.

Hmmm, shag, marry cliff! Usually I can kind of already guess, but since I don't know your takes on some of these fandoms, I shall pick three more or less at fandom and see!

How about...Obi-Wan, Snape, and Faramir? :)

If you want to ask me, my current fandoms of choice are...let's see...Merlin BBC, DC comics, TOS, TNG, DS9, B5, Avatar, Boston Legal, Pretender...that should be enough to come up with three somewhere. :)

[amatara.livejournal.com]

It's hard to imagine being with someone for longer than you've been alive, and how it would feel to lose them...

Yes, that does make sense - though I would have expected at least a moment of silence from the little girl in question, rather than just an indignant (and very loud) "she's dead, or what!?!" at exactly the moment where I'm crying my eyes out *g*

Oh, fun it is most certainly, the writing of sex! *giggles* Though this one will be devoid of rauchy terms, most likely, so not quite as explicit as explicit goes... I have exactly the same problem as the one you describe with words that are too descriptive. :)

Hmm, hard one - will have to think about Faramir especially. Alrighty, a silly and a somewhat more serious one for you!
Silly: Londo, Vir, G'Kar. Because I had to ask, and so far no one's asked me. *veg*
Semi-silly: Spock, Picard, Odo.

[mithen.livejournal.com]

We didn't ask because Londo, G'Kar, Vir is too hard to ask someone who clearly loves all of them! But if pushed, I would shag G'Kar (he seems canonically quite good in bed), marry Vir (because he needs the support and would be sweet), and cliff poor Londo with tears in my eyes.

Hmmm, Spock, Picard, and Odo. I'd marry Odo because he's totally reliable and quietly romantic (also, I think he would be a great deal of fun in bed, lol, but not for a one-night stand. It would take him a while to relax, so to speak). I'd shag Picard, because YUM. And I would apologetically cliff Spock simply because I've never felt like he was available for either shagging or marrying, alas. :)

[amatara.livejournal.com]

We didn't ask because Londo, G'Kar, Vir is too hard to ask someone who clearly loves all of them!

Gah, and here I went right ahead and asked you. *facepalm*
But you handled the question quite elegantly - G'Kar does seem like a creative lover, And enthusiastic, I'd think. "Animal magnetism", indeed! *g* Also, according to andrastewhite's fics, Narns have double-shafted sexual organs, so one might just want to be careful there. :)
What's most heartbreaking: that the cliff, for Londo, would actually be merciful. Though personally, I wouldn't mind seeing in real-time what those tentacles are capable of... *g*

*still giggling at your Odo remarks, by the way*

[thebunnybag.livejournal.com]

I love UP! though Ratatouille I'm fairly certain is my favorite Pixar movie to date, with Incredibles coming a close second. Pixar is pretty much amazing.

Ok, mixed fandom: Dukhat, Sirius Black, McCoy.

My current fandoms I'd have to say are B5, Doctor Who (new Who), Star Trek: Voyager, Sector General, Animorphs, Narnia...I think that's all I can think of.

[amatara.livejournal.com]

Mixed fandom is fun!! And a difficult one, too, you gave me. *thinks real hard*

For you: Neroon (because your icon tempted me ;) ), Chakotay, the Ninth Doctor.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Up swept me away for all those reasons. (And I had an eleven-years-old next to me.)

Writing sex: good luck. I'm embarassingly Victorian about it for the most part, in that I either go for the fade away as soon as it becomes explicit or go for hints and reactions. I guess what I'm afraid of is the involuntary comedy effect (some sex scenes in fanfic read like gymnastics descriptions to me). I think the most explicit thing I've ever written was Mariel performing oral sex on G'Kar in "Diplomatic Relations", and there the fact she does is mentioned in half a sentence and otherwise the emphasis is on G'Kar's serious revenge issues and how these tie into his sexual fantasies, i.e. it's not meant to be erotic for the reader.

Shag, cliff, marry: Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Severus Snape. :)

[amatara.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm a bit of a prude when it comes to using, um, descriptive terms, though what I'm afraid of is less the unintended comedy effect than things sounding too clinical to be erotic. Probably because I haven't read all that many fics resembling gymnastics stunts - maybe I should remedy that. *g* In any case, for all of my bluster about the explicit, it will most probably be a semi-vagueish description of the lovers' reaction to the sex, rather than of the sex itself. Just so no one starts to get their hopes up. :)

"Diplomatic relations" - I remembered there being something explicit in it, but not exactly what. Looking it up, it turns out there are two mentions of oral sex! *g* But you're right, it didn't come across as erotic to me, even if the sex mention did make me blink a bit. (see, I'm not used to much :) )

Lupin, Black, Snape - ooh, nice. Answer will follow later this week! In case you're up for one: how about Neroon, Garak, and Saul Tigh? :)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

This is tricky as I find all of them fascinating but am attracted to none, though they have all great voices which counts for much with me. Hm, let's see.

Garak is actually my favourite of the three, but he also reads really gay on the Kinsey scale to me, Ziyal not withstanding, so I don't think either of us would enjoy shagging or marriage. Plus Garak survives anything, so sadly, it's the cliff for him. He'll survive. Whether I will survive the cliffing is another matter entirely...

Saul Tigh is excellent husband material - for Ellen. I couldn't have stood the drinking, the best friend or the contempt for civilians on an everyday basis. So, one night stand with Tigh it is.

Neroon with his loyalty and ultimately his ability to think outside the Minbari group think should make good husband material. Mind you, depending on when I'd meet him he might not give me a second look anyway or kill me on account of my being human, but later day Neroon and I could be in for wedded bliss until he makes me a widow. I'm so not staying on Minbar, though. I like my beds Earth style.

[amatara.livejournal.com]

the drinking, the best friend or the contempt for civilians

Is that in decreasing or increasing order of irritativeness? Anyway, it amuses me to no end that you added the "best friend" to that list! *smirk*

Totally with you on the Minbari beds. The angle I might be able to stand, but no fluffy pillows, and no (or flimsy-looking) blankets? A girl needs to know her priorities, after all. :)

[maspalio.livejournal.com]

Maybe the fact that those have to be dubbed and subtitled in Dutch and French has something to do with it, or else we're just a bit backward, I don't know.
Don't know either but here in Switzerland, movies have to be subtitled in French and German and we still got "Up" in July. But who cares for the wait if the movie is worth it?

Meme time: The Doctor (Nine), Luke Skywalker, Gimli (book or movie version).

[amatara.livejournal.com]

Okay, okay, conceding the point: Belgium is a bit backward... *g*

Nine, Luke and Gimli - aw, sweet.
In case you're up for joining in: Londo, G'Kar and Vir, please! Because I really want to know. *veg* Or Kirk, Spock, McCoy, if you prefer the Trek realm. :)

[maspalio.livejournal.com]

You're evil, you know that? *g*
Fine. I'll do it. (http://maspalio.livejournal.com/27807.html)