When it comes down to it, you like what you like, and that's that.

I have such plebian tastes. Well-written schmoop with a touch of hurt/comfort, and I'm a happy woman. Oh, and if there are hell's own obstacles to get through before the couple gets to be together (no picket fences required, a safe but ruined bolthole somewhere together is sufficient), and I'll save it to my hard drive.

Because the big divide I seem to see is external/internal journey, where a lot of the time I see plotty defined as the external WRT: fic. But it's not a distinction I see so much outside of fanfic, which could just be how I limit my reading.

Well, a lot of people get interested in fanfic because they want to spend more time in a character's head, and certainly that’s a valid reason to write fanfic, but it’s not necessarily going to have a plot that way. Also, lack of plot is a really common problem among novice writers -- they (we) spend so much time inside their own heads anyhow that it seems natural that their characters would as well. And that’s why a lot of student fiction involves solitary characters on a journey -- the physical movement stands in for the emotional movement that should happen as the character interacts with other people. (God knows this is something I’ve done myself, and plot development is a real issue for me in my OC fiction.)

But, to paraphrase the writer and teacher Ethan Canin, plot is what you use to distract the reader so you can pick her pockets. That is to say, the external journey is there to get you to the internal journey, which is going to be what the reader gets emotionally involved in. To take examples from my own work, because I can, the internal journey in one of my favorite stories, "The Seven Year Itch," is about Lex coming to terms with the idea that Clark can be both Clark and Superman, and the changes in Clark’s life don’t have to mean an end to their relationship. The kidnappers are just there to push Lex to that realization -- that Superman isn’t this stranger in their relationship -- and are kind of a Macguffin, really. In my new story, (gratuitous self-pimpage moment ahoy!) Some Like It Hot, the boyband holds Lex and Lois hostage so they can learn to tolerate and even appreciate one another -- and also because being taken hostage by a boyband is always funny. In another, more in-depth example, Resonant’s “Transfigurations,” the battle for Hogwarts is on one level just there to bring Harry and Draco together; what makes that story good is that the emotional plot pushes the external plot along, and the external plot pushes the emotional plot along. Plot is what it takes to move these characters from suspicion to trust, to get you invested in seeing the relationship work out, to make the happy ending sweet. If “Transfigurations” was just Harry musing on Draco, it’d be a lot less interesting, and probably a lot shorter.

OK, a request to those who know the Harry Potter fandom better than I -- I've got a scene stuck in my head that I read somewhere, but I can't think which story it is. Something is threatening Hogwarts and a first-year Slytherin girl in the entry hall is close to having hysterics. Draco is telling her, I believe, that Slytherins don't cry and she needs to get a grip. Harry is watching and being disgusted by Draco's apparent callousness, but the girl pulls herself together and all the first-years are apparently convinced that Draco is the one to get them through whatever crisis is upon them.

Am I hallucinating? Does this sound familiar? Have the deja vu plot bunnies snuck in under the rabbit proof fence and left little landmines of ideas? (I don't know the HP-verse nearly well enough to attempt fic, and anyway I'm convinced Draco/Neville is the OTP.)

I'm convinced Draco/Neville is the OTP.

Well, yes. As are all sane people, at least the ones who don't have a strange and frightening love for Xander/Faith, like I do.

Did that sentence have a point? No. Did it run on spectacularly? Yes.

Has anyone else actually written Draco/Neville? Or is the LOP-verse it?

Hi-- I know that there aren't a lot of Spike/Buffy readers in here, but I thought I had asked.

A while ago I started reading a post season 6 pre-season 7 WIP. I can't remember where, the title or the author. The story involves Spike recuperating from his resouling in England with Giles and Willow. Buffy comes over and they end up riding to London on the back of his motorcycle. He has to meet with the Watcher's Council, and he sends Buffy to get a room in a boarding house/hostel thing while he does that. He comes back and they have some akward moments, and at some point they go out to dinner with a couple of his friends. Anyway-- if this sounds familiar to anyone, please let me know

Sophia, this sounds like it might be the story you're looking for - "Half Gifts" - [link] I've only read the beginning but it sounds very similar to what you've described.

That's exactly it! Thank you!

Of course, not finished....

Well, a lot of people get interested in fanfic because they want to spend more time in a character's head, and certainly that’s a valid reason to write fanfic, but it’s not necessarily going to have a plot that way.

Very true. That's why when I write a story that's 99% character introspection, I'm careful to have a plot that gives that introspection a defined shape. There should be a clearly defined beginning and end (but not too tidy of an end), and a sense of rhythm that allows different facets of the character to be explored in turn.

There are some fandoms (Due South, Smallville) that I read primarily for the 'shippy factors. Since the slashier aspects aren't going to be explored on the shows themselves, fanfic is a necessary part of my enjoyment of those shows. Because I already have a lot invested in these characters, I don't mind a bit of well-written schmoop, or a vignette of the two characters enjoying each other's company and reflecting on the relationship (Resonant's "Adorned" comes to mind.)

Gah... There's more I want to write on the subject, but I do need to get ready for work.

Since the slashier aspects aren't going to be explored on the shows themselves, fanfic is a necessary part of my enjoyment of those shows.

Now there's a thing. A thing which has recently been confusing me mightily.

There's a line, somewhere, between shows that I watch for themselves, and enjoy ficcing from as a secondary thing (Buffy, M*A*S*H), and shows that I love the fic from, and watch as a way to feel 'entitled' to read more fic (Starsky and Hutch, The Professionals).

It's a very strange headspace that makes.