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The last little love song on this planet.
Closing Statements. Or, Why I Am Such A Huge Nerd About This Shit.
Allow me to confess this one thing: I don't ship anymore. I know it makes no sense. But I don't. At least, not as it pertains to fandom. The books I read now and the shows I watch now—while I may love certain characters, and want to see two characters get together, the desire to get on the internet and engage in fandom and read/write fanfic (not just ship!fic, but any fanfic) has completely left me. No matter how much I may enjoy a show/book, I don't derive that sort of joy out of playing with the text of origin anymore.
Except for this one.
And seriously? I don't know why that is! I don't know why I cling to PpG so tightly. I mean, all my other fandoms have fallen by the wayside (of which there were very few in the first place). I was out of Teen Titans before the show was done, I had that short venture into TMNT that didn't go anywhere and isn't likely to, and I'd stopped reading H/D long before the seventh book came out. (At least, I stopped reading everything that didn't have Maya's name slapped on it.)
The stuff I'm into now—like, would I love to see more Rachel/Puck? Hit me. (And btw, it's actually happening!) Do I giggle over Tiffany Aching's tingles of romance in her third book? Last I checked, the sky was still blue. (Well, grey-blue from all the pollution, but anyway.) When I heard about the Avatar (NOT THAT SHIT MOVIE WITH THE NINE-FOOT TALL BLUE CAT PEOPLE) ship!wars between Kataang and Zutara, did I shit a brick when the one I thought less likely happened in canon? While I wasn't involved in the fandom and was removed from all that crazy drama, you bet your fucking firstborn child I did. Was it unfair to introduce Chuck to someone as awesome as Lou and then have the whole thing crash and burn and never mention her again? Yes it was >:C And how much did I want Madarame to confess to Kasukabe (God, so much!!!) in Genshiken, or for Eri to have an epiphany about Harima in School Rumble? Does my frequent use of the italics tag make it obvious?!?! Because it should!!!
And yet I'm done with fanfic. I don't seek any out or have any desire to write any, even if it's revisionist. The bug has left me.
Except, as I mentioned, for this one.
Maybe I just love it too much to let it go. I love the Girls, I'll never stop loving them! (If the gallons of money I've poured into filling my limited living space with their bug-eyed likeness has anything to say about it, that is.) Besides how funny the show was, how the art style was just my type of aesthetic, how I loved its use of color and the visual gags and the character acting... I loved the Girls. I loved seeing girls—kids—like that on TV.
And as for shipping PpG/RrB... you know, it wouldn't happen now. It wouldn't have happened at any point within the past few years, since the show entered its last few seasons and went off the air. But they got me early. And in playing with the original text in my head, the Boys grew into characters in their own right, characters that I became very attached to and started to love and wouldn't dream of letting go. (Although they'll never, ever surpass the girls.) Yeah, it proves that their characterizations are pretty much fanon. Though I will argue (and point you to each respective section of this long-ass essay) that those fanon characterizations have some basis in canon, as much as Mojo Jojo can be portrayed as a sympathetic villain worthy of Blossom's love, or Buttercup can be portrayed as coming to terms with her very non-heterosexual feelings towards Princess, or Him can be portrayed as subconsciously wanting love and finding it in Bubbles despite being the Most Evil Being of All Time, or Ace can be portrayed as a guy roughened by years of hardship and trying to hold his gang (the “kids”) together while Buttercup looks on and falls for him again in the process.
You can't define any one interpretation as being superior to the other except as it pertains to you. There is nothing out there that tells you you cannot ship or believe what you like and be happy about it. So ship what you like. Ship what makes you happy. And be good to each other. We're all here because we love the show. At the very least, that proves we all have excellent, excellent taste :)
I don't know how long I'll stick around (though it's now just over eight years and counting, which is an embarrassingly damn long time), and to be frank, I'm a little apprehensive that spending too much time here will hurt anything original I try to come up with. But I'm not ready to go yet, and I'm not ready to let go of these characters that I love so much, even though they aren't mine. Someday I'll have my own that make me ten times happier than the Girls and the Boys.
But I'm happy now, so it'll be awhile yet.
ETA: Here's the Master ToC/Link list for all the individual bits of this essay.
0. Ridiculous rambling intro. Or, An Epic Effigy of Burning Epicness.
I. Real intro! Or, Me and Buttercup and Brick and Every-other-fucking-body-you-know.
ETA 2: Holy shit the mere act of typing that all out makes it look massive D8)
Allow me to confess this one thing: I don't ship anymore. I know it makes no sense. But I don't. At least, not as it pertains to fandom. The books I read now and the shows I watch now—while I may love certain characters, and want to see two characters get together, the desire to get on the internet and engage in fandom and read/write fanfic (not just ship!fic, but any fanfic) has completely left me. No matter how much I may enjoy a show/book, I don't derive that sort of joy out of playing with the text of origin anymore.
Except for this one.
And seriously? I don't know why that is! I don't know why I cling to PpG so tightly. I mean, all my other fandoms have fallen by the wayside (of which there were very few in the first place). I was out of Teen Titans before the show was done, I had that short venture into TMNT that didn't go anywhere and isn't likely to, and I'd stopped reading H/D long before the seventh book came out. (At least, I stopped reading everything that didn't have Maya's name slapped on it.)
The stuff I'm into now—like, would I love to see more Rachel/Puck? Hit me. (And btw, it's actually happening!) Do I giggle over Tiffany Aching's tingles of romance in her third book? Last I checked, the sky was still blue. (Well, grey-blue from all the pollution, but anyway.) When I heard about the Avatar (NOT THAT SHIT MOVIE WITH THE NINE-FOOT TALL BLUE CAT PEOPLE) ship!wars between Kataang and Zutara, did I shit a brick when the one I thought less likely happened in canon? While I wasn't involved in the fandom and was removed from all that crazy drama, you bet your fucking firstborn child I did. Was it unfair to introduce Chuck to someone as awesome as Lou and then have the whole thing crash and burn and never mention her again? Yes it was >:C And how much did I want Madarame to confess to Kasukabe (God, so much!!!) in Genshiken, or for Eri to have an epiphany about Harima in School Rumble? Does my frequent use of the italics tag make it obvious?!?! Because it should!!!
And yet I'm done with fanfic. I don't seek any out or have any desire to write any, even if it's revisionist. The bug has left me.
Except, as I mentioned, for this one.
Maybe I just love it too much to let it go. I love the Girls, I'll never stop loving them! (If the gallons of money I've poured into filling my limited living space with their bug-eyed likeness has anything to say about it, that is.) Besides how funny the show was, how the art style was just my type of aesthetic, how I loved its use of color and the visual gags and the character acting... I loved the Girls. I loved seeing girls—kids—like that on TV.
And as for shipping PpG/RrB... you know, it wouldn't happen now. It wouldn't have happened at any point within the past few years, since the show entered its last few seasons and went off the air. But they got me early. And in playing with the original text in my head, the Boys grew into characters in their own right, characters that I became very attached to and started to love and wouldn't dream of letting go. (Although they'll never, ever surpass the girls.) Yeah, it proves that their characterizations are pretty much fanon. Though I will argue (and point you to each respective section of this long-ass essay) that those fanon characterizations have some basis in canon, as much as Mojo Jojo can be portrayed as a sympathetic villain worthy of Blossom's love, or Buttercup can be portrayed as coming to terms with her very non-heterosexual feelings towards Princess, or Him can be portrayed as subconsciously wanting love and finding it in Bubbles despite being the Most Evil Being of All Time, or Ace can be portrayed as a guy roughened by years of hardship and trying to hold his gang (the “kids”) together while Buttercup looks on and falls for him again in the process.
You can't define any one interpretation as being superior to the other except as it pertains to you. There is nothing out there that tells you you cannot ship or believe what you like and be happy about it. So ship what you like. Ship what makes you happy. And be good to each other. We're all here because we love the show. At the very least, that proves we all have excellent, excellent taste :)
I don't know how long I'll stick around (though it's now just over eight years and counting, which is an embarrassingly damn long time), and to be frank, I'm a little apprehensive that spending too much time here will hurt anything original I try to come up with. But I'm not ready to go yet, and I'm not ready to let go of these characters that I love so much, even though they aren't mine. Someday I'll have my own that make me ten times happier than the Girls and the Boys.
But I'm happy now, so it'll be awhile yet.
ETA: Here's the Master ToC/Link list for all the individual bits of this essay.
0. Ridiculous rambling intro. Or, An Epic Effigy of Burning Epicness.
I. Real intro! Or, Me and Buttercup and Brick and Every-other-fucking-body-you-know.
Disclaimer. Or, Dude, If You're Going to Read Any Part of This, Please Read This, Too.
II. Why PpG/RrB has so much appeal. Or, Who Are All These Idiots, What the Fuck Are They Doing in My Fandom, and Why Won't They Leave Already?!?!II.b. The Measure of a Non-Human. Or, Girls and Boys and Evil Brain Monkeys.
*Digression: Proximity Begets A Relationship.
II.c. Debunking the Evil Absolute Theorem. Or, Boys Will be Boys, Which is to Say, Dickheads.
III. The Blues. Or, I'm Just a Kid, but I LOVE HER, DAMMIT.III.a. The Hair of Gold Heroine. Or, Everybody Loves a Martyr.
III.b. Abel Trying to be Cain. Or, A Lonely Heart Like Pagliacci.
III.c. I was a Quick, Wet, Boy... Or, Are You My Mother?
IV. The Greens. Or, The Jerkass Being Dommed by the Hot Amazon (and Subconsciously Enjoying It.)IV.b. Say Hello, Insanity. Or, Boys With Mental Issues Should Not Have Superpowers.
V. The Reds. Or, When An Emotionally Stunted Dickbag Loves A Tsundere.V.a. Second Best to None, Son. Or, A Girl Possessed By Noble Heart.
V.b. Let Me See Just Who I Will Become. Or, I Am A Very Special Fucking Snowflake, Damn It!
V.c. 99 Problems (And A Bitch Makes 100). Or, Slow Dancing In A Burning Room.
VI. Closing Statements. Or, Why I Am Such A Huge Nerd About This Shit.ETA 2: Holy shit the mere act of typing that all out makes it look massive D8)
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From a creative standpoint, I think it can also be very humbling to get a second perspective, and to have a capable someone available to look over your work and bring up questions that you may not have thought of, or plot points you may have overlooked because you may think, "Oh, that's just the way the story is!" I've had many an experience where I finish something up, think it's the bee's knees, and one of my betas will come back with, "sbj, here, this guy does not sound like a teenager, is there any way to age him down a bit," or, "sbj, you've said this three times already, once or twice will do it," or, "sbj, wait, i'm not getting why this character is so upset here." You gotta assume that if it's sticking out to one person, then other readers are going to pick up on these things as well, and re-visiting that section may be in order.
A good beta should also, however, be willing to listen to you when you feel strongly about something and want to contest their notes. It is absolutely not their business to tell you to re-write your story, much less re-write it for you.
I've lucked out immensely with my betas. Ultimately, having them has been very beneficial and has encouraged me to improve! But finding the right person/people is an absolute must. An excellent beta reader is worth their weight in gold and then some.
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I do actually have a 2nd pov that 'gets' me but I am glad all the more that he just asks me questions and *isn't* my beta. The whole weight of 'listen to your beta or your not worth even putting pencil to paper' idea almost killed any of my desires before (tearing down more of my ideas/tone than it ever helped), I won't let something so silly destroy the one thing I love doing ever again :3.
It's good it works for you, but I'm still not going near that can of worms...
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I have to ask, who on Earth has had the audacity to say that to you? They are missing the fucking point, and I'm really sorry that they've ruined your perception of what beta'ing is all about.
Not to harp on it, but a good beta will understand what you're trying to achieve with the story and know what parts of your story should be grounded in the canon of the show. It's also really fun to get into discussions (or squee!fests) with them about the show you're writing fic for. A beta relationship should be more like having an open dialogue with someone who is a fan of the show and a good proof-reader to boot, someone whose opinion you trust enough to share your work with and to receive feedback from. I'm really sorry you've had such negative experiences, because what you are describing is nothing like how the beta'ing system should work.
(For the record, I'm not saying you should go seek out a beta if you don't want to - I just want to speak against the negative experiences you've had, because there are great positives associated with it as well. It's like, someone might say they don't want to go to Paris because they've had negative experiences with French people, or they might say they don't like Christianity because some Christians are fucking crazy, while there's more to Paris and Christians and beta'ing as well - very good and wonderful things.)
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