Writing Meme

[quaggy]

Gakked from many, many people.

Does anyone have any questions about any of my stories, or would be interested in a fic commentary? Or maybe a question about my writing techniques, such as they are? 

Ask me a question about one of my stories. It can be about absolutely anything in any fic and I will tell you the honest-to-god answer. Don’t hold back.

Seriously, go for it. There's a lot of stuff that I try to figure out for my fics that might not actually make it into the finale draft.  Everything is on the table.  West Wing fic, the other fandoms I've dabbled in (some more than others), stuff I'm currently working on... even my orginal stuff!  (Okay, granted, most of you haven't read anything that falls under the last two categories, but still.)   If you need a reminder, most of the stuff I've post is linked on my sidebar under the oh-so-creative title of "Quaggy's Fics".

Comments

[farmerliz.livejournal.com]

Hi Quaggy, I'm going to respond to the meme, but I have to tell you my first reaction to this post: "Oh my God, she has an Anne Elliot user pic!" Fabulous.

So here's a question about the "she" in "Anger Later." Every time I read it I think of C.J. instead of Mallory. Especially given that conversation they have at the inauguration where Leo doesn't want to admit to the Sharrif (sp?) assassination and C.J. says, "I'm not your daughter, I'm the White House press secretary." (Or is it the other way around?) So I'm wondering, did you intend for it to be Mallory, or C.J., or is it intentionally ambiguous?

[quaggy]

Heh. I went shopping for Jane Austen icons recently. There were a ton of Pride & Prejudice icons (both versions), but when I saw the Persuaion ones, I knew I had to have them! :-D I do think that book might be my favorite!

"Anger Later" has a special place for me, since it was the first fic (well, drabble) directly inspired by personal expirience. The prompt was "hands" and I suddenly flashed back to holding my own father's hand during a hospital stay. So, I went with that, which meant I needed a father/daughter pair. I honestly never even considered Leo/CJ, though I wish I had.

As much as I adore being intentionally ambiguous, this was meant to be a very straight forward piece. I only had 100 word to work with and I didn't want the reader to be confused with side issues. That's why I didn't go with Jed/Ellie, even though they were my first choice. Their relationship is so open to interpretation, I couldn't assume anyone would see them the same way that I did. Leo and Mallory seemed to fit the bill the best. In fact, the "anger" part came into play because I had settled on Mallory, since I thought that would be very in keeping with her character. I'm not sure I would have gone there if I had written about one of the Bartlet girls or about CJ (whether she was holding her own father's hand or Leo's). I doubt I would have even thought to.

And that was probably more information that you expected! :-)

[farmerliz.livejournal.com]

More info than I expected, but I'm happy to have it. I wonder if drabbles are like ink blot tests, what you see in them says as much about you as it does about the thing itself. You thought and wrote Mallory, and I saw CJ. I have to say, though, that something that gets to the heart of the Jed/Ellie dynamic would we a welcome read. I hated how the seventh season made Ellie into a punch line after "Ellie" was so poignant. Oh well. Hey, maybe I should write it myself. It's summer after all!

And the older I get, the more I agree that Persuasion is the best. There was a moment when I was reading Mansfield Park for the first time when I thought beloved Jane would go off script and surprise me, and in that moment it was my favorite. But then she didn't, and Persuasion returned to its rightful place.

(deleted and reposted because of a very silly typo)

[quaggy]

More info than I expected, but I'm happy to have it.

Yeah, I probably should have added a warning to this post: Former English Major, Proceed With Caution!! :-)

I hated how the seventh season made Ellie into a punch line after "Ellie" was so poignant.

Oh, I don't think so, if anthing it showed the personal side that we were lacking before. The problem with the character, in my opinion, is the actress played the character too sullen. It's not a reflection on her talent, but on her personal style decision. But it doesn't fit. Well, it fit in Ellie, but that's the only time.

What most people don't seem to realize is that Jed compared Ellie to Cordellia at the end of the episode. ("God, Lear's a good play.") I take that further than just a comparison of Ellie's simple statement of truth to Cordelia's. I view it as Ellie actually BEING Cordellia (even if her sisters aren't evil). She honestly is the one that loves her father the most, possibly because she is the odd one out in the family, she is able to see him most clearly.

In a family that thrives in the spotlight and feeds off politics, she hated being in the public eye and doesn't really care about politcs at all! But underneath all that, she's the strongest of his daughters and the most compassionate. I wasn't surprised at all when it was Ellie who hugged her father, instead of isolating him when Zoey was kidnapped. It was totally in keeping eith how I saw the character... someone with very compassionate heart who was able to see more than one side of the story.

Every time Ellie showed up, she just reinforced my perception of her... but since the actress always played her like she had a chip on her shoulder, it didn't always come off that way. They honestly should have cast someone who could show a whole range of emotions without really saying a word. For one thing, it would make sense that the non-politico in the family would be the only one who didn't have a public mask!

Okay, I've written you a book here, so I'll shut up now! :-)

[farmerliz.livejournal.com]

I think you're entirely correct about the King Lear connection that makes Ellie so wonderful, and I also agree that the actress really did play the character quite one dimensionally. However I'm still not a fan of the wedding sequence. I do have to say, though, that you've inspired me to dig out my season 5 DVDs. It's the season I rewatch the least, so I had completely forgotten her reaction to Zoey's kidnapping when the rest of the family was taking it out on Jed.

Isn't great how even the most minor characters (as in, little to no screen time, minor) can spur this kind of discussion?

[quaggy]

However I'm still not a fan of the wedding sequence.

I honestly don't have a problem with it, because it's a sweet storyline and sort of fits with my perception of Ellie, as being the one person in the family who is comfortable doing her own thing her own way. That said, I think The Wedding looses something with the actress's petulance. Ellie should have been absolutely serene during that episode, the only one not freaking out that the wedding was delayed for hours because she knew that her father would come through for her. (And because she knew if she had tried to get married at any other time, at any other venue, he would have missed her wedding completely.) It was written that way.

Isn't great how even the most minor characters (as in, little to no screen time, minor) can spur this kind of discussion?

That's because it's one hell of a show! :-)

[sillyg.livejournal.com]

Have you ever thought of expanding your ficlet about Sam and Ainsley in the new administration??

(because I want you to!) :)

[quaggy]

No, for a lot of reasons. First, because, for me, the whole point of 100 word drabbles is that they shouldn't need to be expanded. Even though they're just a snippet, if done well, you can make the rest of the story redundant because you've gotten to the very heart of things. If I went back and expanded any of my drabbles, it would probably be the Jed/Abby one about how they first met. But I won't because I think it works really well as is.

Secondly, I don't have Ainsley's voice down at all, so that would require a lot background research. Not that I'm adverse to that, per se, but if I'm going to take the time to rewatch Season 2, it's going to be for reasons other than trying to get the cadances of Ainsley's speech patterns.

Finally, I'm not really a Sam/Ainsley shipper (I'm not really a Sam/anything shipper), so I don't really have the needed inspiration. Not to mention that
as much as I like writing for Sam as a secondary character, it's different with him as a lead character. I have trouble enough finishing muse-approved fics. If I were to try to write Sam/Ainsley, I would probably get bored and the fic would transform itself into Josh/Donna, if it was ever finished at all.