Keep Hoping Machine Running (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thefourthvine) wrote2005-04-27 06:16 am
thefourthvine) wrote2005-04-27 06:16 am
Entry tags:
Coming out of the Closet; or, the Secret Life of Recommenders
When I first started this LJ, I had never written FF and had reason to believe I never would.
Really, in retrospect, I should've known better. Eventually, we all write fan fiction; I understand this now.
But to save myself the embarrassment of publicly associating with my FF (and to save you lot from suddenly seeing FF in a recommendations LJ), when I succumbed to the irresistable lure, I did it under a pseudonym. Which is sort of pathetic and sort of psychotic, inasmuch as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thefourthvine isn't exactly my real name, so we're talking about a pseudonym for an alias here, and that's just way too recursive to enhance my sanity.
I've posted a fair amount of FF lately - well, for me, anyway - and that's made me think about this whole thing of having a nom de plume for an assumed name for an entity livejournaling as, or whatever, and I've decided it's time to stop with the spy games. For one thing, it's starting to feel vaguely hypocritical; I mean, I recommend FF and rant about the nine million things that I have decreed to be FF sins; seems like I should give people full opportunity to point to my own FF and say, "But you do it, too!" And then there's the fact that some people guessed anyway, to the point where I've wondered if my FF writing is the same kind of secret as an intraoffice affair: something that everyone is politely pretending not to know.
In short, the time has come for me to own up to my writing. So, for the record: I write FF under the name Littera Abactor, whose work can be found atlittera_abactor.
No one who reads this should feel obliged to read anything in that LJ, of course. In fact, most of you would probably prefer not to, as the FF I write is nothing like the stuff I recommend. The sample size is still too small - I've written maybe half a dozen stories - but early indications are that I specialize in the weird and the humorous, without many detours in the way of plot or smut. However, if you do read anything, you are naturally free to nitpick, grouse, or poke fun, just as you are here. (And I'll read and love your comments, and still only have about a 50% chance of coming up with a response to them. Also just like here.)
This will stay a recommendations LJ, though; I'll continue to use only thelittera_abactor LJ for FF.
So. While we're cleaning out the closet, does anyone else have a secret to share with the class?
Really, in retrospect, I should've known better. Eventually, we all write fan fiction; I understand this now.
But to save myself the embarrassment of publicly associating with my FF (and to save you lot from suddenly seeing FF in a recommendations LJ), when I succumbed to the irresistable lure, I did it under a pseudonym. Which is sort of pathetic and sort of psychotic, inasmuch as
thefourthvine isn't exactly my real name, so we're talking about a pseudonym for an alias here, and that's just way too recursive to enhance my sanity. I've posted a fair amount of FF lately - well, for me, anyway - and that's made me think about this whole thing of having a nom de plume for an assumed name for an entity livejournaling as, or whatever, and I've decided it's time to stop with the spy games. For one thing, it's starting to feel vaguely hypocritical; I mean, I recommend FF and rant about the nine million things that I have decreed to be FF sins; seems like I should give people full opportunity to point to my own FF and say, "But you do it, too!" And then there's the fact that some people guessed anyway, to the point where I've wondered if my FF writing is the same kind of secret as an intraoffice affair: something that everyone is politely pretending not to know.
In short, the time has come for me to own up to my writing. So, for the record: I write FF under the name Littera Abactor, whose work can be found at
littera_abactor.No one who reads this should feel obliged to read anything in that LJ, of course. In fact, most of you would probably prefer not to, as the FF I write is nothing like the stuff I recommend. The sample size is still too small - I've written maybe half a dozen stories - but early indications are that I specialize in the weird and the humorous, without many detours in the way of plot or smut. However, if you do read anything, you are naturally free to nitpick, grouse, or poke fun, just as you are here. (And I'll read and love your comments, and still only have about a 50% chance of coming up with a response to them. Also just like here.)
This will stay a recommendations LJ, though; I'll continue to use only the
littera_abactor LJ for FF. So. While we're cleaning out the closet, does anyone else have a secret to share with the class?
no subject
It's nice out here, isn't it?
And you were one of the reasons I ended up telling, because you were so nice to Littera Abactor when she was a total crank with just one insane story to her name. And then a few posts ago you said being recommended here made you want to write again, and I was like - yes! Totally! And you so should, because... But I couldn't quote to you any of the things you'd said to Littera or anything she'd said to you, so I was sort of stuck for a response.
Apparently I'm not cut out for duality.
In any case, I'm glad you now know. (And I have a totally different approach to mysteries; I do want to solve the puzzle, but then I cheat. I can never make myself use just the clues the author gives the detective.)
no subject
looks admiringly at non-closet surroundings*
It's nice out here, isn't it?
Heh. Often. Especially in due South, I gather. I've found this a remarkable fandom of which to be part - it has its kerfuffles and its disagreements and its *ahem* idiots, but on the whole it's an amazingly friendly place. It's the only fandom in which I write, and although I read dilettantishly in others (particularly when writers I respect work in them) I don't surf comments or chat w/enthusiasts or otherwise, so I don't have my finger on the pulse of any other 'verses for comparison's sake. I'm told, though - and places like fandom_wank over on JournalFen would seem to suggest - that dS is quite unusual, not only in the friendliness of its denizens but in the relatively high median skill level of its practitioners.
Needless to say (although I am, of course, saying it), you raise that level yet higher, no matter which face you have turned to the world.
And you were one of the reasons I ended up telling
I'm hugely complimented by that.
because you were so nice to Littera Abactor when she was a total crank with just one insane story to her name.
Leaving aside for a moment the "total crank" bit, with which I simply cannot find it in my heart (or elsewhere, indeed) to agree: that story won the Quality Over Quantity Sweepstakes quite handily more or less the moment you posted it.
(And have I mentioned how hot I found the Doc Oc/tentaclified!Ray/Fraser to be? OMG...*melts mechnically*)
And then a few posts ago you said being recommended here made you want to write again, and I was like - yes! Totally! And you so should, because... But I couldn't quote to you any of the things you'd said to Littera or anything she'd said to you, so I was sort of stuck for a response.
Again, that's a huge compliment. And quite encouraging, which I'm just sucking up like a sponge right now. (As opposed to all other times, when I'm just wildly self-confident and arrogant in my perfection. Uh-huh.)
I've missed writing, hugely. But I've a file of bunnies, and have tried a couple of bits out on people to relatively good reviews (I love writing in an area in which "nnguh you broke me" is a compliment), and sumer is icumen in, with job but without classes, so...
In any case, I'm glad you now know.
I'm glad you told me. And the rest of us. Welcome, wearing any hat you choose to don.