merlin fic thoughts

[janne_d]

So that Merlin fic I mentioned is still going - I thought I might get it finished for today, but apparently not. I wrote all the way up to the breath before the kiss that night, and then when I came back to it I realised that I needed a lot more build up to get there. I have now added about 2000 words and still haven't made it to the actual kiss.

But it reminded me of a comment I got on my first Merlin fic - someone said it was nice to see a longer fic. And I laughed before I replied, because that one was a bit less than 1300 words and I would never have considered it as being 'longer'. I suppose it was longer than other Merlin stuff around back then, but it made me think about how I perceive fic lengths. You see, my main fandoms, in chronological order, are Highlander, due South and Stargate: Atlantis and I've also read a fair amount in Smallville and Harry Potter - and in any of those, 1300 words would be a short fic.

So I tend to think of anything less than a few thousand words as short, 5000 - 10,000 words as fairly standard and I don't start classing fics as long until they're 30,000 - 50,000 words.

Short pieces can be beautiful, or incredibly powerful or sometimes hilarious, and a bad long fic is just as irritating as a bad short one. But I think it must be very unsatisfying to have a fandom where everything is what I would call short.

Like that original commenter, I'm glad that there are fics of a bit more length arriving in Merlin fandom now.

Comments

[torakowalski.livejournal.com]

So, just curious, but where might a person go if they wished to read some Merlin fic?

Also, I'm stupidly excited for your new fic, just so you know.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

I've been watching merlinxarthur and merlinfic. There's also a newsletter just started, bbc_merlin_news so I may just watch that instead.

I haven't read any that I thought were really bad yet - a few weren't very impressive, but most are fun and there are a few good ones (which I obviously can't remember right now).

I've spotted a few SGA names recently, including lavvyan and thisissirius.

The new fic is driving me nuts. But I have at least managed to up the UST in the first part (I hope) so the slash won't be just appearing out of the blue anymore (I hope). And they still haven't bloody kissed!

Ahem. Thanks for the stupid excitement about it - it is comforting.

[buzzylittleb.livejournal.com]

I always think these definitions of long are very amusing. *pokes on the inside* I seem to be avoiding writing of late, I'm telling myself it's just a phase and I might be more in my box than usual.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Most amusing, yes. I've seen (in other fandoms) people praising a fic for being such a good long read, and I'm sat there thinking "it's a ficlet!"

Anything that I can read in less than half hour is disqualified from any claims to length. And I read fast - standard paperback page in 30 seconds.

Now your fics are proper long! I bet it is just a phase - you'll be back in there struggling with metaphors soon.

[buzzylittleb.livejournal.com]

It makes me think of when I was a little fanfic bunny and I thought my 6k Northstar story was long and complex. Okay, it might cover complex... *looks awkward*

I'm not sure how fast I read these days, it's taken me a long time to get back to this.

*smiles* That's reassuring. There is so much of this thing. My creative masterplan has long outgrown my notice board and now I have stickies and notes everywhere. *eyeroll* I have a lot of nifty potential; it's just getting a little hard to navigate. Four "you are here" headers doesn't really help things. Uh and hopefully you don't mind me venting a little, I could ventilate somewhere eles if you so want. I have XX plot strands - okay, let's do a list:

1. Ray and Turnbull
2. Stella and Ray V
3. The Duck Boys investigating Tracey Jenkins and they've written a song about it
4. Frankie Zuko and his henchperson Charlie
5. Oh, and Frannie has just realised she loves Elaine

I need to remind myself that the world won't explode and the whole thing is a really smart game taking pieces from the series and twisting them around a little. *reminds self*

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Hey, vent away. I'm always curious when you post little snippets of where this is going because it sounds so wacky and interesting. I've always loved the idea of Ray and Turnbull, but there isn't much fic that I've found that I really liked (I think Basingstoke did some that were good). And the Duck Boys writing a song is very... intriguing!

The world may explode, but only with glee. So that's okay.

[buzzylittleb.livejournal.com]

It's rather strange and I'm taking it very seriously, even if I haven't got much done with it lately. I keep getting little notes and I just need to unscranble things and work out where I put the last set of notes.

Ray and Turnbull are love. ♥ Almost everyone gets hooked up at the end, which is a trope I loathe.

*found notes* About how Vecchio freaks out when he realises who/what she is. Less mystrious? Stella is the daughter of an astronomy-obsessed and reclusive father who bought the city a planetarium. She's the girl held up to a telescope in a b/w pictue in the guy's book "Written in the Stars - Chicago's Celestial Story"

It doesn't help much to counter the weird and wacky label, does it?

PS. Bas does some lovely turnbull with a very complicated title.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Ooh, and Frannie/Elaine will never not be a thing of glory.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_la_la_la/]

yeah, my main fandoms started with X-Files, then Highlander, due South/ Harry Potter at about the same time, and Stargate: Atlantis, so my perspective on fic length is the same as yours. Merlin's such a young fandom, though - I expect writers haven't had the time to write any epics, but am quite hopeful for the future :)
I'm very much looking forward to your fic!

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Oh man, yes - those X-Files fics were epic (I read there a little too, but they were a bit dark for me. I like happy endings). I see we have intersected in our reading quite a bit there! Highlander was my first and main one for ages, but I only really go back for old favourites now.

I would love to see an epic in Merlin! I think you're right that it is a young fandom. I feel myself that I don't know the characters and world as well as I would like and I think you need a clear idea of both to sustain a long fic.

I hope you enjoy my fic (whenever I complete the stupid thing).