lettered | La Vie De TKP: the rodeo chapter

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La Vie De TKP: the rodeo chapter

It's time for me to speak up...about meat and milkshakes and mwriting! Look at my malliteration! Go me!

So yesterday I was looking forward to a day of vampire porn, this mustard apple porkchop recipe I wanted to try, and (*flips through planner*) oh look, more vampire porn, when my BFF calls and starts talking about the rodeo. I think it's understandable that it took a moment to orient myself. Not Anne Hathaway in a sassy little hat. Not Angel riding ~~Xander~~ the bronc and worst of all, not Lorna. No, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. So anyway, out of the blue my friend suggests we go. By out of the blue I mean we'd planned it for weeks, and by suggested I mean "let's meet at 3.30". (By friend I really do mean "friend". Yis.)

So, we go to the rodeo. Actually we go to Starbucks, but same difference really. Come to think of it, the rodeo is actually just like the Renaissance Festival (which is actually nothing like Starbucks. I don't deconstruct your segues!): people dress up, act old timey, and best of all: cater meat on a stick. Sausage on a stick, BBQ on a stick, shrimp on a stick, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo, pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup--oops, Bubba, wrong list. *rifles* Ah--brisket on a stick, scallops on a stick, and my new favorite: pizza on a stick. Yes folks, pizza. On a stick. I fucking love this earth.

In fact, yesterday for dinner? I had fried Oreos, a milkshake, and tater tots. I got the milkshake and the taters (PO-TAT-TOES! Boil 'em mash 'em stick 'em in a stew. How many lists of ways to cook different foods ARE there in cinema?) at the House of Pies but still. Fried Oreos. Actually, as for that, give 'em to us rrraw and wrrrriggling. You can't taste the Oreos for the fried. It's like a cookie inside a funnel cake without the cookie.

hannasus claims the fried cookie dough is good, but alas, I couldn't find it. The other delicacy we didn't enjoy was eating brisket in front of the cows. It's a time honored tradition amongst me and my friends, but we just didn't have time. Those poor baby cows. Why do they have to taste so good?

The cowboys were very interesting. One of them wore a pink shirt with sparkly purple fringe on his chaps. Kroger and I.W. Marks won the wagon race. A lady in a sparkly purple (it was a theme) unitard (I wish unitards had been a theme) rode on a horse standing up with fireworks and the Texas flag. When they did that cattle roping thing with the kids, this one gal kept the calf pinned by keeping its head between her legs, but when they interviewed her her eyes were desperate and filmed over with tears, so we only laughed very hard on the inside and made noises of crooning sympathy on the outside, except when we were laughing on the outside too. Poor girl.

Maroon 5 was playing, and I think that one song is alright, but I didn't know they did that other song, you know, the song that really sucks? I had no idea that was them. But my eyes were transfixed by the shininess of the lead singer's buckle, which I think established a rapport between itself and my shining eyes. For some moments there, there was no one in that stadium but me and that buckle. Then, what should intrude upon my consciousness but the gleaming, glowing grill, the one the vendor had on his teeth and that was winking, winking, illuminating my tears of wonder into not only a glistening stop-light red, but gumball blue and orange as well.

This, this grill, that buckle, my shimmering eyes--this is what rodeo is. It's not about winning or losing or meat on a stick. It's not about stagecoach font or pig-racing or cows sniffing your genitals. It's not about the longness of Jack Gyllenhal's eyelashes or even the blondness of Robert Redford's hair. It's all about the shiny. Tacky commercialism, cowboys, and hey, enjoying yourself. Holy trinity, baby. *single perfect tear*

So anyway, the Maroon 5 guy, after making the transcriber spell onomonopea (sp?), says, "let's wrap up with a song by one of my favorite artists." And I say, "you're not going to play Neil Young so who gives a hardened yet strangely crumbly cow chip?" And then he played, "Rockin' In The Free World." Victor Hugo once said that it is no coincidence that the root of "irony" is "iron", and he musta knew something because boy was that irony burnished last night. Between that and the buckle and that grill I mentioned I was kinda blinded.

Then, House of Pies. It was a good day, I'm telling you.

*

So, I was talking to

l_aurens and we got to talking about collaborative fics. I always thought it would be interesting to try one (sekrit message to

a2zmom: OMG we have to!) but one thing I'm afraid of is that I'll be too picky and want to take over the whole thing. Anyone else have this fear?

Those of you who have written collabortive fics, how do you do it? One person writes one chapter?--How do you keep track of where the plot is going? (Or are you like, evil to each other, and leave a chapter with a cliff-hanger the next person has to resolve?) One person writes one character?--Then who writes the in-between stuff, and doesn't it feel back-and-forth? Who edits? Do you do it over im? How does that work, anyway?

And how have these experiences worked out for y'all? Did you quit? Did you keep going, dissatisfied, knowing you'd never do it again? Would you do it again? Was it an edifying experience?

And does anyone approach reading cowritten fics differently? Who reads them guessing who wrote what? (*raises hand*)

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Bahahahaha! I'm glad you find my life entertaining! I do too!

I don't think I'm exactly good at sharing either, but it always LOOKS fun, watching the kids on the teeter totter while I am by my lonesome with the leggos.

Oh, I definitely do another things besides writing while co-writing. I might read fic, read my homework, watch tv, or work on something else. I've also baked cookies, made dinner, and cleaned.

The question partly arose from starting Secretary and wondering how the hell y'all managed to keep it straight. I ventured a guess that the first chapters were as you say, trade off, because of the way the endings and beginnings worked. But later on I did begin to wonder--so that answers that question!

Co-written, just me and one other, are usually quite tightly plotted before hand, two main characters, I take one, the other person the other and we split minor characters depending on who they're with in the scene. The tags are much shorter, sometimes a few lines, sometimes a few paragraphs, and we pass them back and forth, email or a private LJ post.

This makes a lot of sense to me. Other commentors said they split up characters, but I would think it would be so difficult to keep a sense of the story that way. But if you're back and forthing it that often--and not being really specific about how long each chunk gets to be--it seems one could almost...work up a rhythm.

Which is kinda what you seem to be saying for how Secretary was--developing its own style that was a combination of all of you. It seems like that's the only way to do it, or else it'd just sound like lots of different people talking at the reader through a single uneven story.

Editing we both do, taking it turns. One of us will read it through, pass a cleaned up copy over, get it back even cleaner.

This also makes a lot of sense to me. I'd be afraid if I was the only one editing. I have a tendency to make things mine when I edit. I can control myself when I beta, but if I had written half, I think I'd go even farther and then it'd feel like I was taking over something that didn't belong entirely to me.

WG and I wrote our novel, 110,000 words of it, in five weeks.

Wow! At that rate, you guys could publish a whole lot very quickly!

Thanks for your thoughts--this is really helpful, and also fascinating.

The thing about the rodeo is you have to WILL it to be fun. Otherwise is crowded and tacky and smelly and disappointing.

It's surprising to me, too, that you couldn't tell which parts she wrote. But I think it's important that people NOT be able to tell...Well, I mean, there's something to be said for cowriting a fic just for the fun of it; it doesn't have to be a mastwork. But if you do want to produce a good story from it it should be a blending of styles. What interests me there is although I feel like I can write in a bunch of different styles, I've never written NOT in MY style, if that makes sense. There's a rhythm to my words that's always there, even when I'm doing a completely new style in a fic. So it would be interesting to write something with someone and produce something that I couldn't have done alone.

Which seems an obvious point to make, but yeah, I'm rambling.

It's obvious that Maren and I have different writing styles

Yeah, this is of specific interest to me, because I think the people I would want to write with have really different styles. Other commenters have said you should write with someone who writes like you, but I think a big REASON I want to write with the people I do is we have different voices, and writing with them would lead to something I couldn't do on my own.

So we then moved to working on sections, no matter how if it was a 2,000-word piece or a paragraph and passing it to the other when we got stuck. I think it's helped the flow of the piece and our styles to merge in a more pleasing, less jarring way.

I like this idea. Another person above was saying that though they did do the splitting up character thing, the way they kept it fluid was back and forthing pretty often without specific length limits--like you could just send a line or a whole 5 pages. She said it could go relatively quickly writing that way, and I like the idea because it seems the two writers can almost pick up a rhythm or a pace, and once that starts happening the writing starts coming more easily and I would think that the style would mirror that.

However, we're not going to post any more chapters until it's completed because nothing is worse than a languishing WIP.

That answers that question! I really like y'all's WIP and have been wondering what happened to it. I'm glad it will be finished.

Thanks for your thoughts!

I've had collaborative fics that turned into authorial pissing matches and crashed and burned and died a horrible death.

Gah! That sounds awful. But half of me is always a little afraid that could happen. I tend to be arrogant and greedy, especially when it comes to writing.

Then each of us would go over the other's sections and make changes.

Oh, I like this idea! I would feel less worried about trusting what the other person is writing if I got a free hand in making changes on stuff the other person had written, and I'd feel less bad about being so high-handed about it if I knew they were busy making changes all over my stuff! That sounds like an excellent way of doing things.

EQ

I'm continually fascinated by how you say this fandom works. Since everything the other characters do affects your character, did you have to take turns writing? Or could you kind of follow your own plot with your own character? The latter sounds really interesting--more like bits and pieces coexisting to create a world rather than a single linear plot. I'm just not sure I can see how it'd work. But it sounds fun!

And then there's Three Deep, which is like no other collaboration I've ever seen.

I hadn't heard of that until

lilianmorgan mentioned it above! It sounds fascinating...I can't wait to read.

And it sounds like a really complicated project with a really interesting approach. It's too bad the assigned scenes method didn't work out so well--it would be interesting to see how they all fit together if they wrote them without seeing the lead up, but yeah, I would think that would result in a whole lot of disconnect.

Another commentor above mentioned they had to change their method of collaboration part way through...I'm guessing most of us just feel our way through and attempt different ways of doing it until we find a rhythm.

Thanks for explaining how you've handled this! Both fascinating and helpful.

We shall have to think about this.

Are we going to do one? *bounces*

I didn't know you lived in Houston!

And there's a girl on a horse with a Texas flag because Texas will never get over itself, ever. Until it gets split up into 4 states, which it really should be but never will be.

So easy to waste money on food at things like the rodeo. Ick.

Cool! Teen Faith! Faith is one of the funner people to imagine pre-series. In fact, other than the vampires, I find her past the most interesting.

which only means having to write Angel and other characters that I don't know how to write and omg writing Angel -cowers in fear-

Heh. Well, I'm not an expert at writing him, but I feel like I keep getting better. There are people in fandom who're wonderful writers and know him exceedingly well, and they're there to tell you if you're doing it right or not. And if you're not, it's not a big deal. We all get better over time.

Whoa, trading off paragraph per paragraph would kill me I think! I guess because I tend to write in short bursts. Sometimes a burst is a couple lines, sometimes it's a couple pages. I think if I couldn't follow through with a burst I'd go nuts...but it would be an exercise in discipline to try it your way. I think I'd learn some control! Hmmm...interesting! thanks for your thoughts.

Can I repeat that we're awesome?

Omg, we're awesome.

Well, you do find fried Oreos odd, so all is not lost.

It's so cool you're doing a fic with your mom!

Your collaboration is so different than everyone else's! I'm really loving the idea of it, even though I'm not certain I myself could pull it off. Then again, I've read some stories with brilliant ideas and plots, and a few good scenes, and the whole way through I'm just thinking: now, if I could've written this, the fic would've been perfect. I know I could never just fully give up my ideas to someone else, but it would definitely be interesting to write someone else's idea and plot if it was something I was interested in.

It doesn't sound unbalanced to me, just a really different way of doing things. And the reasons you have for splitting it that way seem great, too. I suck at plot, but my words and my plots/ideas/etc kind of go hand in hand, which is another reason I don't think I could do it your way, but as I said your way is really interesting, and I'd love to see how it works out (though I've never really seen SG-1).

And I think what you say about the difference between discussing the fic in person and over the internet is significant as well. Sometimes I think it's so easy to communicate over the internet...but the discussion of ideas requires a real back and forth you just can't get without being in the room with someone. Even the phone loses a lot. Besides, I hate phones.

Good luck with your fic!

I'm always initially unsure of events like rodeos, but then I end up embracing the shininess of the whole thing.

This is surely the way to go. Things like rodeos, sports events, concerts, parades, fairs, etc--all involve crowds and loud noises and smells and stuff that for the most part, I hate. But I do stuff like that so rarely that when I go, I just marvel at how much fun everyone ELSE seems to be having, and I've made a decision to really try to force myself to enjoy things that other people find fun. And it works. It's nice to get caught up in something you normally wouldn't.

I would think the whole back and forth would be easier if cowriting something in person.

It's also amazing to be tightening phrases or taking the other person's idea and running with it. I do love writing alone and having total control, but it's very affirming and productive to write with a partner.

It's this aspect I'm really interested in. There are certain things I know I fail at as a writer, and it would be so...beneficial, I think, to create a piece with someone who can do the things with writing that I can't. I think I could learn something from it, and produce something that I would never be able to create on my own.

In person, it's usually more fluid,

Yeah, several people have mentioned the difference in writing with someone in person and writing with someone over the internet. It's so much easier to back and forth and build on ideas--brainstorm, lay it all out there--in person.

I really like collaborative writing, especially for the ability to be honestly surprised by what the other person says -- not as possible when everyone lives in my head.

Yeah, this is what I'd hope for in a collaborative fic. Also, to be surprised by HOW the other writer says it. I have certain faults as a writer--the tendency to be convoluted, for instance--and I think writing with someone who's more...efficient with words would bring a lot to a piece that I couldn't write all by myself. As you say--relying on the other person where my own skills aren't up to the task. Come to think of it, I'd LOVE to be able--when I get to some concept that I know I can't write without pages and pages of verbose explanation--to just hand it off to someone else and say, here, do this part.

Thanks for your thoughts on this...It's really interesting to see how everyone goes about this. I think it's probably just something you and your co-writer have to work out, until you get something that's right for you...or else it's going to sound stilted and disconnected.

How we wrote... well, first off, when you joined a holt (which is what we called the fan club/writing groups, because it was the name of a elvish settlement in the comics--I belonged to Daystar Holt and Tower Mountain Holt and Great Water Holt and so forth, and had different characters and storylines going in each) you got the background from the holt coordinator. It would say something like "Tower Mountain is an isolated enclave of early-generation elves ruled by the mad anti-healer Lord Tyaar. They are artistically and technologically advanced, woshipped as gods by a tribe of humans, and control a small tribe of trolls who supply them with weapons in exchanged for food. Intrigue is rife in the Tower. Most Tower elves are artists, living a life of leisure and aspiring to become a member of the Declared, Tyaar's elite. The exceptions are the hawkriders, Tyaar's guard, who are the only elves to contact the outside world." You also get brief descriptions of the existing characters, and a guide to what you can and can't do in creating new characters, i.e. "The commonest magic talents in Tower Mountain are sending and gliding; no more healers, please. Remember no childen have been born in the Tower for two thousand years; your character should be at least twenty-five hundred years old." And like that. And most important, you'd get a timeline of the important events which had happened or were scheduled to happen.

You were expected to create a character sheet describing your character's looks, personality, history, relatives, etc. Depending on the holt, this could be anything from a paragraph long to six or seven detailed pages. You were also expected to make sure that the coordinator knew about important events in your character's life, so they could be added to the timeline.

Once your character was OK'd by the coordinator, you were encouraged to contact other members and connect your character to theirs: "Hi, I have a new hawkrider character, and I see you also have a hawkrider character about the same age. I have an idea for a story about them going through training together..."

So you'd write your story, and contact the other members whose characters you used to get their OKs on what their characters did (how much OK you needed depended on the holt) and then send it in to the coordinator, who checked it to make sure it didn't conflict with other stories in progress, did any editing required, sent it back for rewrites if necessary, etc. and finally your story would be published in the holt zine. And someone would see it and go, "Hey, if they stole that sword from the trolls, what would happen if some young troll decided to make a name for himself by braving the upper world to get it back...?

And it just built like that. The coordinator was responsible for making sure things didn't go wildly off the rails, and keeping people from bumping into each other, and settling conflicts.

I didn't even notice them!

*nodsnods* I should mention, BTW, that the outlining was totally freeform, not "well i want Spike to do this, well I want Buffy to do that." We started with a goal -- what do we want this episode to establish in the ongoing story arc, what mood are we going for, what villain of the week haven't we used yet -- then a rough plot outline, and then a scene by scene, all with very fluid back and forth. Like kids playing pretend -- how about this? No, how about this?

I'd LOVE to be able--when I get to some concept that I know I can't write without pages and pages of verbose explanation--to just hand it off to someone else and say, here, do this part.

Totally. I got so spoiled being able to put [insert fight scene here] and then have

buffybot choreograph a lovely battle with her fierce kung fu movie recall skillz.

I lived in Houston for 3 years, ages 4-6 or so. God, it was awful! I've been back to Texas since, and find it really scary. Well, not life-and-limb scary, but the other kind. The bad kind.

You tell me, kid. ;)

It's all about the shiny. Tacky commercialism, cowboys, and hey, enjoying yourself. Holy trinity, baby. *single perfect tear*
I want to see cowboys!! Gay, Bi, Straight, non-human. I don't care!! *le cry*

In other news one of the original power rangers (the red one)did gay porn!! Yay!..not. *my childhood innocence is gone. Gooone.* Aaaaahhh! The images get it out! Get it out! *Pictures Angel/Spike in cowboy attire* Much better! :D

I used to think cowboys were lame. Then I read a gay!cowboy!Angel/Xander fic and my life CHANGED.

Erm. A Power Ranger? Really? I never watched that show, and yet strangely, that's sparking bunnies...oh, ew.

If you mean politically scary, I personally find Houston is better than most of Texas--even though it's the south, it's very metropolitan, and while the actual people in control scare me sometimes the actual people I know are reasonable.

If you mean how everything is TEXAS TEXAS TEXAS OMG WE'RE SO BIG AND SPECIAL--same goes. Most people I know don't even have accents, much less big hair and scary make-up.

If you mean how there's nothing to DO here or the weather, I'm SO with you.

Well, the weather DID suck. Man, everything was moldy all the time.

But the TEXAS WE'RE SO BIG AND SPECIAL thing did touch me, but I guess that was my folks trying to scout out the cultural opportunities and failing. Or maybe it's just that my most prominant memories are of square dancing, rodeos, and flags.

Oh, and I forgot: the WORST school I've ever attended. In terms of comformity, lack of educational imagination, etc. Granted it was only kindergarten and 1st grade, but the change was palpable when I moved. Lakewood was very much "march in line, desks in rows, no one does anything differently from anyone else" whereas the other elementary schools I went to were much more interesting in creativity and exploration.

These were all public schools, by the way.

Schools I went to were awful that way too, but the kids attending were very diverse and different than me, and so interesting and education in a sense that way.

Hmm. I don't remember them well enough--the kids, that is. The school I remember pretty well. I think all the kids I remember were white.

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La Vie De TKP: the rodeo chapter

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