hmmm....

[boogieshoes]

it is mildly disconcerting to look up the daily postings on crack_van,  eager to read about the latest recommendation of smutty action/adventure with your favorite dusty cowboys - and then suddenly realize you are the crack_van driver for mag7 fandom this month...

-bs

Comments

Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

First apologies. I don't actually have an LJ account, hence the "Anonymous". But then I kind of like being anonymous. Anyway, I can't even begin to tell you how *WONDERFUL* it was to wander over to CrackVan and see that you rec'd my "Idiot's Guide". After I got done squealing giddily about seeing my name in lights (in the soft light of my laptop screen anyway), I realized that perhaps I ought to figure out how to thank you. So... Thank you for your kind, kind words and for reccing my story. I'll go back to squealing giddily now.

--BMP

Re: Thank you!

[boogieshoes.livejournal.com]

you're welcome. :-) and i only say what's there - you're a wonderful writer, and i'm making my way through your selection on DnF. i'm about to rec your 'Breathe', as well, because it's really nice. Small, but nice. :-)

i seriously encourage you to continue writing, because the quality of stuff you turn out is very good.

-bs

Re: Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks again. I am grateful for the kind words and I hope you enjoy the other stories, too--whether you decide to rec anything else or not. I know there are SOOOO many really wonderful stories and authors out there. Frankly I don't know how you manage to choose.

--BMP

Re: Decided to answer in a literal manner :-p

[boogieshoes.livejournal.com]

i tend to have high standards regarding story mechanics - grammar, spelling, story flow and sentence construction. and good paragraph breaks - you'd be surprised at how many people have no idea when to start a new paragraph, lol.

seriously, that's 90% of the stories right there. for example, i'd never rec Susan Foster's GDP stories in The Sentinel, because even though the idea is *great*, the story mechanics *suck completely*. Susan's writing british english, so she's not english as a second language, which i'll make some allowances for.

another big whack of stories go out the window for lack of realism. there's one story on Lady Angel's library that keep trying to read because i like 'long, plotty, and how the ATF team got together' - it should hit all my kinks, right? except that the author ruins it every time she implies that a shot from 30 yds away with a sniper rifle is 1) reasonable and 2) an amazing thing. drives me absolutely batty. i don't consider myself a gun nut, but it doesn't take *that* long to pull out the basic research!

that and lack of IC-ness. a certain amount, ok, if you can make me believe it. but an awful lot of authors make the characters far more emotionally fragile than they should be. i recently read a story that had all 7 of the guys weeping all over each other for almost a week. i'll totally grant that the situation was stressful, but i don't even know *women* who'd act that way in response, and western men, most with military experience just... *wouldn't*. it'd have to be much, much worse (which is a weird thing to say, because the situation was pretty bad, but still...).

once you knock out all those you're not left with more than 10% of the stories in any fandom, really. and mag7 is fortunate to have some great writers, you're right about that. so the ones that *i* rec are the ones that really stand out in my mind. the ones i go back to read and love 'em just as much as the first time. the ones that take my breath away and especially, make me think about the guys and how they interact with each other and the world. that comes down to a much smaller amount.

basically, my rec standards boil down to - 'is this something i'd buy in a bookstore?' i personally tend to be biased against the OW AU, but that's just me. accounting for that, there really aren't that many people in any fandom who can produce fic that would be 'publishable'. and even among publishable fic, there's a lot fewer stories that leave you both completely satisfied and wanting more. in that manner, a good story is like a good lover, every experience with it is memorable.

-bs, thinking this should become a new meta post...

Re: Decided to answer in a literal manner :-p

[(Anonymous)]

That was both insightful and fascinating. :) Really. It was. Still it did make me glad that YOU'RE the one making the choices and not me. And it makes me glad that the people out there making recommendations are thoughtful and discerning people.

We all have our own biases and pet peeves, of course, which is totally understandable and allowable. If someone doesn't like them, then they should take a turn in the hot seat or just keep it to themselves. It's only fiction after all.

That said, what a person considers good writing is always an interesting discussion. I'm tempted to share a few of my own pet peeves. Too much girly weepiness in a gen story is one of those for me, too. I like my tough guys tough--not terminators, of course, but still tough. I could go on, but I'll spare you.

Thanks for the diverting discussion on an otherwise disgustingly academic day. :)

--BMP