A blush and a meme

[pensnest]

Got my driving licence back today, with three points added, ending a pristine almost-twenty-year run.
92mph down the M4 to Bristol. Oops.
*blushes*

And now, because I think I've worked out ten things - and I dunno if these are actually ten things that would help anyone identify a story as being By Me or not - the How To Tell It's A Story By Pen meme.



1. It's a happy story. Okay, I have written a handful of more angsty fics, but the vast majority of my stuff is set in an essentially pleasant world wherein things work out well.

2. In the same vein, my characters are basically innocent and well-intentioned. I'm not good with darkness.

3. It's in third person and past tense. I very rarely write either in present tense or from another POV.

4. It's not a very long story. My longest *ever* (apart from the romance novels, which are not for public viewing!) is around 15,000 words. I think my attention span is too short.

5. Lots (and lots) of adjectives and adverbs. I'm trying to cut down, but... And yet, while there are adverbs and adjectives, there is a definite lack of sensual description. I just don't seem to be able to create that kind of rich, palpable detail.

6. I'm not big on similes/metaphors, but every so often I throw one in because the rhythm of the prose seems to require one. My, that sounds pompous. I have no idea how I decide this.

7. I do my best to ring the changes with dialogue tags. Mostly there'll be a "said", often with qualifying adverb; sometimes it's "suggested" or "muttered", etc; sometimes there isn't a tag at all, but an insert of an action instead. I have a sneaking suspicion that my writing style is influenced by far too much Georgette Heyer at an impressionable age, though I have not as yet used "he ejaculated" as a dialogue tag. But you never know!

8. Over-use of em-dashes.

9. Despite my efforts, it's probably told in an indefinably British way. Shrug. I'm about as English as a person can be.

10. It ends with a one-line payoff. I like to 'sign' stories that way.

Comments

[rikes]

though I have not as yet used "he ejaculated" as a dialogue tag.

Please don't. *shudders*

[pensnest]

Oh, icon *love*! He looks like... Beaker?

[rikes]

I don't know who he looks like, but this is a very useful icon. ;)

[buddleia.livejournal.com]

You forgot #11 - may cause the reader to wish to spread the laughter, forgetting that Popslash is not something to share with colleagues.

Why, yes, I nearly sent the dildo story around my workplace!

[pensnest]

*cackle!* The crack does start to seem normal after a while...

[nopseud]

though I have not as yet used "he ejaculated" as a dialogue tag.

You really really really should, you know. Really should. :-)

[pensnest]

You know, I think perhaps you're right.
Hmm.

[nopseud]

You know what would be the perfect place? A Victorian Detective!AU, with JC as Holmes and Joey as Watson :-)

And I have almost the perfect icon! Look!

[pensnest]

Meep! Am now wishing I had used the phrase in my 'write like someone else' mock-Heyer story!

But... that icon is CLEARLY about the two of them in a '70s cop show.

[ephemera.livejournal.com]

you might be right about the Heyer influence - the person who's style yours often reminds me of [although your subject matter is very different, and generally your stories have more humour] is also a Heyer fan.

[pensnest]

Interesting! Yes. I do love Heyer's polysyllabic style, lots of nice juicy words to munch on.

I've been meaning to mention how much I like your lovely icon. So chic.

[turloughishere.livejournal.com]

3. It's in third person and past tense. I very rarely write either in present tense or from another POV.

But when you do write in a different way, like in <First Blood, you do it very, very well! I think that language-wise that is one of your best stories, especially the last part which is so very immediate and intense.

[pensnest]

Well - thank you!

'First Blood' is actually 3rd person POV and past tense all the way through; it just becomes a very *intimate* 3rd person. I think of 3rd person as telling the story from a perch on the POV character's shoulder, close enough to hear his thoughts - in this story, the perch on the shoulder gets close enough to be pretty well under the skin. For me, it's the easiest way to tell a story, and I find it the easiest way to *read* a story, too.

As for exceptions, well, 'Broken' is in present tense, as are 'A Little Bit Extra' and 'Fantasies' (both masturbation fics, hah!); and I did one 1st person ficlet here on fic_requests, though funnily enough it's actually *less* intimate than 'First Blood' in that respect, because I intended ambiguity.

It can be fun to pick a POV so as to give the reader misleading information, too. I did that in 'Prize'.

Hmm. Sorry about that! I'm interested in the technicalities.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

These lists are so interesting. I found it really hard to pin my own ten down, but can totally see yours. I especially like how most of your stories are happy. That's always of the good :)

[pensnest]

The odd thing about a list like this is the way it really *doesn't* help to identify the little individualities which actually make up a person's style. I'm sure I have them, but I don't know what they are - because the way I write is, well, the way I write. After all, there are plenty of people who write happy endings, or in 3rd person... The only thing I managed to figure out was that I use a lot of 'qualifiers'. Ho hum.