|
Writing Down The Boneless
This is, in an odd way, part of the entry I just posted. But not quite, or I'd have put it there.
I finally figured out what bothers me about the fact that the B story gets all the attention.
Okay, first the explanation for those who came in late: Twenty-Six is an ongoing series of stories, one for each letter of the alphabet. What do these stories have in common? Well, they all have sex as the focus of the plotline (although they may not all have explicit sex in them). Each centers on a female character who is never actually named in the story itself, although she is named in the alliterative teaser that goes with the story. And that's it. They weren't all intended to be arousing and they weren't all intended to be cheerful. I had no other rules in mind when I started the project, except for the one which says I must write the stories in order - no skipping around. But I have always intended to write twenty-six good stories, stories which would stand on their own merits in spite of, not because of, the fact that they happen to have sex in them.
Whew. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Anyway, of the nine stories finished so far - J is in progress - only one story has gotten exuberant praise from a variety of people, including people I'd have sworn wouldn't go in for that sort of thing. Only one story has gotten reprint requests. Only one story might appear in a paying medium. Only one story, in fact, has gotten any kind of significant response at all to date.
And while I am - honestly, genuinely - thrilled that response to that story is so good, there's a little part of my brain that will not shut up and keeps saying, "Yeah, but why'd it have to be the B story?"
But it took me until last night to figure out why it bothered me. At first I thought it was the McDonald's theory. You know, you cook a gourmet meal and then everyone says they'd really rather go to McDonald's. Then I decided that wasn't right. I've had that problem with a number of works - most recently that fluffy little piece of Superman fanfic I wrote on a whim - but, you know, the B story wasn't notably more effortless than any of the others. Nor do I think it's somehow not worthy of my talents or some other pompous phrase. It's a perfectly good story. It is not, in my opinion, the best of the nine so far, but it is far from the worst.
What bothers me is that the B story has no plot. Even the little A vignette, which is really meant as an introduction to the lot and doesn't count, has more plot than the B story. The B story is a breast expansion setup, plain and simple. If you go to the Breast Expansion Archive's story collection you'll find about a thousand of these. It's a transformation scene with absolutely no wrapper, no justification, no characterization, not much of anything.
And, frankly, I worry that people like it because it's easy.
To go back to that food analogy: Some food takes work. Beef Wellington intimidates people because they don't know whether to take the crust off and leave it alone or try to eat it. Artichokes take some know-how (and are in fact, too much work for me - I don't eat whole ones anymore, only prepared hearts). A whole fish requires you to know how to attack and debone it at the table. But these are all taste treats which are often worth the effort.
The B story is a hot dog. Quick, accessible, but not very nutritious, or exotic. Hot dogs are yummy but it's not a very advanced taste. A hot dog doesn't demand much of you.
I'm worried that, in order to be a success, I shall have to write nothing but hot dogs and Marshmallow Fluff.
I may just be being cranky. It's been known to happen.
© Columbine
|
|
