Cam's Corner of the World

Bad way to start a morning:

Having to skim gratutious rapefic because of modly issues. ARGH WHY. I seriously had to take five minutes not to throw up. I realise I am extra prone to react (duh), but I see others had issues as well, so I give you A Rant.

If you're going to do a rapefic, here's a few tips to avoid making it gratuitous bullshit, okay?

( Some frank language and when to hit yourself with a frying pan ten times )

In summary:
Words have power. So watch how you write rape, okay?

I'm so not glad we had to have this chat.

Now I'm going to eat lunch and forget I wrote this.

Have I found the worst CSI fic? If not, it's a strong contender. Oh yes.

Found via here, but sadly, you can't read unless you're a member. So I give a few excerpts and let you judge for yourself.

( A few choice bits )

Spelling, plot, characterisation... Oh dear oh dear oh dear. And the "to be continued" promises so, so well, doesn't it?

And because I subjected you all to such evil badfic, I offer a preview of my own to hopefully ease the burn.

( Mirror Dancing, act one sneak peek )

Also, icon love. Mmm-mmm. dragonlp86's work, of course.

"The president stressed we are not tents people."

So, let's sum up - the president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, starts operation "Drive Out Rubbish", wherein his government demolishes houses in the slum and dump people out in the villages to fend for themselves. Hundreds of thousands of people become homeless. The UN, a bit preoccupied with aid effort after the tsunami and the major earthquake, do offer to supply tents for the homeless. The Zimbabwe reply?

"The president stressed we are not tents people," said Mr Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba, arguing that other countries were getting more help.
"Tents just don't auger well with our culture... If the UN does not have enough money for permanent shelter let the little they have be used to augment what the government already has."

Well, gee, if they aren't tents people, maybe you should have thought about that before you bloody well destroyed their homes, you fucking idiot! Basically, the UN should rebuild what you tore down, huh Mugabe? Oh, I'm sure they'll just be ever so happy to, it's not like they have enough to do feeding the people you've made starve and suffer through misguided economic policy and more plain idiocy. Mugabe, you repulse me. You probably have a tent for a brain, given how much draft there's in there. Also, you're a Git.

Aaaaaargh. Idiots give me a headache.

Also, this fic is idiotic.

"Alright then, Rose Tyler, where do you want to go to?" smiled The Doctor.
"Oh, you just think your the best don't you!" smiled ninteen year old Rose Tyler.
"I am the best!" commented the Doctor, sulking.
"You wish!!" she replied. "The Titanic." she answered suddenly. "I want to see the royal Titanic."
The Doctor looked uncertain, however.
"Ok, we'll land the police box on land, and board the ship of dreams!!" he said, beaming away again.

Because what you really want to do when you board a ship that will famously sink (or, as the author called it, "hit the iceburg") is leave your time machine on land, oh yes. That's real smart.

God, the idiocy, it burnssssss everywhere. (Yes, I feel vaguely cranky now, how kind of you to notice.)

Dear fanfic author,

So, you don't like Sara Sidle/Boromir/Ron Weasley/Denethor/Catherine Willows/Gimli/Tonks/Arwen/Sofia/Mick*/Insert Name Here and think she/he is AntiChrist-y**/evil/stupid/evil and abusing/slutty/ugly/whiny/useless/Man Lurch/kissus interruptus/Insert Evil Here? Gee, I couldn't tell that from reading your fanfics at all. But here's a thought - how you feel about the character isn't always how the other fictional characters in the world you're writing feels. (Shock, horror!, I know.) In fact, it's kind of an important difference. And if you want to write fanfic and not just vessels for your dislikes that have utterly no connection to Canon, stick to how the characters feel about each other.

Thank ye kindly.

And if I see one more appaling bashing fic from you, I'm sending my pet Dalek. EX-TERM-INATE!

Cam

* Mick from Water Rats, included just for lotus79's reading pleasure

** Yes, according to some, Sara Sidle is apparently the Anti-Christ. I think Adam would have a few things to say about that (and those who get that reference are cool. And also a little nerdy).

Cam is a busy writing bee. Yes, she is.

Got a new story called Valhalla's Call here (CSI Forensics) and here (ff.net). Some GSR and CWR implied and I hereby warn all it has Canon character deaths. One-shot.

East of the Sun, West of the Moon has a new chapter here (ff.net) and here. Catherine POV.

I sense major GAFF blow-up, I do. *sniffs air* Maybe that's why I dreamt that Voyager blew up (of the Star Trek series) and Janeway and Chakotay was getting away by carjacking a la Grand Theft Auto. Or maybe I'm just odd.

Funny, haven't really thought about my old, old fandom in a while. Sure was a fandom that taught me some lessons about the wankier side of fandom life, that's for sure.

Meanwhile, for your reading enjoyment, courtesy of GAFF, take a peek at a Sue/Orlando Bloom story you don't wanna miss.

On The Other Side of the Curtain

"You have got to be kidding me Orlando!" She laughed throwing her hands in the air. "Do you honestly believe those Bible reading contests were for nothing? Look at yourself in the mirror, do you think a hot guy like you came from a dirty, flee-infested ape?"

Conversion by Fanfic. Hoo boy.

Cam reaches 500 Posts on GAFF and Takes on CSI Badfic Starring Sexman and WonderVagina

I'm not the most prolific of GAFF posters, but I am there, gagging at the badfic with the rest. It's nice to have as a counterweight to some of the other places I sometimes wander. Speaking of other places I wander...

If I finally snap and off The Poster Who Shall Not Be Named at YTDAW, will anyone supply with an alibi? (And if you're bored, tell me what the alibi would be.)

Kingdom of Heaven reopens old Crusades controversy - Interesting article on the different perspectives on the Crusades as well as the historical context. Of course, most who see the movie will probably be too busy ogling Orlando Bloom. Maybe even me. I have no shame.

I shall be watching the house for le parents starting tomorrow and over the weekend, so don't fret if you don't see me on any IM. I'll check mail and LJ and all, so you can still reach me if need be. Don't miss me too much ;)

It's kinda depressing to read a whole fanfic of 20000+ words with 'Gil Grissolm' and 'Warwich Brown'. (We're not just talking one typo here - whole fic's full of them) Who the heck doesn't check spelling of the main characters they write about? The OOCness, horrid grammar and your/you're mistakes kinda pale in comparison.

Spent yesterday with the parents, who are having a wine cellar made - real fancy one, too. Sadly, the combination of me being up late thus wanting to sleep in a bit and workers coming early to carve out a window in a brick wall is not a match made in heaven. Drrrr. Long pause, Cam trying to get asleep aagin. Drrr. Drrr. Drr. Cam decided to get up. Silence. Cam dares to try to sleep again. Drrr. Drrr. Not the best sleep I've had, no.

This wank and these announced changes at Skyehawke have had me hmmhmming. Apparently, it's Australian law that's at issue here.

Australian law, under which skyehawke operates, defines child pornography as
"a film, photograph, publication or computer game that describes or depicts a person who is, or who looks like, a minor under 16 engaging in sexual activity or depicted in an indecent manner or context" (Crimes Act, 67A) This is further clarified in Victorian state law as "under this law, 'publications' also include stories, poems, essays, drawings and cartoons".

It tied in interestingly with a discussion I had with maureenlycaon the other day about fanfic portraying very young characters having sex and pedophilia. Now me - I feel iffy about it. I'm not saying people who enjoy it are pedophiles, but reading about very young people getting it on always makes me feel like I took a left turn into a pedophile's mind. I just don't care for it. It squicks me. (We're not talking teenagers here either - we're talking below that.) But should it be illegal, as it seems to be under Australian law?

I admit to feeling slightly mixed over that. It is as such not hurting anyone living, like pedophilic real porn is. But on the other hand, it does portray what is still children as being sexual beings, which I've heard pedophiles yak on about enough times to make me sick. Children are not sexual beings. They have hormones, yes, they're devolping sexual feelings to a certain degree. But their minds and their bodies aren't yet prepared for just what sex means. That's what teenagedom is all about - that journey to adulthood and yes, the sexual urges of adults. But you need that journey to get there. And seeing children portrayed as sexual beings before that journey, that icks me. I know it's fiction. But fiction puts ideas in our mind, colours our perceptions. But is this cencorship? Is it taking it too far? Is this after all harmless fantasies? Where do you draw the line? I don't know. I wish I had a clear answer, but all I can feel is muddy waters in my mind.

(My favourite line of maureenlycaon's during that convo - she on me ever getting really wanky: "You? Fuck that. You're depressingly free from wank. You're positively wank-repellent."

Aaaw. I feel all complimented. Though if I keep raising controversial issues in my LJ, that may change soon enough.)

A taste of Norway today:
New Royal heir on the way - ironically, the Danish Crown Prince and Princess reported they're also having a baby on the very same day. Must be something in the Royal air.
Spring pictures from Norway!

So you're having a fairly good day, writing a bit, reading a bit, chatting a bit, idly ogling if hot men appears. And then you decide to read a little fanfic as you have the time and all, and you've been thinking about leaving some encouraging reviews ever since you posted about reviews just a few hours earlier. As you idly scan ff.net's listing of CSI fic, you are unaware of the doom about to hit you smack in the ass. Then you spot it, a fic speaking of rape in its summary. And though you sense pain even from the uncapitalised title, you click anyway (because clearly, you hate yourself and like pain).

And you find a fic with Catherine being raped by Warrick and scream as the full horror besets you. Someone has in fact mutilated your 'ship and cruelly beaten up grammar and spelling in a fell swoop. Then you hiss. Very loudly. And go on a Viking rampage.

All right. Rape appears in fanfics every so often. I've even been guilty of writing one such thing, when I was younger and wangstier. And there are ways to do it right. But rape, serious rape in serious fics,* should never just be:

Cheap ploy for (w)angst.
Just another way of getting two people together.
Way to demonize potential threat to your particular OTP.
Way to show how "eeeeeeeeeeeeeevil" a "Villain" is.
Shock!Factor.
Redemption for rapist and twu wub at the end.

Rapists sometimes seem like very nice people and quite normal. This is true. But that doesn't mean that any descent and nice guy is a potential rapist. Furthermore, rape is a trauma. No healing sex will cure it. Rape is a violation of body, but bodily scars is not all it leaves. It can take years to get over mentally, if at all.

There is freedom of speech, yes,and you may write about what you like (more or less) but that's also the freedom to sometimes be considerate, for smeg's sake.

Thus ends Cam's Viking Rampage. Return next week to see her beat up Bush with an axe's handle. (Honestly, she should really be used to such horrific discoveries after years in the LotR fandom. But she must have gone soft of late, for it truly did make her mind see giant red cloths and bulls chasing little Spaniards 'round and 'round.)

(* Cam here makes a distinction between those who attempt to write "real" rape and those who write "romanticised" rape as a particular sexual kink in fic where the characters get off on it. Most authors of that genre seem to hold that is about a domination fantasy and not about real rape, which is a horrific abuse and has nothing to do with sex. Whether or not there is such a distinction might be argued, but Cam is willing to see there might be.)

I think I've come down with the flu, which annoys me greatly. I played some Diablo 2 and pretended the demons were the germs, which rather cheered me up. I'm not in the mood to be sick, darnit. Not that my body ever listens to my moods.

In today's "WTF" moments:
A fanfic starring the "Princess of Norway" and a Norway out of bizarro world

Oh look, Eowyn!

The latter did make me think though. So Cam's Meme of the Week (go as mad as you like):

1) In a previous incarnation, who was I?

2) In that time, who were you and how did we know each other, if we did?

3) If a book was made about that time and us, what would the title be?

4) Who would be cast as the Lust Objects in the movie based on the book?

5) And what would be the most common Sue in fanfics based on the movie? (Give a little description.)

(Feel free to nick, if you so desire.)

I, alas, have the mind of a Swiss cheese sometimes. I recall that one of my online "friends" have talked to me about the Anita Blake books and seemed to be a fan of them. But I've forgotten who. I'm horrid with names.

Anyway, I need to ask a little favour of someone who has read the Anita Blake series of books. If any of you have, whether or not you're actually the person I was thinking of, could you please give me a howl?

For everyone else, badfic quotes!

( There be naughty words within... )

(The story actually had worse, but it was a lot naughtier and kinda racist.)