especially since you had Gojyo so dead nuts on like that. Wow.
I have to thank you profusely for saying that. I tend to be very insecure in my Gojyo-voice; it's historically been one of the things that gives me great trouble. That balconies fic you mention - after I first wrote/posted it, I spent two years intermittently tweaking a lot of things about it but especially Gojyo's voice/characterization before I made myself back off and leave it alone. There's this other thing that's first-person Gojyo that I spent awhile tweaking, also, but looking back now there's still more things, words, thought-processes and phrasings that I'd change. But it's not worth going back to try to bring old things 'up' to current standards - I'd be forever stuck on endless revisions and I'd never get anything new done. It's hard, though; the overachieving perfectionist in me is very loud. ^_^; I tell it that learning to write--like anything else--is a journey, and the flaws of the old stuff stand as measures of progress against newer. Or something.
I've posted one or two things since that I feel are pretty decent with the Gojyo-voice, but I spend a lot of the writing/editing time paying very close analytical attention to what sorts of words I'm using, trying to keep them simpler and less 'literary' or 'sophisticated' than the more formal/educated voices that come easier to me (the Goujuns, the Hakkais, the Tenpous, etc). I mean, Gojyo's not dull or stupid, not by any means, but I tend to doubt that he's had the chance for much in the way of formal education, in anything, and that's going to affect the sound and the feel of him. He thinks, acts, speaks etc in simpler, more common words and phrases than the generic voice I tend to write in by default, so it takes much more effort for me to consciously come at it from the right angle. Several of the things on my WIP list are things that get more fine-toothed scrutiny over whether or not Gojyo's coming out right than anything resembling drafting progress. ^_^; The last thing I think I'd posted with him really featured, most of the characterization was via dialogue; I was very careful to not go into anybody's head in the writing. This one, though, I went ahead and slipped into his POV, which affects the whole narrative vs. just what comes out of his mouth as far as voice, and I'm glad it turned out feeling right - especially with not spending the usual nit-picking time on it.
So yeah. Thank you. ^_^
Kenren comes a little easier, for the record, because he's got a slightly more polished edge to him than Gojyo, but I still have a lot of the same 'What's right, what's not' deliberations when trying to capture his voice. Which makes me think I might come out better telling stories from Tenpou's POV, but...that's a whole other can of worms, with all the effort he expends to keep people out of his head. Y'know? ^_^; Goujun, thankfully, gives me little to nothing in the way of trouble most times, at least as far as voice is concerned.
But then, of course, part of what makes the writing fun and rewarding is precisely these sorts of challenges, so...ehh.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2008-04-01 04:50 am (UTC)especially since you had Gojyo so dead nuts on like that. Wow.
I have to thank you profusely for saying that. I tend to be very insecure in my Gojyo-voice; it's historically been one of the things that gives me great trouble. That balconies fic you mention - after I first wrote/posted it, I spent two years intermittently tweaking a lot of things about it but especially Gojyo's voice/characterization before I made myself back off and leave it alone. There's this other thing that's first-person Gojyo that I spent awhile tweaking, also, but looking back now there's still more things, words, thought-processes and phrasings that I'd change. But it's not worth going back to try to bring old things 'up' to current standards - I'd be forever stuck on endless revisions and I'd never get anything new done. It's hard, though; the overachieving perfectionist in me is very loud. ^_^; I tell it that learning to write--like anything else--is a journey, and the flaws of the old stuff stand as measures of progress against newer. Or something.
I've posted one or two things since that I feel are pretty decent with the Gojyo-voice, but I spend a lot of the writing/editing time paying very close analytical attention to what sorts of words I'm using, trying to keep them simpler and less 'literary' or 'sophisticated' than the more formal/educated voices that come easier to me (the Goujuns, the Hakkais, the Tenpous, etc). I mean, Gojyo's not dull or stupid, not by any means, but I tend to doubt that he's had the chance for much in the way of formal education, in anything, and that's going to affect the sound and the feel of him. He thinks, acts, speaks etc in simpler, more common words and phrases than the generic voice I tend to write in by default, so it takes much more effort for me to consciously come at it from the right angle. Several of the things on my WIP list are things that get more fine-toothed scrutiny over whether or not Gojyo's coming out right than anything resembling drafting progress. ^_^; The last thing I think I'd posted with him really featured, most of the characterization was via dialogue; I was very careful to not go into anybody's head in the writing. This one, though, I went ahead and slipped into his POV, which affects the whole narrative vs. just what comes out of his mouth as far as voice, and I'm glad it turned out feeling right - especially with not spending the usual nit-picking time on it.
So yeah. Thank you. ^_^
Kenren comes a little easier, for the record, because he's got a slightly more polished edge to him than Gojyo, but I still have a lot of the same 'What's right, what's not' deliberations when trying to capture his voice. Which makes me think I might come out better telling stories from Tenpou's POV, but...that's a whole other can of worms, with all the effort he expends to keep people out of his head. Y'know? ^_^; Goujun, thankfully, gives me little to nothing in the way of trouble most times, at least as far as voice is concerned.
But then, of course, part of what makes the writing fun and rewarding is precisely these sorts of challenges, so...ehh.