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chickening out of remixes
There are two remix challenges going on that I know about, ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
who_remix and ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
remixredux09 and I've decided that I'm not signing up for either of them.
Why not? Well, despite the fact that I have now participated in a grand total of two (yes, I know, unbelievable, that's not one but TWO) whole ficathons so far, I am still not that confident in my ability to write to deadline. After all, even when I'm writing to my own prompt it gets excruciatingly slow sometimes (as anyone who's been wondering whether "Turn Again" will ever get a new chapter can attest*).
Also, I have yet to sign up for a ficathon, or a fic challenge, or whatever a remix is categorized as, that involved someone assigning something to me. Both ficathons I participated in allowed me to look over the prompts and claim the one I wanted, which is far less stress-inducing. I get that an assigned prompt is the "challenge" part of a fic challenge, but I feel challenged enough already, okay? ; )
Finally, I think a remix in particular would be difficult for me to do. I find the idea interesting in general, but instead of being constrained to the same characters and plot, I'd rather be allowed to take the premise of a fic and completely re-do it to whatever extent I wish (along the lines of an AU, if that makes any sense). Also, I took a look at my own stories and tried to imagine how they might get remixed, and I think most of them would cause a lot of problems. It's possible that as the author I just can't imagine them being written in any other way, but some of them just seem structurally un-remixable to me, like "Subtext". And as for "Fallacy Somewhere," good luck with that one . . . can't change the POV because it bounces all over the place already anyway, and as for changing the tone, a G&S tragedy just isn't going to work.**
*Yes, it will . . . eventually. I just wish I could tell you when.
**No, "Yeomen of the Guard" is not a G&S tragedy. Nice try, though.
who_remix and remixredux09 and I've decided that I'm not signing up for either of them.Why not? Well, despite the fact that I have now participated in a grand total of two (yes, I know, unbelievable, that's not one but TWO) whole ficathons so far, I am still not that confident in my ability to write to deadline. After all, even when I'm writing to my own prompt it gets excruciatingly slow sometimes (as anyone who's been wondering whether "Turn Again" will ever get a new chapter can attest*).
Also, I have yet to sign up for a ficathon, or a fic challenge, or whatever a remix is categorized as, that involved someone assigning something to me. Both ficathons I participated in allowed me to look over the prompts and claim the one I wanted, which is far less stress-inducing. I get that an assigned prompt is the "challenge" part of a fic challenge, but I feel challenged enough already, okay? ; )
Finally, I think a remix in particular would be difficult for me to do. I find the idea interesting in general, but instead of being constrained to the same characters and plot, I'd rather be allowed to take the premise of a fic and completely re-do it to whatever extent I wish (along the lines of an AU, if that makes any sense). Also, I took a look at my own stories and tried to imagine how they might get remixed, and I think most of them would cause a lot of problems. It's possible that as the author I just can't imagine them being written in any other way, but some of them just seem structurally un-remixable to me, like "Subtext". And as for "Fallacy Somewhere," good luck with that one . . . can't change the POV because it bounces all over the place already anyway, and as for changing the tone, a G&S tragedy just isn't going to work.**
*Yes, it will . . . eventually. I just wish I could tell you when.
**No, "Yeomen of the Guard" is not a G&S tragedy. Nice try, though.
no subject
...well, I must admit, the one remix I've done so far (for an "exhibition remix challenge" - it's complicated) was based on a story I knew the original author was dissatisfied with. That's not the only reason I chose it for the challenge, but I'll admit I was pretty darn chuffed when her reaction was "thank you, you made it so much better"! *g*
I don't know if I'd say one story would necessarily have to be better than the other, though. The thing I love about remixes is... how to say this? A good remix is a reinterpretation of the same story, sometimes even the same dialogue, through a completely different set of eyes. The focus, tone, theme, will all be different even though exactly the same thing is happening. In my case, people thought my version was "better" because the story (Napoleon musing on how Illya has changed him) needed a terse first-person Napoleon voice that the original author just couldn't achieve, any more than I can write good atmospheric stream-of-consciousness like Calapine.
Anyway, that's why I like them. YMMV. ;-)