Carrot on a stick

[azurelunatic]

I rewarded myself for nanowrimo: before November began, on the night of the eclipse, I bought myself Kushiel's Avatar. I restrained myself from reading it for the entire month of November. Now I've read it.

I still think the summary "In which a courtesan kicks much ass," is appropriate. othercat pointed out that said courtesan is likely a canon Sue, and she does not much like canon Sues; this is why she and the series have not encountered much of each other.

Cannon fodder Sues, on the other hand, might be interesting. What if one took Canon Sues from every fandom with Canon Sues in, and wrote one big meta-fic with them just dying in the name of a reasonably good cause?

Next up on my reading list: the Game Document. 18 pages, roughly, of Game Writeup, written by a man sorely afflicted with CIS Disease (which is a native-language override necessary for programming that involves a certain level of blithe disregard for proper spelling and usage in the original native language of the programmer). Ordinarily, the Grammar Bitch would be twitching. Given that the man in question is my bondmate, however, the Grammar Bitch plans to sit back, sip a cup of herbal tea, roll a will save against kissing the bondmate the next time we see each other, and not die of the horror.

I feel dreadfully guilty about having not read it already, but I know I could not have properly read it during November, and I did need some time to chill out after the ordeal and get my brain back, so reading a good book to reset before going into the document was a necessary thing as well.

I am encouraged that he is sharing this thing with me.

Comments

[kokuten.livejournal.com]

[quote]Cannon fodder Sues, on the other hand, [/quote]

BZZZT!

inherent difficulty, if you have recognizable Mary Sues, it's going to be extremely difficult, nigh impossible, to drag your reader, kicking and screaming, into giving a rat's tuchus about them..

The more easily identifiable they are as Mary Sues, the less I'm likely to care.

[azurelunatic]

No, no.

This is not original fiction with original Sues. This is meta-fanfic, taking Canon Sues from a vast variety of original fiction (Phedre, Myste, and their ilk) and probably some Mary Sues from some notable fanfic, spinning a plot with some well-characterized characters (borrowed or original) and then using the Sues as cannon fodder.

The Sues would have to be someone else's creation, likely already known to the reader, and sufficiently obnoxious that the reader will giggle at their death.

[othercat.livejournal.com]

I read the first too books, the third I skimmed due to the Sueage...

[azurelunatic]

I found the third the most readable, actually.

[kittydragon.livejournal.com]

I dunno what a 'Sue' is exactly, but I heart Jacqueline Carey. Her recent book, "Banewreaker," is rather pretty. Come play with the nice shiny things.

[azurelunatic]

Sues are those characters who are a little too spiffy to be real enough to be identified with or liked, or who are a blatant self-insert by the author.

[kdorian.livejournal.com]

I recently succumbed to the temptation of inserting myself in an original character fic.

Fortunately for me, it's a murder mystery. So as to not make myself too obnoxious, I play the part of the victim - who dies before the story starts. :p

[azurelunatic]

Excellently amusing!