Karrin Murphy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
notevendarkyet) wrote2008-03-22 10:33 pm
notevendarkyet) wrote2008-03-22 10:33 pm
Entry tags:
Item discussion: Godmodding/autoing vs. ... censorship?
This is regarding a recent discussion which started with a question what is the policy on ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
little_chicago and lil_chicago_ooc regarding slash. It devolved into a discussion of something entirely else.
Item one: I'm posting here, because posting on the ooc comm, since I am a mod, may carry more weight; but I really would like to hear your opinions on this, and when things are clarified, I'll make a post that will also be referenced on the profile of the comm, to avoid further confusion.
Item two: I am confused (and maybe - which I shouldn't be - a little angry) at the way my statement was questioned. My original answer came from interacting with writers who are truly outstanding, and through observing how they treat their writing partners. Did I go too far in responding to those comments? If so, I am sorry - but DO let me know if I have.
Item three: At least my idea oflittle_chicago as one of a common playground. Where we, well, play together. It really makes sense to me that when you're borrowing someone else's toys where you play with that someone else, it is polite to ask.
In your own journal, you are free to write characters exactly as you wish. Those would be your versions of the characters.
But where we write together, and where what you post will be part of the expectation in how you RP the character in the comm? I think it is only fair to ask if the other writer is OK with their muse being written in a certain direction.
That doesn't mean you have to have an ok for every bit of dialogue, action, etc. But if I say, I am going to write a piece where Harry did NOT reject Justine when Thomas sent her over dressed only in a bow? (this is entirely theoretical, mind you!) I will ask Harry's mun. Heh, I will probably ask Thomas' mun too, to know how he would react to such a take.
Item four: Well, of course, there are exceptions. The most obvious being if you're doing a 'dissection of a scene' from canon. Or if you and the other mun have discussed a certain situation already and you know what their take is.
Item five: Where we play together, making decisions that you don't know the partner you're writing against agrees with? Isn't that, well, godmodding? (After a brief consultation with Wikipedia, maybe the term I should be using is Autoing. But in either case... something that is not covered by 'playing nice'.)
Item six: Telling you what to write (or not to), and how to write your muse, would be, well, putting it bluntly, censorship. This is NOT what I am aiming at, though I know what I'm describing, if taken to extremes, would be just that.
Once you have the opinion of the other mun, exactly WHAT is in your fic is entirely up to you. I am the kind of person who, if there is a remark about my representation of other muses, will change what I have written, but that is by no means obligatory.
Even if you don't have the other writer's permission, YOU COULD STILL WRITE IT. You can be a member of the comms, you can use the comm's prompts, and write it. Just please don't post on the comm unless you have an OK.
I'd be the person who would be OK with reading just about anything. If I don't think that what a fic implies about my muse is consistent with how I write them, I may ask that there is an author's note that states that the fic is NOT-rp-canon-compliant. I have put such labels on my work even without being asked in some cases.
Item seven: I think it's all about respect. Asking about another person's opinion when IT INVOLVES their muse is courteous - it's respectful. And for any community to function smoothly, respect is a very, very important building block.
little_chicago and lil_chicago_ooc regarding slash. It devolved into a discussion of something entirely else. Item one: I'm posting here, because posting on the ooc comm, since I am a mod, may carry more weight; but I really would like to hear your opinions on this, and when things are clarified, I'll make a post that will also be referenced on the profile of the comm, to avoid further confusion.
Item two: I am confused (and maybe - which I shouldn't be - a little angry) at the way my statement was questioned. My original answer came from interacting with writers who are truly outstanding, and through observing how they treat their writing partners. Did I go too far in responding to those comments? If so, I am sorry - but DO let me know if I have.
Item three: At least my idea of
little_chicago as one of a common playground. Where we, well, play together. It really makes sense to me that when you're borrowing someone else's toys where you play with that someone else, it is polite to ask. In your own journal, you are free to write characters exactly as you wish. Those would be your versions of the characters.
But where we write together, and where what you post will be part of the expectation in how you RP the character in the comm? I think it is only fair to ask if the other writer is OK with their muse being written in a certain direction.
That doesn't mean you have to have an ok for every bit of dialogue, action, etc. But if I say, I am going to write a piece where Harry did NOT reject Justine when Thomas sent her over dressed only in a bow? (this is entirely theoretical, mind you!) I will ask Harry's mun. Heh, I will probably ask Thomas' mun too, to know how he would react to such a take.
Item four: Well, of course, there are exceptions. The most obvious being if you're doing a 'dissection of a scene' from canon. Or if you and the other mun have discussed a certain situation already and you know what their take is.
Item five: Where we play together, making decisions that you don't know the partner you're writing against agrees with? Isn't that, well, godmodding? (After a brief consultation with Wikipedia, maybe the term I should be using is Autoing. But in either case... something that is not covered by 'playing nice'.)
Item six: Telling you what to write (or not to), and how to write your muse, would be, well, putting it bluntly, censorship. This is NOT what I am aiming at, though I know what I'm describing, if taken to extremes, would be just that.
Once you have the opinion of the other mun, exactly WHAT is in your fic is entirely up to you. I am the kind of person who, if there is a remark about my representation of other muses, will change what I have written, but that is by no means obligatory.
Even if you don't have the other writer's permission, YOU COULD STILL WRITE IT. You can be a member of the comms, you can use the comm's prompts, and write it. Just please don't post on the comm unless you have an OK.
I'd be the person who would be OK with reading just about anything. If I don't think that what a fic implies about my muse is consistent with how I write them, I may ask that there is an author's note that states that the fic is NOT-rp-canon-compliant. I have put such labels on my work even without being asked in some cases.
Item seven: I think it's all about respect. Asking about another person's opinion when IT INVOLVES their muse is courteous - it's respectful. And for any community to function smoothly, respect is a very, very important building block.
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As muns who write in prompt communities, we're used to writing fic with our sandbox and adding a disclaimer at the bottom saying. The Harry I talked about in said fic has nothing to do with any Harry in the community. Just my twisted imagination.
I think the confusion lies in that it's not made clear (to newbies) that this is a fic/RP community rather than a community like TM only dedicated to Dresden Verse(s). Wherein the fics that we write here are connected to said RP in the community and the characters. That we're using it as a jumping off point. So to speak. At least that is what I'm assuming we're doing.
I could be wrong on that one. If I were to write a fic to the community it's in 'our world' and I would get permission from the muns or at least a heads up. Rather than it being my writing world/sandbox and I'm just expressing my artistic license and posting for others to enjoy in the community.
Just my 2 cents that that is where the confusion is lying with reference to writing fic/posting/playing/getting permissions. I believe they are thinking TM Dresdenverse style rather than fic/RP world with our characters in the sandbox.
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I will edit the userinfo to try and make it more clear that way. I guess the fact that I know what I mean, and most of the people who voted on the polls on this journal know what I mean is misleading me in how clearly I have explained things...
Again, thanks. Your two cents? Worth a lot to me!
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This community is set up where RP is part of it, the main part actually and we're using prompts as jumping off points rather than the main focus being prompts that we RP off of like in TM.
Now that I've made it as clear as mud. *g*
I think (like me) someone that's not used to RPing in communities. I rarely, very rarely indulge I mostly just write prompts, that we're not used to thinking the other way around. :) Which is probably why I think I can see where their confusion is coming from.
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Maybe the fact that for the prompt-based comms, I either write muses who are 'lonely' in their fandoms, or ones who are in active roleplay, no in-betweens. But whatever the case, when I post (to, say, TM), I either make a disclaimer, or post first to my journal and wait for feedback from the other muns before posting to the comm.
I don't know, maybe I've just been in a circle of writers who behave in a certain way out of courtesy. People who've been writing (a lot more than RP, some of them) for years. And they don't even have that rule spelled out for the comms we're together in, they just... do things that way. Maybe that's why I'm seeing the perceiving of these manners as an obstruction to writing as confusing.
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I think it comes from the RPside of things. Like I said I rarely RP and in my case in the Buffy fandom it's such a freaking revolving door of muns/pups that I only have a few that I interact with anymore. So I'll put a disclaimer that 'my' Angel isn't the Angel in TM. However, if I was in a Buffy/Angel community where there were a list of certain characters and we were all RPing together I would most definitely get permission before I posted to the community.
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