/report: Author Talk

[mklutz]

Sorry we're late! First Pru and the Hoyden were drinking their way through Spain and then MK had the death flu for about a week. Fail.

This week we talk about Fringe, The Good Wife, CSI NY, and The Mentalist, do a brief foray into your submissions for the Bad Fic Strong Like Ox challenge, and then move right on to the real meat - our very first Author Talk! We asked The Hoyden every question you sent us and made her answer them, whether she liked it or not.

Don't forget to follow us on twitter for further hilarity between episodes.

Fic recs, downloading and streaming can all be found here on our site!

Comments

[cybel]

The site is down! :-(

[mklutz]

Thanks! Our host says "We’re currently looking into some networking issues in our Irvine datacenter. If your site is down now, that is likely the cause. Our network admin is already investigating the issue and hope to have it back ASAP. We will update this status post shortly with a list of affected servers and an ETA on when we expect it to be resolved."

Hopefully it should be back up soon!

[cybel]

Hopefully! I'm patiently awaiting my slashreport fix!

[mklutz]

Belatedly: it's back up!

[cybel]

Got it! Unfortunately, I then fell asleep listening to it. I'm such a loser!

Hey, I don't know if there is a market for such a thing, but would you like audiobook versions of the 'casts? If so, I am at your service!

[innocentsmith]

Awesome podcast, as always, guys! I've been listening for weeks, and I love the show. And now I'm delurking to nitpick. Um. But with a fic rec? :D?

I totally agree that authors should not feel obliged to include porn if they're not comfortable with it, or they don't feel they can write a sex scene that's up to the standard of the rest of the fic. But I really disagree with the idea that stories don't ever need sex to tell the story they want to tell.

And by way of argument: Tacit, Due South, Fraser/Kowalski, by malnpudl.

I don't think you could tell the story that story is telling without the sex there, but at the same time, I wouldn't classify it as a PWP. It's hot as hell, but it's also funny and a little sad and sweet and has a whole lot to say about the characters in a short little space of words.

I mean, I think it takes a writer who's really good at connecting smut to characterization, but I think it does happen, and when it does it's one of the most awesome things about fandom, one of the things fandom does better than pretty much any other medium. (And not to be a kissass, but actually I can think of at least a couple stories by you guys that I would also point to as examples of this.) So even though most fic may not need sex if it's something the author is including just to, IDK, fill out the story or up the rating? Sometimes the sex really is a huge and integral part of what the author's saying. And that can be amazing too.

[/thoughts on yaoi, literally]

[cunninglanguage]

Great podcast as always!

Heh, about the Sailor Moon 'cousins' thing, cousin totally used to be used as a euphemism to refer to a lover once upon a time ;P

[(Anonymous)]

Same person as before - shockingly Lestrade is not called "Gregory" in any canon works! We know his first name starts with a "G" but not what it is.

[maryaminx]

I pretty much agree with the gratuitous porn argument--I don't read fic for the porn, and I've only read one or two fic in the last year that the sex scenes did anything sort of characterization building. Undoubtedly there are some fandoms where the characters have such massive sexual hangups that a sex scene would be really revealing or help move their characterization forward, but usually it's extraneous and unnecessary. So I skim.

[grammarwoman]

You guys are PHENOMENAL. Thank you for such a hilarious, complex, thoughtful, and lengthy period spent answering my questions. NGL, I rewound it a couple of times and smiled the whole way through.

*bows to your amazingness*

[(Anonymous)]

Loved this week's podcast. Kept refreshing hoping it would go up. Have become sadly addicted. I wish there were even more like it out there.

The Hoyden was a terrific first author interview. Very interesting to hear that she writes without music and finds it easier in the mornings. Did she mention offsides if it was every day? Pru how about you? What's your writing M.O.? Every day? In order? Same story until it's done or do you get distracted by shiny objects?

The discussion you guys had about sex scenes - necessary, gratuitous, or judiciously applied is a great one to bring up. It's one I've had with several friends. I even left a voicemail to one of them going "Dude, they're talking about the porn bus just rolling into town on stories. It's like listening to us only they have chicken pot pie! Go download this weeks."

Mklutz you talked about using GarageBand and scrubbers. The editing is always great. What's the process of getting a podcast done? You guys record on mics on Skype right? I like how both of you are equally loud in volume. It always amazes me that you're on diffferent continents. Too often you can't hear the person on the other end at all in dual chats. Is that because of your scrubbers or the mics? How much good or bad are we losing when you cut things down?

Anyway love the podcasts and the crazy. Please keep them coming!

--Myfieldnotes from LJ

[daisy-chan.livejournal.com]

I tried to get this done on Twitter, but it wasn't happening...

SO. Re: The Good Wife and Will's inevitable broken heart.
I think it's interesting to consider the timing of Alicia breaking up with Peter. If it had happened, say, at the end of season 1 or any other of the high points in the Alicia/Will pining game, then I think they would have formed a more serious relationship, parent/teacher conferences included. However, because it happened as a direct result to Alicia just being done with Peter and his crap, Alicia has the freedom to decide she can do the parent/teacher conferences alone and still have a bit of fun on the side.

[(Anonymous)]

Love it, as always. I always end up laughing until my stomach hurts, you guys are the best abs workout ever.

Because it can't hurt to ask, would you consider doing vid recs one week please? Top three of all time, or in any particular fandom?

Bad Fic Submission

[nev_ertheless3]

Though read only once ten years ago, I am still haunted by the incredibly graphic description of two men expressing their sexual lust with a fish in a threesome and no they were not mermen.