color war?

[jlh]

Folks, I'm going to be really honest with you: I'm very discouraged today! I'm looking around at all this angst and darkness and how much people want that, and also all the grouchiness and anger that people express and how much they seem to want to feel that way, and I wonder what the point is of trying to write happy things or work on a cheerful project.

I started Color War last March because I noticed how unhappy f_march_madness made some of my friends, given that it often crowns the latest slash darling as its winner. I thought, well, maybe we can have a bracket game that is entirely meaningless, that people will care about enough to get involved but that won't have some kind of Deeper Significance About Fandom, a place where fans of slash and femslash and het and gen can all meet in harmony and talk about stuff like whether they like silver or orchid better.

So many of you responded; it was really fun! Unfortunately it didn't have the desired effect (and maybe I was too hopeful in that respect) as none of the folks who'd expressed their unhappiness about f_march_madness participated in Color War. So ultimately I felt like I didn't really contribute any kind of happiness to make people feel better for the unhappiness that something else was making them feel. As much as people liked it, I felt that I had failed in my actual objective.

As for writing happy things, the bottomless fangirl appetite for angst and violence and darkness has me a little down today. I know there's something to be said for writing what no one else is writing for the sake of the people who are underserviced, but today, I'm feeling a little less servicey than I usually am. (Which is not to say that I don't super appreciate everyone who reads my stories even if you don't comment. My god, I so do. Really, really, I do.)

This might all be a hangover from last night's Oscars, because of the unrelenting complaining on tumblr and twitter and how everyone hates The Kings Speech and it's safe and all that stuff, and I'm kind of over how things that aren't mostly about death are safe. I'm over how everyone apparently hated the erotica meme (which I still haven't actually seen) but is all about the character death meme (which I really--my only answer to that would be, "No"). I might still be annoyed that twice in the last month people have linked me to character death fics with no warnings. (The first time I said something; the second time, I just felt like maybe I was being a coward. I mean, people love character death, right?)

Ugh, it is all too much to push against, you guys. Too much.

So I guess my question is, should I bother doing another color war? Last year I used the original 64 colors, and this year I'd use the colors that have been added and taken out since then, which luckily add up to more than 64 so there's enough for another bracket. And yeah, some shade of blue might win again but you never know! On a day like today I just wonder if it's worth it.

Comments

[wishfulclicking]

Color war sounds fun. Tumblr is a hot mess with the complaining about some of the winners.

What is the erotica meme? I haven't seen it around yet.

[jlh]

I have no idea! I have only seen people complaining about the meme but no one actually doing it, nor any links to same!

Last night there were folks on my tumblr complaining loudly in post after post (like it was twitter or something) about every single thing that happened on that show. Less complaining about the winners though that happened and more complaining about the show.

[alwayswondered]

I loved the colour war and would like to participate in another one!

I really think that part of the reason I never write any more is that I hate thinking up plots with conflict now. I used to write some pretty grim stuff and now I just want to write about happy people being happy. But happy people are boring, as any writing expert will tell you. I haven't yet found the balance between 'believable conflict that could drive a novel' and 'shit that depresses me'.

'Shit that depresses me' includes character death. :(

[jlh]

I don't think happy people are boring at all. There was an excellent article in the Guardian recently about how we've decided as a culture that people in functional established relationships aren't worth writing about, with the result that no one actually knows how to be in a functional established relationship and we devalue them. We only know how to be in unrequited love because that's what love stories are about. Even the ones that end well look like unrequited love up until that last second.

I think we've just decided that happy people are boring because we haven't worked out how to make them interesting. And happy doesn't mean the complete absence of conflict. It's just, I don't hear nearly as many people complaining or disparaging the unrelenting bleakness of so many things--in fact, unrelenting bleakness is singled out for high praise, while the complaints are all about schmoop. I think we need both things, but I wish we valued both things.

But maybe that just makes me a weirdo!

[alwayswondered]

I don't think it makes you a weirdo at all; I think you have a very good point about the relationships in media. Most stories are about a new couple getting together after various ludicrous tribulations (AND THEN THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER, THE END) or an existing couple going through some sort of will-they-won't-they-split-up scenario. I can't think of that many films about couples having a day-to-day existence dealing with stuff that doesn't arise directly from their relationship. Most commercial love stories are about getting together, not being together. And the emphasis is always on how difficult it is, because 'real' romance is about conquering obstacles and ~fighting~ for the one you love.

I wish schmoop and fluff weren't seen as something insubstantial and meaningless, too. I love a bit of fluff!

[stinaleigh]

I enjoyed last year's color war. I think doing it with the new colors would be interesting as I don't even know what they all are.

WRT happy writing, I like to read those stories. I think that is one reason I really like it when romance writers have a series of books about the same family. I really want to read about what happens after. I want to read the happily ever after part, with their every day activities and little spats, and make-up sex.

[jlh]

I like that, too, and I like it when fic writers do a "they get together" story and then keep writing about those same people as other stuff happens to them. You know, they buy a house, they paint the ceiling, whatever!

[kitty_wake]

Saw your post earlier, read the TV Tropes forum Oscar thread, and I realised I was getting unduly pissed off at people who were whining about The King's Speech winning best picture and painting themselves as... I don't know, all cool and niche for thinking Inception or The Social Network should have won. It was some sort of nerd elitism thing. I was angry! If I saw the words "Oscar Bait" tossed around once more, I was going to chuck my laptop out of the window.

Then I thought "Why do I care? I didn't even see that Facebook movie; I can't make a judgement on it - I didn't think it was interesting enough to see. I'll never have to meet any of these people and have a long, boring argument about whether historical is better than sci-fi. Besides, they're movies. None of us had a hand in creating them: we're defining ourselves solely by our tastes."

No-one has any such investment in colours. I'd like to vote for my favourite colour. (It's not blue.)

[jlh]

Yeah, between the "my movie didn't win" and the "that show didn't entertain me" yesterday was pretty grim on the entertainment sites. And it was raining, and every story I saw posted was angsty and sometimes, it gets too difficult to keep rolling that boulder up the hill and you need a little help. I mean, I loved Inception, but I just don't care what wins. When Steven Spielberg came out to present Best Picture, he said, "the winner will join a list of films that includes …" and listed a bunch of Best Pictures. But then he said, "and the films that don't win will join a list that includes …" and listed a bunch of nominated pictures that were also awesome and I just thought that was super classy.