Calling all pro-fun round-robin alumni/ae

[capri0mni]

(This is unfiltered, because I can't remember if I have you all on the same one...)

Hey gang! I've actually started writing my Eloise* story -- as in actually putting it down as strings of words in a retrievable medium, and not just thinking the words to myself, over and over. I'd like to go back and reread what I (We) wrote about the time "Sweetheart" first materializes by Eloise's bridge -- I think it was just an alluded to memory, and I'll probably change it up a good bit. But I want to remind myself of the armature.

But I can't remember which story that appeared in -- was it at the start of the third Hoedown, or the end of the second?

*(Though she isn't named Eloise, yet, because she doesn't know her true identity, yet, and the tribe of Nasty trolls who fostered her through childhood would never deign to use human names)

Thanks!

Also -- am thinking of creating an Eloise filter -- would any of you like to be on it (Hoedown alums or otherwise)?

Comments

[rob_t_firefly]

As always I'd love to be on any filters on which you might like me, and especially this one because ELOISE.

[capri0mni]

You know... this warms the heart of my cockles; ever since the round-robins fizzled and lost momentum, I've oft wondered if Eloise lost her relevance with them.

[smw]

If I'm invited, yes?

I have no idea what you're talking about but I'm definitely willing to learn.

[capri0mni]

Of course you're invited! As a matter of fact, the more "outsiders" I have available for critique, the better I'll be able to assess whether or not I'm succeeding in freeing Eloise from the confines of her origins.

Here's the intro I wrote of my project, over in fiction_transitions -- it has all the pertinent info (I think):

Hello!

For the most part, I've never written fanfiction, but eleven years ago, an original character popped into my head, who's very existence has been dependent on the Doctor Who universe.

Eloise was "born" in the Usenet Newsgroup Rec.arts.drwho [aka RADW]. At the time, there was an angry and protracted flame-war going on between two factions of fans. The newsgroup was filled with people accusing each other of being either a Pro-Pertwee or Pro-McCoy troll. One day, I admitted that I came into the forum to have Fun, and one of my friends, in a friendly way, accused me of being a "Pro-fun Troll." And with that, Eloise "popped" into existence (that's her, in the icon).

Over the course of the next four or five years (depending on how you count), I hosted, through her, a series of Pro-Fun Round-Robin fanfics. At first, she was just a way for me to "link" the different aspects of the stories that other people were writing -- as "hostess," she was free to wander among groups of guests, and thus be able plausibly spread information to the characters who needed it. Over that same time, her own back-story and character deepened (And she gained a family who "co-hosted" the parties with her -- even a new Time Lord, from the ancient history of Gallifrey), even though she had no real existence outside these annual parties. Every other "guest" at the parties had their own fictions to return to, and she did not.

Last year, I realized that had to change, and it was time to give Eloise her own existence, without owing a debt to either the BBC or any of my friends, who'd helped create her universe.

But that means carefully unweaving her from one tapestry and reweaving her into another, without losing her archetypal essence.

And that's going to be the tricky part. Right now, I'm debating whether, and by how much, I should borrow from traditional Scandinavian Troll Folklore and how much to make her a different sort of being altogether, out of whole cloth, so to speak. And also whether to place her universe in the age of the Internet, or in pre-Industrial, agricultural times.

I'm not sure I have any specific questions at this point, but I just wanted to air what I'm working through, so when I come in in a week or two, babbling incoherently about whether a ringing church bell can wreak havoc on an Internet connection, you'll have some idea why. ;-)

[smw]

Ooh, this looks most excellent and I'm excited at the prospect of both reading it and lending a helping hand.

[capri0mni]

Yay!

BTW, you're already on the filter where I started talking about this ("chaotic good spillage"), but now you have a bit more context to know what those days' posts (the 17th and 19th) are going on about.