Elephants in Riverside

[ellenkushner]

Yesterday, here (in a frenzy of artistic self-pity over work going badly), I likened trying to fit Riverside into short story form to "trying to fit an elephant into panty hose."

yaoi_in_exile responded with

Sometimes whining piteously gets good results. Don't tell the children. Like swearing and drinking, this is for adults only.

Comments

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Heh! It reminds me of the cartoon of the SCA combat elephant with the marshal saying "Needs more duct tape."

I think if you trust your readers to pick up context, and just write what happens with the level of detail appropriate to the plot, AND the plot is actually short story length, it should be fine. The existing Riverside short stories work for me, in any case!

Of course, for all I know, coming up with a short story length Riverside plot IS the problem. It's a complicated place.

all of which is REALLY to say, I trust you to do a good job, and I'm eager for the story.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

"I think if you . . . just write what happens with the level of detail appropriate to the plot, AND the plot is actually short story length, it should be fine."

Ah, yes. That. Reminds me of a rather ditzy aunt-in-law of mine who was once heard to remark brightly at a dinner party, "I don't know what everyone finds so complicated about the stock market; all you have to do is buy low and sell high!"

"The existing Riverside short stories work for me, in any case!"

Happiness! And Delia reminds me that it took me many, many false starts before I got "The Swordsman Whose Name was not Death" to lie down properly. Many, many, many . . . .

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Many tries, huh? Because that one especially works for me, in terms of tone and events.

I don't re-read "The Death of the Duke" too often, though. It tends to make me cry.

[phoenix64.livejournal.com]

That is one fabulous elephant. Your link to yesterday's entry is broken (it's missing the '.html' at the end) but I'm kind of enjoying LJ's 404 pages so if you don't want to fix it that'd be OK too.

[maryread.livejournal.com]

Wow. I didn't know they would do that! the lolcats have taken over! cool. (thinks, How can I make my own 404 error entry?)

[innocentsmith.livejournal.com]

That is just absurdly adorable. I love the elephant's ears, and it's little toes.

On another note, I did a doubletake seeing the subject line. Having grown up in Riverside, California, a town founded by teetotallers and in general still oppressively respectable, it always takes me at at least two chapters to stop giggling at the cognitive dissonance. I mean, it's a common enough town name that I'm sure you must get that all the time, but still. So seeing it turn up on my flist, my first thought was to wonder if one had escaped from the Orange Blossom Festival or something.

I mean, there are feral pot-bellied pigs that live in the river banks of the Santa Ana, and occasionally wander out in packs to root up people's lawns. You never know.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

*That's* what I'm missing! The Orange Blossom Festival!!

Heh, heh, heh.

I love your cognitive dissonance. Makes me feel almost cruel.

[j-bluestocking.livejournal.com]

This is my general attitude toward writing short stories. Any space less than 200 pages and I feel like Daniel Boone in the city, desperate for elbow room.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

I'm fascinated by the challenge, though.

[annnimeee.livejournal.com]

As an ego boost when you need it: I love your short stories and eagerly wait for the day when you write enough of them to form a collection. ♥

[belledewinter.livejournal.com]

That is awesome. ♥ And I'll wait for your short story, no matter how long it takes you to make it, because they are always so perfect they are worth my time. :)

[(Anonymous)]

Possible inspiration:

I seem to remember you saying you enjoyed reading Riverside fanfiction and I just read a story that made my jaw drop (in the best way!) here (http://www.yuletidetreasure.org/archive/36/correspondence.html). It's set quite far in the future so any copyright infringement worries should be negligent...

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

I don't think I ever actually said I read them, just that I love the fact that people write them!

[(Anonymous)]

Pardon the repost, I seem to have Issues with HTML.

Possible inspiration:

I seem to remember you saying you enjoyed reading Riverside fanfiction and I just read a story that made my jaw drop (in the best way!) here (http://www.yuletidetreasure.org/archive/36/correspondence.html). It's set quite far in the future so any copyright infringement worries should be negligent...