ASSOCIATION for the DISRUPTION of the MEMETIC CONTINUUM.

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I have reached the point where my eyes roll involuntarily and I click away to a safer place.

Reading the webfiction I so enjoyed a few months back has turned into a need to duck for cover as the same old, same old, same old, same old rattles off the bandwagon to smack the trailing readers in the head.

It’s true, I can’t read Romance fiction because I throw the book at the wall as soon as a flame-haired firebrand glares at the tall handsome rake sporting a wry smile, and hisses, “I’ll show you!” Or the intelligent virgin suffers a frisson/brisance [undiagnosed epilepsy?] when the arrogant asshole pushes her up against the garden wall.

It’s true, I cringe when the enigmatic loner with raven hair over one grey eye turns his back on the sweet ingénue and hides his inner turmoil behind a brooding scowl. He’ll wear a cape and a sword and probably have fangs. She’ll have violet eyes and kneel on the grass with kittens.

And now I have had my fill of ghoulies, ghosties and long leggedy beasties. I cannot read zombies again, ever. 'Shaun of the Dead ' was as credible as they get, and I cannot suspend disbelief for another moment. It has reached the point where the subconscious argument that ‘this is well written’ can no longer cut it. Recognizing technical skill just can’t encourage me to follow one more >>NEXT>>.

There must be more to the writing community in here than one idea in twenty forms.

I remember when a gay central character was an encouraging anomaly, and gay relationships were either stereotyped in mass media or unapologetically straightforward and unremarkable in Clive Barker bestsellers. Now, in webfiction the pendulum has swung so far it has caught in its own sprocket and jammed its flywheel. It's a DVD stuck on repeat, loud. The only straight characters who are seen are those hideous narcissists from Romance macerations.

Oh God! Not again, another gay/bi/alternate sexuality character....please. I laughed once at the thought that someone should send Clive Barker some hetero porn, [research purposes only] just so his straight sex scenes weren’t quite so... ‘he slipped down her white cotton panties and licked her slit.’ Write what you know, people.

If one idea works, any idea, it is replicated with the speed of thought, then never changes. How I wish there was an Association for the Disruption of the Memetic Continnuum. Is that my inner anarchist or my recessive autocrat?

It is one of the many ways the dreaded Acquiring Editor can be a godsend. They at least, having ridden the crest of any fad to its fiscally rewarding conclusion, will stop publishing the rhetoric en vogue. They will also ensure a story starts at the beginning - not in Chapter 5 - and hopefully they will require some degree of emotional connectivity from the characters.

Good editorial input is worth its weight.

Maybe I’m just burned out. Not everyone who writes spec fic or gay lit should feel insulted. Good work is good work is good work. Just, stone the flamin’ crows, shake off the dags!

After that, I had better not make any recommendations this week, although I did find some fiction I really enjoyed. One [gay vampire sci-fi, LOL] I liked enough to bookmark for ‘soon TBR’ even though I’ve got Moby Dick and Anna Karenina both open, plus two pulps for days when I’m too blah to read properly.

I did get a link from Web Fiction Guide that you should go have a look at.

WEB FICTION GUIDE [unreviewed].

Sign in and give these works a rating. Those I’ve flicked through so far deserve some cred.

I’ll rest now; have a Bex and a little lie down; listen to Leonard Cohen and contemplate my navel.
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