[16 Dec 11] The Myth of the American Sleepover

[lilithanat]

Ohgod that third panel... *brain breaks*

[retrophrenologist]

Nah, Lisa'll turn it into a ten-volume yaoi dōjinshi that will be huge in Japan, but languish in obscurity here in the West.

[oddtail]

Didn't want to make the thread myself, so waited until someone else did... took surprisingly long

Not much to say for now, other than... "gay romance at Dachau"? I can't put my finger on it, but it's just... wrong. Off. Irreverent? Judging by Lisa's expression (and past knowledge of the character), what she is writing is not particularly deep and serious. So, yeah. Off.

On the other hand, I fully expect what Lisa is writing to be something completely different, and Sara just being random/weird/crazy/sarcastic/wrong.

[Adrishiana]

Nah, Lisa'll turn it into a ten-volume yaoi dōjinshi that will be huge in Japan, but languish in obscurity here in the West.

You should see Hank's sailor fuku.

[Mr. Brightside]

Not much to say for now, other than... "gay romance at Dachau"? I can't put my finger on it, but it's just... wrong. Off. Irreverent? Judging by Lisa's expression (and past knowledge of the character), what she is writing is not particularly deep and serious. So, yeah. Off.

Yeah, it's something that could be good, but not from Lisa as she is. It's not something to be written on a lark, or, without a lot of talent, by someone who's lived as cushy a life as Lisa. The best I can imagine is a kind of m/m "Isla meets Mr. Lawrence," and I can come up with much worse than that.

[Alice Macher]

On the other hand, I fully expect what Lisa is writing to be something completely different, and Sara just being random/weird/crazy/sarcastic/wrong.

Mm. But Hank is pictured here as one of the characters, and as we don't know whether Lisa's confided in Sara about her new feelings for him, I'm inclined to think that's the inside of Lisa's mind, not Sara's. (Sara's being the shattered remnants from the philosophy lecture.) OTOH, I don't really want that to be the inside of Lisa's mind, because that's...kinda WTF. The Hank part of it, anyway, for sure. Maybe the subject matter, maybe not, depending on how she's handling it.

[Adrishiana]

Not much to say for now, other than... "gay romance at Dachau"? I can't put my finger on it, but it's just... wrong. Off. Irreverent? Judging by Lisa's expression (and past knowledge of the character), what she is writing is not particularly deep and serious. So, yeah. Off.

Yeah, it's something that could be good, but not from Lisa as she is. It's not something to be written on a lark, or, without a lot of talent, by someone who's lived as cushy a life as Lisa. The best I can imagine is a kind of m/m "Isla meets Mr. Lawrence," and I can come up with much worse than that.

This, pretty much.

[retrophrenologist]

Not much to say for now, other than... "gay romance at Dachau"? I can't put my finger on it, but it's just... wrong. Off. Irreverent? Judging by Lisa's expression (and past knowledge of the character), what she is writing is not particularly deep and serious. So, yeah. Off.

Yeah, it's something that could be good, but not from Lisa as she is. It's not something to be written on a lark, or, without a lot of talent, by someone who's lived as cushy a life as Lisa. The best I can imagine is a kind of m/m "Isla meets Mr. Lawrence," and I can come up with much worse than that.

It's the first day of a freshman class, no-ones expecting anything to be good. It'll probably fall somewhere between 'interesting ideas, but poorly expressed' and 'bird cage liner'. This whole lecture is most likely just an exercise to get them used to writing something on demand.

[oddtail]

On the other hand, I fully expect what Lisa is writing to be something completely different, and Sara just being random/weird/crazy/sarcastic/wrong.

Mm. But Hank is pictured here as one of the characters, and as we don't know whether Lisa's confided in Sara about her new feelings for him, I'm inclined to think that's the inside of Lisa's mind, not Sara's. (Sara's being the shattered remnants from the philosophy lecture.) OTOH, I don't really want that to be the inside of Lisa's mind, because that's...kinda WTF. The Hank part of it, anyway, for sure. Maybe the subject matter, maybe not, depending on how she's handling it.

Good point, I think. If Hank is there, it's probably what Lisa imagines, hence she really IS writing that kind of story.

Now that you mention it, the "he has Hank's face" part is kinda icky to me, too. Because on top of the "writing about Dachau inmates in a hawt boy-on-boy-action style" vibe that I'd have even without the image, the association of Hank with the story suggests that Lisa is not very aware of what setting she's picked. As much as I understand there may have been serious tragedy in Hank's life (we don't know the specifics yet, really), it's not, for the lack of a better word, quite the kind of caliber of tragedy that Dachau makes me think of.

Unless we're talking about the town of Dachau, which would be a masterful way to fool the readers, rather than the Dachau concentration camp, which was my first thought.

[Adrishiana]

Unless we're talking about the town of Dachau, which would be a masterful way to fool the readers, rather than the Dachau concentration camp, which was my first thought.

I think the "striped pajamas" make your first interpretation the correct one.

[brasca]

Strangely enough I was just watching clips of the Ricky Gervais Show and some of what Karl Pilkington was saying about letters is oddly similar to what Lisa is saying. The difference is when Lisa says it she sounds insightful and when Karl does it he sounds like a moron.

Sara shouldn't sell herself too short in creative writing just because she's got writer's block. It's important to write something, but just because Lisa has filled up a page doesn't mean it's any good.

[oddtail]

Unless we're talking about the town of Dachau, which would be a masterful way to fool the readers, rather than the Dachau concentration camp, which was my first thought.

I think the "striped pajamas" make your first interpretation the correct one.

I know, but given that it *is* Lisa we're talking about, there could be an complex plot thread involved, detailing the building of a prison in Dachau specifically to house young gay studs or something...

[Adrishiana]

Unless we're talking about the town of Dachau, which would be a masterful way to fool the readers, rather than the Dachau concentration camp, which was my first thought.

I think the "striped pajamas" make your first interpretation the correct one.

I know, but given that it *is* Lisa we're talking about, there could be an complex plot thread involved, detailing the building of a prison in Dachau specifically to house young gay studs or something...

What, no lasers?

[IS_Wolf]

Oddly enough, the idea of a gay "romance"/tragedy in Dachau Concentration Camp is a feasible story idea.
Something that a lot of folks tend to overlook when dealing with the Concentration Camps is that it wasn't just Jews getting shipped there.

Roma's, Gays, political enemies, people with mental handicaps, etc. All of them got Die Endlösung treatment.

Not quite sure if Lisa is up to writing something like that though. Would require a boat load of research, and even then there's an issue of characterization and pulling that off successfully and enough professional writers have a hard enough time with that already, let alone an amateur like Lisa.

Heck, if she just wanted to go for shock value then she could make it a prisoner/guard relationship to boot.
And that would up the difficulty factor even more so.

--------
Another note, somehow I don't think that Sara and Fiona just wandered into a nice fluffy teen comedy.
Looks more like one of those Art House philosophy movies..

Can be interesting, but not when your brain is already hovering close to data overload.

[oddtail]

Oddly enough, the idea of a gay "romance"/tragedy in Dachau Concentration Camp is a feasible story idea.
Something that a lot of folks tend to overlook when dealing with the Concentration Camps is that it wasn't just Jews getting shipped there.

Roma's, Gays, political enemies, people with mental handicaps, etc. All of them got Die Endlösung treatment.

Oh, I'm well aware of that. My problem is, like I said, with the high probability that the romance is handled very... yaoishly, if you get my drift.