sort of completely ridiculous fic rec
May. 10th, 2011 04:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rmLike most people in fandom, I have the fic I like to read, the fic I'll read if I'm really bored, and the stuff that's totally not to my taste that I tend to read out of morbid curiosity, which is how I stumbled on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bellinaball's "Weight of the World" and "Weightless."
It's Glee AU wingfic, and I started reading it because I thought it would be terrible. Well, it's not. In fact, it has some of the finest, careful world-building I've seen in fandom, which is particularly remarkable considering the trope in question (it's not, I'll admit, one I have a lot of patience for as a rule).
I am extremely hesitant to spoil these fics, because how the information about what's going on unspools is so fantastic, but you do at least need a few warnings, especially for the first fic, "Weight of the World," which involves slavery and rape on repeat. And if you like Blaine but can otherwise deal with the content? Just grit your teeth and read it, because you need to read it to set up the sequel. This isn't the story that made me fall in love with this world, so the intensity of this rec may not make sense to you while you're reading it. "Weight of the World" is truthfully workmanlike and nearly unremarkable (although I liked it enough to try the sequel), but you need it for the larger journey.
It's the sequel, "Weightless," that's really amazing. It's technically and artistically much stronger. It's where the world-building becomes amazing. The craft is solid and the prose is mostly invisible except when it turns poetic at judicious and appropriate moments. The characterizations (again, with the exception of Blaine who only appears in the first story) are remarkably spot on for a world so strange, and there's a confrontation between Kurt and Rachel after they get smacked with a brick about the desires they once competed over in common that's one of the finest moments I've seen in any fandom.
bellinaball could have made the matter of wings an allegory for queerness and made me hate this story; it's a choice that would have felt nearly unforgivable to me. But no, these are distinct issues in the story that have a few interesting intersections.
There are, in fact, dozens of places where she could have taken a cheaper path in storytelling. It's not, for example, a Kurt/Finn fic, despite what it will seem like at point; the random celebrity cameos actually make sense (one if particularly hilarious, but I refuse to explain until you've read it, and if you're in Glee fandom, you'll get it immediately); and the story skirts around fetishizing immortality and does good work about the importance of death just when you think it won't.
Unlike most stories I deeply love, I'm not in this story anywhere. There's no one I identify with. This story isn't mine. And this story isn't really an allegory for any of mine.
But I will say this: life is filled with shit we should all care about that we don't because we don't have time and because it doesn't involve us directly. My parents never expected to have a gay kid; I never expected to have a chronic illness. The experience of having your politics changed by the randomness of flesh isn't a pleasant one. Watching Kurt wrestle with that in this is what made the story feel so tangibly real, and why I had to flee a Victoria's Secret abruptly the other day (again, when you read the fic, see why and laugh -- until it happens to you too).
I'm so tempted to tellbellinaball that she should file the serial numbers off this thing and use her world building for some original work, but the story is also, ultimately, so tied into the way Glee puts people on display and shows us what shallow assholes most even decent people can be, that I can't imagine divorcing this thing from its source. And, I'd be lying if I said the story didn't need the context of Kurt, beautiful, fragile, strong, misunderstood and often in tears, to make it work.
Also, be sure to download the fanmix. If you can listen to Gary Jules's version of "Mad World" without sobbing now, you won't be able to when this thing is done.
bellinaball's "Weight of the World" and "Weightless."It's Glee AU wingfic, and I started reading it because I thought it would be terrible. Well, it's not. In fact, it has some of the finest, careful world-building I've seen in fandom, which is particularly remarkable considering the trope in question (it's not, I'll admit, one I have a lot of patience for as a rule).
I am extremely hesitant to spoil these fics, because how the information about what's going on unspools is so fantastic, but you do at least need a few warnings, especially for the first fic, "Weight of the World," which involves slavery and rape on repeat. And if you like Blaine but can otherwise deal with the content? Just grit your teeth and read it, because you need to read it to set up the sequel. This isn't the story that made me fall in love with this world, so the intensity of this rec may not make sense to you while you're reading it. "Weight of the World" is truthfully workmanlike and nearly unremarkable (although I liked it enough to try the sequel), but you need it for the larger journey.
It's the sequel, "Weightless," that's really amazing. It's technically and artistically much stronger. It's where the world-building becomes amazing. The craft is solid and the prose is mostly invisible except when it turns poetic at judicious and appropriate moments. The characterizations (again, with the exception of Blaine who only appears in the first story) are remarkably spot on for a world so strange, and there's a confrontation between Kurt and Rachel after they get smacked with a brick about the desires they once competed over in common that's one of the finest moments I've seen in any fandom.
bellinaball could have made the matter of wings an allegory for queerness and made me hate this story; it's a choice that would have felt nearly unforgivable to me. But no, these are distinct issues in the story that have a few interesting intersections. There are, in fact, dozens of places where she could have taken a cheaper path in storytelling. It's not, for example, a Kurt/Finn fic, despite what it will seem like at point; the random celebrity cameos actually make sense (one if particularly hilarious, but I refuse to explain until you've read it, and if you're in Glee fandom, you'll get it immediately); and the story skirts around fetishizing immortality and does good work about the importance of death just when you think it won't.
Unlike most stories I deeply love, I'm not in this story anywhere. There's no one I identify with. This story isn't mine. And this story isn't really an allegory for any of mine.
But I will say this: life is filled with shit we should all care about that we don't because we don't have time and because it doesn't involve us directly. My parents never expected to have a gay kid; I never expected to have a chronic illness. The experience of having your politics changed by the randomness of flesh isn't a pleasant one. Watching Kurt wrestle with that in this is what made the story feel so tangibly real, and why I had to flee a Victoria's Secret abruptly the other day (again, when you read the fic, see why and laugh -- until it happens to you too).
I'm so tempted to tell
bellinaball that she should file the serial numbers off this thing and use her world building for some original work, but the story is also, ultimately, so tied into the way Glee puts people on display and shows us what shallow assholes most even decent people can be, that I can't imagine divorcing this thing from its source. And, I'd be lying if I said the story didn't need the context of Kurt, beautiful, fragile, strong, misunderstood and often in tears, to make it work.Also, be sure to download the fanmix. If you can listen to Gary Jules's version of "Mad World" without sobbing now, you won't be able to when this thing is done.
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no subject
Date: 2011-05-11 12:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-12 12:47 am (UTC)>file the serial numbers off this thing and use her world building for some original work, but the story is also, ultimately, so tied in...
I always feel tempted to tell you this about all your fannish writing too, because it's all so wonderful I feel it should be all yours. (Okay, I just wrote & re-wrote that sentence 4 times and it was somewhat awkward each time, so I'm hitting enter and hoping it sounds true and heartfelt.)
no subject
Date: 2011-05-12 12:50 am (UTC)Thank you!
Kali and I are firm in that IHNIIHBT can only be what it is. But we are co-writing a novel together based out of the torched remains of our first collaboration, and it's going to be AMAZING.
I also have some other projects that extend from stuff that started as fic, but it would be hard for you to find those.
My little college!verse. I don't know what the fuck that is, other than a compulsion right now.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-12 10:32 pm (UTC)Anyway, I saw you mention in the comments there that you would rec the fic when it finished so I wanted to stop by and read your rec. Really well said. I hope a lot of people go to read it based on what you've said. And I hope bellinaball sees your rec as well because it's beautiful.