Google, OTCs, a meme, and various other thoughts

[alixtii]

I've found myself googling my own journal a lot lately. Now partially this is because I can do this; I'm the only Alixtii on the web, so I know that if I'm going to google "dawn roslin alixtii" I'm going to get some blast from the past. Now there are other ways of finding the specific post I would have in mind, comparing Dawn Summers to BSG's Laura Roslin, if I googled that--for example, there's the "monsters" tag, which I know I tagged that post with, and there are more recent posts which link back to that one (but which might themselves be difficult to find). Although that's not the best example, because apparently I mention Dawn and Laura in the same breath a lot (which is why I have a tag for specifically that kind of conversation, after all).

Similarly, if I want to find a fic, I'm much more likely nowadays to type in "alixtii" followed by a few words from the title, rather than go to the fiction index (which is linked in the sidebar of my journal) and find the link. Again, the fact that there's only one me ensures all the displayed hits will be relevant.

I've gotten so dependent on using Google to find things in my own journal I'm not sure how those of you who have the robots turn off actually manage to find anything.

. . .

One of the places I've mentioned Dawn and Laura in the same breath when I wasn't talking about the ethics of monstrosity at all was this (relatively recent) meme, where one tracks how many times one has written a number of female characters. I'm still not sure what to make of the fact that I've written Dawn (in just the completed fics) 37 times, Faith 25 times, Buffy 14 times, Kennedy 14 times, River 13 times, Drusilla 11 times, Harmony 8 times, Vi 8 times, Lilah 8 times, Fred 7 times, and Kitty 7 times. Other than the fact that I clearly do have one true characters: Dawn for Buffy/Angel, River for Firefly, and Kitty for X-Men.

And now I'm interested in doing a male version of the meme:

A
Andrew Wells [7 fics, plus WsIP]
Angel/us [5 fics, plus WsIP]

B
Bobby Drake [5 fics, plus WsIP]
Book, Shepherd Derrial [3 fics]

C
Caleb [1 fic]
Cassidy Casablancas [1 fic]
Charles Xavier [2 fics]

D
Dracula, Count [1 fic]

E
Ethan Rayne [5 fics, plus WsIP]

F

G
Gene Rainy [1 fic]

H
Hansel [1 fic]

I
Immortal, The [3 fics, plus WsIP]

J
Jack Harkness [1 fic]
James Moriarty [1 fic]
Jayne Cobb [3 fics]
Joss Whedon [5 fics]

K
Keith Mars [1 fic, plus "Not Quite Queen of the Damned"]
Kevin Burkhoff [1 fic]
Krevlorneswath Of The Deathwok Clan [1 fic]

L

M
Malcolm Reynolds [10 fics]
Mathias, Dr. [1 fic]

N

O
"Oz" Osbourne, Daniel [1 fic]

P
Perceval Glyde [1 fic]
Peter Wiggin [3 fics]

Q
Quentin Travers [1 fic, plus WsIP]

R
Richard Wilkins III [1 fic]
Roger Wyndam-Pryce [2 fics, plus WsIP]
Rupert Giles [27 fics, plus WsIP]

S
Septimus Hodge [1 fic]
Severus Snape [1 fic]
Sherlock Holmes [1 fic]
Snyder, Principal [1 fic]
Spike aka William the Bloody [5 fics, plus WsIP]
Simon Tam [4 fics]

T

U

V

W
Warren Mears [2 fics]
"Wash" Washborne, Hoburn [1 fic]
Wesley Wyndam-Pryce [9 fics]

X
Xander Harris [7 fics]

Y

Z

The highlights of the above being that I've written Giles 27 times, Mal 10 times, Wesley 9 times, Xander 7 times, Andrew 7 times, Ethan 5 times, Angel/us 5 times, and Joss 5 times (soon to be 6!). Obvious conclusion: I write male characters a lot less than I do female characters. Less obvious conclusions: I'm surprised at how many Mal stories I've written--more than River stories, even! It's kind of hard to argue from the data, then, that I don't have male One True Characters, even though I sort of feel I don't. I can explain away Giles as less the result of being a One True Character than just being shipped with one, but not all of my Giles stories are Giles/Dawn. And Joss is clearly my OTC for RPF. (I've written Summer all of once.)

Comments

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Oh, and to answer your question, I find things by tag, by remembering roughly when I posted, and by always bothering to include a descriptive subject line so searching my archive is easy.