So I wanted to play with remixing again for my next programming project, and had the (admittedly out-of-nowhere) idea to build sestinas from the text of fan fiction stories (i.e., remixing the remixers). I’ve been a fan of the sestina ever since reading a couple written by Joe Haldeman (and I was kind of psyched to have a sometimes-poet among my Clarion instructors). It’s a poetry form without set rhyme or cadence, but based on the final word in each line – and they’re hard to write. I know; I’ve tried. For an example of a good one, see “Saul’s Death” (yup, by Mr. Haldeman).
I went back and forth on where to pull the stories from (the assignment is to do HTML parsing, so they have to come straight from the web). I very much wanted to use Archive of Our Own, but there just isn’t enough content there yet, as it’s still in beta. The advantage of fanfiction.net is that it’s huge, and I’m basing it on search queries – so you put in something random like “buttercup” (this was a test case) as a keyword, and it comes up with enough stories to build the sestina. The disadvantage is the median quality (hence the nickname pit of voles), but hey, it’s not for me to judge aesthetic quality. (And not for the courts either. I should cite this. Bleistein v. Donaldson!)
In any case, I’ve got the backend working – a few bugs and there’s nothing graphical yet, just printing out in the terminal, but I still have my very first sestina. (Well, almost – sans the final stanza since it’s a little different from the rest and will require some code tweaking). My test search query was “werewolf,” and the lines come from fics based on a number of different fandoms, though mostly Harry Potter and Twilight. And here it is…
Feeling weak from the lost blood
Lets get out of here
The next day they got up and had breakfast TK went to the door
Sam answered instead of Jacob this time
Felicia when can we leave
Probably just Newton and the memory of it
He smiled again and told her jokingly “I wasn’t planning on it”
In strange dreams she would not tickle his soft palate with her whispering blood
He would like very much to tell Cho to leave
We didn’t think there was anyone was sitting in here
I haven’t been for a very long time
She shut her drawer and then there was another knock on her door
“Always something” she muttered to Rafe as she went to open the door
Rafe was used to this by now and thought nothing of it
Even with your ‘abilities’, the feds still found you in 3 days last time
There: Sirius looked up at him through the blood
The table is too small — and yes, that’s the only thing that’s wrong here
I need to think of an excuse to leave
What if I can’t leave
Rafe was awoken from his sleep by the opening of Laurel’s bedroom door
I never wanted to spend summer here
Before his mother met someone else — that was it
“Please,” he finally spits, through the spray of imaginary blood
So I raced to the Forbidden Forest and I only just in time
“I think you’ve got an inside track,” he said, volunteering information for the first time
I can get at least three house of sleep, then leave
something was leaking into my vains, and flowing and mingling with my blood
He stood up, dusting off his jeans, and started walking to the door
It is a dirty thing to watch a girl cry and do nothing about it
Lupin could stop thinking altogether, here
Still; if Cho would only think of something, he’d die here
Please don’t be shitting me this time
Trust I’m not calling anyone about it
There was a quick nod and the man started to leave
Both the guys climbed in, and closed the door
The werewolf had the taste and unquenchable desire for blood
