Feedback rant "out of character"
Feedback rant "out of character"
I like to rant about something, that people often write when giving feedback. They complain, that a character is out of character, when he´s not exactly doing things known from the source material.
In most of the cases, there is nothing said in the source material about e.g. how a character might react to a shocking message or to being held hostage or in bed with his/her lover or when drunk... etc. Everyone can now speculate about what the character might do, but nobody can really know the answer without a "proof" in source material, because it doesn´t exist. So is a character out of character just because he/she tries something new in a fan-fiction-story, like someone starting a new hobby etc ???? I don´t think so. That has nothing to do with misunderstanding a character or making a mistake as a writer, but with being creative.
Sure, there are some traits that won´t change or make some actions unlikely, but it doesn´t mean, that some things are impossible e.g. a known villain doing something good or the good guy committing a crime or a serious person telling a joke for the first time, especially when the fan fiction is about character development.
Star Trek Deep Space Nine e.g.. has mirror-universe episodes, were everybody is OOC for the sake of comedy or showing that things can be different or the characters behave strange, because they are infected by an alien disease, replaced by a clone, under the influence of drugs...etc.
It´s even more difficult, when you write about character´s feelings /inner monolog etc., because who can tell from the source material, what a person was really thinking/feeling/wishing or wanting at that moment, that you took from the source material and used in your fiction ?
The same problem occurs, when you write a fiction giving background information /past life stories etc. about a character with a yet unknown background, that contradicts with canon after some seasons, because the canon background turns out to be quite different to your fan fiction version.
In short, if you got to stick that close to canon, how can you write a story at all, because none of your ideas (alternative pairings, new events, new characters, alternative endings) will ever be part of canon and that makes all fan fiction- stories AU or OOC.
I like to rant about something, that people often write when giving feedback. They complain, that a character is out of character, when he´s not exactly doing things known from the source material.
In most of the cases, there is nothing said in the source material about e.g. how a character might react to a shocking message or to being held hostage or in bed with his/her lover or when drunk... etc. Everyone can now speculate about what the character might do, but nobody can really know the answer without a "proof" in source material, because it doesn´t exist. So is a character out of character just because he/she tries something new in a fan-fiction-story, like someone starting a new hobby etc ???? I don´t think so. That has nothing to do with misunderstanding a character or making a mistake as a writer, but with being creative.
Sure, there are some traits that won´t change or make some actions unlikely, but it doesn´t mean, that some things are impossible e.g. a known villain doing something good or the good guy committing a crime or a serious person telling a joke for the first time, especially when the fan fiction is about character development.
Star Trek Deep Space Nine e.g.. has mirror-universe episodes, were everybody is OOC for the sake of comedy or showing that things can be different or the characters behave strange, because they are infected by an alien disease, replaced by a clone, under the influence of drugs...etc.
It´s even more difficult, when you write about character´s feelings /inner monolog etc., because who can tell from the source material, what a person was really thinking/feeling/wishing or wanting at that moment, that you took from the source material and used in your fiction ?
The same problem occurs, when you write a fiction giving background information /past life stories etc. about a character with a yet unknown background, that contradicts with canon after some seasons, because the canon background turns out to be quite different to your fan fiction version.
In short, if you got to stick that close to canon, how can you write a story at all, because none of your ideas (alternative pairings, new events, new characters, alternative endings) will ever be part of canon and that makes all fan fiction- stories AU or OOC.