Benton Fraser Is (Probably) Not a Puppy Kicker

[brynnmck]

Hi! This is my first time, so please forgive any lack of expertise/finesse. ;)

I'm here to blather at you regarding the following question: "How do you manage to keep the guys in character when they keep wanting to develop personalities of their own?" (I'm going to focus primarily on the characters' behavior here, since the lovely sageness already

Comments

[brynnmck]

Thank you! Thanks for the opportunity to do this. :)

That's funny, because I associate "that's not buddies" pretty strongly with Kowalski, too--probably because that's where I first heard it, and I thought it was hysterical, and then only realized in HCL that maybe it's a CALLUM thing--but in a different way than I associate it with Billy. (I'm trying to remember if I've ever used that in a Kowalski fic. I can't remember.) But you're right, especially with Kowalski, I think there's a definite tendency to sort of cling those external signposts of his character--the verbal and physical tics--and leave something wanting in the character motivation. Because Kowalski and Billy are definitely using that phrase in entirely different ways and for entirely different reasons.

And YES YES YES about Stella. I do this same thing with Frannie, and with Thatcher (I love you, Paul, but you don't tend to do so well by female characters). I feel like they all get screwed by canon to a degree, and they start out with this potential and complexity that isn't really realized, but I feel like, as writers, we're... I don't know... we're within our rights, I guess, to choose one interpretation and go with it when the canon characters change pretty drastically (and without any apparent reason--this is very different, to me, than the gradual shift in Fraser over time, or even the less-gradual shift between partners, because Vecchio and Kowalski are two very different guys and of course Fraser is going to act differently around them).

Thanks again! :)