meta | fic: writing multiple, varying "takes" on the same characters and events
1 School starts again for me on the fifth; I'm wasting the remainder of my summer by reading a lot of fic and writing a lot of horrible original fiction and fic. This week I'm doing a bit of volunteering -- the type you actually have to wake up early for -- so that should get me sorted on a regular sleep schedule again. Hopefully. Judging from the fact that it's midnight now, perhaps not.
2 The fic I'm currently writing is killing me. Thus, my rantings, as thinly-disguised meta! This is a bit all-over-the-place; it's about personal canon, it's about writing multiple takes on the same character/event, and it's also about reading them. Bear with my midnight-induced ramblings. ;)
meta | fic: writing multiple, varying "takes" on the same characters and events
One of the things that I don't understand and, at the same time, love about fic is how we can write different stories for the same characters, over and over and over.
In novels, one set of events happens to one character; it's linear. Things happen, your favourite characters die, and there's nothing you can do about it. Get over it, move on, read the rest of the book, maybe cry a little when no one's looking.
But in fic, there's possibility for fangirls to deny Sirius' death. Each of the stories are like individual AU plotlines, branching off into alternate realities. Like reading about a certain character? Great. You can read endless fics about what may have happened to him/her during childhood, teenage years, and adulthood - in every conceivable pairing and circumstance, and if it doesn't exist you can go write it - and you'll probably never run out.
Like many other fic writers/readers, I've assembled a "personal canon" while reading, picking and choosing from fic I've read and from ideas of my own. Examples in the Harry Potter fandom: I have certain definite ideas about who Regulus was and was not, I rather like the idea of Remus the academian, Peter gave Remus his R.J. Lupin briefcase (courtesy of Professor R.J. Lupin by such_heights xD).
At the same time, reading fic has never given me a definitive sequence of events that excludes all other fic not complying with those ideas. Another HP example: I read largely in the Marauders era and the First Rise of Voldemort, and have no problems reconciling the idea of several different ways Peter could have turned traitor, or what Sirius and James were doing for the Order, or Remus' experiences as a werewolf.
It's when I write fic that these millions of different stories become a problem.
For instance, I'm writing two pieces about Regulus Black right now, and they seem to want to integrate themselves into one all-encompassing narrative that follows one cohesive plotline of his life. Which would be great, if I were writing a damned novel, but I'm not - I'm not so deluded in my abilities as a writer that I think my readers will sit through 20,000 words of every single thing that's happened to the poor boy, influencing his every choice and character flaw.
I'm trying to write concise, accessible fic that portrays a certain characteristic or choice smattering of events, because I think that's what a lot of good fic does - it gives us a nice snapshot of a facet of something, not the whole thing.
But once I've worked out a good, thorough plotline and personality for a character, and gone into all of the issues in depth, s/he can't be anything else for me, at least when I'm creating. If I've decided that certain events shaped someone's personality, I can't go write another fic about how a different set of events did the same thing. If I have an idea of how a certain ship got together, I can't reconcile myself to the idea of writing a different fic.
(I dearly hope that I can get over this eventually, or I'm going to run out of things I like to write about in my fandom very soon.)
Anyhow, I understand why we write the same character's story, over and over, in different ways. As fans, we love the what-ifs, and we love these characters. What I don't understand is how, as readers and writers, we can read dozens of these stories portraying the same event in different ways and... manage not to go insane. And to make it all fit together in our minds and not have it a jumbled mess of events and character threads.
So, because I'm curious to know how other readers/writers of fic deal with this issue, and even if it is an issue at all or if I'm just delusional: question period! xD
Questions for Readers & Writers
1. Have there ever been certain fics that establish a "this is what happened" feeling in your mind?
2. Does this personal canon influence what you can/can't accept as "believable" when you're reading a fic that doesn't comply?
Questions for Writers
1. Have you ever found certain ideas/plotlines/themes "bleeding over" from fic to fic, if you write often about a certain character/set of characters?
2. How do you deal with this? If something (i.e. a get-together, a death, a separation) happens a certain way in your mind, and you write it, how can you write another story in which it happens differently?
3. When you write fic, what do you go for? The "snapshot" idea (i.e. focusing on a certain theme, character trait, ship, and developing it) or the "entire life" idea (i.e. long fics, or a series of cohesive short fics, developing an entire character)?
Aside: Um, I'm sorry I didn't get back to all responses on the last meta post. I was busy, but now, suitably contrite, I will try better this time. ;)
2 The fic I'm currently writing is killing me. Thus, my rantings, as thinly-disguised meta! This is a bit all-over-the-place; it's about personal canon, it's about writing multiple takes on the same character/event, and it's also about reading them. Bear with my midnight-induced ramblings. ;)
meta | fic: writing multiple, varying "takes" on the same characters and events
One of the things that I don't understand and, at the same time, love about fic is how we can write different stories for the same characters, over and over and over.
In novels, one set of events happens to one character; it's linear. Things happen, your favourite characters die, and there's nothing you can do about it. Get over it, move on, read the rest of the book, maybe cry a little when no one's looking.
But in fic, there's possibility for fangirls to deny Sirius' death. Each of the stories are like individual AU plotlines, branching off into alternate realities. Like reading about a certain character? Great. You can read endless fics about what may have happened to him/her during childhood, teenage years, and adulthood - in every conceivable pairing and circumstance, and if it doesn't exist you can go write it - and you'll probably never run out.
Like many other fic writers/readers, I've assembled a "personal canon" while reading, picking and choosing from fic I've read and from ideas of my own. Examples in the Harry Potter fandom: I have certain definite ideas about who Regulus was and was not, I rather like the idea of Remus the academian, Peter gave Remus his R.J. Lupin briefcase (courtesy of Professor R.J. Lupin by such_heights xD).
At the same time, reading fic has never given me a definitive sequence of events that excludes all other fic not complying with those ideas. Another HP example: I read largely in the Marauders era and the First Rise of Voldemort, and have no problems reconciling the idea of several different ways Peter could have turned traitor, or what Sirius and James were doing for the Order, or Remus' experiences as a werewolf.
It's when I write fic that these millions of different stories become a problem.
For instance, I'm writing two pieces about Regulus Black right now, and they seem to want to integrate themselves into one all-encompassing narrative that follows one cohesive plotline of his life. Which would be great, if I were writing a damned novel, but I'm not - I'm not so deluded in my abilities as a writer that I think my readers will sit through 20,000 words of every single thing that's happened to the poor boy, influencing his every choice and character flaw.
I'm trying to write concise, accessible fic that portrays a certain characteristic or choice smattering of events, because I think that's what a lot of good fic does - it gives us a nice snapshot of a facet of something, not the whole thing.
But once I've worked out a good, thorough plotline and personality for a character, and gone into all of the issues in depth, s/he can't be anything else for me, at least when I'm creating. If I've decided that certain events shaped someone's personality, I can't go write another fic about how a different set of events did the same thing. If I have an idea of how a certain ship got together, I can't reconcile myself to the idea of writing a different fic.
(I dearly hope that I can get over this eventually, or I'm going to run out of things I like to write about in my fandom very soon.)
Anyhow, I understand why we write the same character's story, over and over, in different ways. As fans, we love the what-ifs, and we love these characters. What I don't understand is how, as readers and writers, we can read dozens of these stories portraying the same event in different ways and... manage not to go insane. And to make it all fit together in our minds and not have it a jumbled mess of events and character threads.
So, because I'm curious to know how other readers/writers of fic deal with this issue, and even if it is an issue at all or if I'm just delusional: question period! xD
Questions for Readers & Writers
1. Have there ever been certain fics that establish a "this is what happened" feeling in your mind?
2. Does this personal canon influence what you can/can't accept as "believable" when you're reading a fic that doesn't comply?
Questions for Writers
1. Have you ever found certain ideas/plotlines/themes "bleeding over" from fic to fic, if you write often about a certain character/set of characters?
2. How do you deal with this? If something (i.e. a get-together, a death, a separation) happens a certain way in your mind, and you write it, how can you write another story in which it happens differently?
3. When you write fic, what do you go for? The "snapshot" idea (i.e. focusing on a certain theme, character trait, ship, and developing it) or the "entire life" idea (i.e. long fics, or a series of cohesive short fics, developing an entire character)?
Aside: Um, I'm sorry I didn't get back to all responses on the last meta post. I was busy, but now, suitably contrite, I will try better this time. ;)