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
( Read more... )
While I'm not active in the reading/writing of Harry Potter, I can say that fic in my own little fandom corner generally follows one of two paths: it expands on something (thematically, character-driven) that I've done before, so there's a thread of consistency not in the fic itself but in my development; or I'm reacting *against* something in fandom or fic. Some fic reveals the years (literally) I've been living with these characters, and some reveals my anger at another interpretation/neglected aspect.
But the real reason I'm writing this is to perhaps pose another question: how has this ability to *not* reconcile different interpretations/plotlines/characterizations altered your view of the canon material? Or any canon material? The reason I bring this up is that I find, after all this fic reading, that I watch/read in a different, more fluid, less concrete way than I did before. Fandom used to be about seeing something, becoming obsessed, and *then* saying "okay, but what if...?" Now I can sit myself down in front of a Star Trek episode I've never seen, or the new Harry Potter, and the possibilities fly at me from corners of the screen/page as I'm reading. And yet, I have no trouble following the linear narrative as presented; I just don't see it as the only narrative. So my question is really an expansion of yours: how can the brain not only not explode from these paradoxes, but how can we also believe them all simultaneously in concert with the original?
Whew. Sorry to spout all that at you!
Reply
How can the brain not only not explode from these paradoxes, but how can we also believe them all simultaneously in concert with the original?
Honestly? I have no idea how people can keep a handful of universes that are very, very different straight in their minds. Even with two separations -- major "fanon" ideas and the canon facts -- I find that they bleed over into each other; I have to double-check all of what I think is canon just to make sure that my mind isn't playing tricks on me. So I don't think I'm much help in answering that question.
At the same time, my approach to fic and canon materials is more "filling in the blanks". I tend to read/write/be interested in stories about what happened to a certain character during a time of "lost years", where it's really ambiguous what went on. That way one can create a storyline of his/her own while still allowing it to fit into canon.
My approach to watching/reading is a bit more fluid now, too, I think, though not so much as yours. I more read in-between the lines and look for things that could be happening, running concurrently to the plot; I don't really think of AU situations so much.
Anyhow, thank you for that question. :)
Reply
Leave a comment