thoughts on fic (pt. 2) + recs

[johnnypurple]

I am really crap at writing Dean Winchester. I love him as a character but I can't write him, I can't quite get my head around him. Why is this? (Discovered today while writing 4.03 response fic

Comments

[wolfy_writing]

That's odd. I find Dean much easier to write than Sam. Not that you can tell by my latest fic. It just slides into place in my head.

[johnnypurple]

ooh, i haven't read the latest part of your fic yet! I shall have to do that.

I don't know what it is - maybe because Sam is more emo or intellectual or something, I find him easier to write. Perhaps it means I can get away with writing wanky stuff! But with Dean I'm constantly aware that I am perhaps not writing his voice accurately or I have him intellectualise things in a way that is quite OOC. Also because he seems quite American and I'm not confident with writing Yanks. I seem to slip Britishisms in without realising, which is utterly inappropriate for a character like Dean. Also I think he's quite a complex character but he represses a lot of stuff and doesn't examine things. Which is more difficult to write convincingly, I think. ... Did any of that make sense? No? *shrug* ;-P

[wolfy_writing]

That makes sense. He has a very American way of speaking, with specific regional quirks, and those differences stick out more in the kind of stuff Dean's likely to say or think in words (as opposed to thoughts that aren't word...you know what I mean) than in more abstract and intellectual stuff, which Sam does more of.

I get the repression and the under-the-surface stuff, and I love writing it. I know that when it comes to emotional and psychological stuff, I can intellectualize for other people to beat the band, but for my own stuff, words don't really work. Either they're wrong, or people don't understand them. So I get the under-the-surface stuff not being expressed in fancy words or too much intellectualism. I actually have a harder time with more self-analytical characters (although Sam's enough of a sheer guy that he doesn't throw me too much). I have to write them more by ear, and less by feel. (This is the big reason I tend to worry about James May from Top Gear. Fanon always has him as the one who's most in touch

[johnnypurple]

I get the repression and the under-the-surface stuff, and I love writing it. Me too - but it's harder to write well, eh?! It's the old thing of: show, don't tell. But I find that hard with Dean - too much telling.

like putting one of those giant rooftop floodlights next to a flashlight with dodgy batteries. - where your issues are the floodlights right?! ;) *shmooshes you*

I think James is the most intellectual of the TG lads, but that doesn't mean he's the most in control/in touch with his emotions. I'd say prossibly, in RL, that's Richard (maybe?) - but then he always seems to be written as the simple puppy-dog enthusiastic one. Of course, I'm basing this on what-? The fact that I'm reading Hammond's book at the moment and the fact that James doesn't like to be touched by people. It's not much to go on. I guess that's why it's called Real Person Fiction. Maybe James is actually the most repressed. *shrug* Meh

[wolfy_writing]

Yes. Dean Winchester is clearly the one with tiny, intermittent flickers of actual personal problems. *smooshes back*

I definitely think fanon James is fanon. He does seem most likely to intellectualize about things, but he also has that strange ability to insist he doesn't like being touched (or doesn't like being touched by men), which clearly runs contrary to any video clip with him within ten feet of Richard Hammond ever. And I swear he had an interview where he talked about the good old days when the proper manly response to being told "I love you," by one of your male friends was punching them in the face.

Also, I saw him on Helicopter Heroes, where he was talking about hearing Richard's crash, and the whole "I had a bit of a...you know," thing didn't look like he was any good at talking about how he feels. It just hit that awful words-sticking-in-your-throat territory, and he had to go off in a slightly different direction to be able to say anything at all

[johnnypurple]

Your thinky thoughts are thinky. My tired brain can't really respond properly except to say: awwwwww, boys.

Actually, I do recall starting a fic in which James bottled everything up and failed completely to recognise and deal with his emotions. There was a bit of staring out of windows going on. I don't think there was going to be any sex in it either - and when I realised that, I stopped writing it. Heh. Gen fic - WTF?! Though maybe there could have been some punching in the face. That might have been fun.

Green, you reckon? I was going for red. A dusty red. Though now I don't think it'll actually be mentioned in the fic - the colour, that is. The truck might be important if that is where they are to have sex. I've started it now, but I don't know how to get them to the sex part. Maybe a bit of alien killing will put them in the mood. I know it always does me! ;-)