Thinky Meta Thoughts: Characters and Transformations
So laylah had a very interesting post earlier this weekend about AU fic versus a character from a fandom moving in to an original piece and setting up shop, both of which I've experimented with in the past. So here's my question for the f-list at large:
At what point does a fandom character who has moved into an original piece become an original character inspired by an archetype, rather than a stowaway from Fandom X?
For example, say I want to write a high fantasy story and say, for the sake of argument, that I want Rydia to be a character. At what point is she no longer Rydia? I do not accept the notion that it's as simple as "filing off the serial numbers," i.e. changing her name, so how many changes do I have to make to make her not-Rydia? If she's merely kidnapped from her home-village-that-totally-isn't-Mist, rather than burning the entire place to the ground with a magical explodey package that somehow didn't hurt that-Dragoon-who-isn't-Kain and that-knight-who-isn't-Cecil, is that sufficient? What if she's not a summoner? What if she is a summoner and her whole tribe has been slain, but she just happened to be away from the village at that time? What if she doesn't lose White magic? What if she's more biddable than Rydia-in-the-game?
Mostly I'm curious because I have an original project brewing that seems very intent on mining fandom for certain archetypes that it really wants to have kicking around, and I'm considering what changes I want to make to make them "mine," so to speak, rather than "oh hey there, that's Locke."
I'm mostly just curious about opinions and thoughts, so ramble away. I can totally use distraction at Hell work tomorrow.
At what point does a fandom character who has moved into an original piece become an original character inspired by an archetype, rather than a stowaway from Fandom X?
For example, say I want to write a high fantasy story and say, for the sake of argument, that I want Rydia to be a character. At what point is she no longer Rydia? I do not accept the notion that it's as simple as "filing off the serial numbers," i.e. changing her name, so how many changes do I have to make to make her not-Rydia? If she's merely kidnapped from her home-village-that-totally-isn't-Mist, rather than burning the entire place to the ground with a magical explodey package that somehow didn't hurt that-Dragoon-who-isn't-Kain and that-knight-who-isn't-Cecil, is that sufficient? What if she's not a summoner? What if she is a summoner and her whole tribe has been slain, but she just happened to be away from the village at that time? What if she doesn't lose White magic? What if she's more biddable than Rydia-in-the-game?
Mostly I'm curious because I have an original project brewing that seems very intent on mining fandom for certain archetypes that it really wants to have kicking around, and I'm considering what changes I want to make to make them "mine," so to speak, rather than "oh hey there, that's Locke."
I'm mostly just curious about opinions and thoughts, so ramble away. I can totally use distraction at Hell work tomorrow.