Comments | malnpudl: Writers/Readers Poll: Who do you love? (dS, SG-1, SGA, BtVS, AtS, and NCIS)

malnpudl

Writers/Readers Poll: Who do you love? (dS, SG-1, SGA, BtVS, AtS, and NCIS)

Aug 10, 2007 22:59

Apologies to anyone who caught the brief appearance of the initial version of this poll. I'd made a major mistake, so I deleted and started over. Sorry for the confusion ( Read more... )

Comments 76

joandarck August 11 2007, 06:33:35 UTC

What an interesting poll. I know exactly what you're talking about and have a really hard time answering the questions, at the same time ( ... )

joandarck August 11 2007, 07:07:50 UTC

Oh, and then you have things like -- take Xander. I feel the character ended up getting presented in a really negative way, but I still had all this fondness for him, like "Oh, that's not the *real* Xander! They're just shafting him again!" I guess that was probably the actor's charisma affecting my perceptions? I don't know, it's all just really hard to separate.

malnpudl August 11 2007, 20:29:59 UTC

Yeah, I totally get that. Samantha Carter of SG-1 comes to mind for me. I love her, so very much, but occasionally she's so badly written that I have to step back and handwave a PTB fuckup. I don't blame her; I blame the showrunners and writers.

Which may be appropriate and rational... or it may be that I'm just extremely forgiving when it comes to characters I love. Or both. Heh.

china_shop August 11 2007, 07:51:54 UTC

it's hard to pick favourites because it's the pair or group together that I enjoy

Yes! Yes, it's the dynamic that appeals! The space between them. *nodnodnodnodnod* That's true for all my pairings, I think.

Thread 5

j00j August 11 2007, 06:43:32 UTC

I had a hard time choosing for a lot of these. Perhaps it's because many of these are really ensemble shows-- SG-1, BtVS and Angel really center around a group dynamic most of the time. In all of those cases, there are things I like and dislike about all of the characters, so it's hard to choose one who's my absolute favorite ( ... )

malnpudl August 11 2007, 20:42:57 UTC

As a reader, an author's obvious love of a character tends to bother me only if I can tell it's affecting the characterization of the beloved character or the characters around him/her.

Yeah, that's it, isn't it? I think I got (over)sensitized about this back during my summer of reading random Jack/Daniel fics at Area52, where I ran across a great deal of Danny Worship. When the whole point of the fic appears to be Jack (whose characterization is, in my eyes, questionable), rhapsodizing at length about Daniel's many charms and beauties, I get really uncomfortable. I'm hearing the author, not the character.

Don't get me wrong. If fangirls (and fanboys) on LJ want to post and squee about the hotness of Daniel's mouth or his neck or his biceps or his kissable mouth -- preferably with abundant picspam -- I'm right there. I'm in. I'm happy.

But I don't want that in fic. I only want to read what Jack sees and thinks and feels, and Jack doesn't squee, gush, or rhapsodize.

Oh, and for the record, I've seen about 2 episodes of NCIS, but I ( ... )

castalianspring August 11 2007, 06:46:17 UTC

Very interesting. Let's see, explanations for my voting. For the actors I gauge my "favorites" by how many other shows/movies of theirs I seek out to watch. For SG-1 I do that with Shanks, Browder and Black, and I'm very partial to Colin Cunningham (Major Davis) as well ( ... )

malnpudl August 11 2007, 21:05:45 UTC

For the actors I gauge my "favorites" by how many other shows/movies of theirs I seek out to watch.

Yep, I'm pretty much with you there. I have frightening quantities of purchased and downloaded media for half a dozen favorite actors. I'm... remarkably thorough when I get focused on someone. *g*

And Colin Cunningham/Paul Davis very nearly made the poll -- I like him a lot, too -- but I couldn't quite justify it since I was trying to do just the major regulars, not guest cast. Now if I'd slipped Da Vinci's Inquest in there... *g*

Yeah, NCIS is all about the characters. The stories... yeah, whatever. But they've done such a wonderful job with casting and writing the characters that it keeps me coming back.

And I write who I love, too. If I don't love at least one of the characters I'm writing about, I'm just not terribly interested.

bluebrocade August 11 2007, 07:02:29 UTC

For SG1, I can't choose between Jackson & O'Neill. Used to be Jackson hands down, but I've grown to enjoy O'Neill's glibness (it used to annoy me). For NCIS, I don't have any clear favorite character. I like them all equally (except Jenny, who I can't stand.). Same for the actors.

I never notice favorites when reading. It would never even occur to me.

malnpudl August 11 2007, 21:07:59 UTC

So you haven't come across any blatant and gratuitous Danny Worship in your SG-1 reading? Lucky you. You must've had good recs. ;-)

bluebrocade August 11 2007, 23:54:57 UTC

Hehe. I think it's more that I'm just oblivious. Or rather that I don't think the same as...erk...most everyone else, apparently! I don't even know what a story where X is "obviously" the author's favorite character would look like. Or, hmmm, maybe those are the stories where I read one paragraph, think "this is crap. author can't write.", and close it. I'm curious now -- are all stories where you can detect the author's favorite "bad"? i.e. are there stories by great authors that you consider a great story and yet you can still see who the author's favorite is? *i is kerfluffled*

malnpudl August 12 2007, 00:02:12 UTC

i.e. are there stories by great authors that you consider a great story and yet you can still see who the author's favorite is?Oh, sure! Absolutely. There are plenty of those, and I have read many that I've loved. And I've written a couple that I thought were decent, too ( ... )

elementalv August 11 2007, 07:08:08 UTC

If I'm writing a character as the lead in a story, it's because something about that character resonates within me, so in that sense, they're all deeply beloved. In due South, I'm not clear myself on which character I love the most, though I chose Ray K, because I think I've written him more than the other characters. In BtVS, however, Giles is my clear favorite, with Buffy coming in a medium second.

Anyway, as to whether that answers your second-to-last question or not, only you can say.

malnpudl August 11 2007, 21:10:02 UTC

Yeah, that makes sense. And it matches what I've perceived in your writing, which seem pretty balanced; it doesn't seem like you privilege one character over another. I don't hear you in your stories; I hear the characters. I like that.

elementalv August 12 2007, 13:49:55 UTC

I don't hear you in your stories

I can think of a few notable exceptions where it *is* possible to hear me in the stories, but for the most part, I make an effort not to be heard. I'm glad that effort is paying off for you.