Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
When you're writing fanfic - or even original fic - you have a choice: Do I leave this character more or less the way they are, or do I make some radical change in their circumstances or their abilities? If you do decide to make a major change to a character, what are your reasons for doing so?
I can think of several major classes of reasons:
I. Thematic
II. Metaphorical
III. Plot-Related
IV. Kink Satisfaction
V. Wish Fulfillment
Taking examples from my own stories, I'd say that Spike getting dosed with Mohra blood and becoming mortal was a thematic change, because it was prompted by the bigger themes that I was using the character to explore - balance, good and evil, human and demon - and led into themes I wanted to explore in the rest of the series: family, parents and children, heroes in middle and old age. Willow becoming a vampire, on the other hand, I'd say was a metaphorical change, because it specifically reflects on the character's personal journey - over the course of NE Willow becomes more and more divorced from humanity, until her separation becomes literal. A good example of a plot-related change would be my decision to give Dawn the 'walking hot spot' ability due to her Keyness. I needed that to get them to Pylea, and it will later become very useful in POM. Another Pylea-arc change, Spike getting stuck in demon form, was a shameless indulgence of my xenophilia kink. (And also an exploration of Buffy's relationship with her demons, interior and exterior, because naked kinkfic is no fun for anyone who doesn't share the kink - best dress it up decently in character study.) And giving Spike and Buffy a large and close family is a wish-fulfillment change - that is, the family part is thematic, but the large-and-close part is wish fulfillment.
I've been trying to decide if fandom tends to use certain types of changes more often for certain characters, and if so, why those characters 'attract' that type of change. It seems to me that Spike attracts a lot of kink-satisfaction changes, and Xander attracts a hell of a lot of wish-fulfillment changes, but I wasn't able to get much past that, and my sample is inevitably biased. Have you noticed a trend in the type(s) of changes you make, or the type(s) of changes you like to read about? Have you noticed trends for Willow or Giles or Buffy or Angel? Do the trends themselves change over time?
Rants Talk to me
I can think of several major classes of reasons:
I. Thematic
II. Metaphorical
III. Plot-Related
IV. Kink Satisfaction
V. Wish Fulfillment
Taking examples from my own stories, I'd say that Spike getting dosed with Mohra blood and becoming mortal was a thematic change, because it was prompted by the bigger themes that I was using the character to explore - balance, good and evil, human and demon - and led into themes I wanted to explore in the rest of the series: family, parents and children, heroes in middle and old age. Willow becoming a vampire, on the other hand, I'd say was a metaphorical change, because it specifically reflects on the character's personal journey - over the course of NE Willow becomes more and more divorced from humanity, until her separation becomes literal. A good example of a plot-related change would be my decision to give Dawn the 'walking hot spot' ability due to her Keyness. I needed that to get them to Pylea, and it will later become very useful in POM. Another Pylea-arc change, Spike getting stuck in demon form, was a shameless indulgence of my xenophilia kink. (And also an exploration of Buffy's relationship with her demons, interior and exterior, because naked kinkfic is no fun for anyone who doesn't share the kink - best dress it up decently in character study.) And giving Spike and Buffy a large and close family is a wish-fulfillment change - that is, the family part is thematic, but the large-and-close part is wish fulfillment.
I've been trying to decide if fandom tends to use certain types of changes more often for certain characters, and if so, why those characters 'attract' that type of change. It seems to me that Spike attracts a lot of kink-satisfaction changes, and Xander attracts a hell of a lot of wish-fulfillment changes, but I wasn't able to get much past that, and my sample is inevitably biased. Have you noticed a trend in the type(s) of changes you make, or the type(s) of changes you like to read about? Have you noticed trends for Willow or Giles or Buffy or Angel? Do the trends themselves change over time?
Rants Talk to me