How the other half lives...

[selenak]

If you're written fanfiction for some time, you're bound to encounter, sooner or later, feedback along the lines of "usually I don't care about character X, but you've made me think about him/her" or "your story really made X work for me". Actually, that's the best version. Sometimes the feedback sounds more like "X is scum/ I've always hated that

Comments

[astrogirl2]

No, probably we don't completely disagree... I've been lucky enough not to really get the "X totally sucked in canon" type of comments, or at least not the ones that carry that "and of course this practically goes without saying because everybody agrees" implication, but I have seen that phenomenon in other contexts, for sure. (Sometimes in ways that really, really make me want to roll my eyes and slap my forehead.)

I do think that things can go awry on both ends, though, either with people meaning to pay a compliment but being thoughtlessly annoying in the process, and also with people reading in criticism that really isn't there. Because, y'know, we're human, and it's probably understandable that fans can be a bit touchy when it comes to beloved characters who do get the character-bashing treatment.

[ETA: I just realized that it might sound here like I'm accusing selenak of being overly touchy or something, which is definitely not the intent. I know I've found myself becoming defensive about a character or show I love in other contexts, too.]

[selenak]

Don't worry, I didn't feel accused. :) I've been wondering about the phenomenon again because I really have these different responses (from "yay! she/he sees X in a new light because of my story" to "argh, do you think I would have written so much fanfic about X when I didn't love the character to begin with?"), depending on the phrasing of the feedback and on how strongly I feel about character X, and right now I'm in the reverse position of reading fanon versions I can't really see in canon and being unsure of how to phrase that.