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

[wee_warrior]

I can't really comment on the issue itself, since in most cases, I wouldn't read fic that deals with characters I already dislike (or am not interested in, which is the case a lot more often), and I've written too little to get that reaction. I think it has happened in meta discussions, but that's somehow a different kettle of fish

[selenak]

but also because she's Morgan le Fay, and if you've read a bit of Arthurian Legend here and there, you do mostly expect her to be somehow awesome.

Oh absolutely. (Several of my moments of readerly disconnection went like this: I would LOVE this story if it were filed under Arthurian Mythology rather than under Merlin, because that's an awesome version of Morgan Le Fay, whom I've always been intrigued by. I tend to check her out on Yuletide first.) I can also understand the lack of screentime fueling the "secretly badass" fanfiction; my own comparison, now that I've thought about it some more, would be with fanon Draco versus canon Draco pre-HBP, who was a not very fleshed out character in the books and somehow acquired leather pants, masterful snark (whereas Rowling's Draco really isn't witty; his insults are never imaginative or on target) and parental abuse in fanfiction. (When even before HBP it was clear the Malfoys spoiled their boy rotten, but since when did that trouble fandom when there was an archetype to be had?) Except

[wee_warrior]

(When even before HBP it was clear the Malfoys spoiled their boy rotten, but since when did that trouble fandom when there was an archetype to be had?

Which is funny, because isn't the upper class bully with bigotted but doting parents anxious to keep up class (and if we take muggle-born vs wizard-descendant magic wielders as basically a double metaphor, race) barriers a pretty integrate archetype of anything that has to do with public schools and the pre-World War I British university life? I think I remember quite a few of these, up to characters in Human Nature/Family of Blood.

Mind you: as I said in the post, now I'm wondering whether some readers who sent me "I like YOUR X" mean my renditions of various characters are as distant from the original as I see fanon and canon Morgana being...It's possible. The only time I consciously remember doing something like that was with Simone and it's not like you changed so much rather than give her an actual personality in the first place

[selenak]

Which is funny, because isn't the upper class bully with bigotted but doting parents anxious to keep up class (and if we take muggle-born vs wizard-descendant magic wielders as basically a double metaphor, race) barriers a pretty integrate archetype

Yes, but that wasn't how Draco was interpreted. Going by summaries and two or so samplings of actual fic, he was rewritten as first season Lex Luthor from Smallville, with a mean father and an icy mother (Lex didn't have the mother, but as Narcissa was undeniably alive and around...), who was simply longing for Harry's/Hermione's/Ginny's/Whoever they paired him up with friendship. Or as Harry Osborn, if you like. (Spider-man I was around that time, too.)

Re: my version of Morgana: I can understand how you feel. I remember one of Yahtzee's stories, The Uninvited Guest, I think, which had a very dark version of Buffy, with all her negative traits overwhelming her. It wasn't my idea of Buffy, but it wasn't a bashing story, either; I could see where Yahtzee was coming from, and her story

[shobogan]

I think there's are more and less tactful ways of saying a story made you more sympathetic to a character - "almost bearable" is definitely on the lesser end. I know I've said something like "you write them more consistently than on the show", but fortunately the writer agreed with my issues there.

What you've said of Morgana seems like a typical white-washing of one's favourite character, to me, just to a lesser extent than you get with villains. There's a difference between highlighting a character's good traits and completely ignoring their flaws.

(I'm not sure if I can finish season two, by the by, because Morgana is one of my favourites, and her face heel turn feels contrived - less on her part, and more on the surrounding factors. For goodness' sake, Merlin, tell her you're a wizard.)

[selenak]

Re: Merlin not telling Morgana he's a wizard: What she said in this post, specifically this: The machinery of state is set up to protect people like Morgana; and she has a history of allying with other magical users only to turn on them to preserve Uther’s favor and her status. Because of this, I think it’s a bit problematic to blame Merlin for not telling Morgana about his own magic. It seems wrong to demand that one character with less social power and privilege put himself at risk to better the circumstances of one with more privilege.

I think there's are more and less tactful ways of saying a story made you more sympathetic to a character - "almost bearable" is definitely on the lesser end.

True. Also, as nomadicwriter points out above, sometimes this type of feedback goes along with assumptions about a fannish consensus about characters being "crap" (or not), or about the show/film/book itself being awful. And if I don't share said assumed consensus, it makes the feedback a bit... odd. To use an example of a fandom I've never written in,

[amatara]

Not having watched Merlin yet, I don't have much to contribute in the way of an opinion of Morgana, I'm afraid. About the greater issue - I don't think I've received comments like "I generally don't like character X in canon, but you've made him/her interesting/likable/bearable" before, but I think I'd rather see it as a compliment. Especially since I tend to fall in love with ambiguous characters rather than the typical heroes/heroines, and there the notion of "what is canon?" with regards to those characters isn't always very straightforward. You either love or hate such a character, and that'll be a big factor in determining on which side of the line you fall when placing the character in canon

[selenak]

And I'm not talking about whitewashing here - it's just that, throughout the first four seasons, someone who took an instinctive dislike for Londo would have viewed his story from a whole different perspective.

That's a good point. I have some friends who did not listen to me but to the heretics who tell people they can start B5 with season 2, and they hated Londo, until they only disliked and pitied him from mid s4 onwards. (When one of them finally got around to watching s1, she also complained about G'Kar being utterly ooc and hated that he was shown in the wrong in several episodes. *g*) And it's certainly true all canon has its either little or big inconsistencies. However, I hope that the traits of Londo I showcase in my stories are recognizably ones he also showed on screen, and that you could see the Londo I described both as the person who stood by and did nothing while Narn was bombed and the person who kept his word to G'Kar and ended the Centauri occupation. This being said? I did get once a feedback that complained

[selenak]

Oh, I'm very much looking forward to your story about Morgana and Gwen! Which film will you base it on?

It's also frustrating to recognize that the fandom has made Morgana the HBIC archetype and Gwen the "nice girl" archetype while ignoring the actual characterization they get in the show and then complaining that the women characters are one dimensional. Not that their in-show characterization is brilliant (I'd love them both to get more screen time and more active storylines) but it's a good deal better than what I see in a lot of fics.

*nods* Yes, that's how I feel on both issues - more screen time and more active storylines for Morgana and Gwen is what I want, but I also think what we did get is more complicated than the HBIC/Nice Girl a lot of fanfic allows. That's where I tried to put my money where my mouth is and wrote a story about both of them. Next challenge: if I find the time - not right now, but maybe in two months or so - I shall try to write a story showcasing Morgana's strengths without ignoring her flaws.

[selenak]

I wish I knew more manga than the few series I saw as a child, sigh. Otoh, this way I'll be able to read your story without having spoilers. *g*

[uranus_ge]

*checks date* Oh noes -- This was posted 5 months ago *face!palm* I am so late for the party…I still hope you’re willing to answer my questions, though *is sheepish*

I’m not a “Merlin” fanfic writer, but I would really like to comment on your post. You’ve brought up some thought-provoking beliefs =)

Morgana's s2 arc, if it can be called that, was frustrating because of the passivity and the way she responded rather than acted

I’d like to know why exactly you said that. Is it cuz you think that Morgana could’ve done something about how she felt living under Uther’s roof -- or are you talking about something else?

Preferably some conversation with Morgause on how Morgause didn't tell her the whole truth, either, and thus left her in the dark while using her as well would be nice, btw.

Yes, damnit, yes! Wouldn’t you agree that it was Morgause’s fault that Morgana got into that mess in the first place?

Morgana has in both seasons displayed some tendency to make things about herself when they really aren'tIf you don’t mind me asking

I.

[selenak]

I’d like to know why exactly you said that. Is it cuz you think that Morgana could’ve done something about how she felt living under Uther’s roof -- or are you talking about something else?I was speaking from an otherall storytelling perspective. Bearing in mind that Morgana is headed towards greater moral ambiguity and presumably, at least for a time, towards an antagonist position. Which can make for great drama. One of my all time favourite characters, Londo Mollari in the show Babylon 5, goes through an arc where after being established as sympathetic in the first season he has a walk to the dark side, so to speak, in seasons 2 and 3, and then a redemption story in seasons 4 and 5. But the thing with Londo is that while there are some external circumstances encouraging his bad choices, they're still his responsibility, he makes them, and we him make them. He always does have a choice. Morgana makes only a very few choices of her own in s2 - in 2.3 and 2.11 and 2.12 - and those are responses, not initiatives. The active characters

Re: I.

[uranus_ge]

Thank you for replying me -- and so promptly and in-depth, at that <3

Forgive me if I end up ranting here and there, here -- really, I'm just trying to piece my scattered thoughts together ><

The active characters are Morgause, Mordred, what's-his-name, and understandably Merlin (he's the main character, and it's his story we're following, after all). She merely responds to what these other people do.

I can't see how Morgana could have done otherwise, when nobody believes in her (except for people who don't live in Camelot, like say Mordred or Alvarr). Which is unfair, cuz Morgana believes in herself. She's like Cassandra, in a sense. Plus, like you said it yourself -- the main character and the active characters tend to steal the TV show from under Morgana's elegant nose.

Now given that you can make a case for Morgana being in a complete depression, it's absolutely plausibleI think more than being depressed, Morgana fears going insane, being mistrusted, as well as being manipulated (because she is a woman living in a world that

II

[selenak]

Can you account for that? Is it Morgana’s temper that you’re speaking of?

Yes. Both To Kill the King and Lancelot and Guinevere include scenes with Arthur that are cases in point; she's mid-indignant speech in both cases before she realises he actually intends the opposite of what she believes he does. Merlin has tried to murder her. That he had his reasons doesn't change that fact. So I think Morgana is both likely and entitled not to wonder about possible excuses Merlin might have but want vengeance first. (Mind you, not in the sense of physically lashing out at Merlin when she sees him again. I think she's more likely to take her time and come up with something more subtle. But I do think she'll have her mind made up before she sees him again.)

Erm…*nervous chuckle* I really don’t mean to be dense but...Could you rephrase that?I'm not sure what part you didn't understand, but I'll try: in 2.03., Uther executes people left and right because he assumes Morgana has been kidnapped. Morgana could have left a note behind to the