Discussion: Canon vs. Writer's!Canon
Hi Paradox!
Okay, let me get a little meta for a second. This post is mainly aimed at the writers in the fandom, but those who create other fanart or simply watch/fangirl the show are welcome to jump in. Forgive me if this isn't quite coherent. I'm woefully deficient in caffeine.
I'm wondering how writers recreate the show's canon in their heads and in their fic. Clearly, 99.99% of fanfic isn't canon compliant. One of the main reasons why we write fic in the first place is to bend canon to our wills, to play with it, and to write the way we wish would happen. But then there's the delicate area of not wanting to cross the line too much (except in the case of obviously cracky fic) so that the Big Bang Theory characters are entirely out of character and aren't the people we see on our TVs on Monday nights.
I'm struggling with this delicate line in a WIP I'm working on right now because the Sheldon in my story has undergone some fairly significant and profound change but I also want him to remain recognizably Sheldon, if that makes any sense. And I find myself fretting that I'm going to cross the magic line and write a Sheldon who isn't Sheldon anymore.
But I find I have a sort of writer's!canon (you could call this head!canon, too) where the Sheldon in the show is an exaggerated version of the Sheldon I truly believe he is. That while he has his OCD tendencies (and probably borderline Asperger's tendencies) that go hand-in-hand with his genius, in my stories he's often more capable for change/growth than we see on the show, where any significant growth he's made in an episode is often magically handwaved away by the next episode.
I have other writer's!canon points in my weird little brain that I'll expound on in comments, but I'd love to hear from all of you:
1. Where does your writer's!canon differ from the official canon of the show? Does it change from story to story or do you have a writer's!canon that cuts across stories?
2. As a writer, do you ever find it's difficult not to cross the line into complete OOC for any of the characters?
3. Where is your personal line of writer's!canon vs. OOC? (Please discuss in generalities here, not, "God, I hate how in suzyficwriter's stories Sheldon is always a big snuggler and Penny is 500% smarter than on the show.")
I hope this makes sense!
Okay, let me get a little meta for a second. This post is mainly aimed at the writers in the fandom, but those who create other fanart or simply watch/fangirl the show are welcome to jump in. Forgive me if this isn't quite coherent. I'm woefully deficient in caffeine.
I'm wondering how writers recreate the show's canon in their heads and in their fic. Clearly, 99.99% of fanfic isn't canon compliant. One of the main reasons why we write fic in the first place is to bend canon to our wills, to play with it, and to write the way we wish would happen. But then there's the delicate area of not wanting to cross the line too much (except in the case of obviously cracky fic) so that the Big Bang Theory characters are entirely out of character and aren't the people we see on our TVs on Monday nights.
I'm struggling with this delicate line in a WIP I'm working on right now because the Sheldon in my story has undergone some fairly significant and profound change but I also want him to remain recognizably Sheldon, if that makes any sense. And I find myself fretting that I'm going to cross the magic line and write a Sheldon who isn't Sheldon anymore.
But I find I have a sort of writer's!canon (you could call this head!canon, too) where the Sheldon in the show is an exaggerated version of the Sheldon I truly believe he is. That while he has his OCD tendencies (and probably borderline Asperger's tendencies) that go hand-in-hand with his genius, in my stories he's often more capable for change/growth than we see on the show, where any significant growth he's made in an episode is often magically handwaved away by the next episode.
I have other writer's!canon points in my weird little brain that I'll expound on in comments, but I'd love to hear from all of you:
1. Where does your writer's!canon differ from the official canon of the show? Does it change from story to story or do you have a writer's!canon that cuts across stories?
2. As a writer, do you ever find it's difficult not to cross the line into complete OOC for any of the characters?
3. Where is your personal line of writer's!canon vs. OOC? (Please discuss in generalities here, not, "God, I hate how in suzyficwriter's stories Sheldon is always a big snuggler and Penny is 500% smarter than on the show.")
I hope this makes sense!