Comments | my_daroga: Poisoned!

my_daroga

Poisoned!

May 29, 2009 17:05

Guys, I don't know if I can write first-person Erik without it coming out like Susan Kay. Despite not having read the novel in at least ten years. I think I've been permanently tainted.

I just don't know what to do.

fanfiction meta, phantom of the opera

Comments 25

inlaterdays May 30 2009, 00:36:13 UTC

Re-re-re-re-re-read Leroux and make him talk about himself in the third person?

my_daroga May 30 2009, 01:02:20 UTC

Here's the thing: I'm not sure first person Leroux!Erik is possible. At least, I wouldn't know how to write it. He's such a mess, I just don't know how to do his voice. For a whole novella?

*sigh*

holyschist May 31 2009, 00:29:31 UTC

My brain hurts just contemplating it.

my_daroga May 31 2009, 02:38:24 UTC

Yeah... I know. My problem is, if I'm not writing in Leroux canon... what am I writing?

Thread 8

lilithsshadow May 30 2009, 01:18:35 UTC

I have faith. I've seen you manage Erik well enough (even in the most bizarre scenarios).

Maybe we should compare notes for characterization? I would probably benefit from your ideas and it might help you talk out some stuff.

my_daroga May 30 2009, 01:20:47 UTC

Hmm, that might help. I think I might just have to write it third-person. At the time (I'm revising an old project) I was going for something my own but Leroux Erik is just sort of inscrutable. I don't know if I can write in his head.

lilithsshadow May 30 2009, 01:27:39 UTC

Well, you could always start it in third person and see if any of it translates. But yeah, we can totally brainstorm. That would be fun.

my_daroga May 30 2009, 01:28:13 UTC

Sure! Thanks for the offer. I'll get something together and send it along.

Thread 5

scarletsherlock May 30 2009, 13:24:15 UTC

First-person Leroux Erik? I don't know if I've ever seen that, but now I REALLY want to. :)

my_daroga May 30 2009, 15:39:45 UTC

I just don't know if it's possible. I mean, no offense to Leroux, but he wasn't exactly the sort to think through his characterization and say, "But could I imagine this person really existing?" That wasn't the point.

scarletsherlock May 30 2009, 16:26:06 UTC

I agree. Just thinking about how to even attempt writing it makes me scratch my head. I would enjoy seeing what you came up with, though.

my_daroga May 30 2009, 20:54:38 UTC

I don't think this will be it. But I may try, some day.

madrigalist May 30 2009, 13:48:49 UTC

Put everything out of your head and simply write. It takes about 4 book to find your voice in fiction. I would suggest writing as it natrually feels to you and not worry about who or what you sound like. Frankly--publishers and agents actually ask you "who do you sound like" or "whose voice is similar to yours" This gives them an idea of the market and audience for your book.

Have fun and write... worry about polish and stuff later when you edit. If you see strong similarities then you can work through them.

my_daroga May 30 2009, 15:39:14 UTC

I should have been more specific. There's a Phantom novella that's been sitting on my hard drive for five years or so, and the editing of it has stymied me for that length of time. The problem is that I wrote it all first-person Erik, which of course was fun but I fear that in this fandom, first person Erik "belongs" to Kay. It's very difficult, in my opinion, to make Leroux's Erik make sense as a real person. Once you give him anything approaching consistent thought-patterns he's not Leroux anymore. So in this, though I think I do have a certain voice of my own, my Erik (snarky, self-aware yet somewhat deluded, clever) cannot help but come off Kayish ( ... )

madrigalist May 30 2009, 16:18:08 UTC

**It is my firm belief that Leroux's Erik was completely incapable of having anything like a relationship with another human being, so to some extent it's going to be OOC ( ... )

my_daroga May 30 2009, 20:54:22 UTC

Then isn't this your hook that makes your book stand out from Kay and all the rest?

Well, yes. In a sense. But... Whatever is intellectually true about Kay not owning Erik in any sense doesn't exactly mitigate the problems in presenting something that may turn people off if it reminds them of her. I just want to avoid that.

Thread 7

(The comment has been removed)

my_daroga May 30 2009, 20:56:29 UTC

Your suggestions (and those you sent ages ago in the actual document) are all very useful. Thank you. I need to re-read it again, of course, but I think I've got a lot of #4 covered--there's other stuff going on, though yes, the relationship is the focus--because it's also the point. That is, of what I'm trying to do/say.

But your points are all well-taken, and I think they'll help a lot. Thank you!