Puzzling

[rahirah]

I was thinking about the whole characterization question, and it seems to me that one reason people disagree is that there are different ways to approach characterization. My way is this: I form an initial impression of a character from the first few books/episodes/comics/whatever they're in. As the series goes on, and the character does more

Comments

[kikimay]

Interesting thoughts. Personally I try to see things as a whole. Exceptions and peculiar pieces are just part of something bigger and I try to find the ratio that makes things part of something bigger. But, you know, I watched all BtVS after it was finished so maybe that's why I see the whole thing. I also changed my mind in different occasions and basically so I'm open in that sense. But generally yeah: I look the picture on the puzzle and then I try to organize the little pieces.

[rahirah]

It's a lot easier, I think, to accept a character as they're presented when you're talking about a finished product. I started watching BtVS between seasons 3 and 4, so I saw the whole Buffy/Angel thing complete, and it was easy for me to accept that they were over. Not so easy for B/A fans who'd been watching since S1, had a chance to speculate and built up expectations which Angel leaving destroyed. I had my rude awakening in S6, where the Buffy I thought I knew started doing things I would have sworn she never would.

[quinara]

Hmm, to follow your lemon yellow vs. purple analogy, I think I see the process of characterisation more like trying to work out the colours in a particularly elusive blob of grey - so, from one angle, everything might look basically purple to me, but I can see specks of yellow or whatever else in there (and accept that someone looking from a different angle might see magenta or just plain brown). Writing a character is then like trying to recreate the blended colour from scratch - it's never going to be quite the same, but you can try to capture what you saw originally and hopefully some of what other people see as well.

[mierke]

I really love this analogy. I second this!

[rahirah]

Yeah, it's not as simple as yellow vs purple - especially as someone else will swear that they're lime green and mauve. *g*

[rebcake]

Mmmmm. Yes. Puzzling out why characters act a particular, perhaps unexpected, way is one of the things that drives my all-too-rare writing. That's the fun part!

That said, I've thrown up my hands at trying to align the characterizations of the comics with the rest of the Buffyverse canon. I guess that means I've decided it's a different puzzle altogether.

I mainlined BtVS the first time, without questioning much, and FFL was a jewel box of Spike material. Imagine my surprise that it was a "ruiner" for older writers. I understand the "you've been Joss'ed" phenomenon much better now.

ETA: Oh! And also! It's nearly impossible to pour every bit of nuance that might be my head canon for a particular character into the portrayal on the page in a given story. Especially shortish things. My understanding of the character will inform how I portray them, but the portrayal will likely not encompass my entire understanding. In that, I've got some sympathy for Gage...he just can't get it all in there. Some subtlety and allusion can be useful

[rahirah]

I think the comics characterization has been extremely jerky, yeah. Unfortunately the reason I'm able to reconcile a lot of Comic!Buffy's actions is that they align with the pessimistic view of her I developed while the show was still on. I still hate that the writers have taken the character this way, but for me, there's not nearly the huge break between show and comics that some people see. I don't WANT to have to reconcile Buffy as a selfish, crappy leader, but I can point back to show things that support that reading. I just wish I didn't have to.

[ayinhara]

You seem to assume that canon is consistent about a character. IMO different sets of writers had diametrically different views of the same character and wrote their parts accordingly.

[rahirah]

No, I'm not assuming canon is consistent - it's just that I have a need to create consistency out of canon.

[comlodge]

I remember one of very early connections with a charachter in a series of books was in grade 6. He was a western anithero type, Catsfoot, and I loved him. ONe day I read another in the series and he was described as having long hair.
I couldn't deal with a boy having long hair.

I know when Hugh Jackman played Wolverine he was exactly as I had always pictured Wolverine, despite the fact that I watched and read the cartoons and comics of the day.

I have always been a very visual reader and I suppose I change the charachter to suit what I want them to be or runaway from them if I come across a change I don't like.

[rahirah]

I have often built up pictures of characters in my head and been disappointed when they make a movie and cast someone who doesn't match my image, but I can usually separate the two.

[comlodge]

Obviously from an early age I was shallow and appearance was, if not everything, than pretty durn important. Lol.
However, as long as the charachter acts as I believe he was written, that I can recognise his charachter traits, then I can get over the movies changing my image.