Comments | selenay936: Break-in characters

selenay936

Break-in characters

Apr 16, 2008 20:41

A few of you may have noticed that so far this year I have written exactly two short fics so far. Leaving aside the small matter of how many long fics I used to write in a year, the thing that I have been thinking about is that both of those fics are Doctor Who fics based around Donna ( Read more... )

stargate, fandom, torchwood, deep stuff, doctor who, atlantis, buffy, sga

Comments 10

paranoidangel42 April 16 2008, 20:53:00 UTC

am I just crazy?

Oh, absolutely not because I spent the whole time reading this thinking how much I agreed with you.

When I started writing LOTR I was sure I'd be a hobbit writer because I loved the hobbits and the first time I read ROTK I skipped through the first half of the book. And yet I've written a lot of Elrond.

With Atlantis I thought I'd write Shep and it turned out to be Elizabeth. With Doctor Who I was sure it would be Ace, being as how she's the best character ever, but it's Sarah, and Harry.

I think it's the characters I have something to write about. Someone with a gap to be explored, whether that's a literal gap or an emotional one. Just someone who is interesting to write about, rather interesting to watch/read about.

I'm definitely fannish butterfly-like for similar reasons. I want to go back and write more Elrond and more Elrond & Aragorn but I don't know if I have anything left to say about them any more.

selenay936 April 20 2008, 15:13:17 UTC

I think it's the characters I have something to write about.

I think that's what I worked out. There has to be something that hasn't been said about that character, a gap, or I can't write them.

I'm definitely fannish butterfly-like for similar reasons.

*nods enthusiastically*

paranoidangel42 April 20 2008, 15:27:59 UTC

There has to be something that hasn't been said about that character, a gap, or I can't write them.

Although not too big a gap or I just don't know where to start.

Totally off topic alyburns April 16 2008, 21:47:17 UTC

but girl, I would love it if you'd do a tutorial on that lovely Elizabeth icon - it's totally STUNNING! PLEASE?!?!?!?!

Re: Totally off topic selenay936 April 20 2008, 15:14:02 UTC

I shall see if I can dig out the original file with all the layers and do what I can. I usually save those so it should be somewhere on this hard-drive.

*scampers off to look*

hhertzof April 16 2008, 22:03:59 UTC

This makes perfect sense to me. Ten is not my favourite Doctor, but I like to write him with Sarah because they've got all of that history together and it's more interesting to me to deal with the beginnings (Three) and end (Ten) of their relationship.

I haven't written much in other fandoms, but I had the same thing happening with some of the prompts.

Before Doctor Who, my stories were mostly kept in my head, but I see the same pattern.

I'm also seeing it with the Chalet crossovers I'm working on. My favourite characters aren't the ones I'm writing right now (partially because the timing's wrong), but I find I'm liking writing Joey which I never expected. And in rp I've started an AU Sarah in which she left the Doctor and eventually married Stephen Maynard. ;)

Did you ever get the information about the Girlsown mailing list? I'm not sure I had the right emaill address.

selenay936 April 20 2008, 15:18:44 UTC

This makes perfect sense to me.

Phew! I was afraid that I was babbling hopelessly.

but I find I'm liking writing Joey which I never expected

It seems like the character you *think* you'll want to write is never the one you *actually* write. A lot of the time, I either feel like there are characters I should write (Sam Carter in Stargate is my biggest bug bear for that) or there are characters that are pretty and fun to watch so I'm sure they must be great to write (Ianto, Ace etc.). Except those are exactly the characters that I never end up writing much for.

Did you ever get the information about the Girlsown mailing list?

I did, thank you! I tried to email you to let you know that I had it, but obviously the email never got through. I'm currently on digest and loving all the different discussions :-)

hhertzof April 20 2008, 16:10:24 UTC

I have lots of DW characters that I love to watch, but I'm not sure I could write.

*bounce* I'm behind on the list (which happens periodically). I'll catch up during the week sometime.

jedinic April 16 2008, 23:38:48 UTC

and a lot of fandom still isn't sure about Donna.

That surprises me, because I have nothing but love for her. She's the companion I've most loved right away in New-Who. (i.e. it took me a LONG time to warm up to Rose, not as long to accept Martha, but Donna? Loved her from the first special!)

As for finding 'your' character... hmmmm. For me, each show has a character I am in love with (male or female), and therefore the character I WRITE is the one who is also in love with/closest to my favourite character. That way the POV echoes my own.

selenay936 April 20 2008, 15:26:26 UTC

That surprises me, because I have nothing but love for her.

Same for me - I adore her more with every episode. I will admit that I wasn't entirely convinced when I saw Runaway Bride originally, but I rewatched it a couple of months later and couldn't understand why I'd ever been unsure about her! I think some people are finding it hard to get past Catherine Tate playing her and people are focusing a lot on the fact that she's louder and more pushy that Martha or Rose. The Catherine Tate thing was why I was initially unsure about her, but CT is much better actress that I ever thought she would be. Donna challenging the Doctor and voicing her opinions (loudly sometimes, yes) is one of the things that I absolutely love about her.

That way the POV echoes my own.

Now that's really interesting. I'm trying to think back to how I felt about the characters when I'm writing them or watching them. I don't tend to be in love with the characters on the shows so that doesn't really affect my character choice. Perhaps with Buffy fic I was a ( ... )