(ye olde happy shiny plot device rant)
Aug. 8th, 2004 08:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkaI'm very tempted to start off my happy little rant by saying, in big bold letters, plot devices suck.... Oh wait, I just did.
Still, that's a bit counterproductive, and perhaps not entirely true. People might think I'm saying that -plot- sucks (which would be silly). But a number of fanfics make me feel like the writers don't quite notice there's a difference between plot and plot-device. I do seem to have a particular dislike for what I see as plot-devices, but first, I think, we'd have to define them.
A plot is the structure of events in a story-- it's not the driving force in every case, but unless what you're writing a character-study or a mood-piece (or just sex), a plot would be 'what happens', and also why, where, when, to whom, with whom, around whom, through whose evil plans: all those happy-fun-fun questions. A plot may or may not be plausible, or even possible. A plot may or may not sound cracked: but hopefully it doesn't depend on a plot-device to make it happen in the first place.
A plot device, as I see it, is a sore thumb. It's not really fully legitimate plot so much as it's an excuse for... something else that's actually the plot. So it's just... growing like a weed in the midst of the story-- a supposedly necessary weed. Except it's really kind of sad when the characterization of a main character is that weed, man! So. It's a component of the plot or characterization that seems artificial-- that doesn't organically stem from the basic (canon) nature of the characters or the overall dynamic, but even this is an iffy statement because the dynamic itself can feel 'artificial'.
It's probably my biggest pet peeve with how stories get written, and at heart I cannot understand why writers are so given to these easy ways out. Meh, I say. Meh!
It seems like it works like this: don't like an aspect of a character? Why, just write it away, no one will notice a difference (or care, because isn't the character -better off- that way)! Think the character needs to go through a major perceptual shift in order for a plot to work? Why, just have it happen off-screen and in minimal time! Because we all know what a steel spine Draco has (for example) when it comes to resisting his father (if he were to decide to), as well as how well Lucius would take such rebellion. It's fine! Draco has Dumbledore (and Harry) on his side, what else could he want? Clearly he just needs a little shock to his system, and his whole demeanor would right itself and Harry could step right in at that point, couldn't he? Years of a certain behavior type and various sorts of societal conditioning are nothing next to a good hard slap from fate. Everyone knows that!
Another way to conceptualize this 'inorganic component' definition of 'plot device' is the idea of obvious tinkering with the canon characterizations in order to make the basic story concept move forward. For example, if it's clear that an angry, OoTP-style Harry wouldn't work for your desired plot, you can force Harry to consciously(!) decide that he doesn't want to be the fifth-year Harry anymore-- he wants to be the 'old' Harry (because well, he's just that good at pretending, even to his friends-- who knew?). If this is ridiculous, it's no more ridiculous than forcing any less than deeply introspective character (say... oh... Draco) decide to change quite suddenly and for some consciously felt reason: as in, 'I will use my powers of Pure Reason to now realize that my father is Evil with a capital E and therefore I cannot abide being a Death Eater and thus have to change sides'.
(As an aside, it's almost a challenge, I think, to come up with a believable way for Draco to 'reason' his way out of his probable future. Sometimes people get more intelligent as they grow up, of course-- and sometimes they don't. This mostly applies to stories set right after canon, since this is what I tend to read. Anyway, my specific objection is to the transparent suddenness of this ploy and its common use to get Draco where he's 'useful' for a story. If your whole point is to develop Draco, more power to you! But relegating such a major shift to a given just makes me grit my teeth.)
Bleh. This all starts with a writer's idea that 'this story can't be told without changes A, B, C & D, & also maybe E, therefore we shall have to -tinker-, oh yes...! *insert Evil Author Lady laugh here*', and then the plot and characterizations start doing various painfully obvious (to me, as a reader) contortions to achieve that aim. Perhaps what I really dislike is being able to actually perceive those contortions. If you're going to pull the wool over my readerly eyes (or alternatively, just make legitimate explorations of a character/situations, whichever), you should at least try to be subtle and... organic. It all comes back to the story being organically told. Blending is key. It's so important, I'll say it again: blending.
If I can tell why (in the meta sense of plot-related necessity) the writer had something happen to the characters, the writer has failed, pure and simple. I'm often likely to respond by disliking the characters in question, even, simply because they're now just puppets. How can I love puppets? So my emotional involvement generally depends on how smooth and seamless the progression of events is. It's in large part because I was so conscious of what JK Rowling was trying to do with the Dursleys that I hated `Philosopher's Stone' on sight, and it's still my least favorite HP book. I had to willfully ignore the obvious hand of the author to enjoy the books at first, so it might seem unfair to expect such a high standard from fanfic-- but I have a lot of respect for amateur writers. There's nothing inherently 'superior' about published authors, to me.
In a 'natural' story, all things (plot-points, characterizations, atmosphere, style) flow from and feed into each other-- are basically dependent on each other, so there is no hierarchy. As a reader, you wouldn't be able to rank which was more important to the writer-- plot, (its version of canon) characterization or style. They're all too connected.
A good, organically written fanfic starts at the center (a central idea or vision) and expands outwards to all the details; this 'center' incorporates an understanding of the characters as they are in canon with an understanding of where they should end up in this story. And guess what? Sometimes... well, sometimes they can't end up there at all, and that's all there is to it. I really believe you can't tell some stories with some characters, not without changing too many things to make it really -worth- it as an inherently derivative fanfiction. (And this could inspire a whole 'nother essay about how far the 'boundaries' of what may be called 'fanfiction' should/could stray). I realize this is an unpopular opinion, but I have yet to fully enjoy a fanfic for the cleverly constructed plot alone, if it didn't generate a sense of internal & external consistency in terms of the characters' behavior & responses as well.
A non-organic fanfic basically ends up with artificial heart (or 'center') by virtue of its more minor details being stuck on with crazy glue, I think. If I, as a reader, refused to buy all these admittedly necessary artificial components (like, oh look, nice-and-mature!Draco-- in his not-so-natural habitat of reality itself!), the whole story would refuse to hold together for me. If the story is meant to be told (I think), it can be told without excuses and it would hold together seamlessly. Its central drive should remain untarnished even if you stripped away all the extras-- if you streamlined it as far as it would go. In fact, a good story as I see it should be streamlined this way in the first place. Only the essentials, please. (Kill those extra darlings of stray sex, snark & description, as well as unnecessary backstory! Kill! Kill! Destroy! Maim! EDIT!... Sorry, a bit hyper right now.)
A major misconception (and source of irritation) in terms of plot devices is how often one simple out-there concept (i.e., 'Harry and Draco are soulmates and need to mate in order to live') becomes an excuse for all sorts of unnecessary characterization shifts. Or should I just call them cheats? Because that's what they feel like. I mean, why can't one write a soulmates-forever-omg epic where Harry & Draco's relationship remains confrontational and angry? If you really just wanted them to be soulmates, nothing says they can't remain antagonistic. But no, the real goal was to force them to be sweet and devoted to each other (i.e., 'different to canon'), it seems. Not that this is -wrong- as a concept, per se-- how can it be?-- but it makes me feel manipulated as a reader. Sure, all right, they're soulmates and need each other to live, fine. Why are they happy about this again? Why is Draco being nice to Harry-- because he loves him? Does that mean that human beings are always naturally nice to the people they love? Ha.
Another way to say all this is that I feel like 'plot devices' are a way to manipulate -me- as a reader as well as the plot. They're a way of achieving some more-or-less arbitrary or desirable end result (happy joy joy! Harry & Draco are in twue blue luv, omg squee!!) by having implausible events happen in implausible sequences. As a shipper, I've always wanted Harry & Draco to be able to get together the 'hard way'-- no excuses, no gimmicks, realistic as all get out-- so this is my bias. It feels like a story which blatantly uses implausible devices to bring them together is really saying that it can't be done realistically for some reason, which makes me sad. Because it's either that, or the author implicitly accepts their own laziness. Which is better, really?
I know I'm much, much pickier than most people, but then, this is me and not most people, and I'm only speaking for me (in case that needed to be said). This is what -I- want to see in stories. And telling me 'just write your own' doesn't help; what if I couldn't write? Would I be doomed, if I was a reader rather than also a writer?
I remember![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
xylodemon, author of `Phoenix Song', telling me that she wrote a soulmates fic just because she's into the concept, and that's fine. Buuut, what's not really fine is using this attraction to the idea to have implausibly major changes happen in the characters' dynamic. Sure, it would probably change-- but slowly, painfully, with back-sliding and arguments and angst and pieces that don't quite fit, because even if they're soulmates, they're still human and they're still boys, and they're still Harry and Draco with all the history and the temper and the years of bad habits and misunderstandings behind them. Bleh, I say. Bleh!
~~
On a bittersweet and entirely unrelated note: I've been craving some good old-fashioned S/R lately. And thenmusesfool wrote `Thieves Like Us', and I realized I should be careful what I wish for. And also, that I love them so much it -hurts-, so so much <333333333 Just. God.
...because love is complicated, and they are not. *cries* GOD. Nothing touches me quite the way S/R does. Not quite. Hits where it really fucking hurts, man.
Also:ranalore's Ron drabble, 'cause omg I love him so much, and he really is their heart, and the three of them together are OT3 like a mofo, man. <3333
Still, that's a bit counterproductive, and perhaps not entirely true. People might think I'm saying that -plot- sucks (which would be silly). But a number of fanfics make me feel like the writers don't quite notice there's a difference between plot and plot-device. I do seem to have a particular dislike for what I see as plot-devices, but first, I think, we'd have to define them.
A plot is the structure of events in a story-- it's not the driving force in every case, but unless what you're writing a character-study or a mood-piece (or just sex), a plot would be 'what happens', and also why, where, when, to whom, with whom, around whom, through whose evil plans: all those happy-fun-fun questions. A plot may or may not be plausible, or even possible. A plot may or may not sound cracked: but hopefully it doesn't depend on a plot-device to make it happen in the first place.
A plot device, as I see it, is a sore thumb. It's not really fully legitimate plot so much as it's an excuse for... something else that's actually the plot. So it's just... growing like a weed in the midst of the story-- a supposedly necessary weed. Except it's really kind of sad when the characterization of a main character is that weed, man! So. It's a component of the plot or characterization that seems artificial-- that doesn't organically stem from the basic (canon) nature of the characters or the overall dynamic, but even this is an iffy statement because the dynamic itself can feel 'artificial'.
It's probably my biggest pet peeve with how stories get written, and at heart I cannot understand why writers are so given to these easy ways out. Meh, I say. Meh!
It seems like it works like this: don't like an aspect of a character? Why, just write it away, no one will notice a difference (or care, because isn't the character -better off- that way)! Think the character needs to go through a major perceptual shift in order for a plot to work? Why, just have it happen off-screen and in minimal time! Because we all know what a steel spine Draco has (for example) when it comes to resisting his father (if he were to decide to), as well as how well Lucius would take such rebellion. It's fine! Draco has Dumbledore (and Harry) on his side, what else could he want? Clearly he just needs a little shock to his system, and his whole demeanor would right itself and Harry could step right in at that point, couldn't he? Years of a certain behavior type and various sorts of societal conditioning are nothing next to a good hard slap from fate. Everyone knows that!
Another way to conceptualize this 'inorganic component' definition of 'plot device' is the idea of obvious tinkering with the canon characterizations in order to make the basic story concept move forward. For example, if it's clear that an angry, OoTP-style Harry wouldn't work for your desired plot, you can force Harry to consciously(!) decide that he doesn't want to be the fifth-year Harry anymore-- he wants to be the 'old' Harry (because well, he's just that good at pretending, even to his friends-- who knew?). If this is ridiculous, it's no more ridiculous than forcing any less than deeply introspective character (say... oh... Draco) decide to change quite suddenly and for some consciously felt reason: as in, 'I will use my powers of Pure Reason to now realize that my father is Evil with a capital E and therefore I cannot abide being a Death Eater and thus have to change sides'.
(As an aside, it's almost a challenge, I think, to come up with a believable way for Draco to 'reason' his way out of his probable future. Sometimes people get more intelligent as they grow up, of course-- and sometimes they don't. This mostly applies to stories set right after canon, since this is what I tend to read. Anyway, my specific objection is to the transparent suddenness of this ploy and its common use to get Draco where he's 'useful' for a story. If your whole point is to develop Draco, more power to you! But relegating such a major shift to a given just makes me grit my teeth.)
Bleh. This all starts with a writer's idea that 'this story can't be told without changes A, B, C & D, & also maybe E, therefore we shall have to -tinker-, oh yes...! *insert Evil Author Lady laugh here*', and then the plot and characterizations start doing various painfully obvious (to me, as a reader) contortions to achieve that aim. Perhaps what I really dislike is being able to actually perceive those contortions. If you're going to pull the wool over my readerly eyes (or alternatively, just make legitimate explorations of a character/situations, whichever), you should at least try to be subtle and... organic. It all comes back to the story being organically told. Blending is key. It's so important, I'll say it again: blending.
If I can tell why (in the meta sense of plot-related necessity) the writer had something happen to the characters, the writer has failed, pure and simple. I'm often likely to respond by disliking the characters in question, even, simply because they're now just puppets. How can I love puppets? So my emotional involvement generally depends on how smooth and seamless the progression of events is. It's in large part because I was so conscious of what JK Rowling was trying to do with the Dursleys that I hated `Philosopher's Stone' on sight, and it's still my least favorite HP book. I had to willfully ignore the obvious hand of the author to enjoy the books at first, so it might seem unfair to expect such a high standard from fanfic-- but I have a lot of respect for amateur writers. There's nothing inherently 'superior' about published authors, to me.
In a 'natural' story, all things (plot-points, characterizations, atmosphere, style) flow from and feed into each other-- are basically dependent on each other, so there is no hierarchy. As a reader, you wouldn't be able to rank which was more important to the writer-- plot, (its version of canon) characterization or style. They're all too connected.
A good, organically written fanfic starts at the center (a central idea or vision) and expands outwards to all the details; this 'center' incorporates an understanding of the characters as they are in canon with an understanding of where they should end up in this story. And guess what? Sometimes... well, sometimes they can't end up there at all, and that's all there is to it. I really believe you can't tell some stories with some characters, not without changing too many things to make it really -worth- it as an inherently derivative fanfiction. (And this could inspire a whole 'nother essay about how far the 'boundaries' of what may be called 'fanfiction' should/could stray). I realize this is an unpopular opinion, but I have yet to fully enjoy a fanfic for the cleverly constructed plot alone, if it didn't generate a sense of internal & external consistency in terms of the characters' behavior & responses as well.
A non-organic fanfic basically ends up with artificial heart (or 'center') by virtue of its more minor details being stuck on with crazy glue, I think. If I, as a reader, refused to buy all these admittedly necessary artificial components (like, oh look, nice-and-mature!Draco-- in his not-so-natural habitat of reality itself!), the whole story would refuse to hold together for me. If the story is meant to be told (I think), it can be told without excuses and it would hold together seamlessly. Its central drive should remain untarnished even if you stripped away all the extras-- if you streamlined it as far as it would go. In fact, a good story as I see it should be streamlined this way in the first place. Only the essentials, please. (Kill those extra darlings of stray sex, snark & description, as well as unnecessary backstory! Kill! Kill! Destroy! Maim! EDIT!... Sorry, a bit hyper right now.)
A major misconception (and source of irritation) in terms of plot devices is how often one simple out-there concept (i.e., 'Harry and Draco are soulmates and need to mate in order to live') becomes an excuse for all sorts of unnecessary characterization shifts. Or should I just call them cheats? Because that's what they feel like. I mean, why can't one write a soulmates-forever-omg epic where Harry & Draco's relationship remains confrontational and angry? If you really just wanted them to be soulmates, nothing says they can't remain antagonistic. But no, the real goal was to force them to be sweet and devoted to each other (i.e., 'different to canon'), it seems. Not that this is -wrong- as a concept, per se-- how can it be?-- but it makes me feel manipulated as a reader. Sure, all right, they're soulmates and need each other to live, fine. Why are they happy about this again? Why is Draco being nice to Harry-- because he loves him? Does that mean that human beings are always naturally nice to the people they love? Ha.
Another way to say all this is that I feel like 'plot devices' are a way to manipulate -me- as a reader as well as the plot. They're a way of achieving some more-or-less arbitrary or desirable end result (happy joy joy! Harry & Draco are in twue blue luv, omg squee!!) by having implausible events happen in implausible sequences. As a shipper, I've always wanted Harry & Draco to be able to get together the 'hard way'-- no excuses, no gimmicks, realistic as all get out-- so this is my bias. It feels like a story which blatantly uses implausible devices to bring them together is really saying that it can't be done realistically for some reason, which makes me sad. Because it's either that, or the author implicitly accepts their own laziness. Which is better, really?
I know I'm much, much pickier than most people, but then, this is me and not most people, and I'm only speaking for me (in case that needed to be said). This is what -I- want to see in stories. And telling me 'just write your own' doesn't help; what if I couldn't write? Would I be doomed, if I was a reader rather than also a writer?
I remember
xylodemon, author of `Phoenix Song', telling me that she wrote a soulmates fic just because she's into the concept, and that's fine. Buuut, what's not really fine is using this attraction to the idea to have implausibly major changes happen in the characters' dynamic. Sure, it would probably change-- but slowly, painfully, with back-sliding and arguments and angst and pieces that don't quite fit, because even if they're soulmates, they're still human and they're still boys, and they're still Harry and Draco with all the history and the temper and the years of bad habits and misunderstandings behind them. Bleh, I say. Bleh!~~
On a bittersweet and entirely unrelated note: I've been craving some good old-fashioned S/R lately. And then
musesfool wrote `Thieves Like Us', and I realized I should be careful what I wish for. And also, that I love them so much it -hurts-, so so much <333333333 Just. God....because love is complicated, and they are not. *cries* GOD. Nothing touches me quite the way S/R does. Not quite. Hits where it really fucking hurts, man.
Also:
ranalore's Ron drabble, 'cause omg I love him so much, and he really is their heart, and the three of them together are OT3 like a mofo, man. <3333
