~~ pre-slash. it's just hot!
May. 13th, 2004 03:21 amI wonder if people's insistence that Kirk & Spock were actually lovers in canon is at least partly to make their slashing in fanfic be "in character". And in general, I keep wondering why is it that people keep insisting that their favorite pairing is actually -there- in the canon to start with. If it -is- to defend the "legitimacy" of their fanfic, I've got to say it's not doing much for anybody, since at least 75% of any slash/alternate het pairing fanfic in any fandom I've ever read, in which I'm even passingly familiar with the canon, I'd consider OOC. Painfully so.
On the other hand, I find that most gen fanfic is pretty in-character-- and I would call the commercial tie-in novels gen fanfic. Hmm, seems like something's going on here, right? Maybe it's just a question of "keeping the flavor"-- i.e., the original genre.
I think the trick is, in order for the characters to seem fully themselves, they have to keep up the same pattern of behavior they started with. That is to say, they have to stay constant throughout the fic-- if they change, it should be subtle and gradual, so that at the end of the fic, the character should still be as familiar as at the beginning.
So if in canon, two characters are very-close-but-not-sexual, that is how it should stay in order to guarantee the fic feels "in character". Conversely, if the characters are at odds in canon, they should generally stay at odds throughout the fic to some degree for it to remain "authentic" feeling. Only the most talented writer can successfully introduce new pairings or character dynamics into the story and retain that "authentic" feel, which is probably part of the reason commercial tie-in fics aren't usually inter-canon-character romances. Like, ever.
That said, I think I've figured out why people make the startling claim that I write Draco or whoever "in character". Thing is, I simply find it too difficult to believably develop him (and I have these pesky high standards). I consider it a weakness, but that also means that he remains semi-stable as related to his initial state. Harry & Draco's relationship is difficult for me to progress. I still haven't figured out how the relationship could believably happen, so the result is that I write "in character" H/D.
The problem, I think, with saying Kirk/Spock "exists" in canon (or any other pairing) is that this doesn't make it any easier to write outright slash, actually, because they'd have to remain subtle and subtextual if a fic were to feel in-character, at least to me.
( Hello, pre-slash. )
Ahhh, pre-slash. It's a rare and beautiful thing~:) If not for the lack of porn, it'd be perfect :D
On the other hand, I find that most gen fanfic is pretty in-character-- and I would call the commercial tie-in novels gen fanfic. Hmm, seems like something's going on here, right? Maybe it's just a question of "keeping the flavor"-- i.e., the original genre.
I think the trick is, in order for the characters to seem fully themselves, they have to keep up the same pattern of behavior they started with. That is to say, they have to stay constant throughout the fic-- if they change, it should be subtle and gradual, so that at the end of the fic, the character should still be as familiar as at the beginning.
So if in canon, two characters are very-close-but-not-sexual, that is how it should stay in order to guarantee the fic feels "in character". Conversely, if the characters are at odds in canon, they should generally stay at odds throughout the fic to some degree for it to remain "authentic" feeling. Only the most talented writer can successfully introduce new pairings or character dynamics into the story and retain that "authentic" feel, which is probably part of the reason commercial tie-in fics aren't usually inter-canon-character romances. Like, ever.
That said, I think I've figured out why people make the startling claim that I write Draco or whoever "in character". Thing is, I simply find it too difficult to believably develop him (and I have these pesky high standards). I consider it a weakness, but that also means that he remains semi-stable as related to his initial state. Harry & Draco's relationship is difficult for me to progress. I still haven't figured out how the relationship could believably happen, so the result is that I write "in character" H/D.
The problem, I think, with saying Kirk/Spock "exists" in canon (or any other pairing) is that this doesn't make it any easier to write outright slash, actually, because they'd have to remain subtle and subtextual if a fic were to feel in-character, at least to me.
( Hello, pre-slash. )
Ahhh, pre-slash. It's a rare and beautiful thing~:) If not for the lack of porn, it'd be perfect :D
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