Masterlist of Questionable Opinions (just in case you want to defriend me today, or actually want a recap of what I think of ze Fandom Issues ahahah). Hopefully, this means I shall never have to write on these topics again. Hey, one can hope. :P
- Realism in general: when writing purely for self-indulgent escapism it's for the dogs; if you can't be bothered thinking about the logic of how people in general and these characters in particular would behave, whether or not you're writing Deep Important Epics or PWPs, I can't be bothered reading your fic because I'll bet you much it's gonna SUCK. Writing for pleasure is one thing; writing sloppily is another. 'It's a kink' may be a reason why you wrote Harry turning to the Dark Side just to have S&M subtext with Draco, but it's not an excuse unless it's pure porn. And yes, plots need to make sense in the context of the characters' lives/experiences too, or you wind up with fics where characterization gets twisted out of all proportion just to get the characters to do something they don't wanna do. Even professional writers (*cough*JKR*cough*) could benefit from listening to their characters more rather than their ambitions for what they want the plot to do.
In other words: I think realism should support the depth & breadth of whatever the writer's endeavor is. In a sex-scene, yes, it's important to know something about how gay sex works, though you don't have to write it the way guy A + guy B would 'typically' fuck-- you just write it within the limits of plausibility of the two or more characters as well as two human males of a certain age (and hopefully cultural background as an extra-yummy bonus) & you're fine on the non-suckiness dept. Likewise, in terms of characterization, there's only so far you can stretch things and still be writing something other than 'bodyfic', which uses only the character's hair-color/eye-color. I believe you can write almost any situation plausibly & well, btw, it's just that if you want Harry to fuck Lucius and call him baby, you gotta do a lot of homework & also footwork. Tons. And I mean metric tons. (A notable exception is humorfic or fic where absurdity is the point.)
In conclusion: attention to realism + plausibility of any & all aspects = maketh goodfic wherein escapist/cracked-out scenarios or pairings may thrive. By 'plausibility', I also mean taking the time and space needed to make any development believable, rather than having the fic use a superficial excuse like 'he grew up' or 'he's different now' or 'he was only pretending to like girls' or 'well, he was never really that bad, he just got a bad rap-- and besides, LOOK, HE'S HOT!!1' in whatever way. Extra negative points for 'but he always loved him!' :P
- Queer realism in slash specifically: no, slash isn't about 'gay men' or anyone's rights, liberation, or pet cause. Slash is about a) shippy writing; b) our fantasies/wishes/feelings about canon; c) being fannish about characters specifically. Obviously, one is, in fact, queering characters by slashing them, so there's stuff that could be explored there, but it doesn't have to be; even so, the question of realism remains. It just really gets to me that 'realism' gets defined so narrowly as 'queer!realism' or 'canon!realism' or 'sexual!realism' whatever. As far as I'm concerned, all that should ideally happen is 'writing things as you want them to be as if it was how they are'.
I suppose this, as everything, depends on definition. I'm all about escapism, I just want things to make sense in context, otherwise you're not escaping so much as jumping off a tall building while forgetting a parachute :P Oh, and I get especially annoyed when people think 'realism' = 'current social environment', though of course it's a type. I suppose it's a basic extravert vs. introvert thing, looking within vs. looking outside, but I just think it's very possible to have all sorts of things happen in any society or time period-- it's not like 'Brokeback Mountain' was the only possible story for an equivalent romance in the American West in the 1970s. It may be one of the more realistic scenarios, maybe, but it's not like you can ever really say 'this is how life is for people like us' in a general sense. Of course, I say this 'cause I've always felt separate from 'my' culture and even 'my' time to an extent-- like, I can tell it's really 'opt out' in many ways, it's just you pay the consequences of separation :P
- Characterization specifically: yes, I believe there are 'plausible' (good) and a 'implausible' (sucky) extremes in the range of possible characterizations, and if you consciously (hard to do much about 'unconsciously' except-- uh-- refamiliarize self with canon?) choose to ignore character plausibility as best you can determine it, this is bad writing. I'm not going to come to your lj to harsh your buzz, but I will still intensely dislike that sort of fanfic and get annoyed when I accidentally read too much of it. I will probably rant in my little corner, too, because I have the right to rant the way you have the right to write whatever you want. :P
Also, after HBP, no one has any real excuse saying Draco Malfoy 'isn't well-characterized enough in canon' so you can do whatever you want. Too late, he's A Real Boy now; he has characteristics that will not float away on the breeze. Gotta deal if you want your writing not to suck (though he's A Real Boy in CoS, too-- because even hints/tidbits create an outline).
However, any honest interpretation of canon is not equally okay, no. It's quite possible to be on crack. For instance, if you honestly think Draco's a smooth criminal and/or some sort of sexy-arrogant uber-snarky godlike being in canon, WE HAVE A PROBLEM. Likewise if you think Harry's a fluffy bunny who WUVS Draco, I mean, he's obsessed (with his arse), ISN'T IT OBVIOUS. No, it's not. Why? Because you need to back up any opinion with actual canon fact and not interpretation if you want it to be taken seriously; hey, it's fine if you don't, you go on with your bad self. However, it would really help everyone's peace of mind if you knew the difference between fact and interpretation before starting to talk.
( ...and just wait, there's more! Feedback, MEEN PEOPLES, etc :P )
- Realism in general: when writing purely for self-indulgent escapism it's for the dogs; if you can't be bothered thinking about the logic of how people in general and these characters in particular would behave, whether or not you're writing Deep Important Epics or PWPs, I can't be bothered reading your fic because I'll bet you much it's gonna SUCK. Writing for pleasure is one thing; writing sloppily is another. 'It's a kink' may be a reason why you wrote Harry turning to the Dark Side just to have S&M subtext with Draco, but it's not an excuse unless it's pure porn. And yes, plots need to make sense in the context of the characters' lives/experiences too, or you wind up with fics where characterization gets twisted out of all proportion just to get the characters to do something they don't wanna do. Even professional writers (*cough*JKR*cough*) could benefit from listening to their characters more rather than their ambitions for what they want the plot to do.
In other words: I think realism should support the depth & breadth of whatever the writer's endeavor is. In a sex-scene, yes, it's important to know something about how gay sex works, though you don't have to write it the way guy A + guy B would 'typically' fuck-- you just write it within the limits of plausibility of the two or more characters as well as two human males of a certain age (and hopefully cultural background as an extra-yummy bonus) & you're fine on the non-suckiness dept. Likewise, in terms of characterization, there's only so far you can stretch things and still be writing something other than 'bodyfic', which uses only the character's hair-color/eye-color. I believe you can write almost any situation plausibly & well, btw, it's just that if you want Harry to fuck Lucius and call him baby, you gotta do a lot of homework & also footwork. Tons. And I mean metric tons. (A notable exception is humorfic or fic where absurdity is the point.)
In conclusion: attention to realism + plausibility of any & all aspects = maketh goodfic wherein escapist/cracked-out scenarios or pairings may thrive. By 'plausibility', I also mean taking the time and space needed to make any development believable, rather than having the fic use a superficial excuse like 'he grew up' or 'he's different now' or 'he was only pretending to like girls' or 'well, he was never really that bad, he just got a bad rap-- and besides, LOOK, HE'S HOT!!1' in whatever way. Extra negative points for 'but he always loved him!' :P
- Queer realism in slash specifically: no, slash isn't about 'gay men' or anyone's rights, liberation, or pet cause. Slash is about a) shippy writing; b) our fantasies/wishes/feelings about canon; c) being fannish about characters specifically. Obviously, one is, in fact, queering characters by slashing them, so there's stuff that could be explored there, but it doesn't have to be; even so, the question of realism remains. It just really gets to me that 'realism' gets defined so narrowly as 'queer!realism' or 'canon!realism' or 'sexual!realism' whatever. As far as I'm concerned, all that should ideally happen is 'writing things as you want them to be as if it was how they are'.
I suppose this, as everything, depends on definition. I'm all about escapism, I just want things to make sense in context, otherwise you're not escaping so much as jumping off a tall building while forgetting a parachute :P Oh, and I get especially annoyed when people think 'realism' = 'current social environment', though of course it's a type. I suppose it's a basic extravert vs. introvert thing, looking within vs. looking outside, but I just think it's very possible to have all sorts of things happen in any society or time period-- it's not like 'Brokeback Mountain' was the only possible story for an equivalent romance in the American West in the 1970s. It may be one of the more realistic scenarios, maybe, but it's not like you can ever really say 'this is how life is for people like us' in a general sense. Of course, I say this 'cause I've always felt separate from 'my' culture and even 'my' time to an extent-- like, I can tell it's really 'opt out' in many ways, it's just you pay the consequences of separation :P
- Characterization specifically: yes, I believe there are 'plausible' (good) and a 'implausible' (sucky) extremes in the range of possible characterizations, and if you consciously (hard to do much about 'unconsciously' except-- uh-- refamiliarize self with canon?) choose to ignore character plausibility as best you can determine it, this is bad writing. I'm not going to come to your lj to harsh your buzz, but I will still intensely dislike that sort of fanfic and get annoyed when I accidentally read too much of it. I will probably rant in my little corner, too, because I have the right to rant the way you have the right to write whatever you want. :P
Also, after HBP, no one has any real excuse saying Draco Malfoy 'isn't well-characterized enough in canon' so you can do whatever you want. Too late, he's A Real Boy now; he has characteristics that will not float away on the breeze. Gotta deal if you want your writing not to suck (though he's A Real Boy in CoS, too-- because even hints/tidbits create an outline).
However, any honest interpretation of canon is not equally okay, no. It's quite possible to be on crack. For instance, if you honestly think Draco's a smooth criminal and/or some sort of sexy-arrogant uber-snarky godlike being in canon, WE HAVE A PROBLEM. Likewise if you think Harry's a fluffy bunny who WUVS Draco, I mean, he's obsessed (with his arse), ISN'T IT OBVIOUS. No, it's not. Why? Because you need to back up any opinion with actual canon fact and not interpretation if you want it to be taken seriously; hey, it's fine if you don't, you go on with your bad self. However, it would really help everyone's peace of mind if you knew the difference between fact and interpretation before starting to talk.
( ...and just wait, there's more! Feedback, MEEN PEOPLES, etc :P )
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