meta | fic: writing multiple, varying "takes" on the same characters and events

[expositionary]

1 School starts again for me on the fifth; I'm wasting the remainder of my summer by reading a lot of fic and writing a lot of horrible original fiction and fic. This week I'm doing a bit of volunteering -- the type you actually have to wake up early for -- so that should get me sorted on a regular sleep schedule again. Hopefully. Judging from the

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[terra]

This is completely not related to what you are asking, you'll have to forgive me. I don't really read or write fic, I draw fanart. But, here's an example. Whenever I draw Locke, I add a black band around his left arm, over the logo patch on his jacket. The logo patch is about as canon as something in Final Fantasy VI can be (there are a lot of different official drawing styles) but the black band is something I added on my own, signifying that he's in mourning for his lost love. It's just a personal detail of my own invention.

There are some strange instances of my personal canon interfering with my enjoyment of a story. Nick/Lirael isn't exactly canon, but if either of them are paired with anyone else I get a bit antsy. It's strange, because there are some pairings that are canon that I don't mind seeing broken up. (For example, in the Suikoden fandom Nash/Sierra is my OTP, and it's canon. However, I don't mind and sort of like Nash/Chris, which is not canon

[expositionary]

... And Alex, of course, dares to be different. :D

No, I don't really know most of those fandoms. I have a general idea of Locke being a Final Fantasy character, but only because you talk about him so much; either way the black band idea is funky. I can't believe I just used that word. If I may be all clueless and ask, though, what is Suidoken?

The HP fandom sort of scares me, too. But most of my other interests... lack fandoms that you can write in. Or they're written in predominately by preteen kids with grammar issues, which is worse; that's the downside of reading children's & YA fantasy.

[terra]

Nick/Lirael is my OTP

here via Hogwarts Today

[sigune]

Hee! I'm so glad to find someone else with the same problems that I also have :). I was beginning to think I was the only writer in fandom who sticks to one view of a character's life and development... It's so strange to me that people can, for example, ship one character with a number of others and have those events take place in the same timeframe, writing all kinds of alternate universes that way.

1. Have you ever found certain ideas/plotlines/themes "bleeding over" from fic to fic, if you write often about a certain character/set of characters?
Oh yes, all the time. There is one huge backstory, and I keep it in mind when writing all my short stories/drabbles/WIPs. The details may not all have been worked out, but the main storylines are fixed.

2. How do you deal with this? If something (i.e. a get-together, a death, a separation) happens a certain way in your mind, and you write it, how can you write another story in which it happens differently?I can't :). That is to say: since HBP I have been forced to change the backstory,

[expositionary]

Ooh, yay. Solidarity. xD

It's not so strange to me to ship characters with other characters -- well. I can ship them, I can read them, but I know what you mean: I can't write them. I've tried, but nothing comes out, or it all ends up as cardboard.

Good luck with your WIP of Doom. As a reader, it's always been the long, novel-length stories that have stuck with me, but I know that from the position of a writer they're a lot harder to complete successfully.

And I'm guessing, just from your mentions of HBP, that the character you're talking about is Snape? ;)

[expositionary]

Ooh, it's so cool to meet an actual novelist in fandom. Most of us here just have that "aspiring writer" tag attached to us. :)

I have to admit that I've had minimal contact with comic book fandoms, and haven't read many comic books, but it would be interesting (and quite different) to participate in a fandom where there were AUs even in the source material. Book fandoms, of course, don't have to deal with that; there's only one plot to follow -- but I'd guess that it makes the transition to that "flexible" canon approach you mention a lot easier.

Heh, I did do a bit of a double-take when you mentioned Cedric & American Indians in the same sentence. I'd love to see those stories once they're complete, though. :)

[expositionary]

One way to get out of this problem is to write another pairing with the same character, to force yourself to revise your narrative that explains how he got to be who he is.

Which is really excellent advice, but for the fact that I can't seem to twist my head around characters other than my OTPs when I write. :D Definitely something I will be attempting in the future, though.

Until recently, I'd mainly written about characters who were more present in canon.

I find that writing about characters or in time periods that don't have much of a place in canon is a lot easier in terms of the "unable to imagine alternate realities" thing. For instance, the trio-at-Hogwarts period is an era I can't imagine tackling to any major depth, because there's so much restrictive canon information set out already...

[such_heights]

Ah, I do adore your meta. And yay for influencing your personal canon =D

[expositionary]

Eee, thank you. I'm just glad that I have a place to talk about all of these meta-ish thoughts now other than the confines of my own mind (which is sometimes a very strange place). xD

It's interesting that your timeline's developed as you write -- generally I tend to sit down and write out structures for everything before I begin major pieces. Which doesn't exactly make it easy to finish them, but, ah. Yes.

I like your idea of dealing with canon more, I think; it'd be so much easier to work with. :) Because even in the real world, who a person "is" is made up of all these little details, and it's the chance events (i.e. the particular set of events you're choosing for a specific story) that shape what happens in the end.