saying it here, redux
7 May 2007 10:49 pmElsewhere I did a long post on fanfiction writing styles, and in discussing it with someone recently I was reminded of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mikkeneko's comment when I posted on the AJU fiasco of a so-called plot twist:
You know, I've seen [what happens when] a character [is] RPd by a player who hates them -- and honestly, in the end it always leads to disaster and ruin. If you don't love yourself (or rather, if your puppet master doesn't love you) then you'll be forced to act in such ways that nobody else can possibly love you either, and that kind of unrelenting negativeness spreads rottenness through the whole center of the game. I wonder if Quatre doesn't have a similar problem with his player.
I've been thinking about this, off and on, and the long-running joke (in many fandoms) that those (characters) we love, we abuse the most. It is, after all, those who profess to adore Duo above all others who seem to be most guilty of Duosufferitis. The following are just my theories, but you're welcome (of course, as always) to jump in and suggest, point out, and argue me wrong or right, as you please. More the merrier, etc.
First, I think in fanfiction the all-consuming fear of Mary Sue'ing -- which is easily done even to a canon character -- does push some writers in the opposite direction, at least superficially. Rather than let our favorite boy(s) always get the good stuff, we argue we're not MS'ing them because, look, we just put them through a car accident, then a gunshot wound, then let a house fall on them, and oh, their dog died, too. They're not winning! They're not perfect! We are not MS'ing!
But after giving so much thought to what I -- for lack of any better ideas -- called a fanfic-style of fiction -- I think it's more that this protesting-too-much on the MS is just an unconscious coverup of a secret wish we all hold: ( to be wronged, and in the end, to be righted... which begins a semi-long (for me) contemplation of how authors feel about, and treat, the characters they write. ) I wonder if this is part of the reason Solacium had what, three? four? different Heeros over the course of three years...
mikkeneko's comment when I posted on the AJU fiasco of a so-called plot twist:You know, I've seen [what happens when] a character [is] RPd by a player who hates them -- and honestly, in the end it always leads to disaster and ruin. If you don't love yourself (or rather, if your puppet master doesn't love you) then you'll be forced to act in such ways that nobody else can possibly love you either, and that kind of unrelenting negativeness spreads rottenness through the whole center of the game. I wonder if Quatre doesn't have a similar problem with his player.
I've been thinking about this, off and on, and the long-running joke (in many fandoms) that those (characters) we love, we abuse the most. It is, after all, those who profess to adore Duo above all others who seem to be most guilty of Duosufferitis. The following are just my theories, but you're welcome (of course, as always) to jump in and suggest, point out, and argue me wrong or right, as you please. More the merrier, etc.
First, I think in fanfiction the all-consuming fear of Mary Sue'ing -- which is easily done even to a canon character -- does push some writers in the opposite direction, at least superficially. Rather than let our favorite boy(s) always get the good stuff, we argue we're not MS'ing them because, look, we just put them through a car accident, then a gunshot wound, then let a house fall on them, and oh, their dog died, too. They're not winning! They're not perfect! We are not MS'ing!
But after giving so much thought to what I -- for lack of any better ideas -- called a fanfic-style of fiction -- I think it's more that this protesting-too-much on the MS is just an unconscious coverup of a secret wish we all hold: ( to be wronged, and in the end, to be righted... which begins a semi-long (for me) contemplation of how authors feel about, and treat, the characters they write. ) I wonder if this is part of the reason Solacium had what, three? four? different Heeros over the course of three years...