WIP check in - Sunday 22nd January

[lullabymoon]

Hello all! I'll be hosting the check ins this week.

How is the writing going today?

Poll #9195 Sunday check in

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9

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Today I...

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wrote
6 (66.7%)

edited
2 (22.2%)

posted
1 (11.1%)

researched
0 (0.0%)

did something else
3 (33.3%)

Today's discussion topic is from fanfic flamingo:

[Love OTP in canon (Fanfic Flamingo) Hate main portrayals of OTP in Fanfics]

Talking not just about OTP's, but what do you hate character wise when reading other fic? Does it affect the way you write your own fics? 

Comments

[juliet316]

I just woke up. I'll probably have a shot at doing something once I've had my coffee.

I hate character bashing in fics. I'm not talking about fics where a favorite (or not so favorite) character takes a turn to the Dark Side, because those can be done well with a little care paid to their motivations for turning evil. It's stories where it's clear from the outset that the author hates a specific character and let's it show in the most OOC actions by that character and the ones around him/her who suddenly state they've alwasy hated this character and wish horrible things to him/her (Even if they canonically care about this person). If you don't like the character and feel you cannot write for them objectively, then by simply don't write them/find away to write them out early on that doesn't bash them. By and large, I'm able to avoid those fics, because most in my fandom either warn for bashing, or I have already come to know who might be a basher by the comments they've made in towards those characters in other comms.

It does make me take care to look out for that in my own writing. I'm not perfect; I have characters certainly that I don't like, so I take care to avoid doing to them what I see happen to my faves in other authors' work (I actually did get challenged by a friend once to write a somebody I absolutely loathe as a decent person in a fic we were co - writing. I managed to pull it off, much to my delight. I mean I'll never have him eat fluffy clouds and spit out rainbows, but it does make me feel a little better about my writing to know that I can even write somebody I hate with some decency). If I have a character take a darker turn, I'll definitely take care to show what the motivation is behind it, so that it's clear that I'm not bashing a character, especially if it's one of my favorite characters (especially one that gets bashed).

So yeah, character bashing is the one thing I absolutely hate, but it does serve as a blueprint to avoid that pitfall in my own writing.

ETA: For somebody who didn't have caffine yet, I had a lot to say, LOL.

[crowdog66]

Wrote and posted a ~1300 word stand-alone short story, "Hues of the Heart" (Garak/Basrhi, R, clothing kink), which addresses the issue of Bashir's... shall we say, rather unfortunate color choices in clothing during the course of the series.

Character-wise, when reading other fic I find myself majorly turned off by three phenomena:

1) Character bashing -- not putting characters through the wringer necessarily, but the authorial equivalent of hitting them again and again with a baseball bat just because "they deserve it", or writing a character in a fundamentally disrespectful way; and

2) The dreaded Mary Sue/Marty Stu, which can occasionally be done well but is usually just teeth-grindingly bad; and

3) Fics where the two people involved are totally warped in order to play out the author's fantasies, or turned into a uke and a seme, or woobiefied beyond all recognition. *shudders*

[jagnikjen]

1500 brand new words and counting!

[insignia]

I wrote a bit! Yesterday I figured out some important parts of my chapter-in-progress, such as where and how to start the bloody thing. So my plan to finish this chapter in February may not be a dream after all. Ha.

Like the previous commenters, I am bothered by character bashing. A lot of characters who get that treatment because they're (supposedly) horrible, obnoxious douchebags... really wouldn't be that way if people just wrote them properly. Personally, if I'm going to write a character I dislike, I'd rather develop them into something I can sympathise with, than make them more insufferable for no reason. I mean, what does that accomplish?

[lacygrey]

No writing today, everything but. Some reading and mulling though.

I quite like that there's a diversity of takes on characters in fanfic, its part of what its all about. Howver, I hate the distortion of my favorite protagonists into cold-blooded criminals (unless its done with a great deal of skill). Its rare, fortunatly (I only remember one serial killer!Sai). I also dislike 'slashlassbashing' - destruction of female characters to the benefit of MM couples.

[luna_plath]

I wrote around 1,000 words today for a fest piece, which is more progress than what I managed this past week. The story is slowly stringing itself together and hopefully I'll get a few more plot points fleshed out by the end of the week.

Hmm. There's actually quite a few things I don't like/don't appreciate in fanfic, but most of them are pretty character-specific. I'm studying psychology and I hope to become a therapist as my career, so I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of who certain characters are and why they do what they do. It bothers me when authors only include the convenient elements of a character's personality, meaning they give a less complete representation than what I'm looking for.

I write in HP fandom, so there are plenty of major and minor characters to work with, and in some cases I can just go along with the story even if the plot of the story is unlikely. But what I don't appreciate is when this happens with major characters--when the author exaggerates certain aspects of their personality and disregards others. I'm looking for depth/realism when I read stories, and hopefully I accomplish it when I write as well.

And I agree with the above comments about character bashing. I don't appreciate it, and I feel like engaging in it just alienates your potential readers. If I don't like a character then I shy away from including them in my fic. In HP you see a lot of character bashing where Ron is concerned, in Snape/Hermione, in Harry/Hermione, even in slash pairings like Harry/Snape or Harry/Draco.

[snowynight]

I wrote a bit, but I still couldn't figure out the major scene. Sigh. Investigative plot is hard to write.

I don't like character bashing, like the other commenters. Don't really see the reason. Distorted characterizations to be OOC generally gain rolled-eyes and back button. I like my characters to be realistic.