Going incognito again...

[agilebrit]

My parents are visiting from Texas, so I probably won't have time to catch up with my flist very well. In other news, I've figured out where my chapter breaks are going to be for "Another Day, Another Apocalypse," so I can start formatting them and stuff. And I'm sorta-kinda staring at the Spike/Fred drabble prompts and have ideas for the majority of them, including nodrogg's cracktastic suggestion.

Also, I made an icon this morning.

I may start using him instead of either the Jayne "Undercaffeinated and Cranky" one or the Penguins "This Sucks" icon. Haven't decided yet.

Comments

[nodrogg.livejournal.com]

Uhh... is cracktastic good?

-- I tried to find a definition for it, and in so doing I ran across this lj post (http://ellen-fremedon.livejournal.com/325780.html), which you might find informative / interesting. [One thing she talks about, the Event Horizon of the Id Vortex, I understood completely - it's derailed at least one good story of mine. ]

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Cracktastic can be good...or it can be bloody awful. LOL It depends on what is done with the idea. Jayne/Illyria, at first glance, is cracktastic. I think I made it work. In the hands of someone else it might be a train wreck. Not that I think I'm all that as a writer, but I do know that I've got a pretty good grasp of both Jayne's and Illyria's characterizations because I write them both a lot--and therefore I have a pretty good grasp on how they react to things.

[nodrogg.livejournal.com]

Not that I think I'm all that as a writer, but I do know that I've got a pretty good grasp of both Jayne's and Illyria's characterizations because I write them both a lot--and therefore I have a pretty good grasp on how they react to things

That would make an interesting community discussion topic. You're not claiming massive familiarity with the source material as justification for your treatment of the characters - you have that, but that's not the reason you give.

If someone cranks out prodigious quantities of Harry Potter fanfic, then gives as justification for his handling of the characters, the fact that he cranks out prodigious quantities of Harry Potter fanfic... he's really talking about his own characters, isn't he? Based upon, certainly, perhaps resembling closely, yes - but the author is standing upon his own two feet now, justifying his work by his own work rather than the fanfic source.

Interesting.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

That is, indeed, an interesting topic for discussion, and I hadn't really thought about the comment that way. I think that, the more you write a given character, the more of a handle you get on them (at least, if you're attempting to stay true to the canon source). Yes, I'm massively familiar with Firefly and S5 of Angel...but I'm not going to claim a good handle on every character in either of them. I hardly ever write Simon, Angel, or Lorne, even though all three characters resonate with me (for different reasons)...but apparently the creative part of my brain is more interested in the characters who've got a little more "bad" to them, such as Jayne, Illyria, and Spike.

And I'm sure there are people out there who think I've got Jayne, Illyria, and Spike massively out of character in my fics and just don't want to say so, thanks to the Cult of Nice. I tend to write Illyria a little more vulnerable than she appears to be at first blush on the show, because that's the way I see her. I write Jayne a little less crude than he was on the show because I'm not personally comfortable with how crude he actually is. And Spike...well, Spike is Spike. I've been assured that I haven't de-Spiked him, but I'm not sure I actually get him "right" either.

I think everyone sees the characters through their own filters, and that's what we write.

[nodrogg.livejournal.com]

the more you write a given character, the more of a handle you get on [him] (at least, if you're attempting to stay true to the canon source)

Where this truth was first really demonstrated was the character of Star Trek's Spock. Remember, this was the first prime-time SF series with continuing characters.*

His character was defined by the Writer's Guide - but his personality varied from episode to episode depending on the individual screenwriter's interpretation, from pompous stuffed shirt to enigmatic mystic to contemplative philosopher. Which one was 'correct'? All of them - nothing is more canon than scripts filmed, produced and aired...

*

[nodrogg.livejournal.com]

Did you see this (http://community.livejournal.com/fanficrants/2887117.html)?!

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

HOW in the world did I miss that? Thanks for pointing me to it. For some reason it didn't show up on my flist.