short-hand characterization

[mousapelli]

isiscolo is having a little discussion about short-hand charaterization over on her journal, and the example du jour is my "Being Checked Twice", the Remus/Sirius/Harry i put up during the sexplosion.

I don't mind being the example, because she's absolutely right, the entire dynamic of the pairing is only touched on by the fact that Remus is making a grocery list while Sirius and Harry shag upstairs. in my head, that's a comment about Sirius' emotional age versus his physical age because of time lost to Azkaban, but there is nothing explicitly intext about it. if you aren't into the pairing, i'm sure it seems like a throwaway line, an excuse to have Remus go find the other two.

If you change the names around, sure, you can have it be a lot of people who you can see making a grocery list, and yes, the dynamic will change. Like i said, i don't mind being the example, and she is right, but i'm a little squirmy about the fact that she's right. it means i have to think about this stuff harder when i do this Pixies challenge.

*sigh* oh well, back to editing mwppfqf. Almost done! and i even managed to get some smut in around the plot!

Comments

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Just so you know, I think we're all aware of doing this from time to time (I'm not sure I've read your story, so I feel I'm in a good non-judgmental position to pop in and say this). Sometimes we look back on those stories and say, "Darn, what was I thinking, that that had to be fanfic?"--and sometimes we say, "Well, that idea was speaking to me as those particular characters. It didn't have to be fanfic, but it pleased me and pleased those who were looking for fanfic featuring those particular characters, so, I'm not unhappy with it/myself." Which is a fair assessment too. It's what I say every time I think about Blood For a Parched Tongue, which, a quarter of the way through it, I realized would have worked just as well as original fic. And then there are all those people who say, "Man, I hate reading fanfic where it doesn't have any reason it has to be fanfic," which is something I say myself, and it makes us squirm even further, wondering if we should be unhappy with those stories after all. And the answer is no. So, even if you hear me making noises about wanting fanfic being uniquely suited to those characters (which I admit I will, alla time), one could make the argument that it all depends on where one sets the radar--maybe one could argue that this applies to nearly all fanfic, or one could say that it doesn't apply as long as one takes some pains to demonstrate some characterization. Whoo, I seem to have rambled.

[mousapelli.livejournal.com]

that's okay, I'm glad you did, it made me feel better.

I mean, cause all those snarrys hanging around Pixies are just SO ic.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Not wrong, not wrong. It's all about the radar, and I think we all have pairings that make us radar-biased.