Word choice in fan fiction

[tenaya]

First off, let me say I do cuss. I have to remember not to cuss when at the job and something alarming happens. My father had been a sailor in WW2 and had an absolutely filthy mouth. I am not prude when it comes to foul language. I just think it is more effective to use it as spice instead of the main course.

Having said that, I have to admit I frequently find myself stopped dead in a story, staring at the all too frequent bad language coming out of the mouths of my favorite characters. Since when does Daniel speak like that? I'll give you he does say damn, bastard and even hell when under duress, but not under mundane and casual circumstances.

I'm still reading a mess of Harry Potter fiction I dl'd a few months ago. It's not uncommon for these kids to be using all manner of bad language while simply discussing how to spend the reminder of the day. This usually has me staring at the screen, muttering "wtf?"

Poor word choice ruins the characterization. Why would an author sabatoge themselves with such an easily avoided mistake? Does using bad language equate being 'cool?' Is it more desirable to be cool than to create a better story? Is the constant reminder that they are included in the community more important than writing a story, that if done really well, will give you bonus points in said community? Does each writer's priority sort them into one of two groups--fans who write or writers who are fans?

In a related subject, and one in which I'll probably be stomping on some toes of the 'cool kids,' why do otherwise skilled writers insist on using fannish vocabulary in their fannish stories? I know specialized vocabulary defines a community, and the fannish community is particularly eager to embrace new words, partly, I suspect to differentiate the small cliques of fans who feel they are cooler than the rest of the pack. I have to say when I come across online lingo coming out of the mouths of Teal'c or Jack (in a non-online situation) or in the narrative, I am stopped cold in the story. The word choice is obviously wrong, and the only conclusion I can come up with, is that the writer is wanting to communicate their inclusion into the 'cool kids' club, and the temptation to do the secret handshake in public is irresistable. My sad little opinion is that they should rethink the urge.

The bottom line? Skilled writers are making the same mistake as those seemingly highschoolers are making. Go figure.

Not quite the effect they were shooting for, is it?

Comments

[juliefortune.livejournal.com]

Characterization is THE most important item for me in fanfic.

Amem! Hallelujah! :)

I guess the basic question is why certain people are writing fanfic?

You know, I'm not really sure that some of them "get it." They've internalized the characters, but then they've rewritten them, so the characters in their head bear little relation to the originals ... and frankly, I think a lot of them just don't care. It's sort of creativity on crutches (and yes, I know that's harsh) ... they're in this strange middle territory of writing something that's not an original character, not canon, and that's where they're comfortable, because they're not held to rules, and yet they don't have the risks of actually creating something totally new.

Having said that, there are some people who are capable of writing non-canon characters who utterly captivate me ... but they have to be DAMN good at it, and it has to still have some kind of internal consistency to the tropes. (Oh my God, I'm using writer-words.)

Take, for instance, circe_tigana's brilliant blending of David Thewlis's character from Naked, who is a fast-talking, wired, unpredictable, whimsical, charming, scary, sadistic, vulnerable man, and using that in terms of what happens to Remus during the time just prior to his transformations. I mean, that's brilliant. It's an allegory to addiction, it's showing us the violence we know lurks at the heart of the werewolf, it's showing us the war that rages inside of him. And, of course, Circe's effin' brilliant as a writer, so there's that, too.

Were a lesser talent to attempt it, I can't imagine it would work. But with her skills, it's utterly compelling and believable.

Which more or less muddies the waters, but I think my point is that most writers don't bend canon like that deliberately, they do it blindly, and it shows.

Do they even care if a reader here or there complains that their characterizations are lacking? Do they see their own stories as so disposible that "getting it right" matters not to them?

I think that some are just really learning how to write. I mean, it ain't easy, internalizing characters in addition to mastering the subtleties of words and pacing and plotting and all that other stuff we have to do. And fanfic can be a fine, nurturing place to learn those skills, because people are in general supportive of your efforts.

But I also think it can be a dangerous, honey-sticky kind of trap, because it does forgive your flaws so readily. And writers have egos. Good writers, I think, learn how to distrust their egos, because the bastards lie, but a lot of fanfic writers sort of buy into their own press after a while, and that can be very dangerous. (I'm not exempting the pros -- the pros have the same exact issues.) I think the good ones will listen to critique and learn and grow. The ones that have reached the limits of where they want to be ... well, they'll stay there.

And there are a good many for whom getting it right matters not at all. They'll even tell you that they completely disregarded the rules, right up front. Generally, of course, that just means that they found the rules inconvenient and didn't want to bother with working that hard (or at least I've found it to be so).

I know. I'm harsh. :sigh: But I do aggressively support good writing where I find it.

And yet...some of these flawed stories have many eager readers, so I'm told. Why is that?

As many undiscerning writers as there are, there have to just as many undiscerning readers. Plus, I've found there are an awful lot of fanfic writers who just don't read original fiction. So they truly haven't been exposed to non-media storytelling -- and as a result, their "gold standard" is considerably lower than mine. But then I read constantly, pro and fan, and I grade everything objectively. I don't have a different "fan" scale than I do a "pro" scale -- writing is writing. I expect it to be good.

Maybe we're just too demanding. But I hope not.

-- J.