I don't let them wander too far off the beaten track because if you deviate too much they become unrecognizable as the boys we know and love. I don't want to have to be told this is Chris, Buck, Vin, etc...I want to be able to recognize them when I'm reading.
yeah, this is always a concern; it's an interesting dilemma because I started this idea as an OC concept, but the more I think about it, the more the boys keep popping up in it. The trick will be finding the balance between them and the character-qualities I already had in my head . . .
Ah, well it's a good thing our boys are flexible. I'm sure you can make it work it just takes some doing. I'm currently working on a story where some ideas I want to use are being a little difficult, it's gonna take some mental gymnastics but hopefully the story will be all the better for it.
I always cut AU versions of the characters more slack than in-canon ones, but they still have to be recognisable. I've likened it to the characters being on a string--they exist at a bit of a distance from their canon selves, but attached to those core beings. If the string is too long or thin or breaks in parts, I stop seeing stretched but acceptable versions and start seeing instead OCs with familiar names stamped on them.
The setting plays a part, too. Some AUs require greater distortion simply to make the characters "fit", which can lead to some interpretations of canonical traits that I simply don't or won't buy.
Such as, oh, Vin's illiteracy in canon being turned into dyslexia in a modern AU to explain his inability to read well when we have universal schooling now. Dyslexia and illeracy are too different for me to buy; they'd put entirely different psychological pressures on a child growing up--Vin's growing up illiterate in a frontier world where illiteracy was fairly common is entirely different from being a child with a disability that sets him apart and would subject him to (probably) bullying and derision and so on from his peer group, and possibly misunderstanding from some teachers who might interpret his inability to get it to stupidity or laziness.
That's the kind of character distortion I don't see as "stretched", but a complete changing of the character simply to slot him into a different world. In other words, it's a case of characterisation taking a back seat to the setting: it reads to me as more important to an author to make the character seem plausible within the very different world s/he wants to create rather than to retain a recognisable core of the character.
I won't even mention turning JD into a genius! (See what I did there?) LOL.
yeah, that's the thing - the universe and the concept is going to take them down some very different paths by its very nature. The question is 'how far'. But I am pretty sure that any deviations from canon will be - well, very deviant. *g*
LOL! That vision of Ezra with his trousseau and erm... equipment doesn't seem so very far from canon to me. Put Vin in a dress though... heh, but you could convince me of that too I'm sure :D
Really though, this is all intriguing. Deviant deviations from canon you say? Is this all in the actual universe itself, or are we talking personality traits too? There's that thing we've talked about before on daybook about far-from-canon AUs working as long as certain dynamics and characteristics remain equal.
yeah, the characterizations will remain equal, I think, in that the characters should be recognizable. I'm going to give it a try and see how much does and doesn't work, I think. Y'all can be my sounding board.
I was listening to a couple of SFF authors discuss writing recently and one of them made the very good point about how readers are willing to suspend disbelief for some of the most outlandish settings (like comic books) but as soon as a woman says, 'Yes, sure, go ahead and have sex with my husband, I don't mind' and it goes against what we're expecting from that character, everything just falls apart.
I like what Pen said about how the setting can have a lot to do with how far you have to push the characters away from their canon selves, that's true, but it all comes down to what the reader, subjective as we are, can buy in the setting from those group of characters. That falls on the author to give those different expectations so the readers are not thrown out of the story. But there are also certain left-field characterisations I'm just never going to buy no matter how well written and once my suspension of disbelief starts snapping, it's really hard to make me hit that believe button again.
If your seven guys are going to be very different from the guys we expect, you're going to have to lay in that groundwork and set new motivations for OOC behaviour.
These have all been wonderful answers, and I appreciate everyone's feedback (it's beenm that sort of long work week!)
and it goes against what we're expecting from that character, everything just falls apart.
Oh yes, I think this really gets to the heart of it when writing fanfic. The things that turn me off of have to do with characterization moreso than plot or lack there of. I can deal with a plot that doesn't make sense a lot better than I can deal with Vin crying or Ezra giving away all his money or Buck and Chris fighting all the time or - any of the things that writers fall into without thinking about the actual characters on the show. that works for OC characters as well, especially after we 'get to know' them.
If your seven guys are going to be very different from the guys we expect, you're going to have to lay in that groundwork and set new motivations for OOC behaviour.
Yeah, the groundwork is key, you're right. Thanks, and that's well said!~
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 04:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 08:51 pm (UTC)I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. :)
no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 09:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 05:09 pm (UTC)The setting plays a part, too. Some AUs require greater distortion simply to make the characters "fit", which can lead to some interpretations of canonical traits that I simply don't or won't buy.
Such as, oh, Vin's illiteracy in canon being turned into dyslexia in a modern AU to explain his inability to read well when we have universal schooling now. Dyslexia and illeracy are too different for me to buy; they'd put entirely different psychological pressures on a child growing up--Vin's growing up illiterate in a frontier world where illiteracy was fairly common is entirely different from being a child with a disability that sets him apart and would subject him to (probably) bullying and derision and so on from his peer group, and possibly misunderstanding from some teachers who might interpret his inability to get it to stupidity or laziness.
That's the kind of character distortion I don't see as "stretched", but a complete changing of the character simply to slot him into a different world. In other words, it's a case of characterisation taking a back seat to the setting: it reads to me as more important to an author to make the character seem plausible within the very different world s/he wants to create rather than to retain a recognisable core of the character.
I won't even mention turning JD into a genius! (See what I did there?) LOL.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 08:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 08:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 08:45 pm (UTC)(Just kidding!)
no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 08:58 pm (UTC)Really though, this is all intriguing. Deviant deviations from canon you say? Is this all in the actual universe itself, or are we talking personality traits too? There's that thing we've talked about before on daybook about far-from-canon AUs working as long as certain dynamics and characteristics remain equal.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-05 05:56 am (UTC)I like what Pen said about how the setting can have a lot to do with how far you have to push the characters away from their canon selves, that's true, but it all comes down to what the reader, subjective as we are, can buy in the setting from those group of characters. That falls on the author to give those different expectations so the readers are not thrown out of the story. But there are also certain left-field characterisations I'm just never going to buy no matter how well written and once my suspension of disbelief starts snapping, it's really hard to make me hit that believe button again.
If your seven guys are going to be very different from the guys we expect, you're going to have to lay in that groundwork and set new motivations for OOC behaviour.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-07 08:40 pm (UTC)and it goes against what we're expecting from that character, everything just falls apart.
Oh yes, I think this really gets to the heart of it when writing fanfic. The things that turn me off of have to do with characterization moreso than plot or lack there of. I can deal with a plot that doesn't make sense a lot better than I can deal with Vin crying or Ezra giving away all his money or Buck and Chris fighting all the time or - any of the things that writers fall into without thinking about the actual characters on the show. that works for OC characters as well, especially after we 'get to know' them.
If your seven guys are going to be very different from the guys we expect, you're going to have to lay in that groundwork and set new motivations for OOC behaviour.
Yeah, the groundwork is key, you're right. Thanks, and that's well said!~