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In reading or attempting to read Farscape fanfic, I've come to the conclusion that if the characters actions seem out of character to me, I can't read the story. This is not by the way isolated to fanfic, it is true of just about any story. I'm fairly tolerant of crazy plots, but here's the thing - the plot must come from the characters. It must be something that the characters would choose to do and in effect explores them further. If the characters are mere puppets to the plot, as if the writer is basically playing with them as one might play with paper dolls or sock puppets or those little toy action figures - putting them all sorts of bizarre positions - I find myself leaving the story and arguing with the writer.
Yeah, sure I can do the what-if scenario, but even those need to be organic to the character.
Case in point - the IDW Angel comics - in which from a purely objective point of view, the editor, a Marjay Harjay (I know I mispelled the gal's name and am too lazy to google it and yes, google should do a better job of protecting their trademark because once you become a verb, you start to lose originality, just saying. Sorry, tangent.). MH spells out a pretty interesting plot in her recent interview on the Angel comics. Spike, a vampire who worked to get his soul and accomplished good deeds, even fell in love, without a soul, has managed without realizing it to lose his soul. The other characters didn't realize it either. And now, once they find out, that has all sorts of odd consequences. This story is interesting from a purely objective pov - in that it examines in depth what it means to have a conscience or "soul" or moral compass. How different people react with or without it. And what motivates us to do good deeds. So thematically it is interesting. It could also be interesting from a character perspective. And I've read "fanfic" and other tales, outside of Angel, that explored a similar idea. I think the ATPO Board wrote a lengthy S6 fanfic that explored what would happen if someone removed or tried to remove Spike's soul. (Unfortunately, for reasons I'll never understand, they chose to write it in teleplay format and I find teleplays head-ache inducing to read, so gave up early on.) At any rate - this story fails because I don't buy any of the characters voices or reactions, they sound and act like puppets whose strings are being pulled by people who don't quite get them. So while the plot itself is intriguing, particularly in how it effects Angel, the main character, the manner in which it is written is unreadable for me. Because - I find myself arguing with the writer, and can't lose myself in the story.
( a ramble about what takes me out of a story - featuring examples from tv shows, books, fanfic, specifically the Buffy and IDW Angel comics, and Farscape fanfic )
Yeah, sure I can do the what-if scenario, but even those need to be organic to the character.
Case in point - the IDW Angel comics - in which from a purely objective point of view, the editor, a Marjay Harjay (I know I mispelled the gal's name and am too lazy to google it and yes, google should do a better job of protecting their trademark because once you become a verb, you start to lose originality, just saying. Sorry, tangent.). MH spells out a pretty interesting plot in her recent interview on the Angel comics. Spike, a vampire who worked to get his soul and accomplished good deeds, even fell in love, without a soul, has managed without realizing it to lose his soul. The other characters didn't realize it either. And now, once they find out, that has all sorts of odd consequences. This story is interesting from a purely objective pov - in that it examines in depth what it means to have a conscience or "soul" or moral compass. How different people react with or without it. And what motivates us to do good deeds. So thematically it is interesting. It could also be interesting from a character perspective. And I've read "fanfic" and other tales, outside of Angel, that explored a similar idea. I think the ATPO Board wrote a lengthy S6 fanfic that explored what would happen if someone removed or tried to remove Spike's soul. (Unfortunately, for reasons I'll never understand, they chose to write it in teleplay format and I find teleplays head-ache inducing to read, so gave up early on.) At any rate - this story fails because I don't buy any of the characters voices or reactions, they sound and act like puppets whose strings are being pulled by people who don't quite get them. So while the plot itself is intriguing, particularly in how it effects Angel, the main character, the manner in which it is written is unreadable for me. Because - I find myself arguing with the writer, and can't lose myself in the story.
( a ramble about what takes me out of a story - featuring examples from tv shows, books, fanfic, specifically the Buffy and IDW Angel comics, and Farscape fanfic )
