Fic Talk > General Discussion
Question of the day part 10
julilly:
In the end, it was the briefest outage we've had compared to other outages LOL
RokofAges75:
New question!
I just read this article written by Anna Gunn, the actress who plays Skyler White on Breaking Bad. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/opinion/i-have-a-character-issue.html?_r=0 In it, she talks about the widespread hatred of her character and similar female characters on other shows. You can read the article even if you've never seen Breaking Bad; it explains the issue without giving away any major spoilers (other than the overall premise of the show).
Reading it made me think of the polarizing effect female characters tend to have in our fandom. Have any of you written a female character who was hated by your readers? (Villainesses don't count, since they're supposed to be hated.) Do you think that hatred was justified, or were you surprised by it? Have you ever felt like your readers' reaction towards one of your characters spilled over to affect their feelings about the overall story? As a reader, have you ever felt that way about someone else's character, and did it affect your feelings toward the whole story?
Just wanted to get us talking again! :)
mare:
Yay! New question! I read that article when it was first posted and I loved it. I never thought to tie it into this though, smart thinking, Julie! Although I probably didn't think about it because I really don't write many female characters.
As a writer, I don't think I've ever had anyone hate my female characters because in honesty, I don't really think any of my female characters were the least bit memorable. I know it's sad to admit, but it's true. I suck at writing females, except maybe when they are a little nuts or moms. I think I'm pretty good with moms. I would almost wish someone would hate one of my female characters because maybe that would mean I gave them substance? lol
As a reader there have been many females I know people loved and I have not. Probably because once again, since it's BSB fanfic and not random girl fanfic, I tend to be incredibly picky when it comes to a girl who I'm supposed to care about. If I feel like they are trying to steal the thunder away from my boys or if they are overly weak, whiny, or annoying, I am easily turned off. I bet if some of these characters were to stand on their own and had nothing at all to do with BSB, I'd feel differently. I actually enjoy reading strong female characters independently, in a novel setting.
And honestly, yes in those cases where I did not enjoy the female, it did factor into my overall enjoyment of the story to the point where I would skim all the female's parts which in turn makes you miss out on possible vital information and plot.
I can also say though, that many of the stories where I have not liked the female have been incredibly well written and beautiful overall and I have also let the authors know that as well. Sometimes not so much...
mare:
Let's take Julie's question and expand it to the actual male characters as well, in particular BSB or 1D or NKOTB or whoever else you guys write about.
Have you ever been surprised by people's reactions to the way you are writing the guys? Has anyone ever told you, your portrayal of them is inaccurate or too disturbing or any other thing that made you say "Woah!" lol
Have you ever read a story where you find you aren't enjoying the portrayal of one or all of the boys so much that you have stopped reading? What was it exactly that made you stop? The subject matter, the boy being too out of character, too boring etc?
Sakabelle:
To answer the first part, people on 1DFF hated Brittany from Forever Like This, and the prequel story (which was purely 1D), I Wish. It was a basic love triangle premise - Brittany was dating Harry and Niall had this creepy obsession with her... and people hated her! It was so funny to me because Brittany, though not perfect, didn't do anything nearly as bad as Niall did in that story, but no one said a bad word about him LOL. That kind of answers the other question as well, but he was king douchebag in that story, going behind Harry's back, kissing and confessing his love to his best friend's girlfriend, and then when she told him no, not leaving her the hell alone.
But people hated Brittany lol
Some readers were not cool with how I portrayed Niall in other ways in that story. They didn't have a problem with him being completely selfish in the Brittany situation, but they did have a problem with me establishing his character as kind of womanizing.
I stopped reading most 1D fic except for a few authors who I know will write quality stuff because of this issue - I can't stand it when the guys are out of character and super one dimensional. There are a few BSB stories that I have read where the guys don't act like themselves - I find this with Nick in particular, but that could also just be because I mostly read Nick-centered fic. But for Nick to stop being womanizing and settle down, I find that I need there to be a reason for that. I can't picture him as anything but the nerdy, vulgar popstar I see him as in real life. For me to enjoy a story and see Nick differently, I need a transformation from that to happen within the story, not just be there right at the beginning. I need to watch him change from his recognizable self and grow from that as a result of what happens to him in the story.
I wasn't thinking of any story in particular in that wall of text lol, just the endless Nick stories I have clicked on in my life, because I shamelessly love Nick romance lol.
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