Fic Talk > General Discussion

Questions to ponder part 11

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mare:
Maybe! I never realized that but it's true.  You have to select Backstreet Boys for their names to pop up. We could put them in the music category as separate entities from BSB.

julilly:

--- Quote from: mare on July 19, 2014, 06:35:58 PM ---I agree with this 100%. If the boys are so out of character you can't even tell it's them, to me it's not a BSB fanfic. They don't have to be a singing group but they should still have enough of their own personalities shining through that no matter what, you can tell BSB is in there somewhere. Their relationships to one another is what makes them who they are to me, so if that's missing, then in my opinion they are missing which is probably why I feel that way about what I stated earlier concerning only one boy in a story.

--- End quote ---

Though I would argue that their relationship to one another is subjective. There are a lot of things that you see within their relationships or qualities about them as individuals that I don't (like Kevin's existence) and vice versa so if I portray a character trait that I can imagine but maybe you can't, is that not where a suspension of reality (especially when considering AU) comes into play? #devilsadvocate lol

I suppose I don't believe that, as characters, the boys only fit into one particular stereotypical mold, that they have to be the person they are in the public (which I don't really accept as 100% reality) in order to be accurately portrayed. Years ago, many people would never have portrayed Nick as a junkie because based on what we knew that was out of character, but it wasn't really.

mare:
All of this is subjective so yes, we may portray certain aspects of the boys differently. For instance going back to the whole frick and frack thing. I view that relationship differently then others so when I write the two of them, it may be differently then someone who still pictures that relationship from before.

I think everyone (including myself) are able to suspend reality when it comes to certain stories (especially AU) because that's what AU is all about. You can make Brian a villain who lopes off people's heads for fun and then feeds them to his rabid monkeys but I think we'd also agree that while Brian wouldn't do this in real life (I hope!) unless there is some of his personality in there, it's not Brian. Maybe he does his annoying Micky Mouse impersonation before he kills them. Maybe he prays to God for their soul and then kisses his wife as soon as he's done doing the deed. Whether we all agree on how they are in real life or not, we all do have these perceptions of them. We all know Brian loves his family and is religious. He's hyper but also business minded. These are things whether we enjoy about him or not, we know as fact. So if some facet of that is thrown in, it makes it easy to ignore the rest.

You could also take who wrote it into consideration. When you go in knowing what the writer thinks about the boys and their personalities that helps as well. Like I know you hate Kevin (still don't know why. I know why you hate his voice but not him lol) so obviously he's never gong to be the same kind of Kevin I would write, but I'm sure I would still recognize some traits in your Kevin that would be Kevin across the board, if that makes sense.

Do we really know how they are in real life? No, but we obviously have a mental image of how they act and even if we agree or disagree on things, we can still believe certain elements of their personalities. If you make Brian a serial killer with absolutely no recognition of Brian then it's just a guy named Brian. I would imagine if you're writing a BSB fanfic, you'd want to at least try to include something that makes them who they are, if not then why not just write an OF?

And as you were saying before, even if we perceive them differently it can't be so completely different that he couldn't be recognized at all. I would find that very hard to believe.

Now, do I enjoy reading things like that? No lol but that's just my personal preference.

On a side note - what are you still doing up? You have a long ass drive tomorrow! Go to bed! lol

julilly:

--- Quote from: mare on July 19, 2014, 09:08:40 PM ---Maybe he does his annoying Micky Mouse impersonation before he kills them. Maybe he prays to God for their soul and then kisses his wife as soon as he's done doing the deed.

On a side note - what are you still doing up? You have a long ass drive tomorrow! Go to bed! lol


--- End quote ---

That made me laugh so much, moreso because I could picture Brian doing that! I totally agree with you, but I enjoyed the discussion LOL

I really need to go to bed. It's 11:30 and I'm getting up at 6 for an 8 hour drive to the booming metropolis of Bangor.

RokofAges75:
LMAO, Mare!  You just described the plot of your songfic for "One Phone Call," didn't you?

I think you both have great points.  There are a lot of different ways each of the guys can be portrayed that still fit with the personalities they've shown us and how we interpret them and their relationships with each other.  That said, I also think there are certain aspects to them that are based more on fact than interpretation and shouldn't be changed in a fanfic unless there is a logical explanation for it.  I guess that's what writers of fanfic that's based on fictional source material (books, movies, etc.) would call "canon."

For example, Brian is religious.  That's not just how some writers see Brian; it's a fact, stated and supported by Brian himself.  So it doesn't make sense to have Brian committing mortal sins without remorse, unless you justify it by giving him a good reason to forsake his religion or reveal that the religious stuff was just a facade to hide his inner demons, whatever.  That could be an interesting story if handled the right way, but because it's such a stretch, it would definitely take some explaining to make it seem even halfway realistic.

I think it's okay to change one of the Boys through the events in the story or put your own spin on some aspect of their lives or personalities, but I don't like when writers completely ignore what could be considered canon.

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