Stretching Characters

[KFelidae]

When someone asks you, "Why is it that you write fanfiction, and not something original?" what is your answer?

Mine has always been, "Because it's the easiest way to connect with someone."

What do I mean? Let me explain. When you write fanfiction, you're writing it under the assumption that the character or series or whatever that you're writing for is enjoyed and appriciated by someone else, somewhere in the world. Even if that other person just happens to be [i]you[/i]. Don't laugh -- I write for [i]me[/i], no one else. Sure, I enjoy reviews just as much as the next person, but ah, I'm getting off track.

Given that assumption, we're also assuming that both you and your fellow reader see the character in the same way. Because, obviously, that's how he is written by his own writer. When you write, you're trying your best to capture that essence, so that you can have that bridge between you and your reader. If your idea of the character is too far off from the original scheme, well, the connection breaks down. The character ceases to be recognizable to the reader, and like some computer-age Tower of Babel, the languages don't mesh anymore. Communication is effectively broken.

But that's not what you want. Being a fanfic writer, you want the connection to stay. After all, if you didn't care for the connection, you wouldn't be in the "fanfic biz" to begin with.

However, staying too close to the accepted norm gets, well... boring. A character must be built apon to stay fresh, but at the same time, taking him too far away from his origin makes him unrecognizable. So where is the magical, mystical medium between a true-to-form character and an exciting and new character?

The important thing is to start slow.

Unless you are certain you can pull it off, and have enough confidence in your audience that they won't balk at the thought of it, don't change the character right off the bat. Never jump headlong into a story where your version of the character is at the forefront for no reason other than that's what you want. First of all, it's (usually) bad writing. You have people entering a world where they expect a duck, and instead you hand them a horse without rhyme or reason to your actions. Where and when did the duck turn into the horse? It most certainly didn't happen overnight. Like a storyline, characters must be developed over time.

For a given character, molding them to your needs is difficult in more than one way. First of all, you're taking something that everyone has a set idea for already and trying to change it in front of them.

What do I mean?

If I said, "Think of a lamp" you'd automatically take your best frame of reference and assign a set shape, size, colour, and type for the lamp. But imagine me coming in and telling you, "No, that's not what a lamp looks like!" And instead describing MY lamp to you. Five gets you ten that it won't match up. You probably wouldn't want to sit around and listen to my idiocy, and would leave.

And so, taking a character, who everyone has a set standard for, and changing it into your own standard is hard right out of the gate. But then, on top of that, you have to figure out how your version differs from the canon one, how much they differ in those areas, and how to explain the change. Pacing all of this is all on its own.

I said take it slow... that characters must be changed over time. But what if you don't want to wait? Some fanfics are short, and cannot waste time explianing every little tidbit to the reader. Well, there are some messy, but easy-to-do ways of transitioning a character from one mindset to another.

Let's say we're taking Character X as our guinnea pig. Character X is currently a hero type, rather drawn to the forces of truth, justice, and the [insert country here] way, and has a generally happy outlook on life. But our story is going to be about how Character X is twisted evil. Going directly over from good to evil leaves a gigantic plot hole -- what happened to Character X inbetween that made him evil? In the interest of time, we can't have Character X evolving into his maniac self. Instead, you're going for shock value. Something catastrophic must happen to Character X to make him switch sides. A betrayal, a death, a failure. Something that can be explained in one or two scenes and cleaned up after the fact. A hero that is betrayed by a teammate will then want revenge, and revenge leads to crime, crime to evil... yadda yadda. But it flows. There's nothing left out. It just... doesn't flow [i]well[/i]. There are other options. Insanity is something that works just as well in a short fic as a long one, but will usually need to be built up over the entirity of the short fic, climaxing at the end. Tragedy is always a good way to change the character, as long as they react in a believable way to it. But good times can change a chracter just as much. A love interest, a wedding, a birth. Finding a new friend. Getting a job. These will make a character more outgoing, caring, and fun. And they're easy plot devices for change.

The major drawback to the short fic is that you can only hint at what's being done and said. Think of a fic like you would animation. Less frames make for quicker movement, but they're jerky and don't fit together so well. More frames are longer, but smoother and flow into one another.

Changing a character over a long fic or a series is better, because it offers a longer period of adjustment for your readers. If someone is introduced to changes slowly, they're less likely to have it bother them. It also means, though, that smaller plotlines will have to build up over time. That means that a character won't change all at once, but in small steps. If your character is kind of a hardass, maybe putting him a pink tutu three paragraphs in isn't the best idea. But maybe someone being kind to him over the course of the story will get him to open up just a little until he'll tolerate some levity. Keep in mind that going from total cardboard cutout to goofball usually won't happen within one story, and sometimes it doesn't even happen across whole series.

Which brings us to the final topic. Knowing your limits.

About the hardass and the pink tutu? Chances are, no matter how hard you try and no matter how much time you take, getting your readers to believe that a character whose entire personality is built around loss and abandonment is really just a comedian waiting to be discovered... well, no. It won't work. Because even though you can change a character past their set standard doesn't mean that you can exceed the believable limits. Now, this limit will be different for each person, but that's when you have to use common sense. What's the median you can reach without scaring away everyone? Sometimes it takessome experimenting. Crossing over the lineand getting feedback that tells you where you went wrong. If you're doing it on your own, you have to be the critic. It's nice to be able to rely on honest feedback from other people, but not everyone has the luxury. If you're both writer and reviewer, try to give yourself an honest eye. Think, "If I read this/saw this on TV, would I accept it?"

That's what it all breaks down to anyway. You, and your readers, have to believe it.


If anyone's got anything else to add, feel free to do so. This is by no means complete, and could use some outside info.


-KF