Fandom Meta: all those shades of meaning

Branching off of out_there's "mynon" conversation, I think, mireille719 talks about her view of writing, and why the mynon/OTP situation works for some, but not all. I started this reply to her comment, and the livejournal started to suck, so while I posted the first part as a comment, I continued my ramblings here.

I'm playing let's-pretend here. What-if.

I really like this as part of the explanation for why you can have your own, personal opinion about the characters (the mynon, if you will, which is an interesting term, no matter who came up with it originally), but can still move away from that opinion in order to write the situations that come to mind. Because what is writing if not playing what-if with any given scenario, character, whatever. If everyone always stuck to one interpretation of a character (and I don't mean the universal ONE, but just their own, individual, original interpretation), their stories would become trite, boring.

To me, the point of writing, but especially the point of fan fiction is to use the writing itself as a way to extrapolate different interpretations, different scenes, based on the nuances of the character, by focusing on one you (generic you as the writer) haven't necessarily written about before. And you can't do that without being able to accept that you may have one, favorite variation of a character, but that others are just as valid, whether you're the one writing that variation or not.

It's like that saying that we'd all be boring if we were all the same; how much emptier would fiction be if there were no variations on a character theme, and all we had was the same old same old to read every time?

I'm so glad you wrote this; it really made me think about my personal mynons. And it helped me start to realize why I don't usually do the OTP thing, because I always do want to see the various "what-if" situations.

~~*

As I'm fighting with livejournal, and trying to post this as a response to mireille719, I have the chance to think about this even more, especially the OTP situation. It's been gnawing at my mind for awhile, because everyone seems to have at least one OTP, and I just--don't.

I have pairings that I'm fond of, sure. I have pairings that I think are absolutely, positively canon. (Sometimes those two facts even overlap, though not always, because I'm quite fond of the unconventional relationships.) But there has yet to be a pairing that I enjoy, but don't also enjoy seeing each partner paired with someone else.

I used to think this stemmed from my views on relationships (which aren't really relevant, or positive, actually), but now I'm beginning to think it has to do with the fact that, though I like this interpretation of this relationships between these characters, I can also enjoy that interpreation of that relationships between one of these characters and that character, not because I'm fickle, and not because I don't care about the characters or the relationship, but because I understand that there will be more than one valid interpetation of any source material.

The fact that I can and will (and very happily do) accept multiple interpretation opens up whole new worlds for me, sometimes quite literally, when I'm sucked into a fandom I know nothing about, or a fandom I never would have even thought to see if it existed. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with having an OTP, but I know I've read fabulous stories that some of my friends wouldn't have read, because the pairing splits up their OTP.

I think being open to interpretations helps my writing, too, because if I stuck with one version of a character, or one pairing, I know my writing would get stale, and I'd just tell the same story over, and over, and over again. I know there are authors who claim to do this (in fact, I think musesfool claims that she tells the same story time and again, and if she does, she always adds a fresh twist, a breath of new air, that makes the story worth reading again and again and again), and some who claim it that do it well, but I don't think I could. So having the variety of situations, versions of characters, and potential pairings helps me, immensely.

Man, I can't get livejournal to open anything. Damn

Fandom: Totally Random Pairing Generator and Hagrid

In Medie's Totally Random Pairing Generator, I just got Wash/Jack Bauer. And somehow my mind wants to find a way to make that work, even though I'm not too familiar with Wash, and I'm not familiar at all with Jack Bauer. (Well, other than to watch my sister, and a couple of my friends, lust after him like the shameless hussies they are.)

And then I got Richard B. Riddick / Chris Larabee. Who is Chris Larabee?

I think I'm going to spend far too much time refreshing this page. I love pairing generators, period, even if they are evil. (thestalkycop's generator for The Mighty Ducks dragged me into a fandom I swore I'd never join, and even just four little stories is joining, in my mind at least.)

Faith / Mystique. Now that one, that one has potential. I was just reading one of the Mystique graphic novels at work today, during my break, and thinking about what an interesting character she is, and how I really should go seek out Mystique fanfic, because so far, I've not seen any. And now I want Faith/Mystique stories, with lots of guns. Not necessarily used on each other, but there, in the background. Phew.

~~*

Back in June, iibnf wrote about Hagrid as a character and refuted some of the arguments against him, and all her thoughts are interesting and just wonderful to read, but one part struck me in particular.

In response to the flames she's gotten, about writing Hagrid slash, she said: One
There is no canon evidence that he is. In book one he’s described as twice as tall, and five times as wide as a ‘normal’ person. In book three he’s twice as tall and three times as wide as a ‘normal’ person. In book five, he’s four foot taller than a ‘normal’ person. He shrinks considerably as Harry grows.

He’s described as having heavily muscled arms. He does a lot of heavy, manual labour. If anything, if he’s ‘wide’ it’s because he works all the time.

At no point is he described as fat.

Two
So what if he is fat? Fat people fall in love, and lust, and fuck, get married (if allowed), have babies (if they want), and have full lives. No amount of prejudice or discrimination is going to stop that. No amount of prejudice is going to make a fat person any more or less attractive. I, personally, don’t care. I find big men attractive if they have a good personality. I find thin men attractive if they have a good personality. To me, physical attraction follows behind my initial interest.

And dude. That's so true, and I was so excited to see it there that all logical and intellectual responses to the post flew right out of my head, and all I could do was scream like a little fangirl. (Of course, I did this only within my own thoughts, so my neighbors don't hate me. If we actually have neighbors at this point; I think most of the other people living on the first floor moved out last week.)

J, my boy, is Hagrid. No, really, I've got pictures, from the OotP release party at work. (J so graciously agreed to come in and be the photographer at the bookstore where I work, because I was face painting, and no one else is any good at photography. They couldn't pass up the chance to have a professional photographer do the work for free. The only stipulation was that he had to dress up.) He's extraordinarily tall and broad, and with a wig (because he keeps his hair buzzcut; if he'd had time to grow it out, it would have worked without a wig) and a beard, he was Hagrid. The little kids were more excited to see him than anyone else (and we had some good costumes).

I'm rambling. Yay, Hagrid! I think it's time for bed.