Discussion topic: Does "God" Exist?
17 May 2009 08:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leethetBecause this always gets unwieldy in comms so I think I should rightly rant/discuss here where it won't get in others' way.
This is a writing discussion/question, not a religious one, and it should go without saying that it's my position, not anyone else's.
"When I write, I am God playing Humans." This is true. For all that, in fanfic, we are using someone else's characters, in my stories, for the length of the tale, they're mine. I "created" them (that is, these fannish versions of them). I know what they ate for breakfast (which I didn't put in the story). I know their parentage (which I didn't put in the story). I know their fears (the ones they'll admit and the ones they won't).
And I know their sexual orientation, even if I don't explicitly state it in the story. When I write gen, it's gen. NS and IK are heterosexual men who love one another as brothers and would never, in that particular universe, ever want to have sex with each other. When I write slash, NS and IK are bisexual or homosexual men who have a physical attraction to one another in addition to their love.
The question/discussion part is here: Writers - do you know your characters and your writing (whether you've articulated it or written it down or plan to include it in the story or not)? Do you sometimes not know your character(s) insides, their motivations, their history, their sexuality, whatever, as you're writing or even when you're done with the story? This is not an accusation or an "if so you're wrong" question. I'm asking in genuine curiosity because I know everyone's process differs. I freely admit (like it's a secret) that I'm offended by readers telling me "yes you did!" after I state explicitly that I did not. I am God in my story universe; the reader is a viewer, looking in from the outside. I am as much a reader as a writer - I fully believe in, and defend, a reader's right to see a story in any way they like, and discuss it and argue it as their interpretation. I do not believe a reader's interpretation is fact (although I actually do also believe that a reader has the total right to believe their interpretation is fact). A reader can argue "This story reads like X" all they want. But if I say "It's Y," although they have the absolute right to say "Shit, still reads like X to me, man. To me, it'll always be X," they do not have the right to tell me, the creator, "You're wrong. You don't know what you wrote, but I do." This distinction, to me, matters (probably because it's happened to me and it's offensive). Because of this, I'm curious - have you had readers contradict you - not interpret a scene differently from the way you'd intended, not point out something you hadn't been consciously aware of, not be puzzled or missed your story point - actually contradict your statement of fact regarding your story by saying "No you didn't"?
Now, it seems that there are writers out there who aren't sure what they're putting in, and I'm interested in hearing examples of discussions they've had with readers regarding interpretation. Do their comments open a window to subconscious things you're doing in a story? Are you resistant to readers' interpretations, even when you yourself aren't certain about them? Or do you deliberately (as it were) write in such a way that all (or at least many) interpretations are equally possible and viable for the characters (that is, the characters remain a bit of a blank, or partly blank, slate)?
As ever, all sorts of comments, including disagreement or anon comments, are welcome here.
This is a writing discussion/question, not a religious one, and it should go without saying that it's my position, not anyone else's.
"When I write, I am God playing Humans." This is true. For all that, in fanfic, we are using someone else's characters, in my stories, for the length of the tale, they're mine. I "created" them (that is, these fannish versions of them). I know what they ate for breakfast (which I didn't put in the story). I know their parentage (which I didn't put in the story). I know their fears (the ones they'll admit and the ones they won't).
And I know their sexual orientation, even if I don't explicitly state it in the story. When I write gen, it's gen. NS and IK are heterosexual men who love one another as brothers and would never, in that particular universe, ever want to have sex with each other. When I write slash, NS and IK are bisexual or homosexual men who have a physical attraction to one another in addition to their love.
The question/discussion part is here: Writers - do you know your characters and your writing (whether you've articulated it or written it down or plan to include it in the story or not)? Do you sometimes not know your character(s) insides, their motivations, their history, their sexuality, whatever, as you're writing or even when you're done with the story? This is not an accusation or an "if so you're wrong" question. I'm asking in genuine curiosity because I know everyone's process differs. I freely admit (like it's a secret) that I'm offended by readers telling me "yes you did!" after I state explicitly that I did not. I am God in my story universe; the reader is a viewer, looking in from the outside. I am as much a reader as a writer - I fully believe in, and defend, a reader's right to see a story in any way they like, and discuss it and argue it as their interpretation. I do not believe a reader's interpretation is fact (although I actually do also believe that a reader has the total right to believe their interpretation is fact). A reader can argue "This story reads like X" all they want. But if I say "It's Y," although they have the absolute right to say "Shit, still reads like X to me, man. To me, it'll always be X," they do not have the right to tell me, the creator, "You're wrong. You don't know what you wrote, but I do." This distinction, to me, matters (probably because it's happened to me and it's offensive). Because of this, I'm curious - have you had readers contradict you - not interpret a scene differently from the way you'd intended, not point out something you hadn't been consciously aware of, not be puzzled or missed your story point - actually contradict your statement of fact regarding your story by saying "No you didn't"?
Now, it seems that there are writers out there who aren't sure what they're putting in, and I'm interested in hearing examples of discussions they've had with readers regarding interpretation. Do their comments open a window to subconscious things you're doing in a story? Are you resistant to readers' interpretations, even when you yourself aren't certain about them? Or do you deliberately (as it were) write in such a way that all (or at least many) interpretations are equally possible and viable for the characters (that is, the characters remain a bit of a blank, or partly blank, slate)?
As ever, all sorts of comments, including disagreement or anon comments, are welcome here.
no subject
Date: 17 May 2009 08:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 19 May 2009 01:43 am (UTC)I do that too, and I'm not sure that I'm happy about it. :-) I like to think I'd be more open to, you know, varying interpretations of a fandom character - even some contradictory ones, for the sake of being a flexible writer, if nothing else. But no - I stick to a pretty narrow set of variables. I wonder if everyone does.
no subject
Date: 19 May 2009 11:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 20 May 2009 12:35 am (UTC)I was thinking more about this and realizing that my attitude about that - that I wish I could vary my characterization more - only applies to fanfic. In original fic, like if you're writing a series, it's universally considered right and proper to solidify (expand and deepen, sure, but along in-character lines) your character as you go and not dart off into sudden OOC areas. But for some reason, I would at least like to go beyond my comfort zone with my fanfic characters, you know, and do something quite different. I don't know why I feel like that.
no subject
Date: 20 May 2009 11:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 May 2009 09:12 pm (UTC)I suppose it's because (and I'm totally theorizing here) there already IS a canon Napoleon Solo (for instance) so maybe that means the "art" is in varying extrapolations of him, rather than hewing to a narrow line? Whereas in your own fiction, if you write character A one way in one book, and another way in the sequel, people will go "Sheesh, doesn't the writer even know her own character?"
I'm not sure that's logical or anything ... but of course so many things are OK in fanfic that you couldn't get away with in published work.