A Whimsical Thought

[browngirl]

I am not making very much writing progress right now, for various reasons. But I have had this thought often for... awhile, and I know other people have, and I don't want to neglect this journal entirely. So.

Of course, I'm blushing as I write this.

So I wa thinking about why I write in general, and fanfic specifically. There are a lot of reasons. But one of them, really, is....

....there are these characters we love, and they only exist in the spaces between the pages and our collective heads. And so writing about them is kind of like giving them more spaces and places to be, in a way. Letting them exist more.

For this reason among others, it's always interesting to read stories about the same characters by different authors, whether fanfic or pro media (part of the difference between most filmed books and their movies is this difference) At its best it's like having different people describe the same person to one.

(It makes me wonder sometimes when my days are very different, if different people are writing *me*. But I did say this was whimsical,and I'd better post it before I come to my senses.)

Comments

[shirebound]

there are these characters we love, and they only exist in the spaces between the pages and our collective heads. And so writing about them is kind of like giving them more spaces and places to be, in a way. Letting them exist more.

That's so true. It's difficult to believe that their story isn't ongoing and chock full of new experiences. They have infinite lives to live, choices to make, and paths to explore... which depend on us to help them do it!

[aprilkat.livejournal.com]

Very true.

And there's this delicious bond among the writers that enhances the feeling sometimes.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

Amen to that! *hugs for all* :-)

[eggblue.livejournal.com]

The funniest thing to me is the constraints that we put on our characters. And how similar they are to "familiar" things from the lives we know. Fantasy/fanfic/stories is never *just* fantasy/fanfic/stories. And real life is never *only* real life. They blend together in crazy ways. It makes life as beautiful as fantasy sometimes and fantasy as real-seeming as life. That's great most of the time, unless I have one of those days when I'm stuck in the place in-between (I am not good at building relationships in either one). But I would agree that the best fanfic comes when it does feel like someone is writing me. I remember when I was writing Bruce/Jason alone on Batslash and then Darklady came along and wrote a great Bruce/Jason story and it was one of the first Bruce/Jason things I'd ever read outside of my own head. It was a marvelous gift.

[ever-faithful.livejournal.com]

Yes , Yes and YES ! I have always had the belief at the back of my mind that some of my beloved fictional characters would be just a little more real if more people believed in them or knew of thier existance.