30 Days of Fandom Meme: Days 4 and 5
Sep. 5th, 2011 10:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miramiraWhoops, fallen a bit off-schedule. Let's fix that.
4 - Do you have a "muse" character, that speaks to you more than others, or that tries to push their way in, even when the fic isn't about them? Who are they, and why did that character became your muse?
I talked about some of the characters that "speak" to me yesterday, but I hesitate to call them "muses." With the possible exception of Moody's installment of "20 Random Facts", I can't remember any pieces that were written just because I wanted to play with a specific character rather than to explore a character doing something or to explore a particular issue using that character. (And even that was inspired as much by "Ooh, I have this awesome idea about Mad-Eye's mum that I need to record for posterity even if I don't develop it further" as anything relating directly to him.)
That said, I'm not above giving my favorites cameos and/or minor roles if it makes sense. I probably could have written Strength in Numbers without Percy, but I wanted to work the possibility of resolution with Hermione into Marietta's healing process, and he presented a logical means of doing that without having to set up a possible confrontation. (It's fortunate people don't die on-screen in my work all that often, though, or I'd have to fight the temptation to have them met by a certain anthropomorphic personification a lot more frequently.)
5 - If you have ever had a character try to push their way into a fic, whether your "muse" or not, what did you do about it?
If a character's that insistent there's a place for them, I usually just go along with it. I already talked about the most blatant example from Lady of Sorrows, and I think that worked out pretty well. Come to think of it, the really pushy characters tend to be villains or antagonists in some sense, so I guess their sudden appearance serves as a sign the story needs more external conflict.
4 - Do you have a "muse" character, that speaks to you more than others, or that tries to push their way in, even when the fic isn't about them? Who are they, and why did that character became your muse?
I talked about some of the characters that "speak" to me yesterday, but I hesitate to call them "muses." With the possible exception of Moody's installment of "20 Random Facts", I can't remember any pieces that were written just because I wanted to play with a specific character rather than to explore a character doing something or to explore a particular issue using that character. (And even that was inspired as much by "Ooh, I have this awesome idea about Mad-Eye's mum that I need to record for posterity even if I don't develop it further" as anything relating directly to him.)
That said, I'm not above giving my favorites cameos and/or minor roles if it makes sense. I probably could have written Strength in Numbers without Percy, but I wanted to work the possibility of resolution with Hermione into Marietta's healing process, and he presented a logical means of doing that without having to set up a possible confrontation. (It's fortunate people don't die on-screen in my work all that often, though, or I'd have to fight the temptation to have them met by a certain anthropomorphic personification a lot more frequently.)
5 - If you have ever had a character try to push their way into a fic, whether your "muse" or not, what did you do about it?
If a character's that insistent there's a place for them, I usually just go along with it. I already talked about the most blatant example from Lady of Sorrows, and I think that worked out pretty well. Come to think of it, the really pushy characters tend to be villains or antagonists in some sense, so I guess their sudden appearance serves as a sign the story needs more external conflict.