When Bad Fanfic Happens to Good Characters, Part I

[mark_asphodel]

Part One: A Closed Circle

I started reading FE7 'fic long before playing the game out of a combination of boredom and desperation.  Writers I enjoyed, like shimizu_hitomi , had FE7 (and FE6) works that looked promising, and the simple fact was that Elibe fanworks outnumbered Archanea fanworks by about three orders of magnitude.  So I got a taste of the prevailing fan-take on the FE7 gang long before I actually sat down with the source material.

And when I did sit down with my copy of FE7 (a very thoughtful birthday present from my most excellent spouse), I was extremely... surprised.  For one, I liked Sain.  My impression from fanfic was that Sain was a deeply irritating character, someone who managed to grate on my nerves whether he was used in a dramatic setting or a comic one.  And I liked Serra, who also raised my hackles in fanfic.  And while I didn't adore Lyn, it struck me that she wasn't quite the "Lyn" I'd been seeing in fanfic, either.

By the time I'd finished Lyn's Tale, I was wondering what fandom was collectively smoking.

Now, I understand the deal with Sain and Serra, at least in part.  Quirky characters are hard to write-- the affectations of speech that are distinctively Sain or distinctively Serra don't roll from the pen, er, keyboard, naturally.  But it also seemed that fans, possibly distracted by the surface gloss of the dialogue, were misreading the actual characterizations that make Sain and Serra both sympathetic and compelling characters instead of just comic foils to say, Kent, or Oswin.  The issue with Lyn was harder to get a handle on, and I wasn't much invested in it emotionally, so I didn't pursue it any deeper.

But I think I figured it out in time, and I get the impression that a number of y'all out there in f-list land got to the same conclusion.  Basically, a large and visible chunk of FE7 fandom wasn't working off the game itself.  They weren't writing the way I was writing Archanea fiction, with one eye on the screen and one on the supplemental materials (not that ANYONE is expected to do that-- I am the first to admit I go overboard in research).  They were writing off the perceptions of other fans, as filtered through other fanfics.

Small wonder "Lyn" often sounded more like an American teenager than a pseudo-medieval plainswoman, even in things that weren't intended as AUs.  Small wonder that "Sain" and "Serra" were reduced to a collection of speech quirks and froth.

But hey, that happens in fandom.  A couple of high-profile 'fics can color the perceptions of about 90% of the writers in a given community.  I'd seen it before, and I think the only reason it surprised me in Fire Emblem was that there is SO much superficial emphasis on the game text, so much emphasis on support conversations and death quotes and boss battle quotes.  It's truly weird to have that much emphasis on the words that make up the game script and such a disconnect between in-game characterization and fanfic characterization.    
 
Another thing I didn't understand at first was that a good many FE7 writers hadn't completed, or even begun, other games in the franchise.  That struck me as weird, too-- IMO, Fire Emblem as a series is self-referential enough, both in themes and details, that to just focus on one game in isolation misses out on the Big Picture.  This is especially true of FE7, which is, after all, a deliberate prequel to another game in the series.  It doesn't exist in a vacuum.  

So, I decided in time that FE7 fandom was something of a closed circle-- deeply conservative and very bound up in cherished personal interpretations of the characters.  Honestly, from an outsider's perspective, it looked like something of a death spiral, particularly once I got the sense that many Elibe writers had no interest in migrating into any of the other games.  But I didn't feel like I had anything to offer them, either, so I sat down in my "no1curr" sandbox of Archanea, Valencia, and Magvel.

Of course, FE7 was only one pole in the fandom.  The other behemoth, Tellius, had its own set of issues.

Stay tuned for Part Two: When Pairings Eat a Fandom

Comments

[sarajayechan.livejournal.com]

Sain and Serra are two of THE most frequently mangled characters in FE7 fic. :/ But really, I could sooner count the number of characters who AREN'T mangled in badfic on one hand and still have fingers left over. Even as a new fan, back in the old days when I'd read certain authors' fics I KNEW something wasn't quite right when I'd see Sain or Wil being wangsty and introspective. Source material is your BFF.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Badfic is badfic, but the aggravating thing, to me, is how many of the OOC Sains and OOC Serras (and Wils, now that you mentioned it) popped up in competently-written stories by writers who appeared to LOVE the game.

Sure, there's a whole slushpile of shitty Kent/Sain, Heath/Legault, and Matthew/Guy yaoi out there, going back to 2004. But seeing flaky Sains and bitchy Serras in stories with actual plots, written circa 2008-2009... very annoying. Very, very annoying.

[sarajayechan.livejournal.com]

Mm, good point. :/ Nothing's worse than seeing characters mangled by authors who actually love a series.

And now that I think about it, there's another Sain-related cliche that sucks: "All Girls Hate Sain". I remember this one fic where Rebecca went all starry-eyed at the thought of never having to be near him again, and one person who shipped Kent/Sain "because all girls hate Sain and he'll never get with any of them".

[raphiael]

I agree so much with this. Too frequently the supports/dialogue/whatever are taken only at face value. "Oh, Sain is a perv." "Oh, Serra's annoying but has a sad backstory." "Oh, Lucius is Raven's waifu." And then that one trait gets spread, people go off the work of others, and all that. Rarely is the actual reasoning and psychology behind things put into play, which results in caricatures that are true neither to the source material, nor true to any logical growth or change.
I mean, fandom should be fun. And if you have fun writing Lyn falling over herself to let Mark into her pants or whatever, fine, so be it. But with more serious business fans, taking a bit more time to consider is always worthwhile.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

But with more serious business fans, taking a bit more time to consider is always worthwhile.

Well, and this is my core beef with FE7-- that the fanon characterizations dominate even in 'fic that is trying to be serious/dramatic/meaningful. Outright badfic, I don't care about. Outright crackfic, I don't care about. But if someone is earnestly writing these stories that are supposed to move me, and yet the characters wandering around in the stories are the same OOC hackjobs as in the crackfic, it's more sad than anything else.

Personally, I see exactly where the Lyn/Tactician people are coming from and I think they're as justified in writing it as anyone else. The actual stories as written just tend to be garbage.

[raphiael]

Yeah, that I can see dominating. I've seen it with the bit of Tellius I've looked at too, though not to the same extent.
I dunno. Maybe it's just that fans are so comfortable with what's been done already, that there's the idea of new interpretations being "wrong" when really, it's just different. That might also come from my own lens of being new to the fandom and only having relatively recently beaten the game, though.

[xirysa.livejournal.com]

Personally, I see exactly where the Lyn/Tactician people are coming from and I think they're as justified in writing it as anyone else. The actual stories as written just tend to be garbage.

This. To be completely honest, Lyn/Tactician seems to be one of the most plausible pairings in the game; the only reason I abhor it so much is the sheer number of crapfic of it out there.

[myaru.livejournal.com]

I read fic with the feeling that the emphasis on pairings mangles characterization as much as the existence of fanon does. I suppose sitting down and researching the supports every time you want to write fic might function as a reminder that canon doesn't actually jive with fanon on all counts. Anyway, I noticed the same thing about FE7 fans in particular, and it has been driving me crazy-- in private. There's a whole series of FE games out there. It seems like such a shame to focus on just one.

Also, it has always surprised me that people attached to Elibe were not willing to branch out enough to play FE6, which fleshes the world out so much more. That can only help fic set in the universe, even if it's based specifically on FE7 and its characters. I wonder if the fact that it's a rom is what stops people, and yet, FE6 has been out of print for a while, and also wasn't made available to us outside of Japan - that, coupled with the likelihood that many FE fans probably read manga scanlations (or just scans) and download or stream anime, makes me think the legality of a rom shouldn't even be an issue. If you draw the line at piracy anywhere, put it right there beside the huge manga archives peddling products still in print, which actually hits the industry.

I guess this is all to say that I agree 100%. You probably already knew that.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

I read fic with the feeling that the emphasis on pairings mangles characterization as much as the existence of fanon does.

I agree. And coming from pairing-sparse Archanea, the pairing-centered end of fandom looks even more oddball. I kind of went -_- when someone on emblanon said something along that the happy support marriages are a mitigating circumstance of the war. Tell that to the FE3 gang, man...

[Mind you, Archanea is clearly the outlier, because the Valencia crew is all making out like bunnies.]

Also, with very few exceptions the pairings are optional. OPTIONAL.

If you draw the line at piracy anywhere, put it right there beside the huge manga archives peddling products still in print, which actually hits the industry.

Yeah.

[thenicochan.livejournal.com]

I played FE7 before I read any fic, and I instantly liked Serra. Imagine my disdain when the first fic containing her that I came across was one where Erk was trying to kill her because, in his words (paraphrased slightly) she was "an evil bitch who wouldn't leave me alone."

Not only was that massive fail on Serra, but Erk does not speak like that.

[kittykatloren.livejournal.com]

Interesting discussion with a lot of merits. FE7 was the first FE game I ever played, back in 4th grade, when I only played it because the cool boy I had a crush on was playing it on the time, and he gave me his extra copy. xD

Personal story aside... I liked and played FE7 way before I even knew the existence of fanfic or other FE games. So when I started getting into the fanfic side (8th grade?) I had already played FE8, and that's what made me want to write. Seth/Eirika being my first Fire Emblem characters. As I played more and more of the other games, I sort of overlooked FE7 for a while... not because it wasn't good, but maybe just because I was SO used to it that it lost some of its immediate appeal. I think I just fell in love with Tellius too much, about two years ago, I suppose.

BUT, very recently, I can really claim to know every corner of FE7 since I've gotten all supports, and now when I go back and look at some other fanfic... You're very right. A lot of stories destroy the characters. It's so irritating because with Sain and Serra in particular - I love them, and lots of people just make them so one-dimensional. Or, in their efforts to bring out another side, they completely destroy the foundation of their character.

Anyway. Your posts always make for such great tl;dr comments. ^^

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Or, in their efforts to bring out another side, they completely destroy the foundation of their character.

This is also true. I recall in particular some hypercompetent!Serras that I also found unconvincing.

:)

[shimizu-hitomi.livejournal.com]

Hence why I always copy and paste relevant parts of script in my file when I'm working on something. I always worry that I'll get too caught up in fandom perceptions or my own very bad memory. I'm obsessive like that. XD

The funny thing is, I loved the FE7 cast most at first, but it wasn't until I played through FE6 that I really got bit by the fic urge. FE6 also changed a lot of my impressions or opinions of characters. Pretty drastically in certain cases. (I also only played through FE7 once before immediately jumping into FE6 though, so that might have played a factor as well.) So yeah, I do think FE7-only writers are missing out, though I can't quite blame people either for not playing other games in the franchise. FE7 does tend to have a pretty different overall feel to it from the other games (though I'm not sure if this is partly due to fandom perceptions coloring my own impressions again or what) -- I think due to the nature of the plot and its standing in relation to FE6. Unlike the earlier games, which were released in more or less "chronological" order, FE7 goes back and -- it doesn't quite retcon things, but it certainly forces on all these connections as kind of a form of fanservice. And taken out of context, I think that fact does some really weird things to the overall impression the game gives off (and the occasional translation blooper does NOT help).

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

FE7 does tend to have a pretty different overall feel to it from the other games

Having played FE11, then FE8, then FE7 (and FE9), I can say that yes, FE7 does have, of the worldwide releases bar 10 (which I have not played) a strikingly different feel and atmosphere. Compared with its successor FE8, it just seems more... I dunno, competently assembled? Even the chapter introductions feel more compelling.

So I think you're really onto something there. Though I still don't care as much for the FE7 cast.

And I agree that the retcon affect does strange things to it-- different things, depending on whether or not one is aware of the FE6 events.

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

*headscratch*

This perception of FE7 fandom is slightly unusual to me, but I can already perceive the reason why: Outside of the folks who are my friends on LJ (e.g. the Kent / Lyn Circle ™), I generally have no interaction with the bulk of the fandom. That, and my interpretations of the characters tend to be the result of me staring my own 'fic in the face for years on end. You bounce a characterization back and forth from 'ficcer to wall and back again, it tends to mutate into something one does not see anywhere else.

In my defense, I do enjoy the other games. ;-) As I hope you know by now!

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, somehow I doubt you'd do business with purveyors of psycho!Serra or total-loser!Sain.

Just the impression I get. ;)

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

*chuckles*

Reading this post reminds me all the more of how much I love those two, be they together or separate. ... Hmm. Makes me think of Priscilla, though. I never pair her and Sain. Nothing against the pairing, I don't think, but it might just be because her and Heath (or Guy) are very high in my estimation.

[xirysa.livejournal.com]

Yesssssssssssssssssssss.

Serra and Sain are probably some of the most mangled characters in FE7, and yet they're both very high on my list of favorites. From what I've seen the effed up characterizations seem to come from a shipping point of view--turn Serra into alpha-psycho-bitch PRIME so Erk will go with Priscilla instead, and Sain is always written as the blabbering megaperv he *clearly* is because, hey. It's so *obvious* that Fiora--or any woman in FE7, for that matter--wouldn't want to get with a sleazebag like him.

Yeah.

I remember you mentioning something like this in regards to the Sain thing I'm working on. It's really very annoying (and very frightening) to see characters you hate destroyed and warped beyond recognition in 'fic. The personal characterizations is one thing (again, with the Sain thing, some people don't agree on the older!Sain I have) but a commonly accepted fandom form of a beloved character is something different entirely.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Sain is always written as the blabbering megaperv he *clearly* is because, hey.

It's not just the megaperv thing. It's that Sain is often-- especially when he's a foil to Kent-- portrayed as someone completely insubstantial. His serious side is ignored. His angry side is ignored. It's all flowery speeches and flakiness and Kent glaring reprimands at him.

Do not want.

[xirysa.livejournal.com]

Serious Sain in general is totes awesome; unfortunately, a majority of the fandom seems to think that he doesn't even have the capacity to be serious. Which is saddening.

[hooves.livejournal.com]

Agreeing about all points.

As far as FE7 goes. My memory is really bad. It might just be my health, but I forget things really easily. As in, if I don't write 'fic about FE7 for even a month? I will have to go read script or play the game to remember anything. I lose any grasp I have on a character.

(This is probably also why I write so much. If I don't, I forget how to write and have to start over with really choppy writing again, even if it's only been a month. I realize that's probably not the norm-- lots of folks seem to write barely one 'fic a month. I have never been that person.)

Anyway, I tried FE8 and was almost immediately bored of it. It seriously did not grab or amuse or interest me at all, especially after FE7. I didn't really care about any of the characters except Lute. :/ That and I was afraid of writing 'fic for other fandoms for fear of getting bored with and leaving the FE fandom. It kind of goes to the no1curr thing, though. For example, I can read Archanea 'fic because the general ideas of the characters are pretty...known I guess throughout fandom.

But if I go to another fandom entirely (example: Rose of Versaillse), I lose my entire audience. I know that makes me sound really petty/trite, but my audience was almost entirely FE7 people-- NOT writing about FE7 people meant I would have no audience. (I get the feeling among most FE8/9/10/etc circles in fandom, I wasn't exactly hailed as a person they'd want to associate. But it could just me be, idk.)

So I'm like. :/ I mean with RoV I did learn to balance FE7 with another fandom (RoV). But all of the FE7 pieces I put out while fangirling over RoV? Were shit. To put it plainly. And when I got bored with RoV, my FE7 fic continued to be shit, got shittier, and finally managed to be decent again.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuut I was like paranoid of losing my audience. Mostly because I didn't think FE9/10 fandom would want me around, and I didn't care much for FE8. Not to say FE8 is bad or anything. I just don't really connect to any of the beginning-appearing characters. I don't even connect to Lute-- though I do think she's fun. /blahblah sorry I am so braindead and tired.

[hooves.livejournal.com]

Oh, also. I refuse to download things to my computer like games. I just refuse to. I don't want to play things illegally. I don't even watch fansubbed anime (one exception) or scanlated manga (one different exception ever). And I'm a really crappy FE player, so FE6 is just a big fat no. And I guess I don't care about it. I'm a horrible person, really. But. Do not care. Reason? I only like characters that, by the time FE6 rolls around, canonically (plotwise, etc) do not matter or factor into anything. FE6 has no appeal to me. Even most of the characters make me go YAWN. :/ And I know that's unfair, but. Yeah.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Anyway, I tried FE8 and was almost immediately bored of it. It seriously did not grab or amuse or interest me at all, especially after FE7.

I will be the first to admit that the first few chapters of FE8 are excruciating. Fortunately a fair number of characters (Lute, Franz, Garcia-and-Ross, and Ephraim and his posse) grabbed me. I thought Eirika was a horrible incarnation of the Naive Rapier Lord, this time in an actual skirt, and I had a initial strong dislike for Seth/Eirika. I can't say I LIKED the game until the twins split up on their separate routes.

because the general ideas of the characters are pretty...known I guess throughout fandom.

Archetypes, heh. Mind, you, some of them don't work-- like trying to paste latter-day conceptions of the "Cain and Abel" trope on the actual Cain and Abel. It doesn't really fit.

my FE7 fic continued to be shit, got shittier, and finally managed to be decent again.

I would not call anything I've seen of yours "shit." Some of it is awesome, some of it is really good, some of it seems more geared to suit individual people than a general audience, and a few things have made me scratch my head. But I do not recall ever thinking "This is shit."

I don't even connect to Lute-- though I do think she's fun.

I like her, but aside from a giftfic I owe Samu, I do not have any desire to write her.

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

(You owe me a Lute? *headscratch* I do not recall the conversation. Need more coffee, perhaps.)

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

You asked for some Victoria Era AU Merric & Lute interaction and I still haven't delivered.

But it's coming... eventually.