Fanon characterization

[donutsweeper]

Of late there are several instances where I find myself liking the fanon version of a character, but not the version that's showing up in canon. Anyone else ever had this problem?

Comments

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not the only one! I'm finding it with .. well to be honest it'd probably be shorter to list the shows that actually am happy with, it would be a very short list.

Do you find that there are some authors who see that characters in the way you do and others whose view is so different it's hard to read them?

[kaylashay.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah... that happens to me all the time to. I get very set in my ways as to how I like to read the characters, even if I have a very broad scope of how I will read the characters.

Probably the most notable ones right now are Tony and Gibbs. There's been many a Tony/Gibbs story I've backed away from because I just couldn't take the way the characters were represented.

Another character I have to be careful with is Xander. I like what is known as Super!Xander to a certain extent, but it is hard to find the right mix for that. And I have a little secret like for Spike/Xander (yes, Spander!) from a very few select authors.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I've read a little Spander (very little) Gibbs and Tony are written all over the map depending who is doing the writing. And some are very hard to take (Woobie!Gibbs just makes me tear my hair out)

[kaylashay.livejournal.com]

Except in very special cases, I have issues when they call each other something other than Tony, Gibbs, Boss or Jethro. 'Ro' and 'Tone' really irk me for some reasons. Or them being overly lovey-dovey with each other. There's also be some BDSM fics I've back away from even though I enjoy the genre. Mainly because I don't think the authors get the lifestyle or the characters and how they would be in the lifestyle.

It's actually why I stick to certain characters in writing. If I don't feel I have a handle on a character, I won't write them. In Buffy fandom, I can't write Buffy, which always makes me laugh a bit. In Supernatural, I mainly stick to Dean and keep Sam to a minimum. For NCIS, I avoid Ziva and Ducky writing wise... And I really, really want to write some Criminal Minds fic or crossovers with NCIS, but I've never felt I could do the characters from CM right. *sigh*

I also run into certain authors who it's hit and miss for me on their fics. One fic I would love to pieces and the next I'd be like 'eh...' over and then turn around and love the next one. Then comes the authors who I go out of my way to read everything and more than once. For instance, with xanthelj I actually ventured into her X-Files fics even though I never really watched the show (knew the characters enough though), because I liked her NCIS and SGA stuff... Same with KSL. I ventured into her Houston Knights fic without knowing the characters at all because I like how she did Gibbs/DiNozzo (one of the few that gets more... I guess doting/loving is the best way to describe it with G/D that I like to read).

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

KSL is awesome, she has some great Houston Knights stuff and this utterly amazing Magnificent Seven series I've read an embarrassing number of times.

Have you read litgal (were you the one that suggested her to me?)? She's one of the few Spander authors I've read and liked.

Oh lord, nicknames. *shudders* Jet, LJ, Ro, Jeth, Lee... just no. Please oh please oh please NO.

I tend to shy away from writing Ziva and Sam too for the same reasons. And CM's people would be HARD. It's easier to figure out a way around them then write them badly.

[kaylashay.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I was, but yes, I've read litgal. She was the first person I read Spander from. Then I found a few others I liked. She's also got one of the very few Ziva/Tony fics I've read and liked. I think it was her... *ponders that* (and there was a Tony/Ziva/Gibbs fic by someone else that I liked too)

Jet! I forgot Jet! Honeybuns is the only nickname that should ever exist between them outside of Boss... Them and Naomi that is. :-)

Reid is probably the only CM character I could come close to writing... and maybe Garcia. But... like you said... they would be HARD.

I haven't tried out KSL's Mag 7 stuff yet. That's another fandom I don't really know the characters outside of the fics I've read that have been crossovers with other fandoms.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

What I like about KSL is she doesn't whitewash the problems that coming out might create, the Mag7 one in particular since it's set in 1870s there is a very different attitude about it.

Honeybuns and Naomi or something else like that in jest would be just fine. the others however.... no, just no