donutsweeper (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
donutsweeper) wrote2013-05-15 02:13 pm
donutsweeper) wrote2013-05-15 02:13 pm
Entry tags:
Creating Canon
(This was originally going to be a MUCH longer post but I've been poking at it for close to five months and decided to trim it up and just throw it together before it languished away before I ever wrote it up.)
I have this weird phobia about creating canon in my fics even if I know it's unlikely whatever I come up with will ever be Jossed (aka later proven incorrect by canon).
What I mean by creating canon is things like names filling a gap of information that may or may not be given in canon, like names, for example. There are a lot of characters that canonically have not been given names of one sort or another. Whoverse's the Doctor, the Master and Jack Harkness (all nicknames/aliases); Grimm's Monroe and Teen Wolf's Sheriff and Stiles Stilinski (none of whom have first names). And then there are character's parents' names, how many moms are mentioned but never named?
Or dates. We know both Tony DiNozzo (NCIS) and Stiles' moms died. We don't know when or how. And probably 90% of characters out there have no specifically mentioned age.
Or events. Was Jack Harkness ever really pregnant? What actually happened in Budapest (Avengers)? Were any of the Magnificent Seven other than Nathan involved in the Civil War (Magnificent Seven, TV)?
Should the producer/writers' intent matter? If someone said in an interview that Gaius was Merlin's uncle, should we take that as fact (Merlin)? What about things that have been accepted as fanon? Does Mycroft continually kidnap John (Sherlock)? Does Thor really like poptarts?
Anyone else have issues with this? Does any of it matter to you as a reader? Have you ever decided on something in your head (like a character's name) which makes it hard to read a fic that has come up with something else?
I have this weird phobia about creating canon in my fics even if I know it's unlikely whatever I come up with will ever be Jossed (aka later proven incorrect by canon).
What I mean by creating canon is things like names filling a gap of information that may or may not be given in canon, like names, for example. There are a lot of characters that canonically have not been given names of one sort or another. Whoverse's the Doctor, the Master and Jack Harkness (all nicknames/aliases); Grimm's Monroe and Teen Wolf's Sheriff and Stiles Stilinski (none of whom have first names). And then there are character's parents' names, how many moms are mentioned but never named?
Or dates. We know both Tony DiNozzo (NCIS) and Stiles' moms died. We don't know when or how. And probably 90% of characters out there have no specifically mentioned age.
Or events. Was Jack Harkness ever really pregnant? What actually happened in Budapest (Avengers)? Were any of the Magnificent Seven other than Nathan involved in the Civil War (Magnificent Seven, TV)?
Should the producer/writers' intent matter? If someone said in an interview that Gaius was Merlin's uncle, should we take that as fact (Merlin)? What about things that have been accepted as fanon? Does Mycroft continually kidnap John (Sherlock)? Does Thor really like poptarts?
Anyone else have issues with this? Does any of it matter to you as a reader? Have you ever decided on something in your head (like a character's name) which makes it hard to read a fic that has come up with something else?
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(It's a little silly, I know, it's just one of those issues my brain has)
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I suppose it's a bit like real life. There are all sorts of ways the future can go, but the past is set.
That said it's still relatively early days and I do add new stuff to the backstory if it makes sense. Case in point - when starting out, I though the main characters' mother was just an incidental character. Now she's the reason the plot's happening as it is at all. Sometimes I can still surprise myself.
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I suppose, going back to the original question, I will only specify extra details as canon if I know for definite they're true. Otherwise, I'll state "I'm not sure, but I think blah blah blah." That might be why I take most stated things as canon, because I guess I automatically assume the creator is likewise sure, but different people have different ideas of what sure is, I guess.
It's interesting seeing this from the other side, so to speak?
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