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hector_rashbaumI think I'm done spamming LJ for the night after this.
Lately it feels like a lot of people have been saying one thing when they mean another. "Feminist" when they mean "man-hating bitch" (and "man-hating bitch" when they mean "she wouldn't sleep with me even though I am charming"), "immigration" when they mean "illegal immigration", and so on. A lot of it's just "make myself look good and the other side look bad"-style rhetoric, but there are people who really confuse their terms.
Enough people have bitched about those examples I'm not even going to bother (translation: after a bubble bath and a few chapters of PHP & MySQL for Dummies, tackling anything of any importance isn't happening).
There is one term confusion that pisses me right the fuck off, though. Not so much a righteous anger as a "come the fuck on, people" irritation. Kind of like a paper cut, if every time the paper cut started to heal I re-cut myself in the same spot.
People. OOC and AU are. Not. Synonyms. They do not go hand-in-hand (for the most part), one is not a prerequisite of the other. They just aren't.
(For any nonficcers who happen to be reading this, OOC = Out of Character and AU = Alternate Universe)
If your characters need to be unrecognizable as their namesakes for your fic to work? You're not writing bandfic. You're writing original fiction with someone else's names. That's not opinion.
Bandfic, at least good bandfic, is NOT in character names or band names or the fact that they're musicians. It's in the characters. And yes, characterization is open to interpretation. I touched on that the last time I wrote about it.
But there's a difference between "different interpretations" and "blatant disregard for the characters". There are some things that do not change. Nicko McBrain has a specific way of speaking. Steve Clark was an addict. Richie Sambora acts as if he believes the pinnacle of humor is a funny accent. You can't just give Nicko a southern drawl and claim Steve never touched a drug and decide Richie's going to call everyone else on having moronic senses of humor while he only laughs at subtle dry wit.
WAIT, there's a catch.
Yes you can. In an AU fic. Which, remember, does NOT equal OOC. Because those are all individual aspects of each of those characters, you can get away with tweaking things with proper reasoning and explanation.
The best example I can think of is in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
arrys_girlie's High Seas Adventures. No one in Bon Jovi is British, and thus none of them speak with a British accent, and only use "Britishisms" if it's Richie and he's trying to be funny. BUT, for the purposes of the series, the boys were members of the British Navy. The first time I read "bloody" in a line of David dialogue, I did stop. And thought of mentioning it to her - until I remembered, duh, they're British in that universe.
You know why it gave me pause? Because she kept the rest of the characterizations intact. Because while she was writing pirate-universe British Navy David Bryan, it was still essentially David Bryan.
That right there is the difference between OOC and AU (okay, no, there are tons of differences, but that's the most blatant and easiest to word).
OOC = blatant disregard for characterization
AU = purposeful tweaking of some character traits with reasonable and apparent motivations
So, boys and girls, when someone says to you "your characterizations are totally off", is the proper response:
A: Fuck you, people write AU fic all the time and you don't bitch at THEM
B: OMG u r so meen
C: I don't see why Nicko talking like a backwoods Texan is out of character
D: Duh. Band fiction isn't real, Little Miss Perfectionist Expert Bitch
E: You think so? Well, this, this, and this are my reasons for why Steve's stone-cold sober / I drew my ideas from interviews x, y and z where he said l, m, n, and o / what was it you thought I got so wrong?
Lately it feels like a lot of people have been saying one thing when they mean another. "Feminist" when they mean "man-hating bitch" (and "man-hating bitch" when they mean "she wouldn't sleep with me even though I am charming"), "immigration" when they mean "illegal immigration", and so on. A lot of it's just "make myself look good and the other side look bad"-style rhetoric, but there are people who really confuse their terms.
Enough people have bitched about those examples I'm not even going to bother (translation: after a bubble bath and a few chapters of PHP & MySQL for Dummies, tackling anything of any importance isn't happening).
There is one term confusion that pisses me right the fuck off, though. Not so much a righteous anger as a "come the fuck on, people" irritation. Kind of like a paper cut, if every time the paper cut started to heal I re-cut myself in the same spot.
People. OOC and AU are. Not. Synonyms. They do not go hand-in-hand (for the most part), one is not a prerequisite of the other. They just aren't.
(For any nonficcers who happen to be reading this, OOC = Out of Character and AU = Alternate Universe)
If your characters need to be unrecognizable as their namesakes for your fic to work? You're not writing bandfic. You're writing original fiction with someone else's names. That's not opinion.
Bandfic, at least good bandfic, is NOT in character names or band names or the fact that they're musicians. It's in the characters. And yes, characterization is open to interpretation. I touched on that the last time I wrote about it.
But there's a difference between "different interpretations" and "blatant disregard for the characters". There are some things that do not change. Nicko McBrain has a specific way of speaking. Steve Clark was an addict. Richie Sambora acts as if he believes the pinnacle of humor is a funny accent. You can't just give Nicko a southern drawl and claim Steve never touched a drug and decide Richie's going to call everyone else on having moronic senses of humor while he only laughs at subtle dry wit.
WAIT, there's a catch.
Yes you can. In an AU fic. Which, remember, does NOT equal OOC. Because those are all individual aspects of each of those characters, you can get away with tweaking things with proper reasoning and explanation.
The best example I can think of is in
arrys_girlie's High Seas Adventures. No one in Bon Jovi is British, and thus none of them speak with a British accent, and only use "Britishisms" if it's Richie and he's trying to be funny. BUT, for the purposes of the series, the boys were members of the British Navy. The first time I read "bloody" in a line of David dialogue, I did stop. And thought of mentioning it to her - until I remembered, duh, they're British in that universe.You know why it gave me pause? Because she kept the rest of the characterizations intact. Because while she was writing pirate-universe British Navy David Bryan, it was still essentially David Bryan.
That right there is the difference between OOC and AU (okay, no, there are tons of differences, but that's the most blatant and easiest to word).
OOC = blatant disregard for characterization
AU = purposeful tweaking of some character traits with reasonable and apparent motivations
So, boys and girls, when someone says to you "your characterizations are totally off", is the proper response:
A: Fuck you, people write AU fic all the time and you don't bitch at THEM
B: OMG u r so meen
C: I don't see why Nicko talking like a backwoods Texan is out of character
D: Duh. Band fiction isn't real, Little Miss Perfectionist Expert Bitch
E: You think so? Well, this, this, and this are my reasons for why Steve's stone-cold sober / I drew my ideas from interviews x, y and z where he said l, m, n, and o / what was it you thought I got so wrong?
no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 06:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 06:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 06:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 06:51 am (UTC)This is why we have people who are familiar with the bands acting as editors; I wouldn't know OOC Guns if they came up and bit me on the arse.
I assume I know who you're talking about...and I'm quite surprised she hasn't hit back at me in a PM or a board post yet!
no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 12:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 06:53 am (UTC)(And it's Royal Navy, not British Navy. I know, petty ain't I? ;) )
no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 12:56 pm (UTC)Obviously it's the rest of us who need to get grips.
(and...what Fiendy said below. Or something. It was late ;) )
no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 11:16 am (UTC)And Andy? I know it's Royal but the bastards use British as a minor insult by refusing to give them the proper title. ;) Anything to tweak the nerves, y'know.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 01:01 pm (UTC)It's been building for a while, but...ugh. Last straw. I think that tweaked me more than her other horrible transgressions because I work damned hard to get it right when I play in other fandoms - particularly Maiden - and it's grating to see someone put no thought in other than "this fandom's popular so I'll write in it and get glowing praise" and then brush off any criticism like characterizations isn't important.
Yeah fucking right.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 06:13 pm (UTC)Tha bastards!