A very intimidating title, there, and one I’m not sure I’m going to completely deserve with this post. However, it is something that has been on my mind this week as I battle with a few of my usual writing demons.
In traditional romance writing, the character arcs of the hero and heroine generally follow predictable trajectories. That’s not to say every character goes through the same thing, but that there are generally recognisable stages and steps that characters go through as we progress through a story. Probably one of the most well-known is the hero’s journey monomyth. (Wikipedia reference) If you want to know what that is, watch Star Wars, because apparently George Lucas copied it. Or so people say. (I haven’t done any actual academic creative writing theory, so for those of you who have, forgive me if this seems primitive.)
However, what can you do when the lead role in your story (whether hero or heroine) is played by someone else’s character – one that your readers know well and love? How much leeway do you have to change that character or to have them undergo some kind of transformational journey? And, if you decide to play things carefully, how do you ensure that your story is still satisfying and that, by the end, it feels like all the characters (both canon and OC) have come to the end of their respective journeys?
In writing House, there are some quite strong constraints around the character which, in my mind, he can’t grow too far from. He can’t suddenly become a submissive, docile man who will go along with whatever the heroine wants (or second hero, in the case of slash, I guess). He also can’t NOT change, because the whole point of the story (in a romance) is for him to find happiness in another human being, which, as a canon character, he finds incredibly difficult. The trick lies in finding a balance somewhere between.
Many fan fics I’ve read seem to go too far one way or the other.
Either House doesn’t change and so the story isn’t satisfying or doesn’t seem believable, because the House we know on the TV show would not be instantly transferrable, unchanged, into a stable, loving relationship. (Yes, we all know it’s there, just under the surface, and that’s why we write this, to explore it, but we all have to admit that he would have to change at least some things in order to make it work.)
Some fan fic writers go the other way and make House into an instantly soft and squishy, passive romantic lead. Yes, he gave Cameron a corsage. Yes, he brought Cuddy’s desk back from her parents’ place. But let’s face it: mostly, he’s still a bastard. He’s a bastard alpha male with a hidden streak of romantic purism and that’s what makes him so damn irresistible as a romantic lead.
I’m not saying that I think I get this balance right myself. It’s just one of the elements that I find difficult about writing House fic. When you write non-fan fiction, your characters are your own and you can invent the backstory and character flaws and past experiences that help to meld the transformation that the character goes through. When you write fan fiction, you are limited by what the canon has revealed and what tweaks you can fit in around the edges.
When a fan fic writer gets this balance right, to me, this is when the pairing or ship or storyline doesn’t matter. If you can take a known character, expand them in a believable way, take them through a journey that transforms them and yet they remain emphatically who the readers recognise, then I think you have succeeded. If you do that, I don’t really care who you have him sleeping with. Agree? Disagree?
Gertrude's House 
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December 4, 2009 at 4:19 am
Caf
Fan fic is something that fascinates me a lot, however I find little time to read any…my inexperienced opinion would be that as long as you only take a a character forward from the one that already exists, then that’s the road to success. In other words, I agree entirely, if nothing in the character changes then the story will be boring but you can’t bring that change about by messing with backstory…
December 4, 2009 at 9:18 am
gertrude2034
Thanks Caf – you’re right, and I think that’s one of the key challenges of fan fic. You have to change the character whilst sticking within some often very narrow, predetermined parameters.
December 4, 2009 at 5:37 am
Mariana M
I agree, there’s nothing i hate more in FF than an OOC House, or what I consider to be OOC. I don’t write, but i understand that we may have different interpretations of the character so I can read and even enjoy some stories with a House I don’t like so much if the other characters are interesting for me.
I prefer to read H/OC FF because at least this way the author has total control over one character and you can like it or not but it will definitively be true to its character.
Other thing that can mess with the character development is the length of the FF, a good story can turn into in a very repetitive and out of character one if it is forced to last more.
I’m glad you are starting this blog, I don’t like to tell the authors what I don’t like about their FF because they might take it personal and i can’t complain with family and friends because I’m the only one reading them. Maybe here i will be able to vent my frustrations and understand more about the writing because I know it’s not easy and you authors put a lot of time and effort to please us(and yourselves) with stories about our favorite characters and i appreciate it
December 4, 2009 at 9:24 am
gertrude2034
Thanks Mariana. Appreciate your comment and I hope this is going to be a good place for interesting conversations on a topic we all care about!
I prefer to write House/OC for the very same reason you like to read it — I get to have control over at least one (if not more) of the characters in the story. And as they tend to dance around a central character (House) it provides lots of opportunity to move the story on.
I like your point about the length of stories — perhaps that’s worth exploring in a blog post! I think again fan fic is a different beast here because sometimes authors are pressured into carrying on a story because of reader involvement and perhaps sometimes things go beyond what they even intended themselves.
I started this blog so that readers and writers could talk more about their interests and the craft that we spend a lot of time (and emotional energy!) on. I would love to get more readers’ perspectives of what they do and don’t like, although I’m not planning to become a review site where people can say particular fics are good or bad. But absolutely we can talk about what things work and what things don’t in general practice.
Thanks for commenting!
December 14, 2009 at 4:22 pm
breezysmooth
Hey, I thought I’ll step into the bandwagon, too.
Basically, like it always is with others, my biggest problem with reading fanfics, is OOCness. The second is bad grammar and punctuation, but that’s not the focus here. I generally read House/Cuddy ffics, (yes, that lot.) and these are both canon characters, so they are more prone to be OOCfied. Which I hate.
I say, if your fanfic has horribly mushy House and (ohgod) cruel bitch Cuddy (orsomething) without a legitimate reason or motive, and you don’t have good smut, and no plot, be damned, worthless fool. And the agonizing thing is, mostly there is good smut, some plot, but there’s idiotic Huddy, so I sometimes have to endure them and smile and praise. They never really capture the beauty of the relationship, which every good fic should have.
Moving on to other ships. With Slash/Hameron, what, I believe, I want to see, (not necessarily convert to the ship,) is House and (Character) making transformations, like you said, and adjusting to each other and making us believe that: they must, must, MUST be together at least in this fic because they deserve each other, for whatever they’ve got, and godDAMN is this a good fic.
When outsiders come into such uncharted waters, they must be able to appreciate the fic, as well as the genius and the genuine effort of the writer.
I hope this didn’t confuse y’all too much.
December 14, 2009 at 10:03 pm
gertrude2034
Thanks Breezy, it’s great to have a new reader! I think what you’re saying backs up my own perspective — I write House/OC because then I have only one (generally) main character who I must vigilantly watch for OOC-ness — the others I can do with what I like.
I also think canon ships bring up more of the issues I talked about in my post — if both you main romantic characters are canon, what kind of character development can they go through whilst still remaining IC?
I have to say when I read ship fics — which I do occasionally — I tend to read only the very best writers of that kind. Because I’m not that interested in the development of a relationship between House/Cameron, for example, if the writing doesn’t grab me and pull me in, then the subject matter won’t. I think that’s how so many fics that are badly written, poor grammar, etc, end up being popular, because they use the “ship de jour”.
That’s not to say that I think only people who are perfect writers should write fan fic — after all, who is perfect?? (And I think I’ve just come up with my next blog post topic…)
Thanks again for commenting — hope to hear from you again! (Also, glad to have brought you over to the “dark side” of OC fics… may you find much joy here! lol)