Case (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
case) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomsecrets2012-09-20 07:02 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2012-09-20 07:02 pm
[ SECRET POST #2088 ]
⌈ Secret Post #2088 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 021 secrets from Secret Submission Post #298.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
no subject
when i brainstorm stories or plots, characters just kind of come out of hiding in my head, like oh hey. they reveal themselves when they're good and ready, so i accept them as is.
my characters change all the time. i've had one of my girls change her name like 6 times now! i've had other characters change names too, and hair styles/colours and appearances as a whole. but this is only good if it works for them. i don't force things on my characters because if it's not just right, they become lackluster.
my point is that for some of us, changing something very important about a character, like their gender, doesn't always come easy. when you care about your characters and you give them ample consideration, it's not as simple as just going, hey, this person is a guy now. or sup you're female now. it's all about the quality of the writing and the character rather than, like i said, some quota you feel obligated to fulfill because some people judge you for not having 50% of your characters be female.
heck, i've had to change entire plots and premises before. i'm rewriting my first completed novel and there are only a few things that are the same (one of them being a mere name). i understand change and how good it is. i edit my works like crazy; most of my written pages have no margin space because they're so full of edits. so yeah, i get changing for the better. but changing things is something that should come naturally and wanted, by you and your characters (or, perhaps in your case, just you, since i'm probably the only weirdo who leaves it up to her characters).
all in all, my characters may be mine, but i let them decide who they are. if i think long and hard about a change and it's not right, then i'm not going to implement it.
i'm not quite sure what part of my first comment made you side-eye me since i made it really clear that changes are important. but characters are who they are. if you think you need more females so you genderswap a few but it just doesn't work, then i'm not going to judge. in my experience, of all the things my characters will change, gender is one of the least flexible attributes. and that's fine with me! i really don't think anybody else should get angry at me over my characters' identities. like i said, when you care about your characters, changes like that aren't always easy.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2012-09-21 10:44 am (UTC)(link)no subject
(Anonymous) 2012-09-21 10:09 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
eta: let me be more clear - i'm not saying my style of writing is superior, because it's not. that's the thing with creative works, there really aren't any rules. it's all subjective. if seeing your characters as literally nothing but tools is what helps you write, then you're more than welcome to do that. however, i have a different method of handling my characters, and it works for me, and in the end i still crank out what i would consider good, well-rounded characters, just as you would with your own method. and that's kind of my point - there's no universal way to create and edit, and just because someone may not have an easy time changing something that they know is not good for their character doesn't mean they're lacking as a writer or missing out on a good opportunity.
the argument started over whether or not a writer can change a character's gender at will and have that 1) work for the character, 2) work for the story as a whole and 3) work for the writer. i have absolutely no doubts that some writers can do this. heck, i can make drastic changes like that to certain characters, but those are the ones i do view as only tools. for characters to whom i've become attached regarding their appearance or personality, these abrupt changes don't come as easily. that's why some writers - who are focused on quality main characters - don't always have 100% equally diversified characters. the characters they make are from a specific and set vision, and this in no way makes those characters or the writer inherently better. it's just how some people - and their characters - work, and why some writers can't just change random things about their character happily like others can. there are a few anons here who are simply not understanding why this is so difficult for those of us who write differently, and i'm only trying to explain my case here.