fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2336 ]

[ SECRET POST #2336 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2336 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 081 secrets from Secret Submission Post #334.
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.

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14. http://i.imgur.com/RWfMnT9.png

it sounds terrible, but i do the same, op. i just find the quality of fic for john/jane shepard or garrett hawke is so much better than people's generic oc hawkes or shepards. i don't know what it is about the default, but weirdly authors who write them seem to be more interested in fleshing them out/exploring them more than people writing their ocs, at least in my opinion.

warden fic is different, i've experienced though. lots of good original wardens, but then there really is no "default" warden in origins iirc.

I think it's because the Warden is a silent main character - Hawke and Shephard have voice actors. At least that's what makes the difference for me.

I mean, I have read some custom male Hawkes that were quite interesting, but only the rogue ones (funnily). Might be because the default trailer!Hawke is either mage or warrior, not a rogue. *shrug*

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2013-05-26 23:54 (UTC) - Expand

I hate when people do this with Mass Effect.

"Well what if I just sneak in my personal Shepard's name and-"
often leads to
"Well what if I just sneak in my personal headcanons about how my Shepard reacts to their family, and the Earth cuisines they like, and their hobbies, and their religion, and-"

Shepard should be presented the way Shepard is in the Mass Effect canon.
Leave your self-insertion at the door.

Edited 2013-05-26 20:46 (UTC)

Shepard's personality is fluid, because s/he IS a self insert though.

(no subject)

bored_bitch - 2013-05-26 21:02 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2013-05-27 04:04 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

feotakahari - 2013-05-26 23:27 (UTC) - Expand

welcome to every Fire Emblem tactician fic I've never read.

I've read a decent fic about robin that used robin, soo. I've backbuttoned out of a lot of xaviers, alexes, joeies, rinas, maries, and lillies tho (for all the tacts. i rarely even read fe7 fic if it mentions mark at all, whether or not he/she is named mark). And i hate when people in discussions expect you to call them what you named them instead of mu/mamu/femu/avatar/tacti/robin/mark/chris/whatever name-neutral thing you call them normally.

Yeah, I'm sorta glad I stopped writing fan fic for those kinds of games now, because people like you gave me anxiety about sharing that stuff in the first place. :/

tbf i can see both sides of this, but as long as you make it clear that you're not trying to write the "canon" default char and that it's an oc, i don't have a problem with it.

when people try and conflate the two is annoying.

So couldn't you just not write non-canon names?
I don't see how this problem persists, when there is a very simple solution.

cough cough mass effect, dragon age, fire emblem

I do the same. Especially for BioWare fandoms. Using their special snowflake first names, other than the default names, tend to lose me in a fic because I forget I'm reading about Shepard/Hawke/etc and it feels like I'm reading about an OC instead. No thanks!

I've never run across that, but I'd never read it if I did. I wouldn't recognize the characters as not being an OC replacement fic.

I get where you're coming from, but I don't do the same. I've read some really good fic that doesn't use the default names.

I've found one useful exception to this: when the character is explicitly being used as a stand-in for someone from another series. (For instance, there's a good Mass Effect story that's basically about what Shepard would be if he were like Ciaphas Cain. Unfortunately, I don't remember the title.)

Edited 2013-05-26 23:25 (UTC)

Huh, well I enjoy reading about OC-ish video game characters. I like seeing other people's interpretations of the game and the character. There's plenty of Hawke/Shepard/Dragonborn/etc fic out there with different names and they were great.

I've seen that a lot with Pokemon. Sometimes, if I enjoy the fic enough, I push past it (Alphabet Soup is a good example - the female PC's character is named Bree instead of Hilda/Touko/White. There's a reason for it, but it made me blink every time her name was mentioned), but it can be jarring.

Hm, I understand that, though that method doesn't really help me, personally. I've run into a fair bit of fic with default names and descriptions that still had characterization that turned me off, because my perspective on canon is often very different from someone else's no matter what. So I just try to look for interpretations that align with mine, or that I enjoy even if I don't agree with them, whatever the names.

Isn't this a repeat?

Seriously, though, anon, if you only read fics about "John" and "Jane" Shepard, you've missed some of the very best fic in the fandom, to your loss.

recs, then?

(no subject)

ariakas - 2013-05-27 04:10 (UTC) - Expand

Not from me. First time I've posted this sentiment.

I'm not in the Mass Effect fandom.

Re: OP

ariakas - 2013-05-27 04:15 (UTC) - Expand

OP

(Anonymous) - 2013-05-27 04:52 (UTC) - Expand

Re: OP

ariakas - 2013-05-27 07:23 (UTC) - Expand

I don't mind it so much if the name isn't used entirely in place of 'Shepard', and/or is only used a few times in a fic. I can handle that as it's much less distracting/feels less like an OC.

Hell, it doesn't even have to be John or Jane - many authors just use 'Shepard' 99% of the time, and it works.

I was so happy when they started giving names. It makes it so much easier to write.

i do it mainly as a warning to people that this is a fanfiction about the renegade earthborn solesurvivor shepard i played and not the generic shepard who may or may not have done things.

actually, this is reasoning I can get behind.

I'm not fond of OC!character inserts and I don't give a great goddamn if the fucking fic is gilded in gold and sung by a choir of prepubescent boys with the voices of angels. If the writer is going to write about Allain (or any stupidass Mary Sue contortion of names) Shepard, I'm out of there. Simply because I'm interested in reading about Game!Shepard and as I've played it enough with varying degrees of Paragon/Renegade, there's not much left for variation in reactions. Mary Sue names will render Mary Sue fics for the most part.

And I'm damn sure not interested in the character YOU played so the non-generic name is a huge call-sign that it will be a fic I am not interested in reading in the slightest.

Oh gods, Fire Emblem is horrible with this.

I just can't connect with a Robin that's not named "Robin?" The name alone makes it feel like a foreign character. And then factor in the quality of the writing, and it's stuff that's easily missed.

The only exception I'll make is for the Fem!Tactician from FE7 since she has no canon name. But even then, I'm still really choosy.

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