30 Day fanfic writing meme Day 6

[samsom]

6 – When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters?

Hmmm, this ties back to the question on Day 3, I think. A few years ago, I noticed that whenever I wanted to write, it was almost always from Angel’s POV and that was fine but I didn’t want every fic I wrote coming from his POV. It made me uncomfortable, for some reason. So I’d try to force myself to write from a female POV – usually Cordelia. And from Day 5, you know how it turns out when I try to write something that doesn’t feel like it’s coming naturally. So I try to just go with whatever POV pops in my head when I get an idea. Which do I prefer? When writing shorter pieces, or straight up smut, I prefer Angel. When I’m writing something longer, more involved or emotional, I prefer to write from Cordelia’s. Cordelia has a way of seeing the bigger picture, and she ‘sees’ more in almost any situation. So it depends on the fic, I think. I think out of all my fics, I have a very good ratio of male to female POV.

I think I should say that it also depends on which ‘voice’ is coming through when I’m starting the first sentence of a fic. Like, if it were between Spike and Buffy’s POV, I’d go with Spike’s because Spike is waaaaaay less complicated than Buffy. Buffy hides a lot of her emotions and thoughts, so trying to get into her head is very hard for me. Spike just wants Buffy, he sees things more black and white, then and now, and he’s apt to not hang onto shit the way Buffy does. I could play her reactions off his of actions, read her from his POV. So much easier than trying to establish her mindset from the inside of her head. For this same reason, Giles would also be preferable for me. But not Wesley. I’d have to come from Fred’s POV or Lilah’s. Lilah, like Angelus, would be frighteningly simple – just give voice to all those darker thoughts without straying into moustache-twirling territory.

I really ought to try Lilah out sometime, in regards to Wes anyway. Then again, I think to write about a character, you have to care about them. Otherwise, they come off a little more two dimensional than intended. I know fandom is full of Lilah-fans, but I’m not one of them.





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Comments

[xlivvielockex.livejournal.com]

What about when you wrote Xena or X-Files fic? Which POV did you find easier?

[samsom.livejournal.com]

From Xena, I wrote Xena's and Ares and Gabrielle's POVs in various fics.

I have this series of 'short' continuing thingies from Gab's POV that works really well for me.

My scribblings for the XF never involved Mulder, and was mostly from Krycek's POV because he was easier - again, his motives were simple enough within his intentions. They just seemed confused to everyone else because Chris Carter went off the rails with the mytharc there towards the end.

[xlivvielockex.livejournal.com]

Oh don't even get me started on the end of X-Files. I swear after the first movie, Carter was smoking some seriously awesome crack.

And sorry if the question was all invasive. I'm really enjoying reading your answers and chatting with you about it.

[samsom.livejournal.com]

*blinks*

I didn't think your question was invasive, bb. I don't mind them at all. Ask me anything. Ask me multiple things. Just don't ask me how I feel about Joss Whedon, we'll be here all night. :)