(no subject)

[estelraca]

Vee.

Vee, I hope you actually like unicorns and that wasn't just a spur-of-the-moment suggestion.

Because I have now written you about 5,000 words worth of unicorns.  That's... kind of like a drabble, right?

*hangs head in shame*  This is what happens when people let me write mythology.  Especially if I can somehow take the bare bones and make it into whatever structure I want.

Comments

[enjolras]

Before LM fanfic became so ridiculously overpopulated in modern AU, I loved the fics that went outside their typical time period. I loved seeing how people incorporated them into places, from present time to the sixties to even further back than the 1800s. Nowadays, it's all a bunch of high school crappy AUs, and this is why I enjoy your fics. You take them and put them into different worlds and yet keep their characters true to form.

So wrote me unicorns all you like. I like unicorns. I like dark unicorns. I like human-impaling unicorns. I like pretty pretty princess unicorns. And I like Enjolras as something other than human more than anything.

5000 words is kinda like a fanfic. You've gone straight past drabble, narrowly avoided a ficlet, and right into fic territory.

[estelraca]

I absolutely love seeing characters in different settings, and Cat does too. We have a set of alternate universes for our original characters that I really need to write someday. And it's something that I think works really well for me for Les Mis just because I feel like Hugo already wrote the big character arcs that would usually call to me? And ended them with a spectacular bang? Others manage to write fantastic little character pieces set in the canon timeline, but I seem to either want to change something drastic or just change the whole universe so I can do whatever I want and not feel I have to meet back up with canon.

And I also adore writing not-quite-human characters (see also my love of werewolves). It's so satisfying to try to figure out, I get to play with inhuman biology and either Mad Science or Magic, and then there's the fun of getting to see human society through a non-human lens. It's just a great bag of goodies.

I've never understood high school AUs. I mean, I get that they're mostly written by and for high school students, but I always wanted to get *away* from high school. It seems like one of the least interesting things you could do with characters who are, generally, in much cooler and more interesting places.

I had fun making a unicorn mythos. It's a mixture of a couple different equid fae mythos. And you shall see it in a week, so I'll stop rambling about it now.

[enjolras]

I think it depends for me. I can handle them being in any situation so long as their characterization is right on from canon. I could never see Enjolras as an Ultra or as a brunette in fanfic. One goes against his beliefs entirely, the other a symbolic representation of why he was written in the first place. But it's the characterization that I'm always so picky about and won't read the fic if that can't be backed by their canon facets.

[estelraca]

I was kind of reading canon characterization as a given, since if they don't have their core symbolism intact then they're not really themselves anymore. I couldn't ever imagine a scenario where Enjolras as an ultra would feel like anything other than character assassination, either, though I suppose that it's possible in the hands of a really good author something could be done.

As for seeing him as a brunette... I could, but only in specific circumstances. In a lot of reincarnation scenarios I could see him having markedly different features, to fit in with the society that needs him at that time. (I love reincarnation fic, I really do, but I always get so caught up on details that are Not Important like "but that name doesn't fit here" and "what features would fit best but how do you still get across who is who" and it all spirals out of control from there.) But just changing his features willy-nilly, no, not a good idea. Especially since he's one of the few characters we actually have canon features for.

[enjolras]

As far as the brunette goes, I normally only ever see him like that in fics that cast Ramin as him. It gets annoying. And disconcerting.

"The handsome brown-haired man with the chocolate eyes."

Right.

And while, yeah, I'd say that characterization oft goes without saying, but it normally never does. I know you'd keep him intact. Not always so clear when talking about fanfic generalized.

[estelraca]

...Maybe if you imagined him as Jason it would work better? (Probably not, because anyone who thinks Enjolras isn't the MOST GORGEOUS FEMININE BLOND-HAIRED BLUE-EYE BADASS ANGEL EVER clearly hasn't read the Brick and Hugo's descriptions of him and will thus not have a complete grasp of his character.)

I'm rather attached to him. I try to keep him intact, no matter where we dump him and despite my penchant for trying to break the things I love (damn unbreakable symbols *grumble grumble*). Poor characterization is the scourge of fanfic everywhere, though, you are very right. And is even more disconcerting in LM fandom, where you have well-written stories with extremely poor characterization. My last fandom was a (surprisingly deep) children's show from Japan. Usually poor characterization went with poor literacy. This good literacy with poor characterization thing still confuses me.

[enjolras]

Funnily enough, I'd look upon a fanfic that casts Enjolras as Jason in the same manner as I would the one who casts Ramin. At that point, you're writing thinly-veiled RPF. It's why I can't stand fanart that depicts Enjolras as an actor as well. It's not Enjolras, it's just that guy portraying him. And each actor has their own interpretation. So when a person uses that, I assume they're illiterate, half-baked idiots. Severe, sure, but I have no patience to spare.

It's why I don't read anyone's fanfic, really, save for the ones posted here.

[estelraca]

While I think it's legitimate to write musical-centric fic as long as that's what it's labeled as (and thus to cast one of the actors as Enjolras if that's who's seen), I usually find it much more fulfilling to pull musical-only things into the Brick universe (like the Gavroche-Grantaire relationship). Mainly because the Brick universe is just so much fuller and deeper than the musical could ever hope to be, but the musical makes some interesting decisions that could be fun to play with.

I tend not to read much fic other than what's posted to the community, either, or fic by people who talk to me through reviews and seem like intelligent and nice individuals. RobertaWickham on ff.net (bobbiewickham on dreamwidth) writes some good stuff, including a canon-era Buffy crossover with Enjolras as a female slayer, that's worth checking out. Otherwise... yeah, otherwise I mainly read you guy's work and tinker about on my own.