Bored Ponder-y Stuff

[kriadydragon]

If someone were to ask me (probably because they were bored out of their skulls and desperate for something to talk about) what my biggest pet peeve when it comes to reading is, I would have to say not knowing whether an issue I'm having with a story is legit or me reading negatively into it.

All the more so with fanfic. Because in fanfic, the skill spectrum is as broad as the color spectrum, and character bias has a way of tainting a story - not for all of us, of course, but most likely for many us. I love my Sheppard, I love him so, and for that reason can get a little protective of him.  I enjoy stories that show him as a human, but hate stories that portray him as an idiot or belittle him.

With some stories, I can tell within the first sentence or paragraph if I'm not going to like the way Sheppard is portrayed. With other stories... I'll read and read and read, get the feeling that something isn't quite right, but can't tell if it's just me being huffy, or if something really isn't quite right. And it really doesn't help that I've grown incredibly picky over the years, in that there were things I once tolerated - maybe even enjoyed to an extent - that I can no longer stand (Ex. quick fixes for emotional problems).

Some authors can be incredibly subtle and slick when it comes to belittling a character. Either that, or they don't realize they're belittling anyone.

Case in point was a fic I was reading a while back, well written but OC heavy. And the OCs, while interesting in their own right, I just wanted to strangle. The whole story - to me - smacked of "Behold how awesome my OCs are!" I didn't like how these OCs viewed the expedition, and they were incredibly blaze about being in another galaxy full of life-sucking aliens. I especially didn't like the treatment of Sheppard: military commander brushed aside and treated like an immature, whiny child through most of the story.

Yet, because I'm a big Sheppard fan, and know I'm a big Sheppard fan, I had to wonder if Sheppard being my all time fave had colored my view of the story. I wondered if there were things I just wasn't seeing, or translating differently (the author meant *this*, but I read it as *this*.)

This is all the more frustrating with me and trauma stories. I love trauma stories for the aftermath - how the trauma is dealt with - but it's the aftermath that will make or break the story for me. I've voiced my complaints often about stories that treat trauma with forced demon purgings (the gang banding together to force one of their own to open up, talk about the trauma, because talking makes it all better.) I don't buy it where Sheppard is concerned. He strikes me as the kind of guy that the more you try to make him open up, the more he's going to fight it, and that forcing him to open up isn't helping him. 

Or is it? Is their merit to the tough love approach when it comes to Sheppard? Or are Sheppard's friends only making it worse? I'm not a psychologist, so have no idea. There are some days I'll read a story and think that the characters are going about it wrong. Then read the same story again and consider that, maybe, they have a point. Only to read the story once more and go back to doubting.

*Shrugs* It's a conundrum, an annoying one, but with merit as it makes me think more carefully about my stories and take into consideration the things I "might" be doing but don't realize. My big thing is to try and be fair to all the fans of the characters - especially in team stories - because I know how sucky it is to read a story and have your fave get the short end of the stick when it comes to the good stuff or how he/she is treated. That's not to say I'm succeeding - I have no idea if I am, because we all view the characters differently and that includes how other authors write them. I read stories where I think Sheppard is getting the short end of the stick, while others will read the same story and not think that at all. I think I write Rodney in a way that will make the Rodney fans happy, while some Rodney fans may not like the way I write him. I've read fic that, for a short time - very short - had me disliking Rodney, or Ronon, or Teyla.

But because of how the author wrote them? Or because of how I read into it?

Ever had this problem? Is there a way to tell the difference when you're not sure about the reasons behind your issues with a story?

 

Comments

[obsessed1o1.livejournal.com]

Hey it wasn't one of the stories that was recced recently was it with the police coming to Atlantis??? Because i just read one like that and got the feeling that the writer really didn't like Sheppard at all and the way he was portrayed and pushed the the side for the whole story really irked me.

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

What is the name of that story?

Speaking of NOT liking Sheppard, I receive a Google alert for JF in my inbox and recently there was a rant about
how she had watched first three seasons of SGA and the ONLY
drawback was Flanigan who maintained one expression the entire time.
I did not dignify it by replying......

[obsessed1o1.livejournal.com]

In answer to your other question, i do think that Sheppard would respond to tough love from his team-mates. If it was anyone else then i think he would push against it but i honestly do think that he's the kind of guy that wouldn't mention a problem and would carry on regardless uunless one of his friends bought it to attention and then pushed it on him to deal with it. I think he'd act on it out of guilt for making them feel bad or involved in anyway (If that makes sense.) I could see Teyla and Ronon perhaps dealing with him very carefully and giving him time, but i can always imagine McKay to be the one to badger him until he finally opens up about something. Strangely though, on the show, he generallu opens up when he isn't been badgered or harassed so maybe i have a warped idea as well .... but i still think it kind of fits. Woah! That was a ramble :D

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

"Strangely though, on the show, he generallu opens up when he isn't been badgered or harassed so maybe i have a warped idea as well"

I've noticed as well, and it's got me wondering if that's why I sometimes dislike the tough love approach. Because in some stories, Sheppard bottles up and most of the fic is the team trying to get him to talk about his issues.

I don't know. when it comes to Sheppard, it's hard to figure how he would handle trauma. He has difficulty opening up emotionally, though he does try (something I can totally relate to) but neither is he stupid. If he knows he's in trouble then I think he wouldn't hesitate to ask for help. At the same time, he's stubborn, has a few control issues, and if the trauma included a complete loss of control (such as him having to watch his team tortured) I can see - in his fight for control - not getting the help he needs and so needing the tough love approach.

I also know from personal experience what happens when you force a person to do something they don't want to do. They fight it. The question is, when is the tough love needed, and when is a totally different approach required?

Then there's the way the tough-love approach is written. There are stories where it works, stories where it kind of works, and stories that have left me wondering why Sheppard isn't a basket case. There are stories where, initially, I didn't think the tough-love approach was working, only to go back to that story, read it again and realize "hey, it does work."

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

I feel he needs to work it out on his own
He is a private individual.
I feel when he was not around in the series, he was spending time out on the pier or on his own in some other way doing a lot of contemplating about things....even in a jumper on his own.
Nothing much gets past him.......He takes it all in, and
spends time digesting it.
People like that do NOT want to be pushed.
His team may support him in many ways without demanding
a full disclosure
The more people push me, the more reluctant I am.
I feel Sheppard is the same way.
Some things are very personal.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

See, that's how I see Sheppard. You don't push him. You give him time to try and work it out on his own. If he needs outside help, then he'll seek outside help, but to push him will only make him withdraw further.

It's something else I can relate to (and probably why I view him the way I do.) For that reason, it sometimes irks me when Sheppard is pushed and pushed and made to do things, and no one will back off. What I really hate is when he is guilt-tripped into opening up ("that you don't talk to us hurts us, John. How dare you hurt us!") that just strikes me as wrong (I know. I'm very prone to guilt trips, and the more guilty I feel, the more horrible I feel. It doesn't make me want to talk, it makes me want to run and hide).

I do see merit in pushing if Sheppard is in a bad enough way that he isn't sure of what he needs, and so is drifting. There are times when he probably needs to be pushed. But the way I've sometimes seen it done has always left me wondering whether more harm was done than good (if what was happening in the story was happening in real life).

Trauma is a fine line to walk in fic. We want to be able to fix the characters, put them back the way they were, but sometimes that isn't possible within a single story. I think some writers go for the tough-love approach because it's easier. But that doesn't necessarily make in the correct approach. Others use it because Sheppard's the kind of guy you can tell doesn't go for coddling. But there are other ways to go about helping someone than coddling them.

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

We want to be able to fix the characters, put them back the way they were, but sometimes that isn't possible within a single story

Sometimes it is not possible, period. Following a trauma you are never the same again. You may be functioning, but it does not mean you are the same as you were before the trauma invaded your life..........

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

That's why I prefer leaving things open-ended. I end with the characters on the road to recovery (physically and/or mentally) but they're far from there yet, because that's just life. Ther are no be-all, end-all curse for trauma. And though talking helps, it doesn't automatically mean life is back to normal.