Intermission - It Happened Again!

[kriadydragon]

Incredibly vicious ranting under the cut. Do not read if you weary of my complaints - 'cause this one's a doozy.

Crap, sometimes I really dislike hard-core slashers and people into kink who feel they need to give John a homosexual or heavily erotic experience in every one of their dang stories. I swear it's like they're more focused on making him gay than doing a poignant, interesting tale. And would it hurt to put freakin' warnings! I have yet to come across a decent John back-story that does not include him either having several one-night stands or having his first gay experience with this guy or that guy. Man, I feel so sorry for his character, I really do. Some people claim to like his character but the way they write him (whether gen, slash, or romance) it's like they secretly hate him or something.

I know it seems like I'm taking this too seriously, but I tend to take a lot of things too seriously. After a while, crap just gets to me And the more it gets to me the worse it is the next time around. And, what can I say, when I like a character from a particular show or book, I tend to be protective of them.

This is why, when I do finally get published by a major company (and should my stories be popular enough but who can say), my stories probably won't be open to fanfic writers. I would just hate to have happen to my characters what happens to so many other characters in some fanfics. It's actually pretty sad and makes me wonder how anyone can write some of the stuff that's out there. Yeah, I know it's fantasy and creativity, people can write what they want and all that, but this is still someone else's creation you're borrowing and using. If  Sheppard were my character, I'd be a little ticked about some of the kind of stories he's been put into.

Oy, it just.... *Snarl* Poor John *Hides him away*. He can't go two-minutes without someone smearing who he is. There's eye-of-the-beholder then there's just plain twisting and mutilating a character. John Sheppard's my fav and I hate that he's been put into so many character-bashing/twisting/mutilating stories.

Makes me nervous what CSI:NY fanficcers are doing to Danny Messer. *Hides Danny*

Phew! I feel much better now. Amazing what a bit of ranting can do.

Comments

[kodiak-bear.livejournal.com]

I admit, sometimes I'm a little boggled and annoyed by fanfic stories too, and the predilection for making it all about the sex. Have you seen stories in the Harry Potter fandom? On one hand, I'd like to think I wouldn't try to keep people from writing fic about a world I created, but on the other hand, geez, some of the stuff written is some serious disturbing.

I guess you've got to shrug and say different strokes, but I know where your frustration is coming from. When you run into a constant onslaught, it gets hard to be objective.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid to venture into the Harry Potter Fandom just from stuff I've "heard" about it.

I actually would like to open up my stories to fanfic but the stuff I keep running into kind of makes me afraid what some might do to my characters. I'm just kind of posessive that way, especially since I put so much effort into creating my characters to be a certain way. Sometimes what people do seems, to me, not so much them writing how they see the character but how they 'want' the character to be.

I think I just need to stop venturing into the domain of authors I don't know, especially on LJ. One would think I had learned my lesson, but my darn curiosity and hope of finding good fic kind of gets the better of me.

[kodiak-bear.livejournal.com]

I'm late replying here, sorry! I didn't get a notice in my email about your reply/comment. I hate my email lately. *grrrr*

You know what gets me groaning? The story summary/descriptions and how 9 times out of 10, it's always about sex.

But then I swallow my irritation and realize I'd be in heaven if 9/10 were h/c. ::sheepish::

I do know what you mean though, totally.

[karri-kln1671.livejournal.com]

I have a couple friends who are hard-core slashers and after a couple heated discussion with each at various times, it became clear that hard-core slasher truly do not comprehend why anyone would have an issue with such stories.

On a brighter note, I read a terrific John backstory fic in which he's a kid in foster care who gets adopted by an Air Force officer. It was nicely done. Prolly the best backstory fic I've read for him so far.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

That's why I've been avoiding doing any debates on slash or kink. People like who you mentioned, to me, like to think of themselves as open minded but in a way they're close minded to those who don't see things their way (Well, that descirbes humanity in general). I think that's why a lot of people don't put warnings, because they think people 'shouldn't' be bothered by their stories or that the rating is enough. So when people are, it's not the writer's fault, but the person who read the story for not being more 'open-minded'. But that's just my opinion.

Oh, I read that story! I knew there was at least one or two backstories I liked. There was another that was absolutely beautiful but I can't find it. It was about John's mom being an Ancient and ascending. I loved it because it was the first story I read that didn't look at John and Chaya's joining as something sexual, but as something sacred. Wish I could find that story. I wanted to recommend it.

[dragonfairymaid.livejournal.com]

I so hear you! It has gotten to the point with me that if it is not a known writer to me or it does not say "Gen" in the summary, I probably won't read it. It is not just slash but also romance and the Mary Sue's (Especailly in the Supernatural Fanfics and those are even scarier/more disturbing with the wincest going on ). I beleive everyone has the right to write what they want, but come on, how hard is it to write/say Slash, Romance or whatever? It should be a common courtesy.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

You can't even trust the "gen" labeling, because everyone uses the term so loosely. I've come across so many stories labeled gen that turn out to be romance or slashy. What the crap! It drives me crazy. Most define gen as "no pairings" but I think using gen should mean that the story is canon, which means no romance of any kind or making a character gay. People rely on the labels so I think it unfair that people use it without real consideration for its meaning.

Yeah, I need to learn to stick with authors I know, especially in LJ.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

It's the imagery of slash I don't like, the kissing and definitely if there is sex involved. But I've read one or two slash stories I was able to get through for a time because, rather than focusing on the sex, the writer focused on the emotions, while at the same time keeping the characters relatively in character.

But nothing rubs me the wrong way like "Sheppard is a pervert/sex-addict" fics. It's like the writer has no real concept of his character, because the stuff they have him do would make him a totally different character from the one we know. They're not doing character studies, they're just taking someone else's character and re-shaping them to their liking. And that ticks me off.

I'm glad you liked my story. I was rather worried about it, I don't know why. Except forin the communities and one or two stories on my main LJ page, I don't really have any stories in one area on LJ. Most of my stuff is on FF.net. My LJ page was intended for another story I hit a snag in and haven't up dated in a while (poor story, so neglected).

[bratfarrar]

So I just ranted about all this in response to your comment on my story, and then came over here and was tickled to find you'd done the same thing. I really can't understand why people keep turning him into (it seems) a completely sexual creature. Like he's a pretty animal, or something.

I can come up with only a handful of people who write Johns (is that the correct plural?) I'm consistently comfortable with. (You're one of them, btw.)

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'll admit he is a bit hard to write since we know so little about him. But it's a fun challenge to tackle. I think your stories portray him the best with your combination of something good and bittersweet, because he's too caring and easy-going a guy to have the pasts some people give him.

I think the sexual thing is either people's desire to write porn or to make him bi-sexual or gay. It's said that sex sells and, in the case of many fan-fics, sadly, that's true. It's always the heavy slash/NC-17 stories that seem to get the most feedback.

What I hate is when people are "They're so doing it!" or "Sheppard would so *do it* with McKay" or "Sheppard would so get turned on by yadda, yadda, yadda..." That's not seeing a character in their own way, that's rearranging a character to fit a fetish. Or at least in my opinion it is.

[bratfarrar]

Yup.

To pretty much everything you said.

Another thing that bugs me is when people make him out to be suicidal. He's not suicidal, folks! If he were, he's be long dead by now, given the number of ways available to die in the Pegasus galaxy. He's military - at some point he made the choice to serve his country, and that means being willing to die for it (or for those entrusted to his care) if necessary.

That being said, I think he sometimes forgets that he's in charge, and it might be a better idea to let one of the grunts do it.


. . . Okay. I think I've run out of things to be cranky about.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

It does feel good to get it out, though, doesn't it?

I think a lot of it is band-wagon stuff. New writers not quite into the show as most see what other authors do and mimick rather than find stuff out on their own. I read a story, once, that was chapter after chapt of SGA/Shepaprd fandom cliches (suicidal, infirmary escapes, kriking, etc.) It's like the person based everything they knew on what they had read rather than what they had watched.

Either that or they do what they think will get the most reviews.