Hooray for Tackling Plot Bunnies of Doom!

[kriadydragon]

I finally, finally tackled a plot I've been working on for ages. And, really, why was it so hard? I'm agonizing over this thing for months, finally figure it out then get it done in one day. Although I think half the problem was A: trying to make it poignant when all it wanted to be was a fun little caper and B: wrestling with the POV. I wanted to use Neal's POV, the story wanted Peter's.

I'm also starting to suspect that when it comes to writing White Collar I'm more drawn to the fun capers than the angsty whump. Don't get me wrong, I love me some angsty whump, but I seem more motivated to write more light hearted fic where White Collar is concerned.

Which has gotten me to think a lot about how different fandoms affect my writing desires. I may have touched on this before, but I can never bring myself to whump Neal as badly as I whumped Sheppard. which, I believe, is what drew me into writing fanfic for Merlin, because for some reason I can whump Merlin like I whumped Sheppard. And it makes me wonder what about one character makes them so easy to whump and what about another character makes it so difficult.

Although with Neal I think that, for me, it's a matter of not wanting to put him through anything that would change him. It's probably just how I view them but to me Sheppard is a lot more resilient than Neal. That is, if Neal were put through horrible torture, it wouldn't necessarily turn him into a blubbering mess or anything, but I think it would definitely inspire him to rethink his life. Where as with Sheppard, it would probably motivate him even more to protect his people.

I don't know. All I do know is that I have limits when it comes to whumping Neal that I didn't used to have.

Comments

[embroiderama]

I've never written SGA but that makes sense to me. I've been having a lot of fun hurting Neal, but it's been angsty illness sort of things. In SPN, I've done so many worse things to them, but similarly to Sheppard they're guys who've chosen a violent path in life, and while they can certainly still be traumatized, violence is the norm for them and injuries, even terrible injuries, have to be something they know is a potential all the time. But Neal, even with his years as a criminal and going to prison, isn't somebody who's ever going to see violence or injury as same-shit-different-day.

I was thinking the other day about terrible things I might do to Neal, and the idea of giving him a major permanent injury just didn't appeal the way it does with other characters. Lucky Neal. ;) (Anyway, I hope you don't mind me blathering all over your post.)

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

they're guys who've chosen a violent path in life, and while they can certainly still be traumatized, violence is the norm for them and injuries, even terrible injuries, have to be something they know is a potential all the time. But Neal, even with his years as a criminal and going to prison, isn't somebody who's ever going to see violence or injury as same-shit-different-day.

Very good point, especially since in both shows (SGA and SPN) torture and whump pretty much is canon. We've seen the characters put through the wringer and come out the other side, and we know what they are like afterwards, what they can and can't handle. But with WC, whump, even minor whump, is pretty rare, so it's a little bit harder to know what Neal might be like if he was put through something traumatic such as torture.

And I think that's why I find characters in shows with major whump easier to majorly whump. That could also be why sick!fic and angst is so popular in WC - it's major whump (or can be) but not the kind of whump that runs the risk of drastically changing Neal.

And feel free to blather away :D I love having discussions like this :D

[embroiderama]

Cool. :)

We've seen the characters put through the wringer and come out the other side, and we know what they are like afterwards, what they can and can't handle.

Yeah, exactly. I wrote a story a long time ago in which Dean Winchester took a pretty serious beating in a non-hunting situation in order to save a regular guy from being beat up, and in my head he'd do that easily because while that beating probably would've changed that other guy's life or at least been seriously traumatic, for Dean it was just pain. It didn't change his view of the world or himself, and pain is something he can move on from. But Neal, he's a lot more like the regular guy in that scenario.

Really, both kinds of guys are fun to whump, just in different ways.

[florastuart.livejournal.com]

*pokes head in shyly and waves*

with Neal I think that, for me, it's a matter of not wanting to put him through anything that would change him

This is interesting to think about - I'd never thought of it this way before, but with Neal I am definitely more into writing the emotional whump than the physical, and my plot bunnies tend to be more drawn toward examining the effects of the emotional whump he gets in canon - there's *so much* to work with there! - than creating new angst.

(I think I have about six different Point Blank tags half started on my computer, which basically consist of various different characters giving Neal lots and lots of hugs. No, really.)

And now that I think about it ... I'm thinking that's because the (mostly emotional) whump Neal gets in canon really does *change* him. He's not the same person in early S2 as he is in S1; he's not the same person in late S2 as in early S2, and he's very different by the end of S3. And so if I'm thinking about inflicting something seriously traumatic on him in fic, it's with the understanding that this *is* going to seriously change him. He's not someone who shrugs these things off, like some characters do. For all Neal has spent a lot of time around violence, he doesn't seem to be someone who's ever going to get used to it. (How many times per episode does someone point a gun at him? And yet he never stops reacting badly every time.)

And a lot of times I don't want to change him that much.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

*Waves back happily* Hi!

He's not the same person in early S2 as he is in S1; he's not the same person in late S2 as in early S2, and he's very different by the end of S3. And so if I'm thinking about inflicting something seriously traumatic on him in fic, it's with the understanding that this *is* going to seriously change him.

Yes! Very true, and I think that's why I'm so wary about doing anything major to Neal, because we have seen what trauma does to him even if it's been mostly emotional whump rather than physical. I normally love dealing with traumatic aftermath fic but I know that with Neal - depending on how bad the trauma is - it's going to take more story length and effort than I'm willing to put into it :/

[imbecamiel.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean, about wanting/writing different things in different fandoms. Some of it does seem to depend on the original source material - when there's a lot of Srs Stuff and major hurt going on in the original, not only do you get to see how such things would play out for the characters, but it also seems to fit well with the tone of the original.

But I think what you said about not wanting to change the characters is huge for me as well. It's not that I don't want them to grow and change, it's just that I usually like it to be more gradual development, rather than a catastrophic crisis. And much more so for me in fanfic than in canon - I don't necessarily feel that the characters need to be returned in the condition in which they were borrowed, so to speak, but I don't usually like them being taken in a direction that I feel is drastically different from the original material, or which doesn't seem to have a hope of getting back to a similar place for the characters (either individually or collectively).

In fandoms like, say, SGA you see enough happen that it seems more plausible that major hurt from fanficcy scenarios wouldn't necessarily end in complete, life-changing crisis for the characters. Heheh, they've been through enough that, in some cases, it almost seems like, "What... they've been through all that, and now suddenly this - comparatively minor - event is what suddenly pushes them over the edge? Hmm."

Where with White Collar... Yeah, Neal has been through some major traumatic stuff. But I think the character balance for Neal, and the way he interacts with other caracters, is much more tentative. Yes, we want to see him grow, but at the same time we want him to stay him, and the interaction to maintain a certain level of status quo. And because, for all that's happened to him and all he has a more serious side, a very basic element of his makeup involves a great deal of fun-loving mischief-making defiance of The Way Things Are Done.... Well, events that'd do too much to tear him down to a basic level and force a lot of soul searching in the process of rebuilding runs the risk of changing the dynamic that's there too much too quickly, and losing a lot of what we love about the show in the first place.

Hehe, really, though, even aside from the more serious character- or tone-related considerations... much as I love angst/whump/drama, I'm finding there are some fandoms where what I want most of all is just silly, fluffy, cuteness.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

And because, for all that's happened to him and all he has a more serious side, a very basic element of his makeup involves a great deal of fun-loving mischief-making defiance of The Way Things Are Done.... Well, events that'd do too much to tear him down to a basic level and force a lot of soul searching in the process of rebuilding runs the risk of changing the dynamic that's there too much too quickly, and losing a lot of what we love about the show in the first place.

This, here, sums it up nicely. :D Neal's is such a rather precarious personality that, I dare say, I'm almost afraid to mess with it in any way. I feel like the more I take him apart, the less "Neal" he's going to be no matter how hard I try to put him back together. I'm not saying it's impossible, but as I mentioned in my response above, it would definitely take more time and energy than I'm willing to put in to a fanfic.