Brian and Justin in character (for Queer As Folk purists everywhere)

[fictionbycereza.livejournal.com]

(I tried to find a similar post but there is no such tag. The closest thing was somebody asking if some specific fanfics are in character and this is what actually gave me the idea to file such request.)

There are many fanfics out there - epic in proportions, well-written, with great plots. But I have to admit that many of them, even those considered must reads and classics - give me a feeling of OOC-ness. There's Brian - nice and affectionate in a schmoopy way, not afraid of commitment. There's Justin - pliant and a completely damsel in distress-like, letting others abuse and manipulate him. There's evil and plotting Michael that actively tries to break Justin and Brian up... No matter that according to canon!Brian, there's nothing to break up. There's even more evil Ethan, Mel and Lindsay being such bad mothers that their children have to be taken away and even though all of those plots are fun to play with, they're not very much true to the characters from the show.

So I was thinking about compiling a list of stories and authors, that could be considered QAF purists when it comes to characterization. No matter if it's a gap-filler, or an AU story, I just need something to sooth my QAF withdrawal, something that will really feel like the show.

I trust your judgement, even though I'm aware that people can feel very differently about some stories. It doesn't matter, I still want your opinion! (After a while, I'll compile your recs into a nice list and put it in this post, under the cut).

Here are all authors and stories mentioned in the comments. I personally do not choose from them, leaving it to you to decide if you think they write in character or don't:

myrna1_2_3 (with caution that the author herself does not consider her portrayal of Brian as being in character, but it is perceived that way by some readers)
ragingpixie (see her site)
vamphile
suzvoy
justvisiting (visitingagain)
bdeviled (especially her A Love That Will Never Grow Old)
Jealous Lover by kinwad
Not My Boyfriend by lindtti
The Break-Up by moonbrightnites
kachelofen
Only Time series by xie_xie_xie (which include Plans, Decisions, Desires, Risks, Famlies, Bieliefs and Directions)
justinlovesart
besame_bj (and beyond_besame, semi-locked, to read some fics you have to be added to the community or friended at the main journal)
severina (especially her Gold and Silver Shines)
netfics (locked, requires being friended)
yoursweater (her stories can be found at queerasfandom, which is locked)
Glowing Rooms by ohmyjetsabel
not-yet-defined
jule1122
testdog65
luceononuro (see her memories; unfortunately, her stories are f-locked)
bigboobedcanuck see her memories
adoringaudience
Sesto's Aria by seperis
darksylvia (see her memories)
In Paris by scoobygang8
Work Inside Out by Keewick
Metamorphosis bynightvision55
So We'll Go No More A Roving by... Author unknown! (If you do know who wrote that one, please, comment below and I'll edit this link.)
windtossed
gradiva
The Untitled Straight!Brian Fic or Conviction by alantie
ellyrianna
burnitbackwards
josselin (see her site, thanks to the Wayback Machine)
xhaleslowly (also known as Ethan, who has his own site)
Brian Like Me by sweetestdrain
flashfly (especially her Catching Fire, Live Action Short and Reliquary; more can be found in her memories)

And my contribution:

soundczech (see her site, thanks to the Wayback Machine)
etharei at rei_of_writing
mojokid (see her tags)
throughadoor (see her site)
sakesushimaki
museme87

Hopefully, to be continued!

Comments

[fictionbycereza.livejournal.com]

The fact is they could've shown the two of them committing without all the OTT stuff and it would've been a much more satisfying ending.

I totally agree. Thankfully, there's fanfiction and so many times it gets this right.

And thanks for the rec and the directions. I do hate the doormat!Justin, too. He was such a stubborn, wilful little shit and I always appreciated that side of him :)

[fictionbycereza.livejournal.com]

Oh, sorry, I didn't understand what they meant! *blushes* I'm very new to the fandom and I don't feel comfortable with asking someone to bend their own rules for me (yet).

But maybe you're all right and it's a good idea to re-post the list (with linking to my favourites) later? Yep, I'll do just that! :)

[ipitydaf00l.livejournal.com]

I don't think those rules are set in stone, I think she just wants an idea of the people reading her fic and that they are of age. However, you won't know until you do ask if you haven't yet.

Even putting a note saying, "I'd like to be on your f-list in order to read your stories, but unfortunately, I'm not that active on my LJ and only really use it to comment on fanfic. Can I still be added?"

The thing is, until you ask, you'll never know and it's better to talk things with her instead of thinking you can't. It's not like she's an evil tyrant withholding fanfic, she just wants to sort of know who's reading her stuff. ;)

[chloris01.livejournal.com]

So, here another one (for season 1).
It's "Not my Boyfriend" by lindtti. Even if it's a little tender, I think that Brian and Justin are IC, especially because of the way Brian behave and talk.
http://lindtti.livejournal.com/69648.html

[xie-xie-xie.livejournal.com]

She actually explicitly said that she did NOT write him in character, that she changed him to be more how she wished he had been....

[fictionbycereza.livejournal.com]

Oooh, shiny! Thank you, I'm going to neglect all of my real life responsibilities and read it right now! :)

[fictionbycereza.livejournal.com]

Okay, you're totally right, I'll ask *blushes* Thank you for your words of encouragement :)

[mmmorpheusq.livejournal.com]

Severina, especially GOLD AND SILVER SHINES, a long, wonderful Post S5 fic.

http://severina2001.livejournal.com/151625.html

[fictionbycereza.livejournal.com]

I've read her posts on Brian and his part in her stories but I really don't know what to do with this. Well, maybe not exactly, I mean, she's the author so she knows best what she wrote and I absolutely respect everything she has to say about her writing process but her Brian, even if significantly a better person than canon!Brian, still seems like his asshole-ish, flawed self. The fact that he's put in extreme situations in both "Growing Up Kinney" and "If You Needed Me" and that both fics are settled somewhere post-Ethan (when Brian starts treating Justin a little better) certainly doesn't hurt.

I don't know if I make sense. My point is, Myrna's portrayal of Brian does feel like his developed, grown, in character self. Set in the future. Changed by a series of serious accidents. But still.

(On a related topic, can I just express how much I love your QAF fandom rants? I've recently completely stalked your "a fangirl ponders" tag and you're my fandom hero. You can rant at me all you want! :)

[netlagd.livejournal.com]

I consider my fics to be in Character, though most of what I write is AU or post 513

I have several long and multi-chapter fics, as well as many one offs.

For those who would like to read fic written by me, follow info below:

yadda, yadda, yadda - must be friended on netfics.livejournal.com to read it
yadda, yadda, yadda - send an PM to my netfics account to get friended
yadda, yadda, yadda - instructions here: http://netfics.livejournal.com/6838.html
yadda, yadda, yadda - PM link here: http://netfics.livejournal.com/profile

Please don't friend me at my netlagd account - that's not where my fic is

[fictionbycereza.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[ragingpixie.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :D I have to third Myrna, myself.

[nightvision55.livejournal.com]

I always find Suzvoy's stories very in character, And Yoursweater too

[moonbrightnites.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the QaF fandom! :)

Do you intend to write fic yourself, or are you just here to read? Either way -- welcome, and you have a lot of wonderful stories waiting for you.

♥
Michelle

[moonbrightnites.livejournal.com]

I remember seeing that a few months ago and being shocked because I consider her Brian (with the exception the version that appears in her abandoned WIP) to be one of the most IC versions of him that I've read.

Personally, I don't think author's intent matters. What matters is what was written and how we interpret it. A writer *believing* that, say, serial killer kidnapping drug-peddling Michael is IC doesn't change the fact that that's silly and OOC on every level. And when a writer captures a character perfectly, reading that she considers him OOC doesn't change anything for me, either.

If we have to start considering the author's intent, then how does one interpret season five without losing their mind? I've read at least three wildly different versions of the writers' intentions regarding the ending from the QaF writers themselves!

[moonbrightnites.livejournal.com]

I'm curious -- do you think that author's intent matters when to comes to fic writers?

[xie-xie-xie.livejournal.com]

Not at all. I was just replying to what was said about what Myrna said. The only evidence of whether something is in character is the work itself.

But aside from that, I do find discussions of what characterization is, and different approaches authors take to their craft, as well as how readers interpret the works.

So even though authorial intent means nothing to me in interpreting the work itself, I still find it interesting in terms of considering creatI've process.

[moonbrightnites.livejournal.com]

Thanks for clarifying. :)

[fictionbycereza.livejournal.com]

Well, the negative example certainly works better than the positive one :) There is no way I can not agree with it, it even makes me feel a little stupid like, yeah, what was it that I just said? But I think that Myrna herself simply convinced me with her posts. If we treat her case separately, she made some excellent points about Brian's behaviour in canon and in her fics. So maybe this is why her My Brian Is Not Canon Brian theory works for me... But at the same time, I may not agree with authors in cases of their stories. It's all in the context, I don't think generalization is possible, even if I actually agree with you. In the end, for me it matters only what I think.

But since different people feel so differently about the show, I'm putting all the recs on the list, no matter how I feel about the story. I guess it's only fair :)

If we have to start considering the author's intent, then how does one interpret season five without losing their mind?

Well, the reality in which Brian uses words "palace" and "my prince" in one sentence, in relation to his non-definable, non-convetional... Justin exists only in the strangest of bad!fics, as far as I'm concerned. Um, sorry?

PS. Sorry for the typos and such - it's really, really late where I'm from.

[fictionbycereza.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :)

Nah, I'm just a lurker and a searcher and a commenter. And rant... er? Well, I love to rant about both canon and fanon.

I do hope I'll satisfy my QAF!fic craving, although I have to say that with the main archive (bjfic.net) down and all the best stories scattered around private sites or LJ, often not tagged at all or without summaries, it's pretty hard to navigate.

That's why this community is a life saviour! It's active, has a great tagging system, a lot of fics ready to be downloaded... I love it!

[fictionbycereza.livejournal.com]

Added yoursweater, since suzvoy was already on the list :)

[sungaizing85.livejournal.com]

Deffo Brian IC and even Justin though he is suffering from post bashing it this awesome WIP fic Glowing Rooms by Oh My Jetsabel (http://ohmyjetsabel.livejournal.com/726.html) - AMAZING! LEGENDARY WRITING!

I love it oh so frekaing much. In fact, i don't recall anyting that was so IC regarding Brian in all the fics I ever read (and it must have been over 300 by now)

[xie-xie-xie.livejournal.com]

Thanks for loving my rants, LOL.

I don't define "in character" the same way you do, but it's not at all important. I adore tumor!fic and have read it about forty million times. By my definition of "in character" it's not, but there is not just one definition of that term.

When I talk about being "in character," I mean, "being similar to how they were on the show, similar enough that you recognize them, that they walk and talk and fuck and sound like themselves."

There is another definition, which is along the lines of "believable growth, or change that is accounted for in the story." When I talk about fan fiction being "in character," I'm referring to the first definition. That's because *for me*, when I read fan fiction, I prefer to feel like I'm seeing new episodes of the show, not "fiction inspired by the characters and/or plot and/or setting and/or dynamics of the show."

Tumor!fic, to me, is not consistent with the characters as we saw them, and even if the events in the fic could be used to explain that, there has still been enough character growth/change that they don't "feel" like canon Brian and Justin to me anymore.

I still love the story. It still has TONS of the dynamic we all fell in love with, it's extremely well written, and it's loaded with emotional impact.

But it doesn't meet that first definition of "in character" for me.

There is yet another definition of "in character." Justin used it himself in S3, when Brian sacrificed everything to bring down Stockwell and he said it was "so out of character" for Brian. What he meant is, it was an unusual thing for Brian to do.

Many people use that definition of "in character": Would the character plausibly do something? They aren't at all concerned with the tone and rhythm of the way a character walks or talks, nor are they working on having the story "feel" like an episode of the show. They are trying to craft a plot and character development that would be plausible for the character.

All these things are perfectly valid interpretations of "in character." I still feel pretty strongly, and apparently the author agrees, that Brian in Myrna's fic is not "in character." She really did change him.

And there's nothing wrong with that. It doesn't mean the fic sucks or you we can't enjoy it. I certainly do. It's one of the few fics I have on my Kindle, LOL.

[xie-xie-xie.livejournal.com]

I absolutely adore Severina's fic, and agree it's EXTREMELY in character!

[xie-xie-xie.livejournal.com]

Three authors not yet mentioned:

jule1122, not_yet_defined, and testdog65. All three write very, very in-character fic.

not-yet-defined's fic:
http://not-yet-defined.insanejournal.com/186401.html

Jule's fic in in her memories:
http://www.insanejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=jule1122

testdog's fic, also in her memories:
http://www.insanejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=testdog65

I also have to second, third, and fourth ragingpixie, who is one of my very, very favorite QAF authors. I think luceononuro also wrote beautiful and IC fic.

bigboobedcanuck is a brilliant author, and I think her stuff set during canon is screamingly IC. I go around and around about her characterizations in her post-513, also some of my favorite fics. She probably softened Brian too much. I still just could eat that shit on toast for breakfast every day. ;)