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

[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]

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! :)

[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!

[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.

[xie-xie-xie.livejournal.com]

Now, I agree with you on authorial intent, but I disagree with you on Brian in tumor!fic. I really don't think it feels like canon-Brian to me. I still love that story, but I have to agree with Myrna, not because she is the author, but because when I read the fic, he sounds and feels different to me.

[moonbrightnites.livejournal.com]

It was the very first fic that I read and I haven't re-read it so it will be interesting to go back and do so at some point. I've re-watched the series since and read some meta and plenty of other fics so I'm sure the experience -- and my reaction to her Brian -- will be different.

Although now that I think about it, the chapters where he felt most IC were from other characters' POVs. His own felt the least IC, but I find that in most fic -- the more the writer has Brian saying and thinking, the less he feels like canon-Brian to me. In his particular case, usually less is usually more.

[xie-xie-xie.livejournal.com]

That's why I don't like "what they were thinking during that scene" fic. I let my characters narrate when I write in the first person (which I don't usually do anymore, for a number of reasons), but I try not to let them say more "in their heads" than they normally said out loud during the show.

[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]

LOL, I remembered I'd written a post about characterization a few years ago, and I went back and found it, and discovered I'd broken it down like this:

There are three definitions that are being used:

1. "Out of character" would be something that character wouldn't do -- that's how Justin used it in 314.

2. "Out of character" would mean the character doesn't sound/move/feel like the character -- the "voice" is off, the dialogue is off, whatever.

3. "In character" includes a different characterization as long as it's explained -- "That's how Justin would have turned out if he were abandoned as a child and raised by wolves."

[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. :)