bluedalahorse | (Reply)

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Ohh wow, this is great. I'm so glad I caught you at just the right time for this to come out.

I'm right there with you on how the meta discourse has definitely become more focused on . . . I dunno what to call it, moral absolutism?

I love those morally grey characters. I love talking about how they became 'evil' and whether or not I can understand the emotional logic that led them down their path of darkness.

I also love leaning into the darkside of a character. I mean, you can't beat a good redemption arc, but one of my favourite things I've ever written was eight chapters of 'this canon character is not a good person in canon and he has absolutely been manipulating this other canon character the whole time' and not justifying it or redeeming it but just letting it be the creepy behaviour that it was but all from the creepy POV, where he justifies it to himself in terms of ends/means, not morality. Good characterization isn't about being morally good, it's about being interesting and consistent, and maybe taking things to a logical conclusion that canon is afraid to visit.

Tangent: There's a movie in which two characters, a pair of siblings, went through the exact same traumatic event as children and had diametrically opposed reactions to it, to the point that one of the siblings is the out-and-out villain of the piece. It's very 'there but for the grace of god' and although I'm not *in* that fandom I can very much imagine the discourse of good and bad happening around those two characters, even though both reactions make perfect sense to me as a consumer of the media.

I'm not a fan of the way fandom today is turning into an echo chamber either, 'my ship is the One True Ship and I don't even want to discuss what else might be interesting or supported by other subtext or even just hotter for a brief second'.

I do very much like the idea of challenging oneself to deliberately subvert a trope - writing what you love is like making comfort food, but it's good to try some other cuisine once in a while, right? (currently my challenge to myself on one of my long-fics is to write a classic harlequin romance, but hey, a challenge is a challenge).

All of which is my very long-winded way of saying thank you for your insights, and I'd love to talk more.