Randomness, The Doctor Is In - On How not to Bash

[dlgood]

So, I finally went to the doctor to get my knees checked out. And as it turns out, the preliminary diagnosis is Bursitis and Patellar Tendinitis. In both knees. So this means more resting, PT, anti-inflammatories and wearing sleeves for awhile. And possibly, I might have to go get injections and what not. At this point, I wish they would have just busted out the needle, drained what had to be drained, and shot me up with whatever cortico-steriod they think I'll be needing.

But the fun thing? Apparently, this is a condition traditonally known as "Housemaid's Knee" - because the knee seems mostly okay until you actually get on your knees to clean the floor or somesuch, at which point it is remarkably painful.

Note - this does not amuse me because of the term "housemaid" or any particular gendered connotations. Mostly it's because if there's anyone I know who doesn't do nearly as much housework as should be done, it's me. This would be like getting "Tennis Elbow" without actually playing tennis. (Not that I do) Seriously - if I'm gonna be getting housemaid's knees, at least I should be cleaning my house. This is just shameful.

(As is the condition of my house - fortunately I'll be bringing in an OCD Neatfreak of a tenant next month...)

BTW - Recieved a favorite reply in an offlist discussion where I tried to explain why a writer's work was Bashfic:

You insist that I MUST see (Insert Character Here) as sympathetic, in a situation where you already know that my views are opposite.

Now, actually - I claimed that if you don't want to write Bashfic, then yeah - you have to be able to consider all of the characters (at least not counting moustache twirling villains like Warren) from a sympathetic POV. You don't actually have to sympathize with them - or necessarily go with it - but you do have to be open to considering the possibility.

It's the willingness to accept ambiguity. We don't want stories so amorphous that nobody has any idea what you're going on about - but ambiguity is key. Shades of grey.

People generally have motivations. One should explore that. And not just one motivation - usually - people have several. It's really great if you can work it so that characters have conflicting motivations, and then find themselves in situations where they have to make value judgements around those conflicting values.

It would also help if characters have motivations that aren't clear or clean - some should be pretty and noble, and some should be ugly and ignoble. Because - hey - that's humanity. And ideally, as a writer, we shouldn't make excuses for characters having ignoble motivations. Especially the characters we like. It's okay for them to have those ugly motivations. It can be bad if they act on them - but it makes them human characters instead of simple fantasy objects or cardboard cutouts.

And when it comes to characters we dislike, whether it's Spike, Riley, or Kennedy or anyone else - we shouldn't write off their better motives - most people have them.

So that's my key - be ready to explore the characters and consider them as having multiple motives, preferably layered and conflicting for the better dramatic possibilities. If characters behave as they do out of multiple motives - if acts can't be attributed only to one motive, good or bad, you have some ambiguity. You have humanity in the story. Might not make it actually good or bad, but at least you'll be making sure that you aren't writing Bash-fic.

Comments

Reposted due to bad coding...

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

no matter how much I may dislike Riley because he's boring, it doesn't mean he's not a nice guy or that he doesn't have consistency and reasons for all of his actions

Exactly. And of course "boring" is subjective. He's definitely a Square, so he's always going to be more or less interesting to different viewers based upon what they're already into.

But it might be that Riley is boring mostly because the story wasn't told through his perspective. And so a story told through his perspective (such as Walking with Guns (http://www.livejournal.com/users/nwhepcat/447264.html) by nwhepcat can mine aspects of his charcter that can make him more interesting to readers though he's still Squarish.

It can take work - it's a matter of finding issues to work with. I've read your fics and seen where you do this, and it's a good trait to have as a writer.

I wonder sometimes (as in this case), if when people write "bash fic", it's because they honestly see the character as being capable of doing such things. In which case, this means they don't see the character at all, but only themselves projected onto the character. Generally, when people do that, they never even realize they aren't seeing the actual character, which is not only mystifying, but vaguely alarming. Often, stories like this are a window straight into the writer's soul that you'd probably rather not look through.

Definitely the case with the author I got into the argument with. It wasn't like disagreements you and I have had over characterization - where we see similar things, but just go in different directions. This writer couldn't see anything in the character at all beyond what she was projecting, and got upset at the idea that others (including the ME writers) could and would. Enough to write and post a bashfic rectifying her vision, instead of trying to understand what the show was going for.

Ultimately, what gets me going about a story is when you have characters that have multiple motivations, good and bad, and who face circumstances where those motives come into conflict and they have to make choices that reveal how they value things. That's always going to be a good and reliable source of drama that can get lots of people involved on either side.

Re: Reposted due to bad coding...

[thenyxie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Riley's "boringness" is definitely my opinion, I'm aware. I never say never, though. And in that vein, I just started reading the story you posted a link to, and yeah, this is the kind of perspective from Riley's POV we didn't get enough of on the show and would have made a huge difference in the way I (and others, most likely) viewed him.

You summed up perfectly in your last paragraph exactly what I was trying to say further down the thread. That IS what makes a story interesting.