“WHAT HUGO DOES WITH EVENTS, ANNE DOES WITH PEOPLE.”
YOU PUT IT IN PERFECT WORDS. That’s exactly it, Victor Hugo’s characters are great and well drawn, but because of the third person narration, they are a little less personal; but his take on the events of Notre Dame and Les Mis (for the two best known examples), feel like actual accounts of history.
Sure, Anne’s got chararacters that are immortal walking between heaven and hell (litereally) but at the same time, they’re talking to you and just feel so real.
#eloquent eloquence #SEE THIS is what I’m talking about when I say I’m picky about other vampire media, these are strong and rich characters first, and they’re vampires secondarily.
i am immensely proud of anyone who types out stories they want to see for characters that are not their creation, or their property, but that inspire them to delve into a difficult medium with which they likely have little experience or comfort. i have to be proud of that because fanfic is ultimately a thankless line of work. and it is work. it’s work for people who’re good at writing, trained in it. so imagine how difficult it is for beginners, the impaired, those with even a modicum of self-doubt? in that way, they are no different from any other author.
writing, literature, is an art form with an ugly legacy of snobbery. academics and laymen alike still argue about what sorts of writing should and should not be considered ‘canonical.’ add to that odious environment the level of disdain, apathy, or ignorance most non-fannish people have toward fan works and you have a near-permanent, repugnant shroud of You’re Not Real encompassing the whole endeavor. a shroud under which, miraculously, fan works are still produced with vigor and regularity, and largely without access to agents or editors who’re paid to polish. just as miraculously, these writers often receive, from their friends and peers and strangers, the sort of praise one associates with bestselling authors.
it’s miraculous because fanfic writers have been obliged to believe, from the moment they set finger to keyboard, that what they are doing is a sideshow. at best, they are hobbyists with some talent but no real standing. at worst, they are self-indulgent amateurs, muddying the waters of a true craft. like many authors of original work, fanfic writers will never have a millisecond of calculable fame for their efforts. they may step out of their borrowed sandbox and create original work, or they may not, but there is no scenario in which they emerge feeling like an accepted member of a celebrated tradition. even in the rare instance of pop culture turning its eye on some speck of scintillating fan work, it’s still mocked. it’s still a sideshow, just with a brighter spotlight.
so, yeah, i am proud of anyone who can absorb the reality of all the above…and still write.
for all my brave creatives out there – tappity-tap-tap!
Some crying tips. I’m pretty bored of seeing movies with clean crying, but wow it’s by no means clean. It’s gross and messy and just downright fun to draw.
One can criticize a work, create AU fanworks of it, or create an entirely original work. I would encourage everyone to write the story they want to read. Be the change you want to see in the world!
(^Unfortunately, many PoC in VC have unhappy endings. Keep in mind that she’s an evildoer in the book, which wasn’t explicitly stated in the movie. She murdered her clients.)
I’m a straight white lady, but I can understand how frustrating it must be to see one of your favorite authors release novel after novel in one of your favorite series and feel left out of the story bc your race/gender/etc. is not represented (or it’s fetishized, or represented negatively). I can understand how it might feel like the author is saying that you don’t exist (or matter enough) to them to place someone like you on their stage. It may be that they would love to write about a character like you but don’t have the knowledge/confidence/etc. to do the character the justice they need.
However, in my opinion, an author is not a vending machine. No matter how successful they are, an author is not required to cater to their readership. Sometimes they make an effort to do so, as in the case with J.K. Rowling supporting her readers in their headcanon of Hermione Granger as a PoC. (Another concise article on that here: X).
AR has always advised us to write the story we would want to read. Publishing houses turned her work down for years until she found one that chose her story for what it was. Knopf felt her story would sell really well so they took the gamble on it. A publishing house doesn’t want to invest huge sums of money in something unless they think the odds are very good that they’ll make a worthwhile profit. I would ask that the criticism be leveled more towards publishers than the authors of stories which lack representation.
In this day and age it is easier than ever before to self-publish and get your story out there. Anna Todd did that with her One Direction fan fiction, “After”, and here’s a quote from AR (w/ my underlines) about it bc I feel it’s relevant here: [X]
In the same post, AR writes: “And in this great world in which we live, no writer is really in direct competition with any other writer. There’s room for us all. We can each try our personal best to write the books of our dreams and to become the writers of our dreams. And I’m really glad Fifty Shades came along. I am happy for E.L. James. And I’m happy for all the people who like “Fifty Shades.“ ”
“…The amazing thing about the writing world is that there has always been a lot of room in it, and a lot of heartbreak. We’re never directly in competition with some one who makes it big; there are so many avenues, so many spots on the bestseller lists of the world…… We’re really in competition with ourselves, driven to outdo ourselves. That’s how I see it anyway.”
So, write the story you want to see in the world! If it’s compelling, others will want to read it, too.
List of more VC PoC under the cut.
(Not including PL characters bc there are so many! And some ppl do not recognize PL as canon. Go to wiki for those.)
David Talbot – he becomes Anglo-Indian
Davis – from the Fang Gang, not explicitly stated other than “black,” so African American, possibly.
Merrick Mayfair – mixed race
Tarquin Blackwood (I think he is, can’t remember specifically), and other supporting characters in Blackwood Farm.
Akasha – from Egypt
Enkil – from Egypt
Khayman – from Egypt
Avicus – from Egypt
Azim –
Himalayan? Maybe? He has bronze skin. That’s where his temple is.
Benji – Arab, Bedouin
Eudoxia – Can’t remember specifically, but I think she is a VoC. She is described as having white skin, but that may be due to her age (centuries old already when Marius meets her).
“To get ready to write any novel does take a lot of preparation. I do a lot of research. I do a lot of coexisting with the ideas about what the novel’s going to be. I take a lot of notes beforehand. I write in freeform on my computer; I just create different documents discussing all aspect of the novel. But then when I actually plunge into the novel, and live in the novel’s world, I have a very hard time doing anything but writing. I write from the first page to the end, going back and forth, back and forth revising the whole time, but I’m living in that novel in a very painful and joyful way. I frequently sit that the computer writing for hours everyday talking out loud while I’m writing — actually reading the words, or speaking the words, especially if they’re dialogue. To prepare for that, you prepare your own courage to take that kind of plunge; to loose yourself totally; to take yourself that far away from the delicious idleness that the rest of life seems to be.”
“I get feelings of total defeat. I get feelings of total nihilism. I get so depressed sometimes that I look at my hands and I think why even lift them off the table…why turn on the computer…why touch the keys…why write anything? But what I do then is write about that. If nothing else, I turn it on and I write about despair, and I try to write my way through it. I think the most important thing, more than anything in the world, is to write, and use any excuse in your mind that you can to write. Don’t ever let despair or depression stop you. Remember this, that if you don’t write it, it isn’t going to be there. It’s that simple. And, if you are really down and out and really sad, look at it this way–decide that you are going to write it, and if you don’t like it, you are going to throw it away. I’ve done that quite a few times, and I’ve never wound up throwing the book away.”
I-want-my-IWTV 