not-secretly
Jun. 25th, 2007 02:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethThe trouble with fics where a character is secretly a (spy/alien/demon/empath/mind reader/knife fighter/genius/leather clad goth/lost prince/fairy) is that every secretly takes them further away from the canon character and off towards character-with-same-face. I figure one secretly is workable, especially if it's the sort that fits in the gaps. If the secretly would seem to contradict what we've seen it has to be a very very clever one. And if it more than doubles the character points needed to build them then the plausibility goes up in smoke. I mean 'secretly a pilot' happened in one canon and made me kinda *facepalm*.
Yet 'secretly a poet' managed to work. You know, for me. Some people were at least as *facepalm* about that.
And 'secretly a demon summoner in his youth' really worked for me. Or 'secretly hiding a cyberwoman in the basement'. And if either of those added 'secretly working against the organisation they're sworn to serve', well, they've got this existing dark secret that could count as a hint. And 'secretly part alien / part demon' would work too, because they've got this sympathy built in. But doing both at once makes it a harder sell.
The thing is about all those secretlys have turned up in canon stories that I have liked. Just, generally, one at a time.
The other thing is, with fanfic? We're not there for the secretlys. The ones canon provided, yes, but now we all share those. We all go looking for stories about these characters we all know the same stuff about. So every secretly that gets added makes them secretly not-the-same. And potentially changed in directions that move away from whatever a particular reader considers the good stuff.
Stacking up the secretlys, especially when the point isn't 'explain what is observed in canon' but seems to be 'add an interesting story that would look pretty with this face', well... it don't take many before I'm thinking AU at best.
*shrugs*
YMMV
Of course part of it is that 'secretly super powered' actually isn't what I'm looking for at all. Immortals are as far in that direction as I want to go. Because they're regular people, they just had more practice at it. More time for education and experience. They're still pretty much ordinary in the middle of it all. Just a guy. And the stories I like best are the ones where some tiny little human sized person finds REALLY BIG PROBLEM and yet from knowledge makes a plan to fix it all. That's the side of the Doctor I like best, the guy who got the best education in the universe and decided to take it on tour. All that stuff about two hearts or mucking around with radiation in his shoe is just a bit beside the point for me. He's just a guy who lived a lot and learned a lot.
I guess it's because I'm never really going to have to worry about the ethical implications of being able to fly and bend steel with my bare hands but I do frequently feel like I'm going out on a big adventure with nothing but my hours in a library to help me.
Yet 'secretly a poet' managed to work. You know, for me. Some people were at least as *facepalm* about that.
And 'secretly a demon summoner in his youth' really worked for me. Or 'secretly hiding a cyberwoman in the basement'. And if either of those added 'secretly working against the organisation they're sworn to serve', well, they've got this existing dark secret that could count as a hint. And 'secretly part alien / part demon' would work too, because they've got this sympathy built in. But doing both at once makes it a harder sell.
The thing is about all those secretlys have turned up in canon stories that I have liked. Just, generally, one at a time.
The other thing is, with fanfic? We're not there for the secretlys. The ones canon provided, yes, but now we all share those. We all go looking for stories about these characters we all know the same stuff about. So every secretly that gets added makes them secretly not-the-same. And potentially changed in directions that move away from whatever a particular reader considers the good stuff.
Stacking up the secretlys, especially when the point isn't 'explain what is observed in canon' but seems to be 'add an interesting story that would look pretty with this face', well... it don't take many before I'm thinking AU at best.
*shrugs*
YMMV
Of course part of it is that 'secretly super powered' actually isn't what I'm looking for at all. Immortals are as far in that direction as I want to go. Because they're regular people, they just had more practice at it. More time for education and experience. They're still pretty much ordinary in the middle of it all. Just a guy. And the stories I like best are the ones where some tiny little human sized person finds REALLY BIG PROBLEM and yet from knowledge makes a plan to fix it all. That's the side of the Doctor I like best, the guy who got the best education in the universe and decided to take it on tour. All that stuff about two hearts or mucking around with radiation in his shoe is just a bit beside the point for me. He's just a guy who lived a lot and learned a lot.
I guess it's because I'm never really going to have to worry about the ethical implications of being able to fly and bend steel with my bare hands but I do frequently feel like I'm going out on a big adventure with nothing but my hours in a library to help me.
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-26 09:01 pm (UTC)You mean sometimes it's useful to have more?! Rats, that's where I've ben going wrong all these years, getting by on hours in the library and being generally polite!
OK, to the actual point: I like secretly whatever stories, though I agree they often work best as AUs. There's a stargate atlantis story I love where John Sheppard is secretly (well, he's forgotten actually) from the fairy-land, but it's definitely not canon consistent. I think, particularly with negative secrets, like he's secretly trying to take over the organisation, it takes a lot to sell me on the idea, because I'm conditioned by the show and fanfic to like these people and see them in a positive light, so it's hard to believe that they really aren't what I've spent x number of shows believing they are.
Wow, that got long and rambly, and I'm not sure I said anything other than "I agree" in a lot of words, so I'll shut up now :)
no subject
Date: 2007-06-27 12:27 pm (UTC)more people agree with me, less crazy I am
or more crazy the internets are
either way works
AUs that are marked as AUs interest a lot of people. Stories that start off looking lots like canon and then add secretlys aren't usually marked as AUs and so get disappointing in the middle to people that don't like AUs.
Fics that take Our Heroes and put them in a negative light have a whole set of problems of their own that go beyond secretlys and can descend into bashing. But sometimes 'secretly working against their boss' is an interesting one without actually being negative, like if they want to help people they're meant to be killing, sort of thing.