Work in Progress

More often than not when you ask me who my favorite character in a book, film, or television series is, it's the hero. Not that I don't appreciate the grayer characters, the morally ambiguous types--tricksters, shady allies and informants, double-agents, self-serving baddies with sympathetic pasts and motivations.

But sometimes I think those grayer characters get overvalued, proclaimed "way more interesting" than the heroes, who are decried as boring and predictable when the do the right thing, and lambasted when they make a mistake. Similarly, fans who like hero characters are made to feel like throwbacks to 1952.

But where would we be without the heroes? A story full of characters whose primary motivations are self-serving or up for grabs may make an interesting read/viewing experience, but an abundance of stories like that leave me feeling ungrounded. Those gray characters are like the icing without the cake. I need to have someone in the story who I can root for without feeling like I washed myself with a dirty rag. Someone far from perfect but who I know is trying to do the right thing, even if they mess it up a lot along the way. Even if, in the end, they fail.

It's a bit embarrassing, though, to be asked who your favorite character is in fandom discussions and have to "admit":

Oh, Highlander? Duncan Macleod
Harry Potter series: Harry Potter
Merlin BBC: well, Merlin, of course
Angel the Series: Angel
Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Ben Sisko
Once Upon A Time: Emma Swan
Harry Dresden: Harry Dresden

...and so on.

It's not always the case though. My favorite ST: TNG character was Data. But of course, he was the epitome of the awkwardly sincere trying-to-be-the-best-of-humanity. And my favorite character on Lost was Hurley, but y'know, Everyman with a Heart of Gold, he was. On ST: Voyager, I liked Be'lanna Torres. I have a thing for the fucked-up tough girls. But I'm not sure I would have stayed glommed onto the angry, screwed-up babes if they weren't flawed-but-trying-to-be-a-good-person. To wit: Faith on BtVS/AtS. Although she was never my favorite character on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I never really had one, except possibly the foursome of Buffy+Giles+Willow+Xander. The collective heroic.

Do I get points if my favorite Anne Rice vampire was Armand? He was no saint. I could never stand Lestat, but I liked Louis quite a bit. I prefer my vampires with a soul.

First off: Happy Hanukkah!!

Next:

It's very awkward scrolling down the flist seeing reviews from this week's Merlin when I can't watch Merlin. Oh I can view it, but I'm not allowed to. My GF forbade me now that we are watching the show together from the beginning. I wouldn't say I overflow with generosity in this relationship, so I had to give her that much. I may Memory flisters reviews and come back to them later.

It's official: I have suffered for my Christmas decorations. I misjudged how high up on the ladder I was while hanging lights outside, and stretched out my foot to the floor and found air instead. Kerplop right on my tailbone on the concrete garage floor. Oooouch. Shocked I didn't knock my head on the fender of my car.

I'm rapidly falling behind in PlotWriMo. Finished day 6 on Friday and today is Day 9. Hoping to catch up. I am learning a bit about my draft, though, and yesterday while lying in a mellow space during acupuncture w/ nothing else to do I had a cool idea for draft 2. I will begin writing in January, but I think my focus that month will be on research to feed the idea fount.

I have been bamblasted lately with work and finishing the first draft of my novel. I can squeeze a few hours of TV into my week, but my posting has gotten a bit sketchy (looking at my LJ, it's all birthday greetings lately). I do have a post-of-actual-content in the works, but in the meantime, here are some TV impressions of the season so far (space dividers under each cut tag for spoilers).

( OUAT )









( Revolution )









( Grimm )








( Merlin S 5 )

One fandom activity I don't like seeing and don't enjoy doing is nit-picking plot holes. All fictional works have them, but some people relish the idea of pointing them out and castigating the writers of the fictional work. They relish complaining. Television is especially vulnerable to this because of tight writing schedules and multiple authors.

I hate nit-picking because I don't like plot holes, they ruin my enjoyment of a book/show/film considerably, and I'd just as soon spackle over them and move on rather than grouse for fun and profit. Back in the hey-day of the ATPo board, we used to spend a portion of our time "spackling" BtVS and AtS plot holes using show canon or well-accepted fanon. We'd pack the hole with speculation, likely or unlikely, and end the post with "spackle, spackle" as a tongue-in-cheek wink to other posters (especially if our hole-filler was a stretch).

I suppose most plothole-filling in fandom occurs in spackle!fic rather than "meta." And probably more convincingly as well, since fiction is a more visceral medium for making a case.

Regardless of how it's done, spackling can work surprisingly well for the fan willing to put in the ThinksTooMuch time, because ofttimes the apparently dangling plot point was, in fact, established by the writers, just weakly, or in ways that were obvious to them but not to the viewers.

I am thinking of this today because one of the worst kind of plot holes there is is weakly-developed motivation in a character-driven story.

( Regina on OUAT (spoilers to last night's episode) )


( Morgana on Merlin (spoilers to 4.13) )

I have a Meta-bunny. Or whatever the essay version of a plot bunny is. Actually, it's more of a Meta-dragon.

But god, I am *so* out of practice.

Hey! I'm writing essays again! (or meta if you prefer)

( Being an analysis of Merlin Season 4 embedded in a review of Merlin 4.13 with speculation about Season 5 )

( Excalibur )

( Isolde )

( Here there be dragons )

( Merlin vs. Morgana )

( What I anticipate for Season 5 )

The boss has started to trim the Christmas cactus.

In other news, I am having an allergic reaction to returning to work. Symptoms: achiness, fever, and sore throat.

This just in: Merlin s. 3 continues to charm despite annoying character reboot of annoyingness.

Finished Season 1 of Merlin. This will probably be one I eventually purchase on DVD.

It has lots of things that hit my story kinks: destiny, myth, inborn traits that must be kept as a dangerous secret (wonder where I got that one from), an ugly duckling/Cinderella protagonist, magic, legendary creatures, strong women characters, fabulous medieval décor (I want to redo my living room to look like that castle), and bonus Anthony Head!