I think I should probably actually write this out plainly.

[zodiacal_light]

I spend a lot of time dissecting the stories I read. A lot of time. I like looking for the flaws in seemingly perfect characters, and the virtues in unremittingly evil ones, and the places where the world just doesn't quite hold together.

That's half the fun, to me. If there were no broken bits, no ragged edges, I would grow bored. I certainly wouldn't be able to fic; I need those snags to hang stories off of.

None of this means I hate the characters, or the stories. I may hate how they're presented; I may find that the execution fails for me. But if I didn't like them, I simply wouldn't bother.

So no matter how often I rag on one character or story, remember this: if I truly hated them, I wouldn't waste my time on them.

A lot of times I linger on the flaws because it seems like few others do; there's an attitude in a lot of fandom that if you're interested in the flaws at all, you must hate the characters/stories, and I'm a knee-jerk devil's advocate. The more people praise something the more I want to find its broken bits.

(I'm debating, since I'm currently down with Head Cold, Round 2, spending some time over the next few days putting up some posts on Tortall and my head-canon for it, both so I can get it down and so I can really explore, at least a bit, both what doesn't work for me and what does.)

Comments

[q_sama]

I've been trying to think how to respond to this (and if it's appropriate, as a moderator at Glake, since I'm sure that's what a majority of these feelings are in regard to)... I've definitely been in your shoes. I used to always be accused of disliking the canon because I loved poking holes in it and finding errors, and trying to explain why/how things might be twisted to make a more cohesive whole.

Like you, I'm a devil's advocate. There are plenty of threads out there where I argue both sides of a situation within two posts.

When I see any assertation, I tend to disagree with it. This is probably why we're often on the opposite sides of arguments, even when I agree with you. Your debates are often well-expressed and emphatic, which to me offers up a giant flag that says "oppose!" even if I don't disagree with you. (I'm a contrarian, down to my core.)

So, ah... rest assured that not everyone in that environment sees your stances as negative or disliking the canon. ;)

Can't wait to read your posts, when you have the time/energy/health to do so!

[zodiacal_light]

:) Actually, this post wasn't really about Glake, but about something brought up in private chat. Someone remarked that I seem to spend most of my time hammering on the flaws of certain characters, so it's hard to tell if I like anything about them at all. Which is a fair point, so I figured I'd get this down just to have a handy little post to refer to.

I'm a contrarian, down to my core.

Me too. :P

And I love it to bits when people argue with me. That's half the fun. Hell, that's half of why I play devil's advocate in the first place.

[carmarthen]

Oh, please do! I would love to see your head-canon written out (I should probably do the same thing--I totally need to go through our chat logs and organize a bunch of stuff).

I hope you know I asked that question with affection. :/

[zodiacal_light]

I hope you know I asked that question with affection.

I know! I just figured it wasn't a bad idea to put a post like this up anyway. :)