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Ah, the dilemmas of canon.
Oct. 26th, 2014 11:15 pmI've always been the sort who doesn't like AU and feels like if it's canon, I have to accept it, even if it's awful and the writing is seriously going downhill. And I find it insulting to have any of my stuff billed as AU, since I write things like my Twilight and Dawn verse for FF7 as though everything in the games and movie happened and Twilight and Dawn is just what comes next. To me, AU replaces all or part of established canon. It doesn't continue after all canon happened.
However! I just continue to be so fed-up with Once Upon a Time's canon from season 3B on that I am teetering on the brink of "Canon Error; Apply Fanfic." Season 3A gave me something I'd wanted from the very beginning of the show: Rumpelstiltskin sacrificing himself for the others (even though it really wasn't explained why he needed to die for Pan to die). Seasons 3B and 4A seem to ruin the sacrifice by having Rumpel descend further into the darkness. Zelena tortured him and sexually assaulted him and manipulated him with the dagger for a year, not to mention she killed his son, so his new obsession with keeping his power is certainly understandable. But they never really bring out in the show how badly he suffered during that year and instead make him look quite terrible. The stuff with lying to Belle makes me want to mess up my hair. And it never fails to upset me how the other characters, for the most part, don't think about what Rumpel suffered either. Nor did it seem like they were really even grateful for what Rumpel did in season 3A.
During the winter hiatus after 3A, I wrote a fic where Belle saves Rumpel after the sacrifice, as that was the other thing I've longed so badly to see since the beginning (well, since Skin Deep). I've toyed with the idea of writing either a huge multi-chapter or else little vignettes that take place in the season 3B verse that I started to craft with that fic. Part of me wants to. The other part continues to be held back by my obsession with not trampling canon, no matter how much I can't stand the canon. I really feel like all the characters have been getting ruined for some time and that the show is largely insulting to them by now. That makes me feel like saying "Screw my insistence on canon; canon is screwing the characters!"
But I do kind of find it interesting to explore how Rumpel would react to such horrible torment as what Zelena put him through. I'd find it a lot more interesting, however, if the writers could write it better. Since they can't, and since I haven't been happy with anything since 3A, it does seem to make a strong case for at least trying my own version of 3B.
One draft I'd mused on would still have Zelena, but things would play out so much differently. Now I'm not sure I'd want her involved at all, or any Big Bad. I'm thinking instead I'd rather write character-driven vignettes and explore day-to-day life in Storybrooke. They haven't really had time to breathe since season 2, and even then, there were problems happening.
But with that pesky voice in the back of my mind going, "Nooo, don't erase part of the canon!" it makes it seriously difficult to do anything at all.
I guess part of me wants to keep waiting and see if there will ever be any justification for this madness. One person theorized that maybe Rumpel is trying to find a way to bring Bae back from the dead. But since I think Bae was killed pretty much only to get Emma and Hook together, I doubt the writers would let such a venture be successful, even if Rumpel tried it.
The other part of me says, there's no point waiting; every episode makes the problems worse. Character problems abound with so many of the cast by now and it's all such a trainwreck that it will never be fixable.
That part is most likely closer to the truth. Perhaps I can grab a theme set and just try writing a piece or two of my verse and see if it works. I could use a theme set from one of the comms I run, so I wouldn't have to worry about committing myself to something I might not continue or finish. I'd like to work with a theme set because they come with built-in plunnies and it can really help when independent ideas are scarce or need a push. I have a few assorted ideas; I definitely want to do some flashbacks to how Belle was treated after season 3A. And I'll have to devise a new way to get everyone back to Storybrooke. And if I'm not using Zelena, I'll have to think of a new reason why Hook says there's a new enemy or danger at the end of season 3A.
Or he could just be lying. I don't know what I'm going to do with Hook, really. I just can't get behind the idea that the character is so amazing, not when instead of really developing him, this supposed goodness largely contradicts his character from past episodes, since it's unexplained and is just suddenly there where it wasn't before. In particular I still find it so repulsive that he would use Belle, an innocent, to get back at Rumpel, especially after Belle saved Hook's life. And he was so smarmy and smirky and obviously insincere when he said "Sorry" to Belle for shooting her. UGH! And I don't really like the Hook/Emma pairing. And I really don't like if Bae was killed just to get them together.
Anyway ... yeah. Having to write for characters I don't like is another stumbling block in the idea of writing ensemble Once-fic. Or even Rumpel and Belle-centric fic. Hook pretty much has to play some part, what with how entwined his past is with Rumpel's and his present with Rumpel and Belle both.
However! I just continue to be so fed-up with Once Upon a Time's canon from season 3B on that I am teetering on the brink of "Canon Error; Apply Fanfic." Season 3A gave me something I'd wanted from the very beginning of the show: Rumpelstiltskin sacrificing himself for the others (even though it really wasn't explained why he needed to die for Pan to die). Seasons 3B and 4A seem to ruin the sacrifice by having Rumpel descend further into the darkness. Zelena tortured him and sexually assaulted him and manipulated him with the dagger for a year, not to mention she killed his son, so his new obsession with keeping his power is certainly understandable. But they never really bring out in the show how badly he suffered during that year and instead make him look quite terrible. The stuff with lying to Belle makes me want to mess up my hair. And it never fails to upset me how the other characters, for the most part, don't think about what Rumpel suffered either. Nor did it seem like they were really even grateful for what Rumpel did in season 3A.
During the winter hiatus after 3A, I wrote a fic where Belle saves Rumpel after the sacrifice, as that was the other thing I've longed so badly to see since the beginning (well, since Skin Deep). I've toyed with the idea of writing either a huge multi-chapter or else little vignettes that take place in the season 3B verse that I started to craft with that fic. Part of me wants to. The other part continues to be held back by my obsession with not trampling canon, no matter how much I can't stand the canon. I really feel like all the characters have been getting ruined for some time and that the show is largely insulting to them by now. That makes me feel like saying "Screw my insistence on canon; canon is screwing the characters!"
But I do kind of find it interesting to explore how Rumpel would react to such horrible torment as what Zelena put him through. I'd find it a lot more interesting, however, if the writers could write it better. Since they can't, and since I haven't been happy with anything since 3A, it does seem to make a strong case for at least trying my own version of 3B.
One draft I'd mused on would still have Zelena, but things would play out so much differently. Now I'm not sure I'd want her involved at all, or any Big Bad. I'm thinking instead I'd rather write character-driven vignettes and explore day-to-day life in Storybrooke. They haven't really had time to breathe since season 2, and even then, there were problems happening.
But with that pesky voice in the back of my mind going, "Nooo, don't erase part of the canon!" it makes it seriously difficult to do anything at all.
I guess part of me wants to keep waiting and see if there will ever be any justification for this madness. One person theorized that maybe Rumpel is trying to find a way to bring Bae back from the dead. But since I think Bae was killed pretty much only to get Emma and Hook together, I doubt the writers would let such a venture be successful, even if Rumpel tried it.
The other part of me says, there's no point waiting; every episode makes the problems worse. Character problems abound with so many of the cast by now and it's all such a trainwreck that it will never be fixable.
That part is most likely closer to the truth. Perhaps I can grab a theme set and just try writing a piece or two of my verse and see if it works. I could use a theme set from one of the comms I run, so I wouldn't have to worry about committing myself to something I might not continue or finish. I'd like to work with a theme set because they come with built-in plunnies and it can really help when independent ideas are scarce or need a push. I have a few assorted ideas; I definitely want to do some flashbacks to how Belle was treated after season 3A. And I'll have to devise a new way to get everyone back to Storybrooke. And if I'm not using Zelena, I'll have to think of a new reason why Hook says there's a new enemy or danger at the end of season 3A.
Or he could just be lying. I don't know what I'm going to do with Hook, really. I just can't get behind the idea that the character is so amazing, not when instead of really developing him, this supposed goodness largely contradicts his character from past episodes, since it's unexplained and is just suddenly there where it wasn't before. In particular I still find it so repulsive that he would use Belle, an innocent, to get back at Rumpel, especially after Belle saved Hook's life. And he was so smarmy and smirky and obviously insincere when he said "Sorry" to Belle for shooting her. UGH! And I don't really like the Hook/Emma pairing. And I really don't like if Bae was killed just to get them together.
Anyway ... yeah. Having to write for characters I don't like is another stumbling block in the idea of writing ensemble Once-fic. Or even Rumpel and Belle-centric fic. Hook pretty much has to play some part, what with how entwined his past is with Rumpel's and his present with Rumpel and Belle both.
