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kriari (

kriari) wrote on May 7th, 2010 at 05:59 am

Nutshelling

Behind the cut lies my philosophy on RPF. ~~That I even have one and/or feel the need to make it known boggles the mind.~~ And yet. It's longer than it should be, but not as long as it could be.

What to Expect When ~~You're Expecting~~ I Make Real People Do Dirty Things

Do not expect my RPF to be based in reality. I do not know, nor do I care where any of the actors live in either Vancouver or LA. Hell, they could live on the damn moon. I don't care if Jensen's favorite beer is actually Corona or if he's a fan of curling or if he wrestled in HS instead of playing baseball. I may in fact scoff heartily if an attempt to "correct me with regards to trufax" is made. I view all RPF as AU, so I get to pick and choose what I want to include or completely circumvent. As such, I will never address the wives/girlfriends/current main squeezes as a component of any burgeoning or established relationship. There are certain traits that track and are easily assumed in both of the boys. Occasionally, I will steadfastly ignore them. I believe that what we see is public persona. Ergo, who they actually are is an unknown variable, one I don't really care to discover. That public persona offers leeway to make up whatever I want with regards to their fictional disposition, hobbies, appetites, etc. I have a tendency to do a lot of back-building from that persona in the particular direction I want to, and by that I mean, analyzing the behavior to extrapolate what qualities might be hiding behind that persona. Why is it that Misha's tends to be so wildly variable? What is it that drives the difference between what I call "Affable Genius cum Class Clown" and "Mean and Devious, Hold on to Your Knickers"? Anyway, while I do build from somewhere, it's not any "real" somewhere other than what the boys have fabricated for themselves.

The Why: I treat them as original characters with familiar physical attributes and collection of general traits. For me, anything else borders on stalkerish behavior. I am not going to comb a bunch of candids of Jensen so that I can unravel the mystery of his One True Beer, because I'd feel icky doing so and at the end of the day it doesn't really matter. Selling the story matters more than getting it right. I'm not a reporter. Being one is tedious and time-consuming. Lots of making dead end phone calls. It's a hell of a lot easier to make shit up. Now, that doesn't mean I don't relish details - I do. They're just made-up, heavily researched details. Like what particular brands of scotch (that I could never afford) are supposed to taste like. I don't actually claim to know whether or not Misha's a scotch drinker, but then I care even less about that than I do the whole curling thing.
Expect them to be real. They may not resemble the Jensen or Misha (or whomever it is) that you "meet" when you're sitting in the Q/A at a con or weaving your way through the photo op line, but they will be flawed, possibly sarcastic, they will not swoon or caterwaul like cats in heat. They will have "issues" and hopes and desires that real people have. They may not be nice all the time or sensible or mature. They may in fact be boys and talk about things like tits and whether they'd hit that or whatever. Shock. Gasp. Horror.

The Why: I have no interest in writing caricatures of people that just so happen to be pretty. Therein lies the path to utter boredom. Exploring the human psyche in all its many incarnations is what fascinates me about the act of writing.
They will be men. See above. Sometimes they will be changed men within the scope of the story, be made softer by their affection or harder by their loss. I have no less than a dozen versions of both Jensen and Misha in my brain, but they are all men.

The Why: I would be a smartass and say: "Because they have junk," but I won't. It's simply because they are actually men. Yes, they are people first. But there are certain things that men don't typically do/say/admit. They may be typical men or atypical, it just depends on who the character is at that particular stage in their fictional life. All men love differently just as all women love differently - I think there is a good and a bad way to show it. Believable or - not, if you will.
There will be porn. Of this much, be absolutely certain.

The Why: Because it's fun? Because hot boys doing naughty things is always relevant to my interests? Yes. For me, porn is a dual-edged sword. Sometimes I love writing it. Sometimes I'm right there riding the edge with the character. Sometimes - but only sometimes. At least half the time I want to fade to black as the porn kicks into gear, since I've already gotten what I want out of the story. That being the build-up. As an author, the release for me always comes when the choice is made (spoken or otherwise) to come together in that way, to allow themselves the weakness/vulnerability/strength to willingly enter into a liaison with one another. The expectation of follow-through is there though, and even I'm not particularly into writing it, I do. Often at the behest of betas who say, "So where's the rest?" with a long-suffering tone that never belies impatience with my epic inability to voluntarily write porn when I'm already sated.
I'll never say never because that's gotten me in deep before, but the chance that I'll write crack or fluff or straight up humor is slim at best.

The Why: I consider myself about as funny as a bag of hammers. No. Really. My attempts at humor/crack are pathetic and so I tend to stick to my strengths. Humor is one of those things that if you don't believe it, no one else will. Besides, my sense of humor is either arid- dry (not like the deodorant, like the desert) or stupidly pun-laced. Devious is a completely different ball of wax I'll have you know.