Fandoms, and the Power to Make Fiction Emotionally Real · 8:37pm May 19th
This is going to be a very different blog post than I normally would do, but considering I really don't have much in terms of actual updates, I opted to instead get this off my chest.
I think one of the most powerful points of fiction is that, in the hands of a good writer, one can invoke emotions in readers for characters and circumstances that never existed. It reminds us that human beings are, deep down, an empathetic creature that can invest feelings into anything they'd deem worthwhile. Further still, even when the pen or keyboard has been laid to rest and the story is finished for the author normally, sometime those very fabricated characters end up living on through the fans beyond the final page or end credits.
I honestly have been finding myself becoming more and more aware of this fact, and also further embracing the idea of "it was real to me" along side it. I mean, sure, It was always there and I was vaguely conscious of it long before now, being a fan of a variety of IPs and characters (especially FiM), but I feel it's become more more complete now than it has ever been.
I had recently (actually over a week ago) watched the latest "Digital Circus" episode, and the scenes with two particular characters (if you know, you know) invoked a variety of emotions and thoughts. Chief among them was a realization in a very meta way. One of the characters was (supposedly) a real person that's just trapped in the digital world while the other they were interacting with was an AI (advanced enough to be at least 57x more immersive than normal, but I digress). In the scene, the AI character swiftly realized the thoughts, memories, motivations, and even friends and family weren't real (pretty much the character's entire life), and didn't take it very well to put it lightly. It took some very choice, encouraging, and heartfelt words from the real person to bring the AI away from the despair he was enacting. It was almost as if the character that was real was saying "it doesn't matter if you're not 'real'. You're real to me."
It kind of got to me, as I wondered what I would be like if I were in a similar situation, where a fictional character realized their whole life and memories were just made up by someone else and I was there to talk to them. I think that if it were a character I liked, knew, and maybe connected with, I'd probably be as empathetic, and go further to explain how much said character means to me and thousands of others out there; that their life, even though it's fiction, was real to us and would likely always be that way.
Maybe that's why a lot of us write fanfiction in the first place, especially on this site. The stories of these characters we love were over, but we wanted to keep them alive. Keep them living more of a life than what was originally scripted. To grow and have the potential to be more than they were, even if it's still just by the hands of an amateur writers like myself. To continue to captivate and inspire others with the life they've been granted through our writings, discussions, and efforts.
What I'm trying to say is... if you were in front of your favorite character(s), no matter what fandom, and they realized they weren't real, would you tell them "You were real to me"? I know I would...
Anyway, I'm gonna try to get back to writing. I've got a chapter for the Trixie side story "Sworn Through Swords" in progress, as well as another "Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children" chapter I wanted to do. Maybe I should also start up the next "Gray Chapters" chapter too...
well said!!!!!
5781819
Well, thank you.