Wish-Fulfillment 101 · 12:02pm Oct 13th, 2014
"Wish fulfillment" has become a commonly used term to describe stories in which character x does something (possibly with character y) that the audience wishes to see solely for the sake of the audience wishing to see it. "This story was nothing but the same Flash Sentry x Luna wish fulfillment and drivel that we've seen since Faust in her good graces gave us ponies." The plot is thin. The characters are thin. The logic is thin, etc, etc.
But if you stop to think about it, is this not a paradox? If all these things are thin, what is left to fulfill this wish of ours? If your wish is "I want Luna to marry Flash Sentry", you do not need to write a thousand words to do it. In fact, you do not have to write a single word at all -- just delete a few words and add 'ies': "Luna marries Flash Sentry." Off you go, then...
The things we commonly speak of as wish fulfillment do not deserve the name. In and of themselves, they fulfill no wishes, but rather invoke the fantasies already present in the audience and let the reader do the work. At the same time, this suggests that there is some unpopulated territory to explore -- this actual "wish fulfillment" business might be able to be done correctly after all if only we can apply some common sense principles to find it.
What is it that we are looking for?
If the problem is that a psudo-wish-fulfillment story leeches off of the reader's existing fantasies, it stands to reason that a proper wish fulfillment story strives to leave the reader with more ideas than they started with. The story must do some of the lifting. This also raises the possibility of engaging an audience that does not necessarily start with the desire for whatever fantasy we are bringing to life. Bringing to life -- that's the target. A proper wish fulfillment story seeks to convey a full experience to the reader that they might not be able to experience.
So what is involved with this? Well, if anyone is going to read this story, then we cannot start with the idea that they already have preconceived notions about our idea. Perhaps they even begin opposed to our little fantasy. We must give the reader cause to want whatever fantasy we are peddling. Now that we want it, how do we get it? In the world of fiction, we bring a fantasy to life by grounding it in believable circumstances. Finally, now that we have our fantasy, we must enjoy it. This is tricky because the reader is not actually there to physically interact with any of it. I observe that the best books are ones that leave us thinking, perhaps daydreaming, upon the particular circumstances long after we have closed the book, so perhaps our goal is to explore this fantasy in such a way to discover more interesting places our readers can take the fantasy on their own time while giving us more vivid description of the parts we already know and expect.
The trap of fantasy
Fanfiction is written by fans for fans. No money (usually) changes hands. This means it is our own passion sustaining our efforts. In the case of writing our fantasies down, this becomes a particular trap that we must be actively aware of if we are going to be writing wish-fulfillment. We are writing the stuff dreams are made of for no expected return on investment. It therefore is very easy for us to buzz on the product. We write just enough to get our own little fantasy buzz going in our head, jot down the highlights on our page, and call it a day. The problem is that the purpose of writing things down for public consumption is to convey thoughts to an audience that is not the author. How can other people enjoy something when half of it is still in the author's head?
Furthermore, mental fantasies are brittle. The fantasy vies with the author's good-story instincts for brainpower, and a single paralyzing question can pop the bubble. As such, it becomes very easy for us to stare into the crystal ball of our mind and treat it as gospel. We do not question because, well, there it is right there in our heads, and we like it.
If we are going to be granting wishes, we must take a lesson from the genie: the genie grants wishes to others. He himself lives in his lamp with his typewriter and his bonsai and several reams of parchment, all of which he purchases at a hard-earned ten cents per hundred words leaving nothing leftover for cream and sugar. When we write in search of fantasy, we must write to bring the wishes of others to life. We are not recording daydreams. We are dream-architects building cloud houses for people we might not even get to meet. If you do a good job, you can read through what you have written after it is published and get your buzz, but until that time, we must not sample the product -- that is the lab rats' pre-readers' job.
Fantasy distillation
Before we can even write the first word for this unknown audience, we must take a step back and ask what fantasy we are going to be bringing to life. The depressing truth about these magical moments that we spend our whole authorial lives yearning to replicate is that they are not some star out of heaven borne by the angles to some down on his luck author to share with the world. These are phenomenon which can be understood, perhaps not yet to the point of robotic replication (though the AI community is getting close), but we can at least narrow our view down to a focused, manageable, target with practice and thought. It starts with a question:
However, we authors do not have the luxury of tricycle kid. It is our job to find that amazing thing and bring it to life. I am going to assume that in reading this, you have your fantasy already in mind. But what is this fantasy of yours? All too often, we find our fantasies in our own daydreams, which results in us starting our tale married to our fantasies as events: Flash marrying Luna, punching Blueblood in the face, waltzing in the chocolate rain with Discord. While these specific fantasies might be brought to be, they are generally too specific to start with. If we start right off to punch Blueblood in the face, then the temptation is to add filler around the event in our rush to see what we want. The extra space is wasted. We might also be so fixated on getting what we want that we forget to bring the fantasy into its proper context: punching Blueblood in cold blood months after the Gala is not justice, but assault. And that's terrible.
You will find it more profitable to take a step back and ask yourself: what it is you really want? Why do you want this arbitrary event to happen? You do not really want to just punch Blueblood in the face. Perhaps what you really want is justice for Rarity. This might include Blueblood receiving bodily harm, perhaps even to the face, but by stepping back and expressing the fantasy in a general theme or idea, we have now given ourselves far more to work with. We have an aim -- justice -- which can be found in multiple ways and examined throughout a story. Our characters can pursue this aim in their own ways and we are not chained to forcing any particular ending. We have room to explore.
Now that we have a flexible, general idea of our fantasy to explore, we need to look for the most poignant elements of that fantasy that come to mind. No vague Disney "I want something more" speeches need apply: our idea must have enough content and be focused enough for us to fill in the details. What are some concrete things that really tell us that justice is being done? What does justice taste like? We need to get through that thick pompous head of Blueblood's and leave him a speechless, blubbering, wreck. Rarity must at least be present as a witness for her satisfaction, but perhaps we should let her do the honors. She was wronged, after all. One might imagine the final blow should be thrown with a belly of self-righteous blood and vinegar, so whatever we do, we might bias ourselves towards flaming, firey, justice. Take a moment to ponder a few unique renditions of getting what you want. Take pictures. While you might not use any of the complete ideas in the end, the ideas therein will do good to get you started.
Bring the reader on board
Now that we have our idea vetted and hopefully cleared some of the cobwebs out of our imagination, we must now take a step back and consider the reader. The best policy is to assume the reader begins neutral. Bored or dissatisfied with the idea works too if you want to do some extra heavy lifting. What we must not assume is that our reader already knows the appeal of our fantasy because this raises the temptation of forgetting to work the appeal of your fantasy into the story itself. The people who are already on board will always be on board unless you mess up royally. Challenge yourself to get a disinterested reader at least sympathetic by the end of the story.
The trick is not to explain the appeal, but to construct the story in such a way that we find ourselves wanting the fantasy fulfilled by the end. We cannot begin by punching Blueblood in the face. That is asking our reader to enjoy wanton assault. We must start by observing the elusive Blueblood in his natural habitat and then conclude that this particular individual is owed some hot justice. How is Blueblood unjust? He is a self-absorbed snob floating around in his own head to the detriment of others. That on its own is enough to establish a heel, but if we also want to bring up Rarity, her case is a particular instance of his attitude causing harm.
Specificity here is important. To what extent is Blueblood self-absorbed? What kind of harm does this cause? Who is wronged and what do these wrongs look like? Is the harm intentional? The setup of all of this is more important than the part where we actually get the fantasy fulfilled. As we are setting the scene, we are challenged to vet our circumstances and make sure everything is fitting together to support our fantasy. Have fun with it.
However, keep in mind that our reader is not going to be smiling and nodding along. Establishing our fantasy is important, but still more crucial are truth and fair play. There are legitimately scummy people in this world, but if a reader feels our rendition of Blueblood is a caricature of vileness existing only for the sake of being a target, then they are not going to be invested in seeing him get what is coming to him. If there are a thousand reasons in his life for him to not be scum, then it is not being honest to make him so. Why is he the way he is? What does he get out of it? What has everyone else done about him? The answers to these questions do not have to be directly offered in the story, and probably are more trouble than they are worth to actually spell out, but the author should have considered them.
Bring the fantasy to earth
So we now have enough content to bring the reader onboard. Now we need to get our head out of the clouds and start building. A daydream floats in our minds without anchor or reason, and that is perfectly fine. However, we are dream architects and if our house does not have walls, then the buyer is not going to be very happy. It falls to us to set up the particular circumstances of our rendition of this fantasy. At this point, this should be fairly easy: we have already done the heavy lifting of determining some general things that need to be established to get the reader onboard, and we know some concrete aspects of our fantasy that we would like to include if at all possible.
Now we need props and characters. What personalities and locations will help us showcase Blueblood's self-absorption in the most effective way possible? Who is going to bring the hammer down? Where might all of this take place for maximum effect? Maximum effect is key. We are not trying to bend over to touch the bar. We are trying to bring our own fantasies to life in such a way that we share them with the reader. Our dreams deserve to look their best.
Again, take enough time to properly have fun fleshing out your circumstances. Daydreams are foggy and generally unfocused. The mind can only consider a few things at a time, after all, and it is usually too enthralled by one or two of the most appealing details to look around. You have entire pages with subtext and implications and descriptions to play around with. Go HD. This is a fantasy we are making. Fantasy is larger than life and full of lots of things we like. Is Rarity best pony? Then while she is onscene, go the extra mile to bring out her best qualities. If Blueblood is being a prick to some servants, how can they react for maximum impact?
Especially look to set up circumstances in which one might justify a bit of pandering. Make no mistake: regardless of how good a story we are trying to tell, if we are writing someone's fantasy, then we owe it to our already invested readers to have a little indulgent fun. However, we must still remember that we are dream-architects who must take responsibility for our words. We do not include audience appeal items out of the blue, but rather must construct our circumstances if not for explanation, at least for plausible deniability. If Blueblood seems just a bit too clean and we want to mess him up, have some servants walking around the gala with food trays and maybe give them a reason to be annoyed with him. Now we can forgive one of them "tripping" and staining Blueblood tomato sauce pink. Perhaps even make it a running gag. A few extra words here and there can go a long way. In fact, one can say the few extra words is the entire appeal of bothering with a book in the first place.
Leave the reader with more than they had
And now we come to the part we have all been waiting for: the payoff. Actually, the payoff should have begun from scene 1 and continued throughout the story. Far too often we want to "show" *cough*tell*cough* Blueblood is a bad guy, so he spends one scene yelling at a servant in the beginning and then we never see his temper again. If we are here for a fuller fantasy than our daydreams can provide, then we must pay out properly. What do daydreams lack? Connections. Continuity. Sometimes drive, even. It is our job to find common themes, build on them, and all the while keep paying out.
You would be surprised how much praise a little economical storytelling will get you. Most people realize that they are going to have to make some suspensions of disbelief if they wish to enjoy their fantasy. Yet at the same time, they are here to see their dreams become "real." So how do they judge "realism" in a land of magic ponies? Connections. Keep an eye on the consequences of what you have already established, especially the fringe details that look like they are one-off (and for the most part, are). So Blueblood fired a group of random servants in the beginning? Let them protest, vanish, and be forgotten. Then if you need someone to get in Blueblood's way later, have him happen across one of the servants who might be rather cross with his former employer.
This is not Chekhov's gun, mind you. Chekhov's gun is a foreshadowing device introduced but not used until later, whereas here we are simply keeping track of what has been introduced and already served its purpose and then allowing things to come back as they might fit into our story. When things return in ways we do not anticipate when they did not have to, the world feels more solid and gets the reader thinking of all the ways other things might return. It turns every bit of minutia into a potential story building block, which daydreams thrive on.
Another thing lacking in daydreams is the story's ability to say 'no.' Normally, 'no' is a dirty word as far as the plot is concerned because it shuts down a course of action without necessarily giving anything in return. The plot cul-de-sacs to where it began. However, one negative thought can derail a daydream. Not so a story. Find a few of the places your particular fantasy might go, start in that direction, and then shut them down. Then find a way to get somewhere else that is just as good. If you let Rarity raise her hoof to belt Blueblood, but decide it is not ladylike and then let her get justice some other way, then you have made it safe for a thousand Rarity lovers to ask themselves how a proper lady might get justice without popping Blueblood a hook to the shnoz.
The reason this works is that the people who are here to see things they already like will probably be in the habit of daydreaming what they want without taking responsibility for making it all fit together logically. Logic is hard work and rarely results in what we want, so we fall into a grind of rerun daydreams. If we can slap our starry-eyed readers with a trout and then give them different daydream material of equal or greater potency, we challenge them to step out of their little world while still giving them the essence of what they want, so dreamland remains perfectly safe and happy. The uninvested readers, on the other hand, will probably appreciate how "self aware" this story is, or how "in character" Rarity was. It could have done the obvious thing, but instead did the third most obvious thing, and it even referenced her character. Top 20% of fics in its class right there.
And in the middle of all your clever connections and neighsaying, remember to give us a good clean payoff at the climax. The mere event is not enough. Let us savor the juicy details of the mascara-blackened tears rolling down Blueblood's cheeks and smearing the foundation. Deliver his comeuppance like a thunderclap, be it a sharp remark or a haymaker. No "a bit", "a little", or "kind of". Say what you mean, be specific, and if you commit to an idea, then go all the way in full detail. You want this thing. You have made us want the thing. You made the thing. Now pay up. In full. With blackjack and hookers.
Wish fulfillment is not bad. Wish fulfillment is not hard. Good wish fulfillment is only slightly less hard. Sit down with yourself, ask what it is you truly want, and then get yourself out of our own daydreams long enough to write something for someone else. You will go far.
A good read, as always, SirTruffles. I'm not sure if I've written anything wish fulfillment-y. But perhaps I should at least give it a go for the exercise of trying something different.
Having felt like I've fallen into that trap a couple times, I'll take that into account. Always interesting to see what's on your mind, Truffles.
2530029
Then I shall have to do it more often, like now...
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oooooooor on second thought maybe we really should wait until next Monday for more
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It is a topic I think every fanfic author should cover at some point in their career. If you do not have a fantasy of your own to share, then you clearly have not allowed yourself to run wild with the source material.
2531377 Nice pic. I'm actually trying to break out of that stage in writing and focus on telling a decent story. Work in progress lol.
So what you're saying is, in order to makes sure I avoid wish fullfillment, I need a prereader to tell me when I'm stepping on that land mine?
Sorry to hear there weren't enough students in the classroom. Maybe some advertisement would be in order?
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Well, pre-readers are never a bad thing, but I think the stronger takeaway is that authors need to be aware of when they are indulging themselves, especially when it is at the expense of the audience.
2533497 Of course, common sense and all that. It's just that I find it sometimes easy to lose focus. Things get more confusing the more effort you put into your work.
There are two sides to wish fulfillment. Either Pygmalion makes Galatea for the sole purpose of selfishly obtaining what he wants, or he gets attached over the course of perfecting his project, at which point his judgment blurs and he subsequently encounters difficulty being objective anymore.
...Or maybe he should've just taken a break from his work for a little while. Manage some perspective again. Then again, that would just take more time.
Just seems to me like it takes more than one perspective to work on something both creative and objectively sound.
That largely depends on the abilities of the author to actually write a good story.
Most are not capable of accomplishing that simple goal. I find myself unfortunately included among the majority who more often than not, writes utter trite.
Not to mention conflicting canon from show, fellow fans, and what not has largely sapped my energy and desire to write anything at all, or even formulate head canon.
There is no point in wasting resources into a project that is doomed to be destroyed in some manner.