Your own personal Remus.

[prillalar]

It had ocurred to me before, and was brought home when working on the Snape/Lupin, that I have very particular ideas about Remus's characterisation, more so than any other HP character. While they begin in the books, I've extrapolated a fair amount.

Not only that, but it seems to me that a lot of other people do the same thing and they don't always extrapolate in the same directions as me. Even kestrelsan and I, who often GMTA to a frightening degree, have our differences of opinion about Professor Lupin.

So when I read a story about him and find that the characterisation doesn't sit quite right with me, I sometimes realise it's just my own ideas about Remus that are being violated and not the book characterisation. But that doesn't make it any easier for me to deal.

I wonder how prevalent this is in the fandom. I think my own flist includes a lot of people who are more about the MWPP generation than the kids (I swing both ways, baby) so I doubt I could make a good judgement. But among those people, I wonder if there are more "personal Remuses" than Snapes or Siriuses.

He's a quiet man, an introvert, I'd say, and so it's harder to paint him in quick broad strokes. Unlike Snape or Sirius, he's someone I would actually want to know, to be friends with. So perhaps that makes me think about him more. He's more real than fantastic, lycanthropy notwithstanding.

Do you have similar reactions? Or is there another character you feel this way about? In other fandoms?

Some facts about Remus J Lupin, according to Hal:

* Remus is gay. He is not cheerfully bisexual. He is gay.

* Remus does not have a very strong libido. He enjoys sex, but he doesn't have to have it.

* Remus is an academic at heart, although he may not have been able to pursue that as he would have liked.

* Remus has no close family living.

* Nobody worries much about Remus; they just assume that he's fine. He doesn't ever let on that he might not be fine.

* Remus and Sirius had *something* between them. I can go back and forth on how much and when, but there was something and it must always be taken into account.

* Remus and Kingsley Shacklebolt are made for each other.

Comments

Re: My Remus

[prillalar]

Infidel!!!! *flames* *defriends* *starts vicious rumours about*

Yes, this is just what I mean. :) I don't think anything on either of our lists is contrary to canon. I wonder, though, if we made similar lists about Sirius or Snape, if they'd differ quite so much.,

Re: My Remus

[prillalar]

The only time I go OOC! Get tf of my reading list! is when people make Sirius bi-sexual just so he can have a deviously - and violently - sexual interest in anything and everything that isn't nailed shut in an otherwise serious fic.

Ah, *that* Sirius, the one who will hump your leg even when he *isn't* a dog. *g*

Actually, in most of my fandoms, where it's clearly Not Our World, which includes HP, I tend to make nearly everybody quietly bi. Because I really do think that a lot more people in Our World would be if we didn't make such a frickin' big deal about sexuality being a one or the other type deal. Also, it's just easier. And sexier to me too.

Re: My Remus

[prillalar]

I think some people need to see the characters as Good or Evil and can't really fathom the complexities in between. I've had a few pieces of feedback on Blood Will Tell, in which Sirius is tortured and broken down and ends up doing some things he wouldn't otherwise have done, that suggested it was out of character for Sirius to reveal information under torture. "He would never do that!" Or that he wouldn't "treat Remus that way". Because they couldn't see that a character isn't a wooden block that you slot into a story and then pull out when you're done, unchanged and ready to be slotted in somewhere else.

And now I'm just ranting. :)

Re: My Remus

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

"He would never do that!" Or that he wouldn't "treat Remus that way".

Oh yes.

"Why are you making Sirius such a bastard?"

It always makes me want to respond, "Um, did you people *read* the books?"

I *love* Sirius. Adore him to pieces. But he's an obnoxious jerk quite a bit of the time (which is quite possibly why I love him).

Of course, I'm also accused by the same people of making Remus perfect, when I like to think my Remus is as flawed as canon!Remus is, and as flawed as Sirius (and Snape and everyone else) is, but since his flaws are a lot quieter (passive-aggression, negligence, selfishness, obstinance), they may not come across well - I may not be a good enough writer to get the nuances across in my stories. Sigh.