From: Dana Shilling dshilling@worldnet.att.net
One reason that many actors and directors hate working with a living playwright who is present at rehearsals is that many a playwright doesn't WANT there to be anything for the director or performers to do other than do EXACTLY what the playwright put into the script.
Maybe that's what being a fanwriter is about? Achieving Hitchcock's dream of treating actors like cattle because we have total control over them? Maybe bad stories come about from Mad Character Disease (which in turn, is caused by what we feed them?)
I think this could be pretty close to the truth in some cases. Fan writing is all about appropriating the aired series (Jenkins calls it 'poaching') and making it your own. Fan writers take possession of the setting, the props and above all the characters and set about constructing a definitive interpretation of the source material.
We get lengthy and detailed expositions of what the characters are thinking, often rendered into speech - this is the writer taking control of the characters' minds.
Reprographic characterisation was mentioned by Tavia (who in turn was apparently citing me). I've generally taken this to be the writer saying, "Look how well I can write the characters" - an act of appropriation. (At the same time, stories written in this way can read like applications for some kind of Brownie Badge. Fan Writer Assignment 2: Write no more than three hundred words capturing the essential qualities of each of the main characters in Season X and exposing the primary manner in which each character interacts with the other. All lines of dialogue must be accompanied by a suitable adverb. Each character must be referred to by a binomial descriptive eg Burly Rebel, Snarly Tech, Little Thief etc. At least one incident from a broadcast episode must be explicitly referred to.)
When it comes to description (of people or settings) we usually get next to none, or conversely we get far too much (what I call 'pixel-dot' description), trying to leave absolutely nothing to the imagination.
'Good' writing, on the other hand, is IMO about sharing a vision with the readers, not imposing one on them. 'Good' prose should give the readers enough material for them to construct something that is not entirely their own and not entirely the writer's. Writers should therefore be prepared to restrain themselves when it comes to description, exposition and dialogue. (The series itself does this with the characters - how else do we get so much discussion about their personalities and motivations? We are not told everything, nor should we be.)
Leave 'em wanting more!
Neil