A Note On Pseudonyms

[redbrunja]

 nimblnymph  was commenting about sexism in language, and it got me thinking about usernames. Specifically, (and I know I have people on my flist who do this and I don't mean to be insulting, this is totally just my opinion) how much I hate it when people use some part of a character's name in their username.

You know.

Mrs_Hatake

I_heart_hakkai.

Anything with Snape or Severus.

Even more subtle references: blooming_sakura or whatever cause me to twitch.

First, I always wonder how long you are going to like that character enough that you want them to be the most visible part of how you present yourself online. Secondly, I make the assumption that you are fourteen and feel the need to wave around your fictional boyfriend or (also fairly common) your OTP like a banner. I also (despite knowing really excellent writers who do this, and often aren't writing about the character referenced in their handle) assume that your fanfic is not worth my time.

Comments

[plural-entity.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sure they have little diaries, you know. They write little lemons about themselves and the characters. -gag-

If you fantasize about yourself and a cartoon character, you need a reality check.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think fictional character -animated or live action- are fantastic fantasy material.

It's just that what makes a good fantasy does not equal what makes a good fanfic, or a good first impression.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

This. Fantasy is fantasy, and so long as you know the difference between imagination and reality, spinning yourself a hot little fantasy about doing a fictional character isn't at all equivalent to the whackos who think they're actually married to Snape on the astral plane and so forth. Even incorporating selected elements of that fantasy into a creative work isn't intrinsically a problem, if it's done with careful thought. But just putting your totally unfiltered private self-insert fantasy up as a piece of fanfic is the sort of oversharing that really doesn't tend to make a good impression on people.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Fantasy is fantasy, and so long as you know the difference between imagination and reality, spinning yourself a hot little fantasy about doing a fictional character isn't at all equivalent to the whackos who think they're actually married to Snape on the astral plane and so forth.

No, it's not. And I would argue that fantasizing about fictional characters (either live action or cartoon) has HUGE advantages over fantasizing about, say, that hot barista or your BF's hot boyfriend. There's no change of running into them outside your head and there's no chance of discovering that they, like, eat the link from between their toes, thus utterly decimating your fantasy.

Even incorporating selected elements of that fantasy into a creative work isn't intrinsically a problem, if it's done with careful thought.

Also true.

But just putting your totally unfiltered private self-insert fantasy up as a piece of fanfic is the sort of oversharing that really doesn't tend to make a good impression on people.

It really doesn't. And, if you think about it, you're telling strangers on the internet way more about yourself than you probably really want them to know.