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Allow Me To Cannibalize A Comment Into A Post. Because That's How I Roll.
There was a conversation (on a locked post, so) about fanfic authors having Felicity Smoak (of Arrow) be a fan of various Big Fandoms (Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, etc) and while I think it works better with Felicity* than a lot of other characters, I think it's a ballsier move than most fanficcers realize.
The thing is, name-dropping fandoms (especially a fandom that author loves or that is super-popular currently) is one of the easiest ways to throw a reader out of the story, because you have to deal with the reader's opinion about what that character would like** AND their feelings about the property in question.
I mean, when it works***, it really works, but I think that most writers don't realize what they're risking on what is often not a very important detail.
*I bet Felicity is watching Game of Thrones. But I also suspect she liked the books better.
**Sidebar, playing 'what other media would fictional character X love' is super-fun, imho.
***that time Tony Stark thought about his mother singing Simon & Garfunkle's "America" as a lullaby and how he thought it was referencing Captain America ALL THE FEELINGS MY GOD.
[+] Finally, based on the conversation that inspired this post, now I’m imagining that Felicity is a total arthouse film and History Channel geek, instead of the more common sci-fi/fantasy nerd.
[+] There is a whole other post regarding writing canonically well-read characters like Rory Gilmore, Blair Waldorf, and Dan Humphrey.
The thing is, name-dropping fandoms (especially a fandom that author loves or that is super-popular currently) is one of the easiest ways to throw a reader out of the story, because you have to deal with the reader's opinion about what that character would like** AND their feelings about the property in question.
I mean, when it works***, it really works, but I think that most writers don't realize what they're risking on what is often not a very important detail.
*I bet Felicity is watching Game of Thrones. But I also suspect she liked the books better.
**Sidebar, playing 'what other media would fictional character X love' is super-fun, imho.
***that time Tony Stark thought about his mother singing Simon & Garfunkle's "America" as a lullaby and how he thought it was referencing Captain America ALL THE FEELINGS MY GOD.
[+] Finally, based on the conversation that inspired this post, now I’m imagining that Felicity is a total arthouse film and History Channel geek, instead of the more common sci-fi/fantasy nerd.
[+] There is a whole other post regarding writing canonically well-read characters like Rory Gilmore, Blair Waldorf, and Dan Humphrey.
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Seriously? I feel like that is the very first time I've head that. Like, I know Machiavelli was certainly not walking the talk of that book, but I did not know that a large section of the populace thought it was straight-up satire.