#i've never written for scarlett though i've mentioned natasha in one of my longer fics

[aparticularbandit]

Initial response. 

Initial response. 

Nonnie, I want to apologize.  I should not have snapped at you yesterday, and having just woken up and not eaten are not excuses for doing so.  I knew my own mood and knew better than to post more than just that, and yet I did so anyway.  That’s not constructive to good dialogue, and I’m sorry for that.  Honest.

I apologize that my interpretations of Kathryn’s characters - namely Agatha, Eve, and Claire - do not line up with yours, and I’m sorry that my consistent posting of these interpretations are causing you such frustration.

However, I know that there are people - both here and on AO3 - who enjoy those interpretations and the stories that have come from them.  You’ve mentioned that there are multiple writers like me who write interpretations you don’t like and who you believe are stripping the characters of personality traits and who they are.  I disagree that this is meant to jump on a popularity train; I think that these other writers, like myself, have connected with different aspects of these characters and focus more on those - or who want to see how they might shift or adapt or change based on different situations.  What they might look like if they were dark or vampires or in ballet.  Sometimes, when we write characters as trans or bi or pan, despite the common fanon on them, it’s not for popularity’s sake or to rock the boat but because, when we look at those characters, we see that in them.  We see something different.

And that is okay.

Do I like every interpretation of every character I read?  No.  I don’t.  I’ve started some stuff that I really haven’t liked.  Have I looked at casting for roles that I love and questioned the choices?  Yes.  Frequently.  And have I been frustrated when a movie adaptation has done poorly with a story and characters who I very much love?  Also yes.

But that doesn’t mean that those adaptations don’t still have merit, and that doesn’t mean that the people who enjoy them are wrong for enjoying them.  I was in the Hannibal fandom for a while, and there was so much discourse over the characters in the show vs. their characters in the books vs. their characters in the Hopkins movies (with very minimal discussion of the first movie adaptation, if I remember correctly) - and so much discourse over Hannigram vs. every other ship - and so much hate for people who. were just. enjoying something.  Seeing something they liked and being exuberant in liking it.  And then fighting because other people didn’t see things the same way they did.

I’m sorry that the tags for these characters you love are being filled with interpretations you don’t like, but you must understand, Nonnie, that doesn’t mean that they’re wrong.  We are here in fandom to have fun and to enjoy community with one another over these characters and stories that we analyze and continue and twist and shape and mesh, and if it has stopped being fun for you, then I apologize for that.

I don’t plan to stop writing for these characters anytime soon.  I’ve enjoyed writing for Eve and Agatha and Claire, and I’ve enjoyed talking with other people in the community about them - even when our theories don’t agree (and this has happened significantly with Claire just due to the nature of the argument over whether the shitheads are just corrupt, horrible, rich, entitled assholes or not, without even getting into everything else).

I cannot speak for the other writers who are causing you such discomfort, but I do have a specific tag for my writing - bandit fic - which you can block at your leisure.  That should get my fic out of the tags for you.  If you want, I can start tagging my general interpretation posts, too, with something like bandit headcanon so that you won’t have to see those either.  I don’t know how reliable I’ll be with that particular one, but I can try to remember.

If that is not enough, then I would suggest blocking me.  That should not only prevent you from seeing my stuff in the tags, but it should also prevent you from seeing the reblogs of them, which simply blocking my tags won’t do.  I would also suggest perhaps doing this with the other writers whose interpretations you don’t like, because chances are that you aren’t going to get them to stop writing.

And if, somehow, you do convince them to stop writing, I feel really really sorry for the community.  Because one of my favorite things about fanfic and roleplaying and meta and all of it is seeing all of the diverse ways we look at these characters and interpret them.  Even if I don’t like what people say or where they end up.  Because our interpretations are going to be as diverse as we are, and sometimes people come up with a new way of looking at a character or a story that I would never have thought of, and it’s beautiful.

And I’m sorry that you don’t see it that way.