#wednesday novelization

[caitlynskitten]

Wednesday in the show: I can’t stand that blonde annoying werewolf

Wednesday in the novelization:

[altf4d3lete]

My Thoughts on the Wednesday Novelization:

Okay so I have no clue how long this post is going to be, so bear with me. This is coming from someone who has been hyperfixated on the show for over a year and has watched it through multiple times, written fanfiction about it, and debated the characters and their motivations tirelessly.

1. Characterization

First up is the big hitter. The characterization of Wednesday specifically, since the book is written in her voice. I’ve seen a lot of controversy surrounding this. A lot of people have been saying that Wednesday was too emotional, that she was too sympathetic and cared too much about what other people think. To this, I heartily disagree.

We see throughout the book how she gradually begins caring more about the others around her. At first, she sees them only as allies; which is a very Wednesday thing to do. She only compromises because people like Enid or Tyler offer her loyalty, and she feels the need to offer something in return. And of course, the more they offer her their loyalty, the more she feels as though she can open up to them. She’s still human, after all, Addams or not. While most people would assume (wrongly) that Wednesday operated on a strictly “take, not give” mentality, it’s clear in the show itself that this isn’t the case. She still compromises in the show. The only reason people don’t agree now is because they created their own perceptions on why Wednesday was compromising, while it was clear to others all along that this was because she wanted to keep her allies close in case she needed help.

Wednesday, in the novelization, approaches everything from a strategical standpoint. Which is exactly how I’d expect her to approach things. She keeps a careful catalogue of her enemies and suspects, of who she can or can’t trust with evidence. Which, again, is what I had gathered from Jenna’s acting in the show.

Concerning the care she felt for Enid, among others:

I do not think the way she felt about Enid or the way their relationship developed was out of character at all. Wednesday said it herself, it felt to her as though Enid was the only one who accepted her up front no matter who she was or what she said or did. Enid was the only one who didn’t expect her to be someone else or a simple projection of what she wanted. Wednesday appreciated Enid’s willingness to be an ally even knowing that Wednesday wasn’t a good person. And it caused her to grow attached to the one person who accepted her no matter what. Even when Wednesday put her in danger, Enid still came back. And Wednesday appreciated that more than anything. I really think it’s incorrect to say that it’s out of character how much Wednesday cared about Enid. Enid was Wednesday’s first real friend, and put her life on the line for Wednesday. Of course they’re going to be inseparable, in Wednesday’s words, after something like that.

2. Theme

I’ve read a lot of books and done a lot of English classes and writing in my time. I usually look for themes in books, and it’s pretty clear to me that the theme of this book is friendship and navigating it, as corny as that sounds.

The entire book follows Wednesday learning what it means to be a true friend. What it means to open up and be vulnerable with others, what it means to put trust and confidence in them, and what it means to rely on others. Towards the end, there’s a passage where she realizes she’s never been alone.

In this book, Wednesday learned what it means to grow and foster a community of people who care about you. People who you can rely on. She comes to care about Enid, Eugene, even Bianca. All of them help her in some way, and all of them give her a shoulder to rely on at some point. She learns that having allies are nice, but having friends, people who are truly in your corner, is even better. And that there are specific ways to treat friends, and specific ways to keep them. She learned that sometimes compromises are important, and that it’s okay to not agree with some things, but it doesn’t mean that has to be the end of the friendship. And she learned just how deeply her care for her friends, as well as their care for her, truly goes.

One could say that this book is corny. One could say that it’s cringe, or that it’s not canon to them. All of that is completely fine. But in my eyes, this book has absolutely done Wednesday’s character justice and proven what I already knew: she’s not a psychopath like so many people paint her out to be. Maybe she was in previous iterations, but this is a new iteration, a new character. And she most definitely cares deeply about those who show their loyalty to her, about those who prove to her that they can trust her. Enid, Thing, Eugene, even Bianca. They created a sense of community to battle a common enemy and won. And Wednesday learned that she couldn’t have done it on her own.

I’m excited to see how her character continues to develop in season 2 and further. I’m excited to see how those around her affect her in new ways, and who she’ll ultimately grow to be. I loved this novelization of season one, and I loved the insight it gave us into Wednesday’s thoughts and her character arcs.

Anyway! That’s all, thanks for reading 🫶

Edit: my bad this turned into an essay. If I missed anything or you want my opinion on anything, let me know :)

[coucoumacherie]

they changed the moment before the sprinklers from Wednesday & Tyler almost slow dancing to Enid convincing Wednesday to dance to the last song with her?

[hislittleraincloud]

Y'all too busy creaming over this fic to be angry over this, so lemme do it for you:

WHAT

the

FUCK.

I'm...what?

[psychic-refugee]

I don’t want to claim that Wenclair as a ship doesn’t exist. Again, I’ve always been a big proponent that fandom is a) supposed to be fun and b) it’s up to interpretation and opinion. The latter makes your ship valid because that’s how you feel. Perhaps it doesn’t make your reasons rational or anchored in canon, but again we go back to a) where it’s supposed to be fun.

I don’t have a problem with Wenclair the ship. I have a problem with Wenclairs the people who have a well-documented history of harassment on non-fandom sites such as Instagram and Twitter of the celebrities in question.

Here are some of the reasons why I don’t specifically see Wenclair/I see a platonic relationship.

Gough and Millar framed Enid and Wednesday as a “sisterhood” and “friendship.” (NME, 24 Dec 2023) This is in DIRECT reaction to being asked about Wenclair. They are the authority of canon as they are the authors of Wednesday and Enid as we know them from this iteration of the Addams Family.

The fact they said its “possible” in the future means Wenclair is not currently true. I also think they were simply being polite and did not want to offend the Wenclairs. Given how badly some react to the possibility of Wenclair not being canon, I don’t blame Gough and Millar for trying to remain neutral about it.

Again, this is Millar and Gough, the true writers and authority of Wednesday.

Secondly, Jenna herself proclaimed no romance. She made an effort in an interview to stress Wednesday had no SO and would have no SO. This is right after joking about Wenclair being a possibility. I believe this is a direct consequence of Wenclairs harassment when they took her words too far and harassed anyone who disagreed with them or threatened the possibility of the ship. (Digital Spy, 8 June 2023)

Emma also wants Wednesday to be single. (Variety, 30 Jan 2023)

There has been no talk, joking or otherwise, of Wenclair being a possibility in almost two years. They in fact seem to be making an effort to not a) talk about it and b) distance themselves from it.

As of this post, none of the cast or writers have done promo for the novel nor have acknowledged it in any way. They also do not follow Meija on socials.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a) they completely avoid mentioning it anymore in interviews, b) stressing no romance, c) Jenna quit Twitter because of what I suspect a Wenclair sending her AI porn. (Entertainment Weekly, 25 Aug 2024), and d) Jenna won’t ever come out with who she’s dating. (Vanity Fair, 6 August 2024)

I think all of this ties into Wenclair harassment. (Tumblr, 29 August 2024)

Thirdly, one of my litmus tests of whether something could be platonic is if you switch out person A with a known family member of Person B.

This would be pretty gross, right? To have a “fizzy” feeling for your father? Not to mention the addition of kissing full on the mouth in such a way, TWICE. To me this is a clear sexual reaction on Wednesday’s part and could not be construed as platonic.

Here, if Morticia had saved Wednesday and had this moment, it could still work. It wouldn’t be weird, so this scene is not necessarily romantic.

I think pretty much every interaction with Enid could be replaced by Morticia or Pugsly, and it wouldn’t make it as off putting as the Tyler example.

Meija could have at any point described Wednesday’s feelings while in Enid’s presence as “fizzy” or anything remotely romantic and they chose not to.

If they meant for it to be romantic regardless, they don’t have the confidence to stand by their work and say it outright.

So, unless it’s Game of Thrones where sibling/family incest is the norm, then seeing Enid and Wednesday as platonic is a fair interpretation.

[lostlegendaerie]

there's something deeply gutting about being a writer right now. watching studio execs brag about starving people like you out of your very house just to not pay you anything above the pennies you currently make. watching some people cheer over AO3 being targeted for a DDOS attack. the complete lack of profitability of writing commissions or writing in general in transformative spaces, especially in contrast to fanart. the pivot of so many social media platforms to be video and image based near-exclusively.

I don't know. it just makes me sad to know that the hobby that kept me alive while growing up homeschooled with dial-up internet and local antenna TV... is only ever gonna be a side job with minimal engagement. I know this site is good about supporting libraries and the concept of books but, do me a favor? Reach out to a writer friend you know. Leave a comment on your last five read stories on your favorite website.

Tell us you care.

[m-e-stanley]

After the Wednesday novel

Wenclair fans to the other ships:

[cosmicdraghon]

“She whirls around, her smile adorably canine.”

[raventrigonsdaughter]

Funny enough the novelization not only made enid a big as hell werewolf it made her the tallest werewolf in pop culture lmao, the biggest one before her barely counted as a werewolf, the Mega Lycan from Underworld Awakening and he was smaller than her official description in the novel, of course enid is on all fours all the time so she would be around 2.50m tall like that, which is smaller than the Hyde's 3 meters but he is still so fucking small compared to her??? And i though it could be Wednesday exagerating but she's consistent with every character description in her pov, she also mentions enid's wolf ears have pink and blue dye when in the show they made that dumbass hair falling on her head, feels like a completly different version of what we got cgi wise and honestly? The one im sticking to, Wednesday even mentions enid "laughs it off"(not those words but u know what she meant) when the Hyde trows her away. I'm so gonna attribute her being this huge to her being a blood moon wolf in fanfics, please incorporate her novel height in them i need it 😭😭😭😭

This is genuinely so funny enid was not a big girl but a werewolf that is "3 times her normal size"... THAT'S REALLY FUCKING BIG LMAO because even if it isn't completly about her height it's still way bigger than what the show gave us, like, AT THE BARE MINIMUN she's about the size of a Van Helsing werewolf and taller too

For reference

Edit: made another post but just to put this reference here

[electricwalkman]

Wednesday got too much of Gomez in her

[caitlynskitten]

Wednesday in the novelization

[altf4d3lete]

You know what would be fantastic but I'm not hedging bets on?

If the season one novelization is used in season two as the book Wednesday was able to get published as her first work. Titled something like

Hyde Hunt

Viper de la Muerte Book One

Little meta storytelling.

Of course names would be changed in the in show version of the book.

Bonus points if Wednesday herself is oblivious to how all the Wenclair scenes sound.

This could also explain why it's not a one to one accurate retelling. She is making edits to true events and making a more cohesive story narrative.

Im ngl I would absolutely love this. I don’t think they’d do this, but I would Love some meta storytelling. My thought is that the book is course correction; drawing Wednesday away from Xavier and Tyler and reinforcing that wenclair is the main relationship of the show, platonic or not. But I wish they would do something like this because it would be so cool.

[coucoumacherie]

Wednesday acknowledges western imperialism, and lets enid put the snood on her

[hislittleraincloud]

dude can you just stop using the wenclair tag? like its annoying seeing these kind of posts. some of us are just here to see the fun dynamics, other’s interpretation, arts etc. and i get that you’re against it or whatever, so maybe like leave these tags alone? stop abusing the tags if you don’t like it

The last anon I just answered didn't even have the Wenclair tag even though the anon mentioned it. But thanks for reminding me to go back and remedy that. 🥹

Look, I get it, you don't read anything that goes against your little echo chamber, so you missed what I fucking said in the next to last one that WAS tagged Wenclair:

It's not my fault that you can't stand criticism of the novel or the ship within the constraints of the novel and fandom. I had never had a problem with any Wenclair fanon until y'all creamed yourselves over this novelization. I read it (slowly, for me, so I could catalog each instance of fuckery with canon in my brain that I could), and that is what I have a problem with.

I've always supported Wednesday and Enid the same way M&G support it, since accepting and building friendship was what Morticia had stated in the beginning in the limo she'd hoped for her daughter/what Wednesday had stated she was extremely resistant to throughout ("I like being an island...a well fortified one surrounded by sharks."). Seems like no one cares to comprehend how wild a jump from a strict antisocial loner who hates people to Spanish-spewing yandere "Willa" in the span of four weeks actually is, and that's how fanon can be*...only now Mejia's injected 100% fanon [see the defiling of "Woe What a Night" for the worst of it] into the canon that millions of people around the world saw and y'all are calling it canon (when it is not, despite being published through the studio). In my last real fandom I participated in there was a screenplay "tie up" in lieu of a fourth season published by Showtime and written by Neil Jordan himself that was roundly rejected by fans as canon because it was so out of character for our main characters from what we had seen for three seasons. Same goes for the Jack Thorne's Cursed Child nonsense in Potter (even Potter actors have called it fan fiction).

TLDR: It's not abusing a tag if the tag is relevant to the post's discussion. Grow some skin and learn how to deal ("cope" like you kids love to say) with reasonable criticisms.

[psychic-refugee]

I find a lot about the production of the Wednesday novelization odd.

One, the author’s name is not prominent and feels almost hidden.

Here are some examples of novelizations of popular IP that were television series/film first and foremost.

The authors are all on the cover and their names prominent. I can easily find who the author is. Even with the last pic where the name is the smallest and at the bottom, it's still on the cover.

Here is the front, back, and back inner jacket of the novelization.

Mejia’s name is nowhere to be found on the front. There is plenty of room to put their name without obscuring the art. They purposefully did not put their name.

On the back, Mejia’s name is the same size print as everything else and isn’t the center focus. The eyeline is more drawn towards the writers of the series rather than who wrote the novel.

Mejia has no author bio pic nor any bio information where it might normally go. Inside the cover jacket, they chose to have a blurb about the series rather than showcase the author.

Again, it feels like they’re hiding who the author is. Why?

Secondly, here are some examples of Netflix original shows that have novels. These are some of their most popular IP they have association with via the shows. All of them have that “Netflix Original” seal.

Normally I hate this as it wrecks the cover art, but it’s never stopped Netflix from all but pissing on everything they can associate their name with.

Why no seal for this novelization? There’s literally no mention of Netflix at all.

This to me suggests Netflix was not involved AT ALL. I don’t think anyone at Netflix was collaborating on this. I think this is a pure licensing deal, where Random House paid MGM to be able to use the characters.

Thirdly, and I find most baffling, is the total lack of promo.

Random House has several IG accounts, NONE of them have promo’d this book.

@randomhouse @randomhousekids @penguinrandomhouse

How can such a popular series have ZERO mention anywhere? How is it even the publisher doesn’t want to promo this book?

Even the author themselves half arsed promo’d the book. One post and it’s lukewarm at best? With only 130ish comments? That’s like nothing for a fandom of Wednesday’s size.

The Netflix writers haven’t mentioned it which suggests zero involvement. Netflix doesn't even want their name on it.

Jenna and Emma haven’t mentioned it or acknowledge it in any way, despite their supposed championing wenclair.

There are no professional reviews of it anywhere. Did they not send out advanced copies? Or were all of the reviews terrible and they scraped it?

Even the Wednesday Netflix account hasn’t mentioned it. Rather than promo the book, they chose to promo Lego instead.

Are they all embarrassed about this novel and hope it goes away quickly?

I know the book is hot garbage, but I’m in the fandom. The fans are supposed to have mixed reviews.

The publisher and network shouldn’t be treating the book and the author as a dirty little secret.

This book has literally no support from anyone. Not even the people who have a vested monetary interest in the novel.

This is so weird.

[nonbinarylesbianherb]

so what if I buy the official novelization of wednesday s1 just to read wenclair