Wow, what a wonderful resource. Thank you! I always envy people's ability to be so specific in these essays--your points are so clear and well thought out. Very impressive.
Personally, I really dig Fraser POV; Vecchio comes easiest for me, but Fraser is a fairly close second, and Kowalski's the one who's given me the most trouble. One of the things you articulate so well here is that Fraser is very much not what he appears to be on the surface--as you say, he does have a wonderfully dry (and occasionally goofy--cf the end of "A Cop, A Mountie, and A Baby") sense of humor, he's an incredibly manipulative bastard when he wants to be (and I say that with great affection, as his manipulation is never maliciously meant--if he's really pissed at you, you know it, no fucking around), and I think when he gets flustered or he's trying to deal with strong emotions, that's when he hides most behind the big words and the Inuit stories; sometimes I think the more he feels, the more formal he gets. It's a fine line between, yes, he does have a great vocabulary and he does speak more formally as a habit, but he's also often using words very deliberately, for some effect--whether to distract or evoke some emotion or maintain some distance or whatever. And then it's fun to play with when he is extremely direct, because it really stands out. (In one of my ficlets, I have him giving Dief some long speech about why the Rays have apparently forgotten his [Fraser's] birthday, and it's all formal formal formal blah blah and then he ends with, "Oh, shut up." Because I think Fraser is very snarky when provoked, especially with Bob and Dief. This is similar to the snippet you posted above--yeah, he's a pretty buttoned-up guy, but it doesn't mean he can't know/like Three Dog Night--you just have to get to know him well to find out about it.)
I will also say that I find myself having to take out a lot of "Ray"s in Fraser's speech. I try to avoid the "Ray Ray Ray" thing for the most part, but I am very prone to using "Ray" at least once in most of Fraser's sentences, and I have to restrain myself. Hee.
stammers around his female admirers but it's not for lack of confidence, it's from lack of interest and embarrassment at being fawned over and objectified. I mean, really, this is NOT a guy who lacks self-confidence with a lover. He just has to be interested
That is an EXCELLENT distinction, I'd never thought about it that way.
Also, I wanted to throw in that Fraser dialogue/POV is actually very cool to me in that it allows you a bit more poetic use of language, which is nice, sometimes. Of course, that can go too far, but I never have to stop and go, "hmm, would Fraser know that word?" because of course he does, and probably the whole etymology of it, too. :)
(And I'd be willing to attempt a "Writing Vecchio" post at some point (in my own LJ, if not here), but I'm not sure if it would come out nearly as good as this one. :) )
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-08-09 02:42 pm (UTC)Personally, I really dig Fraser POV; Vecchio comes easiest for me, but Fraser is a fairly close second, and Kowalski's the one who's given me the most trouble. One of the things you articulate so well here is that Fraser is very much not what he appears to be on the surface--as you say, he does have a wonderfully dry (and occasionally goofy--cf the end of "A Cop, A Mountie, and A Baby") sense of humor, he's an incredibly manipulative bastard when he wants to be (and I say that with great affection, as his manipulation is never maliciously meant--if he's really pissed at you, you know it, no fucking around), and I think when he gets flustered or he's trying to deal with strong emotions, that's when he hides most behind the big words and the Inuit stories; sometimes I think the more he feels, the more formal he gets. It's a fine line between, yes, he does have a great vocabulary and he does speak more formally as a habit, but he's also often using words very deliberately, for some effect--whether to distract or evoke some emotion or maintain some distance or whatever. And then it's fun to play with when he is extremely direct, because it really stands out. (In one of my ficlets, I have him giving Dief some long speech about why the Rays have apparently forgotten his [Fraser's] birthday, and it's all formal formal formal blah blah and then he ends with, "Oh, shut up." Because I think Fraser is very snarky when provoked, especially with Bob and Dief. This is similar to the snippet you posted above--yeah, he's a pretty buttoned-up guy, but it doesn't mean he can't know/like Three Dog Night--you just have to get to know him well to find out about it.)
I will also say that I find myself having to take out a lot of "Ray"s in Fraser's speech. I try to avoid the "Ray Ray Ray" thing for the most part, but I am very prone to using "Ray" at least once in most of Fraser's sentences, and I have to restrain myself. Hee.
stammers around his female admirers but it's not for lack of confidence, it's from lack of interest and embarrassment at being fawned over and objectified. I mean, really, this is NOT a guy who lacks self-confidence with a lover. He just has to be interested
That is an EXCELLENT distinction, I'd never thought about it that way.
Also, I wanted to throw in that Fraser dialogue/POV is actually very cool to me in that it allows you a bit more poetic use of language, which is nice, sometimes. Of course, that can go too far, but I never have to stop and go, "hmm, would Fraser know that word?" because of course he does, and probably the whole etymology of it, too. :)
(And I'd be willing to attempt a "Writing Vecchio" post at some point (in my own LJ, if not here), but I'm not sure if it would come out nearly as good as this one. :) )
Thanks again!!! Fantastic essay.