22 réponses à ce sujet

[AnimaTempli101]

 One question has been in my mind as a writer and I was wondering about the community's opinion. 

"Is it better to have a clear, well defined, well described Shepard or to avoid clarity and let the reader imprint THEIR Shepard onto the character?" 

Opinions below please. 

[Tyrannosaurus Rex]

That really depends on the Fanfic itself. And how it is written.

Sometimes a undefined Shepard works, sometimes a more charactised Shepard is better.

[JoeLaTurkey]

Depends on whether it's about Shepard, from his POV, or involving a character or omniscient narrator describing Shepard - there are many scenarios.

Whenever I write a fanfic in which Shepard's a minor character, I keep everything ambiguous; I don't even reveal his forename.

[TheMarshal]

It depends on your reader. Some people simply cannot read a story where they can't insert their own Shepard. To me, that seems silly*. A well-written story with interesting characters and a well-crafted plot will always be worth reading.

I actually commented on the whole "generic" Shepard situation when I wrapped up A Good Night, and I got a swell of comments from people saying that they really liked my character, which made me feel pretty darn good.

Ultimately, Shepard is a character in your story. If you want to write them as a certain kind of Shepard, do it.

* - But then again, I'm nearly wholly unable to read anything that has a ManShep, so...

[Shanya]

First of all, dont think about what other people prefer reading, write for yourself and then... well, then grant us the honor of reading what you came up with.

But now to answer to your actual question... well, I personaly prefer reading about defined Shepard, one that is not pont blank generic, one that has its own behavior etc. It makes the story more interesting for me. But if you go this way then I would suggest that you also give a first name, you know, to make clear from teh start that the Shepard you write about is unique in her/his own way.
If you decide to do a generic one... well, then I think that the fisr name is not required.

Anyhow, I read FanFic because I can see so many Shepards that are different than the ones in my head, I like to read about their reactions and compare it with what "my Shepard" would do in that specific moment.

But realy, dont think about it to much, just do what you want to do.

[XX55XX]

Before I gave up on the whole fan fiction business, I usually like to keep Shepard as generic a character as possible. Why? A matter of personal preference. The game makes Shepard rather generic, so I usually follow what BioWare does. 

[Eradyn]

Write it however best serves the story. If keeping Shepard nondescript and undefined benefits a particular story, go for it. If the story is better served with a defined Shepard, go with that.

I personally prefer reading and writing stories with defined characters, Shepard included. Blank-slate Shepards are a turn off for me. BUT that's just me.

[RunicDragons]

As a writer myself (or trying to be at least), I would go with just the, hair color, eye color, that kind of stuff. Don't use skin color, scars, height, weight or something like that. But that's just my opinion in this case.

Modifié par RunicDragons, 10 juin 2011 - 12:46 .

[ADLegend21]

Well I'm workingon a headcanon for my Canon femshep, and people tell me they love seeing how she really is when not defined by Bioware's limitations. As it was said, it depnds on the reader. some people enjoy reading about other shepard's some don't.

[emeraldisle88]

I've read a lot a mass effect fanfiction and I find that I imagine my own version of Shepard when the story's Shepard is a bit too generic. Not that there is anything really wrong with that but still I find the stories with more defined characters are more enjoyable. Sometimes it's difficult to relate my own ideas about Shepard to the Shepard created in a story but I appreciate experiencing the writer's creation and vision of the character regardless. I don't think it should be a problem for most people to enjoy your fanfiction if you have a well defined Shepard or a generic version. The important thing is to write what interests you.

[Homebound]

shepard sort of has a personality. his personality is a brick. u can either leave it as is, or improve it a bit so he might be a shiny brick instead.

[Blansten]

My favorite stories are with clear well defined characters, if I want to read about my own Shepard I will either play the game or write my own story.

[GuardianAngel470]

Well, my Shepard in all my fan fictions doesn't have a first name. Of the few fan fictions that I've read that have Shepard and that have Shepard's first name it, to me, stops being about Shepard. Shepard has no first name, unless you count Commander as a first name. So to answer your question, yes, I think a level of ambiguity is good for a story.

I was reading a review someone had for one of my fan fictions. They said it took them awhile before they knew my Shepard was a guy. That gave me an idea: for stories where Shepard is not the main character, don't anounce Shepard's gender.

Everyone can insert their own Shepard and the story can be about the other characters like Garrus, Miranda, and Tali.

I think it is best when you stay out of the reader's way. When your story is not about your Shepard, as it would be if you had him doing something original and not with other characters, then I think you can easily do to make it personal. But in my experience the further you are from conflicting with other people's Shepards, the better.

A few other reviews I had sort of disagreed with my entire plot point because it hinged on a decision in the game. It conflicted with the way the reader played the game and as a result, the review was more negative.

What I'm trying to say is that if your objective is to talk about NPCs or about original characters, keep Shepard vague.

If however, your objective is to delve deeper into your own Shepard, to continue his or her story, then by all means give his or her first name, create your shepard in the form of words on paper and expand on your own personal universe. Just don't expect everyone to agree with it.

[MissMaster]

Well defined characters. When I read any Fan-fiction about A Shepard I want them to be unique...that's the point. Is that Shepard can have any personality you want him or her to have. I have read all different kinds of Shepard's.

From loving and caring, funny, or cold. To a man eating b*tch with a drinking problem (my shep.)

I like to read differences...but I don't read ManShep lol.

[CheeseEnchilada]

To me, a well-defined Shepard is all about personality. If I can read a story and truly grasp who that Shepard is, I leave happy. Of course, generic Shepard works well too, especially when writing humor. In that case, it's more about the situation than Shepard.

When it comes down to it, I have a defined Shepard I use in my fics, but I don't give her name or looks. I don't see a reason to, and I personally don't think it does anything for character development. However, the vast majority of my fics are one-shots, so I'm sure that has an effect.

[TheMarshal]

Arcian wrote...

"Is it better to have a clear, well defined, well described Shepard or to avoid clarity and let the reader imprint THEIR Shepard onto the character?"

Good question.

When the POV character isn't Shepard, a generic, "legendary" Shepard is better since he/she isn't in focus anyway. If Shepard is the POV character (and this is often the case), Shepard is a main character who deserves the same amount of depth and characterization as anyone else.

That said, I personally cannot, under any circumstances, read fanfics where Shepard is named anything else than John or Jane. Which is pretty much every single ME fanfic, ever. Trivial issue, I know, but anything else just feels like self-inserts to me and that's not what I, as a writer and reader, is striving for. I write a lot of personal projects, and I feel it's not the duty of a writer to insert his/her own values and wants into a story beyond the cosmetic and superficial*, but to imagine the characters, events or places and interpret them from an objective point of view. What would character A do in situation B. Not, "What would I do in character A's position if I were in situation B". The latter works in video games (and it's kind of mandatory), but not in literary works.

Under these circumstances, it's impossible for me to take ME fanfics seriously where Shepards have customized names, because that just shows they're writing about "Their Shepard", not "Shepard".

*Clarification: Dialogues and events, not actual appearance.

I'm curious why you feel this way based on something as trivial as a name change?  Does naming the character "John" or "Jane" mean that the author is following some sort of "proper" standard for writing how that Shepard would act?  What is the "proper" standard for how "Shepard" behaves, at any rate?  Or are you just not interested in stories where a Shepard is the primary focus?

[TheMarshal]

Arcian wrote...

Wall of text incoming:

I'm not talking about how Shepard acts, that's what fanfic writers are supposed to interpret freely. A Kara* or Robert* Shepard incould most certainly be written excellently in line with what I would expect from a well-written Jane or John Shepard. It's the small thing of Shepard's first name actually being Kara or Robert that ruins it for me because I prefer fanfics to adhere to the established details of a character (or the universe itself), including their names, in this case Shepards default first names. It would be another thing wholly if both genders of Shepards didn't have a default first name and it was mandatory for the players to choose a name of their own.

I said it was a trivial issue. It's just when I try to read a story about Kara or Robert Shepard it's like I'm reading about "Someone Else's Shepard" instead of "THE Shepard" that I want to read about, even if they were written perfectly. The result would be the same if I tried writing about Kara or Robert Shepard myself; I would be writing about "My Shepard" instead of "THE Shepard", even if I wrote Kara/Jane and Robert/John identically.

To put it into a different perspective, it's like buying a Ferrari and then gluing a Lamborghini ornament onto the hood. The car drives just as good - I mean, why wouldn't it? It's not like the ornament affects performance - but I just have this itching knowledge that the ornament doesn't belong there. Small issue, some would say, but then again, half the point of buying a Ferrari is that you're buying a Ferrari. For a car that legendary, the name itself is half the pleasure of owning one.

That's what John and Jane Shepard is to me. They're the unaltered, original packages, and that's what I want to write about, and that's what I want to read about. Whenever I see someone writing about Kara or Robert Shepard, the only thing I see is a perfectly good Ferrari with a Lamborghini ornament glued onto the hood. 

*Not pointing out any particular fanfic Shepards here, just chose the two first names that popped up in my head, namely from Kara Thrace and Robert Baratheon.

But I'm curious what it is about "The" Shepard which is so important?  What comes in the "original package"?  It's obviously not the way they behave, since you pointed out that such a thing is open to interpretation to each writer.  I don't even think there is a default background/military record, is there?  I wouldn't know, because I've never played a default Shepard, male or female.

And that's kind of the whole point about Shepard.  Shepard is a blank slate, to be defined by the player.  ME3's tagline is "The war for Earth has begun.  Choose how it will end."  The choices are what define Shepard, and those happen WAY after the character creation screen.  There is no "The" Shepard (despite what marketing would like you to believe) any more than there is a "The" Ferrari.  You're getting "A" Ferrari.  Calling it a Lamborghini doesn't make it any less of a Ferrari than calling Shepard "William" or "Evelyn" makes them any less of a Shepard.  You might think that it takes away from their "Shepard"-ness, but really that's the least of the things which defines them (though I'll give you that calling your Ferrari a Lamborghini is pretty wrong...)

My point is that every Shepard is personalized, even the one you're playing.  Even the one you're writing.  My hope is that you can kick back and enjoy a story about "A" Shepard for what it is rather than getting caught up on a name.

[skcih-deraj]

The way I see it OP just write him how you'd like. If people like it they'll read it.

Oh and I'll give your Fan-fic a read. (saw it in your sig)

[TheMarshal]

You know, you wrote so much, it almost seems a shame to not deal with it point by point, but I'm not going to. You had me right up until the part where you said you're fine with writers replacing the canon events of the Mass Effect series with outlandish events, but not fine with Shepard's parents giving him/her a name which might have personal significance. I get what you're saying about the "original recipe," about how Shepard is a bland, featureless character (which is funny, given how adamant you are about maintaining said recipe) and that's what makes the fact that them saving the galaxy is so amazing (unless it's a story about how they're not saving the galaxy, but doing something else).

I wholeheartedly agree that a lot of fanfiction is badly written Self-Insert Mary-Sue drivel. It's one of the reasonse fanfiction has such a bad rap, and it's certainly not limited to the Mass Effect universe. I just think that your definition of "worthwhile" fanfiction is so unnecessarily narrow that you're missing out on a lot of decent stories.

And since that is where we disagree (and I think we can both agree on that, at least), I'm going to leave it at that since I'd rather not spend any more time thinking about it.

[fainmaca]

Depends on the story you're writing as much as who has the focus.

For example, I am writing a fic that is meant to be a potential ME 3 plot. Therefore, there are certain things that have to be defined, as they have an influence on the story. So he is therefore a ManShep, Earthborn, Sole Survivor and up until the start of the story has generally acted Paragon. That's about as far as my way of defining him has gone. I do not use his first name, and I do not describe his appearance. As for his inner workings, well I'm actually leaving the big paragon/renegade choices of the game up to my readers to vote upon, so his paragon/renegade outlook is influenced by those choices. He's still your general hero, but he may be ready to be ruthless if reader vote goes that way.

My point is, the type of story can have as much influence on how much you need to define your Shepard by as who the narrator is. For example, I'd recommend that a story focused on Shep's relationship with their LI or family or something like that would call for a fuller description, with name, looks etc, whereas a story that could be game plot should leave those details to the reader's imaginations. There are other styles like that which move on a sliding scale of how much Shepard needs defining, but its a place to start with.

In the end, its your fanfic. If you want to write a certain way, no one has the right to force you to do otherwise. They can offer constructive criticisms, but if you feel that what you're doing is right for the story, go with it. Just don't let indecision paralyse you from writing anything. Far better to write something and have to make a change later on than to never put it out there to be read in the first place.