"But the thing that always puzzles me is that for me the natural challenge would be to fit the kink *around* the character"
Yeah, that's true for me most of the time, but like you said, sometimes a particular kink/scenario only appeals when it's with a particular character in a very particular set of circumstances. And in those cases sometimes I just go, fuck canon, I want what I want. I'm just shallow sometimes. :P
"why do you *like* the character in the first place if you write them markedly differently?"
Eh, I'm honestly not sure. For me, I like Matt the way he is in canon, but I do enjoy the hell out of a lot of woobie Matt fic that I think is OOC. I can't really explain why it appeals, or why I can't get the same enjoyment by reading original fiction about the same circumstances happening to a character that vaguely resembles Matt. Sometimes I just want to a read about Matt being very emotionally fragile, even if that's not quite how I see him in canon. I figure if we can write fics about "what if [character] was a demon/werewolf/Red Room agent", we can also write "what if [character] was an even bigger woobie than in canon" fics.
Also, even if someone likes to write fic that they think is OOC, that might not be the only way they want to write them. Sometimes one person might want something that's closer to canon characterization, and other times they might want something that's not so much. Or of course they might just have an interpretation of the character that differs from yours, and strikes you as OOC, but it can make perfect sense to them.
Re: Gen: Foggy, the asshole
"But the thing that always puzzles me is that for me the natural challenge would be to fit the kink *around* the character"
Yeah, that's true for me most of the time, but like you said, sometimes a particular kink/scenario only appeals when it's with a particular character in a very particular set of circumstances. And in those cases sometimes I just go, fuck canon, I want what I want. I'm just shallow sometimes. :P
"why do you *like* the character in the first place if you write them markedly differently?"
Eh, I'm honestly not sure. For me, I like Matt the way he is in canon, but I do enjoy the hell out of a lot of woobie Matt fic that I think is OOC. I can't really explain why it appeals, or why I can't get the same enjoyment by reading original fiction about the same circumstances happening to a character that vaguely resembles Matt. Sometimes I just want to a read about Matt being very emotionally fragile, even if that's not quite how I see him in canon. I figure if we can write fics about "what if [character] was a demon/werewolf/Red Room agent", we can also write "what if [character] was an even bigger woobie than in canon" fics.
Also, even if someone likes to write fic that they think is OOC, that might not be the only way they want to write them. Sometimes one person might want something that's closer to canon characterization, and other times they might want something that's not so much. Or of course they might just have an interpretation of the character that differs from yours, and strikes you as OOC, but it can make perfect sense to them.