hackthis_archive (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hackthis_archive) wrote2003-09-12 01:00 pm
hackthis_archive) wrote2003-09-12 01:00 pm
Can’t expect the world to be your Raggedy Andy.
I was telling ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
foreversmitten that I’ve actually given this some thought (which never happens) and I believe the reason that people are gravitating more to writing Seth instead of Ryan is because of Ryan’s passiveness. It’s hard to create an idea of how someone should be written when it’s so clear that they take all their cues from the people around them. Ryan behaves the way he thinks people want him to. He is a walking attempt to be ‘all things to all people’ and I’m quite anxiously looking for the day when he says ‘Fuck the lot of you. This is who I am.’
Although perhaps not in those words. (It’d be hot if he did though, just saying.)
Like Play-doh
When Ryan was very small his favorite toy was Play-doh; it was mallable and portable, and he could take it anywhere anytime. He could play with it under Trey’s bed when his parents fought, or in the car while his mom drove around trying to find some place for them to sleep at night.
Eventually Ryan outgrew Play-doh or perhaps it was taken away. He doesn’t really remember; Ryan’s very good at blocking out certain things. Whatever the case, Ryan moved on to other toys, and then he grew older and the toys vanished, period.
Ryan hasn’t seen or touched Play-doh in ages, but he’s fascinated when a commercial for it airs late one night as he’s watching cartoons on his bed in the pool house.
It’s not the bright colors or the falsely happy children that intrigue him, but the memory of the way the Play-doh just did anything Ryan wanted. The way it just sucked in random flakes of potato chips or cat hair or whatever was on the surface Ryan was using.
In a way Ryan is a lot like Play-doh.
He can’t quite think of Seth like Play-doh: he’s just too resilient, and Marissa is too fragile, but Ryan is mallable and portable. He goes where he needs to, when he needs to, and he tries to be whatever anyone wants, when they want.
He takes it as it comes, and most time it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.
The thing Ryan remembers about Play-doh though, is that if you leave it out for too long it dries out and then it breaks.
One day Ryan might break and then where will he be? Who will he be? What will happen then?
When Play-doh dried out when Ryan was small, he just threw it away. He wonders if the Cohens will throw him away if he becomes someone that doesn't fit.
-end-
Edited to noteThe amazingness that is![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
obsessedmuch has updated Dysfunctional for me. Mad love!
foreversmitten that I’ve actually given this some thought (which never happens) and I believe the reason that people are gravitating more to writing Seth instead of Ryan is because of Ryan’s passiveness. It’s hard to create an idea of how someone should be written when it’s so clear that they take all their cues from the people around them. Ryan behaves the way he thinks people want him to. He is a walking attempt to be ‘all things to all people’ and I’m quite anxiously looking for the day when he says ‘Fuck the lot of you. This is who I am.’ Although perhaps not in those words. (It’d be hot if he did though, just saying.)
Like Play-doh
When Ryan was very small his favorite toy was Play-doh; it was mallable and portable, and he could take it anywhere anytime. He could play with it under Trey’s bed when his parents fought, or in the car while his mom drove around trying to find some place for them to sleep at night.
Eventually Ryan outgrew Play-doh or perhaps it was taken away. He doesn’t really remember; Ryan’s very good at blocking out certain things. Whatever the case, Ryan moved on to other toys, and then he grew older and the toys vanished, period.
Ryan hasn’t seen or touched Play-doh in ages, but he’s fascinated when a commercial for it airs late one night as he’s watching cartoons on his bed in the pool house.
It’s not the bright colors or the falsely happy children that intrigue him, but the memory of the way the Play-doh just did anything Ryan wanted. The way it just sucked in random flakes of potato chips or cat hair or whatever was on the surface Ryan was using.
In a way Ryan is a lot like Play-doh.
He can’t quite think of Seth like Play-doh: he’s just too resilient, and Marissa is too fragile, but Ryan is mallable and portable. He goes where he needs to, when he needs to, and he tries to be whatever anyone wants, when they want.
He takes it as it comes, and most time it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.
The thing Ryan remembers about Play-doh though, is that if you leave it out for too long it dries out and then it breaks.
One day Ryan might break and then where will he be? Who will he be? What will happen then?
When Play-doh dried out when Ryan was small, he just threw it away. He wonders if the Cohens will throw him away if he becomes someone that doesn't fit.
-end-
Edited to noteThe amazingness that is
obsessedmuch has updated Dysfunctional for me. Mad love!
no subject
Re: Ryan-- he's awfully quiet. Unlike Seth, we don't know a whole lot about him because he never says anything. I tried typing out a Ryan POV fic and found that I had to construct his entire personality almost whole. That can be both daunting and exhausting for a writer. Maybe people are just lazy?
Also I think it's far easier to identify with Seth than Ryan for most people (especially given the fact that Seth is a big ole out-and-proud fangeek) so I've seen him Mary-Sue'ed a lot recently. :)
no subject
Re: Ryan-- he's awfully quiet. Unlike Seth, we don't know a whole lot about him because he never says anything. I tried typing out a Ryan POV fic and found that I had to construct his entire personality almost whole. That can be both daunting and exhausting for a writer. Maybe people are just lazy?
Also I think it's far easier to identify with Seth than Ryan for most people (especially given the fact that Seth is a big ole out-and-proud fangeek) so I've seen him Mary-Sue'ed a lot recently. :)
1. Thank you.
2. I definitely think you're right there. Just writing the smallest thing about Ryan is dodgy because we don't actually know enough about him to conjecture properly, and then the writer has all this leeway and it's daunting when there aren't an definitive parameters.
Big words. It must be my hangover.
3. Seth and Mary-Sueing. Okay, yes, I admit it, I'm just as guilty as everybody else. He talks like me and dresses like me, I can't help but project just a little bit, except that I don't want to fuck Ryan because I have enough issues, ta. *flogs with wet noodle* Bad Zahra!