redlance:

Writing fanfic is a lot like inspecting a crime scene, in which fandom is that crime scene haha. Anyone striving to be a good writer inspects every angle, every tiny fragment of evidence, and ponders motive – all to build a profile of the kind of character you’re dealing with.

Like you said, we’re given so little to go off when it comes to movie characters. Writing for a television fandom is a totally different thing, because (for example) you know that Willow’s mum once tried to burn her at the stake for witchcraft and that Xander’s parents didn’t set a great example for him.

The most insight we’re given into Beca’s character is that her dad, presumably, walked out on her and her mum, that she’s never had many girls who were friends, and we assume these are the two catalysts for the big issues in the first movie; her reluctance to start anything with Jesse and her walking away from the Bellas. We’re not told that explicitly, but it’s inferred. We’re given a glimpse of her attitude and the way she interacts with others, we’re told what she enjoys doing in her free time and her aspirations for the future. It’s sort of the bare bones outline for a character in a book.

And we’re told even less about the other Bellas. We get bullet point characteristics:

– Overbearing father. Control freak.
– No personal boundaries. Singing is her life.
– Hot one. Likes sex. A lot.
– Lesbian gambler.
– Silent but probably deadly.
– Boy next door type who likes movies and wants to date the MC.
– (Newbie who just wants to sing and belong to a sisterhood, oh and writes her own songs.)
– (Was horrendously poor and probably came over in a shipping container.)

It’s not a lot to go off and, yes, we have the next two movies to add bits and pieces to what we each determine their personality to be. And that’s the thing, every writer is going to write them differently. If one person happens to write them in a way that jives with how you the reader THINKS they would exist as a person, that’s awesome. But the next reader might not agree.

Jesse is a perfect example of this, in that the way his character is viewed is so drastically different from person to person. A lot of people see him as pushy and overbearing. Someone who wants to change Beca into someone she isn’t. But that view can be, and I’m sure is, applied to Chloe. It’s all about perspective. You’ll never see Jesse as a pushy asshole in my fics, because I don’t see him like that.

So, do I feel like I stay true to the characters? I suppose yes, in a way. I try to stay true to how I see them. And when I talk about them in term of my fanfics, I’ll usually say “my Beca” or “my Chloe” because that’s kind of what they are? We don’t know anything about Chloe’s family, but I’ve taken the liberty of giving her a brother and killing off her dad.

I don’t think anyone can ever really stay “true” to a character. I mean, look at the movies. We all have issues with the way the characters have changed over the course of them and that’s the creator of the characters writing them!

I think, if people read my stuff and take my versions of the characters away as something close to “canon”, that’s freaking amazing. It’s the best kind of compliment.

Man, this is a tangent. I hope I answered the initial question?? Haha. Also, sorry this took me forever to answer. It required a lot of thought!