Ummm... second post?

Well, now just to make it interesting and keep people interested (yah right) I guess I'd better actually talk about the topic of this blog.

I'll start it out with a simple subject and one that people often wonder about when it comes to OCs in fanfiction. The simple question: is Beth based on me?

Naturally, the answer is less simple.

When I was younger and first started the stories, I was like "NO! Definitely not!" I mean, isn't it obvious that she isn't me? I don't wear glasses! And I'm not a genius! And I'm not really super-skinny! And now years later it's like... boy I was naive. *lol*

The long and short of it is that, I believe, anyone who creates a character is at least in part writing themselves. Even if the character represents a part of them who is the opposite of what the author stands for, in order to write a convincing character they must get inside their heads... they must write a person, and in order to do that you can only really draw on your own experiences and thoughts. Henny is as much me as Beth is, in some ways (and as such I'm surprisingly fond of her; I am the only person in the world who is ^_^), but when it comes to protagonists, especially in fanfiction, they are nearly always at least partly the author. It's not a hard-and-fast rule but it's a pretty strong one.

None of which is to say that Beth is based on me, or that all OCs are just avatars of the authors writing them, or anything like that. It's different; this is influence. No characters can escape the influence of their writers. Making up "ways" in which the OC is different from the creator is just denial. So as I got older I grew to sort of embrace the elements of myself that I share with Beth; there are a lot. We both talk a little too much, we both question how we appear to others far too often, and we both wear our emotions on our sleeves.

There are major differences too, of course. Many of the ways in which Beth behaves are not patterns I follow, but they're patterns that I try to understand. Beth puts up with more than I do, for reasons that - as cliche as this sounds - I'm only just now coming to understand, myself. The funny thing is that when I first started writing the Webfoot Chronicles in 1994, I spent all this time denying how much of myself was in this character yet at the same time when something happened I knew how she'd react. I didn't have to think about the hows and whys, I just wrote it, because obviously that's how she would react. It's how I would react, or sometimes, how I would LIKE to react; therefore it's how it goes. Now, even as I've accepted Beth as a part of me and me as a part of her, I take more time to think: never mind what I would do. How will Beth actually respond to this?

I am glad I've waited this long to write "All About Elizabeth", and I'm also glad I'm doing it now, at the same time that I'm starting to heavily revise the first few stories. I have a backstory to look at, patterns coming to light and I'm going "this has been here all along?" And at the same time I can go back and just slightly emphasize one or two things in the early stuff that is explained - or at least pointed to - in AAE. It's cheating in a way to go back 13 years later and "restart" the beginnings... but at the same time I feel like it's the right time.

First post!

Well. Welcome to the Weblog Chronicles, the fanfic-tie-in blog with the Corniest Name Ever! First of all let's assume I'm going to use this blog more often than I use my other blogspot account, which is to say never; so if I use this slightly more often than never, I am ahead of the tide!

Second of all let's establish a Mission Statement. Or a Statement of Purpose. Or... heck. Here's What I Wanna Talk About. :P

These posts will be dedicated to my Darkwing Duck fanfiction, primarily the Webfoot Weavings continuity but if I ever feel like talking about something non-Beth (yes, I am capable of this), I'll feel free to do so. Because it's MY blog. ;P I figure this will mean I have a place to randomly muse about character motivations, musical inspirations, scenes I'll never write, conversations that will never take place, and just general writing thoughts.

That being said, I'm not a stickler for rules. And I like to talk but I also like to converse, and to be spoken with. So I'm probably going to ask questions of my readers, if I have any; about writing or whatever strikes my fancy. I hope I have some readers or I'll get kinda lonely. ;D

Then again let's also hope I'll post here. I tell ya, I've *wanted* to post Webfoot stuff all the time lately, so having a blog just for that purpose seems like a good idea! Now what else has seemed like a good idea at the time... hmmm...