lunabee34

In the comments to a post lyrstzha made HERE about Mary Sues, I started wondering how common my fannish experience of a source text is with the experience of other fans.

As I said in my comment, I think Mary Sues exist in fandom because one of the main ways many of us are fans of a work is by imagining that *we* inhabit that world. For instance, when I fantasize about BtVS, I don't fantasize about Spike getting it on with Angel, even though I might write a fic about that. I fantasize about Spike getting it on with ME, Lorraine the Vampire Layer who has magical powers and really cool boots. LOL I'm not saying that every fan approaches the source material in that way, but I think a lot of us insert ourselves into the 'verse of whatever fandom we're in. So having a Mary Sue cuts out the middleman. Why have Buffy be my stand-in when she's dancing with Faith when I'd really like it to be me?*

Lyr responded: Huh. Sometimes I do put myself into one of my fannish verses in fantasies, but usually I don't. More often, I actually slip into the skin of an existing character in my imagination (which is what I mean by empathy); if I'm Buffy dancing with Faith, I'm enjoying dancing with Faith, but I'm also enjoying being Buffy and having the relationship dynamic that exists between them. I'm a lot more likely to imagine myself in a completely original verse. If I do put myself directly into a fannish verse, it's usually in a less direct or even non-existent relationship to the established characters; for example, I might be Lyr the Vampire Slayer of Texas with my own team of totally original wacky sidekicks. You know, I never really thought about whether or not that makes me odd, but now that I consider it, I think your way is probably more usual by far.

Do any of you guys experience the source material in either of these ways? Got a third or fourth way to share?

*Caveat--I'm not advocating writing the Mary Sue, just giving one possible reason for her existance.