Snowflake Day 11: Did you ever get the feeling you were born to lose?

[tielan]

I'm one of those fans. The kind whose favourite character is inevitably never the favourite of either the canon creators or the majority of fans. The kind whose favourite never gets the cool storylines, who's railroaded into "their life experience" instead of being allowed to experience life.

Sometimes, I just want to flip the script.

The 'role reversal' trope is a fun way to do that, as well as a writing challenge. It's fun because I can skew the scenario gently sideways, opening up possibilities in my brain and the brains of my readers, while still retaining the recognisable parts of the character.

The second challenge is to keep the character recognisable.

What are the things that make the character who they are? Who do they look like if they don't have the precise history that canon has given them? How does the story change when they're in a major role instead of shuffled off to the side?

What does it look like when Teyla is the leader of a gate team, and Rodney is the runner? What does Maria Hill, Stark by adoption actually look like? How does Bucky Barnes cope in the modern world when Steve fell from the train during the war? What does Steve Rogers, Winter Soldier look like in such a universe? And what if you took the Justice League's Trinity, and mixed them all around?

Like I said, it's a fun trope to play with, to contemplate how the world looks different not just in someone else's shoes, but in another character's entire set of clothing.

Comments

[beatrice_otter]

Word!

[tielan]

:D

[makamu]

As I said in my reply at the Snowflake community, flipping the script is one of my favourite tropes as well. And many of your fics are great examples, if I may say so :)

[tielan]

It's always delightful to try to think about how things would go differently! And thank you!

[makamu]

It's always delightful to try to think about how things would go differently! And thank you

It very much is! Although my "what-ifs" often tend to explode on me. Maybe you're familiar with that experience as well? *sheepish grin*

[royalblue31]

I never considered the role reversal trope before, but you make it sound so interesting. After reading your Maria Hill, Stark by adoption fic, I agree—it's a very fun trope to play with.

[tielan]

It's just a chance to play with the world differently...

And thanks for reading the fic.

[spikedluv]

Role reversal can be so fun!

[tielan]

Oh definitely!

I think back in SGA fandom, there was a challenge called "Reverseverse" which basically had to swap some premise of the show around and write the stories from there. There were some really good stories that came out of that.

[shipperslist]

What does Maria Hill, Stark by adoption actually look like?

Ohhh this was cool!

[tielan]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!

[cornerofmadness]

I'm so with you on this. Thanks for sharing!

[tielan]

It's just fun to change things around and then try to work out how it all falls out!

Thanks for commenting!

[kore]

I love those! What If? the cartoon series did a version of that, with Captain Carter and Winter Soldier Steve. Also weren't you the one who wrote the fic where the original Avengers team is all women? LOVED that one.

[tielan]

Yes, I wrote a fic where the original Avengers were all women! Never really continued it, though.

(I mean, there was the comedic interlude where the Avengers drag Maria along to sing karaoke, but...that was different...)

[peaked]

I've never really been one for role reversal (never really thought about it), but you make it sound so intriguing.

But I feel you on loving a character the creators seem to not care for. Being in that club sucks, but it just means you get to love them while the creators miss out imo!

[tielan]

It sucks so hard! *sigh*

Especially when they get hardly any screentime at all, or always end up an adjunct to another character, because then the fandom also just dismisses them...

[adafrog]

:)

[tielan]

;)

[kuwdora]

yeah script flipping is SO MUCH FUUUNNNN to read and write

[tielan]

It's really fun when done well. (Both to read and to write!)

[facethestrange]

I honestly have never given much thought to the role reversal trope because I couldn't think of examples where it would be relevant to my interests. (Characters' childhood backstories are my favorite thing, and for some reason I assumed that in role reversal the story had to be changed from birth.) But after your post I'm very curious about it because it sounds like I misunderstood it - it's just a specific flavor of canon-divergence which is definitely one of my favorite things ever. ♡

[tielan]

I mean, you can change a story from birth if you want. But yes, it's a specific flavour of canon-divergence.

Actually, if I stop and think about it, the Marvel Comics' mid-90s Age Of Apocalypse arc in the X-Men books was this trope in so many ways, which explains why I enjoyed it so much. Even back then...

[facethestrange]

You can but I didn't know that you didn't necessarily have to, and thanks to your post I'm definitely on board now. :D

[silveradept]

Role reversals and divergences are really fun to write, especially when you get a really good idea of what things might be like with that change in place.

[tielan]

Large parts of my enjoyment come from nutting out the changes and how everything unfolded from that point, and then working out how to bring the audience along with my line of thought...