I’ve been reading some fanfiction lately (don’t laugh at me), on X-Men: Evolution.  I’m a fan of Rogue and Gambit in particular, thanks to the original cartoon when I was a kid.  There’s just something beautiful about how starcrossed they are.  As for the cartoons, I just prefer the art style of Evolution.  I also wouldn’t understand all the references of real X-Men fanfiction and, frankly, X-Men: Evolution is for teens and that’s the age group I gravitate toward, as far as entertainment goes.

The show itself was kind of moralistic — it tried to teach lessons about being a true friend and how family always forgives and how you should talk things out.  That was okay, but it did get in the way of plot.  The best episodes were the ones that delved into the characters’ canon comic backgrounds, because that added surprising depth to a show that leaned too far toward after-school-special.  My favorite of these depth episodes was (obviously) the one where Gambit gets Rogue to help him out with something in his old hometown: “Cajun Spice.”  I won’t spoil the plot, but it’s the first (and only) real interaction the two have (the show got canceled soon after).

So, since my Warcraft account is down for the next month or so, I decided to poke around and see if I could find any nice Rogue and Gambit fanfics.  (Seriously. Don’t laugh.)   I sifted through the first chapters of a few, got a little jaded on how most of them try to maneuver around her “no touch” problem so they could get to the making out.  Got a headache from the grammar issues — which is not to be confused with encountering grammar issues so bad they’re funny.

I learned as a teenager that the best way to find good fanfiction is to find someone who writes reasonably well and look in their favorite stories section.  That’s how I found Seriana Ritani (Flight, Allons Voler, Fly Away Home, Fly By Night — these four parts comprise a long story the size of a real novel). She explains in her author bio that she has Asperger’s Syndrome (a form of high-functioning autism), so when she’s into something she’s really into it.  I can only assume the A.S. also encourages better grammar because her stories are a wonderland of proper sentence formation, correct spelling, and seamlessly woven moments of French that are (at least in the world of fanfiction) pure art.

Her stories are actually good.  On their own.  As stories.

OMG, impossible, right?  No, I’m serious.  This is the kind of thing I wade through the dross of fanfiction for.

You’ll want a little background if you read her stuff on my recommendation — that episode of Cajun Spice will fill in most of the gaps and wikipedia can handle the rest.  Pretty much all of the characters she brings in are actual canon comic characters, so you can poke into their wiki pages and read up on them.  Seeing as how there are a lot of characters to keep straight, I’d recommend taking that time.

The reason I’m actually willing to recommend her work here is that it’s clean. Somehow, the cleaner a romance is in fanfiction, the more likely the writer is going to pay attention to plot.  Ritani delivers, not just plot or cleanliness or substance but truly moving writing where the characters form relationships based on trust and friendship, not just teenage hormones.

Which brings me around to the title of this post.  One thing I deeply admire in Ritani’s work is the fact that she accurately represents characters as the flawed beings they are.

I’m currently suffering through a different Rogue/Gambit story, hoping it’ll get to some sort of point before I give up on it, and it just had a scene reminiscent of one of Ritani’s.  The difference between the two scenes clearly shows which writer is better.  Not because of style, but because of what happens.

Situation: Gambit must face off against Cyclops, who is the team leader of the X-Men.

In Ritani’s epic, Gambit does this because he has a bet with Rogue about who would win.  Cyclops wins the fair fight, but Gambit cheats and calls it a win for his bet (important to the plot, as losing would force him to interrupt his travel plans).

In the other story, they’re just training but Gambit plays the fight out so as to not embarrass Cyclops in front of his girlfriend.  Not only is Gambit clearly superior, but everyone knows it (as evidenced by a bet over whether Gambit wins in more or less than 10 minutes).  This fight is not important to the plot, as winning or losing makes no real difference, and was put in to show off how superior Gambit is.  It is accompanied by the X-Men women admiring him and the men (except for Cyclops) considering the women’s susceptibility to Gambit as a fact of life.

Ritani shows Gambit as a real human (or mutant, if you want to nitpick) capable of trying and failing.  He is not the best fighter, nor does he get every woman ever (though she does include his considerable charm, it doesn’t blind the X-Women).  In canon, he’s one of the world’s best thieves, but Ritani makes allowances in her story to show that he’s not so good that he can embarrass the more powerful and experienced thieves and even emphasizes that he wouldn’t want to if he could.  The other story, however, makes him out to be some sort of unstoppable force — feared by men, wanted by women, all-around-godlike.

I do realize I’m not only talking about fiction but fanfiction when I say “That is so unrealistic,” but it’s not about where I read it or what fantasy elements might make it plausible.  It’s the principle that, when you’re telling a story, your character cannot have the upper hand all the time.  Even Superman struggled.

The Lesson

I keep these principles in mind when I write:

• A character must have real personality flaws.
• A character cannot be friends with everyone who matters.
• A character must be bad at some things.
• A character can’t stay the best forever.

Simply put, a character has to be flawed and can’t be perfect.  These things are true for every character ever, no matter what.  To ignore them is to write badly.

—————————————

Excerpt from the other story:
(I prefer not to give a link or the title if I’m using it as an example of bad writing.)

Gambit mostly parried for ten minutes straight. Cyclops would stand in the middle of the room, shooting off his optic blasts and Gambit got a good workout in acrobatics, flipping up and dodging the light beams this way and that. His original plan was to drag the fight long enough until Cyclops would wear out. But at this rate, where Gambit was doing most of the moving, and Cyclops only working the muscles in his index finger while he clicked open and shut his glasses, it seemed Gambit would be the one to tire first. And most likely, that was Cyclops’ plan.

Cyclops gritted his teeth in frustration, as he opened and shut his visor, trying to predict Gambit’s next move. But not even one of his beams had connected so far. Gambit was incredibly fast, and just when Cyclops would think he got him cornered, he’d flip out of the situation in some unbelievably clever way, and half of the time, Cyclops’ eyes couldn’t even follow his movements. In any case, his best bet was to keep his attacks long distance and in rapid succession so Gambit had little time to retaliate. Already, Gambit’s movement was getting a little sloppier, so Cyclops began to vary his attacks. It was a lot like playing “Duck Hunt.”

There was an internal conflict within Gambit as he quickly doubled backwards from another red laser beam sizzling through the air. He should probably end this soon. Because he really did not want to spend the whole day doing this. Another beam sliced through the air, and Gambit dove to the side and cartwheeled over another. The dilemma was to end the fight by just getting hit by one of Cyclops’ beams or fighting back and taking him down.

Excerpt from Ritani’s story:
(In this scene, Gambit has already made his bet with Rogue — if he wins the fight with Cyclops, she has to cook him dinner.  If Cyclops wins, Gambit has to stay and join the X-Men.  Note the way he misinforms Cyclops about the bet at the end, giving the impression that it was just about food when losing would have had life-changing repercussions.)

Bobby came shooting into the kitchen, pinwheeling his arms for balance as he reached the end of his ice slide. “You guys you guys you guys! You gotta see this! Scott and Gambit are dukin’ it out in the Danger Room!”

Preparations for dinner were abandoned. Kitty, Amara, Sam, Ray, Roberto, Kurt and Jamie went shoving and yelling up the hallway, each eager to be the first to see their field commander either administer or receive a kicking of the butt. They crowded into the Observation Room, which was crisscrossed with flashes of red and orange light as the two young men unleashed their arsenals upon one another.

“I wonder if it hurts more to get hit by the optic beam or one of the cards?” Jamie asked. “Wow, nice flip!”

“He’s pretty good with that staff,” Ray observed. “We should train with those.”

“But not so much with the cards. He can’t throw them fast enough to keep up with Scott.”

“Hey!” Bobby protested. “That’s my favorite workout bag!”

“Shut up, Bobby!”

“But I liked that bag! Look at it, all over the floor—“

“Woo-hoo! You show him, Cyclops! Nobody messes with . . . ouch.”

“He’s okay. See, he’s up.”

“Gambit’s got to run out of cards sooner or later.”

“Yeah, but will he run out of them before Scott’s eyes get tired?”

“Do Scott’s eyes get tired?”

“Man!” Kurt griped. “I can’t believe Storm forgot to buy popcorn!”

“I’ve got some M&Ms in my pocket,” Jamie offered.

“Eew,” said Kitty.

“Ooo! Right in the chest!”

“Who? Who? I missed it! Oh, Gambit, right.”

“He smacked his head pretty hard, too.”

“Yeah, his balance is off. See how he wobbled right there?”

“Shouldn’t somebody go tell Logan or somebody? They’re going to get hurt.”

“You’re such a spoilsport, Amara.”

“You guys you guys! I think he’s down!”

The light show abruptly ceased. Everyone crowded to the window to see Gambit, nearly in the center of the room, sprawled onto his hands and knees. His head was bowed, his coat was only on by one arm, and his staff lay on the floor a few feet away. Cyclops warily removed his hand from the shutter of his visor, still tensed and ready for a fresh attack.

“Is he hurt?”

“Sssshhh!”

As everyone watched, Scott approached his downed opponent and offered his hand. Gambit wearily raised his head, his unsettling eyes radiating resentment and wounded pride. But Scott did not withdraw his hand, and after a long moment of hesitation, Gambit took it.

Then, so fast that no one could really see how it had been done, Gambit pivoted on one knee, swept Scott’s feet out from underneath him, snatched up his staff, flipped upright, and planted the staff’s end squarely against Scott’s throat.

—–

“He! La donc, a la fin de l’envoi, je touche,” Gambit recited. “Very well played, mon ami.”

“You cheated,” Scott accused.

“I did,” Gambit acknowledged, slithering one arm back into his hanging sleeve. “I beg yo’ pardon. I had a lot ridin’ on dis fight.” He spun the staff, collapsed it, and slipped back into the pocket of his coat. “Nex’time, we play yo’way.”

Scott climbed to his feet and brushed off his uniform. “What do you mean, you had a lot riding on it? Like what?”

Gambit grinned. “Five courses an’ cheesecake fo’ dessert.” He stuck his hand in his pocket, then scowled absentmindedly. “I’m gonna have t’get more cards. You used up my whole deck.”

“Wait a minute . . . was this whole thing just a game to you?”

“Why? You not havin’ fun?” Gambit smirked, then made an elaborate bow. “I will bid you good evenin’, M’sieur Summers, an’ I will leave yo’house at once. Kindly convey my compliments to yo’ lovely lady friend.”

Then, without another word, Gambit strolled out of the Danger Room and walked purposefully out of the mansion.