PSA: A Character’s opinion is not the Author’s opinion

Quick PSA, because apparently it STILL needs saying (again): 

An author can tell a story from a fairly neutral perspective, but the majority of stories are told through the specific lens of one character’s POV, at least per section of the story. There could be a scene/chapter break where it changes, but even if the POV character changes, the perspective and thereby the narration is still coming through the lens of that particular character. It is never, unless the author is a poor one and using this character to further their own views, the author’s own personal perspective. In the case of fanfiction - at least, responsibly, well-written fanfiction - the author has a pretty specific responsibility to reproduce another creator’s character to the best of their ability. It’s not about creating an OC for the sole purpose of furthering the author’s personal views; it’s about creating the strongest possible semblance of a character who is already well known by the fanbase, and representing a likely and believable version of that character’s views. 

For instance, if the POV I’m writing is John Watson (BBC), I have to write a narration that sounds like a military doctor in his early-mid forties, which puts him being born in the mid-seventies, with a history of trust issues and emotional/sexual repression. This character’s thoughts are not going to come out in the style of a woke nineteen-year-old on social media. They just aren’t, even if the story manages to believably allow John to evolve a LOT beyond his current state in the canon. Canon!John regularly says things which are a bit Not Good, as he himself would put it. And John is, as previously mentioned, rather repressed. So if he happens to have a thought, as expressed in the narration (aka his inner monologue), about another character’s sexuality which is framed in terms that we here on tumblr wouldn’t consider strictly PC or up-to-date, please consider before castigating your friendly neighbourhood fic author, that these are meant to be JOHN’S thoughts, not the author’s. 

This sort of thing happens to fic authors ALL the time; it isn’t just me. Stop considering the actions or thoughts of a character to be the personal desires, thoughts, opinions, and stamp-of-approval of the author, especially when it’s fanfiction! The job here to is create scenarios that feel in-character for the character we’re recreating. That’s the particular challenge of writing fanfic: you’re NOT creating from scratch (which is honestly much easier!); you’re trying to rebuild the look and sound and style of a character already known to millions of people, and that’s just a different skill altogether. If I wrote a John Watson who was fluent in the differences between gender-fluidity and nonbinary, who knew that asexuality and aromanticism are different things, who understood what’s inherently wrong with statements like #alllivesmatter, who never commented overtly on people’s financial status or said or did anything remotely misogynistic, I’m sorry, but it wouldn’t quite be John Watson. It would feel - and BE - something imposed onto him. It’s not easy to write a character with whom you disagree, but that’s just how writing works! Otherwise the only characters written would be self-insertions, and that would get boring pretty quickly. 

Bottom line: don’t assume that a character’s choice or opinion is an author’s self-projection, and then castigate them over it. It happens all the time in fandom and it’s not just not cool; it’s just not accurate.