If the characters were aware...

[kanshu]

A highly philosophical question borrowed from 'Last Action Hero', 'Never Ending Story', 'Breakroom' and Karot's LJ:

(Please ignore for a minute that all characters are just fictional and therefore not real as in real persons.)

If the characters in (fan-)fiction were aware of being fictional, what would their reaction be ? How would they feel/think about it? How much could a fictional character influence the author's train of thought if they had the chance?

[lazy treneka]

I think that this question has to be viewed from two perspectives really, before and beyond the looking glass, as it were.

It's a matter of under what circumstances would the realization occur. In one scenario, characters might achieve this awareness through some form of distancing. The best example of this I can think of is the Breakroom, although sf also wrote a parody fic that successfully breaks the fourth wall. In these situations, the character is given the chance to "surface" from the fictional reality of his/her day to day life, and thus observe conclusively the fact that he/she is fictional.

The second option is a sort of achievement of enlightenment independant of empiracle (sp) evidence. The character simply realizes one morning in ancient china or future Tokyo or 1920's New York that he/she is not a real person. In this instance, the realization then must further extend to the awareness that his/her entire universe and everyone in it is likewise imaginary or there's nothing to differentiate it from a particularly severe form of delusional schizophrenia...

I think you're referring to a realization ala the former scenario, but the idea of the latter still strikes me as particularly intriguing, because under that line of thought, what is there to say (conclusively) that you and I are not characters in fictions being written even now by aliens in such exciting universes that the mundane tales of the fantasy lives of a few thirtysomething fangirls are fic-worthy?

And considering it that way, what then would it feel like to wake up one morning and realize that you are simply the creation of some author's mind? Would it be unsettling? Would fear of writer's block come to haunt your days? Would you wonder what ever compelled her to fill your life with such pain and hardship and love and friends and flying dragons and giant robots? Would you rail against her when she killed your dearest love, or thank her when she arranged for you to win the lottery? In short, would your author become your god - and would you believe in her - or would you simply become jaded by the idea that no action is your own and subsequently absolve yourself of responsibility for or even interest in your existence? *is sinking in the philosophical mire*

Dammit, where's Wilde? We need her input here...

[Ganheim]

Guest-lazy said:

In short, would your author become your god - and would you believe in her - or would you simply become jaded by the idea that no action is your own and subsequently absolve yourself of responsibility for or even interest in your existence?

I think this is attempting to categorize a multitude of possible reactions and feelings into only two different groups, when there are a far wider range and combination. There's also the idea that the character might see that all of the future pain they feared (such as an eternity in the river Phlegm), and then feel a euphoria and feeling of being freed.

They could also see the possibility of "no action being their own" and then set out to try to prove it wrong. Of course, such an undertaking would be done under the "guidance" of the author.

And this is assuming they feel anything. I've read a book (long article, actually) where an author tries to make his/her characters realize that they are fictitional beings. The characters see this, but essentially continue as they have been. After all, they've got their lot in life (which is a lot more than I can say for many "real" people), and the knowledge that they don't exactly "exist" doesn't change that fact.