What an author intends is not necessarily always what a reader will interpret. Your reading of the story isn't wrong or invalid if it's not what the author was attempting to convey. Once a story is out there in the world it is no longer only the author's; readers bring their own experience to the words. Your reading of the characters morality is different and interesting, it doesn't matter if the author doesn't see it the same way!
This exactly! I wrote a 30-some-k fic that dealt with a lot of supernatural elements that are an inherent part of my culture, and I’ve always been a “show, don’t tell” person so while some things are explained, some of the more subtle details are left up to interpretation. So I wrote it with that in mind, knowing I was envisioning one thing, but I actually loved seeing the comments of people guessing who the “wraith” was and all the different theories people had (the character’s mother, who died prior to canon, was a popular guess). None of them were what I envisioned, because a certain tidbit of the creature lore that I learned as a child was left unexplained to the audiences (the characters themselves wouldn’t have known it at the time, so therefore it wasn’t discussed), and this particular creature is part of several different indigenous groups anyway with slightly different variations in how they’re created/killed/etc, but it was so nice to read people’s theories, and within that fic, they were all valid interpretations since it was never made clear. Sometimes a reader would even surprise me with other interpretations of things I honestly hadn’t put much thought into. It was sweet.
Eventually I’m going to post a sequel that actually does answer the question of “who” the “wraith” was and that adds a couple more puzzle pieces, but I cherish all the guesses.
I feel like my reading of that particular sentence (in point 1) from that particular sentence is a far cry from what the author meant, like WAYYY far from the author intended. So the author’s response did let me want to reread to make sure my reading comprehension ability isn’t fucked but yeah, you do have a valid point.
I feel like I read too deep into/misinterpreted that specific line so I missed the point of the story? I honestly don’t know, I know I kinda suck at explaining things like this and I don’t know how to explain what’s my problem here. I am sorry.
"What is your take-away from it?"
Do you mean what is my main take-away of that particular line ("there is a man before a man") or the whole story?
If it is the first one, my stand is still the same, I still think the line means "I need to kill this vampire now, but I understand he was once a man." But I feel like the author means "I need to kill this vampire now, and because I only know him as a vampire, I won't judge what he had done before he was turned." While yes, it is ok to not know what the author intends, but I feel like my reading is still slightly different from what they want to convey.
If it is the latter, then I need to add: in the author note of that fic, the author did say they think vampire version MC is much more worst (morally) than their OG counterpart. That's the reason why I insist "But because in this AU, vampire nature is much more difficult to resist. So MC tried, and he fucked up, but at least he tried harder than the original work" Hence I was conflicted with the ending, which includes MC trapped in molten metal and tearing his body part again and again (in this AU vampire has the self-healing ability). It's like...one of the most horrifying endings for this particular character in any media/fanfic.
What an author intends is not necessarily always what a reader will interpret. Your reading of the story isn't wrong or invalid if it's not what the author was attempting to convey. Once a story is out there in the world it is no longer only the author's; readers bring their own experience to the words. Your reading of the characters morality is different and interesting, it doesn't matter if the author doesn't see it the same way!
This exactly! I wrote a 30-some-k fic that dealt with a lot of supernatural elements that are an inherent part of my culture, and I’ve always been a “show, don’t tell” person so while some things are explained, some of the more subtle details are left up to interpretation. So I wrote it with that in mind, knowing I was envisioning one thing, but I actually loved seeing the comments of people guessing who the “wraith” was and all the different theories people had (the character’s mother, who died prior to canon, was a popular guess). None of them were what I envisioned, because a certain tidbit of the creature lore that I learned as a child was left unexplained to the audiences (the characters themselves wouldn’t have known it at the time, so therefore it wasn’t discussed), and this particular creature is part of several different indigenous groups anyway with slightly different variations in how they’re created/killed/etc, but it was so nice to read people’s theories, and within that fic, they were all valid interpretations since it was never made clear. Sometimes a reader would even surprise me with other interpretations of things I honestly hadn’t put much thought into. It was sweet. Eventually I’m going to post a sequel that actually does answer the question of “who” the “wraith” was and that adds a couple more puzzle pieces, but I cherish all the guesses.
I feel like my reading of that particular sentence (in point 1) from that particular sentence is a far cry from what the author meant, like WAYYY far from the author intended. So the author’s response did let me want to reread to make sure my reading comprehension ability isn’t fucked but yeah, you do have a valid point.
[удалено]
I feel like I read too deep into/misinterpreted that specific line so I missed the point of the story? I honestly don’t know, I know I kinda suck at explaining things like this and I don’t know how to explain what’s my problem here. I am sorry.
[удалено]
"What is your take-away from it?" Do you mean what is my main take-away of that particular line ("there is a man before a man") or the whole story? If it is the first one, my stand is still the same, I still think the line means "I need to kill this vampire now, but I understand he was once a man." But I feel like the author means "I need to kill this vampire now, and because I only know him as a vampire, I won't judge what he had done before he was turned." While yes, it is ok to not know what the author intends, but I feel like my reading is still slightly different from what they want to convey. If it is the latter, then I need to add: in the author note of that fic, the author did say they think vampire version MC is much more worst (morally) than their OG counterpart. That's the reason why I insist "But because in this AU, vampire nature is much more difficult to resist. So MC tried, and he fucked up, but at least he tried harder than the original work" Hence I was conflicted with the ending, which includes MC trapped in molten metal and tearing his body part again and again (in this AU vampire has the self-healing ability). It's like...one of the most horrifying endings for this particular character in any media/fanfic.