Writing Lister

[lordvalerymimes.livejournal.com]

Sorry for posting so much on the group, but I have SO many questions.

So I'm still working on my "epic" and I've been going back and forth between writing Lister phonetically and not writing him phonetically. I want to be consistent throughout the fic and I can't decide which I prefer. Sometimes it just feels right writing Lister with an occasional dropped consonant and in' instead of ing. Other-times it feels... I dunno, forced? Maybe like I'm trying TOO hard to sound like Lister.

I know I've encountered both phonetic and non-phonetic Listers in my fanfic readings, and I was curious what everyone else thinks of it. Do you have a preference? Does it irritate you when you read, "smeggin' hell" instead of "smegging hell" or do you prefer it?

This has probably been discussed before, so I apologize if I'm dredging up a dead-horse to beat. :)

Comments

[lordvalerymimes.livejournal.com]

To be fair, I think one has to remember that Lister's character changes extensively over the course of the series. I think the character started out as being much more one-dimensional. There are things that Lister says and does in later series that are really hard to imagine Lister from series 1-2 saying. Think of Lister's bits with Kochanski near the end of Back to Earth. That Lister is quite a contrast from the early Lister with his unrequited crush on a Kochanski who he barely knew.

While I don't think the character was ever meant to be truly "dumb", he did start out as quite a slacker, who almost deliberately seemed to want to not bother with any thing that might be considered "learning". The whole, "I've never read... a book." line comes to mind. Him and Rimmer were clearly meant to be sort of an Odd Couple in space at the start. One messy, the other anal, one a slacker, the other obsessed with becoming an officer, etc.

I think you make a fair point, but I can certainly see where someone might dumb down Lister a bit without being classist, especially if someone is specifically writing a younger version of Lister. As much as I love Lister and how much more well-rounded he became as the show progressed, we can't entirely forget his roots. After all, it wasn't one of the greatest minds of our time who brought us the "Om" song. ;)

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

I believe you said you don't have the DVDs yet? Because they address this on the Series 1 doc on "The Bodysnatcher Collection" (which unfortunately is hard to get hold of now). Doug and Rob originally conceived Lister as a middle-aged, brain-fried drug casualty of the hippy variety. Craig was cast because of his charm - Doug specifically says that's what won them over. ;)

The writing in "The End" was still for the original conception of the character and lines such as "Would you put the cat back together again?" are hard for someone like Craig - "a sharp twentysomething scally" - to make believable. Quotes are from the doc and commentaries.

Later eps like "Justice" and "The Inquisitor" make it clear that Lister knows he has "brains he's never used" and we see him develop and defeat the Inquisitor and various other foes.