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deborahdeshoftim5779 · 8 years ago

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Trelsi: The Pleasure of Un-Orthodoxy

I have to advise honest High School Musical fanfiction writers that they must shelve their fear of being un-orthodox. The HSM fandom is one of the least balanced I have ever seen, and I’ve been part of a few other major fandoms within the last couple of years. With almost no criticism applied to the major couple, Troy and Gabriella, then there should be no fear of going against the grain, even if that means a substantially smaller reading audience. I’ve just spent a couple of hours rewriting and adding to notes for my major Trelsi story, as I’ve been dilly-dallying on it for a while, working on a couple of smaller Trelsi projects. I love this story madly, because I’ve got loads of unorthodox additions, structures and changes that I want to make, all of which have been thought through over the last six months.

The deal is this: non-Orthodox HSM fandoms are often better considered than the canonical pairings-- particularly Troyella. I’ve discussed the patent problems with Troyella in a current series I’m writing called “The Marvel of Trelsi”. Check it out if you like chunky paragraphs, unbridled sarcasm and endless footnotes. This is because the non-orthodox ships must often sift through a large body of script and photographic evidence in order to build a case for their ship. Of course, this is not always the case, and this does not guarantee that anyone will agree with that interpretation. I personally much prefer a case for a ship that is built on script evidence, rather than photographic evidence, as the script is less prone to manipulation than photographs-- a screenshot could mean anything to anyone at any time. But even so, the non-Orthodox shipper often has to look beyond what they are given, whereas the Troyella narrative is so imposing that it does not lend to critical thinking.

Of course, there are many non-Orthodox ships that I consider implausible or ridiculous. Not everyone bothers to do their homework. And building a case for a ship does not mean that one has considered the legitimate future for that ship, which I argue is somewhat important. (Depending upon how seriously you take these things). But they have often yielded potential scenarios of greater interest than what was given to us via Troyella. I consider Trelsi to be very much in this vein. Because so few fans are willing to consider Trelsi outside of Kelsi being a useful accessory to promote the Troyella relationship, then very few people are willing to actually think the potential through (soon to be discussed in my above-mentioned series) and see how that compares to the canonical narrative. I have to appreciate the very small audience willing to consider these things, but I continue, because these links and possibilities should be explored.

I don’t know about the writing process of other authors, although judging by the quality of some fics that I’ve read in the fandom so far, I assume that many don’t have one. I like to write detailed character notes before even writing the first letter of the first chapter. I have to get to the very bottom of the character, and this is honestly where some of my best ideas with regards to the Trelsi ship have come from. In fact, I drew heavily from my character notes in order to write my current series on Trelsi, and vice versa. Up until today, I had been procrastinating on finishing my character notes for Kelsi (ironic, given that I managed it for this series!) and finally completed them today. Previously, I had been considering whether her inability to criticize Troyella would be a significant flaw, until I dug a little deeper and thought about why she supported this “relationship”, and discovered the real reason (which I will discuss in “The Marvel of Trelsi”! XD), which gave me a whole new perspective. I was like “YES-- this makes sense!” It’s amazing when you discover more about the character whilst writing them and then being able to develop the plot. And I contend that this comes from un-orthodoxy; I have to think outside the box and work with the limited materials available to me on Trelsi in order to justify deviating so wildly from canon.

I wrote an amateur list of “Thou Shalts and Thou Shalt Nots” for the Trelsi fandom, which I now think wasn’t detailed enough with problems that I had when reading Trelsi fics. One of them includes an inability to write Troy Bolton as well as Kelsi Nielsen. I have seen a wide range of characterizations for Troy which range from an unrealistic, macho jock (not sure what script evidence supports that) to being a complete wimp and pushover, which, despite Troy’s plummeting self-esteem, is not true either. In fact, I discussed this in a footnote for my Trelsi series, that Troy can pluck up the courage to walk away from Gabriella during HSM II, when she had been deceiving and manipulating him whilst pretending to flirt with Ryan. There are clear moments when Troy is willing to try and persuade Gabriella, to disagree with her, to try and make her see reason. Just because he is not successful in these attempts does not turn him into a glob of jelly. Another characterization that I wish to challenge is that of Kelsi as being the perennial shrinking violet throughout the movies. I alluded to this during my “Thou Shalts/Thou Shalt Nots”, but I believe that time has given me enough perspective to expand upon that. It appears popular to portray Kelsi as always been the hapless, innocent, shy and sweet girl. I hope that I have brought more nuance and complexity to her as a character here and here. If you can’t see a decided evolution in Kelsi’s character throughout the canonical movies, then I must conclude that you were watching different movies. The key is to understand how much of Kelsi’s shyness remains, and how to balance that with an increased confidence. Because Kelsi takes love VERY SERIOUSLY (check out my analysis of her lyrics), there is little room for playing around with her characterization. This also undervalues the stories that rely too heavily upon the “Kelsi has a crush on Troy theory”, which I will deconstruct in my next instalment for “The Marvel of Trelsi”. (It’s coming. It’s coming... :D)

Another joy of unorthodoxy helps me to challenge the Trelsi fics where the result is a seamless happily-ever-after. I hate HEA endings with a passion-- so much so that I have committed myself to never writing one, whether for fanfiction or for an original. I’m currently working on an original story where I want my protagonist to fail in his quest, because the quest is so deep-rooted and draining that I’m not sure it can be won. It’s not that I advise being pessimistic in unorthodox pairings; I understand the desire to give two underappreciated characters a happy ending. But unorthodoxy is precisely just that. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Think about that. You need to deal with Gabriella, you need to deal with her friends, you need to deal with the dreaded status quo that the Wildcats claim has disappeared, but really exists throughout the movie canon. Personally, I embrace this challenge, and I’m very excited about adding in all my unorthodox changes to the Trelsi storyline. For me, I see no profit without a struggle, and I want Troy and Kelsi to struggle. I see no other way for them as a couple unless they have struggled first. Don’t follow the grain of Troyella where there is no struggle from the start, and everything only gets sweeter and sweeter. If you have a significant problem with Troyella, then you get to deconstruct this myth-- but don’t go overboard and decide to demonize Gabriella, or make Troyella into something worse than it is. (Although it’s difficult to see anything worse as far as relationships go). Play around a little within canonical constraints and plain old common sense.

I despise fluff in most forms. I read Trelsi fic to learn from the characterization and to add to my headcanons. I actually do not read Trelsi fiction to enjoy the fluff, because I don’t generally enjoy fluff. I understand the appeal, but it never draws me in. Am I too much of a realist? But we are dealing with teenagers, if one sticks to the canonical narrative, and whilst that may be an argument for fluff, it certainly isn’t an argument for unrealistic platitudes of love. Despite the fact that Kelsi is a heavy romantic idealist (as is Troy), that does not immeidately translate into a sugary relationship with anyone. This is why I cautioned against sugary Trelsi stories. But don’t get me wrong, you can still get some classic romantic moments between Troy and Kelsi. I know, because I’ve been planning stories for the last six months. It’s just a matter of understanding what constitutes Troy and Kelsi’s relationship, that it is made up of small, notable and largely quiet moments, often demonstrated during when one of them (usually Troy, but it can also be Kelsi) is at their lowest. So from a writing technique, aesthetic and sadistic viewpoint, I prefer to challenge Troy and Kelsi before they deserve any romantic moments together. I take this same approach to all the romance fiction that I’ve written for other fandoms. If they haven’t suffered, then they don’t deserve it.

(Fun fact: I used to hate the romance genre, and swore never to write it).

I have attempted to demonstrate a romantic moment here:

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“Today, he looked casual, almost invisible, with his black jeans, sneakers and black shirt. Casual and handsome, she added, quite forgetting that she should have outgrown such thoughts by now.

“Why don’t you play the rest of it?” Without waiting for response, he had jumped off stage (she couldn’t help admiring his agility) and the next minute, was sitting next to her on the piano stool. Distracted by this, and possibly by his deodorant or aftershave or whatever, she stared at him before remembering that this wasn’t Junior Year, and she hadn’t only just met him, and she should just play the damn thing.

“It’s kinda rough right now--”

He smiled. “Didn’t sound like it.”

Relenting, she played it. And somehow, maybe because it was her first time, or perhaps because only Troy was there to hear it, she felt drawn in far deeper than she’d intended, so much so that when she’d finished, it took a moment to return to reality. Just the bare bones? No, she had accessed something deeper in the three or four minutes she’d played, and wasn’t sure how to retrieve it, capture the moment in a bottle and repeat. She stared at the keys, her fingernails and then the crumpled manuscript in front of her as though they’d suddenly appeared. Jesus Christ. And finally, she glanced at Troy, embarrassed about zoning out on him.

“Er… so yeah. That’s the song. So far.”

For a moment, he didn’t answer, his eyes fixed on hers. “Wow… That’s… That’s nice.”

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As you can see, I’ve reused the scene from HSM I, after Troy hears “What I’ve Been Looking For” in order to demonstrate the emotional connection that Troy feels-- canonically, I might add-- towards Kelsi’s music. Obviously, this is rough, so it will be edited properly, but right now (at 22:11pm), I’m thinking it’s not too shabby. Yet. :D I am going to have some fun coming up with more scenes, some already which are in my head.

I’m onto writing my character notes for Gabriella Montez, which I will finish sometime later this week. That will certainly be fun as I seek to understand her motivations, and why she gets away with such atrocious behaviour towards Troy Bolton.

Stay unorthodox! :D

#Trelsi #Playmakers #OTP #TroyBolton #KelsiNielsen #Deb'sWritings #NeedToGoToBed #Tired #HighSchoolMusical #TrelsiRomance #LiterallyTroyandKelsiForever

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