I have a weird question to ask. I don't think anyone can help, but it's perplexing me. Like many of you, my favorite character (other than House, of course) is Wilson. There are days when I actually like Wilson more. And I want to write fic about him. But I can't. I beg for him to talk to me, but he clams up. He won't tell me anything. I've tried. Does anyone else have this problem, trying to write for a favorite character, but having absolutely no luck? Do you do anything to help the plot bunnies along? I'm not really enamored of 13, but seriously, I think I could manage to write better fic for her than I can for Wilson... ;)

Well, I know what you're talking about in terms of not being able to get the character to talk to you; the character either wants to or he doesn't, and there isn't a lot you can do to "force" it (plus it comes out forced-sounding, anyway.) Maybe your best approach would be to characterize Wilson through the eyes of some other character. This can be very effective and actually allow you to expose layers of Wilson and his motivations that he may not recognize himself.

I don't know, in my experience it starts with forcing it. Not necessarily writing what feels forced, but forcing yourself to keep trying to get the character to talk. I probably never would have started writing Cameron if I hadn't spent about a month writing a fic two sentences at a time as it came to me.

Maybe you should try just doing a character study. Just free write about him, not trying for plot or anything, but so you can start to get a handle on his character. And it doesn't have to be necessarily about his personality, either; you could write about the way he moves, some random bit of (made-up) history about him. Oh, an re-watching episodes with/about him are helpful too. :)

March301, here's something you could try out, just to see if it works. If you know the situation that you'd like to write -- or even one scene of the story -- you could visualize the scene and then try being Wilson in that scene. Seriously. Imagine that you're him -- that you're walking around in that tall body, with those dress shoes on and the long sleeves and the striped tie you picked out this morning. Look around you; what do you see? What do you think about it? Something happens; how do you respond? What's interesting to me about this exercise is that I tend to get it wrong the first time. But as soon as I get it wrong, suddenly the character who wouldn't talk to me shows up and says, "No. That's not how it was at all. What I did was this." And then I'm off and running. Everyone has different ways of going about this, but putting myself in that character's place is often the only way I can get started. It even allowed me to write Cameron, who generally will not speak to me and whose motivations I find almost impossible to understand most of the time. It might be worth a shot.

I often find that character work I do for writing is not that different from the character work I do for acting. In fact, if I try to stop doing one and just focus on the other, the whole thing falls to pieces. Sometimes role playing helps me too, with just one person in character so it's sort of like an interview. It doesn't really matter whether I'm the one in character or not, just the talking gets my brain working. And I'll second the idea of watching lots and lots of scenes, especially if the problem is actually being able to hear his voice. Sometimes a character may want to speak to me, but I have trouble hearing the voice. That's a particular problem for me writing Chase, because I have trouble constructing accents in my head. Listening in that case always helps.

Can someone tell me this: is it canon that Wilson is a migraine sufferer? Because it pops up a LOT in fanfics and I'm confused as to where it came from, since the only person I can remember suffering from one on the show is House.

Can someone tell me this: is it canon that Wilson is a migraine sufferer? Because it pops up a LOT in fanfics and I'm confused as to where it came from, since the only person I can remember suffering from one on the show is House. No, it is not. Wilson had a headache in Resignation, but that was because of the amphetamines.

Maybe because of his tendency to rub the back of his neck when he's feeling stressed? I don't know, lots of writers like to make Wilson suffer - whether its migraines, various illnesses, nervous breakdowns, or even death. House and Wilson's drug-induced migraines don't make a convincing case for either of them suffering from migraines, any more than House suffers from the runs simply because Cuddy slipped him some laxatives. I think the migraines are strictly fanon.

I thought so. I have a migraine disorder and figured I'd have noticed it portrayed again on the show, but it was so widespread I thought I was going crazy. House and Wilson's drug-induced migraines don't make a convincing case for either of them suffering from migraines, any more than House suffers from the runs simply because Cuddy slipped him some laxatives. I think the migraines are strictly fanon. Really - though House's experience of one was still the most accurately I've seen it portrayed on screen, even if the way he got it (and then cured it) was convoluted.

House and Wilson's drug-induced migraines don't make a convincing case for either of them suffering from migraines, any more than House suffers from the runs simply because Cuddy slipped him some laxatives. I think the migraines are strictly fanon. Yes, an extremely pervasive fanon -- like House's insomnia.

Since this thread has been on nap-time for a while, I won't feel like I'm hijacking it to ask a question: The Contract is an immensely popular fic of the House fandom, spawning sequels, AUs, and fics "in the style of" or "inspired by" Contract. But I can't for the life of me understand its popularity. I like works like Pencils well enough (showing the aftereffects), and I am not put of by violence qua violence (I don't need a guarantee of Poeia-safety to read a fic and am indeed an avid consumer of violent films, etc), but it strikes me as truly gratuitous in the dictionary definition sense of the word. I do not in any way intend any offense at DIY Sheep's work and actually love other works and opinions from that author. I just want to hear from fans of the Contractverse: what is it about this genre that appeals to you?

Hmm. My reasons might be pretty basic, but I enjoy long stories that draw you in, as many Contract-verse stories are. I also really enjoy hurt-comfort fics, and fics dealing with emotional pain, and this one has both of those. And the people who have tackled the Contract Verse have been really excellent authors, so those fics are well written, also. But everyone likes something different.