nancy drew canon 3: personal edition
Jun. 18th, 2009 03:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ndnickersonThis part deals with my own stories and views on the fandom.
Depending on who you ask, some Nancy Drew fans believe Ned Nickerson is a pushover, a weak character who exists only to help Nancy identify rock formations or to serve as her muscle on cases. Nancy Drew ghostwriters partially addressed this complaint by entangling Nancy with other men in later series. The Ned of the Files can be jealous, possessive, and temperamental. This perceived failure in Ned's character may be partially to blame for a dearth of fans who support a Nancy/Frank relationship. They see Nancy and Frank as equals, counterparts, and peers, who work together on cases and would therefore be likely to have a successful romantic relationship, given their mutual attraction.
I myself am a huge supporter of the Nancy/Ned relationship (the name ndnickerson comes from Nancy's initials and last name, should she marry Ned), and generally have little to no patience with people who promote Nancy/Frank at Ned's expense, by demonizing him or otherwise committing character rape. While I think Frank Hardy is a perfectly nice character, and I do enjoy exploring his relationship with Nancy, I tend to use it more often to help Nancy see the strengths in her own relationship with Ned, than to promote Nancy/Frank.
That being said, shipping Nancy/Ned seems to be a minority in the Nancy Drew fandom, and the majority of Nancy Drew fanfic writers seem to use crossover stories with the Hardy Boys and put Nancy in a relationship with Frank, sometimes Joe. To those who are very sympathetic toward Nancy/Frank, my stories can sometimes seem somewhat less than charitable toward Frank Hardy, so my stories aren't popular with rabid Nancy/Frank fans. This bias in the fandom may change, since the only stories which portray any canonical Frank/Nancy relationship are the 1970s television show and the mid-1990s SuperMysteries series, and newcomers to the fandom would possibly be more familiar with the Nancy Drew games, Mystery Stories, or current Girl Detective series (which also holds Nancy/Ned as canon). However, there's no way to predict that.
Fanon (fan-originated canon) also holds, especially among Nancy/Ned shippers, that Nancy's middle name is Elizabeth (thus making her initials the same as Ned's first name). Canonically Nancy is never given a middle name and may not have one.
Fanon is also likely to change the cause of Nancy's mother's death. As it was never given in canon (originally the event occurred when Nancy was ten years old and was due to an illness; later it was changed to when Nancy was three, for an unspecified reason), the cause changes based on the story; some authors have pinned her death on a serial killer who later comes after Nancy.
--
The major groups of stories:
My Nancy Drew fanfic can be divided into three large groups, with the majority of the ongoing longer stories falling into the last category.
Before: Stories that take place before the Nancy Drew Files, including prequels, but also including stories set during the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories. In this set, I have written a historical AU, a World War II AU (the Mystery Stories do establish that Ned is drafted and fights in Europe during World War II, but only obliquely, and that allusion was lost in the 1960s revisions), the beginning of a story dealing with Nancy and Ned's first meeting in the Files canon, and stories that take place during Nancy and Ned's relationship but before Nancy's graduation from high school and the beginning of the Files series.
During: Stories that take place during the Nancy Drew Files series. For the most part these stories may involve a heightened level of sexuality than the one actually seen in the Files series, but I take as canon that Nancy and Ned never slept together during the Files, or that, alternately, Nancy and Ned may have fooled around but never went so far as to have sex. Any Files-era story in which Nancy and Ned have sex is therefore categorized as AU, but I do take liberties with the level of physical intimacy they may or may not share.
After: Stories set after the Nancy Drew Files series, or during the On Campus series (since I view the On Campus stories as a somewhat lacking continuation of the Files series). Due to their nature many of these stories exist in their own sort of pocket universes, and can vary wildly as to the course Nancy's professional career takes after the Files. Some stories see her as a private detective, others as a government agent or spy. Her subsequent relationship with Ned can also vary, from nonexistent to marriage. In some cases, I have written two or three interconnected stories; a few of these stories have expanded into their own full, separate universes:
-Mail Order Bride begins soon after the Files, when Nancy, Ned, Bess, and George become entangled in a missing persons mystery on a tropical resort island. The villain of the case becomes obsessed with Nancy and attempts to destroy her relationship with Ned. This universe consists of two novel-length stories and a very brief epilogue.
-Cycles is set during the On Campus series and assumes that the Files directly preceded Nancy's decision to attend Wilder University. Ned attempts to reconcile with Nancy, though Nancy is dating her editor at the newspaper, Jake. In the meantime, Ned's athletic career seems to be taking off, and he and Nancy have to deal with the pressures that their chosen careers, the long distance of their relationship, and the baggage their previous relationship put on them. This universe consists of two novel-length stories.
-100 Situations is a series of oneshots exploring the way Nancy and Ned's relationship could have begun if their paths didn't cross until after Ned had graduated college and begun his career. The series begins while Nancy is in a long-term relationship with Frank Hardy and sharing an apartment with her two best friends, Bess and George.
-Rain on a Tin Roof hinges on a choice Nancy makes soon after the Files, in whether she wants to commit to her relationship with Ned or explore what could happen with Frank Hardy. This series is a bit darker and explores unplanned pregnancy, infidelity, and divorce. Rain on a Tin Roof begins with the titular novelette and consists of a series of one-shots with a fewer novelettes between.
-Red Label begins as a series of oneshots while Ned is a policeman in Chicago, and Nancy also lives in the city, as his (Files-level platonic) girlfriend. When Ned's parents are killed in a car crash, Ned comes to Nancy, emotionally shattered over the tragedy, and their relationship becomes significantly more serious as a result. Ned eventually becomes a detective with the Chicago Police Department, and the one novel in the series deals with Nancy's assisting the department in pursuit of a serial killer.
Depending on who you ask, some Nancy Drew fans believe Ned Nickerson is a pushover, a weak character who exists only to help Nancy identify rock formations or to serve as her muscle on cases. Nancy Drew ghostwriters partially addressed this complaint by entangling Nancy with other men in later series. The Ned of the Files can be jealous, possessive, and temperamental. This perceived failure in Ned's character may be partially to blame for a dearth of fans who support a Nancy/Frank relationship. They see Nancy and Frank as equals, counterparts, and peers, who work together on cases and would therefore be likely to have a successful romantic relationship, given their mutual attraction.
I myself am a huge supporter of the Nancy/Ned relationship (the name ndnickerson comes from Nancy's initials and last name, should she marry Ned), and generally have little to no patience with people who promote Nancy/Frank at Ned's expense, by demonizing him or otherwise committing character rape. While I think Frank Hardy is a perfectly nice character, and I do enjoy exploring his relationship with Nancy, I tend to use it more often to help Nancy see the strengths in her own relationship with Ned, than to promote Nancy/Frank.
That being said, shipping Nancy/Ned seems to be a minority in the Nancy Drew fandom, and the majority of Nancy Drew fanfic writers seem to use crossover stories with the Hardy Boys and put Nancy in a relationship with Frank, sometimes Joe. To those who are very sympathetic toward Nancy/Frank, my stories can sometimes seem somewhat less than charitable toward Frank Hardy, so my stories aren't popular with rabid Nancy/Frank fans. This bias in the fandom may change, since the only stories which portray any canonical Frank/Nancy relationship are the 1970s television show and the mid-1990s SuperMysteries series, and newcomers to the fandom would possibly be more familiar with the Nancy Drew games, Mystery Stories, or current Girl Detective series (which also holds Nancy/Ned as canon). However, there's no way to predict that.
Fanon (fan-originated canon) also holds, especially among Nancy/Ned shippers, that Nancy's middle name is Elizabeth (thus making her initials the same as Ned's first name). Canonically Nancy is never given a middle name and may not have one.
Fanon is also likely to change the cause of Nancy's mother's death. As it was never given in canon (originally the event occurred when Nancy was ten years old and was due to an illness; later it was changed to when Nancy was three, for an unspecified reason), the cause changes based on the story; some authors have pinned her death on a serial killer who later comes after Nancy.
--
The major groups of stories:
My Nancy Drew fanfic can be divided into three large groups, with the majority of the ongoing longer stories falling into the last category.
Before: Stories that take place before the Nancy Drew Files, including prequels, but also including stories set during the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories. In this set, I have written a historical AU, a World War II AU (the Mystery Stories do establish that Ned is drafted and fights in Europe during World War II, but only obliquely, and that allusion was lost in the 1960s revisions), the beginning of a story dealing with Nancy and Ned's first meeting in the Files canon, and stories that take place during Nancy and Ned's relationship but before Nancy's graduation from high school and the beginning of the Files series.
During: Stories that take place during the Nancy Drew Files series. For the most part these stories may involve a heightened level of sexuality than the one actually seen in the Files series, but I take as canon that Nancy and Ned never slept together during the Files, or that, alternately, Nancy and Ned may have fooled around but never went so far as to have sex. Any Files-era story in which Nancy and Ned have sex is therefore categorized as AU, but I do take liberties with the level of physical intimacy they may or may not share.
After: Stories set after the Nancy Drew Files series, or during the On Campus series (since I view the On Campus stories as a somewhat lacking continuation of the Files series). Due to their nature many of these stories exist in their own sort of pocket universes, and can vary wildly as to the course Nancy's professional career takes after the Files. Some stories see her as a private detective, others as a government agent or spy. Her subsequent relationship with Ned can also vary, from nonexistent to marriage. In some cases, I have written two or three interconnected stories; a few of these stories have expanded into their own full, separate universes:
-Mail Order Bride begins soon after the Files, when Nancy, Ned, Bess, and George become entangled in a missing persons mystery on a tropical resort island. The villain of the case becomes obsessed with Nancy and attempts to destroy her relationship with Ned. This universe consists of two novel-length stories and a very brief epilogue.
-Cycles is set during the On Campus series and assumes that the Files directly preceded Nancy's decision to attend Wilder University. Ned attempts to reconcile with Nancy, though Nancy is dating her editor at the newspaper, Jake. In the meantime, Ned's athletic career seems to be taking off, and he and Nancy have to deal with the pressures that their chosen careers, the long distance of their relationship, and the baggage their previous relationship put on them. This universe consists of two novel-length stories.
-100 Situations is a series of oneshots exploring the way Nancy and Ned's relationship could have begun if their paths didn't cross until after Ned had graduated college and begun his career. The series begins while Nancy is in a long-term relationship with Frank Hardy and sharing an apartment with her two best friends, Bess and George.
-Rain on a Tin Roof hinges on a choice Nancy makes soon after the Files, in whether she wants to commit to her relationship with Ned or explore what could happen with Frank Hardy. This series is a bit darker and explores unplanned pregnancy, infidelity, and divorce. Rain on a Tin Roof begins with the titular novelette and consists of a series of one-shots with a fewer novelettes between.
-Red Label begins as a series of oneshots while Ned is a policeman in Chicago, and Nancy also lives in the city, as his (Files-level platonic) girlfriend. When Ned's parents are killed in a car crash, Ned comes to Nancy, emotionally shattered over the tragedy, and their relationship becomes significantly more serious as a result. Ned eventually becomes a detective with the Chicago Police Department, and the one novel in the series deals with Nancy's assisting the department in pursuit of a serial killer.
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Date: 2009-08-28 03:48 pm (UTC)btw, I love your Nancy/Ned. nobody writes them sweeter.
Man
Date: 2009-09-07 05:06 am (UTC)Elodie~