TLYDF: Exploring the Jasper Factor

Not long ago, our good friend AngstGoddess003 turned to the Twilight Sisterhood for a little research assistance. We're always glad to help when we can, so I was thrilled to see the results of that with her excellent essay for TLYDF called Exploring the Jasper Factor.

AG delves into the concept of Jasper being the next truly "acceptable" star of fanfiction's future. There are literally thousands of fics about Edward and Bella and recently there has been a surge of next generation fics with Jasper taking the reigns.

She breaks down the different variations of Jasper that we're seeing such as Vampsper, Texsper, Darksper and, one that scares me a bit, Edsper. AG explores what it is about these characterizations, in addition to others, that are so appealing to the readers and what the thought process is behind them from the authors themselves.

Beyond that, AG enlisted the help of the Twilight Sisterhood and others with some questions which I presented to those on our forum. First, she wanted to know if we imagine actor Jackson Rathbone, who played Jasper Hale in the movie adaptation of Twilight, when we read/write Twilight fanfiction. If not, she was curious who we do picture in that role. Then she wanted to know our opinions on which we thought was the cooler power, Edward's ability to read minds or Jasper's power of empathetic manipulation.

Here is the Jacksper breakdown and some of our contributions. I know who these "random" readers are. Can you find your input here?:

Jasper is Jackson : 11
Jasper is Jackson, with physical alterations : 5
Jasper is not Jackson : 3
Jasper is Joe Anderson : 1
Jasper is Tatum Channing : 1

Random Reader comment from The Twilight Sisterhood: As for the powers... I think they are both incredibly intrusive; you're either invaded by their thoughts or their emotions. I think I’d have to go with the thoughts, because it is the lesser of the two. I think Edward learned to ignore and tune out the chatter all around him, but they never said anything about jasper being able to ignore emotional surges around him. I’m a very empathetic person, and I know how hard it is not to succumb to the emotions of others when they're running high. I imagine most of the time he's not even sure how he himself feels, he is so inundated with the thoughts around him.

Random Reader comment from The Twilight Sisterhood: The "cooler" power is relative... I think the mindreading thing is cool, but not sure I'd want to live like that the rest of MY life or live with someone else who had that power...so I'd have to choose empathetic manipulation, although I'm a moody bitch, so I'd have to choose C - none of the above...if I had a choice, I'd choose seeing the future like Alice...she has the ability to change the future based on her visions! Way coolest power!

This is such a fun, insightful piece that you must check it out and show AG some love. She did a great job dissecting all of the aspects of The Jasper Factor.

The Lazy, Yet Discerning Ficster