Showing posts with label Characters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Characters. Show all posts
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Have a WIP
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Have some icons
Cael, Cylas, Grant, Justin
Here, have some icons. These are the four main characters of the Happy Raging Mutants Time campaign I'm running. Cylas is my character and Cael, Grant, and Justin are the player characters. Cael is a bookworm. Cylas is a prep. Grant is an emo (though he denies it,) and Justin is a creeper teacher. Justin's no longer with the main party; his player switched out for a new character named Penelope who's a really sweet (but totally kick ass) chick. I'll post up her icon when I draw it.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Have you ever written a character with physical or mental disabilities?
Yes, I have but it’s usually pretty limited because it’s so hard to write. This is largely because I’m fortunate enough to be healthy myself, and my friends are as well. As a result, I have little experience in dealing with disabilities and therefore don’t trust myself to write it effectively.
I have one character who lost his leg in an accident when he was very young. By the time the story opens he’s already largely healed from the trauma and learned how to live with his condition, so the story doesn’t actually focus much on that aspect of his life. I chose to give him this condition for metaphorical reasons rather than drama.
As for mental disability, one character of mine is a blatant sociopath. However, he’s only affected by this in the beginning of the story, since the turning point is that due to supernatural reasons he’s given a conscience, and thus the rest of the story is about him dealing with the horrible things he’s done to others in the past, their reactions to that, and his mission for self-redemption.
Other than that, I haven’t really dabbled too much in disabilities. I’ve toyed with addiction before, mostly side characters who are alcoholics or have the desire to quit smoking or are dependent on some medication. Recently after reading Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I’ve become interested in asperger syndrome, but I don’t know if a character will come out of it yet.
I have one character who lost his leg in an accident when he was very young. By the time the story opens he’s already largely healed from the trauma and learned how to live with his condition, so the story doesn’t actually focus much on that aspect of his life. I chose to give him this condition for metaphorical reasons rather than drama.
As for mental disability, one character of mine is a blatant sociopath. However, he’s only affected by this in the beginning of the story, since the turning point is that due to supernatural reasons he’s given a conscience, and thus the rest of the story is about him dealing with the horrible things he’s done to others in the past, their reactions to that, and his mission for self-redemption.
Other than that, I haven’t really dabbled too much in disabilities. I’ve toyed with addiction before, mostly side characters who are alcoholics or have the desire to quit smoking or are dependent on some medication. Recently after reading Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I’ve become interested in asperger syndrome, but I don’t know if a character will come out of it yet.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Do appearances play a big role in your stories? How you go about designing your characters.
A big role? Not generally.
Since I like to write a lot of action sequences, my main characters are usually pretty fit so that they can reasonably handle the torture I like to put them through. A character of mine is usually only exceptionally good looking if there’s some kind of story construction behind it (or if my target audience expects/demands it.) The same goes for a character that isn’t attractive.
My view on the issue is that characters all start in the same place “average” and according to the story’s need, should be adjusted. I try not to waste time on descriptions that aren’t going to be used later on, so I generally let the audience fill in the gaps with their own defaults, which likely makes the character more likable in the long run.
At some point, I almost always draw my characters. This is when I work out details such as particular hair-style, specific fashion notes, certain facial features and body proportions. Then, depending on what I come up with there, I can go back and edit written details later.
Since I like to write a lot of action sequences, my main characters are usually pretty fit so that they can reasonably handle the torture I like to put them through. A character of mine is usually only exceptionally good looking if there’s some kind of story construction behind it (or if my target audience expects/demands it.) The same goes for a character that isn’t attractive.
My view on the issue is that characters all start in the same place “average” and according to the story’s need, should be adjusted. I try not to waste time on descriptions that aren’t going to be used later on, so I generally let the audience fill in the gaps with their own defaults, which likely makes the character more likable in the long run.
At some point, I almost always draw my characters. This is when I work out details such as particular hair-style, specific fashion notes, certain facial features and body proportions. Then, depending on what I come up with there, I can go back and edit written details later.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
How willing are you to kill your characters if the plot so demands it?
I’m extremely serious when it comes to character death.
When a reader picks up my story, I feel like I enter into a contract with that reader. In exchange for their time and attention, I will provide them with a satisfying experience. These satisfying experiences come directly from my characters and the situations they’re in. By killing a character, I kill an opportunity to transmit certain experiences to the reader, and if this is sloppily done, the reader will be unsatisfied, the contract will be void, and they are free to stop reading.
There is almost always a better method to transfer an idea to the reader than killing a character. The sense of loss can be felt through interrupted relationships, injury, separation, missed opportunity, mistrust, and denial. The sense of futility can be felt though powerlessness, destruction, restriction, and oppression. If I kill a character when there’s a different, possibly better way to get the same reaction from the reader, then I will consider myself a failure if I chose the easy way out.
Because "the easy way out" is usually what character death is. If I get a character deep into a heaping pile of stinky poo, then it’s my responsibility as an author to see them through to the end. The audience has pledged me their trust, and if I let the character die, I let the audience die, and no one wants to feel that kind of betrayal.
Exceptions do not exist; however, character death can be a useful tool. I reserve death almost exclusively for side characters who are used as a catalyst for the main character’s action. The death of a main character can be useful in certain stories, but my personal preference is to save that for short stories, where the reader doesn’t have to devote as much time and emotional investment.
It’s tricky and, in my opinion, extremely easy to screw up. My question ultimately is this: Why kill a character when there’s so many options worse than death?
When a reader picks up my story, I feel like I enter into a contract with that reader. In exchange for their time and attention, I will provide them with a satisfying experience. These satisfying experiences come directly from my characters and the situations they’re in. By killing a character, I kill an opportunity to transmit certain experiences to the reader, and if this is sloppily done, the reader will be unsatisfied, the contract will be void, and they are free to stop reading.
There is almost always a better method to transfer an idea to the reader than killing a character. The sense of loss can be felt through interrupted relationships, injury, separation, missed opportunity, mistrust, and denial. The sense of futility can be felt though powerlessness, destruction, restriction, and oppression. If I kill a character when there’s a different, possibly better way to get the same reaction from the reader, then I will consider myself a failure if I chose the easy way out.
Because "the easy way out" is usually what character death is. If I get a character deep into a heaping pile of stinky poo, then it’s my responsibility as an author to see them through to the end. The audience has pledged me their trust, and if I let the character die, I let the audience die, and no one wants to feel that kind of betrayal.
Exceptions do not exist; however, character death can be a useful tool. I reserve death almost exclusively for side characters who are used as a catalyst for the main character’s action. The death of a main character can be useful in certain stories, but my personal preference is to save that for short stories, where the reader doesn’t have to devote as much time and emotional investment.
It’s tricky and, in my opinion, extremely easy to screw up. My question ultimately is this: Why kill a character when there’s so many options worse than death?
Friday, December 9, 2011
Do you draw your characters? Do others draw them?
I draw my characters all the time and I absolutely love it when others draw my characters too. A good number of my stories are presented in comic format, so the character is always described visually in those cases. But even for stories that are meant to be written, I draw the character.
Drawing helps me figure out more about the character. It makes you think differently. Through drawing, I learn the specifics of their appearance. Do they have a prominent chin? How wide are their shoulders? Do they wear earrings or other accessories? What about facial hair? Body language, habits, economic status, social status, education, occupation- all of that can be depicted visually, so I consider drawing my characters to be an extremely important part of my process.
It’s also great for inspiration. When I get down on my story (and we all have those “this sucks” moments) I can look at my drawings and feel recharged. It’s also a great way to get others excited about what you’re working on. A good illustration from a story is one of the best ways to sell an idea since people can take in so much more information visually.
Drawing helps me figure out more about the character. It makes you think differently. Through drawing, I learn the specifics of their appearance. Do they have a prominent chin? How wide are their shoulders? Do they wear earrings or other accessories? What about facial hair? Body language, habits, economic status, social status, education, occupation- all of that can be depicted visually, so I consider drawing my characters to be an extremely important part of my process.
It’s also great for inspiration. When I get down on my story (and we all have those “this sucks” moments) I can look at my drawings and feel recharged. It’s also a great way to get others excited about what you’re working on. A good illustration from a story is one of the best ways to sell an idea since people can take in so much more information visually.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Do any of your characters have children? How well do you write them?
Oh snap, not many of my characters at all have children. Let me ponder this…
I’ll restrict it to main characters (parent side-characters don’t count) and that leaves me with, I believe, one character of mine who has canon children. Kieran from Raise Holy Hex is a child in the first story, in the second story she’s a teenager, and in her third and final story, she is a mother of three (one daughter and twin boys.)
Due to my extensive babysitting experience, I like to think I’m pretty good at depicting children in my stories, though these particular children haven’t been written yet. It’s not the children that make me nervous though- it’s the mother-child relationship that I’m hesitant to write.
Since I’m not a mother, the closest experience I have to mother-child relationship would be with my pets. (When I say mother-child relationship, I place the perspective character first. So a character with the perspective of a mother would make it mother-child, as opposed to my experience with my own mom, which is a child-mother relationship.) Children are not pets. And babysitting isn’t exactly a good basis for mother experience since being full-time responsible for children is, I imagine, so much more complex.
Perhaps that’s why I’ve only plotted the third story rather than sat down to write it. Kieran’s relationship with her children is very important to that story.
I’ll restrict it to main characters (parent side-characters don’t count) and that leaves me with, I believe, one character of mine who has canon children. Kieran from Raise Holy Hex is a child in the first story, in the second story she’s a teenager, and in her third and final story, she is a mother of three (one daughter and twin boys.)
Due to my extensive babysitting experience, I like to think I’m pretty good at depicting children in my stories, though these particular children haven’t been written yet. It’s not the children that make me nervous though- it’s the mother-child relationship that I’m hesitant to write.
Since I’m not a mother, the closest experience I have to mother-child relationship would be with my pets. (When I say mother-child relationship, I place the perspective character first. So a character with the perspective of a mother would make it mother-child, as opposed to my experience with my own mom, which is a child-mother relationship.) Children are not pets. And babysitting isn’t exactly a good basis for mother experience since being full-time responsible for children is, I imagine, so much more complex.
Perhaps that’s why I’ve only plotted the third story rather than sat down to write it. Kieran’s relationship with her children is very important to that story.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Do any of your characters have pets? Tell us about them.
Pets almost always don’t play a prominent roll in my stories. In my experience, they tend to get in the way. If a character of mine has a pet, I forget that it’s there half-way through the story and then have to figure out what the heck is going on with it later. A lot of my stories involve travel of some kind, so a pet generally gets in the way of a character’s ability to follow routs I want to take.
The exception to this is when the pet plays a story role. For example, Garret from My Sylvan Weed has a pissy black cat that he doesn’t get along with. Later on in the story, the reason for this interaction is discovered and eventually rectified. The relationship between Garret and the cat is a basic reflection of other relationships going on in the story. These are the kind of things I like.
The exception to this is when the pet plays a story role. For example, Garret from My Sylvan Weed has a pissy black cat that he doesn’t get along with. Later on in the story, the reason for this interaction is discovered and eventually rectified. The relationship between Garret and the cat is a basic reflection of other relationships going on in the story. These are the kind of things I like.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Favorite minor character that decided to shove himself into the spotlight.
Syaoran, hands down.
Sy was a minor character that appeared about thirty pages into the story. He’s a shy, kind individual with a twisted past. He wasn’t particularly good-looking or talented, or even particularly useful, but for some reason beyond my knowledge, the main character Raz hit it off with Sy and since that point they became the dynamic duo right to the end of the story.
What I love about Sy is that his movement from minor to major took me completely off guard. I had entirely intended him to be a fleeting moment in the background, but somehow he just clicked. His story wasn’t over yet, and better than that, his story perfectly intertwined with the main characters.
I like him because he’s got some controversial themes surrounding him. First of all, Sy’s gay, and before I wrote Sy I didn’t much dabble with gay characters. It’s not a focus of his character, just one of his many elements. His character also deals with abuse and how to overcome it. That’s his primary character point and with him pushing his way into the main cast, it altered the course of the story dramatically. It was really fun.
Sy was a minor character that appeared about thirty pages into the story. He’s a shy, kind individual with a twisted past. He wasn’t particularly good-looking or talented, or even particularly useful, but for some reason beyond my knowledge, the main character Raz hit it off with Sy and since that point they became the dynamic duo right to the end of the story.
What I love about Sy is that his movement from minor to major took me completely off guard. I had entirely intended him to be a fleeting moment in the background, but somehow he just clicked. His story wasn’t over yet, and better than that, his story perfectly intertwined with the main characters.
I like him because he’s got some controversial themes surrounding him. First of all, Sy’s gay, and before I wrote Sy I didn’t much dabble with gay characters. It’s not a focus of his character, just one of his many elements. His character also deals with abuse and how to overcome it. That’s his primary character point and with him pushing his way into the main cast, it altered the course of the story dramatically. It was really fun.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Favorite antagonist
FF, I love all my antagonists… I… I love badguys.
A favorite? How about I talk about my favorite type of bad guy to write. I love to write bad guys who have no conscience. Every time I create a character like this, I try to depict it in a different way.
Bade is completely suave, but prone to sudden violent outbursts. He also tends to be impulsive and particularly cruel, but his overwhelming amount of charisma has given him a powerful following which makes him even more dangerous.
Allan is the mad-scientist type. Extremely intelligent but without any social morals- a dangerous combination for anyone who happens to fall into his clutches. He’s the bad guy who’ll smile politely while he opens your skull with a chainsaw.
Xer is quiet and calculating. There’s something eerie about him, but the main characters dismiss the oddity due to cultural differences. Not until it’s too late do they find out that Xer is seriously capable of anything because he simply doesn’t value human life. Unlike Bade and Allan, Xer prefers to keep his hands clean and instead wages psychological warfare while his underlings handle the less pleasant tasks.
Please don’t think I’m crazy, though. These are bad guys, after all.
A favorite? How about I talk about my favorite type of bad guy to write. I love to write bad guys who have no conscience. Every time I create a character like this, I try to depict it in a different way.
Bade is completely suave, but prone to sudden violent outbursts. He also tends to be impulsive and particularly cruel, but his overwhelming amount of charisma has given him a powerful following which makes him even more dangerous.
Allan is the mad-scientist type. Extremely intelligent but without any social morals- a dangerous combination for anyone who happens to fall into his clutches. He’s the bad guy who’ll smile politely while he opens your skull with a chainsaw.
Xer is quiet and calculating. There’s something eerie about him, but the main characters dismiss the oddity due to cultural differences. Not until it’s too late do they find out that Xer is seriously capable of anything because he simply doesn’t value human life. Unlike Bade and Allan, Xer prefers to keep his hands clean and instead wages psychological warfare while his underlings handle the less pleasant tasks.
Please don’t think I’m crazy, though. These are bad guys, after all.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Favorite protagonist
I have a whole bunch of favorites. Actually, as a rule, my protagonists are always my favorite character of the story because if I don’t care about the character, my reader wont either.
I have a particular affection for badasses- specially female badasses. I know this contradicts my tendency to have male characters, but seriously, can anyone deny a Sigourney Weaver? I think not.
Of my female-badass collection, favorites depend upon my mood. I have different shades of badassery. There’s the girls-with-guns, robbers-in-ribbons, the classic-tomboy, the undercover-chick-discover, kills-in-frills, hot-but-horrifying, the curt-flirt, bombshell-with-actual-bombs, famous-n-dangerous, among others…
I have a particular affection for badasses- specially female badasses. I know this contradicts my tendency to have male characters, but seriously, can anyone deny a Sigourney Weaver? I think not.
Of my female-badass collection, favorites depend upon my mood. I have different shades of badassery. There’s the girls-with-guns, robbers-in-ribbons, the classic-tomboy, the undercover-chick-discover, kills-in-frills, hot-but-horrifying, the curt-flirt, bombshell-with-actual-bombs, famous-n-dangerous, among others…
Monday, November 21, 2011
Who is your favorite/least favorite character to write?
As a rule, I do not write characters that I do not enjoy.
However, I’ll admit that occasionally there’s a character role that’s neglected because I don’t want to write it, and in that case I take a couple steps back and think about what in a character I can like while simultaneously filling that role.
For example, Trope Tower. Trope Tower is the story I’m currently working on, and it’s a point in the story to parody as many aspects of story as I possibly can. This includes giving my main kick-ass female lead (one of my signatures) a roommate named Mary Sue. As you may guess, Mary Sue is a Mary Sue, which is perfect for the story’s comedy, but I just can’t stand Mary Sues.
Usually, I’d just cut the character anyway and put in someone else good for the comedy, but this is just too perfect considering the circumstances. Which basically means that I need to reassess my distaste for Mary and figure out what about her I like. Which, it turns out, there can be a lot of things. Mary is a sweet girl, she’s a little shy but overall likable. As a point of her character, she’s good looking yet overly-modest. These are all things that make me want to barf and at the same time I can find I enjoy. It’s almost like revisiting some old guilty pleasure of mine from early teenage years or something.
Anyway, once I start to write Mary, I’m going to have to work to find all the aspects of a Mary Sue that are appealing, and when I find and exploit what those things are (which they’re there- considering how many Mary Sues exist in literature) I’ll be able to develop a character that’s likable despite the reader’s predispositions. Besides, it’ll be funny, considering the whole thing is a blatant joke on the Mary Sue trope and how it affects the other story elements.
By this time, you probably know what my favorite kind of character to write is. Badasses. Male or female, if there’s a character that can hold its own in a fight, I like it.
However, I’ll admit that occasionally there’s a character role that’s neglected because I don’t want to write it, and in that case I take a couple steps back and think about what in a character I can like while simultaneously filling that role.
For example, Trope Tower. Trope Tower is the story I’m currently working on, and it’s a point in the story to parody as many aspects of story as I possibly can. This includes giving my main kick-ass female lead (one of my signatures) a roommate named Mary Sue. As you may guess, Mary Sue is a Mary Sue, which is perfect for the story’s comedy, but I just can’t stand Mary Sues.
Usually, I’d just cut the character anyway and put in someone else good for the comedy, but this is just too perfect considering the circumstances. Which basically means that I need to reassess my distaste for Mary and figure out what about her I like. Which, it turns out, there can be a lot of things. Mary is a sweet girl, she’s a little shy but overall likable. As a point of her character, she’s good looking yet overly-modest. These are all things that make me want to barf and at the same time I can find I enjoy. It’s almost like revisiting some old guilty pleasure of mine from early teenage years or something.
Anyway, once I start to write Mary, I’m going to have to work to find all the aspects of a Mary Sue that are appealing, and when I find and exploit what those things are (which they’re there- considering how many Mary Sues exist in literature) I’ll be able to develop a character that’s likable despite the reader’s predispositions. Besides, it’ll be funny, considering the whole thing is a blatant joke on the Mary Sue trope and how it affects the other story elements.
By this time, you probably know what my favorite kind of character to write is. Badasses. Male or female, if there’s a character that can hold its own in a fight, I like it.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
What are some really weird situations your characters have been in?
Haha, um, the absurdity of their situation is often in direct correlation to the absurdity of the world they live in. In other words, sometimes I design stories to intentionally put my characters in very weird situations.
One of the strangest worlds that I’ve developed (with a friend of mine, actually) is the story Magical Boy Series. In Magical Boy Series, it’s established that objects (such as clothing) collect energy when they’re often used by people. So a much-loved jacket that’s been passed to you from your father will have a lot of human energy attached to it, in which case it can actually transform into a human-like character and assist you somehow.
So magicians (sometimes jokingly referred to as ‘magical boys’ and thus the name of the story) have the ability to unlock this power, which leads the main character to have several awkward situations when his older brother catches him wearing a frilly pink dress because he’s attempting to channel the energy in it.
It’s, ah, entertaining, to say the least.
One of the strangest worlds that I’ve developed (with a friend of mine, actually) is the story Magical Boy Series. In Magical Boy Series, it’s established that objects (such as clothing) collect energy when they’re often used by people. So a much-loved jacket that’s been passed to you from your father will have a lot of human energy attached to it, in which case it can actually transform into a human-like character and assist you somehow.
So magicians (sometimes jokingly referred to as ‘magical boys’ and thus the name of the story) have the ability to unlock this power, which leads the main character to have several awkward situations when his older brother catches him wearing a frilly pink dress because he’s attempting to channel the energy in it.
It’s, ah, entertaining, to say the least.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
How do you get ideas for your characters? Describe the process of creating them.
I usually let characters develop themselves, and they almost always change in response to other characters development. Basically, I develop characters through relationships. Dynamics. Hm, what’s the best way to describe this…
For example, let’s take a look at comedy. Comedy duos almost always feature two characters- the funny-man and the straight-man. The contrast is essential to the humor and thus success of the comedy. I treat the development of my characters the same way. They’re not individuals, they’re actually one segment of a larger creature, which is the cast for the story.
If the cast is missing an element I feel is needed to round out the story’s appeal, one or more of the characters will shift to fill out the requirement. I don’t normally consciously acknowledge this when I’m first starting. The characters develop intuitively, and usually I know who they should be by the time the story is through the first act. This often requires that I go back and re-write the entire beginning, but that’s fine.
After I get the first draft done, beginning to end, then I can re-read it and see if I find any holes or things that don’t feel right. Then -and only then- can I really start applying roles to characters and see what’s going on. With that in mind, I can do the next draft.
For example, let’s take a look at comedy. Comedy duos almost always feature two characters- the funny-man and the straight-man. The contrast is essential to the humor and thus success of the comedy. I treat the development of my characters the same way. They’re not individuals, they’re actually one segment of a larger creature, which is the cast for the story.
If the cast is missing an element I feel is needed to round out the story’s appeal, one or more of the characters will shift to fill out the requirement. I don’t normally consciously acknowledge this when I’m first starting. The characters develop intuitively, and usually I know who they should be by the time the story is through the first act. This often requires that I go back and re-write the entire beginning, but that’s fine.
After I get the first draft done, beginning to end, then I can re-read it and see if I find any holes or things that don’t feel right. Then -and only then- can I really start applying roles to characters and see what’s going on. With that in mind, I can do the next draft.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
What’s your favorite genre to write? To read?
This is a tough question!!
I guess you could say that my favorite genre to write is fantasy, but fantasy is such a wide net that it’s almost unfair to say.
Within the fantasy genre, you’ll find horror, supernatural, high-fantasy, modern-fantasy, alternate-history, magic, superheroes, monsters, ghosts, alternate dimensions, dreamworlds, and a host of other fantastical subjects. I write it all.
If I had to narrow it further (which to answer the question I suppose I should,) I’d also admit that the majority of my writing can be found in the “young adult” category. This is largely due to the fact that I’m 23 years old so the scope of my life-experience is young adult.
I’ve noticed that as I age, my characters tend to age. When I was 13, my characters were generally 15-16. When I was 15-16 my characters were 18-19. When I was 18-19 my characters were early twenties. Basically, I’d write characters that were in my “next category of awesomeness” ahead of me. I guess my stories could be speculations on what my near future might be like -well, not that I was traveling outer space or had supernatural abilities, but the relationships were like test-trials for the next stage.
It’s really fun to go back and read my old stories after having reached or surpassed the age the characters were written at. They go back and forth between being fairly accurate and a bit too immature for the situations they were in. But honestly that’s one thing that I like about writing- characters that are entirely unprepared for the situations they’re in. By having all of these stories squirreled away on my hard drive, I’m able to re-read them and better revisit what it was like to be 15-16 and that helps my writing today.
I guess you could say that my favorite genre to write is fantasy, but fantasy is such a wide net that it’s almost unfair to say.
Within the fantasy genre, you’ll find horror, supernatural, high-fantasy, modern-fantasy, alternate-history, magic, superheroes, monsters, ghosts, alternate dimensions, dreamworlds, and a host of other fantastical subjects. I write it all.
If I had to narrow it further (which to answer the question I suppose I should,) I’d also admit that the majority of my writing can be found in the “young adult” category. This is largely due to the fact that I’m 23 years old so the scope of my life-experience is young adult.
I’ve noticed that as I age, my characters tend to age. When I was 13, my characters were generally 15-16. When I was 15-16 my characters were 18-19. When I was 18-19 my characters were early twenties. Basically, I’d write characters that were in my “next category of awesomeness” ahead of me. I guess my stories could be speculations on what my near future might be like -well, not that I was traveling outer space or had supernatural abilities, but the relationships were like test-trials for the next stage.
It’s really fun to go back and read my old stories after having reached or surpassed the age the characters were written at. They go back and forth between being fairly accurate and a bit too immature for the situations they were in. But honestly that’s one thing that I like about writing- characters that are entirely unprepared for the situations they’re in. By having all of these stories squirreled away on my hard drive, I’m able to re-read them and better revisit what it was like to be 15-16 and that helps my writing today.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
By age, who are your youngest/oldest characters?
Disregarding vampires/immortal characters (of which there are a few.)
My youngest character is probably… Well, I have two eight-year-old characters.
Emma is my character from my senior thesis. She’s an eight-year-old girl who has a lot of big dreams. Her favorite color changes every couple of weeks between pink, green, and light blue. She loves sweets, her favorite animal is a kitten, and she counts her age by months (she’s eight and three months.) Emma wants to be lots of different things when she grows up, which she tends to combine into a string of things, such as- “I want to be a traveling dancer veterinarian nurse horse-riding superhero when I grow up.”
Elspeth is an eight-year-old from a dramatically different story and so has a dramatically different personality. She’s extremely quiet and only talks when she has something important to say. She’s not shy but people sometimes perceive her as such (they can’t imagine why a little girl would be so quiet otherwise.) In truth she just doesn’t have much interest in social interaction. Elspeth is exceptionally good at identifying patterns, so she has a fondness for mathmatics. She gets along better with computers than she does people.
This also makes me think of another character from my first story. His name is Laboosh and he’s nine years old. This story is a scifi that involves different worlds, which is why his name is so odd. Laboosh is a hyperactive little boy, bursting with energy and interest in his world. He lives on the ship with primarily adults, so he’s learned how to keep himself occupied on his own, but since he doesn’t have friends his age he can sometimes be a bit of an attention-hog. As a result, he sometimes gets in trouble just so that people will notice him. He’s a good kid at heart, he’s just misunderstood and lonely.
As for the oldest character I have, that would be Gram from a story called You Too & Stuff. Gram is the main character’s grandmother, and she’s 88 years old. She makes it a point to keep active and sharp. She has a sarcastic sense of humor that can sometimes make her seem cynical but she’s otherwise pretty kind. Gram is a little bit out of touch with the modern generation, which puts her at odds with her grandson, who she’s raising on her own. Sometimes her grandson is a bit tiring or rebellious so she generally lets him do as he pleases and gives him advice when he starts running into trouble.
These characters tend to be the exceptions, however. Most of my characters are currently in their twenties because that’s how old I am. They’re easier to write and more likely to be in the situations that I like to focus on right now.
My youngest character is probably… Well, I have two eight-year-old characters.
Emma is my character from my senior thesis. She’s an eight-year-old girl who has a lot of big dreams. Her favorite color changes every couple of weeks between pink, green, and light blue. She loves sweets, her favorite animal is a kitten, and she counts her age by months (she’s eight and three months.) Emma wants to be lots of different things when she grows up, which she tends to combine into a string of things, such as- “I want to be a traveling dancer veterinarian nurse horse-riding superhero when I grow up.”
Elspeth is an eight-year-old from a dramatically different story and so has a dramatically different personality. She’s extremely quiet and only talks when she has something important to say. She’s not shy but people sometimes perceive her as such (they can’t imagine why a little girl would be so quiet otherwise.) In truth she just doesn’t have much interest in social interaction. Elspeth is exceptionally good at identifying patterns, so she has a fondness for mathmatics. She gets along better with computers than she does people.
This also makes me think of another character from my first story. His name is Laboosh and he’s nine years old. This story is a scifi that involves different worlds, which is why his name is so odd. Laboosh is a hyperactive little boy, bursting with energy and interest in his world. He lives on the ship with primarily adults, so he’s learned how to keep himself occupied on his own, but since he doesn’t have friends his age he can sometimes be a bit of an attention-hog. As a result, he sometimes gets in trouble just so that people will notice him. He’s a good kid at heart, he’s just misunderstood and lonely.
As for the oldest character I have, that would be Gram from a story called You Too & Stuff. Gram is the main character’s grandmother, and she’s 88 years old. She makes it a point to keep active and sharp. She has a sarcastic sense of humor that can sometimes make her seem cynical but she’s otherwise pretty kind. Gram is a little bit out of touch with the modern generation, which puts her at odds with her grandson, who she’s raising on her own. Sometimes her grandson is a bit tiring or rebellious so she generally lets him do as he pleases and gives him advice when he starts running into trouble.
These characters tend to be the exceptions, however. Most of my characters are currently in their twenties because that’s how old I am. They’re easier to write and more likely to be in the situations that I like to focus on right now.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
DnD Campaign
How it Started
Everything started when a lone sorcerer with low charisma and a close-combat ranger decided to follow a strange dream premonition that involved fire. Together, Iolande and Logan traveled to a random ghost town, which still has no name. So, of course, upon finding there was no one in the area, it was suggested they go to the bar and see if anything was available.
It would have been, except a strange human bard (in possession of a magic ring that could change his gender, and also in possession of a demonic monkey named Frodo) had already consumed everything in the entire kitchen. After explaining that he’d taken all of the alcohol -and mind you, it was very good, too bad you missed it- he introduced himself as Necrim FreValmont at your service. And so, he joined their party.
They stepped outside, and a goat-man barbarian was randomly standing in the middle of the road. And so, he joined their party.
Everything started when a lone sorcerer with low charisma and a close-combat ranger decided to follow a strange dream premonition that involved fire. Together, Iolande and Logan traveled to a random ghost town, which still has no name. So, of course, upon finding there was no one in the area, it was suggested they go to the bar and see if anything was available.
It would have been, except a strange human bard (in possession of a magic ring that could change his gender, and also in possession of a demonic monkey named Frodo) had already consumed everything in the entire kitchen. After explaining that he’d taken all of the alcohol -and mind you, it was very good, too bad you missed it- he introduced himself as Necrim FreValmont at your service. And so, he joined their party.
They stepped outside, and a goat-man barbarian was randomly standing in the middle of the road. And so, he joined their party.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
How many characters do you have? Do you prefer males or females?
I have…. so many characters.
Actually, once upon a time I tried to count them. This was about two years ago, I believe, and the total came to somewhere around two-hundred, but I’ve written so many more stories since then that I just flat out couldn’t say. I suppose I could safely answer that I now have over two-hundred.
My cast of characters is overwhelmingly male. I’m not sure why that is, I just feel more comfortable writing male characters than female characters. The first character I ever created for a story was male, then followed by a cast of six more characters, three male three female.
I think I like male characters more because when I first started writing, I was consuming a lot of stories from sci-fi movies, which usually feature alpha-male leads. I likely subconsciously modeled my first stories off of that, and the trend must have just stuck with me.
Most of my females (and we’re talking 95%) are in the “kick-ass” category of female. My leads usually feature a lot of inner strength, stubbornness (wow that’s an odd-looking word,) and leadership qualities. These traits are stereotypically associated with male characters.
Also, when I was little, I played with the boys. My main troupe that I owned the neighborhood with was all males about my age, so I was that girl in grass-stained jeans who crawled through the ditches, built tree-forts, and fought with her fists when she was teased. For the longest time I was more comfortable with hanging out with the guys than the chicks, so perhaps my characters are predominantly male because that’s who I like to spend time with.
Actually, once upon a time I tried to count them. This was about two years ago, I believe, and the total came to somewhere around two-hundred, but I’ve written so many more stories since then that I just flat out couldn’t say. I suppose I could safely answer that I now have over two-hundred.
My cast of characters is overwhelmingly male. I’m not sure why that is, I just feel more comfortable writing male characters than female characters. The first character I ever created for a story was male, then followed by a cast of six more characters, three male three female.
I think I like male characters more because when I first started writing, I was consuming a lot of stories from sci-fi movies, which usually feature alpha-male leads. I likely subconsciously modeled my first stories off of that, and the trend must have just stuck with me.
Most of my females (and we’re talking 95%) are in the “kick-ass” category of female. My leads usually feature a lot of inner strength, stubbornness (wow that’s an odd-looking word,) and leadership qualities. These traits are stereotypically associated with male characters.
Also, when I was little, I played with the boys. My main troupe that I owned the neighborhood with was all males about my age, so I was that girl in grass-stained jeans who crawled through the ditches, built tree-forts, and fought with her fists when she was teased. For the longest time I was more comfortable with hanging out with the guys than the chicks, so perhaps my characters are predominantly male because that’s who I like to spend time with.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
How do you come up with character names?
It varies, generally depending on how
serious I am about the story. If I’m expecting that the story will be
short or it might not hold my interest for long, the characters are the
first interesting names that come to my mind (or more often, my friend’s
mind: “I need a boy’s name!” “Johnathan!” “Thanks!”)
For stories that I have a feeling that are going to hang around for a while, I like to go to babynames.com and surf through meanings. Before I name a character I ask myself what his/her ethnicity is (or where the family line came from) so that I can shoot for something that fits well.
I have a fondness for nicknames. Usually I like names that are long and can be shortened to a nice single syllable. That’s likely because almost everyone in my circle of friends and family had short names. “Mom.” “Dad.” “Jack.” “Ross.” So the tendency caries over to my characters. “Clement” shortened to “Clem.” “Syaoran” shortened to “Sy.” and so on.
For stories that I have a feeling that are going to hang around for a while, I like to go to babynames.com and surf through meanings. Before I name a character I ask myself what his/her ethnicity is (or where the family line came from) so that I can shoot for something that fits well.
I have a fondness for nicknames. Usually I like names that are long and can be shortened to a nice single syllable. That’s likely because almost everyone in my circle of friends and family had short names. “Mom.” “Dad.” “Jack.” “Ross.” So the tendency caries over to my characters. “Clement” shortened to “Clem.” “Syaoran” shortened to “Sy.” and so on.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Your first stories/characters.
My first story… Okay, I think I’ll talk about my first novel since I’ve been writing stories since the dawn of time.
My first novel-length story I started writing in 7th grade, which means that I was 12-13. It was a sci-fi story that followed a group of teenagers from an oppressed Earth-based colony who unwittingly unleash a rebellion against their oppressive militaristic government. This group of teens become icons for the rebellion, but their differing political views and social backgrounds puts them at odds with one another. The question ultimately becomes “will they unite despite their differences to end the war, or will they fall into chaos and lead the sides to mutual destruction?”
Interestingly enough, I was 13 years old when 9/11 occurred. Until now, I never thought about the correlation between my epic sci-fi war-story and 9/11, which was essentially the very first major political event of which I was ever consciously aware. Anyway, my lamely titled “Escaping the Power” was the story that started it all. Ever since that moment, I was consumed by writing.
My first novel-length story I started writing in 7th grade, which means that I was 12-13. It was a sci-fi story that followed a group of teenagers from an oppressed Earth-based colony who unwittingly unleash a rebellion against their oppressive militaristic government. This group of teens become icons for the rebellion, but their differing political views and social backgrounds puts them at odds with one another. The question ultimately becomes “will they unite despite their differences to end the war, or will they fall into chaos and lead the sides to mutual destruction?”
Interestingly enough, I was 13 years old when 9/11 occurred. Until now, I never thought about the correlation between my epic sci-fi war-story and 9/11, which was essentially the very first major political event of which I was ever consciously aware. Anyway, my lamely titled “Escaping the Power” was the story that started it all. Ever since that moment, I was consumed by writing.
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