Writing Advice

[Protohuman]

Hey cats, it would appear to my good sighted and highly sexy eye that this thread is falling behind yet again :(I think I have an entertaining idea for the new few posters......Write down a list of all of your fully developed characters. And I mean all of them. Then post how many you have!I did mine ages ago and I have 110. You do it. DO IT >=O

[Jedi Knight Krazy]

Challenge accepted!First off, Darik Allucotta (Or some variant of spelling his last name - not totally decided yet. What is decided is that it's pronounced al-oo-KO-tuh and it has some combination of double-consonants). Main character of 1b, 2b, and 3b (essentially, the "future" trilogy), he starts as an unambitious loser. He has no real family; His sister (Amia Allucotta) and mother (unnamed) won't talk to him, and his father died when he was young in the Sedigoan Civil War. He has a a cousin that he doesn't mind talking to, but he's gone missing as of 1b, but Darik doesn't know until talking to him is critical to the plot. Of course!Darik somehow found himself as the head instrumenteer (made-up position, basically the guy in a spaceship who manages all the not-directly-flight-related equipment in the bridge) on a deep-space expedition. This expedition, if you've heard me describe the story before, is ill-fated. Captured by elves, Darik finds himself transformed into Draconian, which makes him the only one who can rescue the crew. When he gets back, he's forced to confront the fact that he's simply not suited for a human life anymore (although he discovers a couple chapters later that he can switch to his human form at will) and is the only one standing between the elves and humanity - and the elves want to EXTERMINATE</dalek> humanity because Draconians exist. And they only know that they exist because of Darik. No pressure, dude. There's some other spoilery stuff to his character that's supposed to be a surprise in 2b, so I'll cut off here.Suveiar is the oldest character in the series - namely, because he was the main character in 1a and 3a. (He appears in 2a towards the end), and thousands of years later, he's still alive in 3b. Needless to say, his personality changes depending on the era where he appears. (He's a Draconian by the way) In 1a, as he comes of age, he finds himself supporting a rebellion of human slaves against his own kind after learning that Draconians are human by heritage. His appearances in 2a and 3a are kind of spoilery, so I'll leave them out. In the b series, he's somewhat quiet and darkly brooding. He's been in hiding during the a-b gap, hoping that Draconians will simply disappear, for the good of the galaxy, and he's not at all happy that Darik's appeared. He doesn't hold any grudge against Darik personally, though, and he dedicates himself to defending humanity from the elves.Aelganar is the primary enemy of the elves. First appearing as a Draconian in 1a, he sees humans as beings far below a Draconinan. When he learns the truth along with Suveiar in 1a, and when his father is murdered as a result of the human uprising, he makes it his mission to fully "evolve" the human race into Draconians, transforming the few humans he thinks are worthy, and slaughtering the rest. He's not happy that he has a human form, but he knows its utility and uses it when it benefits him. More frequently, he studies and experiments with the dark fringes of magic, which gives him strange and powerful abilities. In 2a, he's managed to eliminate all humans from a single peninsula, but geographical barriers prevent him from going any further. This obviously changes, making the book more interesting. In the b series, he's been in hiding, much like Suveiar, but about 20 years prior to Darik's transformation, (and right around the time Darik's father died - hint hint*) he found a way to transform humans without Draconian heritage, so he starts up his campaign anew. He's technically an ally to Darik, as the elves are trying to kill Aelganar and his Draconian Brotherhood just as much as the rest of humanity. This creates some interesting dynamics where the two are moral enemies, but allies in survival.*By "hint hint", I do NOT mean that Aelganar is the Darth Vader of the series. Just that the two events are related in an interesting way.All the other characters get a shorter description. This paragraph thing is taking too long.Nalfear (Draconian) is Suveiar's friend in 1a, and though he's more conservative, helps Suveiar in his campaign to free the humans. In 1b, he is in hiding from Aelganar, but encounters the main character and acts as the guy-at-the-base, telling the more active characters what's going on and strategizing on the next move.An unnamed man in 1a is Suveiar's slave, and, trying to protect his wife and baby, betrays the human rebellion to gain the trust of his masters at the same time as, unbeknownst to him, Suveiar tries to join the human rebellion. The main character (human) of 2a is unnamed, but lives with the Seiakin (the "kin" isn't just a fancy sound, the name actually means "kin of Seia". Seia is either the name of the peninsula, or of Suveiar's clan. I'm leaning towards the latter because it has a lot of significance to their cause), a group of people who Suveiar helped to escape Aelganar's slaughter in 1a. He crashes his boat on the Draconian's peninsula and only escapes immediate death because the first Draconian he meets is Broquiin, who takes him to Nalfaer. Nalfaer, in an attempt to help him survive, changes him into an honorary Draconian. It's similar to the spell Aelganar discovers in the future, but there's a drawback: after about a month, he can't become human anymore.Corrad (human) accompanies the 2a main character to the peninsula and, refusing to be changed like his friend was, attempts to insert himself into the Draconian community. He has some limited success, then he gets captured by Aelganar.An unnamed character (human) from the Seiakin comes later to the peninsula because he basically idolizes the main character and wants to know what's going on. He gets there at a very bad, spoilery time.Broquiin (Draconian) lives on the peninsula in 2a and happened to meet Nalfaer when he was fairly young, so he doesn't share the anti-human bias of the rest of his kind. He has to keep his beliefs (and Nalfaer's existence) to himself, though, or risk similar exile.Taphir Kelson (human) is Darik's roomate in 1b, and a soldier-in-trainnig. His part of the story begins when he wakes up in the middle of the night to see Darik in dragon form in his living quarters (long story). His attitude alternates between goofy and serious/logical - sometimes very rapidly.Frima Gordan (human) is a spaceship designer by career, but studies Draconian mythology in her free time. Keep in mind that dragons, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, are like Bigfoot - most people have heard of them to some degree, but don't think they exist. She is a massive help to Darik and Taphir.An unnamed general (human) is the first, besides the crew, to learn about the fate of Darik's expedition and of Darik himself. He wants to keep the existence of Draconians confidential (at least until 2b, when it's basically impossible), but also wants to find more of them to help in the war. An unnamed elf, helps Darik and his crew escape, betraying his people. He is extremely curious about humanity and offers advice about his own people to the human forces, but adds an element of complexity to the war, constantly reminding the humans that not all elves are enemies, and trying to stop them from finding more Draconians....That's all I care to type at the moment. I managed 13... not bad... I'll probably get more once I actually start to write. One of these days. Maybe.

[Jean Valjean]

I am undertaking a new project. Starting now, I will be writing chapters to a new web serial called The Adventures of Mary. This will be my first attempt at creating a piece of fiction set in my universe that extends beyond the length of a short story. As I write the episodes this summer and into the upcoming semester of college, I am going to set these to start publishing on Christmas and then every Saturday morning for the rest of 2013. The series will not be canon, nor will all the characters, but it will provide as inspiration for future writing projects and an opportunity to get people curious in my diverse world.I hope this advertisement gains some attention and that some of your will gain a little interest. I'll be posting advertisements and tie-in material on my blog as time goes by to remind people that they have something to look forward to.Your Honor,Emperor Kraggh

[Jedi Knight Krazy]

Most excellent! I'll definitely read it. Where will you be publishing these?

[Jean Valjean]

I'll be publishing them on my blog here on BZP, but now that you mention it I could certainly branch out, though I might not have an audience elsewhere on the internet.Merida Edited July 9, 2012 by Merida

[WriterofReapers]

You have to start somewhere, right? I can't say it's worked out for me just yet, but still I think "branching out" is a good path to take.

[Jedi Knight Krazy]

Hey, once (if) I start writing stuff, I'll be posted it right here in COT. I'm not really involved in any other communities that have been as supportive as this topic in my writing (mis)adventures.

[Jean Valjean]

I know of a few other sites for writers, though I'm not actively involved, and while I'm a member of those sites, I'm not a member of their communities. I also don't see how creating an independent blog is going to help me, because there's no reason for people to stumble upon it.By the way, regarding fully developed characters, here's a list of those who officially belong to my canon:MonosmithDeathCraytusMaster LegiousMonthusMegstraLucyJackDreamcatcherAshleyBuzzyMary MariaViraCrystalVeeJail "Gloves" LundWaldoStingerRoterisNixon "Nixie" Anne Zweifel/Van't HoffMichelangelo Rommel ZweifelXenocrates Rex ZweifelLeonidas Rhesus ZweifelTheophilus Rhodes ZweifelHelene Rommel/ZweifelSilver BirdClear WaterBlack SwordsmanHeroBlitz Anthony MackerKraggh Xavozan FoolMathias Atukat AmakorJohn Q. IceheartDexter UswoldLaryn Tenny"Red"SuallsLa'tiClairimoreLee WarkFang John SilverMaxGears Gears Gears"Trigger"Milby Dilby ZilbySamray ZizzleKaterim "Kate" GigerLansert "Lance" GigerDeleta GigerProfessor WhiteQuarrMolgogKaiacGertrude Poepjes/ZweifelBrutus Thadeus NobodyInce QuincyMarco MartinezIRakaFratavanDitHetagonMezahedronRover J. BanksTashaDunetharTitanusEuthanasia BonesThe nameless Weaponeer and Rex-Blade disciplesKoeyArvinIsaiahPresident Dorcas FletcherRuby Borson/FoolKraggh Xavozan Fool IIAmber X. FoolKobus Xivix FoolMaximillion Xralagga Fool"Lost Soldier" PeterSimon Peter Van't HoffTwo anonymous fairy thievesPotion Master"Little Wizard" ZandyJloudoVizerVisigoth RichardsGoldEllieLunathraxGermanPyronican Prince (real name unpronounceable to humans)Pyronican Fascist DictatorBeowulf R. ZweifelMath"The Neutral Guys" Hahee @ LughThe Sage of BorisWurrisArcaneAstarrLobRuby SingerTriEveMarcus MonosmithMimilVogelbrandUta-NatishtiSilent NightMagical JackMind you, these are just the names. It would be ridiculous to come up with prolonged descriptions of all of them, because once I start I couldn't stop.Looking into my series, it's like a comic book universe. There are all sorts of characters that could make cameo appearances and all technically add to the story. Some people might think that I have too much (Wrack'n'Ruin does), and that might be true for a movie, but for a miniseries or a book series, I think it works. Besides, I think I'll end up writing stories for ones that feature in the series but don't get as much characterization as they should.By the way, this doesn't include characters such as the Queen of Aaθaigne and others I'm developing for my web serial who are fully developed but don't officially find their way into canon.Merida Edited July 10, 2012 by Hahli Husky

[Hahli Husky]

Hey Merida, just so you're aware, the spoiler tag is for unofficially-released and/or leaked information regarding published storylines and sets, such as Hero Factory.

Edited July 10, 2012 by Hahli Husky

[Protohuman]

I have a diverse range of genres, ranging from cartoon comedy to fantasy and sci-fi, so do not judge my productivity by some of the names on this list xD1. The Scruby Slugs2. Baldy Bignose3. Overreactive Tony4. Artistic Dean5. Stig6. Rex7. Cutter8. The Soldier Ants9. Eccentric Softdrinks Hero10. The Scruby Worms11. D.A. Quackers12. The Stickmen13. Krochus14. Takree15. Xeek16. Zikius17. Thi18. Carter the Crab19. Foxx the Pelican20. Ulmshneider the Snail21. Kennedy the Fish22. Lily Harwood23. Joseph S. Hutton24. Jude the Spider25. Dr. Devious26. The Cacti27. Zeta-Man28. GRAPHIX29. Ben Phillips30. Tweekman31. Trevor Niles32. Erasmus Sponge33. Oscar Mack34. Mr. Burton35. Tahli de Ohbi-Nai36. Quah'lh de Jhen37. The Shia-Ban38. Elizebeth de Mahja39. Ardipithecus de Mahja40. Thomas Mitchell41. Sakui42. Araach43. The Haatya44. Raakhman45. Jimmy Stratt46. Denovan Arthur47. Hymerae48. Camille Walters49. Polyvita50. Peter MacArthur51. Geotak52. The Brotherhood of Akitsym53. I'rn54. The Cult of Fire55. Fosk56. Antagonax57. Tsakaku58. Onsym59. Hebis de Mahja60. The Neohuman61. FAX62. The Trijol63. The Anti-Trijol64. Amelie Mitchell65. Liho66. Kaami67. Galeo68. Ignis69. Guatis70. Crakhnis71. Buhlis72. Shinchis73. Pahklis74. Icomis75. Daennis76. Gaennis77. Trothis78. Ceratonis79. Sir Chester Court80. Captain Fishbreath81. Professor Fly82. Luigi83. 10184. Doris the Milkcow85. The King of Spades86. The Queen of Diamonds87. Forsberg88. Sir Fiddlesworth89. Mrs. Hollingberry90. Robin the Saucy Baker91. Gregg the Saucy Baker92. Green Chotobot93. Purple Chotobot94. Den95. Ayame96. Ryu97. Commander98. Her99. Project Jet100. Tea the Lizard101. Charlie René102. Ellie Hawkins103. The Shade104. Odym105. Madame Osri106. Sheldon Watson107. Dronebot108. T-148109. IRIS110. Boris Toenail

[Jean Valjean]

I think that I just might create a second blog on Google to host the serial. Judging by how my first chapter is coming, it just might be longer than BZP's character limit. If this happens with enough chapters, I think I might have to cut the chapters off and provide a link at the end that shows the whole chapter in an online blog. If this happens, I'll make sure to provide a link when the series starts.Also, I think that my serial might flow like Moffat's version of Doctor Who, in that each chapter will have its own fully contained subplot while contributing to the greater story arc, so that my chapters are going to feel more like episodes. So the question remains as to whether I want to name Chapter I "The Pilot Chapter" or The Pilot Episode. Or I can call it "The Pilot". I'm not really sure at this point. They all affect how the series is to be viewed. Do people here tend to view individual installments of a web serial to be episodes or chapters?Merida

[Athmos]

I view them as serials. Seriously. They aren't chapters or episodes unless they say they are.

[WriterofReapers]

I can't really generalize it beyond saying that it depends on the feel of each individual work. However, while I was reading your description I thought of an alternative naming pattern: name each story like it is an episode of a television show. No numbers, no "Episode", just a short title that ties in to its own self-contained story and immediately evokes a response from the reader and (hopefully) encourages them to read it.Unless, of course, that's what you meant by "Pilot Episode". If that is the case, I'm in favor of that particular option.

[BenLuke]

I personally would only name the first installment of your story "The Pilot" if it actually features a character that is a pilot.Shallow puns please me.

Edited July 13, 2012 by BenLuke-116

[Jedi Knight Krazy]

Hmmm... ordinarily I'd call them chapters, but what you described is definitely a bit different. I probably wouldn't call them episodes, though. I say either invent your own name (Chaptersode?) or stick to chapters - writing tends to be divided into chapters even when it's episodic. I don't even know if you should call it a pilot - just come up with a name for the chapter like Despair said.If you're basing this on Doctor Who, though, it makes sense why you're starting on Christmas I don't want to wait, though...On titles, I thought I'd share that my pilot/practice short story will be called "Eons: Heartbeat". It relates to the short duration of the story; only a few weeks compared to the thousands of years spanned by the rest of the series, and contrasts that. It's also sort of a murder mystery, so "Heartbeat" is appropriate....I thought it was clever.

Edited July 13, 2012 by Jedi Knight Krazy

[Jean Valjean]

No spoilers, but I think I know what I'll be naming my first installment.I hope you didn't take my reference to Doctor Who too literally . I love the show, but I wouldn't want to mimick it. However, I guess I take inspiration in a few fields, but those are deep and archetypal, having more to do with writing philosophy. I believe that The Adventures of Mary should take on the subtle forms of a contemporary fairy tale. For example, even though I believe my stories should be bound to reason, I simultaneously follow the mantra "anything can happen".This piece of writing, by the way, will be wholly for entertainment. My intention isn't necessarily to write for myself, but to come up with something that I hope readers will find enjoyable.Merida Edited July 14, 2012 by Merida

[Protohuman]

I am writing a one-off comeback of one of the very first stories I wrote when I was around 5 or 6 XDIt was a series with no particular plot other than good guys fighting bad guys, with an array of surreal and child-imagined characters. With my highly advanced and sexy mature brain, I am taking the characters on a journey like one they never had! To resurrect the characters from my past and do epic things with them feels great!Have you ever done this? Even if it's just for fun and have no intention of making it public?

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

Everything when I wrote when I was younger was terrible. The characters were either poorly-conceived, stolen, or both. The plots were internally inconsistent, pointless, and usually rendered meaningless halfway through.If I never see one of my earlier bits of work again, I might just die happy.

[Protohuman]

That's not my attitude to my early works; mine are the same as yours, unoriginal, inconsistend, etcetera. But I always like to look back on them because I feel that without them, I wouldn't have written half the stuff I have today.When I was 9 I wrote a story called Tea the Lizard, about a Lizard who lived on an island, saving the world every other day. EVERYTHING was stolen from Jak and Daxter, Oddworld and Bionicle, and I came up with the idea from playing with a toy lizard. I mixed those three franchises I mentioned and turned them into an mishmash of genres and atmospheres. Thing is, even though it was terrible, it started something: the desire to create compelling fantasy. And I always like to look back on that and think that if I had never made that jumble of stolen materiel, I wouldn't have the inspiration to write original materiel now...And really, this new comeback story from the series of my early childhood is for me only. If I showed it to the public, nobody would understand what is going on and who the bizzare characters are without showing them the original paper and staples books from the late '90s. No way am I prepared to do that xD

[Jedi Knight Krazy]

I am writing a one-off comeback of one of the very first stories I wrote when I was around 5 or 6 XDIt was a series with no particular plot other than good guys fighting bad guys, with an array of surreal and child-imagined characters. With my highly advanced and sexy mature brain, I am taking the characters on a journey like one they never had! To resurrect the characters from my past and do epic things with them feels great!Have you ever done this? Even if it's just for fun and have no intention of making it public?

Well, Eons, my primary project, is basically this. The original story was based on a text RPG I played with friends, where I was "Krazy", the Jedi Toa with amnesia who happens to be an inventor, who was sent by a mission by the Jedi Toa Council to scout out a possible new home base. Well, as it turns out, the land was inhabited by Kanohi Dragons that can shapeshift into Toa. Krazy starts getting painfully obvious flashbacks of being a native of this land hundreds of years ago, and eventually it's revealed to his friends (but not to him) that he's a war hero Kanohi Dragon named Firefreeze that left for no discernible reason, promising to return.For some reason, his friends keep it a secret from him until much, much later, even when Krazy, purely because he's bored, invents a device that turns him into a Kanohi Dragon.What actually happened was that I playing along with the RPG, and Kanohi Dragons started to become a majorly overpowered player in all the battles, so I decided I wanted to make my character one temporarily. I decided later that I wanted him to secretly be one all along.Years later, I remembered the story and decided I like the idea of a man who forgot he was a dragon, but the story obviously needed to be decoupled from Bionicle and Star Wars, and heavily revised; the main characters needed to be less Mary-Sueish, the shapeshifting dragons needed an origin story and not just randomly exist, and ohmygosh those names are terrible kill them with fire. The story's changed so much now that I don't think anyone would recognize it... even the maybe-three people who actually understood the original character's backstory.The rest of my stories involved my 8-year-old self being a genius and saving the world and I don't think they actually had a plot. Edited July 15, 2012 by Jedi Knight Krazy

[TNTOS]

Last summer I actually rewrote my first BIONICLE epic, The Tales of Shika Nui, into an original story. I don't plan on showing it to anyone. I just did it because I'm thinking of rewriting the entire Shika Trilogy in original form, so I did TToSN as an experiment.I think the rewrite turned out fairly well, but it definitely required a lot of changes (like Jedi Knight Krazy was talking about with his story). I just might do Tapestry of Evil, the second story in the Shika Trilogy, next, although I haven't decided if I will or not. Doesn't seem likely now, but I'm leaving that possibility open for the future.-TNTOS-

[Legolover-361]

The closest I've come to rejuvenating an old story of mine was taking an old title design and an old character, Toa Torch, to create the Bionicle RPG Techna. The result was marginally successful.

[Jean Valjean]

My current project, IDES, is a continuation of the characters, universe, and conflicts I began inventing when I was about 3, except back then they were just imaginary friends and simple daydreams. Now I wish to acctually write about them in a more developed sense, though hopefully for the first half of the series I can still maintain much of the childishness that originally went into it. It's something I don't necessarily wish to let go of.Speaking of first stories, my first officially went like this:"There was a cricket, and then he died, and then he came back to life. The End."Merida

[Protohuman]

Tell me this, fellow writers...Have you taken the same vow I have to never become attracted to my own characters? When I was in my early teens, I saw a lot of sexy Anime girls, and I wasn't the only one who fancied them; but I kept thinking "How could the character designers bare to do this?! This is your own character, and it's in some way your own child..." I've heard of some people fantasising about their own characters, but I never understood it. I would feel so uncomfortable if I became attracted to my own character, because it would feel like incest... o.OI don't know if it's because I have an emotional tie to my characters (not sure how many of you have this), or just a feel of personal indecancy. Of course, if any of you read this and feel bad about what I'm saying, don't worry, technically there's nothing wrong with it as long as it's an on-the-side thing, but I just don't understand it myself.This topic has recently come into my head because Charlie Rene and Ellie Hawkins are based off of four people I know; two for each characters, in personality and appearance. Ellie's entire appearance and partial personality is based off of somebody in my college course who I am in love with (this isn't some creepy way of coming onto her, I've sorted the whole thing out and we are good friends and I'd like to keep it that way. I still have feelings for her, but there is really nothing I can do to stop them, other than to wait for them to disappear). Anyway, she isn't the first character to be inspired by a special female in my life, but I've been having particular difficulty with this one, in making sure of not to become attracted to her as well as the real life person who inspired her. I find myself keeping having to change certain elements of her person, so that she has the right amount of difference.But anyway, answer my question, hip cats!

[Jean Valjean]

The only character I've ever been attracted to has been my imaginary girlfriend, since I'll never have a real one (my mother thinks otherwise, but I digress). She's not part of the official canon of my stories. Strangely, though, she becomes harder to have a crush on when she's my fascinating literary creation. Writing is one thing. Daydreaming is another. Otherwise they really do feel like my own children, in some ways the feeling is very literal.By the way, don't you ever call my a hip cat or I will send a hoard of Blade Beasts after you. And don't call me fellow writer, either. Just say "hey guys". It's far more casual.Merida

[Jedi Knight Krazy]

Oddly enough, I have almost the opposite problem. Because the largest direct influence for the story is BIONICLE, romance plays almost no role in the plot, which probably is a bad thing. Most of my main characters are male (I find it's easier to come up with male characters, being a guy - I'm assuming that's pretty common among writers), and they're usually more focused with the problem at hand (which usually involves the potential extermination of humanity) than on finding a girlfriend. Similarly, I don't consider my few female characters to be "love interests" for the main characters. I can think of a few possible matchups for supporting characters (Broquiin x Argona, Taphir x Frima), but they're definitely going to be backgrounded.But I get what you're saying about getting attached to characters as "children" - they seem alive, and like they have a personality of their own, but they're very much my own invention.This morning, I was plotting a scene and I kept having to start over because the one of the characters involved kept stubbornly figuring out something before he was supposed to - eventually I realized I had to shorten the scene and carefully control the hints he sees to get the ending I wanted. I don't know, that character just felt very real (and annoying) at that moment.

[BioGio]

romance plays almost no role in the plot

That's... not a bad thing. I mean, I see where you're coming from. A lot of modern works (especially film) contain substantial romantic sub-plots, so you're used to seeing that; however, a lot of authors in the past wrote without much romance. If the point of the work doesn't involve love, there's no point to start matching up characters. With fantasy, it's probably better not to involve romance, since it's likely to come across as too escapist. It's when you ignore a natural possibility in the narrative (including romance) that you start to have a problem.~ BioGio

[Kaleidoscope Tekulo]

romance plays almost no role in the plot

That's... not a bad thing. I mean, I see where you're coming from. A lot of modern works (especially film) contain substantial romantic sub-plots, so you're used to seeing that; however, a lot of authors in the past wrote without much romance. If the point of the work doesn't involve love, there's no point to start matching up characters. With fantasy, it's probably better not to involve romance, since it's likely to come across as too escapist. It's when you ignore a natural possibility in the narrative (including romance) that you start to have a problem.~ BioGio

You know, I ship everybody and their mask in Bionicle (Suletu/Cadin. I ship it. XP), but I'm actually inclined to agree with you here, BioGio. Well, following up with Merida's post; there is a difference between telling a story and daydreaming. Personally I like to daydream when it comes to Bionicle shipping, and sometimes I actually prefer to fantasize about it in other stories. In its middle years, Bionicle didn't seem to really need romance to keep me interested in the plot. Heck, one of my favorite years was 2006 and that was when the romantic vibes were nigh non-existent. Heck, even Brave sidestepped the cliche "Princess meets Prince, they fall in love, insert cheesy mushy gushy wuv song here and cut to happily ever after." The story was the exact opposite of that set-up. The princess was fighting for her freedom,

and unlike Jasmine from Aladdin; she actually wins that herself as opposed to falling in love in the end.

Actually, that movie is now one of my favorite animated films. Props for not killing off the parents in the first two minutes, too. XP (Of course, I still wouldn't say no to a Hewkii/Macku or Tahu/Gali ship becoming canon. XD)Anyway, I'm mainly poking my head in here because I saw TONS of status updates for this topic. Also, I have run into a snag in my writing.It looks like I got a little too carried away with a cliffhanger in my story. Long story short, I made it look like one of my characters is actually insane/evil. However, that is not the case and I'm a bit worried my reveal of the entire situation of why the character is acting strangely will be a bit too rushed and out-there for the reader (the story is actually pretty out-there already. XD). It's harder to explain if you don't know what I'm talking about, but did this sort of thing happen to anyone else? (Getting a bit too ahead of yourself and getting side-tracked into writers' block?)

Edited July 17, 2012 by Tekulo: Toa of the Breeze

[Protohuman]

...By the way, don't you ever call my a hip cat or I will send a hoard of Blade Beasts after you. And don't call me fellow writer, either. Just say "hey guys". It's far more casual.Merida

Whoa! I'm shaking in my custom made Baby Seal leather boots!I'll say what I want, it's a free country XDBy the way, what do you people think about these lyrics:Dancing specters and nebulaeSounds of sine and the sawtooth waveReaching outwards like HymeraeAmplified by the quasar blazeNucleus of planet's dead coreShimmering back and reaching outNothing subconcious could ignoreLet us hear the universe shoutShifting throughout by gravityEchoes ring like a sonar chimeVibrating like the Maejen treeScream out for the world of timeI usually post my lyrics on a musician forum, but these are probably the least dark and most BZPower appropriate lyrics I've written in ages, and they're about the Music of the Spheres. Pretty cool...!

[Legolover-361]

Well, Protohuman, in response to your earlier question: I've never had trouble with attraction to my own characters considering I've never bothered to portray any as particularly attractive. :PI don't see it as much of an issue, though. Why? I see my characters not as children or subjects but as people in their own right, just imaginary. I can't say I control every little whim and detail of their lives -- when I attempt to do so, they tend to become flat and uninteresting -- so I can only treat them as individuals whose tales I only happen to be recounting.

Edited July 17, 2012 by Legolover-361

[Kaleidoscope Tekulo]

Hmm... Being attracted to your own characters... Well, for me, I've never been romantically attracted to them, really (though I did give some of them really nice looks, I can't say I've ever really thought about them that way). However, I have been inspired by them at times and I have looked up to them in the past. The way I model my characters' personalities, generally, is shedding a certain trait I notice I have (such as what I'm like when I'm grumpy, when I'm happy, when I'm serious and logical, when I'm silly and irreverent, etc) and I make that trait prominent. From there I play around with them a bit and put them in some fantasy situations (Story questions help. They're sort of like role-play questions about how your characters would interact in x situation. I find them fun and a bit surprising about how I think my characters would react. XD). After I've explored their character a bit (what makes them tic, etc), then I'll try to write a story for them off of a general idea I think is interesting. I cannot tell you how many times I've done this with my minifigs. XP So, in short for those TLDRers out there: I think of my characters as an extension of myself, and, well, I'm pretty unattractive by my high standards. XD

[Protohuman]

Hymerae, the story about the goddess who decends to Earth on a beach once every month, was based off of a special lady of mine from 2011 (this one wasn't unrequited, and we would have dated if she hadn't lived 50 miles away >.<).With this one I changed certain parts of her physical appearance, like made the length of her hair much longer, make her slightly more feminine (she wasn't exactly a girly-girl), and some other stuff. Throughout the time I was writing it, I kept having to remind myself "Harriet is NOT Hymerae! She is a character inspired by her!"Still... it didn't stop me from being slightly turned on when it got to writing the more passionate scenes xD

[Jedi Knight Krazy]

It looks like I got a little too carried away with a cliffhanger in my story. Long story short, I made it look like one of my characters is actually insane/evil. However, that is not the case and I'm a bit worried my reveal of the entire situation of why the character is acting strangely will be a bit too rushed and out-there for the reader (the story is actually pretty out-there already. XD). It's harder to explain if you don't know what I'm talking about, but did this sort of thing happen to anyone else? (Getting a bit too ahead of yourself and getting side-tracked into writers' block?)

Hmmm, yeah, I know what you're talking about. Usually when I get sidetracked, I run with it in my head for a bit in an alternate-canon just to see where it goes. Sometimes I like it and retro-fit it into the story. Other times, as much as I like it, it conflicts with my existing plans too much and I have to drop it. Example: when a character finds out about his heritage and the powers/weaknesses that have been forgotten over the millennia, I wondered if they actually weren't forgotten and his parents were hiding the truth from him for some reason. I liked the idea because it countered the cliche of inherited, forgotten powers, but I just couldn't make it work, so I dropped it.Back to your predicament: I wonder if you can back up a bit and make it less of a sudden revelation? Sprinkle small pieces of the explanation all over the last few chapters? I don't really know enough about the situation to help...

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

Wow.This is a children's site, dude.Also just wow.

[Jean Valjean]

I'm just telling you how that made me feel, Proto, which was just a tad bit uncomfortable. The Blade Beast comment was just a little bit of fantasy writer humor.Actually, following up on what Krazy said earlier, I don't tend to have a lot of romantic subplots either. My daydreams growing up were about saving the world. However, taking some inspiration from The Princess Bride, I like to branch out and include multiple genres in my work so that there's a little something from everyone. It also seemed natural to me that certain characters eventually found a relationship that helped complete them. I can't say that all the relationships were successful, because that's the way it is in real life, but it certainly adds to to the family dynamic when a couple first gets married, bringing out character relations to the forefront of the story, and I also believe that family is pivotal as well. Most of the really engrossing books and films I've experienced have had an interesting family to follow.Of course, I see romance as just as significant as a parent-to-child relationship and a sibling-to-sibling relationship. Then you throw in uncles, aunts, grandparents, in-laws, and so forth. There's so much potential for character relations to grow and increase in complexity, and it provides multiple avenues for me to eventually hit upon something that the reader will connect with.Still, I find romance significant sometimes purely for the romance, since it is after all a driving aspect of life. I feel that it can often be used to keep certain characters more real for the reader.Another reason why romance is beginning to intrigue me more than in the past is because I'm spending a lot of time thinking about how it should ideally work in my long contemplations about what it means to be human. In my universe, women of mainstream culture have short hair, men and women tend to dress the same, the term "Mr." is neutral and "Mrs." has fallen out of use, society has forgotten that women were once even held inferior to men, and so on. A million boundaries have broken down, so it gets me to start asking bigger questions such as "what is femininity" and "what is masculinity"? Ultimately I really find the answers insignificant, and so I begin to wonder how this all applies to romance and the relations between the sexes that we take for granted, since that's the most significant aspect of sexuality.So yeah, some of the reasons I have for romance is due to my attempts to develop my futurism, explore the effects of a worldview, and understand complex emotions.It's safe to say that back in the day I didn't have much action because I was, like Krazy, inspired by works like Star Wars and Bionicle, which were completely focused on saving the world. As I began outlining my writing, I was completely focused on realizing my imaginary friends and their larger-than-life personalities. Yet, as the writing continued, they began to become more and more their own characters, and occasionally some of them chose a more romantic path. The majority of my characters still aren't romantic because I feel it takes away from them, but when I think it adds something to them I go for it.My series contains a lot more failed romances than successful on hit wonders, by the way. Actually, I think my favorite romance might be the ship that never sailed between two secondary characters. It never worked because they were of a different species, and one of the characters was there normally only as comic relief, so it added a surprise twist and added depth to him. Really, I think failed romances are much more common in real life, and they're just as important to helping a character come to life.Merida

[Jedi Knight Krazy]

Wow.This is a children's site, dude.Also just wow.

Ummmm.. wat?...I assume you're replying to moderator-deleted post?@all: thanks for the advice - while I'll still try to ship my characters a bit to add depth, I'm encouraged to keep going with my conflict-centric focus.@Merida: now that you mention it, I agree that family dynamics play a huge role in adding depth to a world.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

More to Protohuman's stuff with his characters, which should have been told only on a need-to-know basis, with the assumption that nobody really needs (or very much wants) to know.

[Legolover-361]

The way I model my characters' personalities, generally, is shedding a certain trait I notice I have (such as what I'm like when I'm grumpy, when I'm happy, when I'm serious and logical, when I'm silly and irreverent, etc) and I make that trait prominent.

That's what I tend to do because basing a character off a certain trait that belongs to me helps me better understand what it's like to exhibit said trait and perhaps how to better deal with it in real life.

[Protohuman]

Sorry for my recent over-the-boarder posts...

[Jedi Knight Krazy]

Ok, so good news: I just finished an outline for Eons: Heartbeat! For those of you who haven't been following my every rambling post, Heartbeat is a result of two pieces of advice I heard and thought were good ideas:1. Write one or more short stories in your universe before starting your main story arc, for worldbuilding, and in an amateur's case, writing experience.2. Your first story should be a murder mystery.Now I have a bit of a dilemma... should I write one chapter at a time and post it here, or write the whole thing and iterate on it alone? I can think of good and bad things about both... I'm not a very confident writer yet, so chapter-by-chapter feedback would probably help my writing skill most, but once a chapter's written, I can't change it, which makes me nervous; I've been known to forget to introduce or develop characters and relationships, leaving myself totally stuck when they become important.What I'm leaning towards is writing a rough draft on my own, then write the final version chapter-by-chapter...