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icecoffeeluverr · 1 year

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Introduction

Creating emotionally complex characters is a crucial element of writing engaging and compelling fiction. Readers want to connect with characters who feel like real people with complicated emotional lives. Emotionally complex characters are not one-dimensional; they have nuanced emotional responses and are capable of experiencing a range of emotions. In this blog post, we'll explore some tips for writing emotionally complex characters.

Understand Your Characters' Backstories

To write emotionally complex characters, you need to understand their backstories. The past experiences and relationships of your characters shape their emotional responses to events in the present. Ask yourself, what has your character experienced in their life that has affected their emotional state? What relationships have they had that have left a lasting impact on them? By understanding your characters' past, you can create emotional depth in their present actions.

Give Your Characters Conflicting Emotions

One way to create emotionally complex characters is to give them conflicting emotions. For example, a character may feel guilt and anger simultaneously, or love and hatred. Conflicting emotions create tension and complexity, and make your characters feel more human. As humans, we often experience a range of emotions that conflict with one another, and fictional characters should be no different.

Show, Don't Tell

When it comes to emotions, it's important to show, not tell. Instead of telling the reader that a character is feeling sad, show their physical responses, their facial expressions, and their behavior. This allows readers to connect with the character on a deeper level and experience the emotions along with them. By showing emotions in action, you create a more immersive reading experience.

Create Characters with Flaws

Flaws are essential to creating emotionally complex characters. Characters who are perfect or always make the right decisions are often less relatable and less interesting to readers. By giving your characters flaws, you create room for emotional growth and development. Characters who struggle with their flaws are more compelling and relatable.

Use Dialogue to Reveal Emotions

Dialogue is an excellent tool for revealing the emotions of your characters. Through dialogue, you can reveal characters' internal struggles, fears, and desires. By giving your characters distinct voices, you can create a sense of emotional depth and complexity. Dialogue can also create conflict and tension, which can reveal emotions that characters might not otherwise express.

Conclusion

In conclusion, emotionally complex characters are crucial to writing engaging and compelling fiction. By understanding your characters' backstories, giving them conflicting emotions, showing emotions instead of telling, creating characters with flaws, and using dialogue to reveal emotions, you can create characters that feel like real people with complicated emotional lives. Remember, emotional complexity adds depth to your characters and makes them more relatable to readers.

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icecoffeeluverr · 1 year

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Profile on Jason Todd

JASON TODD’S COMPLETED PROFILE by icecoffeeluver If you read white wine and cigarettes | jason todd I did mention some of this stuff already so bare with me here, i will probably be plagiarizing my own work so you guys probably read the adolescence part in white wine and cigarettes.

jason’s adolescence with willis and catherine

Let’s start off talking about Jason’s adolescence. As we all know due to DC wiki or the actual comics Jason had a traumatizing childhood. Willis was in and out of jail and in some versions abusive (let’s use that version for this analysis) whereas Catherine was a drug addict.

Let’s start with discussing Catherine’s and Jason’s relationship. In a normal parent child relationship the parent is the caregiver. In Catherine’s and Jason’s relationship, Jason is the caregiver 80 percent of the time, the times where Catherine wasn’t high. This allows something called role reversal also known as parentification. This means whoever the caregiver is supposed to be switches roles with the child, where the child takes care of the adult. Similar to what Jason was doing with Catherine.

Since Jason was an only child he had to do it alone. He had no one to talk to, no one he could trust to take care of him if he became sick etc. This means Jason had to figure out how to cope with his own feelings and trauma. He doesn’t have attentive parents to offer comfort or validation that he needed growing up. Eventually this can cause a disconnect from yourself, you don’t know who you are apart from being a caregiver.

Being a parent means you are responsible for your child’s well being along with simple stuff like making sure they eat, paying rent etc. Jason never had parents doing that, especially not after Willis was sent to prison. So as the only functional person in the house he had to step up. He had to make some cash to pay rent, look after Catherine, feed himself and Catherine. So he went out on the streets and made some cash by prostitution.

This alone can cause many issues to a child. Which is why children can’t legally consent until they’re about sixteen in the majority of places. It’s very unhealthy and can cause a bunch of issues in the future when they’re in a consensual relationship or just in general. Now moving on from Catherine and Jason’s relationship, which I’ll probably bring up again later,

We will now be discussing how Willis’ abusive behavior towards Catherine and Jason affected Jason’s adolescence. So when a child is under a lot of stress it can speed up the maturing process so parts of the child’s brain is matured more than other parts. It causes that child to become a mini teen or adult even to protect and help that child survive in certain environments.

So in this case Jason had to mature enough so that he could survive the abuse Willis caused. However, this process caused something called unfair responsibility to occur. An example of unfair responsibility would be a parent getting angry at a kid for something that the parent did. Now in Jason’s case that would be Willis projecting his own failure onto Jason causing him to get hurt when he did nothing.

That strikes fear in Jason, as if something is done wrong it’s now his fault. So the child matures faster than they should, considering you aren’t fully mature until you are in your early to mid twenties. So the child matures enough to notice that they aren’t being perfect, and a child shouldn’t have to be perfect. They need to make mistakes to learn. But living with Willis he never knew that until he met Bruce.

childhood with bruce

This leads us into the time where Jason meets Bruce. It was a little bit after Catherine’s overdose when Bruce takes Jason in. Jason feeling stressed and guilty over Catherine’s overdose acts out quite a bit. This is him grieving but also testing boundaries. Seeing if he can be imperfect, seeing if he can be himself for once and to see if Bruce would hit him or act abusive towards him. As expected Bruce doesn’t hit him or anything (during that time period).

This is most likely conduct disorder. It’s a disorder mostly for children that can be diagnosed when there is an ongoing pattern of aggression toward others, and serious violations of rules and social norms at home, in school, and or with peers. So like Jason testing his boundaries and behaving poorly to Bruce. Which is a more mild version of the disorder but it’s there.

When Bruce gives Jason Robin it causes an old fear to return. The fear of imperfection. He’s afraid that he won’t live up to Dick Grayson, the first Robin. During this time he slowly stops meeting the requirements for the conduct disorder but gains a moody, crying episodes, and more aggressive attitude. These are signs of PTSD, which I think he definitely has. Or it could be symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder which I’ll get more into later on. These all eventually lead to his death.

life after revival

After the revival Jason is manipulated by Talia into thinking Bruce replaced him as Robin and that he didn’t care about his death. But in reality Bruce did care about Jason’s death. Then again Jason was definitely not in the right state of mind and was extremely vulnerable both physically and emotionally.

Which was most likely why Talia chose him to get back at Bruce, by manipulating Jason and by having sex with him. Which to me I don’t think was consensual but then again Talia is a bunch of things but I don’t think she is a rapist. Jason wasn’t in the right state of mind making it more not consensual but he is also the age to consent and he could have in the moment, I think it’s more of the writers fault for this since you can debate it either way.

After Talia and the League of Assassin’s he made his way back to Gotham. Causing trouble and a lot of blood shed but eventually reconciles with Bruce and joins the family again. mental illness i think he has or had

conduct disorder (cd) It’s a disorder mostly for children that can be diagnosed when there is an ongoing pattern of aggression toward others, and serious violations of rules and social norms at home, in school, and or with peers. So like Jason testing his boundaries and behaving poorly to Bruce. Which is a more mild version of the disorder but the symptoms are there.

oppositional defiant disorder (odd) It’s a disorder that deals with people's behavior. It’s mostly found in children, but it can be diagnosed in adulthood. Children are more prone to being uncooperative, hostile towards parents, peers, people with higher authority etc, anger, vindictiveness. Typically people with odd have been diagnosed with cd beforehand but for Jason I think he developed cd before because of the unfair responsibility.

cptsd

Cptsd, complex post traumatic stress disorder, is a more complex version of ptsd. It’s basically ptsd with added features such as difficulty controlling emotions, anger, distrust etc. Jason has definitely gone through many traumatic experiences and he a hundred percent has ptsd that’s for certain. cptsd vs ptsd. cptsd is going through multiple traumatic events (catherine, sex work, joker, revival, bruce slicing his throat etc) whereas ptsd is one traumatic event. I think this one is pretty self-explanatory.

a cluster b personality type Cluster b personality types are antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder. Jason shows signs of antisocial personality disorder and borderline personality disorder. He fits the criteria for antisocial personality disorder (aspd) through his aggression and unlawful behavior (i mean come on he put seven heads in a bag to prove a point). However, he also shows signs of borderline personality disorder (bpd) by his distorted self image. This is where his relationship with Catherine comes in. Jason becoming a full time parent at a young age shifted his sense of self, he doesn’t know who he really is. You can see this as he grows up.

With Bruce he becomes Robin so he takes after Dick, then he becomes the Red Hood he steals that name and identity from the Joker, and tries to take the role of Batman when Bruce is presumed dead. Later on he gets his own sidekick, goes on to lead the Outlaws similar to a team Bruce leads every once in a while (the Outsiders). So Jason recasts himself as others and that’s a symptom of bpd. Which is a disorder that involves a poorly built sense of identity. But then again he does this too often to have this disorder, but then again he was dead and not in his right state of mind and missed out on critical personality development that he needed. Bpd causes mood swings and difficulty controlling your emotions which Jason has but that could also be his cptsd.

Therefore he definitely has a personality disorder, I just don’t know which type, he could have one or the other or even both but I’m not a medical professional so I can’t diagnose him with anything.

things he suffers with (not mental illnesses)

Identity issues Identity is a trick concept to understand, so bare with me here. Having a sense of identity helps adapt to changes in your everyday life. When people lose their sense of self they lose their self-esteem and look for their own sense of self in others. When someone loses their self-esteem they lose all confidence in themself. They attempt to be whoever the people around them want them to be even if it hurts them. For example, Batman sees Jason as a murderer at times, so he slowly adapt to that version of himself when he’s around him. Jason put on a mask and played his part. But with someone else, like Red Robin when he’s injured, Jason would go and play a caregiver role because that’s who Red Robin needs. Or who he thinks he needs.

Another example would be, with Bruce he becomes Robin so he takes after Dick in a way, then he becomes the Red Hood he steals that name and identity from the Joker, and tries to take the role of Batman when Bruce is presumed dead. Later on he gets his own sidekick, goes on to lead the Outlaws similar to a team Bruce leads every once in a while (the Outsiders). So Jason recasts himself as others

derealization or dissociation

Let’s start with derealization. Derealization makes someone feel as if they are disconnected from themself. They become emotionally disconnected from everything. They feel like they’re living in a movie, things don’t seem real to them in this state. Or even feeling as if they and everything around them are being separated by a glass wall. They can see everything but they can’t interact with it properly, they become disconnected from their surroundings. When Jason is revived he’s more so in a coma / brain dead I think he was dissociating or derealizing. Most likely dissociating.

Dissociation. It’s similar to derealization in some aspects but with dissociation people don’t remember what happens during that time period, could be minutes, hours, maybe even days. In most cases it’s because the brain shuts down to protect the mind from emotional trauma or in less severe cases, stress.

fear of being forgotten

He always brings up his death. I think it's the fear of being forgotten. Probably because he thought nobody was looking for him when he died. claustrophobia.

He dug his way out of a coffin, I would hope this is self explanatory.

personality

According to Google Jason is an ESTP character type. This is what Google says, “He is the ESTP character type, a bold and practical hero who prefers not to play around and go straight for the jugular of any problem. He is also typically insensitive to anyone's feelings, is impatient and takes way too many risks, and is one of the most defiant members of the Bat Family.”

I agree but also disagree. The weakness of an ESTP character type fits him. Those are impatient, impulsive. Whereas the strengths are influential, personable. Like these are but aren’t Jason it’s 50/50 what do you guys think?

Jason is a very emotional and angry person, as a child he was all loving and sweet but that eventually turned to anger when I think he realized what happened to him. He has a hard time expressing himself in ways other than anger.

He’s quite impulsive, like acting before thinking. He can be portrayed as stupid but he’s pretty smart, he’s tactile and a literary nerd, always reading a new book.

He’s humorous and sarcastic. Always has a snarky comment to say. Doesn’t matter who it’s to, but won’t say it to Alfred out of fear.

relationships | platonic and romantic

Roy Harper

Jason and Roy both met at a young age but barely interacted until they were in their twenties. As of right now they are each other’s best friend. They match each other's energy, watch each other’s back, won’t abandon the other, don’t judge each other and have similar trauma.

Roy’s addiction most likely brings back memories of Catherine and if Roy were to relapse it would definitely bring out the scared caregiver in Jason. The person he had to be with Catherine.

jason and bruce

Jason and Bruce have a complex relationship. There is Jason who’s disobedient, troublesome, and constantly morally challenges Bruce. This causes Bruce to constantly be pulled out of his comfort zone. Bruce has done some pretty questionable things like throwing a batarang at Jason’s neck instead of letting the Joker die. However, Jason still loves him and they eventually come to an understanding.

jason and his siblings

Jason and Dick don’t have the best relationship but it’s not the worst. Dick feels guilty since he was an ass to Jason before his death. So now he tries to play the big brother role which makes his relationship with Damian and Tim (until Red Robin) stronger.

Jason and Tim have a more complicated and strained relationship. Tim idolized Jason growing up, he was his hero. Then Jason comes back and attempts to kill him, leaving him for dead. But I don’t think Tim’s capable of holding a grudge against his hero and Jason doesn’t seem to care about it anymore.

Jason and Damian probably met during Jason’s time in the League of Assassins. They don’t get along but that’s probably all Damian since he acts like he hates everyone around him.

my observations

His most used emotion is anger. He definitely has anger issues. I would say he could definitely qualify for an IED but that’s mostly the Lazarus Pit causing it so I didn’t mention it earlier in the mental illnesses section.

He’s more laid back than people think. Apart from his anger he’s pretty chill, always making jokes, completely opposite to what people would think.

Used to smoke as a kid before meeting Bruce to cope with stress.

Doesn’t cope well with stress. He resorts to violence or drinking. Which are both unhealthy coping mechanisms and shouldn’t be used that way.

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