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rpmemesbyarat · 3 months

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You only need as much information about your character as is necessary to tell a story.

I see a lot of people stressing that they don’t feel they’ve developed their protagonist enough to begin their story. And in some cases, that’s possibly true. But in a lot of cases, these folks often have a pretty fleshed out profile of their character’s appearances, likes, dislikes, and so on, yet still feel it isn’t enough.

Hey, remember Calvin & Hobbes? It’s a comic strip series beloved by many, including me. We never know Calvin’s last names, or the names of his parents, or the exact nature of his dad’s job, or how they met, or their lives before being his parents. We don’t know anything about Susie’s family, or the bully Moe or babysitter Rosalyn; they’re only seen in the context of their interactions with Calvin. We don’t know about the lives of his teacher or principal outside of school. We don’t even know the street that he lives on, or the name of the city. It could literally be any suburbia, and I think that’s the point. This is Calvin’s world as he understands it, where Mom and Dad’s names are just Mom and Dad, and Dad’s job is just some ambiguous office, etc. While Calvin’s imagination is huge, it’s contrasted by his reality being very small and localized, confined almost exclusively to his home, school, and neighborhood, with occasional trips to the doctor, store, beach, museum, or zoo. In fact, the creator Bill Watterson regretted the story in which he added Calvin’s Uncle Max specifically BECAUSE of how it expanded the potential of Calvin’s world, especially since it required some awkward writing to avoid having him call the mom and dad by their names, and Watterson very much wanted them to remain unnamed.

This is a world that is deliberately small and information deliberately scant, and it works MARVELOUSLY. Calvin & Hobbes is the world through the eyes of a creative, hyperactive child and it’s perfect like it is without us needing to know everyone’s family tree, zodiac sign, favorite food, and political affiliations. Now, does that mean NO story needs that information? Absolutely not! There are stories where that might be relevant or even ESSENTIAL information to include about a character.

The question is, is your story one of them? Perhaps, instead of trying to work out your cast down to the last detail, work out what your story will require from your cast, and build their bios based on that. It’s not BAD to have superfluous details, and they’re often very fun for fans, but one should also avoid stressing out about lacking them when it’s unlikely they’ll come up in-story.

[As a note, this is one of the VERY many differences between story characters and RP characters; RP characters often need to come with very thorough bios and headcanons for others to consider them well-developed or worth interacting with, and because you alone don’t control the story, virtually ANYTHING can come up. Hence why a lot of people feel they need their character’s astrological chart worked out, their blood type, a list of allergies, and where they attended elementary school, since all those things may get asked in RP—-but you don’t NEED them for a story unless YOU make it that way!]

#writing tip #writing advice #writing #writeblor #writeblr

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princessparadoxical · 6 years

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The livestream kept cutting out due to shoddy Australian internet (curse you, Malcolm Turnbull) but I honestly lost track of the number of times Dirk was tempting fate? Saying the universe doesn’t work a certain way only for the universe to actually come through when he least expected or wanted it?

I never thought one of my fondest wishes would be for Dirk to be able to finish a diner meal without something needlessly dramatic happening, and yet. Please. Let him drink a milkshake or eat some pancakes without getting metaphorically twatted in the face by the cosmos. He’s useless as a detective if he’s malnourished and sleep-deprived, lordy may.

“I stopped existing a while ago” is morbidly funny, but even then I just wanted to cry. Psychic vampire banter at its best and most heartbreaking. But at least there’s light down there, because I’d been having nightmare visions of them all spending two months in complete darkness and silence and it was doing a number on my personal sanity.

I know that we’d already established Susie’s villain status but christ, selling out her own son to the police and then trying to use him as an excuse to not kill someone is some pretty brutal whiplash. “But what if someone gets hurt” isn’t going to fool anyone, Susie. You’re attractive but also you killed a dog and also some people so eh, please leave town now.

Dirk trading away police evidence for the #aesthetic is the most hilarious thing ever, but also can we please have a minute silence for the loss of the collarbone shirt. Samuel Barnett looked fine as hell in it. I’m going to miss it deeply. The end of an era. Let the mourning begin. Get the twitter trend happening.

Collarbones.

I didn’t like Todd agreeing with Dirk when he called his powers “stupid flighty bullshit” but I’m willing to cut them both a bit of slack, it’s been a long and stressful week, there are dead bodies everywhere. But this is a version of Dirk Gently that I can imagine standing on the roof screaming “you utter bastard” while shaking his fist at the night sky (like in the novels). It’s a tragic development.

Why am I so charmed by Panto calling her “Bartine” though?

Farah’s phone has to be bugged. It’s the only thing that makes sense with this particular storyline.

I’m assuming that the water cleaned Amanda’s face because she’s suddenly 35% less eyeliner and it’s taking a while for me to come to terms with being able to see her face again. Her “I am the consciousness?” conversation sounded like it should’ve been taking place when they were both getting stoned after a first-year college philosophy class. She’s trying to roll with the punches but they just won’t fucking stop coming.

... but also the Moloch symbol was clearly visible and I’m now a deeply concerned bean. Does this mean that Bergsberg is in danger? Wendimoor? Blackwing? What has been woken?

... but also I’m here for Amanda being the new Forest Witch.

I fully understand why Panto is beginning to crack, even if I’m worried about what it means for the holistic detective squad. He’s in a world he doesn’t understand, with people who have locked him up, trying his best to save his world even when it’s full of people who want him dead. His only friend is a piranha in the stream of creation. This has been a rough week for him, all things considered. He and Bart need a million more doughnuts and another dance party.

Dirk’s impression of himself was simultaneously the best and the worst thing ever, and we already know that his current accent isn’t the one he was born with so I’m assuming that it took a long time to develop from 1940s Gay British Pantomime to what he has now. But oh hello cracks, you keep getting bigger and bigger and I keep getting more and more worried. Is he sleeping yet? Eating properly?

The boy confirming that “at first the dreams were a gift” makes me so much more suspicious of Mona. I still adore her but the actress confirmed that the character is easily manipulated and I’m wondering whether she’s acting of her own accord or if she’s serving a higher purpose.

Hobbs’ concerned face when they were loading the boy into the ambulance was pure enough to cure cancer and also world hunger. Why can’t I just like assholes? Why do I always fall for the nice ones?

Someone needs to do a video edit of the Rowdy 3 coming through the portal set to The Boys Are Back In Town.

The fact that the Mage was so out of his depth in the scene with the wall mural throws out a lot of my previous theories? He looked threatened and actually scared and I’m not sympathetic in the slightest because he’s the major villain of the season. But I hate it when villains are unsettled because it always makes them 100% less predictable and more dangerous. That’s the exact opposite of what I wanted.

“I wanna fuck everybody here” oh man, I have never related so much to a single line in my entire life, how are they all so dang attractive?

And that’s why it was important that Hobbs deputized Farah, because he’s going to be out of commission for a few episodes (living in denial is a blast and a half, I can highly recommend it) and Farah’s finally going to show the world what she’s made of. Which is sugar and spice and fucking guns.

Rule one of questing, you guys: DON’T SPLIT THE FUCKING PARTY. Have none of you played Dungeons & Dragons?

I adored the Todd/Farah interactions and I’ll fight anyone to defend them.

Dirk on the dance floor looked like a cat having static balloons rubbed all over it, he was that uncomfortable. But also that conversation on the dancefloor was like someone went onto AO3 and pulled out everything we ever wanted, it was so nice to see them all having a nice time even if it took actual fucking sorcery to get them there. Max confirmed that it was indeed a love spell and oh, you beautiful tropical fish, it’s almost enough to make up for that final scene.

You could tattoo “it’s a lot of moving pieces and I’m getting overwhelmed” to my face and I’d thank you at this stage. But I’m fully here for Farah trying to explain away the boy’s violence with “he’s had a traumatic time” and Dirk rolling his eyes so hard they could be seen from space. Dirk’s had a lifetime of experimentation and trauma and christ, his coping mechanisms aren’t the best but you don’t see him trying to strangle anyone. Give the sunshine bean some more credit, guys.

The only thing giving me comfort right now is the thought of Friedkin’s face when he discovers that yet more subjects have disappeared into thin air.

Get wrecked, Friedkin. You weren’t even in that episode and I’m pissed at you.

#dirk gently #dghda #my contributions #I'll have more thoughts later but holy shit

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make-some-manna · 7 years

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why do you ship Manna?

For their complementary color schemes of course!

But seriously, the short version is: Because of their explosive chemistry.

The long version…

First, every scene about their interaction is pure gold. Each character brings out the most entertaining side of the other. Janna is at her absolute best whenever she’s hitting on Marco, and Marco’s reactions are always an absolute joy to watch.

I don’t think I’m alone in this regard. In fact, I think most people share this opinion; they just don’t know it yet. My evidence? The “look at that tush” comment from the Star and Marco live chat. People went absolutely crazy overthat comment.

But what was the reply that Marco gave Star? “Are you turning into Janna or something?” People like relationships that are more like that of Marco and Janna.

It reminds a bit me of a quote by Bill Watterson about his famous comic strip Calvin and Hobbes:

I suspect Calvin has a mild crush on her that he expresses by trying to annoy her, but Susie is a bit unnerved and put off by Calvin’s weirdness. This encourages Calvin to be even weirder, so it’s a good dynamic. Neither of them quite understand what’s going on, which is probably true of most relationships.

The dynamic between Marco and Janna hits on one of those fundamental dynamics that people just love to watch and want to see more of; it’s a sort of chemistry that can only be described as explosive.

But great chemistry is not the only thing that is great about the pairing. Lots of pairings can have chemistry; the ones that really stand out are those that can resonate with fundamental themes of human relations.

I’ve actually talked a little bit about this before in describing a Unified Manna Model of how the series could have been structured to build toward a Manna ending in a thematic way.

Marco and Janna have an implied past together, which automatically gives their relationship a degree of depth that no others can really match. This, coupled with their familiarity around each other, is why it was not strange at all to see Janna hanging around at Marco’s house, and incredibly easy to imagine her doing so since childhood and well into the future.

From this solid foundation it’s easy to see how the relationship could have been built up. Both of them give off a sense of being unsatisfied with the world around them. Janna has her rebellious attitude that leads her to be a member of the detention community, her obvious interests in magic and the occult, and her cynical belief a night in a graveyard will be more memorable than a high school dance.

Marco too has expressed spiritual dissatisfaction, from his monologue in “Naysaya” to his cynical view on love in “Trickstar.”

Well, your watermelon reminds me of my biggest fear of all– that we’re all alone on this tiny blue marble, floating in the infinite expanse of the universe, ripped from the center, and ejected out into a black void for no reason at all. Players on the stage of the absurd.

Star, it’s not real. The point of Earth magic is to allow yourself to be entertained by pretending that its real, just like love.

It’s very easy to imagine Janna being immediately attracted to someone saying either of those above comments, isn’t it?

The implication is that the two of them could have an understanding based on similar feelings of dissatisfaction and longing for something more. It can be something the two of them share that allows each to understand the other on a deeper level, to grow and develop together, and to build a relationship together.

Unfortunately for us, the series is not actually structured for this line of development. The above lines are intended more for jokes than for a character study of Marco, and Janna’s characterization so far is too limited. The above interpretation of her for instance is only wishful thinking on my part; I don’t pretend it’s anything but me imagining a Janna character with much greater depth than what we’re actually given. (But come on, considering how there are way more popular ships that involve characters that have never even met, surely a little wishful thinking can be forgiven here!)

But if the series had been built for it, the Marco/Janna pairing could have been a great love story about two lonely souls searching for something in an absurd multiverse, only to realize what they were searching for was right there the whole time.

Well, we always have the “Janna is main character” AUs…

#star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #Marco Diaz #Janna Ordonia #Manna #Janco #Janna's Chemistry Class

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pcetstcrtured · 4 months

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@inspotlight liked for susie!

"not to sound like a total creep, but you and your boyfriend are super cute together." susie can't stop herself from gushing as she sends a soft smile the other girl's way. "i hope to have a love like that myself someday, kinda want something just like my parents, they fell in love after one date." a pause. "anyways, do you guys have any plans for christmas?"

#( susie hobbs // interactions )#( contact list // nini salazar-roberts )#( susie hobbs // main )#inspotlight #(btw she has a lil info page on my muse list now if you wanna see how i'm like - writing her & such)

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princessparadoxical · 7 years

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The livestream kept dropping out and now I know what a pararibulitis attack feels like because my heart stopped several times (though sincere gratitude to sharkcats for literally saving my life on this front). But here are some things I’m thinking about this episode, sweet jesus dicks in my mouth, what a wild fucking ride and a half that was.

I screeched at the screen when Silas was trying to lie to his mother. Even with the very existence of Wendimoor at stake, he couldn’t bring himself to say that he’d killed his beloved. He said that Pantos tripped on a rock and his head exploded which wow, there’s being a bad liar and there’s being Silas. And “there’s no such thing as Dirk Gently” is excellent because it suggests that the prophecy knows who Dirk truly is. It didn’t tell them to find Svlad Cjelli. It didn’t tell them to find Project Icarus. It told them to find Dirk. But I love Silas and would happily fight someone to protect him.

Within ten seconds Dirk and Todd are fighting over Mona, and within ten minutes Todd’s being demoted over Mona. It’s hilarious, but also super-ominous. I don’t think Max is going to go for the whole love triangle cliche but still, why wouldn’t Todd be stressed and intimidated by the sudden introduction of a childhood friend who has the same experiences as Dirk? Who maybe understands Dirk in a way that Todd never could?

Why was Todd asking for a phone call at the police station? Who the fuck was he going to call?

... what if he was going to panic and call Estevez though.

“This is easily the best interaction with a police officer I’ve ever had” yes Dirk, because the other two died.

Dirk in handcuffs after being free for a fraction of a second. Presented without comment.

Dirk saying “I love you” for the first time on screen. Also presented without comment.

It’s highly likely that Todd’s “I need you to help me find Amanda” and “we’re all being punished” is going to be the start of Dirk’s existential hellspiral into holistic anxiety and depression and rewatching this episode in a few weeks time is going to be very painful.

I appreciate how relatable Susie was for the majority of the episode because it really hammers home how utterly human she is, and I feel like that’s going to be one of the most tragic parts of her character. She does some housework, fixes her hair and produces a metric fucktonne of money and literally all of us would do the same. It’s a fundamentally comprehensible thing that she does. She finally responds to her son in the way we all wanted her to respond. She’s one of us until the precise moment when she’s not.

I did not at all enjoy seeing Amanda covered in blood. I did enjoy seeing her and Vogel continue their road trip. And Vogel baby, I know you’re missing your older brothers but you’re plenty scary enough by yourself if you need to be. Please never change.

Dirk has a colourful jacket again and it’s not what he would’ve chosen for himself, sure. But he’s wearing a mutant hybrid of his Blackwing uniform and a gift given to him out of the kindness of Hobbs’ heart and that’s probably a very good representation of where he’s currently sitting emotionally. He’s just gained two new friends on top of getting two old ones back and therefore he doesn’t care as much that he’s still marked on his jumpsuit as government property.

“A government prison for psychics” is Blackwing in a nutshell though, I don’t give a single solitary shit how good Riggins thought it would be.

Ken had one scene and literally stole the entire episode. Much in the same way that he hopefully steals Blackwing. But I’m hoping that in the same way Amanda can virtually throw Vogel at people who piss her off, it’ll turn out that Ken can throw the rest of the Rowdies in the direction of the CIA and watch as they wreak havoc.

So I’m assuming that if Priest hadn’t turned up, Martin could’ve just... killed Friedkin? Flat-out murdered him? Is this a thing that was going to happen on-screen?

The entire fucking scene with Friedkin and Priest. I just. I don’t have words to describe how much I adored their dynamic in a hideously villainous, entirely magnetic kind of way. Friedkin was so shaken up after Martin fed on him, much in the same way that he was shaken up after being attacked by the Rowdy 3 in Very Erectus, and he instigated the conflict both times and fully deserves all of the trouble he’s in but it explains so damn much about why he’s doing what he’s doing.

Priest was responsible for bringing in thirty of the original forty-two subjects and I’m willing to bet cold hard dirty cash that he captured Martin, Gripps and Cross (and can you imagine how traumatizing it would’ve been if he captured a much younger Vogel too). He knew how to deal with Martin. He’s so confident in his ability to inflict violence that he can say to Friedkin “ethics is not a priority” and “I’m no good” because he knows damn well that Friedkin’s shaken up enough that he’s susceptible to someone more forceful (and I’m down for a power struggle between Priest and Ken over ultimately control of Blackwing).

It’s unlikely as all hell but christ, what if Priest was the one to collect Dirk during Blackwing Mark I? How terrifying would that be for a small child? Where is this angst fest?

Boy oh boy, “I’m just a gun, Friedkin... I don’t do anything unless you pull the trigger” is a hilarious counterpoint to “don’t take the shot” because Friedkin saw his shot to be in charge... took the shot... and now he’s so far out of his depth that it’s not even funny. I don’t know what the moral of the story is here beyond “some shots just shouldn’t be taken”.

The Lux Dujour poster on the wall like surprise bitch, bet you thought you’d seen the last of me.

And I’m officially calling it now; Susie used to be a first-class grade-A bitch before the accident. Her now-deceased manager said that the accident was the best thing that happened to her and I know he was an asshole, but that doesn’t mean that he couldn’t be right about this. Her son said that he’s not scared of her any more. Her new behaviour is different enough that her husband is commenting on it with “none of it is going to fix what happened... you can’t change who you really are”. I’m thinking that if the accident wasn’t her fault, it was at least some sort of cosmic retribution. And I don’t know how i feel about the whole disability-as-karma trope but I’m also willing to give Max the benefit of the doubt and see where they’re going with it.

But speaking of Susie curing her limp. It was utterly heartwarming to see her on the trampoline and it begs the question; could she theoretically cure Todd and Amanda’s pararibulitis? Or could she make it worse? Because lordy may, that could be a clusterfuck and a half if she turns out to be the Bellatrix to the Mage’s Voldemort.

That ending rivals the ending of Watkin where Gordon Rimmer beats Sammy’s head in with the guitar. This is a villain coming into their own. This is our introduction to someone with depth and complexity beyond what we’ve been shown so far and it’s chilling because they were so close to being sympathetic in so many ways. “The silence is nice” is going to haunt me for the next week at least, holy shit. The final scene was a literal “kick the dog” moment. Max, no. Max, why.

And I’m going to spend the next week paranoid that the Mage is lurking behind me because of terrifying holistic reasons.

#dirk gently #dghda #my contributions #this... got away from me a bit... as usual #over 1000 words but eh it's like 2pm here I'm fine #everything is fine

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