#which sounds absurd until you realize that that empathy is necessary to make characters who are ''truly believable''

[racke7]

Writing as an RPG

I got to thinking about weird metaphors in the shower, so here we go:

How to become a better author (Explained as if writing is an RPG and the goal is to do as much DPS as possible.)

So, first thing you want to do is soft-cap your “Formatting”-stat. This lets you grab more targets for your main DPS, and so is essential for the build. However, once it hits the soft-cap, putting any more points into it is basically completely useless.

Second thing is that you want to focus on your “Character Interaction”-stat. This one is kind of complicated to level, because after a certain point it requires you to equip and master the “Character Insight” armor-set, which can be a pain since the level will sometimes randomly reset because the devs are bastards. However, before that, the general advice is to just grind out a bunch of “Small Scenes Quests” in order to get to the higher levels.

If you try to push for longer and more complicated “Story Quests” whilst still at the lower levels, your DPS might drop unexpectedly, and that can really tank the overall XP you get from the completion. Unless you go back and redo parts of the quest, which will in all likelihood end up being a massive slog, because changing any stage of a quest might force you to play through the entire quest again.

So, keep grinding out “Small Scenes Quests” until you reach the point where the story forces you to upgrade it into a “Story Quest”, and then do that then. Don’t go around trying to make plans for it, because “Small Scenes Quests” are notoriously unpredictable in how they play out, it’s why they’re so good for grinding.

That said, try to be somewhat wary of upgrading a quest like that, because it’s hard to tell what really needs to be upgraded until you’ve already been doing a lot of actual “Story Quests”. Though again, do remember that everyone makes something stupid at this stage, so don’t beat yourself up about it.

#writing #games #rants #laughing #srsly though - nr1 advice is ''formatting'' bcs it's the First Thing any new reader sees - and so becomes an accessibility issue #the more complicated (aka divorced from the norm) you make your formatting - the worse the impression you leave will be #and 2nd is ''write short scenes - not LOTR'' bcs writing big projects are just... bad #either your creative fuel runs dry before you hit the End - or you're stuck with a First Chapter that you think is garbage-tier by the End #bcs you've grown too much as an author during the writing that it just falls apart - and trying to remove the First Chapter? #that would just cause the rest of the story to implode - bcs everything is based off of that First Chapter #so... if you want to learn? write small scenes instead - have fun with short arguments / write someone falling in love in a moment #and 3rd on this list is ''understand your characters'' bcs that's... kind of necessary to write an _engaging_ story #bcs otherwise you end up with shit like super-hypocritical black-hole characters - who are loved and adored by everyone #4th on the list however is... ''empathize with _real_ human beings'' #which sounds absurd until you realize that that empathy is necessary to make characters who are ''truly believable'' #like... there's a pretty big difference between someone writing a romance when they've only watched romantic comedies #in comparison to someone who's actually listened to people talk seriously about their own experiences with ''what makes relationships work''

[soiruntotheriver]

On the subject of Silver

It’s come to my attention that there’s a lot of theories about John Silver’s motivations floating around out there. I’m a relatively new member of the fandom so forgive if any/all of this has been said, but here’s my two cents on the subject. 

When we first meet Silver he seems to have one main motivation: Survival. As subsets to that category one could say he also would like to Get Rich Enough To Never Worry About Going Hungry and Not Feel Feelings Too Much, Thanks. He endeavors to achieve these things through whatever means necessary, abandoning pride, lawfulness, and any sense of guilt to do so. That is not to say that he doesn’t care about anything/anyone else, but his own survival supersedes pretty much everything. He can justify this, in part, because he sees the world in shades of gray. He would consider himself a realist, but is actually a bit of a pessimist. Life has revealed itself to be chaotic and cruel, so much so that John cannot imagine that there is any meaning behind it. And even if there is some grand purpose, my god it must be horrible, so yeah no thanks. Silver would rather have faith in nothing except himself because it’s the surest way to not get hurt and/or die horribly. This outlook sounds dour but it probably felt very freeing once he’d gotten the hang of it. I’m sure John convinced himself that he was dancing through life, though really he was only kinda sneaking through it. 

Now I think our boy would have carried on his merry way, manipulating and thieving until he got a share of the treasure, before disappearing off the face of the earth. IF. IF. He hadn’t met Flint. And, subsequently the crew members he befriended, Madi, etc. But it started with Flint. That magnificent, crazy bastard. 

At first, Flint was just the most likely means of securing the treasure. Silver saw a dauntless, conniving, ambitious, intelligent, commanding, dangerous, ginger sexpot, honed in on dauntless and dangerous, and decided that Flint had the makings of a powerful, but very much temporary, ally. That was the plan. 

Unfortunately for Silver, somewhere along the way, he started to get sucked into Flint’s orbit. He wasn’t a believer, not yet, but he did start to enjoy the push and pull of engaging with his equal in both intellect and will. And maybe he began to be seduced a little, despite himself, by the feeling of belonging as a member of a crew, by being one half of a partnership, by being able to stand alongside such a strong and intriguing character as Captain Flint. He begins to feel valued and, horror of horrors, connected to something. But then Flint’s priorities shift. And he not only lies to Silver about it, he also attempts to manipulate Silver’s loyalties by reminding him that, outside of the crew, he doesn’t matter/no one gives two shits about him. Yikes.

And so we’re back to every Silver for himself, just the way it should be. The only goal is the gold. Fuck everything else, Captain Flint especially. Except, oops, it looks like there was some collateral caring left over because when faced with the choice between avoiding danger or betraying the crew, Silver surprises everyone (including himself) by choosing the crew. He looses his leg in the process, along with his independence and a good chunk of his self-esteem.

This is the point where it starts to become clear that the Silver we met at the outset of this story is being unmade in a number of significant ways. He is obliged to depend on others, he no longer has access to the freedoms he once enjoyed, he must find the strength to weather the grueling pain of his injury, he has to reconcile with the fact that he’s opened himself up to others (i.e. Muldoon) and thus to a whole slew of complications (ew feelings). This is also where he begins to align himself more definitively with Flint. 

So we see Silver becoming resilient in ways he hadn’t had to be before, redefining his identity, setting goals that benefit others besides himself, taking on more responsibilities, and falling a little in love with his Captain. Even if you’re tracking this as a platonic relationship, you’ve got to admit that shit got heavy and weirdly intimate. Just saying. 

Eventually, somewhere between postulating that Flint might be a god who controls the sea and earning Madi’s regard, we witness the full metamorphosis. Silver has been brought to a place where he can imagine that Flint’s determination, ingenuity, and righteous fury, combined with Madi’s vision, resolve, and uprightness, might be sufficient to rally the numbers and amass the resources needed to achieve the impossible. Hell, for a second, he even believes in himself.

Yes, for one brief shining moment in time John Silver’s whole world-view teetered as he considered how beautiful life could be if only wars like theirs could be won. If only lending his support to the two most important people in his life didn’t mean clawing down a road paved with nothing but endless exhaustion and fear and bloodshed. If only he was capable of truly loving and being loved in return.

But, alas, a rock met a hard place, dissenters rallied against the cause, parties worked to divide steadfast partners, one of Silver’s loves was presumed dead, each side double-crossed the other, trust degraded. For Silver, it was reality reasserting itself, and he was left wondering what in the hell he was going to do with his two very stubborn idealists. One so angry, so committed to vengeance against the society that had killed his beloved and named him a monster, that his only recourse was to burn it all down. And the other, fiercely brave, principled, and responsible for the liberty and well-being of a whole people. Flint and Madi would never stop. They would fight and die for what they believed in. For Silver, who had never been given any reason to believe in anything so lofty as freedom from tyranny, it must have seemed like an incredible waste. It must have also been terrifying to be hurtling towards a future where two such bright, beautiful souls would undoubtedly be extinguished. What was John’s life, without them? What kind of world would it be if they were not in it?

So our desperate, lovesick, cynical idiot did what he felt he had to do - he took their choices from them, betrayed their trust, and forfeited his right to remain in their good graces (while also realizing one of Flint’s greatest desires i.e. the destruction of ‘Flint’, which is to say nothing of the reunion with Thomas if you believe that’s how it really went down). Silver did all this even though it surely meant that he’d earn the disdain of one or both of the people he cared deeply about, and he explicitly states that he did it anyway because at least they’d be alive to hate him. 

Did Silver make perfect choices? No. Was his love unquestionably pure? Absolutely not. Was he potentially short-sighted, too controlling, and a little bit of a coward? Yeah, maybe. But he was also a traumatized, complicated man who was experiencing perhaps the closest thing to love he’d ever felt in his life. His final acts were ones of helplessness and hopelessness. To say that he didn’t care, that he wasn’t invested, is absurd to me. I think Silver deserves empathy and I think he deserves forgiveness every bit as much as Flint does. 

#john silver #Black Sails #black sails meta #silverflint #silvermadi