I love all of my characters sooooo freakin' much, like, I wish I didn't have to hurt you so much, but that's the way it has to be :))))).
I also love the fact that I don't have one specific comic-relief character like they are all just depressed adults who like making jokes about themselves and overall fucking things up. Like poor babies but they're okay, they've got each other and that's all they need sometimes. I never liked having one character be the comic-relief because it seems harsh??? Everyone makes them seem stupid and gullible and they are just so much more???
I definitely agree with you on the single comic-relief character because it makes that specific character seem ignorant or not serious. Having a few of the characters be self-deprecating or crack a joke every now and then makes them a lot more believable as long as it's not overdone.
Anyways, I also feel so bad about torturing my characters :(
I'm working on a dystopian piece of writing where basically all of my poor characters has to be put through something awful. I don't want to torture the poor innocent children
Ditto on every point, especially the dystopian part…..my poor children!
Lol. In my dystopia (that I haven’t started writing) two of the three main characters are killed,and the other lives in doubt for the rest of her life.
Mine isn't even a dystopia, and a lot of bad things happen to my kids…
I still love them though, and I'm making sure one of the themes is a found family sort of thing, because at the end of the day, they all take care of each other.
Is it bad to push personal values in your writing? I look down on it for the most part, but I have really strong feelings on platonic and familial relationships filled with love. And I’m struggling with it.
Those kinds of personal values, no. Politics, religion, that sort of thing, yes unless the readers are expecting it.
Found family/platonic relationships are very important to me because of my situation, and I don't see why anyone would have a problem reading about themes like that unless you get way too sappy.
It depends on how you do it. I've read some books and such with very soapboxy pushing of messages, but others have done it less so. Six of Crows is a great example for a fantasy series that deals with contemporary issues (racism, prejudice, human trafficking, ableism, etc.) in a very tactful and non-soapboxy way.
In your case, it definitely seems like a case of 'Some Anvils Needed To Be Dropped' (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped)
Oh yeah, true. It's honestly a case of "it's good in moderation." It's probably also bad to try pushing too many messages at once, which I guess was more of what I was trying to point out with the "no politics, no religion" thing. I wrote some really terrible stuff when I was younger about politics and religion (mostly because I blindly believed everything my parents told me) and that's not good…
What do y'all think about the "only survivor" trope?
I have a character whose village was attacked and burned to the ground. Anyone who stayed instead of fleeing was killed, except for him.
But uh… seems quite cliche if you ask me. It's clear he's not the only survivor, exactly, but he's the only one that my band of characters is able to find in the ruins of the town.
While most of my characters have their own problems and struggles, I wouldn't say any of them are depressed. I have done some pretty bad things to them though.
spoiler warning for my stories that I've yet to write
- like framing Samuel for the death of his best friends dad
- or killing off Nathaniel, the boy that Alice saw as her own child
- making Jaylen a workaholic
And yet we still all claim to love our characters.
What do y'all think about the "only survivor" trope?
I have a character whose village was attacked and burned to the ground. Anyone who stayed instead of fleeing was killed, except for him.
But uh… seems quite cliche if you ask me. It's clear he's not the only survivor, exactly, but he's the only one that my band of characters is able to find in the ruins of the town.
I think it’s kinda meh. But that’s coming from a dude who has a dark lord burn a village because of a prophecy child.
What do y'all think about the "only survivor" trope?
I have a character whose village was attacked and burned to the ground. Anyone who stayed instead of fleeing was killed, except for him.
But uh… seems quite cliche if you ask me. It's clear he's not the only survivor, exactly, but he's the only one that my band of characters is able to find in the ruins of the town.
I think it’s kinda meh. But that’s coming from a dude who has a dark lord burn a village because of a prophecy child.
It depends on how it's executed, like all tropes.
I'm sure you'll make it good, Bec!
What do y'all think about the "only survivor" trope?
I have a character whose village was attacked and burned to the ground. Anyone who stayed instead of fleeing was killed, except for him.
But uh… seems quite cliche if you ask me. It's clear he's not the only survivor, exactly, but he's the only one that my band of characters is able to find in the ruins of the town.
I think it’s kinda meh. But that’s coming from a dude who has a dark lord burn a village because of a prophecy child.
Hmmm… is there a way to make it work? Like I do have a reason he survived (it wasn't random, someone sort of saved him), but I feel like it might be kind of weak still.
Ernaps you should explain the situation.
Hmmmm… long story. Should I open another thread? May have to wait until later, though. I've got stuff to do.
Speaking of doing horrible things to characters, I was about to start drafting a scene where it's kind of this 'darkest hour' for the rebellion. Oliver (who is the leader) is out cold, Jon (his second in command and the heart of the team) is missing in action, Darius has run off, and basically the chain of command has fallen to Jon's uncle Marcus, a bartender, and Ansel, a twelve year old streetsweeper, and both are only in the army because Jon is kind of a paragon. Ansel is panicking and Marcus is trying to convince him to stay calm when they hear desperate pounding on the door. They freak out, assuming it's the Duchess's troops coming to kill them all, but then they open it and it's Darius, who prompty falls on his face. He's lost a bit of blood and is mildly concussed, but Nell (the medic) is able to help him and so some hope returns.
It's a really good Break The Haughty moment because up until now Darius has been kind of an ass, especially to Jon and Oliver, but the fact that he failed the one thing he tried to do makes him have a slight breakdown. Not to mention he got parts of two of his fingers cut off and that shit hurts. I assume. I haven't had it done to me.
I'm actually still trying to decide where the scene will go, I might change it so it's after Oliver has been killed but Jon (and Meg) have escaped, and have Jon and Darius get over their bitterness with each other and have a quiet moment of not-hating the other.
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