Day 3 – For each of the fandoms from day two, what were your favorite characters to write?
Wow, three days in a row, how bout dat.
Well, let's see if I can knock this one out quickly:
Ranma 1/2: Ryouga. Even though I don't write him IC in my spinoff (which is the only "writing" I've done).
Xena: Warrior Princess: Joxer, and Aphrodite. Yeah I was and am a Joxer fan. The show was actually very, very frustrating because every time they'd start to give some development to Joxer they'd take it back later and sometimes make him even more 1-dimensional. :P Aphrodite though, she was just fun. :)
Most of the fandoms I did drabbles for that I mentioned yesterday, well, I've written so little (and mainly on-demand) that I don't have a favourite. No fave for Fruits Basket or FMA, or Buffy or Princess Tutu. I liked writing Utena in the "Revolutionary Girl Utena" fic I did and I loved writing Sesshomaru in the second (unarchived) Inuyasha drabble. But that was really just a joke fic. :D I also don't have a favourite in Tiny Toons.
I do have a favourite in the Real Ghostbusters, and that's Peter Venkman, even though I wrote him terribly. He was SO MUCH FUN. I wanted to write the fic b/c I wanted to write for Janine, and she was fun to write for, but Peter was the runaway star once I started. Not of the fic, just of every scene he was in, the egotistical scene-grabber. :D
You'll notice perhaps that I left DWD for last; that's cause it's the longest answer. :D I think at this point I've finally become comfortable with writing Launchpad, so in terms of good guys, he's probably my favourite to write. I actually get really nervous writing Drake since I'm not often very good at keeping him IC; I *love* writing Darkwing when he's being melodramatic during an action scene, but I don't have a lot of action scenes, so other than that, I find him challenging. LP has gotten somewhat easier for me since I decided to go ahead and develop his inner monologue somewhat. I think he's still more or less in character but I love writing him being just... kind of easily confused, kind of dim but really well-meaning and trying to keep up. :D
In terms of villains, thus far I'd have to say Megavolt. He's so random, it's easier for me to write his craziness than it was with Quackerjack. I really enjoyed it. I hear Megs's voice in my head more easily than I do with Quacky, too. :)
So there's your answer, fishbulb!
Showing posts with label characters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label characters. Show all posts
Monday, December 19, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Character Post: Launchpad, Take 2
I'm busy workin' away on chapter 2 of TWC3 and there's been a lot of introspection on Launchpad's part. (I'd go into why but it's all spoilery and since this fic is coming out in the NEAR future, instead of the DISTANT kind, I figured I'd just let folks wait; I will say though that, y'know, I'm going somewhere with him in this fic.) Anyway, that got me thinking again about how I write him and how that's evolved. I actually have started writing him a bit differently since I wrote my last characterization post - back in 2007 now, I think that was. (GOD that's just sick and wrong. I'M OLD.)
Digression: I am seriously freezing right now and I have no idea why. Stupid office! Okay, digression over, now to the meat of the post.
In my last post I mentioned how I thought I was weakest at writing Launchpad, out of the three main characters of the show. I guess that might've changed by now; I've been putting a real effort into developing his character, some of which shows up in the rewrites and some of which in the "New" fics. (We won't talk about the stuff in between.) But the character is not a precise reflection of who he is in the show. It's not a huge departure either, it's just that - in my opinion - Launchpad on the show is not prone to introspection.
Well, ya can't write that way in fanfic, kids! Or well I guess you can, 'cause I used to, but it's not easy to read. :P
I've been trying to find a "blend" on LP... someone who is familiar and appealing to fans of the show, who doesn't seem blatantly smarter/angrier/darker/cooler/whatever than he was, but who is still deeper than DWD series often portrayed him and who is a bit more prone to action than "just the sidekick".
The action part is something i want to do within the realms of the series, actually. LP was often just in the background but not always; he had his moments. I want to do that, have him be supporting action without overtaking Darkwing, but have them more frequently.
The added depth is something I'm maybe trying to explain a little in this way: in my take on the series, Launchpad has kind of been in a bit of a holding pattern for a while without realizing it. He's been happy doing what he's doing, ie, sidekicking and helping out with Gos, etc. It's been fun, he hasn't thought much about anything else, and he's now starting to think about things and realize that he's been neglecting his own life a bit. Hence, the introspection; I thought maybe it could play as just something he was avoiding for a while.
In terms of characterization - the "blend" - I dont' want him to be more serious. I love goofy LP! I like to write him as a generally easy-to-please guy who doesn't overthink anything, often thinks about his stomach first, and likes to see people happy. He's prone to saying things that are slightly off-the-wall, and can be easily confused or overwhelmed at times. I hope it comes across as LAUNCHPAD, just maybe in a little more detail than a half-hour cartoon series, and not as me trying to beef up my fave character and make him the way *I* think he should be. Well, everyone does that, I guess (though LP's not actually my favourite character, but he used to be); like I siad though, I hope he's familiar to fans of the show and I certainly hope he's appealing. ^_^
Digression: I am seriously freezing right now and I have no idea why. Stupid office! Okay, digression over, now to the meat of the post.
In my last post I mentioned how I thought I was weakest at writing Launchpad, out of the three main characters of the show. I guess that might've changed by now; I've been putting a real effort into developing his character, some of which shows up in the rewrites and some of which in the "New" fics. (We won't talk about the stuff in between.) But the character is not a precise reflection of who he is in the show. It's not a huge departure either, it's just that - in my opinion - Launchpad on the show is not prone to introspection.
Well, ya can't write that way in fanfic, kids! Or well I guess you can, 'cause I used to, but it's not easy to read. :P
I've been trying to find a "blend" on LP... someone who is familiar and appealing to fans of the show, who doesn't seem blatantly smarter/angrier/darker/cooler/whatever than he was, but who is still deeper than DWD series often portrayed him and who is a bit more prone to action than "just the sidekick".
The action part is something i want to do within the realms of the series, actually. LP was often just in the background but not always; he had his moments. I want to do that, have him be supporting action without overtaking Darkwing, but have them more frequently.
The added depth is something I'm maybe trying to explain a little in this way: in my take on the series, Launchpad has kind of been in a bit of a holding pattern for a while without realizing it. He's been happy doing what he's doing, ie, sidekicking and helping out with Gos, etc. It's been fun, he hasn't thought much about anything else, and he's now starting to think about things and realize that he's been neglecting his own life a bit. Hence, the introspection; I thought maybe it could play as just something he was avoiding for a while.
In terms of characterization - the "blend" - I dont' want him to be more serious. I love goofy LP! I like to write him as a generally easy-to-please guy who doesn't overthink anything, often thinks about his stomach first, and likes to see people happy. He's prone to saying things that are slightly off-the-wall, and can be easily confused or overwhelmed at times. I hope it comes across as LAUNCHPAD, just maybe in a little more detail than a half-hour cartoon series, and not as me trying to beef up my fave character and make him the way *I* think he should be. Well, everyone does that, I guess (though LP's not actually my favourite character, but he used to be); like I siad though, I hope he's familiar to fans of the show and I certainly hope he's appealing. ^_^
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
When you can't wake up in the morning, 'cause your bed lies vacant at night
So, everyone who actively follows me here is on DeviantART, but there might be some pop-ins from time to time... I dunno... just in case, I'm posting this here too. :)
Basically, there's a "10 Things About Your OC" meme that floats around and resurfaces from time to time. I did one for Beth back in October, and then everyone else did cooler ones for their OCs and I felt inadequate, so I've finally gone back and done a second one. *G* I think the only reason I felt inadequate was because I couldn't think of many things that hadn't already been mentioned in fics (mostly in All About Elizabeth, which is full to the brim of Beth's little quirks and secrets) so I felt like a lot of what I DID include was either too short to be interesting, or else just plain uninteresting.
Either way, I didn't post the original here so I'm gonna rectify that, and throw in my "Round 2" for good measure. This one is, I think, a little more engaging.
The first ten:
1. Despite constantly repeating that since her middle name, Marilynn, has two "n"s and therefore she isn't named after Marilyn Monroe, she actually is. Her parents are both film buffs and named all their children after classic movie stars; Beth is named for Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe.
2. Her birthday is in July. The date has never been specified, but it's sometime in the second half of the month.
3. She thinks math humor is hilarious.
4. She comes from a science and math background but is not at all mechanically-inclined; she gets the equation and formula parts but not the engineering stuff at all. She could probably kick some butt doing chemically-related stuff for Darkwing but he's more gadget-oriented and she is NOT.
5. She has a long, long list of things she's afraid of, many of which are animals/creepy-crawlies (spiders, bugs, monkeys, etc) and the rest of which are experiences. As a friend of mine put it, she's "afraid of everything" and hates to take risks.
6. She will forgive anyone anything if she gets a good enough explanation, no matter how many times a person has done the same thing to her over and over. There is no "last chance" with Beth.
7. She is a decent singer, a bad actress (and a pretty awful liar), and a godawful dancer.
8. She used to wear her hair short as a little girl, but grew it out after she noticed how much her mother enjoyed styling her older sister's hair.
9. She has contacts but dislikes using them, partly because of the way they feel but mostly because she uses her glasses as a kind of safety device to hide behind.
10. She got really into the idea of actually inventing time travel for a little while in the 80s.
Next ten:
11. She will read anything she can get her hands on. She doesn't really have a favourite genre, though in terms of fiction she prefers classical literature if she can get it; she doesn't like standard "Supermarket Checkout" novels but she'll read them if nothing else is around. The only things she won't read are horror, like Stephen King, Dean R. Koontz, Peter Straub, etc.
12. She actually doesn't get a lot of pop culture references, especially from the 70s/early 80s (when she was younger), because her parents didn't let her watch much television. She has since caught up on a few things, but she's still kind of ignorant of a lot of it, so sometimes references will go over her head.
13. One of the things she got into as a kid was Monty Python, although she was unaware of how ribald they sometimes got since she'd only heard their albums and not seen their TV shows. Once she did and she saw some of the racier material, she was a little put off.
14. Related to #13, she's kind of a prude. XD
15. She has really messy handwriting. This has been sort of hinted at in my fics but I've never stated it outright. Especially when she does something in a hurry, you can hardly read it. Drake finds this exasperating since it can slow him down; Launchpad likes to tease her about it.
16. She will never, never, ever be a superhero (or villain for that matter) because she doesn't like being involved in the action. On the rare occasions she has been involved, she's really not enjoyed it. However she will do whatever Darkwing or Launchpad ask her to do, so if one of them asks for her help, she'll provide it.
17. Her relationship with Drake actually gets very complicated since it's almost completely unstated. He does end up liking her, but still gets exasperated with her. However as time goes on he's increasingly fond of her and in the end sort of comes to see her as a sister. A truly exasperating sister he just wants to shake sometimes, but then again, most siblings seem to inspire that kind of thing. *G* But as is said, he never tells Beth he feels this way, so there's always a wall of misunderstanding between them.
18. She was almost entirely unaware of the Supervillains in St. Canard before she met Drake and Launchpad. She wasn't really much aware of Darkwing, either. (Oddly enough she knows all about Gizmoduck.) She knew of Bushroot, the Liquidator, and Negaduck but that was all. Mostly this is because she still doesn't watch much TV and when she reads the news she flips around to what interests her. She was interested in Bushroot's story because she almost joined the botany/biology department at St. Canard U. Liquidator couldn't be avoided after he turned all the water hard, and Negaduck... well, everyone knows Negaduck. She did NOT know much about the Fearsome Five because she was out of the city when they took over, and when she came back she only picked up the basics.
19. The OC she'd get along best with in Darkwing fandom is Ariana McCawber (DisneyPsycho's character). They did meet and hit it off but because of spoilers they don't hang out now.
20. Beth finds it very hard to believe in anything she can't see and explain. I haven't ever thought of religion for her but I suppose if I did, she might be an atheist or most likely an agnostic. As it is she can't believe in magic, ghosts, or unexplainable phenomena and she has a very hard time when confronted with these things.
PS: I've been wanting to do a "Tips for Drawing Beth" post for a while now (which is kind of a joke b/c *I* don't even draw her consistently, lol) so I might do.
Basically, there's a "10 Things About Your OC" meme that floats around and resurfaces from time to time. I did one for Beth back in October, and then everyone else did cooler ones for their OCs and I felt inadequate, so I've finally gone back and done a second one. *G* I think the only reason I felt inadequate was because I couldn't think of many things that hadn't already been mentioned in fics (mostly in All About Elizabeth, which is full to the brim of Beth's little quirks and secrets) so I felt like a lot of what I DID include was either too short to be interesting, or else just plain uninteresting.
Either way, I didn't post the original here so I'm gonna rectify that, and throw in my "Round 2" for good measure. This one is, I think, a little more engaging.
The first ten:
1. Despite constantly repeating that since her middle name, Marilynn, has two "n"s and therefore she isn't named after Marilyn Monroe, she actually is. Her parents are both film buffs and named all their children after classic movie stars; Beth is named for Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe.
2. Her birthday is in July. The date has never been specified, but it's sometime in the second half of the month.
3. She thinks math humor is hilarious.
4. She comes from a science and math background but is not at all mechanically-inclined; she gets the equation and formula parts but not the engineering stuff at all. She could probably kick some butt doing chemically-related stuff for Darkwing but he's more gadget-oriented and she is NOT.
5. She has a long, long list of things she's afraid of, many of which are animals/creepy-crawlies (spiders, bugs, monkeys, etc) and the rest of which are experiences. As a friend of mine put it, she's "afraid of everything" and hates to take risks.
6. She will forgive anyone anything if she gets a good enough explanation, no matter how many times a person has done the same thing to her over and over. There is no "last chance" with Beth.
7. She is a decent singer, a bad actress (and a pretty awful liar), and a godawful dancer.
8. She used to wear her hair short as a little girl, but grew it out after she noticed how much her mother enjoyed styling her older sister's hair.
9. She has contacts but dislikes using them, partly because of the way they feel but mostly because she uses her glasses as a kind of safety device to hide behind.
10. She got really into the idea of actually inventing time travel for a little while in the 80s.
Next ten:
11. She will read anything she can get her hands on. She doesn't really have a favourite genre, though in terms of fiction she prefers classical literature if she can get it; she doesn't like standard "Supermarket Checkout" novels but she'll read them if nothing else is around. The only things she won't read are horror, like Stephen King, Dean R. Koontz, Peter Straub, etc.
12. She actually doesn't get a lot of pop culture references, especially from the 70s/early 80s (when she was younger), because her parents didn't let her watch much television. She has since caught up on a few things, but she's still kind of ignorant of a lot of it, so sometimes references will go over her head.
13. One of the things she got into as a kid was Monty Python, although she was unaware of how ribald they sometimes got since she'd only heard their albums and not seen their TV shows. Once she did and she saw some of the racier material, she was a little put off.
14. Related to #13, she's kind of a prude. XD
15. She has really messy handwriting. This has been sort of hinted at in my fics but I've never stated it outright. Especially when she does something in a hurry, you can hardly read it. Drake finds this exasperating since it can slow him down; Launchpad likes to tease her about it.
16. She will never, never, ever be a superhero (or villain for that matter) because she doesn't like being involved in the action. On the rare occasions she has been involved, she's really not enjoyed it. However she will do whatever Darkwing or Launchpad ask her to do, so if one of them asks for her help, she'll provide it.
17. Her relationship with Drake actually gets very complicated since it's almost completely unstated. He does end up liking her, but still gets exasperated with her. However as time goes on he's increasingly fond of her and in the end sort of comes to see her as a sister. A truly exasperating sister he just wants to shake sometimes, but then again, most siblings seem to inspire that kind of thing. *G* But as is said, he never tells Beth he feels this way, so there's always a wall of misunderstanding between them.
18. She was almost entirely unaware of the Supervillains in St. Canard before she met Drake and Launchpad. She wasn't really much aware of Darkwing, either. (Oddly enough she knows all about Gizmoduck.) She knew of Bushroot, the Liquidator, and Negaduck but that was all. Mostly this is because she still doesn't watch much TV and when she reads the news she flips around to what interests her. She was interested in Bushroot's story because she almost joined the botany/biology department at St. Canard U. Liquidator couldn't be avoided after he turned all the water hard, and Negaduck... well, everyone knows Negaduck. She did NOT know much about the Fearsome Five because she was out of the city when they took over, and when she came back she only picked up the basics.
19. The OC she'd get along best with in Darkwing fandom is Ariana McCawber (DisneyPsycho's character). They did meet and hit it off but because of spoilers they don't hang out now.
20. Beth finds it very hard to believe in anything she can't see and explain. I haven't ever thought of religion for her but I suppose if I did, she might be an atheist or most likely an agnostic. As it is she can't believe in magic, ghosts, or unexplainable phenomena and she has a very hard time when confronted with these things.
PS: I've been wanting to do a "Tips for Drawing Beth" post for a while now (which is kind of a joke b/c *I* don't even draw her consistently, lol) so I might do.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Hope Mama gets the shopping done
Well, another Christmas has come and gone. Which is OK. This one was nice enough. :)
I had a kind of a Darkwing-y Christmas, with finally receiving both the second set of the Darkwing DVDs (it has been a while) and also getting the first 4-issue arc of the comic series in the paperback collection. FINALLY. You guys, this is awesome squared. ^_^ The nicest part is that I can read and enjoy it without feeling a need to view it as "canon". I was really worried that, since there is a continuity in this series, I was going to take it as canon and watch my AU be utterly obliterated (I'm a bit of a canon fiend... I find it very hard to go against canon unless there is something I REALLY dislike), but this is more just a new series I can really enjoy. I told my husband it's like really good illustrated fanfic that has an "officially approved by Tad Stones" stamp on it. Awesome without being definitive, you know? :)
Since I have a few minutes here - though probably fewer than I will need - I thought I'd do a characterization post. It's been a while since I've done one, I've been saying for eons now that I'm going to do one for Bushroot, and here it is. ^_^ I'm finishing up "Sea of Green", which is the Bushroot "episode" of TWC. I will say that i don't quite have his voice with this one. I'm not saying I feel like I'm writing him blatantly OOC, but I don't feel like his dialogue is precisely him.
I actually feel like I have a pretty good handle on Bushroot's dialogue, when I hear it. He's whiny (especially his earlier eps, Tino Insana really pushes the whine in his voice) and kind of wishy-washy, and actually very cute in those regards. The problem is I'm just not translating that properly in my head. :P Maybe that's proof that what I'm trying to write doesn't *really* fit for Bushroot... I don't know.
Anyway, in some ways I'm glad I've waited a while to do a characterization post, because the way I've been writing for Reggie has developed a bit since I started writing this fic. I've gone back and rewatched some earlier eps (as I said), read some other fanfics, and just generally refined how I thought Beth and Reggie would interact. Initially I had him a lot more sort of semi-harmless, and motivated almost entirely by loneliness. At this point in my rewrite I think his underlying motive is still loneliness but also a pervading sense of injustice and unfairness, that the world (and Darkwing) keep dumping everything on him. Some of this has to do with Cheezey (among other authors) putting into words a view I realized I'd held for quite some time, which is that Bushroot refuses to take responsibilities for the things he brings on himself. He hates that Darkwing comes and ruins everything and throws him in jail - well geez, never occurs to you to maybe STOP COMMITTING CRIMES, Reggie? Admittedly, Darkwing would likely never *believe* that he'd stopped, but so far, he's been right. ;)
Reginald Bushroot, pre-accident, strikes me as a guy who is used to being stepped on and pushed around. he's never had any way to hit back. He has this accident (sort of; that's the term I'm using but it really was more of "unintented side effects of a successful experiment", but that's long, so we'll say "accident") and he gets powers, and suddenly he can push OTHER people around. He's not the first thwarted little man to quickly go out of control once he can actually hurt back. There's so much hurt and resentment boiling inside that guy that he completely doesn't even see. Reginald Bushroot is a nurturing, pacifist, gentle, caring man who hates other people and this dichotomy gives him such a sense of cognitive dissonance that he fails to recognize the second half of it. In his own mind, he's a guy who continues to take the lumps that fate keeps giving him and who sure, has made some mistakes, but no one ever lets him make up for them without judging him first.
And he's lonely. As far as he's concerned he doesn't have a friend, he has friendly underlings (he clearly adores his plants, and as much as he sends them out to do his dirty work, he's horrified and grief-stricken when they get destroyed) and pets, like Spike. Darkwing points out that Spike would be happy to be Bushroot's equal and friend, but really, Spike is NOT that. None of the plants have the "foot-in-the-human-world" that Bushroot has, and this must be maddening to him. This is clearly why he's tried more than once to create other "mutants" to join him - Rhoda Dendron, Gosalyn, and even Posie the potato. It's not enough to try to woo Rhoda as a duck, because he is NOT a duck, so he has to make her like himself. It's not enough to have plants for friends, because he is NOT a plant, so he has to make his own bride out of a plant and other things. Etc, etc. (Oh sure, I know he didn't *set out* to make Gosalyn a mutant plant-duck but the fact that the formula worked that way indicates it was intended to do much the same thing anyway - give heightened intelligence to whatever plant life he used it on, such as Hedgey, even though it failed.)
SO. I might not be able to write in his voice, but I've been trying to incorporate all this stuff into "Sea of Green". His motivation for his actions isn't about monetary gain - and aside from when he's with the Fearsome Five I don't see him acting for money, it all seems to be stealing for other purposes (gifts for Posie, fake money so he can buy plant supplies, screwing with people at Christmas, etc) - but because once again, he's been rejected. THIS IS NOT FAIR, and in the vein of someone who is tired of being expected to be a certain way he decides to really show them just exactly HOW much "that way" he can be. Then upon meeting someone who seems sympathetic - it could be anyone really - he has a new best friend. But I wanted to keep an element of danger in there - don't reject this guy, because if you are not with him you are against him, and he will not like you if you are against him. And years and years ago a friend of mine pointed out to me that as much as everyone seems to view Reggie as the most "harmless" member of the Fearsome Five, he is to date the only one of them who has actually killed ANYONE. Even including Negaduck, I think. I mean, Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson seem pretty totally dead.
Which is amazing when you think about it. DWD as a series had some really gruesome deaths that were totally glossed over by the people around them. Like the SHUSH agents made into candy. GAH! XD
My final feeling: I love Bushroot. And I do think he could reform. But not without a lot of therapy, anger management, and general support group work. One thing he has to do is accept all of his actions - everything he's ever done no matter what the consequences. That'll be hard because since his accident he's made a lot of really bad decisions. And ya know, if it were me at the end of this story, I'd send him to jail. We'll see what happens though. ^_~
I had a kind of a Darkwing-y Christmas, with finally receiving both the second set of the Darkwing DVDs (it has been a while) and also getting the first 4-issue arc of the comic series in the paperback collection. FINALLY. You guys, this is awesome squared. ^_^ The nicest part is that I can read and enjoy it without feeling a need to view it as "canon". I was really worried that, since there is a continuity in this series, I was going to take it as canon and watch my AU be utterly obliterated (I'm a bit of a canon fiend... I find it very hard to go against canon unless there is something I REALLY dislike), but this is more just a new series I can really enjoy. I told my husband it's like really good illustrated fanfic that has an "officially approved by Tad Stones" stamp on it. Awesome without being definitive, you know? :)
Since I have a few minutes here - though probably fewer than I will need - I thought I'd do a characterization post. It's been a while since I've done one, I've been saying for eons now that I'm going to do one for Bushroot, and here it is. ^_^ I'm finishing up "Sea of Green", which is the Bushroot "episode" of TWC. I will say that i don't quite have his voice with this one. I'm not saying I feel like I'm writing him blatantly OOC, but I don't feel like his dialogue is precisely him.
I actually feel like I have a pretty good handle on Bushroot's dialogue, when I hear it. He's whiny (especially his earlier eps, Tino Insana really pushes the whine in his voice) and kind of wishy-washy, and actually very cute in those regards. The problem is I'm just not translating that properly in my head. :P Maybe that's proof that what I'm trying to write doesn't *really* fit for Bushroot... I don't know.
Anyway, in some ways I'm glad I've waited a while to do a characterization post, because the way I've been writing for Reggie has developed a bit since I started writing this fic. I've gone back and rewatched some earlier eps (as I said), read some other fanfics, and just generally refined how I thought Beth and Reggie would interact. Initially I had him a lot more sort of semi-harmless, and motivated almost entirely by loneliness. At this point in my rewrite I think his underlying motive is still loneliness but also a pervading sense of injustice and unfairness, that the world (and Darkwing) keep dumping everything on him. Some of this has to do with Cheezey (among other authors) putting into words a view I realized I'd held for quite some time, which is that Bushroot refuses to take responsibilities for the things he brings on himself. He hates that Darkwing comes and ruins everything and throws him in jail - well geez, never occurs to you to maybe STOP COMMITTING CRIMES, Reggie? Admittedly, Darkwing would likely never *believe* that he'd stopped, but so far, he's been right. ;)
Reginald Bushroot, pre-accident, strikes me as a guy who is used to being stepped on and pushed around. he's never had any way to hit back. He has this accident (sort of; that's the term I'm using but it really was more of "unintented side effects of a successful experiment", but that's long, so we'll say "accident") and he gets powers, and suddenly he can push OTHER people around. He's not the first thwarted little man to quickly go out of control once he can actually hurt back. There's so much hurt and resentment boiling inside that guy that he completely doesn't even see. Reginald Bushroot is a nurturing, pacifist, gentle, caring man who hates other people and this dichotomy gives him such a sense of cognitive dissonance that he fails to recognize the second half of it. In his own mind, he's a guy who continues to take the lumps that fate keeps giving him and who sure, has made some mistakes, but no one ever lets him make up for them without judging him first.
And he's lonely. As far as he's concerned he doesn't have a friend, he has friendly underlings (he clearly adores his plants, and as much as he sends them out to do his dirty work, he's horrified and grief-stricken when they get destroyed) and pets, like Spike. Darkwing points out that Spike would be happy to be Bushroot's equal and friend, but really, Spike is NOT that. None of the plants have the "foot-in-the-human-world" that Bushroot has, and this must be maddening to him. This is clearly why he's tried more than once to create other "mutants" to join him - Rhoda Dendron, Gosalyn, and even Posie the potato. It's not enough to try to woo Rhoda as a duck, because he is NOT a duck, so he has to make her like himself. It's not enough to have plants for friends, because he is NOT a plant, so he has to make his own bride out of a plant and other things. Etc, etc. (Oh sure, I know he didn't *set out* to make Gosalyn a mutant plant-duck but the fact that the formula worked that way indicates it was intended to do much the same thing anyway - give heightened intelligence to whatever plant life he used it on, such as Hedgey, even though it failed.)
SO. I might not be able to write in his voice, but I've been trying to incorporate all this stuff into "Sea of Green". His motivation for his actions isn't about monetary gain - and aside from when he's with the Fearsome Five I don't see him acting for money, it all seems to be stealing for other purposes (gifts for Posie, fake money so he can buy plant supplies, screwing with people at Christmas, etc) - but because once again, he's been rejected. THIS IS NOT FAIR, and in the vein of someone who is tired of being expected to be a certain way he decides to really show them just exactly HOW much "that way" he can be. Then upon meeting someone who seems sympathetic - it could be anyone really - he has a new best friend. But I wanted to keep an element of danger in there - don't reject this guy, because if you are not with him you are against him, and he will not like you if you are against him. And years and years ago a friend of mine pointed out to me that as much as everyone seems to view Reggie as the most "harmless" member of the Fearsome Five, he is to date the only one of them who has actually killed ANYONE. Even including Negaduck, I think. I mean, Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson seem pretty totally dead.
Which is amazing when you think about it. DWD as a series had some really gruesome deaths that were totally glossed over by the people around them. Like the SHUSH agents made into candy. GAH! XD
My final feeling: I love Bushroot. And I do think he could reform. But not without a lot of therapy, anger management, and general support group work. One thing he has to do is accept all of his actions - everything he's ever done no matter what the consequences. That'll be hard because since his accident he's made a lot of really bad decisions. And ya know, if it were me at the end of this story, I'd send him to jail. We'll see what happens though. ^_~
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Dangerous Radio Actors
I was going to actually title this post something about "Interactive". Then I thought of this song I heard a long time ago where this guys sings "I'm radioactive!" Then I thought I'd make a Darkwing Duck reference. So here we are.
I'll admit that right now I am posting just to keep my momentum going on posting. So I thought that, since I don't have a specific topic right now, I'd address my imaginary readers. For my next characterization post, what character would you like me to talk about? I've done DW, Launchpad, and Gosalyn; who is someone else you would like discussed? Bushroot? Honker?
I was going to just do a character from AAE, someone in Beth's family, but I didn't have a set character picked out and then I thought I'd offer folks a chance to make requests. Since this will fall flat in a big way given that no one regularly reads this and even more rarely do they comment, I'll add that you can comment ANY time on this post! Even if it's from like a year ago! Yep, it's all good.
And by the way, I think you can leave a comment without signing in or registering on blogger.com. I'm not for sure on it, but I think you can just enter a name. So howdy folks! Comment to me, please, because I am lonely and cold! (seriously, what the heck is up with the hyperactive air conditioning in here? I'm wrapped in a blanket, I am not kidding!)
I'll admit that right now I am posting just to keep my momentum going on posting. So I thought that, since I don't have a specific topic right now, I'd address my imaginary readers. For my next characterization post, what character would you like me to talk about? I've done DW, Launchpad, and Gosalyn; who is someone else you would like discussed? Bushroot? Honker?
I was going to just do a character from AAE, someone in Beth's family, but I didn't have a set character picked out and then I thought I'd offer folks a chance to make requests. Since this will fall flat in a big way given that no one regularly reads this and even more rarely do they comment, I'll add that you can comment ANY time on this post! Even if it's from like a year ago! Yep, it's all good.
And by the way, I think you can leave a comment without signing in or registering on blogger.com. I'm not for sure on it, but I think you can just enter a name. So howdy folks! Comment to me, please, because I am lonely and cold! (seriously, what the heck is up with the hyperactive air conditioning in here? I'm wrapped in a blanket, I am not kidding!)
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
So don't try to figure out a plan
Okay, so I missed Monday for chapter notes. Therefore I will be making two posts tonight (Tuesday). Chapters 2 and 3 in this one...
***
Chapter two:
References:
- Bernie Wrightson, the previous owner of the house, is named for the acclaimed comic book artist of the same name. I named him that as a gag in TWC4, but it really fits here; he has a strong background in horror comics. :D
-Friends: Beth's attempts to be "breezy" are a direct reference to an ep of this series when Monica leaves a message on her ex-boyfriend's machine. She tells the others that she was "breezy", but it turns out that she ended the message by awkwardly saying "I'm breezy!"
- A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday The 13th, two giants of the slasher genre, got blended together for Nightmare on 13th Street. Obvious, but a fun nod anyway.
Beth's fear of spiders was established in "The Bride Wore Black". Of course it's just one of many creepy-crawlies she has a problem with...
Additions to this chapter from the original version mainly include details about the shrink Beth is seeing in St. Canard - naming her and linking her to the previous story (referral from Dr. Mortimer). Dr. Mortimer's office is about two hours away; too much of a commute. *G*
Beth's awkwardness about hugging LP is actually more a holdover from the first version of the fic, when she was clueless about how he felt about her. I probably should rewrite it now but I'm not sure how to, and it's not all that important anyway.
Re: Beth's inability to find anything on TV that is not horror... Back in the early 90s, when this fic takes place, it seemed like all through the second half of October you would only find slasher movies on TV, especially on "local" stations like the now-defunct UPN and on cable movie channels. Nowadays no one really cares, but I distinctly remember the old days when if you wanted to watch a slasher flick in late October, you could just pick a channel at random.
The Casablanca bit is another reference to something with Kim McFarland, this one an RP series in a forum waaay back in, like, 1994 or something. I have injokes no one gets anymore! It's okay, though, because Beth likes old movies and LP is a Bogart fan, so it works. ^_~
For the record, Drake insisted on coming over because he felt bad about how his conversation with Beth went and he's too awkward about it to just apologize. This is his effort at making it up to her by showing her that he still likes her; Beth totally does not pick up on this.
I'm never sure it's appropriate to have LP come off so cowardly when it comes to supernatural stuff. I get the impression from DWD episodes that he doesn't really like gorey movies, he was pretty uneasy in "The Haunting of Mr. Banana Brain", and Morgana and her family seem to make him nervous; I may be playing it up a bit much though. I can't decide. I think there's a precedent in the series that I'm following... I hope so anyway.
One may wonder why Darkwing is put off when Beth asks him to come over and catch burglars... The answer is because it's not something he's likely to get a TV special out of, essentially. ;) He does think she's probably overreacting to a noise or a shadow, but even if it turned out to be a burglar, it's a small fry and Darkwing is more interested in catching someone really big and getting national media coverage for it.
On a personal note, in every ghost movie I've ever seen, unseen running footsteps scare the living bejesus out of me like almost nothing else. There was this part in The Grudge where - um.... that's neither here nor there, forget about it. (I spent half of that movie with my hands over my eyes. LITERALLY. HALF.)
Chapter three
References:
- Stella D'Oro cookies - the inspiration for Stella's last name. I named Stella and Richie in the prologue well before I realized I needed last names for them. D'Oro was a cute gag and also the first name that came into my head.
- Toronto Sun - where I got the name for the St. Canard Sun. The Toronto Sun is, heh, a bit of a rag publication (IMHO). Consider the St. Canard edition to be much the same.
- Stephen King's "IT"; Casper the Friendly Ghost - the two inspirations for Richie's last name. Kaspar/Casper is obvious; it's also similar to Kasprak, the last name of a second character in "IT".
-Quackenbos - I will continue to take any opportunity I can find to work this name into one of my fics.
I just realized that I've got two consecutive chapters in which Beth wanders into the Mallard household and convinces someone there to hang out with her. Heh.
Yay for Beth-Is-A-Geek jokes! I wrote the stuff about Beth at the library loooong before I thought up her childhood love affair with libraries (detailed in AAE), but it only makes sense,don't you think? Incidentally, Gosalyn shares my study habits.
I am pretty certain I stole the gag about Beth's delight over periodicals from The Simpsons. You know, since I steal everything else from that show. ;D
Who remembers card catalogs anymore?
If you cue it right around the point where Beth says "This is a Halloween edition from 1971", more or less anyway, track 6 on the Beetlejuice soundtrack ("Lydia Discovers?") goes right around here.
Incidentally, I shouldn't even point this out on the chance that people might not notice it if I don't, but I'm aware there's a plot hole here: how could anyone know that Stella disappeared from her home that day exactly? Well, we could always assume that she had family or something coming over the next day and she wasn't there... But even THEN how would they know about Richie? Let's just assume there's some unlikely but possible explanation and go with that, huh?
Notes for next two chapters follow immediately! To the point where you will actually see this particular entry after them, because yay for loading backwards. ^_~
***
Chapter two:
References:
- Bernie Wrightson, the previous owner of the house, is named for the acclaimed comic book artist of the same name. I named him that as a gag in TWC4, but it really fits here; he has a strong background in horror comics. :D
-Friends: Beth's attempts to be "breezy" are a direct reference to an ep of this series when Monica leaves a message on her ex-boyfriend's machine. She tells the others that she was "breezy", but it turns out that she ended the message by awkwardly saying "I'm breezy!"
- A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday The 13th, two giants of the slasher genre, got blended together for Nightmare on 13th Street. Obvious, but a fun nod anyway.
Chapter three
References:
- Stella D'Oro cookies - the inspiration for Stella's last name. I named Stella and Richie in the prologue well before I realized I needed last names for them. D'Oro was a cute gag and also the first name that came into my head.
- Toronto Sun - where I got the name for the St. Canard Sun. The Toronto Sun is, heh, a bit of a rag publication (IMHO). Consider the St. Canard edition to be much the same.
- Stephen King's "IT"; Casper the Friendly Ghost - the two inspirations for Richie's last name. Kaspar/Casper is obvious; it's also similar to Kasprak, the last name of a second character in "IT".
-Quackenbos - I will continue to take any opportunity I can find to work this name into one of my fics.
Notes for next two chapters follow immediately! To the point where you will actually see this particular entry after them, because yay for loading backwards. ^_~
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Let me just toss one out here then
So yeah, I was going to update this on Monday. And before that I was going to update it last Thursday. Seriously! But then I did not, and in the end here we are and I'm like "must do NOW!"
I have at least three things I want to post on, but I'm only going to do one tonight. Since the timing for it is more or less apt (or it was when I first wanted to make the post), I'm going to do a characterization post on Gosalyn, since she made her first appearance in TWC1 with the chapter that I posted on 6/12.
So. Writing Gosalyn. I actually find it very difficult. :) Well, difficult under certain circumstances: specifically I have a lot of trouble writing Gos in group settings, because in those situations she is not one for insight or planning so much as a general sense of excitement over any adventure going on. And if there is no adventure what then? That's where I run into problems, so Gosalyn tends to tune people out a lot in my "group scenes". *G* On the other hand I love writing her in dialogue with Drake; that comes very naturally for some reason, they play off each other well in my head, I guess.
Gosalyn obviously has a lot of energy, and although she has a definite penchant for getting into trouble, she doesn't do it maliciously. With Gos it's like, hmm, let's compare her to Negaduck and say that both of them might like to see something blow up. But where Negaduck would want to blow it up so that it's destroyed, Gosalyn would just want to see it blow up for the pyrotechnics and stuff. It's not the destruction or anything bad, it's just the excitement of the moment that she loves. This is not entirely hard to write, because it lends itself to a sort of cheerful, exuberant delivery of odd suggestions that go in a general direction that many people would just not expect.
The main problem is that I don't like to write characters as just one-liners (or several-liners), I like to try to go into more depth and get inside their heads. The previous chapter was really hard for me in that way, because I found it very difficult to figure out what Gosalyn would think of Beth. Beth is not exciting or interesting, although (unlike with Drake) as long as she's not actively working against Gos I don't see Gos actually disliking her. Thinking she's boring, sure, but Gos might rebel a bit against authority but she only actually antagonizes someone if that person antagonizes her first. (Besides which, Beth has no air of authority whatsoever.) Having said that though, why should she let Beth into the house? I went with a general sense of curiosity and a short attention span.
So yeah. It's not that I feel like I don't understand Gosalyn... Generally I think I have a decent grasp of her character. The problem is mainly in that I find it tricky to write a ten-year-old, and in trying to convincingly relate her into the series as a whole person and not a cartoon character (been tricky for me for all the characters so far, eh? This is like my most-repeated line!). I think I will do better in later chapters; I'm generally mostly satisfied, I guess, with this chapter but I felt like I sort of shoe-horned certain aspects into where I wanted them to fit and then I had to awkwardly shift the POV over to Beth in a kind of weird way. So - later chapters and fics might work a little bit better.
I have at least three things I want to post on, but I'm only going to do one tonight. Since the timing for it is more or less apt (or it was when I first wanted to make the post), I'm going to do a characterization post on Gosalyn, since she made her first appearance in TWC1 with the chapter that I posted on 6/12.
So. Writing Gosalyn. I actually find it very difficult. :) Well, difficult under certain circumstances: specifically I have a lot of trouble writing Gos in group settings, because in those situations she is not one for insight or planning so much as a general sense of excitement over any adventure going on. And if there is no adventure what then? That's where I run into problems, so Gosalyn tends to tune people out a lot in my "group scenes". *G* On the other hand I love writing her in dialogue with Drake; that comes very naturally for some reason, they play off each other well in my head, I guess.
Gosalyn obviously has a lot of energy, and although she has a definite penchant for getting into trouble, she doesn't do it maliciously. With Gos it's like, hmm, let's compare her to Negaduck and say that both of them might like to see something blow up. But where Negaduck would want to blow it up so that it's destroyed, Gosalyn would just want to see it blow up for the pyrotechnics and stuff. It's not the destruction or anything bad, it's just the excitement of the moment that she loves. This is not entirely hard to write, because it lends itself to a sort of cheerful, exuberant delivery of odd suggestions that go in a general direction that many people would just not expect.
The main problem is that I don't like to write characters as just one-liners (or several-liners), I like to try to go into more depth and get inside their heads. The previous chapter was really hard for me in that way, because I found it very difficult to figure out what Gosalyn would think of Beth. Beth is not exciting or interesting, although (unlike with Drake) as long as she's not actively working against Gos I don't see Gos actually disliking her. Thinking she's boring, sure, but Gos might rebel a bit against authority but she only actually antagonizes someone if that person antagonizes her first. (Besides which, Beth has no air of authority whatsoever.) Having said that though, why should she let Beth into the house? I went with a general sense of curiosity and a short attention span.
So yeah. It's not that I feel like I don't understand Gosalyn... Generally I think I have a decent grasp of her character. The problem is mainly in that I find it tricky to write a ten-year-old, and in trying to convincingly relate her into the series as a whole person and not a cartoon character (been tricky for me for all the characters so far, eh? This is like my most-repeated line!). I think I will do better in later chapters; I'm generally mostly satisfied, I guess, with this chapter but I felt like I sort of shoe-horned certain aspects into where I wanted them to fit and then I had to awkwardly shift the POV over to Beth in a kind of weird way. So - later chapters and fics might work a little bit better.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Characterization notes
Ugh, I have had writer's block the past couple of weeks. Yeah, I know, *again*. Well, in this case it's one of those things where I am not even thinking about writing as much so I can't pull myself together to DO it when I have the time. I did manage to outline my ideas for the last chapter of act II of TWC1, though.
Since the last stuff I posted (and really, practically the last stuff I worked on) was LP-heavy, this is a good time to ramble about my characterization of LP! (uh-huh, sure.) I've never made it any secret at all that I'm a big fan of LP's. Unfortunately that doesn't mean I'm able to write him or anything. *G* Out of all the characters of this show I think I've always been weakest at writing Launchpad... There are a few reasons for this, I've decided over the past few months.
A big reason is because of the disconnect between "Darkwing" Launchpad and "DuckTales" Launchpad. I mean essentially there really are two Launchpads, with the earlier one being the more active one and the later one being much more reduced in role and scope. LP was always comic relief and always kind of good-naturedly dumb, but he had a much more active role in "DuckTales". DWD's Launchpad is a more passive character, often there primarily to provide a punchline more than play an active role in the crimefighting. They definitely stepped outside of that limitation quite often - not only in eps like "Water Way to Go" when LP gets to be the main hero or stuff like that, but just in general at times LP contributed more. But ultimately the character was not the same as on "DuckTales", he was kind of domesticated.
Don't get me wrong; I don't care at all. :D But it made it harder for me to write him, especially with any real sense of personalitiy. My liking for LP didn't translate into deepening him or revitalizing him as a heroic type or anything, it kind of translated as me thinking he was a great guy and would be a great boyfriend (to be honest: I never wanted him to be MY boyfriend. I have Ryouga for that, thanks) and so I just wrote him as Mr. Great Boyfriend. Which is not really fair to LP because it just, ultimately further reduces him.
I also made the huuuuge, but understandable given the age I was in, mistake of injecting the early stories with a healthy dose of angst. Did I say "healthy"? I'm not sure that's the right word for it. ;D It's excessive. I was young. A lot of the stuff that I was writing about was the sort of thing actually going around in my social circles (at least the self-pity and emo stuff, if not the actual events) but that doesn't make it less annoying to read. *G* Somewhere after "The Bride Wore Black" even I was sick of it and I took a vow: I was not going to write ANY more angst if I could help it. Not unless it actually fit the story and character, in any case! And in the past 11 years I've pretty much stuck by that, good for me. :)
So in revisiting these early stories, I'm trying to stick to that vow again. (as we can see, I apparently have decided it's VERY necessary to the plot in AAE, as it's laid on thick and heavy.) I've wanted for a while to improve on my take on Launchpad - he deserves more than just "Beth's would-be boyfriend". I've never even given a fully satisfactory reason as to why he fell for her in the first place. Not only that, but he's barely even Darkwing's sidekick in these stories, so I want to get him at least back up to THAT status.
Which basically means reinventing how I see him, let alone how I write him. It was about six or so months ago that I started realizing I write him as a very, VERY passive character. I'm infrequently "in his head" and when I am, it's usually in response to something someone else is doing rather than him doing anything. So I gave him more action in "High, Dry, and Flooded" - more sidekick action in particular - which was a good start. This attempt at breaking out of the "passive" role also led to me surprising myself by writing his confession to Beth at the end of that story. In the five ore more years I had been planning that fic, that scene was NEVER in the outline. Then about two weeks before I wrote it, it popped into my head. Surprise! ;D And it was totally right, and I never saw it coming.
It's been similar attempts at getting "into his head" in TWC1, perhaps to varying degrees of success. This is sort of my big chance to not only give him a bit more depth, but to in fact decide just HOW I want to present him in these fics. I can essentially start over. I mean, I know it's not going to be very different from what I've been writing lately, but I can lay down a more concrete base to work with.
I want to give him a few more layers, and as with any other character I really care for (and feel for) that means I want him to have some low points too. I want him to get a little irritated, act a little thoughtlessly, generally be wrong some of the time. I do believe that Launchpad is a sweet guy who couldn't be mean if he were being paid to be so; doesn't mean he can't occasionally say or do the wrong thing without realizing it. I don't know exactly how all this will come out, but we'll see. :)
In terms of character traits... well, for one, I don't tend to go with people who say that they think LP is "smarter than he lets on". I'll agree that he seems a bit dimmer than he did on "DuckTales", but I'd rather just write somewhere in between there than speculate that maybe he plays it dumb to keep DW's ego happy. I don't see any evidence of that, I think they just tweaked the character for a show that was based more in comedy than DT had been. LP is... um... not a thinker. So what? I like 'em big and dumb. (Once again, we have Ryouga for evidence.) ^_~ Nah, but seriously, I tend to like characters the way they are - flaws and all. If a character I like has a negative trait I rarely see it as character assassination, unless I think it's too played up at that character's expense (like Joxer on "Xena: Warrior Princess", don't even get me STARTED).
The brief, cartoony, choppy feel of the early stories allowed for a certain suspension of disbelief as regards LP falling for Beth. We may never know WHY, exactly, but it happened and it's established and we'll just go with that, right? Fine... except that I don't write that way anymore. That's why in the end I need to flesh it out. I need to think of the characters as *characters* instead of shadows, and I need a reason why LP would fall for this girl, a girl who thinks of herself as invisible and does a good job of convincing the rest of the world of it, too. I've no doubt that he'd be friendly with her, start up a conversation, find her pleasant enough, but fall in love? Why?
I've got reasons, finally. I hope I'll eventually get to them. For now I'll say, in the course of TWC1, you may be wondering if he's actually falling for her yet. Nope. Not within this story. There may be a little more than he's letting on to himself... maybe... but right now they're both just forging a tenuous friendship. Look for developments in fics to come, however.... IF I ever manage to write 'em. :P
Since the last stuff I posted (and really, practically the last stuff I worked on) was LP-heavy, this is a good time to ramble about my characterization of LP! (uh-huh, sure.) I've never made it any secret at all that I'm a big fan of LP's. Unfortunately that doesn't mean I'm able to write him or anything. *G* Out of all the characters of this show I think I've always been weakest at writing Launchpad... There are a few reasons for this, I've decided over the past few months.
A big reason is because of the disconnect between "Darkwing" Launchpad and "DuckTales" Launchpad. I mean essentially there really are two Launchpads, with the earlier one being the more active one and the later one being much more reduced in role and scope. LP was always comic relief and always kind of good-naturedly dumb, but he had a much more active role in "DuckTales". DWD's Launchpad is a more passive character, often there primarily to provide a punchline more than play an active role in the crimefighting. They definitely stepped outside of that limitation quite often - not only in eps like "Water Way to Go" when LP gets to be the main hero or stuff like that, but just in general at times LP contributed more. But ultimately the character was not the same as on "DuckTales", he was kind of domesticated.
Don't get me wrong; I don't care at all. :D But it made it harder for me to write him, especially with any real sense of personalitiy. My liking for LP didn't translate into deepening him or revitalizing him as a heroic type or anything, it kind of translated as me thinking he was a great guy and would be a great boyfriend (to be honest: I never wanted him to be MY boyfriend. I have Ryouga for that, thanks) and so I just wrote him as Mr. Great Boyfriend. Which is not really fair to LP because it just, ultimately further reduces him.
I also made the huuuuge, but understandable given the age I was in, mistake of injecting the early stories with a healthy dose of angst. Did I say "healthy"? I'm not sure that's the right word for it. ;D It's excessive. I was young. A lot of the stuff that I was writing about was the sort of thing actually going around in my social circles (at least the self-pity and emo stuff, if not the actual events) but that doesn't make it less annoying to read. *G* Somewhere after "The Bride Wore Black" even I was sick of it and I took a vow: I was not going to write ANY more angst if I could help it. Not unless it actually fit the story and character, in any case! And in the past 11 years I've pretty much stuck by that, good for me. :)
So in revisiting these early stories, I'm trying to stick to that vow again. (as we can see, I apparently have decided it's VERY necessary to the plot in AAE, as it's laid on thick and heavy.) I've wanted for a while to improve on my take on Launchpad - he deserves more than just "Beth's would-be boyfriend". I've never even given a fully satisfactory reason as to why he fell for her in the first place. Not only that, but he's barely even Darkwing's sidekick in these stories, so I want to get him at least back up to THAT status.
Which basically means reinventing how I see him, let alone how I write him. It was about six or so months ago that I started realizing I write him as a very, VERY passive character. I'm infrequently "in his head" and when I am, it's usually in response to something someone else is doing rather than him doing anything. So I gave him more action in "High, Dry, and Flooded" - more sidekick action in particular - which was a good start. This attempt at breaking out of the "passive" role also led to me surprising myself by writing his confession to Beth at the end of that story. In the five ore more years I had been planning that fic, that scene was NEVER in the outline. Then about two weeks before I wrote it, it popped into my head. Surprise! ;D And it was totally right, and I never saw it coming.
It's been similar attempts at getting "into his head" in TWC1, perhaps to varying degrees of success. This is sort of my big chance to not only give him a bit more depth, but to in fact decide just HOW I want to present him in these fics. I can essentially start over. I mean, I know it's not going to be very different from what I've been writing lately, but I can lay down a more concrete base to work with.
I want to give him a few more layers, and as with any other character I really care for (and feel for) that means I want him to have some low points too. I want him to get a little irritated, act a little thoughtlessly, generally be wrong some of the time. I do believe that Launchpad is a sweet guy who couldn't be mean if he were being paid to be so; doesn't mean he can't occasionally say or do the wrong thing without realizing it. I don't know exactly how all this will come out, but we'll see. :)
In terms of character traits... well, for one, I don't tend to go with people who say that they think LP is "smarter than he lets on". I'll agree that he seems a bit dimmer than he did on "DuckTales", but I'd rather just write somewhere in between there than speculate that maybe he plays it dumb to keep DW's ego happy. I don't see any evidence of that, I think they just tweaked the character for a show that was based more in comedy than DT had been. LP is... um... not a thinker. So what? I like 'em big and dumb. (Once again, we have Ryouga for evidence.) ^_~ Nah, but seriously, I tend to like characters the way they are - flaws and all. If a character I like has a negative trait I rarely see it as character assassination, unless I think it's too played up at that character's expense (like Joxer on "Xena: Warrior Princess", don't even get me STARTED).
The brief, cartoony, choppy feel of the early stories allowed for a certain suspension of disbelief as regards LP falling for Beth. We may never know WHY, exactly, but it happened and it's established and we'll just go with that, right? Fine... except that I don't write that way anymore. That's why in the end I need to flesh it out. I need to think of the characters as *characters* instead of shadows, and I need a reason why LP would fall for this girl, a girl who thinks of herself as invisible and does a good job of convincing the rest of the world of it, too. I've no doubt that he'd be friendly with her, start up a conversation, find her pleasant enough, but fall in love? Why?
I've got reasons, finally. I hope I'll eventually get to them. For now I'll say, in the course of TWC1, you may be wondering if he's actually falling for her yet. Nope. Not within this story. There may be a little more than he's letting on to himself... maybe... but right now they're both just forging a tenuous friendship. Look for developments in fics to come, however.... IF I ever manage to write 'em. :P
Monday, April 21, 2008
:D
I totally had the BEST idea to create a "flow" through the first five Webfoot fics!! :D Well I mean - a "flow" in the Beth/Launchpad stuff since that's the stuff that needs it. I'd been wondering about the pacing of certain things, and whatnot. And I totally figured it out last night! Well - maybe not "figured it out", but it was a real "EUREKA" kind of moment. It made TOTAL sense. Those are my favourite brainstorming moments; I'm wondering all about how to make something work, usually something I've already written and need to go back and strengthen, and I have this idea that once it occurs to me I kind of go "Oh, DUH. Of course it's been that way all along." XD
I'm so happy, I want to spout random Japanese phrases! Dai ureshii wa! ^_^
I'm so happy, I want to spout random Japanese phrases! Dai ureshii wa! ^_^
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Begin at the Beginning, part two
Well, now... I don't think I've written anything since my last entry, but since I'm still sort of focusing on TWC1's rewrite, I think it's a good time to write about it some more.
So. Characters. To start with I'll say that my style of writing is very character-based; I like to write about why characters do things, feel a certain way, behave or act in a particular style. I like to explain actions. The end result of this is that when I write fanfic for most shows (or whatever I'm writing for), nothing much happens; you might get an insight but you're not going to get a lot of development.*lol*
I'm going to digress for a moment and share my theory on fanfiction: I think most people - not all, but most - write fanfic when there is something they want to see in a series that they aren't getting from the series itself. That might be a particular pairing, a particular mood, a use of a specific character, etc. Some people like to write darker versions of DWD, some really like a character and create a character to pair them with (...ahem. *looks guilty*). There ARE writers who just like a series and want to write their own episodes or whatever and I always admire those people. I discovered that I am more likely to write fic when there's something I want to change and/or see; if I'm enjoying what I'm being given, most of the time I won't even *read* fic, let alone write it. When I do, it's the speculative "nothing happens" fic I spoke of. SO! There's my digression. :)
Anyway, what I guess I wanted to "change" with TWC was not so much a change as an addition, ie the obvious one, Beth. And yeah, you can tell that this was mostly just a matter of liking the series and kind of wanting to be "in" it more, and Beth was a character I could sort of slide right on in there, have the characters react to her, and become invested in the series. I went through this already, but I swear, I *never* thought of her as a representation of myself. I already explained all that in an earlier post, though, so I won't go into it again. ^_^ To tie this back into the second paragraph: I will make the admission that the ideal fic for me is one where almost nothing happens, except maybe some people have a lot of deep conversations about things in their life. And at the end maybe they kiss (or, if that's inappropriate for the characters in question, they don't). *G* That's an oversimplification and a poke at me, all in one! But because I focus on characters, focussing on *plot* is very, very hard for me at times.
Having said that... I thought I'd talk a little bit about my take on the characters, as they are in the beginning of the series.
To start with, there aren't really any major characters on DWD that I don't like. Ironically, I adore Honker; he's one of my favourites. And I almost never use him, probably because Beth usually fills the role he usually filled (the brainy awkward one... the one "nerding it up" to quote the Simpsons, as I so often do). But I don't have any characters who have been in more than three episodes that I don't really like, and pretty much NO characters who were in more than one episode that I actually *dislike*. I like 'em all as they are, more or less, which again is par for the course for me: if I like a character I usually am faithful to their portrayal on the series, because I figure if I wanted something about them changed then I wouldn't be such a fan of the character. Doesn't mean I don't want them to grow, I just want to acknowledge who they are and what I *like* about them that way. (Um... in this case I'm actually thinking specifically of "Xena", not DWD, when it comes to growth and changes. For the record.)
But I have a little trouble writing the characters for Darkwing, because they are *not* deep characters, they are cartoons, and were always written as such. To add a lot of depth makes them more serious and erases some of the fundamental simplicity of their characters. They're two-dimensional because that's how characters usually are on kids' programs, and it doesn't mean they're badly done or not realistic, but it does make it hard to write a fanfic that is terrifically character-driven because... well, because you just can't write a fic about a character and only show one or two personality traits, as the series often did, and have that character be relatable.
The end result of this was that, in the original version of TWC1 (and subsequent fics), Drake is... um... not terribly likeable. I love Drake; I love that he can be an arrogant jerk, and I stand by my belief that he makes snap judgements of people, those judgements are usually (8 times out of 10) more negative than they should be, and he definitely thinks he is smarter than most people. He also has the patience of a gnat. But if that's all you present of someone in a fic written from their POV, how do you justify it? If you don't, if you can't, you're not writing a character who is believeable and you're not writing a character who is likeable.
I had the fundamental problem in the first version of this fic that I was certain Drake should NOT like Beth. I've tweaked my portrayal of Beth to give a few good reasons why he would not (reasons I tried to sort of portray early on, but wasn't really strong enough in my characterizations to get it out there) - mainly that she is awkward and, unwittingly, a hindrance to him. But those reasons aren't really strong enough to carry him out-and-out DISliking her and still not make him look like a creep.
The thing about Drake is that he's pretty certain he's always right - or, at least, in many situations and at many times he's certain of that. There are exceptions; he'll acknowledge when he has no idea what's going on, he admits that people know more than he does about certain things, and of course there's the old ego-shattering that happens fairly frequently when DW goes from puffed-up ego to punctured-balloon ego. *G* But in general, he's the kind of guy who makes a habit out of taking in his surroundings, interpreting them, and refusing to listen to anyone else's take on it. When he thinks he is an expert at something, he's totally confident in that expertise.
(Sidenote: general cartoon inconsistencies taken into account, I'm mainly talking about how *I* prefer to write DW. YMMV and I believe any given episode can provide evidence to contradict my interpretation; but then as I've said, I'm looking for chances to write a fully-rounded version of the character and this is how I'm piecing him together.)
I like writing DW as fairly competent, more than half of the time. The episodes go back and forth with this, sometimes he really knows what he's doing and sometimes he's bumbling through a case. I definitely like a good gag about DW making a dumb mistake - particularly if it's actually funny, heh - but some episodes go waaaay beyond what I'm comfortable with and it makes you wonder why he still has all his limbs intact. I like to see a vigilante who mostly knows what he's doing, within limits. DW limits himself, of course, but I also enjoy the idea that some of his ego comes from a well-deserved confidence in his ability. DW believes his own press -he has to, since he's the one writing it - and a majority of the time he lives up to it. So I like to show him succeeding, having moments of greatness, perhaps tripping himself up in the process but ultimately not only coming out on top but figuring out how to come out on top. I'm not going to necessarily be consistent in it; I think part of DW's appeal is that he's not perfect, after all. But I would rather see him know what he's doing than luck into something and I don't think I'm alone there.
These two things align into Drake's initial reaction to Beth. He is competent enough to recognize what he interprets as incompetence in Beth; he is irritated with anything that does not provide him quickly with something he wants; he is impatient. He also believes in his own *right* to be annoyed with anything that's sort of... standing in his way, I guess; the fact that he's in a bad mood the morning/afternoon that he meets her doesn't change anything. To Drake, it is not a bad thing to judge someone quickly, it's perhaps a necessity since you have to trust your instincts on people if you're going to fight crime. Nor does it occur to him that someone's feelings could be hurt by his being snide; I think that often he's used to most of his comments going over peoples' heads. But this is a tricky balance to write properly, because you have to set up that the character doesn't think it's a bad thing to dislike this other character, you have to give the character's totally (within their own mind) reasonable explanations, and you have to also just cross your fingers and hope that the audience will not AGREE with the character's assessment of the other character.
Last note for this entry: I've developed, over the years, a tendency to write Drake as a sort of cynical crank. This has moved away from the TV series. It started because I was trying to find a middle ground with him for Beth, and that became something where he would be cranky around her but like her underneath it, and it's sort of gotten to a point where if something isn't the kind of thing he's directly interested in, he won't even fake an interest. Not that he will tune it out completely, just that he'll view it with a kind of resigned indifference, even get annoyed if he's asked to pay too much attention to it. Drake lives with a certain element of expectations - one of which is that HE will always be the center of attention - and he will not alter those expectations. So I don't mean to imply that I think the way I write DW is dead-on canon, though I do *try* to make him as close as I can to the Drake of the TV series. Because I love that Drake. But my writing for him has evolved over the past decade and I'm in a pattern now that I don't think I can really escape. Oh well. :) I like my Drake, too. ^_~
So. Characters. To start with I'll say that my style of writing is very character-based; I like to write about why characters do things, feel a certain way, behave or act in a particular style. I like to explain actions. The end result of this is that when I write fanfic for most shows (or whatever I'm writing for), nothing much happens; you might get an insight but you're not going to get a lot of development.*lol*
I'm going to digress for a moment and share my theory on fanfiction: I think most people - not all, but most - write fanfic when there is something they want to see in a series that they aren't getting from the series itself. That might be a particular pairing, a particular mood, a use of a specific character, etc. Some people like to write darker versions of DWD, some really like a character and create a character to pair them with (...ahem. *looks guilty*). There ARE writers who just like a series and want to write their own episodes or whatever and I always admire those people. I discovered that I am more likely to write fic when there's something I want to change and/or see; if I'm enjoying what I'm being given, most of the time I won't even *read* fic, let alone write it. When I do, it's the speculative "nothing happens" fic I spoke of. SO! There's my digression. :)
Anyway, what I guess I wanted to "change" with TWC was not so much a change as an addition, ie the obvious one, Beth. And yeah, you can tell that this was mostly just a matter of liking the series and kind of wanting to be "in" it more, and Beth was a character I could sort of slide right on in there, have the characters react to her, and become invested in the series. I went through this already, but I swear, I *never* thought of her as a representation of myself. I already explained all that in an earlier post, though, so I won't go into it again. ^_^ To tie this back into the second paragraph: I will make the admission that the ideal fic for me is one where almost nothing happens, except maybe some people have a lot of deep conversations about things in their life. And at the end maybe they kiss (or, if that's inappropriate for the characters in question, they don't). *G* That's an oversimplification and a poke at me, all in one! But because I focus on characters, focussing on *plot* is very, very hard for me at times.
Having said that... I thought I'd talk a little bit about my take on the characters, as they are in the beginning of the series.
To start with, there aren't really any major characters on DWD that I don't like. Ironically, I adore Honker; he's one of my favourites. And I almost never use him, probably because Beth usually fills the role he usually filled (the brainy awkward one... the one "nerding it up" to quote the Simpsons, as I so often do). But I don't have any characters who have been in more than three episodes that I don't really like, and pretty much NO characters who were in more than one episode that I actually *dislike*. I like 'em all as they are, more or less, which again is par for the course for me: if I like a character I usually am faithful to their portrayal on the series, because I figure if I wanted something about them changed then I wouldn't be such a fan of the character. Doesn't mean I don't want them to grow, I just want to acknowledge who they are and what I *like* about them that way. (Um... in this case I'm actually thinking specifically of "Xena", not DWD, when it comes to growth and changes. For the record.)
But I have a little trouble writing the characters for Darkwing, because they are *not* deep characters, they are cartoons, and were always written as such. To add a lot of depth makes them more serious and erases some of the fundamental simplicity of their characters. They're two-dimensional because that's how characters usually are on kids' programs, and it doesn't mean they're badly done or not realistic, but it does make it hard to write a fanfic that is terrifically character-driven because... well, because you just can't write a fic about a character and only show one or two personality traits, as the series often did, and have that character be relatable.
The end result of this was that, in the original version of TWC1 (and subsequent fics), Drake is... um... not terribly likeable. I love Drake; I love that he can be an arrogant jerk, and I stand by my belief that he makes snap judgements of people, those judgements are usually (8 times out of 10) more negative than they should be, and he definitely thinks he is smarter than most people. He also has the patience of a gnat. But if that's all you present of someone in a fic written from their POV, how do you justify it? If you don't, if you can't, you're not writing a character who is believeable and you're not writing a character who is likeable.
I had the fundamental problem in the first version of this fic that I was certain Drake should NOT like Beth. I've tweaked my portrayal of Beth to give a few good reasons why he would not (reasons I tried to sort of portray early on, but wasn't really strong enough in my characterizations to get it out there) - mainly that she is awkward and, unwittingly, a hindrance to him. But those reasons aren't really strong enough to carry him out-and-out DISliking her and still not make him look like a creep.
The thing about Drake is that he's pretty certain he's always right - or, at least, in many situations and at many times he's certain of that. There are exceptions; he'll acknowledge when he has no idea what's going on, he admits that people know more than he does about certain things, and of course there's the old ego-shattering that happens fairly frequently when DW goes from puffed-up ego to punctured-balloon ego. *G* But in general, he's the kind of guy who makes a habit out of taking in his surroundings, interpreting them, and refusing to listen to anyone else's take on it. When he thinks he is an expert at something, he's totally confident in that expertise.
(Sidenote: general cartoon inconsistencies taken into account, I'm mainly talking about how *I* prefer to write DW. YMMV and I believe any given episode can provide evidence to contradict my interpretation; but then as I've said, I'm looking for chances to write a fully-rounded version of the character and this is how I'm piecing him together.)
I like writing DW as fairly competent, more than half of the time. The episodes go back and forth with this, sometimes he really knows what he's doing and sometimes he's bumbling through a case. I definitely like a good gag about DW making a dumb mistake - particularly if it's actually funny, heh - but some episodes go waaaay beyond what I'm comfortable with and it makes you wonder why he still has all his limbs intact. I like to see a vigilante who mostly knows what he's doing, within limits. DW limits himself, of course, but I also enjoy the idea that some of his ego comes from a well-deserved confidence in his ability. DW believes his own press -he has to, since he's the one writing it - and a majority of the time he lives up to it. So I like to show him succeeding, having moments of greatness, perhaps tripping himself up in the process but ultimately not only coming out on top but figuring out how to come out on top. I'm not going to necessarily be consistent in it; I think part of DW's appeal is that he's not perfect, after all. But I would rather see him know what he's doing than luck into something and I don't think I'm alone there.
These two things align into Drake's initial reaction to Beth. He is competent enough to recognize what he interprets as incompetence in Beth; he is irritated with anything that does not provide him quickly with something he wants; he is impatient. He also believes in his own *right* to be annoyed with anything that's sort of... standing in his way, I guess; the fact that he's in a bad mood the morning/afternoon that he meets her doesn't change anything. To Drake, it is not a bad thing to judge someone quickly, it's perhaps a necessity since you have to trust your instincts on people if you're going to fight crime. Nor does it occur to him that someone's feelings could be hurt by his being snide; I think that often he's used to most of his comments going over peoples' heads. But this is a tricky balance to write properly, because you have to set up that the character doesn't think it's a bad thing to dislike this other character, you have to give the character's totally (within their own mind) reasonable explanations, and you have to also just cross your fingers and hope that the audience will not AGREE with the character's assessment of the other character.
Last note for this entry: I've developed, over the years, a tendency to write Drake as a sort of cynical crank. This has moved away from the TV series. It started because I was trying to find a middle ground with him for Beth, and that became something where he would be cranky around her but like her underneath it, and it's sort of gotten to a point where if something isn't the kind of thing he's directly interested in, he won't even fake an interest. Not that he will tune it out completely, just that he'll view it with a kind of resigned indifference, even get annoyed if he's asked to pay too much attention to it. Drake lives with a certain element of expectations - one of which is that HE will always be the center of attention - and he will not alter those expectations. So I don't mean to imply that I think the way I write DW is dead-on canon, though I do *try* to make him as close as I can to the Drake of the TV series. Because I love that Drake. But my writing for him has evolved over the past decade and I'm in a pattern now that I don't think I can really escape. Oh well. :) I like my Drake, too. ^_~
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