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demarquis Who Am I? from Hell, USA Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
Who Am I?
#1376: Apr 25th 2014 at 5:44:27 PM

Is this narration, dialogue, or description?

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."
Vellup I have balls. from America Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: The Skitty to my Wailord
I have balls.
#1377: Apr 25th 2014 at 6:19:25 PM

[up] I mean in narration and description. I honestly don't think there's any real consensus out there, but I think I could benefit off some advice. Whenever I write, the use of contractions really gets me thinking whether I ought to be more consistent with their usage.

edited 25th Apr '14 6:32:21 PM by Vellup

They never travel alone.
demarquis Who Am I? from Hell, USA Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
Who Am I?
#1378: Apr 26th 2014 at 1:21:36 PM

In narration, it depends on your approach to the narrator. If this individual is a character themselves, then naturally you would write the same way as they normally speak. As for description, I think most editors are against the overuse of contractions.

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."
ZILtoid1991 Since: Jan, 2013
#1379: Apr 29th 2014 at 1:04:03 PM

Does anybody else experienced creator favouritism?

I'm writing an original story, and I started to like one of my characters much more than the rest. And the worst part that I care more about her.

While I don't turn her into a bad Mary Sue slowly (it's the opposite: I threat her as one of my characters, but I write her better), I still have a big number of fears, one of them making her stealing the spotlight from the protagonist even if she can described as a deuteragonist (mainly to appeal to some periphery fandom). Also I have to write the rest of the cast, I only started to write them, and I only have the character designs on her (or at least some).

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#1380: Apr 29th 2014 at 1:05:15 PM

Yeah sometimes.

Worst part is when I actually care more about my little side characters than the protagonists.

Oh really when?
CrystalGlacia from at least we're not detroit Since: May, 2009
#1381: Apr 29th 2014 at 1:57:47 PM

I run through periods of liking certain characters more, but in the manner that something has rekindled my interest in some part of their character or backstory and made me want to revisit that part.

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
hermiethefrog Since: Jan, 2001
#1382: Apr 29th 2014 at 5:41:58 PM

I care about my protagonist the least of any of the cast. Most of the time if I'm talking about the story or doing supplementary materials, it'll be about the deuteragonist and his family. He's my favorite, not her.

I mean it's not like I hate her or anything. I wouldn't even say I'm apathetic towards her. I like her. I just don't like her a lot or love her like I do with my other characters. And I guess that works? Because she's not meant to be relatable. She's the main character because the plot happens to her and I think the reader is supposed to find her more interesting or strange than sympathetic or relatable.

Noaqiyeum Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they) from the gentle and welcoming dark (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they)
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#1384: Apr 30th 2014 at 7:16:12 AM

Yeah, half the time I feel like my protagonist is there just to have plot happen to them and have all the side characters do things.

Most of mine are Pinball Protagonist type people but I still worry

Oh really when?
hermiethefrog Since: Jan, 2001
#1385: Apr 30th 2014 at 11:02:54 AM

[up][up] It probably is! Eh. She's not the only viewpoint character so if people don't like her that much there should be enough of the other characters to tide them over. If not and they stop reading because of it, I can't blame them.

Noaqiyeum Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they) from the gentle and welcoming dark (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they)
#1386: Apr 30th 2014 at 3:32:49 PM

That reminds me of a comment Brandon Sanderson made about Elantris - apparently everyone he talks to loves one of the three protagonists, hates another, and is neutral to the third. And there's no consistent pattern to which is which. :D

DPS is one of my pet peeve tropes and I hope I never write one - at least not one which has a general consensus behind it. :P Hmm, maybe that's why I tend to write ensembles...

The Revolution Will Not Be Tropeable
nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#1387: Apr 30th 2014 at 3:56:48 PM

For the record, I liked all of the protagonists in Elantris.

And Harry Potter pretty much killed the singular protagonist as something I'd be willing to use forever. I think it actually works there, but there's enough strains as a result that it's not something I'd want to attempt myself. I always write ensembles.

TruthHurts22 That One Gal from her own little world Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
That One Gal
#1388: Apr 30th 2014 at 5:11:36 PM

So while I'm not exactly a writer currently, I have a lot of ideas brewing around to have the drive to become one (Despite most of said ideas being more akin to a Webcomic format and my drawing skill sucks so I probably won't be doing much physical writing for a while), and in one of my stories, there's a major character who loses his dominant hand.

So I was wondering if a thread based around writing disabled characters would prove to be useful?

Ogodei Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers from The front lines Since: Jan, 2011
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
#1389: Apr 30th 2014 at 7:54:47 PM

[up] Couldn't hurt. The struggles faced by the disabled are often difficult to comprehend for the normally-abled. The differently abled are, simultaneously, more and less able than we think they are (some things you're like "oh, i didn't know a handicapped guy could do that." But then others are "really? Even though you're just paraplegic, you can't do this?") Some perspective could be helpful.

For my part. Very quick question. I've got a story with a white tiger character i'm currently writing, and there are, apparently, two ways to render that in Japanese leaving me with two distinct names. The kun-yomi is "Shiratora", the on-yomi is "Byakko" (which i'm shortening to Byako because my readers aren't going to care about accurate romaji).

Which "sounds" better to you guys? Shiratora, or Byako?

edited 30th Apr '14 7:57:06 PM by Ogodei

ScorpioRat from Houston, Texas Since: Jan, 2013 Relationship Status: Forming Voltron
#1390: May 1st 2014 at 2:44:38 PM

Byako sounds a little smoother. Shiratora's kind of a mouthful if it's unshortened.

Ogodei Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers from The front lines Since: Jan, 2011
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
#1391: May 1st 2014 at 3:31:26 PM

Yeah, and the fandom i'm writing for is used to reading words spelled like that. Eh, i'll stick with it.

Thanks.

MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#1392: May 7th 2014 at 5:39:38 AM

I need good ideas for justifying the "Absurdly Powerful" aspect of an Absurdly Powerful Student Council within a generally realistic setting note , please. As many ideas as you can think of, in fact; diversity is good for creativity, and I might make more than school with an Absurdly Powerful Student Council, anyway.

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#1393: May 7th 2014 at 5:44:07 AM

Politics, basically. Education systems are influenced by government policy, and if someone in the government decides that having an Absurdly Powerful Student Council is good for their ideology/re-election chances, they might do something along these lines.

Much like, in one of the universes of mine I am working on, the voting age was lowered from 18 to 14 as a political ploy by the opposition to pick up some extra votes and to make the government look like it had no control over the lawmaking process.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Noaqiyeum Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they) from the gentle and welcoming dark (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they)
#1394: Jun 1st 2014 at 5:31:20 PM

In the wreckage of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, which killed over 6000 people, an infant was found on top of a ruined building. It had been saved from being swept away by the storm, presumably by one of its parents, because its hand had been securely nailed to the roof.

Its parents were never found.

Imagine having to be them. D:

The Revolution Will Not Be Tropeable
Tightwire Since: Apr, 2014
#1395: Jun 17th 2014 at 1:15:18 PM

Hey-ho, I'm Tightwire (But I have many names!) and I'm a writer, mostly of Sonic The Hedgehog Fanfiction.

Oh, and I'm the writer of Prison Island Break. Still slogging away!

demarquis Who Am I? from Hell, USA Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
Who Am I?
#1396: Jun 17th 2014 at 1:39:41 PM

Hi, Tightwire.

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."
Night The future of warfare in UC. from Jaburo Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
The future of warfare in UC.
#1397: Jun 17th 2014 at 1:51:29 PM

Greetings.

Nous restons ici.
JHM Apparition in the Woods from Niemandswasser Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Hounds of love are hunting
Inceptiond from the deadly progression of moon and stars Since: May, 2013
#1399: Jul 11th 2014 at 11:10:07 AM

Hello, fellows! I've reached a dilemma: I can't decide who should be comic relief in my story. I have a few candidates in mind...

"Doki Doki Lit. Club" is a happy game where nothing bad happens. seriously tho? not for the faint of heart.
Kesar Since: Jan, 2013 Relationship Status: Hoping Senpai notices me
#1400: Jul 11th 2014 at 11:22:35 AM

[up] Does your story necessarily need a single character to be the designated "comic relief"? Couldn't you give everyone some funny lines, and have different characters with varying degrees of wit?

"Suddenly, as he was listening, the ceiling fell in on his head."

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