I draw stuff.
Eh? I don't why you should be asking what makes a Snark Knight. I mean, I'm assuming you are writing about a character supposed to be a Snark Knight. So, if you are not, feel free to ignore this. But remember, tropes are elements that should happen in a story, not be deliberately inserted. If you want him/her to be a Cloud Cuckoolander and have an entirely different set of morals from the rest of the cast, then do it. Just ask yourself whether it'd be too jarring or not.
Also, I don't see how a Snark Knight could be a Libby at the same time. A Libby is more sociable, she commands the herd, unless said character despised the herd and is just putting a facade, but then it'd fall on the territory of more manipulative archetypes.
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Alright... Then I guess what I mean to ask is, how antiheroic/ byronic would I be able to make a Snark Knight before she stops being one?
My main idea is for my character to try and break out of the mold and show that she's not all snark.
ALL CREATURE WILL DIE AND ALL THE THINGS WILL BE BROKEN. THAT'S THE LAW OF SAMURAI.
82123
Well, for my resident Snark Knight, I showed that she has a soft spot for her best friend/boyfriend, and that she uses it as a defense mechanism to make sure she couldn't get hurt by anyone like she was previously.
After that, I toned her more snide remarks down a bit once she got used to not having to deal with it anymore, but I still gave her a bit of bite to show that she's still got it.
Maybe you should take a similar approach with yours by showing that she's using it for a reason other than to just be spiteful.
oh, that's why I need this binary mind // ⌘
Rabid Fujoshi
My feeling is that the main thing that defines a Snark Knight, is that they routinely turn that snark on themselves. They'll bite at people who do things that are foolish and stupid, or use sarcasm to point this fact out, but they don't give themselves a free pass. If anything they beat themselves up MORE. They know they aren't perfect, and neither is anyone else, but they feel that they are trying their best so everyone else should to, and when someone obviously isn't, they tend to feel justified in snarking on them.
I think an awesome way to portray a snark knight is to give them a reason for holding people up to such high standards. Perhaps in the past their parents or other people were hard on them, or expected a lot from them, or they had heavy responsibility from a young age, or they have someone they admire who seems to be perfect, and they just want to live up to that person. Then even further humanize them, by making them (secretly of course) know their snarking is wrong and unhelpful, and feel bad about this privately, but in the moment being unable to control themselves. A Deconstruction, if you will.
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A deconstruction was what I'm looking for. I think the idea is that she realizes what a complete tool she's been, and that having a moral high ground she wears on her sleeve doesn't make her any better than a majority of the folks she puts down because of it.
Plus a great many over the course of the story have taken after her, but are missing the point completely about Snark Knight-dom (as in the people taking her lead are doing it either to look cool, or are doing so to boomerang it to her).
She then begins to question her motives surrounding this state of being. Whether it comes to her naturally or if she's going out of her way to be one, as everyone else is. Gradually she changes and matures.
As for her morals... It's like a doctor that smokes, I suppose. Whereas she'll wonder whether or idiocy and douchebaggery runs rampant everywhere she goes, she'll do, not just say, things that could potentially ruins lives and relationships, hers as well as anyone else involved both out of avoidable mistakes or spite, or out of boredom.
edited 25th Jun '11 10:00:16 AM by Schitzo
ALL CREATURE WILL DIE AND ALL THE THINGS WILL BE BROKEN. THAT'S THE LAW OF SAMURAI.
First, I'd like to ask: What exactly can and can't a Snark Knight do? As in, what things would make a character not a Snark Knight anymore?
Second, I'd like to ask how tied a Snark Knight would have to be to his or her moral code? Is it alright if she has a Do As I Say Not As I Do outlook to her peers? How far into Anti-Hero-ism can she go? is it alright for her to be a Cloud Cuckoolander/ have Blue Vs Orange Morality?
Third, any good character types that can juxtapose with said Snark Knight-hood without breaking that primary character mold? Can the Snark Knight also be a Libby?
edited 24th Jun '11 5:27:14 PM by Schitzo
ALL CREATURE WILL DIE AND ALL THE THINGS WILL BE BROKEN. THAT'S THE LAW OF SAMURAI.