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 Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 4:42 pm
Lol, he can't BOING...! Anyways, my main thing with the "jerk" comment was thus: should he say he doesn't want children it would be fine if said normally, as a matter of fact. However if it's shouted, or proclaimed in such a way that it's considered "nasty/jerkish" then that's exactly what we're going to think. HAHA! I just attempted to write the scene and I'm coming up blank. I might edit it later if I DO come up with something, that would be amusing, I think.
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 6:56 am
Nah, he wouldn't be nasty about it.
I've been harsh about it myself because when I've said to people "I don't want kids" they go off on one by saying "but....you might change your mind". This pushes the first warning button which prompts me to say "I know my own mind, my own heart and my own soul, I know I won't change my mind". They follow up with "there's always a chance you will". Next warning button is pushed, and so forth until I can't stand it anymore and I enforce my point by being harsh which ends up making them think ill of me because they've pushed me too far.
I wouldn't do that in my writing. There are very good reasons why "I" don't want children and there are very good reasons why this character doesn't either regardless of whether he has a medical reason or not.
This kind of thing happens in real life a lot and so we can always apply it to our writing to make it more realistic and believable. ^_^'
Oh, and um...he CAN erm......"boing". I was just clarifying the meaning of impotence. This character is a charmer and erm...yeah.
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:59 pm
Sssh, I know! But it gives some very disturbing images... I mean, BOING! Lol, sorry. I think it's very interesting, and I've yet to work out how to actually put medical flaws into my characters, so I'll stick with what I have. I know these things work, and personality flaws are just plain easier razz Haha... can't believe I'm still laughing about it razz
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Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:05 am
It's making me laugh now...
That's my new word for however long the novelty lasts for.
BOING! Haha...
Erm...a-n-y-w-a-y...
Uhh....
*mental images*
Hmm...
What kinds of personality flaws can we deal with?
My MC is a stubborn man who usually keeps to himself most of the time and generally only confides in a single friend. He's quick to dismiss certain types of people because of a belief he's always pandered to, and his friend tends to be the voice of reason. He's not going to be overly likeable to begin with but he'll soon learn.
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Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:04 pm
As mentioned before with personality flaws, my favourite goddess has quite an obvious one. She hates change, therefore she will do anything to prevent it, even if her actions do at first, appear evil. She's one of the main "good" characters in my story, even if that's not revealed to halfway through the story, just after the clash with my MC with the arrival of another goddess that we see coming under attack in the prologue. Another personality flaw I think is dangerous over-confidence. My MC has this, and he will generally make mistakes because he's confident in his own ability to get by, and basically this is what lost him the fight against my goddess. Apart from this, he's just had a major power boost, so he appears to be a jerk, until at least the climax razz Hmm, what else can I mention? One of my main god's personality flaws is not his goal, for all he wants to become King of the Gods. He engineers plots,tricks and plans to get his own way, never seeing people as people, unpredictable with the ability to make their own choices. Though that's not a real flaw, he's certainly much like Loki from Norse mythology rather than Greek. The rest of my pantheon are based solely on a blend between Norse and Greek mythology, with the immortality of the Greeks and the ability to feel pain from the Norse. Though I really should invent a proper flaw for this Trickster god, it's rather difficult when he's supposed to be a combination of the comic relief and the bad guy, in total ignorance of the true Lord of the Dead, the true evil, the one pulling the strings who wants nothing more than to be King of the Gods. Lol. Character's motivation can be a clever, if not plausible flaw in a character's design. It can help get them in a lot of trouble if I can think past the middle of the story and just write.
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Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:55 pm
DM_Melkhar Erm, one could give a male character impotence, but being infertile doesn't make a man impotent. Impotence is when he can't erm...y'know...BOING.
All characters need to have flaws of some kind, but with things like medical problems you never really read anything about them unless you're talking general fiction. I don't think medical problems should be described in any great depth for other genres, but perhaps just a mention if not hinted at if you feel they should have one. I'm with Nyxix, that was funny Mel: "Boing", ha-ha! What are we, 747's? Ha-ha! rofl And yeah, there is a big difference in impotence and infertility. 3nodding I must say, I understand why Mel says she doesn't want kids. I even told her about it on a chat we had. I am just starting to wonder what kinds of things to add to my character of Kenshin Belmont. I've began to think that he could be one of those people who cares a bit too much about others but, I'm not sure...
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Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 12:26 am
Caring too much about others would take a lot of unnecessary work, does he care about others in the sense that a social worker would, or a worried friend would? Does he help out others from the goodness of his heart or does he do it from an ulterior motive? So many things to consider, and I'm still laughing about the... er, BOING! It's funny. Even if it is impotence.
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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:25 pm
Well, he cares cuz he has a lot of goodness in his heart. I suppose his mother is to blame for that. mrgreen
As long as it's human, he cares. If it's a vampire, he usually wouldn't; unless it was a human who didn't want to become a vampire in the first place. Kinda like the main character on the show "Moonlight".
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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 9:43 am
... boing. lol
Some of my characters have points in their personality that might or might not be considered a flaw, depending on the beholder (that word always makes me think of those friggin' eyeball monsters from D&D). For example, one of my major characters - let's call him B - is completely loyal to my other major character, S. Although he will voice his opinion whenever S is about to do something he considers wrong, no matter what S chooses, B will always follow him. He's like a faithful dog. S himself is a rather arrogant and nationalistic person who'd probably score 100 on a machiavellism test, so many people admire B for putting up with him while others just don't understand why.
Actually, the different flaws of my characters are sort of what drives the story forward. Their quests and dreams shapes the plot, and some of those quests can be considered flaws. If they didn't have the flaws they have, much of the plot would disappear, and I'd be left with nothing to write about.
There's no room for the perfect character in my writing.
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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 12:35 pm
I don't go for complete perfection at all. That's the concept of the Mary Sue or Gary Stu right?
I have a character whose physical, fighting prowess is perfect and unmatched. However, her personality is far from it. Every one of my characters has their good and bad points, and that's the way I think characters in any piece of writing should be.
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Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 5:57 am
Well, you can have a character who has a perfect personality (although that's relative, so some might see his/her perfect bits as a flaw) but don't look all that good or has medical problems - but that would be an anti-Sue and those are just as bad as usual Sues. D:
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Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 12:22 pm
When giving my characters personal issues and um.. 'defects' or whatever, I try and keep in mind how those things will affect the character and the story. Like, I try not to throw random issues at them, but ones that will work into the story even just a little bit.
Like... if a guy is infertile, and he knows it, it will probably make him feel kind of inferior or not good enough. Or maybe it will make him extremely happy, knowing that he won't have to worry about accidents. Maybe he'll go around sleeping with everyone, forgetting that he could get diseases... and then get one of those... thus changing his life. Or if he feels inferior, he might do stupid things to make up for it... which could end up badly for him.
Whatever it is, it's a good thing to actually tie into the story, instead of it just... being there... I mean that's my opinion, I think. Maybe it's not true all of the time.. who knows.
Like, my one character becomes depressed really easily, and is still hurting over something painful a long, long time ago... and thinks about suicide sometimes.
So near the end of my story, I think she might have to make a choice between peacefully dying, or staying with her family (but having to endure EXTREME pain before she can do this). So, her personal issues come into play in the actual story, instead of her just always being this person who has always has depression issues and memories of painful events and an occasional wish for death. If none of those things affect the story, in a little way even, then I sometimes wonder why they're even mentioned.
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Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:07 pm
Vladlena When giving my characters personal issues and um.. 'defects' or whatever, I try and keep in mind how those things will affect the character and the story. Like, I try not to throw random issues at them, but ones that will work into the story even just a little bit. Like... if a guy is infertile, and he knows it, it will probably make him feel kind of inferior or not good enough. Or maybe it will make him extremely happy, knowing that he won't have to worry about accidents. Maybe he'll go around sleeping with everyone, forgetting that he could get diseases... and then get one of those... thus changing his life. Or if he feels inferior, he might do stupid things to make up for it... which could end up badly for him. Whatever it is, it's a good thing to actually tie into the story, instead of it just... being there... I mean that's my opinion, I think. Maybe it's not true all of the time.. who knows. Like, my one character becomes depressed really easily, and is still hurting over something painful a long, long time ago... and thinks about suicide sometimes. So near the end of my story, I think she might have to make a choice between peacefully dying, or staying with her family (but having to endure EXTREME pain before she can do this). So, her personal issues come into play in the actual story, instead of her just always being this person who has always has depression issues and memories of painful events and an occasional wish for death. If none of those things affect the story, in a little way even, then I sometimes wonder why they're even mentioned.
I think a lot of stories rely too heavily on perfection where nobody has any kind of medical problem or real personality flaw. Depression is something that a lot of people don't understand as well. I've had it, and actually know that I still do have it in some ways, but I get slandered for it. I can't talk to anyone about how I feel without getting the "oh get over it" kind of response. So, characters who feel that way can be perceived differently from very different angles which would work in some stories.
I'm going to start reading Master & Commander soon (when I can get around to it). I just bought it, and want to read the entire series - that's 20 novels by Patrick O'brian - mainly because it'll help me write the pieces in my books about tall sailing ships. I've seen the film of it, and the young boy has to have his arm amputated very early on, but it didn't stop him. So there are many things that can be used within this topic for the greater good of a novel. However, as authors we do need to be careful about how we word things.
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Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 8:18 am
In many ways my characters represent me in some aspects some are different then me some are similar to me yet many of them have some sort of representation of me either a characteristic or something. Many of my characters do have personal problems such as emotional trauma others have memory loss as well as a few characters that are in a wheelchair. I try to stay with a small number of characters because how my fantasy writings are is that its the same characters but in different stories if that makes sense lol.
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Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 9:40 am
I have a huge cast. -_-'
They're hard to manage, but then I need most of them...
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