Stuff

[guanin]

I read an odd thing once in a writing manual. It was something about needing to let your characters be wrong once in a while. No need to worry about that on my part. I disagree with my characters all the time. My hands always still when I'm about to write a particularly off thought of theirs, but write it. Else writing Adam would have been impossible. There was also another section about not babysitting your characters. Apparently some people love their characters so much that they can't bear to see them hurt and will not write them hurt. Once again, I stared and shook my head because while I have much more fun and even prefer to write my guys all happy and smiling, for some reason the angst takes over my brain and I wind up with tears and trauma. Funny how the mind works.

We had the birthdays yesterday. My cousin, my dad, and me, plus my niece and nephew who tagged along in the picture, but they get theirs celebrated separately for some reason. Though I haven't heard anything about a party for Andres, whose birthday is this week. Not that anyone tells me anything. We have the worst communication problems in this family. I don't know how anything gets done. I'm afraid I made a bit of a fool of myself with the kids yesterday. I was in the midst of an attack of depression, so in no mental state to deal with children. I need to have full toleration mode for that. Or for the kid to be my niece Ortensia (guess why the "H" was removed from the front of her name). Her I get along with just fine. Okay, so she's older now, but she was never loud. No shrieky screaming. That helps a lot. And I've had intelligent conversations with her. When she was nine. She's great. I wish she and her mum didn't live so far away. Her mum (my cuz) is the one I have to talk to about this future career of mine that I have no idea how I'm going to do. I need to do that soon.

Comments

[visiblemarket.livejournal.com]

I think the tricky thing with Heroes characters is that their lives tend to suck so much already that writing them more things to be angsty about feels like overkill. To me, anyway. Like, I have no problem writing about Claude and all his considerable issues as they stand, but adding to them seems...unnecessary to me. I have that problem with a lot of fics, especially ones in fandoms where canon is generally light-hearted or at worst dramedy (hate that word) level, because it's much too easy to over do the angst. And then it becomes, sure, you shouldn't babysit your characters, but neither should you give them a Spartan upbringing.

As for the letting them be wrong thing: I think I need to write that more often. Claude is just so awesomely fantastically competent in my mind that he is always right, no questions asked, as long as he does/thinks/says it, it's not wrong. *laughs* I'm a little too in love with his character.

We have the worst communication problems in this family

Hah! My uncle (my dad's younger brother) got divorced, and we didn't find out about it for one year. A whole year! Phone calls back and forth, emails, all that, and he never mentioned it.

Was it your birthday? Did you get clothes? I know you hate that.

[rampant-chaos8.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I've never really thought about it, but I do wonder if I'm sometimes guilty of not letting characters be wrong. I'll have to keep that in mind :)

[drakochi.livejournal.com]

It was something about needing to let your characters be wrong once in a while.

I agree with that. I think it makes the characters more 3 dimensional, also it is a way to be realistic because no one is perfect (except Mary-Sues).

There was also another section about not babysitting your characters.

In my opinion writing angst and finding ways to torture your characters is easier than writing them in happy-land. There is so much more to explore with those situations. To write agony and pain is good. And it is also much more interesting to read.