Post by Tout-Perd on Jan 8, 2016 22:46:12 GMT -5
So it's been a while since we've had a general writing discussion about character attributes, so I figured, let's tackle a big one.
What are the main flaws of your characters?
In my cast:
Zebedee: Waaay too merciful, above all else. If he actually cut loose and got down to business, there's few plots that he couldn't solve, but he wants to go on being nice way beyond the point of being reasonable. His other big flaw is his hero complex- Despite being a baseline human beneath it all, he feels like he needs to be on top of EVERY situation that arises (granted, this doesn't show up so much since I put him out of focus, which is largely an Ishkabibble style "This character can't do anything until I resolve a pivotal topic" style snafu)
Thyra: Thyra is too focused on an optimistic big-picture view of the world (which is only compounded when her echo-chamber has been pretty much just Zebedee and Sly since Ender ended.). She wants to push these big hopeful initiatives, even though in RP, it's a lot smarter to go small scale and play things safe. Furthermore, she, like Zeb, assumes everybody's just as "good" as her, which though largely true, can come back to bite you in a setting rife with demons, serial killers, and assassins.
Natalie: Natalie's problem is conceptual inertia: Once she gets an impression of a person or faction, she seldom lets go. It took her almost ten years to go from "BLAZING HATRED" to "restrained mistrust/suspicion" for the Summoners, and she still treats the Fascere Order like they're ALL the Order of the Mamba, when it's been repeatedly made clear that the majority is actually fairly benign and the Order of the Mamba is actually a fringe that ran way out of control.
Nopcsa: Nopcsa has a tendency to write checks he can't cash- socially, physically, politically, etc. Since he's a mindreader, he approaches everything with the assumption that he completely knows the situation. While this actually works alarmingly well in most day-to-day scenarios, we tend to see him on his "off-days", and boooy does it come back to bite him in the butt, hard.
Didn't: Didn't's main flaw is that she's... not quite all there. Considering she's been living life in achronological order for at least several years if not her whole life (which may or may not be decades if she's actually immortal), she's about as sane as (if not saner) than could be expected. However, trying to explain time to her is like trying to explain color to a blind man. She's kinda just given up on actually *COMPREHENDING* the fourth dimension, instead just noting things that have happened before for her like her timeline is a single linear thing, and everybody else is in a jumbled confusing stream. This has never really mattered in Flint and Steel, but in other things, it's going to cause all sorts of disarray.
Kendil: Kendil is ALWAYS jumping to conclusions. While that snap judgment is great in life-or-death high stakes trap-dodging and treasure hunting, it's not very good for almost anything else. She also talks a lot before actually thinking things through- Basically, everything that Kendil struggles with is because she never thinks before she acts.
Those are the six that come to mind right now, but I'll be sure to keep going later.
What are the main flaws of your characters?
In my cast:
Zebedee: Waaay too merciful, above all else. If he actually cut loose and got down to business, there's few plots that he couldn't solve, but he wants to go on being nice way beyond the point of being reasonable. His other big flaw is his hero complex- Despite being a baseline human beneath it all, he feels like he needs to be on top of EVERY situation that arises (granted, this doesn't show up so much since I put him out of focus, which is largely an Ishkabibble style "This character can't do anything until I resolve a pivotal topic" style snafu)
Thyra: Thyra is too focused on an optimistic big-picture view of the world (which is only compounded when her echo-chamber has been pretty much just Zebedee and Sly since Ender ended.). She wants to push these big hopeful initiatives, even though in RP, it's a lot smarter to go small scale and play things safe. Furthermore, she, like Zeb, assumes everybody's just as "good" as her, which though largely true, can come back to bite you in a setting rife with demons, serial killers, and assassins.
Natalie: Natalie's problem is conceptual inertia: Once she gets an impression of a person or faction, she seldom lets go. It took her almost ten years to go from "BLAZING HATRED" to "restrained mistrust/suspicion" for the Summoners, and she still treats the Fascere Order like they're ALL the Order of the Mamba, when it's been repeatedly made clear that the majority is actually fairly benign and the Order of the Mamba is actually a fringe that ran way out of control.
Nopcsa: Nopcsa has a tendency to write checks he can't cash- socially, physically, politically, etc. Since he's a mindreader, he approaches everything with the assumption that he completely knows the situation. While this actually works alarmingly well in most day-to-day scenarios, we tend to see him on his "off-days", and boooy does it come back to bite him in the butt, hard.
Didn't: Didn't's main flaw is that she's... not quite all there. Considering she's been living life in achronological order for at least several years if not her whole life (which may or may not be decades if she's actually immortal), she's about as sane as (if not saner) than could be expected. However, trying to explain time to her is like trying to explain color to a blind man. She's kinda just given up on actually *COMPREHENDING* the fourth dimension, instead just noting things that have happened before for her like her timeline is a single linear thing, and everybody else is in a jumbled confusing stream. This has never really mattered in Flint and Steel, but in other things, it's going to cause all sorts of disarray.
Kendil: Kendil is ALWAYS jumping to conclusions. While that snap judgment is great in life-or-death high stakes trap-dodging and treasure hunting, it's not very good for almost anything else. She also talks a lot before actually thinking things through- Basically, everything that Kendil struggles with is because she never thinks before she acts.
Those are the six that come to mind right now, but I'll be sure to keep going later.