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Writers' Corner

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Asterales:
This thread is for talking about writing.

From techniques for world and character building, writing styles, the creation and writing process itself, inspirations, your favorite way to start a scene, the use of dialog, the good and bad points of different types of verse in poetry, to talking about what is especially difficult for you in writing and asking how others solve problems they come upon, in short, anything and everything connected to writing is allowed!

If you want to especially focus on your characters, you can introduce them in the OC Showcase and get to know them a bit better with the prompts posted there.
If you want to talk about your characters and their interaction with their world or plot decisions that might or might not influence them, the Writers' Corner is a good place, but background stories and insights into the characters' worlds are very welcome in the OC Showcase, too!

I hope everyone from the OC Showcase is fine with me creating this thread and its "limitations".

Mélusine:
*Comes with pens, notebooks, tea, a cushion, and sits in a corner*

Róisín:
Joins Mélusine, ready to take notes.

LooNEY_DAC:
* LooNEY_DAC gets out soapbox
So, here's a question: can a character exist independent of the setting?

My personal take on it is: decidedly not. Every character must be shaped by their setting to a greater or lesser degree, which is why I don't tend to put stuff in the aforementioned OC thread, and why, for example, "Jazz Age"!Onni is crippled by stage fright, while Western!Onni is afraid of the racism of the outside world, instead of being deathly afraid of Beasts, Trolls, Giants, and the Rash.

On the other hand, some things can remain consistent in a character regardless of setting. Any version of Emil, for example, will always be a mass of insecurity poorly cloaked by pomposity, and also Lalli's friend, assuming Lalli is present. On balance, though, more is changed by setting than is constant. The Western AU has allowed Emil to gain more confidence than the "Jazz Age" AU, for example, so the former will have fewer outbursts of insecurity than the latter.

So, now you can all tell me every way in which I am mistaken.

* LooNEY_DAC jumps off soapbox before produce begins flying

Róisín:
No, I think you're right, LooNEY. The character and the environment shape and are shaped by one another. In a different world, the same person will react to different things, but will react to things of similar ........nature? Value? Meaning?......in the same way.

Something I worked out is that a character is well created (or, for a fanfic writer, well understood), if you, the writer, can drop the character into a situation, watch what they do, and think, 'yes well of course, being X, what else could he do?' If doing that leads to a character reacting in a totally unexpected way, either your understanding of your character deepens, or shows an unexpected facet; otherwise, you know you have it wrong, and will have to take that character back to basics, and build or discover them again.

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