Some Casual Character Asks

Some casual character asks

There’s probably some with similar questions out there, but I decided to write up my own anyway. Since I won’t be able to take screenshots until I can fix reshade, I think this could be a fun to pass the time.

Send me a character and a number and I’ll tell you a lil something about my characters!

How old are they?

How tall are they?

What’s their zodiac sign?

What’s their favourite activity on a rainy day?

What’s their favourite colour?

What is/was their best subject in school? What was their favorite?

What are their hobbies?

What’s their favourite dessert?

A song they like? (or a band, or a type of music)

If they were a dog breed, which one would they be?

What’s their biggest pet peeve?

How do they act when they have a crush?

What Hogwarts house would they be sorted into?

What’s the pettiest thing they’ve ever done?

How are they like when they cook?

What would they do for the birthday of someone important to them?

Their idea of a perfect date?

Are they right handed or left handed?

Are they more of a dog or a cat person?

What was their Halloween costume last year?

What was their favorite show growing up?

Do they have any tattoos? if not, what would they liked to get tattooed, if anything?

Do they believe in the supernatural?

Do they like cheesy romantic novels/movies/shows?

Do they prefer coffee or tea?

Any special talent of theirs?

Something that they’re really passionate about?

A secret of theirs?

Do they have any aesthetic that they really like?

A funny story they like to tell?

Something they’re really proud of?

A description of their relationship with other character?

If they’re a story character, a lil vague spoiler?

A random fact?

Free space! Ask whatever you’d like to know

Platonic Love In Fiction

Often in books, platonic love is pushed aside and made secondary to romantic love (as a result of an extremely allonormative world). Platonic love should not be pushed aside; no matter whether your character is alloromantic or aromantic, platonic love is still extremely important. As writers, we should be careful not to push platonic love to the backburner. 

First off, let’s get this straight. Platonic love is not less than romantic love. To me, platonic love is actually more important, but that’s not the point of this essay. Maybe that’s the point of this essay, but we’re going to ignore that right now.  

This is especially a trend in YA fiction, but not exclusive to YA. Platonic love is pushed aside for romantic love. We all know the trend. A character has friends (maybe) until the love interest is introduced and then that’s all that matters. What about the friends? They’re important too. But after the introduction of the love interest they fade into the background until we wonder hey, what happened to those guys? 

In our books, we need to make it clear that platonic love is important. Don’t fall prey to the disappearing friend act. If you’re going to write a romance, make it clear that your character’s friendships are just as important, even if it’s a different sort of important. It’s okay for a character to prioritize one sort of relationship—someone might prioritize their family over their friends, their friends over their family, or their lover over their friends or family—that’s okay, as long as it’s clear that all of these relationships have some level of importance to the character and aren’t completely forgotten because of a romantic relationship. As someone who writes a lot of romance and occasionally writes romance-centric stories, I always make sure to prioritize platonic relationships. 

While we need platonic relationships to be important, we also need platonic relationships that are more important. What I mean is that we need platonic relationships prioritized over romantic relationships, the same way romantic relationships can be prioritized over platonic relationships. For some people, platonic relationships are the more important relationships, whether that person is alloromantic or aromantic or somewhere in between. 

Romantic relationships are not the only type of relationships. Platonic relationships are not less than romantic relationships. We need platonic relationships that are just as important as romantic ones, platonic relationships that are just as strong, just as intense, just as prioritized. We need to see unbreakable friendships in fiction; we need to see best friends who would do anything for each other, who don’t forget each other the moment one gets a romantic partner. We need to see friends whose love for each other is just as strong as romantic love. We need to see queerplatonic partners and relationships that don’t quite fit the bounds of romantic or platonic.

What we need is variation. There is no one type of relationship that is the most important. There is no one type of love that is superior. We need to write about the complexities of love and romantic and friendship and make it clear that one is not better or more important or stronger than the other. We need to break through the idea that romantic love is the only type of love, and we can do that through awareness, being conscious of these biases we sometimes unintentionally hold. Let go of the idea of romantic love being highest on the pyramid—there shouldn’t be a hierarchy at all! All love is equal, and we need to make that clear in our writing. No more treating romantic love as better or more important. All love is equal.

If you're reading this...

go write three sentences on your current writing project.

I’m aroace but since that has next to no representation I didn’t realize that until about 2 years ago. But there are so many things that should have tipped me off

- my drama teacher asked me if I would be comfortable playing a character with a romance heavy role

- A friend after hearing I played a flirtatious character said they couldn’t see me in that role

- I TALKED MYSELF out of crushes I had in the past. Just “oh, a crush isn’t like what the media makes it out to be. Crushes are just me wanting to get to know that person better as a friend”

- Completely uninterested by talks about crushes leading to me feeling isolated from my friends

- Never imagining myself in a relationship. If you asked me what I wanted to do with my “crush” at the time, I wouldn’t be able to answer

- Not understanding or having celebrity crushes (I still don’t)

- Liking a character from a book series a LOT and realizing that any other person in my position would like this character more and differently than I did

gay shit ive done that i thought was 100% straight before i realized: a biography

tried to explain to my straight friends that girls are just objectively more attractive than guys. like objectively.

and being convinced that they were lying to me when they disagreed and said they were attracted to men

didn’t understand why breakups were such a big deal. “if he doesn’t give you enough attention just leave him.” “well at least now you have more time for yourself!” “well you still have me :)”

avoided watching lingerie or swimsuit commercials and had my eyes glued to the floor in locker rooms because obviously i’m not gay. like look at how not gay i am

“yeah sometimes i want people to look at me and wonder wtf i am”

got happy chemicals when people thought i was with my female friend

thought that bi girls and lesbians were the coolest fuckin people ever

female characters who didn’t want a relationship with a man and had their own independent storylines were my favorites

stopped watching shows if the characters randomly got paired up in het relationships

got super excited “for no reason” whenever i read a book with gay rep

“i want to look goth and lethal and have a sword but i also want to be a fairy and look like the embodiment of a claire’s store”

“i wish i was a boy because girls are so pretty and i don’t want to have to be with a boy”

never wanted to get married or have kids

felt super uncomfortable whenever a man would show any interest in me

“obviously ⏳ is more attractive than🚪”

but all sizes and shapes of girls are cute

sweaters, flannels, boots and beanies are not seasonal, they are year-long clothing items for all weather. even if it’s 108 degrees and humid

handpicked boys to have a crush on

“these are the men i’m attracted to” (insert queer-coded fictional character with feminine characteristics)

“who do you have a crush on?” “no one” “aw are you embarrassed to tell us?” 😐

any man who has ever been nice to me i must have a crush on now. that’s the rules.

i think i like him but i have to convince myself really hard that i do and the second he reciprocates fondness i no longer like him. i’m probably just picky

“he’s sweet, he’s funny, his face is symmetrical, and he’s smart but not in a show-off way… why don’t i like him?”

“look at all these other girls being boy-crazy. SOO GLAD i’m not like that :P”

other gays/queer people feel free to add on (although this is primarily for sapphics (and aspecs))

October Prompt Day 16 - flying kites

Wow, would you look at that, another short story inspired by the amazing @creativepromptsforwriting . This one was too sweet to share. It’s set in the family au, where half of @pagesofcursive and my characters are adults, and the other half are kids fostered by said adults. Enjoy the fluff!

wc: 890

Summary: Kite shenanigans on a beautiful afternoon

“Just reel it out,” Juni coached, one of her hands holding the edge of the kite controls, the other hovering over Violetta’s as the kid slowly unspooled the rope. “That’s it, you’ve got it!” The words of encouragement drew out a joyful smile from Violetta, and the pair grinned up at the bedazzled purple kite together. 

A few paces away, another duo was having a little more trouble. “Not quite,” Bella corrected, her voice strained as she corrected Tora’s grip and the angle of the kite control. “Remember, you need to take the wind speed and angle into account.” 

Tora shuffled, unable to remain still. She looked bored to tears, but she still hung on to the kite. 

Noticing their plight, Juni called over, “Don’t forget what we talked about, Bella.” 

Bella furrowed her eyebrows for a moment before a look of understanding crossed her face. She took a deep breath, recalculating her approach. She twisted around to meet Tora’s gaze and asked, “You do want to be the best, right?” 

The bored expression on Tora’s face immediately switched to one of excitement, her eyes sparking like lightning. She bounced on the spot, losing her grip on the poorly decorated kite as she cheered animatedly, “Of course!” 

Bella lunged to catch the brightly decorated blue and white kite before the wind swept it away, breathing a sigh of relief as she secured her grip on the kite once more. “Then do exactly as I say,” she commanded. 

Tora tightened her grip on the returned kite and nodded seriously, her focus revitalized by the new inspiration. “Okay!” 

The pair sitting on the porch had no such troubles. Freddie’s kite glided in the middle of the pack. He and Dawn had picked out the kite together, but Violetta had been the one who insisted that it had to be decorated, generously donating one of her glittery stickers to their cause, though Freddie and Dawn accepted it reluctantly. Their kite flew well enough, keeping steady in the breeze. 

“Are you enjoying yourself?” Dawn asked, her voice a murmur so the others wouldn’t hear. Her hand rested on his shoulder, just causal enough to seem accidental to anyone watching them. 

Freddie shrugged, leaning back against her knee, keeping his gaze on their kite. Many would think that he was bored or apathetic, but Dawn could tell that he was having fun and taking in the moment. 

She chuckled, a fond smirk on her face. “Me too.” 

A sudden commotion rose up from the front yard as Zach broke free from Lynn’s grip, sprinting across the front yard with his kite string in hand. “No, no, no, no!” Lynn called desperately, chasing after him, but she was too late to stop Zach from accidentally crossing kite strings with Aster. “Sorry!” 

The black and silver kite that belonged to Aster and Nyx had tangled and crash-landed with the obnoxiously glittery, electric blue kite that Zach had picked out. Lynn scooped up Zach to prevent him from causing further mischief, and Nyx just laughed. “It’s all good,” she said, attempting to untangle their kites. “I know you have a handful there. It was inevitable.” 

“Yes, but that’s the fourth time this has happened,” Lynn complained. She lowered Zach to the ground, and Nyx handed him his kite, smiling as she returned to Aster. Lynn crossed her arms, exasperated. “Zach, don’t you want your kite to fly higher than Tora’s?” 

“Not really,” Zach replied cheerily, waving the kite around in front of his face. “I just want it to fly!” 

“But you can’t do that when you keep running it into other kites!” Lynn explained, trying to find his logic, if he had any to begin with. 

He watched as Aster’s kite returned to the air. “But half the fun is getting it up there!” Zach pointed up at the sky, and then grunted as he locked his gaze on the sun. He fell backward onto the warm grass. 

Lynn chuckled fondly as she helped him back up. “Okay, well I don’t think I’m as good as Bella at maneuvering kites, but I can help you with that.” 

His brow wrinkled at the big word, and he tried to sound it out. “Manu- moo-vring?” 

She smiled. “We can even run along the street to get it moving,” she said, knowing that Zach would love that idea. 

And, indeed, his face lit up, and he bounced up and down at the mention of running. “Really?” he exclaimed. 

“Really,” Lynn confirmed. “Just on the path, though, not on the road.” 

“Yay!” Zach cheered, and he took off running, making a beeline towards the road. Unfortunately for both of them, he seemed to be on the perfect trajectory to crash into a parked car, and his eyes were fixed on the kite. 

“Hang on!” she yelled, dashing after him. “Zach, wait!” 

The entire group laughed as she desperately chased after the small boy, steering him away from any obstacles. As the day went on, the kites soared through the air, dipping and twisting against the bright blue sky. When the breeze finally died, the kids tucked their kites beneath their arms, and everyone trooped inside for food as rumbling bellies and complaining mouths grew in volume. Another perfect afternoon was over, but there would be more fun and laughter over dinner. 

This user supports ace & aro inclusion.