On Characters...

On characters...

So, I love writing characters and also love giving advice to people who want to have more interesting characters in their stories.

I happened to remember something about a character I'm currently writing for and wanted to share it.

So, I sometimes write "test stories" for characters to test their personalities, roles in the story, appearance, and even their conflicts. I totally forgot I did this with one character where I pretty much wrote a fanfiction for him before using him in the main story he's in now.

What that did was allow me to pick how I wanted him to be and solidify that before putting him in the main story. Essentially, that story is the exact same and his role is the same also; but writing the fanfiction allowed me to explore parts of him I'd never do in the actual story.

So, if you're ever struggling on making a character in any sense, try this!

some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.

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Troubles with being new lovers

“The problem is that you wanted to tell me, not that you had the issue to begin with.”

These words seemed to hold a much deeper meaning for the disagreeing pair. Not even a scowl followed these words, it was a grin. One grin that said more than the words could ever.

“So it’s bad for me to tell you about concerns I have?”

The grinning one shook her head. “No, you can tell me whatever, but I don’t fully understand why it’s important you tell me this. Especially since you can just do whatever you want.”

“What am I doing?”

She scoffed. “Oh, Mr. Tachi, mind giving us an exclusive about your plans to become a professional player? Seriously, did you forget you got drafted for the minor leagues?”

Tachi scoffed. “That wasn’t exactly something I planned, Cassie. It’s not like you, where you know exactly what you’re doing and you’re not considering…” His words slowed until they stopped.

At that exact moment, Cassie gave him a look as if she were waiting for him to go on. Knowing he wasn’t, she spoke up instead.

“So, you’re telling me to stop everything I’m doing because you have an issue with it. Is that what this is about?”

Tachi let out a small sigh. “I guess…”

“I never expected to hear this from you. All this time you’ve been telling me to do what I want and that as long as you’re with me, you don’t care how dangerous it might be. What changed?”

Tachi’s mouth remained closed. While millions of things swirled in his head, none of that made it to his mouth. This silence dragged on and Cassie stood there patiently waiting for him to say what he was going to. However, nothing came from his mouth in over five minutes and it felt like much longer.

Cassie sighed. “Tachi, it isn’t that I didn’t consider you in all this. You know that’s the exact reason I brought it up to you right? I didn’t even know when was a good time to tell you since you had a game and I didn’t wanna bother you.”

“It… it wouldn’t have bothered me.” His words were deflated.

“Well, thanks for telling me that now.” Cassie looked off. “Look, I don’t really see an issue with what I’m doing. The only reason this is an issue now is because you won’t be there to protect me; but I don’t need that.”

“No one said you did, but you need someone to have your back.”

“I do.” Cassie then held her palm up to her hair and from it came a small ball of fluff and a leaf that was latched on her hairline. “Bo and Jubell will be more than enough to look over me. Who knows, I might find some others as well and I’ll have even more protection.” The fuzzy ball seemed to grow agitated at her words. Cassie smiled. “No one’s going to replace you, I promise.”

Tachi watched her interact with the creatures feeling nothing in his mind change. His arms crossed. “What do you want to do this for anyways?”

“Hm?”

“Just the same way you think I’ve changed, what about you? Since when have you been so eager to run into something you haven’t fully researched?”

Now it was Cassie’s turn to hide away. Though she was a bit better at doing as she started to move Bo back up to rest inside of her hair. Jubell easily moved back to her hairline acting as a hair clip once more.

“What makes you think I haven’t researched it?”

“The fact that you’re not answering me.”

She finally looked at Tachi. “Maybe I have and I just haven’t decided how I should go about it.”

“Really? So, you did the research to know what thing you’re looking for, but not how to handle it? Come on, I’m not an idiot Cassie.”

“Then there’s no real reason I wanna do this, I just do.”

Cassie then walked over and found a few books on the table. Each with their own mythical design, she picked up the biggest one and opened the page she had bookmarked. Tachi moved to sit beside her and looked at the page.

“Can you at least tell me what this is you’re looking for?”

Cassie paused, but after a second she said, “sure, I don’t mind.”

Moving the book between their legs, Cassie pointed at the very bottom of the page. There, Tachi saw an illustration of a creature he can safely say he’s never even imagined could exist. The name just above it being, Mace.

“This is a Mace, or originally known as a dream eater. Stories have it that they used to look like this—deformed creatures that some would compare to things of their nightmares—but, it’s been recently discovered that they have most likely always appeared humanlike. Indistinguishable from any regular person.”

“Of course, not to you though.”

“Yes, it’ll be easy for me to pick them out. That’s not the issue, the issue is even locating them in the first place. See, dream eaters got a bad image over the years and a lot of them went into hiding just to protect themselves. Who knows where they are now, but if I can even get on the trail of one-”

“Then you’d be able to find many more. Okay, that much makes sense, but why do you care to find even one of these things? They’re hiding for a reason.”

“Like I told you, just because.” She then closed the book. “I don’t have to have a reason for wanting to help these Monis. I know they don’t want to be found, but my goal isn’t to bring them into the light… simply, I just want to find one.”

Tachi groaned at her vague speak. “What is this? Are you trying to prove something to yourself? You’re virtually one of the most powerful seekers ever and you have the backing of every other world being you could possibly want.”

“That doesn’t determine strength. I’m still pretty useless on my own, I just happened to get lucky with the bonds I formed.”

“Okay and that doesn’t change what I said. You have no reason to go out and search for these things.”

“Even if I don’t, I have to have a reason for just wanting to do things I love? What about you? I’m sure there’s no grand reason why you play baseball. You just like it and wanna keep playing.”

“Of course, but this is much more complicated than baseball. Anything you do now has a chance of coming back at you ten times harder.”

Her brow rose. “So you’re worried about the future then? Well I guess I shouldn’t even walk outside when it’s snowing because I'll slip and kill myself.”

“You make it sound so simple, but you’re avoiding what I’m saying on purpose. Why are you doing that?”

“I’m not doing anything. You’re the one who has such a big issue that this conversation is even happening.”

“Because you both refuse to hear my side and you won’t even tell me why you’re doing this.” Tachi closed his eyes and tried to calm down. “Cassie, you-” He cut himself off before grabbing Cassie’s shoulder. “Is it so bad that I worry about you?”

Cassie looked in his eyes and felt an intensity she didn’t want to deal with. Looking away, she said, “no it’s not. It is a problem when you’re stopping me from doing anything. How am I suppose to know the limits of what you’re okay with? Is it just this or do you want me to stop Seeking all together?”

Neither said a word in this moment. It seemed obvious as to why they weren't talking, but neither one of them wanted to say anything. Instead, Tachi let out another sigh before moving the grip on her shoulder down to her hand. Grabbing it, he intertwined their fingers.

“Doesn’t seem like either of us is going to give in huh?”

Cassie felt the warmth his hands gave off, just as she was used to, it felt too warm for her to handle. No matter how long they knew each other for, it always felt brand new to her to feel something this strong.

“Doesn’t seem like it…”

As her words trailed, Tachi then took a deep breath.

“Okay fine. Look, I won’t question why you’re doing this, but can you at least do one thing for me?”

“What is it?”

“Let me go with you.”

Cassie’s words were caught in her throat. “W-what?”

“I know it sounds like the opposite of what I’ve been saying this whole time, but you have to understand that, just as stubborn as you are, I’m right there. If I want you to reconsider, then the least I can do is see your side of things. We’ll do this together, but the second you realize I might be right, we’re heading right back here.”

Cassie felt a slight smile peak. “You know that’s not going to happen.”

“Maybe, but if there’s anything I learned from being with you is that I don’t know everything. I could be totally wrong about something and so could you.”

They looked at each other once more and Cassie eventually nodded.

“Fine, we’ll go together. I just hope you won’t do anything to prematurely end this.”

“I wouldn’t do that, you’re more than enough to make something like that happen.”

“You always blame me for the things that happen to us.”

“Who else brings that stuff to us?”

Cassie just smiled and they let go of each other’s hands. “Well, if we’re going to do this, I’ll need to ask Lazarus for something.”

“Anything specific you need me to bring?”

“Probably just stuff for a normal road trip. The location of this dream eater isn’t too far from here, but we likely won’t be coming home for a little while.”

“Alright, I’ll get some things ready then.”

“Okay, I’ll be back before dark and we can leave then too.”

Collectively, neither one wanted to reveal much of anything behind their reasons, but this was something new for them both. With these new experiences came something they would both soon have to deal with: compromising.

Snippet Saturday [2]

From: The Moon, Wolf, and Rabbit

It didn’t seem as if time was even moving inside of the Tsumi’s study, Cassie—after finding nothing of note in the room—asked him something.

“How long have we been in here?”

“Probably a few hours by now. I’m sure it’s nighttime.”

Cassie sighed. “Then I guess I need to head home. I don’t want my parents worrying something happened.” Cassie paused. “Speaking of that, what about you? Didn’t you have work today?”

“I did, but I actually quit.”

“What? Why?”

“Would you really want some deity checking out a book for you?”

“I would assume I wouldn’t know.”

Tsumi chuckled. “I’m kidding. I really quit because there’s no need for me to work a job anymore.”

“What about food or money? How are you gonna do anything anymore?”

He smiled. “I know you have to get home, but mind if I show you one last thing?”

She shrugged. “I guess, what is it?”

“The answer to your question.”

He took her hand and even though Cassie wasn’t sure why he kept doing that, she made no effort to tell him to stop. She was guided to the strange door she noticed when they arrived. Thinking it was decorative, she ignored it; but Tsumi brought her to the door and opened it.

If Cassie could explain what she expected to see, it wouldn’t have been anything like the sight before her. Not even in the shows she indulged herself in had a location quite like this one. It was an ambient room with soft lighting from a moon lamp hanging from the ceiling. The roof of the large room had other astrological figures; the one she recognized was the Libra symbol.

As they went further into the room, what appeared to be star dust filtered through the air. In the large room there was a couch with a big table right in front of it, along with a few items scattered on the table the room appeared immensely cozy. Above them was a short staircase that seemed to lead to a nook Cassie couldn’t see all the way inside.

Her amazement got the better of her and she once more took in the room, losing herself in its appearance. Tsumi watched her like he did before finding her interest entertaining to watch.

“This place is apparently where I lived at one point. I believe you and the mysterious boy we have yet to meet may also have something like this.”

Cassie scoffed. “Like a family home or something?” She mumbled to herself. “I can’t believe that. Why wouldn’t my family know about it?”

“Like I said, we’re not actually blood related to our past selves. As far as I found, my past self didn’t have children.”

“Then maybe someone in my past did. It just doesn’t make much sense that we’re related to our past selves, but we’re actually them. Almost like some kind of broken reincarnation.”

“Or a rewrite?”

She looked at Tsumi’s, taking in his point. “Yeah, that is the only way this would make sense.”

“If that is the case, then it makes sense why my past self felt I was different. That things would turn out differently.”

Cassie crossed her arms. “I still can’t get over this. It’ll never make much sense that any of this is real.” Cassie looked around. “But I guess it is.”

Tsumi chuckled at her and stepped closer to her. “You know how I like to view it? I like to say this was inevitable, but we were blissfully unaware of it. However, the world knew we had something to do with one another and stuck us together somehow.”

“Sounds like some kind of video game.”

“I know. Hard to believe that stuff could be based in some kind of reality.” Tsumi promptly moved on. “But, I’ll take you home now.”

“Oh, if you quit your job, did you move out of your place?”

“Yes, I did. Again, I had no need for it. Especially when I have this place.”

Cassie looked off. “Then how are we supposed to meet?”

He looked at her and grew a look of fondness. “Don’t worry about that. I can find you anywhere you are in the world and if you ever want to find me, it’s as simple as just calling me.”

They stared at each other, and Cassie still couldn’t adjust to the way Tsumi was now. His behavior was something vastly off from his normal and while she wouldn’t say she hated it; she didn’t really know how to respond to this version of himself. She wanted to say something, but she kept it to herself—like always—and instead just nodded to him.

“Alright, that’s simple enough.”

“Right, then let’s get you home.”

It makes me happy to see this as someone who writes a TON of fantasy. I think another way to look at this is to say that you can't be racist to a dog and to apply that to your story. Most people feel it's inhumane to put a human in a cage, but not a dog.

The best way that I avoid this is to think how are my species related. One really specific example is a story where my characters are suppose to be "born by typical human means, but because of when they were born they ended up with special powers lol." I call these guys blood borns and always refer to them as a different species.

I've never even considered referring to them as a race because they're too different from "normal" humans in my story to be considered one.

Funnily enough, because of that, that story isn't my metaphor for racism despite having a plot close to it. The one that is has all the creatures under the same species, but they have differences between them and are put in a caste system referred to as 'classes' that order their importance and the whole plot is that their system is flawed assuming that [superior race] x [anyone else] isn't a true blood. When the caste system simply states that anyone who has two of the same blood type is a true blood.

I just think it's easier for people to use races because in our own world that's how it's used. We treat different "races" as whole other beings, which is really ridiculous.

Fantasy """races"""

We should stop calling fantasy races that. Normalize calling them "species" or "kinds" or "kin", or just anything other than "race".

A "race" is a matter of non-meaningful differences like skincolor and maybe average penis length. There is no evidence that different races are more intelligent etc which can't be explained by differences in opportunity or culture.

A """race""" is not living four times as long, and also they can read people's minds, and they are an anthropomorphic cat, and get +1 to DC saving throws against fire because why not, and have completely different origins to other """races""", also they're genetically predisposed to mindless lawful neutral rampages. That's something else.

High elves and dark elves and wood elves could probably be considered races of each other (if all any stat differences are due to culture or magic, not blood). But not in relation to humans.

I'm just saying; when Tolkien established the concept of fantasy races the word "race" meant something very different than it does now. Not to accuse Tolkien of anything, I have no idea what his stance on that matter was, but still.

Having an entire intelligent species that is inherently evil is one thing, but calling that a """race""", and especially if it gets used as a metaphor for actual races or racism, is another entirely.

The metaphor doesn't work because in real life all races are the same in ability (except for shit like +1 to cow juice digestion or -15 to not combusting in the sun like a vampire).

But racists don't know that or choose not to, they believe some races are better than others and there's a genocide-or-be-replaced situation when there just isn't. Racists often hurt their own race if it means hurting a different race because they believe it's that or their race will cease to exist, like how you might sacrifice a bunch of Gondorians to defeat Mordor, but since that isn't going to happen in real life they are actually just hurting themselves and others for no reason.

The irrationality of racism is crucial for all allegories of it because it's more likely to convince evil people to not be racist than the moral argument.

If in your setting """races""" are as different as they often are in fantasy, you have created a world where replacement theory can actually happen and where there could be some strictly practical arguments for racist policies like paternalism or even genocide which aren't completely imaginary.

Speciesism is also an interesting and valuable concept to explore, since unlike racism it may be practical but still unmoral (being distrusting of or genociding Tolkien or 40k orcs is still genocide but, like, they're orcs. Mindflayers even more so, they can literally only exist by parasitizing and torturing other intelligent species, it's the lesser of two evils). But sometimes speciesism might not be practical either. There is never a reason to discriminate against hobbits, they're just perfect little guys. They just wanna hang out and maybe sell cheap produce, without them the price of turnips will skyrocket! But speciesism should definitely be kept separate from race.

The words we use change how we think to some extent. Especially when in so many settings the "human" ""race"" is invariably Just White People™, then people will start thinking of all non-white races with the same brain pathways we use to conceptualize Orcs and Klingons. They become part of the same "other" as POC, which probably isn't going to improve the othering situation.

I've seen friends of mine (not racists) slip up and say "Humans" when they actually just mean "Europeans" in the context of talking about actual IRL history which is a mistake writers should probably stop priming our brains to make.

Could you imagine if all our crime media did the same thing and made people associate criminals with people of color??? oh wait