- This topic has 23 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 1 month ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Do you want help pinning down his traits?
sure, if you can.
The only portion I can actually capture of his life is when he starts turning dark, and that’s the darkest time off his life. He literally tries to commit suicide by letting the Grath take over. He was in his thirties or forties.
#Justiceforsandwichclone
#theclonesdeservedbetter
#HugRikerSquad
#HugHansWhat are the main characteristics in Alpha that you want to keep?
Personality is a result of purpose. We have a purpose for every character in a story, whether big or small.
Alpha’s purpose is shown through his theme, his drive in life, his passion, or his response to something that changed his perspective forever. What is Alpha’s purpose in the story?
And are there any characteristics you can think of to support that purpose?
KaPeefers 'til we're old and gray...
Heya, did those questions potentially help?
Not that you need to answer with them if you don’t want to XD Just noticed you’re on, and you might want conversation.
KaPeefers 'til we're old and gray...
Honestly, I think I forgot about this…
Anyways…
What are the main characteristics in Alpha that you want to keep?
Mainly his warrior mindset. For instance:
Grief is a weakness.
Watch your six o’clock.
Never give up until you die.
Personality is a result of purpose. We have a purpose for every character in a story, whether big or small.
Alpha’s purpose is shown through his theme, his drive in life, his passion, or his response to something that changed his perspective forever. What is Alpha’s purpose in the story?
His drive to life is to kill the closest thing he has to a biological father…
And are there any characteristics you can think of to support that purpose?
The drive to kill? IDK, this is one dark charrie. He actually does have a sort of programmed drive…and that is to kill…He’s not a cyborg or anything, he just has brain implants from when he was little, and he has overridden them with his will. They weren’t made to control him, not fully, since he was supposed to be undyingly loyal. Also, all his modifying wasn’t ever completed since he was rescued before that…As I said, dark charrie.
On the outside, Alpha is tough, the picture of an elite warrior who does what he has to do, and on the inside there’s a softer side, somewhere. Emmie brought it out in him, and when she died, it faded away.
I’ll continue this later, but for now I’m just gonna post this…
#Justiceforsandwichclone
#theclonesdeservedbetter
#HugRikerSquad
#HugHansLooks like you’ve got that all figured out nicely. Are you having problems with his younger self?
Why does he want to kill his father? I’m assuming revenge, and if so, what does he think revenge will accomplish?
KaPeefers 'til we're old and gray...
Are you having problems with his younger self?
My immediate reaction was a mischievous giggle which I think came straight from Alpha himself.
Most of the hard Alpha is from after Emmie died, which is his thirties. His latter twenties were his years of bliss, and before that …
BTW, these ages are not set in stone yet. I just have the general idea down as this…
So, in his early twenties he goes hunting all the scientists who created him because he believes they are a threat to the Realn. They were creating an army of clones similar to Alpha, after the successes of Alpha’s birth. They just omitted the Grathmere pieces wince that sent Alpha’s body spiraling into certain uncontrollable things, such as certain parts if Alpha matured faster than others, including different parts of his brain. That’s why Alpha’s personality kinda shifts and changes sometimes. He’s honestly a little mentally unstable in some areas. Where was I? Oh, rich, and he almost murders them, only stopped by his friend Terry.
Terry and Alpha kinda connect in that Terry’s mother was never married, which to have such a relationship is considered basically as a crime by Realn, and a lot of that hate gets reflected on Terry. Alpha stood up for him, saying he was born before his (adoptive) parents were married and later confesses the closest thing he had to a mother when he was born was a test tube. Alpha has very good memory, and his younger self is driven by those memories…he gets in a lot of trouble for this stuff.
Alpha destroyed his younger brother science geek’s chemistry set. He can’t stand labs. No medical needles. And the sensation of his skin being pricked drives him nuts. And sometimes he even just had to get away from where he was for no reason. Not like getting out of a room, but literally running away.
By the time he mets Emmie, he’s mostly controlled these random urges, but a medical needle still makes him go like mad, the sensation of his skin pricked and prodded makes him uneasy, and it’s best to keep him relaxed before any surgery, because he gets very stressed. And when Alpha gets stressed, he gets dangerous.
Mostly, his younger self are a jumble of emotions vented out at random times, and odd things that he does. And I only figured that out recently.
Why does he want to kill his father? I’m assuming revenge, and if so, what does he think revenge will accomplish?
The revenge was more towards the scientists. He originally dies start out with revenge, but it’s more ridding the Galaxy of the most powerful magical being threatening the Realn. He actually does, but not by directly killing Grathmere.
His arc is as uneven as the waves in a storm.
#Justiceforsandwichclone
#theclonesdeservedbetter
#HugRikerSquad
#HugHans*Pulls out clipboard* Okay, okay, checks out…
His arc is as uneven as the waves in a storm.
Do you think the issue is his personality? Because from what you’ve said, his personality is uneven/confusing for you. Being created in a lab might explain some random urges, but what is the purpose of those random urges in the story? After all, you are the author, and every decision you make is presumably deliberate.
I would try to make these “urges” deliberate. Even if they are random, their randomness should have a role in the story.
I have a character who makes seemingly random decisions, but he has a reason behind being random – which is that he finds his background and environment to be very restricting and plotted out. Purposeful disassociation.
Or, steel down and give Alpha a concrete personality. You have the power to decide what Alpha is like. Make a list of traits! Decide exactly what his drive is – which you already kinda have! – and decide which traits help to communicate it.
Say I have a character who wants to understand everything he can, and that makes him feel safe. That is his drive. Great personality traits might be: obsessive reading or learning, a love of truth, a tendency to simplify people and himself.
If you do the same with Alpha, he might not be so overwhelming 🙂
KaPeefers 'til we're old and gray...
I did not forget, I was thinking.
Do you think the issue is his personality? Because from what you’ve said, his personality is uneven/confusing for you. Being created in a lab might explain some random urges, but what is the purpose of those random urges in the story? After all, you are the author, and every decision you make is presumably deliberate.
Yes, he does have issues with his personality. Because of the way his brain develops when he’s younger, he has a lot of mood swings. Like how you saw him in the rp, at first looking like he was going to murder someone, then trying to murder someone, then serious, then suddenly laughing. He almost has a feminine way of bouncing between moods at first, but as he ages, those moods peel away to reveal very clearly two sides. I call them the side of the Red Skull and the side of Jr.
The Red Skull is the birthmark Alpha has on his leg, which was actually not created by the scientists. In Grathmere’s culture, birthmarks tell your destiny. The Red Skull means blood and death. A life of never ending war and killing. The belief that he cannot escape the destiny of the Red Skull is one of the reasons that Alpha almost turns to Grathmere’s side.
The Jr side is his kinder side, the side only those closest to his heart can pull out of him. When Emmie died, that side almost died too, and the Red Skull took over.
The urges Alpha gets are both what drives him and what tears him apart. He wants to do what it tells him to, yet he tries to fight it. He’s basically in his twenties-thirties a hard shell on the outside with a confused and contradicting inside.
You have the power to decide what Alpha is like.
*flashes wacky smile that I only use when in a weird mood* Nope. When Alpha does something, it’s Alpha doing something. Okay, yes I technically can mandate him, but somehow my charries just grow and do stuff on their own. A piece and yet a separate.
Alpha wants to be the picture of a perfect warrior, and that is what makes him such a hard, unapproachable person in his twenties and thirties. He spars until he’s bloody and aching, pursues his goals until he has them, and tries to go about things with a strategic, yet warrior way.
That’s all I’ll say for now.
#Justiceforsandwichclone
#theclonesdeservedbetter
#HugRikerSquad
#HugHansLol, you’re good 😂
Yes, he does have issues with his personality. Because of the way his brain develops when he’s younger, he has a lot of mood swings.
When I asked if you have issues with his personality, I meant, is his personality not functioning well for you as a writer? Like, from an outside perspective, a character’s personality can be a confusing choice for the story and cause problems.
I was under the impression that you aren’t happy with how you write Alpha, but you seem pretty confident with how you want him to be. Do you think there are issues with him from a writer’s standpoint, or do you see his POV as functional enough?
*flashes wacky smile that I only use when in a weird mood* Nope.
*Gives you an evil grin*Oh come ooonn 🤣 I’m being serious here. Since it’s all coming from your head, it’s all technically your choice.
I think a good reminder for all of us, is that just because a character “writes themselves” doesn’t mean that everything they do is naturally well written. I don’t mean Alpha is bad, but there might be continuity flaws from time to time. Or traits we should take out, even if they feel natural, because they just don’t work in the story.
I can say Sebzter writes himself – and he really, really does – but I still have to look back and change scenes to make them better. And since everything he does is technically coming from my brain, I have to ask myself, why did I write him this way? There IS a reason. And if it isn’t a good reason, I’m going to cut it out.
Does that make sense?
KaPeefers 'til we're old and gray...
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
