- This topic has 131 replies, 17 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 6 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
@rochellaine Thanks! *claps hands excitedly* I really like sci-fi. But never write it, oddly enough…
I really like your colors prompt. So many things you could do with that!
I have a couple more:
I knew someone was watching me. That was normal. But what really bothered me was how clumsy they were about it. You know I can see you hiding behind that trash can, right? Seriously, how did you graduate spy school at all?
Plot twist: the stepmother was trying to save Cinderella from the fairy godmother. Because the stepmother, more than anyone, knows the price that comes with using magic to make your dreams come true.
Blog: https://weridasusual.home.blog/
Sooo, I wrote this and showed it to my brother, but I don’t think he found it as funny as I did. So I’m wondering if it’s just me, or if maybe other writers will understand the problem posed here:
@jenwriter17 @dekreel @supermonkey42 @sam-kowal @seekjustice @daughteroftheking"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@rochellaine maybe not so much funny, but really interesting. I think it’s a good prompt 🙂
I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.com@rochellaine 🙂 I will say, before I get started, that it is an intriguing prompt. Maybe I should write a story with one character who’s both the hero and the villain, depending on how you look at him…
(You may ignore the following rant if you so desire)
***Begin Rant***
I have pondered over this before. The thing I always end up at is, Why are most stories written with a clear hero and a clear villain? (Or some variation on that.) I guess ‘cause it’s easy to write and understand, but that’s not how it happens in real life. There’s no hero and no villain. There’s just normal people with varying goals who tend to get in each others’ ways.
Ultimately, the fate of the world is never saved by one person, but rather by nations, states, armies, and, unfortunately, long-debated Congress sessions. So shouldn’t this be how we write? Shouldn’t we aim for ultimate realism in order to most accurately connect with people? Or should we use symbolism and hero vs villain showdowns to create a dramatic effect that pulls on people’s emotions?
I’m honestly not sure, though I tend to lean towards the realistic side.
I have noticed that, recently, most books and movies have stopped inspiring me as much as they used to because the heroes always have something they MUST do. I find myself needing direction to know what to spend my time on and work towards, and so I find myself almost wishing I was the MC of a novel so that I would have a journey to go on, a villain to defeat, and a girl to impress. Instead I’m stuck with life and its puzzling web of possibilities, decisions, and futures.
So, yeah.
***End Rant***
A Kapeefer for life!
Compendium of KP Literature: kapeeferliterature.wordpress.com@supermonkey42 Don’t worry, I love rants! 😀 I’m going to do one too:
Yes, I think in real life we are all at once the hero, the villain, the sidekick, and the mentor. It all depends on from whose perspective we’re picturing ourselves. Everything in life is based on bias, which is why it’s hilarious to hear someone explain just how they know they are not biased at all – but are still sure they are right. 🙂
As to the need of having a purpose or a set goal, I also have had that problem with myself, and with books/movies I’ve seen. I am having trouble writing one of my characters because people tell me she has to have a goal, but I am trying to make her a normal (what’s normal?) teenage girl, and most teenage girls don’t have set goals that they’re going after in that stage of their life. Some vaguely want to get married, and some have a possible career choice, but it’s really very rare to find a girl who has made it her life’s purpose to “clear her father’s name” or some such noble aim. 😀
One of my favorite songs dealing with this problem contains the line “I don’t know what I want, or what I’m longing for/ but somehow in the strangest way I couldn’t want it more.” 🙂
So, you should definitely write a book where the MC is both the hero and the villain, depending on who’s perspective you’re coming from. It will make him very realistic. However, I always want a hero I can look up to, so if he’s portrayed too villainously (is that a word?) I won’t like it. Make sure the reader knows he’s a hero by the end!
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@daughteroftheking oh! Perhaps I shall use the laughing at Earth for my side story that sometimes work on. 😛
Best five minutes, smuggle you out of one more country, he’s like a brother. I may use them in Kay’s book. 😀IMMA KAPEEFER! Til we're old and gray!
@daughteroftheking oh! Perhaps I shall use the laughing at Earth for my side story that sometimes work on. 😛
Best five minutes, smuggle you out of one more country, he’s like a brother, and the being followed terribly. I may use them in Kay’s book. 😀
@rochellaine The ship one and the seasons ones are great!
@ariella-newheart blue shoes… *grins*IMMA KAPEEFER! Til we're old and gray!
@daughteroftheking The clumsy spy reminded me of two really crazy episodes of Stargate SG-1 that I saw. 😀 I really like clumsy spies. @catwing I would definitely read a story with a clumsy spy.
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@jenwriter17 @kaya-young @daughteroftheking @sam-kowal @rochellaine Wow, thank you all for such encouraging comments! I’m so glad you liked it 🙂
@daughteroftheking Ooo, that Cinderella prompt is really intriguing!These are random lines I have from my notebooks:
“If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to lose.”
“Responsibility means that the choices you make no longer affect only you.”
“What could go wrong with a little adventure at sea?”
“Scurvy. Sharks. Mythical sea monsters. The possibilities are endless.”“If she hadn’t paid such an outrageous price for black grapes, she might not be buried six feet under the cold ground now.”
“Tomatoes are such harmless looking things. No one would think they could pull off a murder.”
“I live in an old town where the average age is deceased.” (I’m not sure this one is mine, but I don’t know where else it’d be from.)
Read to explore worlds, write to create them.
@rochellaine I understand the problem XD. It’s a compelling prompt, because it’s very real. There’s rarely ever a ‘bad guy’ who wants to destroy the world, and a perfect hero who wants to save it.
@supermonkey42 *joins rant*I have to agree with you, that the ‘good guy, bad guy’ conflict can sometimes be frustrating. Of course, it’s very simple, and an easy to divide write and wrong in a story, and I quite like it at times. But there’s room for more realism, too.
What about a hero who doesn’t even know what he has to do to be the hero? Who’s misled about who the true villain even is? Who, in the end, ends up doing more damage with his actions than good, thinking he could save the world but not truly knowing how?
*Giarstanornarak tries to melt chair*
Also, Daeus has 22 turtles in his signature.@sam-kowal I agree with everything you said…except the last sentence. 😀
Did you read my “rant” in response to the one @supermonkey42 wrote? I like to look up to the heroes in the book I read, so a hero who messed up is realistic, and I will appreciate that, but in the end I want him to solve the problems and be a true hero. 🙂
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@rochellaine There’s definitely room for that, too. In fact, it would be depressing if every story ended with the hero not solving the problems, but at the same time, I would love to read about it a little bit.
XD 😀 Yeah. It’s tough, with an MC like that in realistic fiction- you can’t just have her want to free her people, or become the next dragon rider. Most people’s real goals are muddled at least a little. @daeus might be able to drop you an article he wrote about character yearning, which I read awhile ago, and it was helpful in figuring your character’s goals- even if they don’t have set ‘goals’ like ‘I want to get married’, they still can have yearnings, like ‘I want to be a valuable person’ or ‘I want to be loved’ which can help focus them and make them sympathetic, while still being realistic.
*Giarstanornarak tries to melt chair*
Also, Daeus has 22 turtles in his signature.@sam-kowal Yes, and I understand that some people want books like that which end badly for the MC, just don’t expect me to read them! 😀 Or at least – warn me first that it’s not going to end well. For example: when I read Romeo and Juliet, it wasn’t so bad because I was expecting them to die, but I read a Jules Verne novel where the hero and heroine died, but he waited until about the last two paragraphs before killing them, so I was shocked and horrified. 🙂
Thanks, I’m trying to give her some of those vague goals, one of which is gaining confidence, but then the problem is, she doesn’t even know she has the goals! I know she has the goals, but it’s hard to create character conflict when she doesn’t know what she’s going after. I’ll have to figure out a way for her to realize she needs to gain confidence, and then it might work.
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@sleepwalkingmk Ohhh, the black grapes one is rather morbid, don’t you think? 🙂
The town where the “average age is deceased” is kinda weird and kinda funny. It reminded me of an exchange I heard once: Ireland is famous for its tenor singers, but once a guy asked an Irish tenor why we always hear of Irish tenors, but never Irish baritones? The Irishman replied, “Well, we had some, but they all died.” 😀 (It sounds much cooler in an Irish accent.)
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
@rochellaine …yes, it is. Sorry. 😛 Although I had meant for it to be able to be interpreted in a non-morbid way as well when I wrote it.
Haha, wow, that’s interesting. I read that in an Irish accent XD
Read to explore worlds, write to create them.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.