Err...aren't They The Same Person?

Reblog for future reference

Actually

The question I get the most is how I write characters that feel like real people. 

Generally when I’m designing a human being, I deconstruct them into 7 major categories:

1. Primary Drive 2. Fear: Major and Secondary 3. Physical Desires 4. Style of self expression 5. How they express affection 6. What controls them (what they are weak for) 7. What part of them will change.

1. Primary Drive: This is generally related to the plot. What are their plot related goals? How are they pulling the plot forward? how do they make decisions? What do they think they’re doing and how do they justify doing it. 2. Fear: First, what is their deep fear? Abandonment? being consumed by power? etc. Second: tiny fears. Spiders. someone licking their neck. Small things that bother them. At least 4. 3. Physical desires. How they feel about touch. What is their perceived sexual/romantic orientation. Do their physical desires match up with their psychological desires.

4. Style of self expression: How they talk. Are they shy? Do they like to joke around and if so, how? Are they anxious or confident internally and how do they express that externally. What do words mean to them? More or less than actions? Does their socioeconomic background affect the way they present themselves socially?  5. How they express affection: Do they express affection through actions or words. Is expressing affection easy for them or not. How quickly do they open up to someone they like. Does their affection match up with their physical desires. how does the way they show their friends that they love them differ from how they show a potential love interest that they love them. is affection something they struggle with?

6. What controls them (what they are weak for): what are they almost entirely helpless against. What is something that influences them regardless of their own moral code. What– if driven to the end of the wire— would they reject sacrificing. What/who would they cut off their own finger for.  What would they kill for, if pushed. What makes them want to curl up and never go outside again from pain. What makes them sink to their knees from weakness or relief. What would make them weep tears of joy regardless where they were and who they were in front of. 

7. WHAT PART OF THEM WILL CHANGE: people develop over time. At least two of the above six categories will be altered by the storyline–either to an extreme or whittled down to nothing. When a person experiences trauma, their primary fear may change, or how they express affection may change, etc. By the time your book is over, they should have developed. And its important to decide which parts of them will be the ones that slowly get altered so you can work on monitoring it as you write. making it congruent with the plot instead of just a reaction to the plot. 

That’s it.

But most of all, you have to treat this like you’re developing a human being. Not a “character” a living breathing person. When you talk, you use their voice. If you want them to say something and it doesn’t seem like (based on the seven characteristics above) that they would say it, what would they say instead?

If they must do something that’s forced by the plot, that they wouldn’t do based on their seven options, they can still do the thing, but how would they feel internally about doing it?

How do their seven characteristics meet/ meld with someone else’s seven and how will they change each other?

Once you can come up with all the answers to all of these questions, you begin to know your character like you’d know one of your friends. When you can place them in any AU and know how they would react.

They start to breathe.

GOOD LORD !!😨😨😨!!

someone has waited their entire career to use this headline

Shattered Bonds

Fandom: Samurai Love Ballad Party

Character: Inuchiyo

Summary:  His heartache came from the fact that he didn't ask for this upcoming war to happen; and yet, just because two of his most important persons decided one cannot live with another under the same sky, he found himself forced to choose sides and fight against his former friend.

Slightly based ON REAL HISTORY. How this young lord must have felt when he found HIMSELF on the other side of war against his close friend. One-shot (possibly out of many).

Also posted on my AO3.

Little pieces of white fell down from the blackened skies as the overcast clouds suppressed the dignified fortress atop a mountain. The wind blew its coldest as anxious servants within the stronghold struggle to make fire, soldiers rummaging through the stocks for extra blankets, and scouts braving the intense cold to look for signs of enemy ambush, or infiltration beyond its walls.

Or signs of invasion from their former allies.

At least, this is what the young lord of the castle (who is inside the war council room alone at the moment) wanted to think with regards to their "enemy"—a belief that is shared by the majority of his people. The lord may be young, but if there is any indication, the dark circles around his eyes suggest he had aged a lot from all the stress. A jar of sake was placed on the table, beside it were two cups: one for the man himself, the other was for the special somebody the man had all but lost thanks to this conflict. Filling the second cup was his usual habit whenever he and his friend would meet up for drinks in the past, and now, as an homage for his absent friend. It was meant to calm him, help him relax a little; obviously, it didn't work.

His heartache came from the fact that he didn't ask for this upcoming war to happen; and yet, just because two of his most important persons decided one cannot live with another under the same sky, he found himself forced to choose sides and fight against his former friend. If it were up to him, he would have stormed towards his dear partner on that fateful day, and beat the crap out of him for his crazy plan of following THEIR LATE LORD'S dream—and hope it will be just that. But no... his friend had coldly shrugged him off, as if his words are nothing and proceeded to leave without saying anything to him, he didn't even look at him in the eye! That usual smugness of his had always made the young lord's blood boil, but that day, he feared he had crossed the line, a point of no return.

So, now that the conflict has escalated, the young lord remembered that he had volunteered to lead the front and fight the good fight, hoping the prodigal himself will somehow turn back after a few defeats. Unfortunately, he got stonewalled by his superiors, given his ties to their supposed "traitor". There were no words just how angry he had been, angry at the people he and his departed friend were supposed to protect. Angry at his friend for not trusting HIM enough. Angry at himself for not knowing just how bad things had gone after their lord died on that tragic fire. Angry that he was forced to station at the rear by those scheming bastards who may or may not have designs for him and his clan. The bad memories only made the lord bit his lip and clench his sake cup hard until whites from his knuckles had formed.

It wasn't easy for the young lord to handle things at the rear, even though they were far from the actual fighting. A while ago, he had a fight with a vassal, whom he secretly knew as a spy from the old guards who had stonewalled him. Logistics had said that their supplies are barely enough to last for a month, a grave matter. The vassal in question had strongly suggested to scour nearby villages for food, water and heat by pillaging them. This was, of course, met with gasps and indignation from the young lord's loyalists but couldn't openly complain due to the vassal's backing.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how one sees this incident), the young lord refused the vassal's advice and even reprimanded him without regard of the political ramifications. To say things became chaotic is an utter understatement and the lord was at wits end during the ordeal. In the end, the vassal and his army left, leaving the castle almost defenseless and short of manpower at the present.

Frustration and a lingering sense of fear loom over this lord's heart as he sat inside the room, alone, waiting for someone from the shadows. There are a lot of things in this man's mind, questioning his own capacity as a leader. Was he wrong to refuse that vassal? Was he right to separate his own army from his? Hard questions poured into his mind as lines between right and wrong blur in every passing moment.

And the fact that all the tension from the upcoming battle and worsening weather got him at this breaking point...it is terrifying how much more burden he could take, before everything else snaps; before he himself become a cold heartless monster, all because of this wretched war.

He gulped down his sake and closed his eyes to find himself some semblance of peace, some form of control over the looming rage within his heart. The hearthfire failed to ease his foul mood and the silence only serves as a reminder of how poor morale is at the moment.

The castle lord stood up, his family sigil evident from his blue-black silk kimono. He made his way to the armory, passing through the wintery cold of the outdoors, checking on his soldiers, pages and servants along the way.

Once alone in the armory, he made his way towards his ornate spear, gently touching as if trying to recall a happier memory in order to keep himself sane. Lost in his own thoughts, he recalled his past as a young boy learning to wield his weapon. The time when he was still naive from the hard truths of war.

One sunny day, he had once held a practice spear in the middle of a match. Cheers of encouragement and jeers by the audience had filled the air. Old war veterans on the sidelines had looked thoughtfully at him and his opponent, assessing their strengths.

Across him had been another boy whose hair was a soft brown. His eyes were like clear brown sugar candies. His height couldn't match his own and his practice katana had been too small, but despite the obvious disadvantage, his opponent had given him a familiar lopsided grin; as if he knew how to turn things into his favor.

A time when both boys began as rivals, before they became best of friends, who still (ironically) fight here and there due to some simple crazy differences.

Before they became great vassals of their lord and achieved great things in their own right...

Before they inevitably became enemies after their lord had died…

Once upon a time, before he became the head of his clan and lord of this fortress, he was a rebellious boy of a prestigious samurai clan named Inuchiyo, and his enemy was his former friend, a clever peasant boy named Tokichiro.

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Seasons in Japan

Sometimes progressing through your writing journey means learning to write one way very, very well so you can never write that way ever again.

Sometimes it means cutting out every adjective and extra clause and passive sentence until your prose is so active it’s lost all voice, so that when you add the voice back in your new prose is both poetic and clean.

Sometimes it means cutting down your first two stories to the bare bones of its plot so that the inconsequential and slower scenes you decide to include in your third book have the vibrancy and life you learned while creating those faster paced stories.

Sometimes it also means you do work that feels like it went nowhere. But that’s never true. However your writing journey progresses is still progress.

Take heart in the skills that you’ve built, and keep writing <3

In the end, I reverted back to Bamboo Green BG. Its just too pink for me. 😩

Cute pink motif…NOT BAD 😅😅😅😅

How did Tadakatsu, Kageie, Yasumasa, and Tadatsugu die?

There is a legend that Tadakatsu died after injuring his hand from carving. If this story is true, he might have fallen ill from the infected wound. If not true, then presumably he died of age. 

It was said that Kageie was executed by Kenshin. The story has it that he had sold a horse to Nobunaga, and Kenshin suspected treason. ETA: This was apparently considered a legend, and the official account of his death is due to disease. 

Yasumasa seems to have contracted a disease and died of it. Tadatsugu died normally from age. 

Yeah, Go Get HIM, GIRL!

(Mild Spoilers) Thug Life: 🐶&🙊

H: Want me to off your bully, bro?😎

I: WTF! MAN!?😨

(paused, and then thought that was actually a good idea…)

I: Fine, let’s do it.😡

Kojuro's Blushing Face