"Whumpee-"

The moment a defiant whumpee breaks down for the first time. 

It shocks them nearly as much as their audience. They try stubbornly to hold it in, to keep their expression firm. Whumpee’s body rigid with the effort; jaw set, fists clenched and shaking.  They can’t trust themselves to speak, can’t trust themselves to breathe, and so they bite their lip in a desperate attempt to remain composed. They fail, and when their body forces them to inhale, the shuddering gasp that comes out is a sob. The tears begin to flow unrelenting, and their frustration at their weakness only makes them flow faster. They can only angrily swipe away at the onslaught or turn away, all useless attempts to hide the shame clear on their face. 

I like to think about someone watching them, standing still as whumpee’s crumbling apart. Maybe it’s caretaker. It’s the first time they’d seen whumpee look so small, so hurt. They want to help, want to give the comforting words whumpee could never accept before. But indecision stills their hand. What could they say that whumpee would hear? 

Or maybe it’s whumper, watching in near shock as their oh so stubborn captive dissolves into tears before them. They don’t even mock them at first, simply watching whumpee’s trembling form. Watching them, even as whumpee tries to hide their shame. Watching and feeling nothing but satisfaction. 

There’s simply something so sweet about a character defined by their defiance falling apart.

Caretaker held A’s hand back at they were about to shake whumpee awake.

“Let them rest,” Caretaker whispered, not even looking up at A. They just continued to softly gaze at whumpee’s sleeping form, swaddled up in blankets.

A furrowed their eyebrows and shook their head, “but we need whumpee right now—”

“And whumpee needs rest right now. You can wake whumpee up later. But for now? Let them sleep,” Caretaker cut A off, their voice slightly firmer. They then looked up at A with an unreadable expression on their face, “I’m sure you guys can handle a day or two without whumpee.”

A didn’t respond to Caretaker, they just stared down at them with an annoyed expression before letting out a scoff and walking out of the room. Caretaker sighed and looked back down at whumpee’s sleeping form, carefully brushed some hair out of their face.

“Some days I really do wonder how you manage all this…” Caretaker murmured, their expression growing concerned.

One day or another, caretaker is most certainly going to have a…talk with the others about how reliant they are on Whumpee.

Let's talk about character development.

Creating multidimensional characters make them more relatable to your readers. They add richness and complexity to the narrative, enhancing its overall depth and resonance.

So. How?

Complex Motivations: Characters should have motivations that go beyond simple desires or goals. Delve deep into their past experiences, fears, and desires to understand what truly drives them. Keep them consistent yet nuanced for realistic character growth and change throughout the story.

Flaws and Vulnerabilities: Avoid creating characters who are too perfect or flawless. Imperfections make characters relatable and interesting. Give them vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and struggles to overcome. This adds depth to their personalities and creates opportunities for character development.

Internal Conflict: Explore the internal conflicts within your characters. This could be moral dilemmas, inner turmoil, or conflicting emotions. Internal struggles can be just as compelling, if not more so, than external conflicts, and they add layers to your characters' development. (See my previous post about this!)

Consistent Behavior: Make sure to keep your characters' actions, reactions, and decisions consistent with their established personalities, backgrounds, and motivations. Inconsistencies can break the reader's immersion and credibility in the story. And the fandom will hunt you down mercilessly.

Unique Voice: Each character should have a distinct voice and mannerisms that reflect their personality, background, and worldview. Pay attention to the way they speak, their vocabulary, and their gestures. This will really help to bring your characters to life.

Dynamic Relationships: Develop dynamic relationships between your characters. Interactions with other characters should reveal new facets of their personalities and contribute to their growth or downfalls. Explore different types of relationships (friendships, romances, rivalries, family dynamics, etc.) to add depth to your characters' experiences.

Arc of Change: Consider how your characters evolve over the course of the story. What lessons do they learn? How do their experiences shape them? Every significant event should impact your characters in some way, leading to growth, transformation, or regression.

Happy writing ❤

Gotta love when a character has a severe injury that just continues to get more and more severe as they continue to ignore it. At first it’s just occasional winces, then they start to move stiffly and hold the injured area, then they start to get pale and clammy, then the blood starts seeping through their clothes until eventually they’re drenched in it and they don’t even care to hide it any more, and eventually they basically just collapse, too tired to go any further. Just… yeah, that.

That’s Enough

“Stop it,” Caretaker said once the sound of knuckles thudding mutely turned to squelching. Caretaker stared at Whumpee, the sweat flying from them as they continued to punch the punching bag. “Hey. Whumpee, that’s enough.”

Whumpee didn’t listen. They just kept jabbing in the one two movement they had been doing for the half hour. Caretaker let go of the bag but Whumpee moved with it.

“Hey! Whumpee,” Caretaker hissed, stepping in front of Whumpee, hands up palms facing Whumpee. “That’s enough, you’re hurting yourself.”

Whumpee didn’t listen. Instead, they started punching Caretaker’s hands. Caretaker snapped their hand closed but Whumpee retracted their arm swiftly to their chest to punch again, their eyes distant and hard.

“Whumpee! Whumpee,” Caretaker snapped as Whumpee’s fists started coming harder on Caretaker’s palms. Caretaker stepped forward into Whumpee’s punches and reached a hand up, locking it around Whumpee’s wrist. Whumpee yanked it back but Caretaker held firm.

Only then did Whumpee seem to snap back into themselves. “Let go of me.”

“I said that’s enough, Whumpee. You’re bleeding.”

Whumpee yanked their wrist back towards them but Caretaker didn’t let go. Instead they grabbed Whumpee’s other wrist and clamped their fingers around it too, stopping Whumpee from hurting themself anymore.

Whumpee’s eyes narrowed. “Let go of me, Caretaker! I can look after myself.”

“Clearly you can’t!”

“It’s just a bit of blood!” Whumpee yelled, spit flying from their mouth in anger. “What does it matter?!”

“Blood is meant to be inside your body, Whumpee, not outside.”

“It’s my body,” Whumpee told Caretaker, yanking one of their wrists free. “I’m allowed do what I want to it so let me go.”

“I’m not gonna just stand here and watch you hurt yourself.”

Whumpee let out a crazed, humourless bark of laughter. “Oh, what?” Whumpee asked, eyes glimmering with cruelty. “You want to make me stop, huh? You gonna tie me down like Whumper did because I’m not following your orders? You want to participate like Whumper did?” Whumpee demanded, squaring up to Caretaker, taking a step forward forcing Caretaker back. Whumpee’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Or maybe you want to be the one to make me bleed.”

The question made Caretaker sick. Comparing them to Whumper when all they’ve done is try and help Whumpee? The fact that Whumpee could even make that comparison at all… It was too much. Looking after Whumpee was too much. They let go of Whumpee’s wrist and turned away, walking towards the doors of the gym.

“What? Where are you going now?”

“I told you to stop, Whumpee,” said Caretaker without turning around, pulling off their own gloves. “If you don’t want to, that’s fine. Not my problem.”

Caretaker turned and looked over their shoulder at Whumpee as they opened the door. “But I won’t stand here and watch you finish the job Whumper started. Destroy yourself, why don’t you? You’ll do it on your own.”

the flinch that betrays a defiant whumpee’s terror

the curse that’s broken off by a plea

a small shudder that they fail to suppress

the choked breathing in between the sarcastic comments

what good is their defiance when whumper kicks their legs out from under them, leaving them on their hands and knees?

The blood on the concrete is their own and whumper kicks them when they’re down.

“Do you think I’d forgotten?” Whumper smiles and leans down. “Do you think I’d forgotten how to make you bleed?”

The whumpee refused to acknowledge what had happened to them, forcing a smile on their face and ignoring anyone what brought up what had happened to them. Sometimes the whumpee would even be aggressive towards anyone that tried to comfort them- they didn’t want to be reminded, and they wanted to go back to who they were before.

The whumpee didn’t know how much longer they could endure- for now they still had the spirit to snap at the whumper, sometimes even injuring them- but the torture wouldn’t stop, and the whumper wasn’t deterred, so the idea of just giving up became more and more enticing. Following the rules would mean more food, less punishment, but the whumpee couldn’t bring themselves to do it.

That moment when Whumpee overwhelmed with the pain of their injuries, screams and yells Caretaker’s name in desperation. And all Caretaker can do to stop their agony and writhing, is gently quiet them before getting started on treatment.

The “Shh, shh, shh. I know…I know” as they take a moment to brush a hand through Whumpee’s hair or cup their cheek. Softening their features to comfort them.

I really like the trope where the whumpee is emotionally exhausted from something and then slowly and silently… rests their forehead against the caretaker’s chest. Maybe they’ll cry, maybe they’ll stay quiet, maybe they’ll hug it out. But the moment where whumpee shows that small amount of vulnerability and trust towards caretaker is beautiful to me.