Survey: Hardest Character to write?

POSTED BY: Arcadia
UPDATED: Saturday, January 13, 2007 16:21
VIEWED: 20439
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SHINYYUKARI

Sunday, July 30, 2006 9:52 AM

I'm on the fence when it comes to writing River. Sometimes she can be easy to write, sometimes it can be hard. I'm a little worried on what people will think of the last fic I wrote with her in it because I went more for the 'bratty little sister' angle that Simon has described her as...

I'm always cautious with Inara because of her speech patterns. I think that's why my Mal/Inara fics are usually written from either Mal's or someone else's POV. I've only done Inara's side 3 times.

"Well next time you be the bait!"~Andy Hurley
"Okay! Everybody not talking about sex, in here. Everybody else, elsewhere."~Wash
Browncoats are the coolest fans I've ever seen.

AGENTROUKA

Sunday, July 30, 2006 10:57 AM

Definitely Wash for me. He has a very unique way of phrasing his sentences that's harder to capture than most of the slang the others use.

Hell, everyone is a challenge. They each have a fairly distinct voice, I find that in particular Simon's dry wit is hard to copy, or Jayne's tendency to smuggle "big words" into his curse-ridden slang.

Not to mention, that their way of speaking is not always the same from one situation to another.

As a rule, though, I'd say the more you understand a particular character and their motivations, the easier it becomes to write them, quirks and all.

WISHUPONAWASH

Monday, July 31, 2006 12:18 AM

*Pondors*

Not sure really. River can be hard, but it depends on what you want her to do/say. I've yet to write anything where she has said much.

Wash is difficult, and my own attempts are never quite right.

I generally try not to over use characters if I'm having trouble with them. You can say alot with silence as with words.

Here's how it might of been.... www.stillflying.net/

STINKINGROSE

Monday, July 31, 2006 1:00 AM

Dialect's a...puppy, even if you have an ear for it.
Agreed on Kaylee's speech patterns. She does use some audible abbreviations and colloquialisms, but does not sound like a serious hick. "Cap'n" is about as sloppy as she gets, the rest of it is just local flavor.

"Ready to go Cap'n, won't be but a minute".
vs:
"Wahl shore thing Ca'n, it ain't a-gonna be no longer than a hound's holler". (Okay, severe exaggeration, but you get the point.)

If you've never really heard someone from a region speaking at length you can overdo it trying to get the accent across.
You ever hear someone from Long Island try to do a British accent, or vice versa? It can be painful.

Our BDHs definitely have a "countrified" flavor, but not one you can specifically pin down. It's just sort of generic Down Home.
The grammar's different and has its own internal structure. It isn't any one specific US or Canadian regional dialect that I can identify. (This does not mean that it isn't one, mind you..) It's kind of like trying to distill all of the UK into one general accent. "Glas/Liv/Lon/ster" or something.

You'd have to ask the writers what they decided to go with as a rule of thumb.

If you write it like they're from the back beyond in Appalachia you've gone too far. If you write like they're from deepest Dixie, you've definitely overshot. Sometimes it reminds me a little of the Midwest-West, but still isn't quite that. Hey, it's evolved over 500 years right? (;

At least folk are trying to get the feel of it when they write. If everyone sounded like Simon it just wouldn't be the same. Just keep listening and try to think "how would X say that?", it will be fine.

STINKINGROSE

Monday, July 31, 2006 1:00 AM

STEAMER

Monday, July 31, 2006 1:26 AM

I have the toughest time with Inara and Zoe. For one thing it's because in the fic that I've written so far (which is admittedly not much), I have a hard time finding a place for either of them. Apart from that, they're just hard for me to fathom. Inara's kind of a big deal; she has many leather-bound books, etc. There's so much to her - and so much more that we never got to see - and so I'm even finding it hard to write her and Mal bickering. With Zoe, it's not too hard to write her interaction with Wash, but her interaction with everyone else is a 'verse of difference. The hard-ass rep she has, it's tricksy to figure out how she'd say some things to some people.

~
Shiny. Is that how you're all feeling?
Then perhaps Mal Reynolds IS in your best interests as captain.

MILFORD

Monday, July 31, 2006 1:34 AM

I'm going to vote for Mal, but for a different reason than most have mentioned. Yes Wash and Zoe's speech patterns and phrasing are difficult. But the content of Mal's dialogue is troubling, mostly because a lot of what I do sounds so trite or mimics what he's already said.

Mal, tough.

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GOLDY

Monday, July 31, 2006 7:05 PM

I'd say... definitely River. Not only do I find her speech patterns difficult, but it's also hard to grasp that balance between "crazy" and "lucid."

Most of what River says has a certain amount of sense to it - whether that's apparent right away or in hindsight. I feel like a lot of writers only use her when they want her to warn the crew of incoming danger, or when they want her to work as the means of getting two people together.

Finding a River that *sounds* right, and is also true to the character we saw in the series is hard. Especially post-BDM, when we don't really *know* if she's found some sort of internal peace or not.

ARCADIA

Monday, July 31, 2006 7:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Goldy:
I feel like a lot of writers only use her when they want her to warn the crew of incoming danger, or when they want her to work as the means of getting two people together.

Finding a River that *sounds* right, and is also true to the character we saw in the series is hard. Especially post-BDM, when we don't really *know* if she's found some sort of internal peace or not.

I completely agree about the "using River only to warn of danger/get people together" thing, and it is one of my biggest fanfic pet peeves. One of the coolest things about River is that she's a, you know, person. And like most people, she has her own wants and needs and...

I think its safe to say that after the BDM she's going to fine some sort of peace. She knows what her abilities are, she knows how to control them without triggers, and the secret that she's been hinting as so subtle throughout the series (its surprising how many times she uses that word when you rewatch), is finally out in the open, being shared. She carries it, but she no longer carries it alone. :-)

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GOLDY

Monday, July 31, 2006 7:31 PM

Quote:
One of the coolest things about River is that she's a, you know, person. And like most people, she has her own wants and needs and...

Exactly. One of the things I'd love to see addressed more is her feelings about Simon/Kaylee. She's had her brother's undivided attention for over a year, and that'll be hard to give up. Not because she's selish, but because I think it's very human to both be happy for someone, but jealous at the same time.

Quote:
I think its safe to say that after the BDM she's going to fine some sort of peace. She knows what her abilities are, she knows how to control them without triggers, and the secret that she's been hinting as so subtle throughout the series (its surprising how many times she uses that word when you rewatch), is finally out in the open, being shared.

Oh, absolutely! I think, what I meant was, she still has to deal with the fact that she was tortured for many, many years, and while getting out the Miranda secret might bring her *some* sort of mental balance, it's still hard to know how "normal" she is or will ever be. And you see a lot of people writing her like she was in the series, complete with talking in nonsense (and everyone ignoring said nonsense - which I find sort of hard to believe, given the BDM). So without more canon, it's hard to know what a more-sane-but-not-completely-normal-River sounds like.

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