Bits of this and that

[valis2]

snapesforte has drawn another fab piece of art. For some reason certain artists draw in a style that I really love, and she's one of them. I love her latest work, Knockturn Alley. I love that she takes the time to draw unusual scenes and that she puts so much effort into visualizing canon scenes/scenery that are rarely illustrated. Her Slythercentric artistic viewpoint is really unique.

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I had a conversation with someone online...I can't remember who it was, though I think it was junediamanti. Anyway, it was about the pitfalls of liking your own characters too much. Today at work my mind was drifting (what a surprise) and I started thinking about tLS and Sarah Tanner and how I really wouldn't want to be friends with her in real life, which reminded me of that conversation.

I think that there are different kinds of liking, too. There is the liking that comes from having created a character that fulfills your requirements. There is the liking from having breathed into the dust and brought out something fine. There is the liking of a character who is likeable. There is the liking of a character because you have an affinity for that sort of character.

I think the difficult kind of liking is the kind that makes you want to protect the character, especially if that protection warps canon/plot unreasonably. I think that too much liking makes your writing weak. If liking a character makes you water down a harsh lesson, or decide against a particularly tricky scenario, then it might be that the character has been compromised.

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I need to start writing stuff down. I had 394867239856 little funny weird things to report in LJ, but I can remember none of them. Though that might be to your relief, as you'd all come back to your flist to find it at skip?=394867239856.

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I think I will be standing in line with rook543 on HBP day, even though I will be getting my copy from somewhere else.

I even have temporary tattoos for us to wear.

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gypsyjolie stopped by and it was so lovely to see her! She is a luminous being.

She's also the source of lots of info about the LotR world, and I'm glad to see that it isn't just the HP fans who are a bit obsessed. *giggle*

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Way too much to accomplish this week. I gave it an admirable start, though, by turning off the computer early last night. Believe it or not.

Comments

[zoepaleologa.livejournal.com]

Agree with all of it, about the characters. I like all my characters (even when they are someone else's...hem, hem) even if they are beyond redemption like the cute oldish guy who picks up Severus Snape one night in Knockturn Alley... Yep, he's utterly bad, but strangely loveable to me.

I'm currently spending time with a canon character who is really an OMC, in the sense that he gets little more than a passing reference in GOF. So to make him a person, I get to make him up. This is Evan Rosier who is notable for having taken a piece out of Alastor Moody's nose, before Moody and the Aurors sent him to the great DE dark revel in the sky. So all we know about this dude is that he was a contemporary of Severus (probably), and a member of that Slytherin gang who all ended up Death Eaters. And that he was dead before he was 21.

Which means he's essentially that rare birdie in fanfic, the OMC. Lots of OFC's about, damn few OMC's.

I love this character - he's a disgrace, he's lovely too.

When I say I love my characters, I mean that I do not excuse them their more extreme acts. I enjoy hanging with them and figuring out what makes them tick, and how they work. And skating on thin ice, because there is the chance that everything will be blown away by Hurricane Jo next weekend.

Once I've finished writing them, it's a different story. Essentially Hermione irritates me a lot, and irritated me anyway by the time I stopped writing about her. But then I've never been a Hermione fangirl and merely shipped her with Severus to write about scandal potentials.

Come to think of it, I never get tired of the male characters. Hmm.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I love my characters as well, and I know exactly what you're talking about...you have to embrace their flaws, and sink right into them.

I think that sometimes beginning writers don't want to have real flaws that might bring real trouble and problems to their characters. Or they give their characters trivial flaws that have little or no heft in the long run.

I can't wait to read what you do with Rosier. I've read one or two that did wonderful things with him, and I'm excited to see where you go.

Come to think of it, I never get tired of the male characters. Hmm.

I couldn't agree with you more. In JKR's world the men are far more fascinating to me than the women. In fact, most of the women are either annoying or under the radar (for me). But then there's that tantalizing Snape, with his inner conflicts and grudges and bravery in spades, and that haughty, delicious Lucius, with his fistfight with Arthur and his evil cunning and...oh, I could go on forever.

[zoepaleologa.livejournal.com]

Almost forgot, this might be of interest:

http://www.macsadventure.com/hadrianswall/hadrianswall.htm

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Oh, wonderful! Thank you so very much.

[pandora-nervosa.livejournal.com]

I even have temporary tattoos for us to wear.

May we expect photos? Yes??

[valis2.livejournal.com]

*giggle* I'll be so strung out, because I'll have worked all day, and then I'll probably be going nuts with excitement and fun...it'll be a scary pic!