jestdrabbles

[jestdrabbles]

When writing always remember… a character flaw is only a flaw until becomes useful. 

Is your protagonist manipulative? Well that’s awful… until they manipulate the antagonist into making a decision that saves the lives of their friends. 

Is your protagonist a skeptic? Well that’s not good… until someone tries to lie to them. 

Is your protagonist overprotective? That sucks… until someone they love is in danger. 

Is your protagonist remorseless? Well that makes them pretty unlikeable… until a hard decision has to be made. 

[jestdrabbles]

Having headcanons is so fun because sometimes you’ll be like “I believe Blorbo suffered childhood trauma, specifically abandonment and ostracism from their community, and this is the reason they took X action in canon. I base this off these brief but telling conversations they had with others in five different episodes, plus their reaction when Skrimblo disappeared for two days.”

But then also sometimes you’ll say “I think Glup Shitto is lactose intolerant.”

[jestdrabbles]

imo the best way to interpret those “real people don’t do x” writing advice posts is “most people don’t do x, so if a character does x, it should be a distinguishing trait.” human behavior is infinitely varied; for any x, there are real people who do x. we can’t make absolute statements. we can, however, make probabilistic ones.

for example, most people don’t address each other by name in the middle of a casual conversation. if all your characters do that, your dialogue will sound stilted and unnatural. but if just one character does that, then it tells us something about that character.

[jestdrabbles]

the raw sexual power of using a semi-colon

[jestdrabbles]

I don’t have many solid headcanons, but Hien? Trans.

[jestdrabbles]

Hearing him describe his relationship with his father is interesting because we know he tries to see the best in people, but we also know through Francel’s account that Haurchefant didn’t exactly have a good experience at home, and that becoming more like his father was actually something that seemed to be a source of stress for him, too (at least implied since Francel makes note of it). The fact that this discussion is the longest they’d ever had in all 28 years together is telling, and the most he hints at his troubled relationship is that this simply wasn’t easy for him. Haurchefant is someone who you can trust with his words because he always backs them up with his actions, so it makes sense that he wants to be careful with them here. Lord Edmont is definitely the man Haurchefant says he is, but it’s also true to acknowledge that for Haurchefant personally, he is also a source of conflict and hurt. So much so that he speculates one of his motivations for becoming a knight may have been due to feeling akin to a stranger or outsider in his own home.

Analysis aside, it is absolutely hilarious to me that Lord Edmont listened to his son argue for possibly hours all for one (1) person and likely realized oh, this person must be Special to him. Am I ready for this? None of my sons have been successful in romantic pursuits. But no, joking aside, it says so much that Haurchefant did this for the WoL. It’s hard reaching out to family that has this kind of detached history, even more so given the setting and societal negligence and disdain for bastard children. Haurchefant was well aware that his petition would not go through smoothly, but he was willing to do whatever it took to make sure his friend and their companions would have a place to call home in a world that rejected them.

[jestdrabbles]

Never gonna recover from Haurchefant stashing his sappy little letter to the Warrior of Light in ye olde password journal

[jestdrabbles]

This is fine.

[jestdrabbles]

Young, angry Haurchefant, my lad and boy.

[jestdrabbles]

I am so normal about this.

[jestdrabbles]

It’s rude enough that when visiting Haurchefant’s grave on the map, Francel will show up and mention how it doesn’t get any easier. But I recently got a second dialogue as of my millionth visit where he says something along the lines of “You still visit him? That would make him happy.” like MAN!! Of course I still visit him. They gave us a grave on the map that we can see any time we’re passing through, OF COURSE I’m stopping by to give him every life update.

My WoL sitting against his headstone like “We’re really in it now, Haurchefant.”

[jestdrabbles]

I understand why they couldn’t flesh it out on screen, but man. I wish I could annoy everyone with the Haurchefant backstory so that they *know* he was an angry child. Yes, he was allowed to live in House Fortemps, but that wasn’t exactly a kind environment. The fact that he’d seek out his friend, eyes still red from crying, and angrily ask that they just get away from home for a while. Anywhere but here. I dunno. It just makes so much sense to me that by the time we meet him in his late 20s, he does everything in his power to make strangers and friends alike feel welcome, warm, and cared for.

[jestdrabbles]

When I write three sentences on my WIP:

[jestdrabbles]

[jestdrabbles]

Me while editing: *adds a sentence*

*finds nearly identical sentence in the next paragraph*

[jestdrabbles]

the boys are back in town!!

[jestdrabbles]

Writers going psspsspssp to their brains trying to lure them into writing