#Bughead Writing Workshop

[bugheadwritersguild]

Characterization and “OOC” (Out of Character)

*Reminder that this is generally writing advice and you don’t have to follow it if it’s not your style.

When you’re putting your characters into alternate universes, you have a bit of freedom. That being said, people tend to read fanfiction because they like the characters, and if you deviate from who they “are” there should generally be a good reason. For example, Betty is a very friendly person, but if she was assaulted she might start to act withdrawn. Another reason for going out of character might be because you want to align the characters more with the comics (this is fairly common with Jughead as the comics version has more humour than sarcasm and is more concerned with food than classism).

You may also sacrifice character traits for characters that play side roles in your narrative (I’ve seen some where Archie is a cheater and Veronica is horrible- some people genuinely don’t like these characters and perhaps use their writing for wish fulfillment, or perhaps like me it’s just integral for the plot to work). It’s great if you can still keep some of their “essence” but sometimes that just doesn’t mesh with the writing.

This is important if you want to really shake a character up. Give them a good reason. Betty turns a 180 and becomes a dark badass that even “Dark Betty” can’t rival? Why? And just saying “oh she was like that all along and was just suppressed” is probably not your best bet. You can say that, but it’s much better to show it or go gradually.

Maybe you want to put Jughead in sports even though he’s generally disinterested. Find an angle to preserve his character- make Archie basically force him into it. Make him lose a bet. Make him ironically interested in it (think: The Other Guys, ballet scene- I don’t approve of the context for it, but just as an idea). Make him do it in an awkward attempt to impress Betty so they can be “the cheerleader and the jock” and admit he seriously hates it when the truth comes out.

But here’s what we know about Betty’s character: She’s passionate about doing the right thing, even if she has to make sacrifices or do not-so-great things to get there. She has a “darkness” that is left ambiguous but is generally not who she is as a person. She is very compassionate. She has a natural curiosity which feeds into her investigative tendencies.  She appears to be the “perfect girl next door” and pushes herself to do well in school and enjoys extracurriculars like running the Blue and Gold as well as cheerleading and being a guide for new students. She doesn’t want to be perfect, but doesn’t appear to have a disdain for her clothing so it’s probably more a rebellion from her demanding mother. She also takes medication for ADHD (it’s implied that Alice is using it as a “study drug for her” but I wouldn’t rule it out entirely. She also has a mental health history when it comes to self harm as she digs her nails into her palms). These are good things to keep in mind when you write about Betty, but you can change things as you need to. Try to keep Betty as Betty, but make her your own too.

Jughead Jones has adopted a few fandom quirks. The first one is a disdain for his first name, which is suggested as he doesn’t go by it in the show but isn’t outright stated. His father doesn’t go by Forsythe either, so it might just be a time honoured tradition to go by a nickname. Another quirk that is common is smoking. Neither of these things are out of character for Jughead but they’re also not established in the canon. They fit in with his character as he had a dark and brooding exterior who wouldn’t care about what a bunch of teachers say in grade school about cigarettes being cancerous and he gets bullied enough that it could be another reason for the aversion fo his name. The fact that his relationship with his father, particularly in season 1, is so rocky may also contribute to this. For canon character, he appears to transition from lone-wolf introvert to leader which speaks more about the people he is around. He would not be friends with the jocks, but he is a prince among thieves so to speak. He is recklessly passionate about his beliefs and makes decisions before thinking them through. More often than not, this has led to problems down the road. He also enjoys a hefty amount of sarcasm and borderlines on being a conspiracy theorist (or is and is just fuke-lucky like in some of the comics).

These are hardly exhaustive descriptions, but it’s just something to keep in mind while writing. WWJD and WWBD- what would Jughead do? and what would Betty do? Keep who they are at the forefront of your writing, adjusting as necessary, and you’re already on your way to a good story. That being said, there are always exceptions to the rules so don’t be afraid to break them when necessary.

[bugheadwritersguild]

*arrives a day late, with starbucks*

Sorry everyone! Lost track of time! Also losing ideas for these, so a reminder that submissions are always greatly appreciated either here or here

Anyways, welcome to lesson 4: speech!

I believe this topic has been covered on the discord server, but I have not looked into it to prevent plagiarism.

The basics are that you put speech in quotation marks. You also have to start a new paragraph for each person who is speaking, which may seem tedious but is meant to avoid confusion over who is speaking. If it looks awkward, I recommend just writing it out and then going back to fix mistakes like making sure it’s clear who is speaking. You may need a beta reader to double check that it’s clear, especially since as a writer you may be biased because you already know who is supposed to be talking.

It can get pretty redundant so try to mix up your word choices so it’s not “Blah blah blah,” said Name. Here’s a helpful list for alternatives for said, but coming up for alternatives for names (especially when pronouns are not useful, such as when there are two characters of the same gender talking): http://www.spwickstrom.com/said/

Other important things to keep in mind are punctuation.

“Not fair!”

Sometimes there’s enough context to just have a sentence in quotation marks and call it a day.

“I live on Elm Street,” stated Betty Cooper.

When you follow speech, you use a comma instead of a period, as the information about who is speaking is consider a part of the same sentence. If you aren’t using a period, then a question mark or exclamation point by itself is fine also.

“I live on Elm Street,” stated Betty Cooper, “in the house next to Archie’s.”

Here we have the same thing, but with more information. Sometimes you’ll interrupt a sentence to give that information and if they’re related then you keep them together like this. If it’s a new sentence, it’s not split and will be done with the second part capitalized instead.

That’s all I can think of today, but feel free to let me know if I missed anything major. I’ll probably do another lesson on speech in the future.

-Kelsey/Betty ( @brownhairedbetty )

Sources and additional resources:

https://mcckc.edu/tutoring/docs/br/english/Rules_for_Writing_Dialogue.pdf

https://www.nownovel.com/blog/dialogue-words-other-words-for-said/