okay so you’ve mentioned this tip before on here, and you were saying how like when writing it’s not like the character’s only time existing and so to make your characters seem more human you should allude to their past. but how? like you mentioned that ashton was wearing scrubs in doggy style cuz he’s got a medical job (i can’t remember what) but how did you come up with that? how did you even think to add that, y’know? sorry if this question is stupid
It's not a stupid question at all!! It's a really good one, actually!! I might struggle to answer it in a fully articulate manner but, in my experience, when I write a story, I always spend a little bit of time prior to writing asking myself some simple questions about my characters to get to know them (that way, when I start writing, I'm not constantly asking myself the questions of "who the fuck is this guy and why should readers care about him??" In RPF it's a little easier to manage because readers already do care about them and that's why they're reading the fic lol but I do have to do a little extra work to keep them interested & invested).
Like, for instance, I have too ask myself: what jobs do they have? Are they in school? Did they already complete school? What did they study in school? How long have they had the job they do? Do they like their job? A person's career/education background tells you a lot about them!! It lets you know what they priortize, what they like to do, etc. Or, if they don't like their job, then a writer's responsibility is to show a reader what they like outside of their work. What makes them a person.
For instance, Ashton being a physical therapy assistant (in Doggy Style), lets me know that he is usually in a position where he is constantly helping other people and is also constantly on his feet so, by the time he gets back to his apartment, he's probably tired and in need of someone tending after him. This then plays into the personality I gave him in the fic of wanting to be taken care of by somebody outside of himself (Cal). This entirely imaginary career that's only mentioned once in the form of his scrubs informs me as the writer as to how I portray his dynamic with Calum, his interactions at home, and just other components of his personality !!
People are shaped by their experiences and their daily life (ie. jobs, school, friends, family, hobbies) and fictional characters are no different !! To be able to accurately write about someone's life and how they live it in a realistic manner, I need to know as many aspects about that life as I can! And that helps readers connect to them too!! Because, even if I only mention Ashton in scrubs once, just from that one simple throw-away line, a reader knows he has a job, a daily life outside of the apartment, outside of Calum, and outside of just the small body of work they're reading right at this moment !!!
that's what makes him feel real :)
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So you're a go to source for all things Dick&Tim bros and you tend to write primarily from Dick's POV. So, odd question, but if you were to summarize their relationship from his POV in FIVE panels which panels would you pick? Keeping in mind that one specific aspect of their relationship that you love needs to be clearly represented by each panel (loyalty, trust etc). I hope this is a fun challenge and not an annoying question so if you don't want to answer that's cool! Have a wonderful day!
No more talk. The same thoughts run through two minds... (SotB 29) / You're my equal. My closest ally. (RR 1) / I can't stop thinking how much I rely on him. (GoG 3)
25 Feelings Dick Has About Tim
This was such a kind ask & a cool challenge which I totally failed; here are TWENTY-five panels of Dick's POV on Tim sdfdsfds Look, I got carried away! Marcia and Cindy! The boys!!
OKAY SO BEFORE I GET TO THE PANELS A FEW NOTES:
WARNING THAT THERE ARE SOME NEGATIVE EMOTIONS IN HERE because I love conflict but but but you gotta remember those are not the final word!! They are complicated people and sometimes they get mad at each other BUT ultimately their relationship is so hugely important in both their lives & they love each other and rely on each other so much -!!! <3
Also I have CONCLUDING THOUGHTS at the end about what Dick's POV leaves out (mostly: a lot of Dick defending & protecting & supporting Tim, which Dick does instinctively but isn't very self-aware about most of the time)
I have loosely organized my list into 5^5 format (5 categories with 5 examples each!), so if you want to skip to a relevant one, here are the categories!!
Below the cut:
I hate him and find him infuriating (#1-5)
On second thought, he's endearing & fun (#6-10)
Grief is complicated & he's all tangled up in mine (#11-15)
I love him & think highly of him (#16-20)
I rely on him & though it's hard for me, I trust him (#21-25)
I hate him and find him infuriating (#1 - 5)
1) He thinks he’s so smart and can psychoanalyze me and Bruce, but he doesn’t know me at all, he should get lost (New Titans 61)
2) He thinks he’s so smart and can psychoanalyze Bruce but he doesn’t know Bruce at all, he should get lost (Gotham Knights 26)
3) He is so nosy about stuff that is MY business (Robin 0)
4) He sounds like an insincere suck-up half the time... but okay, fine, if you push him he's got a sense of humor about it (New Titans 65)
5) I'm sure he's a better vigilante than me. It's my fault for being a failure, but I resent him anyway. (Nightwing 9 - Dick's having a nightmare)
On second thought, he's kinda endearing (#6-10)
6) He worries too much and gets anxious so easily, but it makes him fun to tease (Robin 67)
7) I'm not that competitive - okay, so maybe I'm a little competitive, I gotta make sure he doesn't get a swelled head (Prodigal)
8) I'm supposed to be his favorite! It is not cool for him to be fanboying over my not-girlfriend's not-boyfriend!! (Birds of Prey 19)
9) We have fun together. I can kick back and relax when it's just the two of us. Plus I get to boss him around a bit. (Prodigal)
10) He’s always trying to reassure me, and I guess it's a little comforting, but also he doesn’t really get it. Or me. He makes excuses that he shouldn't, because he doesn't understand that I suck. (Nightwing 64)
Grief is complicated and he's all tangled up in mine (#11 - 15)
11) He reminds me of everything I try not to think about. Sometimes the memories are so strong it hurts to look at him. (Batman 441)
12) WHY IS HE BEING IMPOSSIBLE ALL OF A SUDDEN??? THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING (Nightwing 139)
13) We're the same. He says all the things I don't let myself think about. It's like arguing with myself. (Nightwing 139)
14) He thinks he gets to tell me what to do but he doesn’t, fuck him (Battle for the Cowl)
15) Life sucks, so what. I sucked it up so he should too (RR 1)
I love him and think highly of him (#16 - 20)
16) He’s the closest thing to a brother I’ll ever have. If someone hurts him I will hurt them harder. (Nightwing 6)
17) I can't handle the idea of losing him. (Nightwing 97)
17) He’s so good and I’m not. I'm afraid I’m bad for him. (Nightwing 110)
18) He’s better than me, and it’s kind of a relief because I know no matter what he’ll be okay. (Gates of Gotham 3)
19) In my head he’s the responsible one. (Gotham Knights 10)
I rely on him, and though it's hard for me, I trust him (#20-25)
20) I know I have to trust him but I'm afraid he'll make the wrong choices and get hurt (Nightwing 139)
21) I'm sure I know what he should do because I see myself in him - not that I can take my own advice, but he should (Blackest Night 3)
22) I trust him. When I’m losing my grip on things, he pulls me back. (Gotham Knights 10)
23) I want him to trust me (Red Robin 12)
24) He can tell when I'm lying. Sometimes he sees my weaknesses better than I wish he did. (Detective Comics 874)
25) He’s always there when I need him. (Teen Titans / Outsiders Secret Files)
Final rambling thoughts:
TIM: Uhh, okay, so I'm just skimming this list - do you really trust me? you're not just saying that? - but anyway, I'm confused because you left some stuff out? Like some stuff that's kinda important?
DICK: No? I think I got everything?
TIM (starts counting on his fingers): The time I was having a bad day but then I called you. The time I got captured by Two-Face but then you saved me. The time I fell off a train but then you saved me. The time I fell off a building but then you saved me. The time I fell off a different building -
DICK: I feel like you're trying to make some kind of point but I'm not sure what it could be.
SO THE THING IS, I put 25 panels in here and not a single one has Dick catching Tim when he’s falling!!! But I think that's a central motif of their relationship from Tim’s POV, not Dick’s. I love Dick, but in some ways I think he is spectacularly un-self-aware.
And I think he especially has a lot of blind spots about Tim. He kinda intermittently gets that Tim admires him, and he enjoys it in a playful I-get-to-boss-you-around way. But Dick tends to consistently underestimate all of his own good qualities & skills, and he meets Tim at a point in his life when he's especially down on himself & his abilities. And so he's unable to see his own influence on Tim, & therefore unable to fully understand a lot of Tim's priorities and loyalties and motivations, because you can't actually understand Tim without understanding Dick's impact on him. There's a fascinating moment in Bruce Wayne: Murderer when Dick's completely blindsided & upset to discover that Tim doesn't entirely trust Bruce, even though this has been a definitive fact of Tim's whole thing ever since he showed up with his Batman needs Robin theory, and Barbara has to actively remind Dick of the obvious-to-everyone-except-Dick fact that a lot of Tim's loyalty is to Dick, and Tim loves Bruce but feels free to be more wary of him. (And to give Bruce credit: this is not something he ever begrudges.) But anyway Babs points this out, and Dick manages to sorta process it for about five seconds, but he cannot actually accept it into his worldview so instead he discards it at the speed of light and goes off and has an argument with Tim instead sdfsfdsf
All of Dick's virtues - Dick's kindness at the circus and Dick's determination to fight through grief and Dick's rigid sense of morals and Dick's vigilante skills and every time Dick has ever backed Tim up or listened to him or protected him or saved him from something or just been casually kind to a stranger in Tim's presence etc etc etc - all these things loom really large in Tim's mental story of Who Dick Is, and What Dick And Tim's Relationship Is. Tim meets Dick before he meets Bruce, trusts Dick more than Bruce, aspires to be Robin instead of Batman. And so in Tim's default version of the story, Dick is the super-special and admirable hero and Tim is... nobody in particular, a tagalong outsider who's barely managing to be a hero, not part of Dick and Bruce's family and not part of their story, who, if he's VERY LUCKY and tries REALLY HARD, might be able to fight his way to proving himself and offering something to Dick that Dick will value, if Dick doesn't get fed up with him first.
But that's not Dick's version of the story!!!
Dick's version of the story is almost the exact opposite, a story where Dick's an outcast failure black sheep who's screwing up everything he tries, and meanwhile Tim is The Sudden New Perfect Robin Who's Better Than Me And Probably Bruce Loves Him More And Probably They Gossip About What A Loser I Am, mixed with a complicated edge of Tim Thinks He's So Smart But He Doesn't Know Me/Us At All. Dick gets much more attached to Tim over time, and Tim gets unnervingly better at the know-it-all psychoanalysis so then Dick gets to have complicated feelings about him being right instead of just annoyance at him for being wrong, plus Dick's relationship with Bruce improves a lot, so Tim stops feeling so threatening. But Dick never fundamentally changes his basic theory of their relationship in which Tim is highly impressive and capable, and Dick is not so much.
And so asking Dick about Tim is kinda like if you asked George Bailey to tell you about Harry Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life; like, you'll be there for five hours while he tells you how great Harry is, and how accomplished Harry is, and how he doesn't really get how or why Harry does the things he does, and maybe George does feel a little resentful or jealous sometimes, but that pales in comparison to all his admiration and trust for Harry who he loves so much, who's better than him in so many ways, and he's not gonna openly gripe but secretly he can't help but feel sometimes like he's such a failure in comparison to Harry, a perfect person who emerged fully formed from Zeus's head with all the virtues and also all the accomplishments, etc. etc. etc. --
-- and he will not actually remember the part where he changed and saved Harry's whole entire life unless you literally send him to an alternate timeline in order to force him to remember it. <3
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Some dance + real-world-equivalent-ethnicity headcannons :)
Some more little bits i be thinking abt for those who want more dance content: (under the cut)
Usopp with his salsa fundamentals and luffy with his vague memories of samba end up, at some point, coming up with their own much more chaotic combo of the two. They r spinning around so fast its insane. Luffy is about to launch them into the sun. They're having a great time.
Sanji being absolutely miffed when the only other ppl on the crew who know how to couple's dance with him are Usopp and Luffy. He gets over it ofc, being able to actually dance with another person quickly overwhelms the "I wanted to tango with a beautiful lady" grief
Sanji being able to help Usopp re-learn salsa and them bonding over their moms abt it 🥲Luffy is a lost cause tho he's not learning shit /j
BaroqueWorks Robin and Bon Clay bonding over ballet Q_Q
Brook inventing the most INSANE new dips/twirls/transitions because he no longer has muscles or skin or whatever in the way
Also I firmly believe Usopp listens & dances to anything made by Spice, Mr. Killa, and Yung Bredda, but he refuses to let the crew know this. He's not embarrassed or anything he's just fairly sure Sanji would have a heart attack and die if he heard the lyrics
Sanji listens & dances to Rodrigo y Gabriela he's in love with their story
Zoro is one of those freaks who has no desire to listen to music at all but he won't turn it off if it's on, yk?
As made obvious above I think Usopp and Sanji are the 1st and 2nd most versatile dancers, but neither of them dance more Often than Franky
If i had to rank them based on how often/readily they will dance its....in the order I placed the pictures, with chopper between brook and nami. Luffy is only so low cause he'd usually rather be eating, and brook cause he'd rather be playing, and zoro cause he'd rather be drinking/napping
Robin will readily dance with you if you ask her but she's not going to initiate
If you love dance like i do and want to see some specific choreographers/dances i had in mind while drawing these, that will be the rest of this bullet list!
Sanji is doing Derek Hough's little solo bit from his pasodoble choreo on dancing with the stars. look it up it is so peak
Dancing with the star (chopper <3)
In my head Usopp is perfectly capable of dancing any choreography by Latrice Kabamba (west african steps), Tricia Miranda (dancehall), or Yeifren Mata (mostly male solo salsa)
For Franky I think some old way choreos by Nastya Batrachenko or Dashaun Wesley (he mostly does fem now but he has good old way stuff) r good
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