theaquatictriangle

[theaquatictriangle]

Just a friendly reminder that writing is not always a linear process.

That is, it rarely works out that you have an idea, then do a first draft, then edit that draft, then celebrate. The writing process itself is often an act of discovery, and can be messy and “inefficient.”

You may write your first draft and realize it has major holes, causing you to need to return to your outline, correct the issue, and re-approach your draft.

You may discover that the character you thought was your main character is not your main character. It’s actually her sister, and now you need to rewrite your story.

You may change your point of view character several times before landing on the right one.

You may write 9 drafts of your story only to realize the fundamental concept is flawed, bringing you back to the drawing board.

You might throw away hundreds of pages.

If you’re writing a novel, you might outline, then draft, then re-outline, then re-draft several times before you even get a solid handle on where you’re going with your story.

You might write four different endings before you decide which one works best for your story.

You might remove characters, combine characters, add characters.

…all of this is normal. If this is happening to you, you’re not doing anything wrong. You’re a writer, and this is what writing is like sometimes. Sure, some writers seem to be able (or claim to be able) to write more quickly and efficiently. But there’s no sense in comparing yourself to them, and most of them are lying anyway. Instead of criticizing yourself, try to become curious about and embrace your process. There’s something awesome about how mysterious and unpredictable writing can be!

[theaquatictriangle]

"I mean, I don't even sell very good gear. Why do you keep coming here?"

The very large man slash wolf with flaming sword, glowing gold eyes and so much armour that it made grinding and rustling sounds everytime he moved, looked sheepishly at his feet.

"Well.... I've been everywhere in this land and talked to every person. You are..... you're the only NPC that gives different dialogue."

You take a large step backwards and almost loose your balance as your mismatched bag makes you a much heavier object.

"Me? But!..." you splutter incoherently " But I'm not an NPC"

The mighty warrior doesn't even bat an eyelid

"See? That's what I'm talking about. What a great line! I cannot find anyone else who responds so well to player dialogue!"

You supposed he had a point. You never did much of anything to suggest you were a real character. You just horded loot and avoided the main storylines. I mean you really just preferred walking around exploring, and to support yourself you sold a little bit here and there. Did all those other players think you were an NPC?

For now you faced the Warrior of the Ashtounges who probably thought you were glitching right about now.

You could really change how you played with this new information.

"A pleasure to be of service. Anything else you need?" You said perhaps a little robotically

"Nah, I'm good. I'll be back though" he ran away waving his black spiked gauntlet in the air.

The next person who came up to you was a mid level player. Their gear was good but not the glowing green of legendary and the mount they rode was a only a silver stallion.

You gave you best impression of a traditional vendor.

" Hello there fearsome Warrior of the deep. I invite you too -"

"Skip"

"Pick what pleases the eye and pleases the-"

"Skip"

Ok then, straight to business. You pulled off your back pack and held it out to him.

As he searched you moved forward jerkily and snatched his money pouch attached to his belt.

"Welco-nice day- enj- good lu- hello there!"

He didn't even look twice at you

"Ah, stupid glitch. Really need to fix those bugs on the vendors"

He rode away, of course not on the pre laid cobblestone path, but directly across the forest, since that was the fastest route. You knew when he found his money gone, he wouldn't come back here to find it.

For who would ever suspect the NPC?

You began doing it more and more frequently, stealing from players who spent years creating quite the sizeable money pouch. You tended to avoid stealing off the new players who are just starting out and those who actually took time and enjoyed the game but the speed run players you happily took advantage of. Sometimes the Warrior who first told you about being an NPC would come and visit; you never stole from him and made sure you said something interesting every time.

The next week the leaderboard was announced in the main cities across the continent. All those players who worked tirelessly killing, selling and looting never could work out how a merchant ranked number one in wealth.

You are a merchant who travels around a lot, your number one customer is a legendary hero. One day you ask him why he keeps visiting you and he answers, “Because your the only NPC that says different dialogue every time.”

[theaquatictriangle]

Characteristics to make your OC more original without the classic “red hair, pale skin, different coloured eyes”

Webbed fingers

One toe/finger missing or adding one

Scars! Give them memories

Body mods - even though it sounds pretentious, it’s seldomly used bc of that reason. Give them piercings, gauges, tattoos, implants etc etc

Make them LGBT+. Not to make them “special” but to make them normal. Not everyone is cishet on this planet, make your story a realistic mirror of reality.

A small illness that shows at inconvenient times. Anaemia, a slightly crooked spine, you name it.

Naturally dark undereyes

Crooked/yellow teeth - it’s natural for some people no matter how much they brush em. Also healthcare isn’t affordable everywhere

Flat feet

Instead of a resting bitch face - a resting sad face. Or thinking face. “Wow, what are you thinking about?” “Uh.. that my lucky charms this morning may have already expired last week.”

Knowledge about really weird things! Architecture in the 20th century, the army, submarines, contemporary art

Little habits: chasing pigeons, greeting the news reporter back when he says “good evening” (these are more for younger characters), having to scratch the other side of their face if theyve scratched one side already

Having pets: bunnies, geckos, spiders, snakes, mice, rats, birds, chinchillas, fish, frogs, turtles

Give them a name with a special meaning, maybe even relevant for the story. But for the love of god leave the spelling as it is. Dont make maikayleighah out of mikayla.

Also, names like, skye, skylynn, raine etc do give off a certain :/ vibe

Make them religious!

Make them break gender rules

Note that you can still do whatever you want to and even if your OC is a ginger named ginger then thats totally fine - its your story. These are just preferences of mine

I hope this helped! Feel free to add on

[theaquatictriangle]

How To Write a Group Of Villains - A Brief Summary

I always see lists on how to write villains alone, but never about groups. So I’d like to give a few pointers on how to write these characters from what I do know about them.

One thing I’ve noticed from all the stories I’ve read, video games I played, and movies I watched is that you can automatically pinpoint each individual within a group. They all have their own quirks and fall into common tropes. Tropes are not a bad thing as long as they are done well.

Here’s a list of all the tropes I’ve seen done in any type of media, both properly and poorly:

-The Leader:

Is usually the level-headed one in charge of all the other villains. May have a weird personality trait of their own, or depicted as completely serious. Either way, the leader does not mess around and is single-minded towards his/her/their goal.

*If you want to write this character as serious, you should be careful to not make them too bland. Explain their motives and show their drive to succeed in a subtle or obvious way, depending on how the story itself is written.

-The Crazy One:

*Cue maniacal laughter*

Almost every story I’ve seen tends to have a villain who’s sanity is questionable, or they simply aren’t sane at all. Whether it’s from their past or they chose to be that way, they tend to be the most entertaining to watch. For me, anyways. They are often reckless and quick to act, with little to no regard for the well-being of others (or even themselves). They can be used either for comedy relief or to make an already grave situation worse. It’s both of these most of the time. The Leader can have trouble keeping this character under control, since their actions can be unexpected.

-The Funny One:

Can also be a hybrid of The Crazy One, or they can be a separate chracter entirely. Not much I can say about this one. They like to make jokes and use quips in anything they say. May get on The Leader’s nerves.

-The Strategist:

Can also be The Leader, but does not have to be. They come up with all of the plans for the group (with approval from The Leader) and help to determine what the best course of action would be. Could also be considered ‘The Smart One’, since The Strategist is commonly depicted as a scientist or some other form of higher intelligence. This trait tends to make this character full of themselves and think they are above their cohorts (aside from The Leader, whom they may be afraid of). They usually despise the idea of failure.

-The Backstabber:

Can be any of these characters aside from The Leader. They often surface if they are not on board with The Leader’s plans. They will turn against The Leader, sometimes bringing other members of the group to join them. This will either cause the group to fall apart or will have The Leader remove this character from the group entirely (through death, exile, enslavement, etc).

-The Tank:

Is the most powerful of the group, or at least appears that way. Can sometimes be The Leader. Can either be depicted as the silent, serious type who doesn’t speak much (if at all), or the dense type who has to be told things multiple times. Even then, they may misinterpret the information and ruin The Leader’s plans.

-The Cruel One:

Can be any of these characters, or simply one separate individual. They are known for taunting and harassing the protagonist in several ways, ranging from mild to downright twisted and insane. They can push the protagonist to their breaking point. Sometimes they can even corrupt the protagonist by making them do something that goes completely against everything they believe in. This leads to the protagonist questioning their path and motives for their own primary goal.

-The Sympathetic One:

The member of the group who doesn’t seem to hate the protagonist as much as the other villains do. Still follows The Leader’s plan wholeheartedly, yet also seems to understand the protagonist’s plight. May or may not have some sort of important connection to the protagonist. Could be any of the characters in this list, even The Leader. Can be a separate individual as well.

-The Fallen Hero/Friend:

A member of the group who used to be close to the protagonist(s), but has now joined the villains. Whether it was willingly or because they had no other choice, they may either:

*Hate the protagonist(s)

*Want to join them again, but can’t for a specific reason

*Wish to leave their old life behind, cutting all ties with what made them who they were before.

*Once again, can be any of the characters on this list or another individual.

-Whenever you write any of these characters, keep these three things in mind:

Give them all motives. I cannot stress this enough. It doesn’t have to be an essay’s worth of explanations for each and every villain, but they should all have some sort of reason as to why they’re even there. Otherwise, why did you put them into the story?

Show, Don’t Tell. This is much easier when it comes to video games, tv shows and movies since you can literally show what’s happening without saying a word. When writing, give a clear and concise explanation of things involving the villains and their situations, but don’t start rambling about, let’s say, a villain’s favortie pair of socks for five pages. The story will become too much for a reader to digest, as well as lose the appeal. Make it short, sweet, and to the point. Your audience will thank you for that. But don’t be afraid to sneak in a one or two extra details for foreshadowing, if you want to make things more interesting.

The villains can be likeable. Just because they aren’t who the audience should be rooting for, it doesn’t mean that you can’t give them a few redeeming qualities. Have one of them enjoy nature. Have them make the readers laugh with their antics, like hitting each other or robbing from some rich dude down the street. Make them have some human qualities so that the audience can relate to them. If one or two of them are unlikeable, that’s fine. But if the entire group is unlikeable to the point of being unbearable for the audience to watch/read, you are doing something wrong.

Thanks for listening. Feel free to add some opinions of your own!

[theaquatictriangle]

It was a misty night, hard to see your own feet. So when you accidentally dropped your wallet and consequently lost four shiny coins you hardly bothered to glance in their direction. Hopefully someone else would pick them up and use them for something that made them happy.

You kept up your fast pace to escape the cold but nearly let out a small yelp as the tree next to you begins to move. A branch shakes violently despite there being no wind and one of its leaves starts glowing an alien green. Not entirely sure someone didn’t slip something into your evening coffe, you cautiously move closer.

Stuck to the leaf is your coin. Despite the movement is stays glued on. The wind behind you picks up violently and you can decipher actual words; whispery and soft.

“Thee has granted me a well of power. You have sustained a force merely years away from oblivion. Your repayment is a wish all of your kind begs for.”

Now this has you listening. What is it? Wealth? Power? Love?

When a primordial being comes to you in a park something special must be in store and you could use a little divine intervention.

“What do I get?” Your not entirely sure where to address your question so you just say it to the tree.

“You shall never suffer starvation, you will always have an abundance of material with which to fashion clothes to keep you warm…. you shall be granted a never ending supply of valuable livestock. I grant thee human - Sheep”

Immediately four sheep popped into existence around you. One of them began peeing a stream of yellow water onto the park sign.

“Oh F-”

One day, when walking home from work, you make a mistake. You give a last kindness to a dying god, and in return, it grants a wish you never wanted granted.