Shadow of Light Dragon wrote...
JHB, I'm sorry, but...you don't read fan fiction, you don't write fan fiction, you're no longer talking about fan fiction. I'm all for raising debates on Wardens and darkspawn and whatnot, but this isn't the forum or thread to do it in. There's a big General Discussions with spoilers allowed thread for this kind of stuff. We won't have to worry about getting closed for going off-topic, and you can get a heated discussion on whatever subject you like.
So getting back to fan fiction...
Guys, out of all the DA:O and A characters you've tried to channel and write, who has been the hardest and why? Likewise, who has been your favourite or the one that came most easily?
Okay, this is too rich an opportunity to pass up. First, I don't write FF? Hunh. Wanna free DLC code? Anyway, when I'm not chumming the sharkets here, I have been working a bit on a module w/ Jackkel. Writing dialogue isn't hard -- the hard part is actually making actions synchronize together, or allowing multiple responses. In this case, you have to write on two or three different levels, plot and counterplot.
This isn't the forum for raising uh, 'debates'? Hunh. Check the thread title recently? Seems to ME that I'm actually closer to being 'on point' than you are.
Back to FF: you insist, I doff my scholar's cowl, and follow suit!
If you read through some of my past postings here, it's all about characterization. I also deal extensively with broader social/psychological issues. A braver writer might actually consider, f'rinstance, the psychological underpinnings of GWs, including their ability to form any sort of emotional bond on the level of 'pairing'. It's actually a serious question -- I realize that most of you have not experienced personal danger, hardship, or profound psychological stresses, but there IS extensive research you can find online about it (ie, stress disorders and relationships in combat veterans).
I also raised valid questions, for a writer, about the actual toxicity of GW blood -- the analogy to hepatitis, and by extension, AIDS, is painfully obvious. It's easy to simply shrug and say 'oh, that just makes the romance more beautiful!' Hunh. How many people do you know who are dying of hepatitis or AIDS? It's not a beautiful thing, trust me. If you want to create romance subplots, I'd say it's a fair question to ask 'what does Leliana really say, when she wakes up some morning with a nasty rash?'
I further touched on GW psycology in my brief foray into 'the whys' of the Calling. It's easy to say, well, I've been having a lot of bad dreams lately, guess I"ll just check out. It's a harder, more uncomfortable issue to deal with the issue of favored heros like Duncan coming to the ends of their careers and realizing that they're really not very 'nice' people, despite the public perception of them. That's what a conscience is all about -- questioning the validity of your own actions. A self-assured Duncan is rather shallow. A Duncan who realizes he is conniving, callous, and committed to a possibly pointless cause is another thing... especially since he then has to put on his 'I'm in control' face each morning, before going out recruiting to round up more suckers.
Furthermore, despite my tongue-in-cheek presentation, there is a real writer's issue in the question of DS intelligence. This was the entire point of 'Awakening', after all. Did you think the title of that add-on was just a fluke? It refers to an 'awakening of consciousness'... in DS. Clearly, the original writers of both DA:O and DA:A wrestled with the very same questions I presented to you.
Okay, back to simpler fare -- characterizations of familiar characters. I maintain that the "HOW" is easy, once you have gone through the "WHY" of their personalities. Bear with me.
Leliana: a pom-pom girl, all sticky sweet pretense. If you read some poetry to her, she'll get all gooey. Give her a puppy. Tell her she's beautiful. It's painfully easy. According to none other than Morrigan, it's all pretense. Lel is a liar, a bard, who quite literally strives to 'find out what sort of woman a man desires, and then become that woman'. So, Lel is deeply shallow. It's a contradiction in terms. However, Lel has been such a manipulative personality for so long, she has no deep ethical center... ergo, borderline sociopath, but one who dresses it up with 'sweetness'. If you want to understand Leliana, talk to a HS cheerleader, or a prostitute. No, I'm not kidding.
Morrigan: surface nasty, spends a lot of time tormenting Alistair, because of what Alistair represents... a Templar, the hand of authority for a Chantry that really has no idea of its own doctrine contradictions. Morrigan does not suffer from delusions -- if anything, she suffers from overdose of reality. She has no ability to love anyone, so makes up for it by being in love with herself. People are tools to her. If you figure that out, dialogue choices with her are easy. I say this not because I 'cheated' and looked at Wikia's dialogue lists, or at the source code... but because Morrigan too represents an archetype of person -- snotty, self-assured, painfully honest, without a shred of conscience.
Sten: a lot of people seem to think that Sten is just a one answer sort of guy. Well, yes and no. Sten is a soldier. No time for trivialities, no patience for fools. Like a combat soldier, the best way to get him to notice you is to either be a threat, or an ally. If you're a threat, it's kill or be killed. If you're an ally, you'd better have your sh*t together, so he can rely on you to do your duty as well as he does his. That's it.
Some people were mystified why Sten would collect artwork. This aspect of the character was possibly developed from the original writers reading Miyamoto Musashi's 'Book of Five Rings'. Those of you with writer's block for Sten can look it up online, breeze through a couple of chapters, and it may inform your channeling.
Zevran: a psychologically well-adapted sociopath. Enjoys killing -- says so. Only later does it come out that the Zev character's addiction to killing and the 'good life' of being a Crow resulted in his first, and perhaps only ethical conflict. Zev spends a lot of time distracting himself. To understand him, read Oscar Wilde, or another recounting of narcissism. To understand him better, talk to a young homosexual pretty-boy in your local coffeeshop. Then read excerpts from Catcher in the Rye.
Oghren: just a drunk who is only good at killing things. His mentality is strictly working class barfly. Complex thoughts and philosophies baffle him. He thought Branka left him because she wanted to take a walk on the wild side, and if she'd told him, 'he coulda made adjustments'. He has no real idea that a character like Branka would ever have higher ambitions than getting drunk and in a fight each Saturday night. Oghren feels things deeply, but not for long. He isn't really a 'thinker', but a 'feeler'. He's the kind who would be willing to kill you one minute, and your best pal for life a moment (and 3 beers) later. The danger of Oghren is that because he is so intellectually shallow, his emotions rule, and emotions are slippery. If you want to understand Oghren better, watch 'the Deadliest Catch', about Alaskan crab fishermen. Or the series about the loggers, or other working class heroes.
Retour en haut
Referring to the banter and youtube clips is something I do frequently when writing for DA:O (if only because it's easier than loading up the game and finding bits you need...). Voices are also good to hear as it conveys a lot more personality than just the text.
