#{and i can kindof gauge whether it's where i want it to be or not}

[tarnishedxknight]

*taps mic* My favorite detail about how you write these characters is precisely that, the details. How detailed they are. How alive they feel. How I care about them and their struggles and their pain, characters I am not familiar with and I know nothing about, and I still find myself caring about them because of you. Your love for these muses transcends fandoms, and it's honestly something I admire. My favorite detail is how you make your muses complex, rich and three-dimensional, so much so that it's easy to care about them.

You make people feel like they know these characters. Oftentimes I feel like I need to completely understand a fandom's lore and plot in order to write something for it, but your interpretation of the world is so immersive, it makes everything easier and it feels so natural and effortless. I feel at ease writing for this world I know nothing of, because you gave me that confidence. You! And the layers and complexities you add to these characters, whether you love them or hate them. I love that.

Eh, I don't know if this counts, saying "detailed" as my favorite detail, but it's what I am going with. Especially as someone who probably should pay more attention to detail. *the mic is not a mic it's actually a hairbrush and the mun has been speaking into it the whole time*

{out of dalmasca} Below the cut for length because I gushed about what all this meant to me and a bit about my process of writing detail! =)

Oh... my goodness. Thank you for taking the time to write all of this! Firstly, I just want to say that I snorted my tea a little at the mental image of someone speaking into a hairbrush as a mic with this, so... good job at making me laugh so unexpectedly that tea came out my nose. XD

Secondly, thank you so much for all these beautiful words. I'm so glad that you are enjoying writing your muses with mine, and that you feel you're engaged with the characters. I only choose to write characters that I love, whether they're canon or OC muses, so if I'm writing them, it's because I want to share them with others. Hearing that you feel they're detailed, that you have a sense of knowing them, and that you've come to care about them because of the way I write is just wonderful to me because these are characters that I love. I want others to love them too. So that means I've at least partway met one of my goals with writing them.

I'm so glad that you feel comfortable writing with me in a world you don't know much about, for two reasons. The first reason is because that means I'm being descriptive enough and giving my rp partners enough to work with. I never want anyone to feel at a total loss in a thread because they don't know what to do, or they don't understand what's going on, or they just don't know enough to proceed. I know for myself, whenever I feel that way, it takes me out of the story and just frustrates me, or makes me uncomfortable as far as what to write next. So I'm glad that I'm giving you enough of a springboard to bounce off of with your own replies and that you feel oriented enough in the world to move your muses through it. I'm not just here for myself, I want you to have fun too, and to be able to work towards your own goals and your muses' goals without having to worry about the mechanics, aesthetic, or details of the world they're in.

The second one is that the FFXII world is one I love, but not one many people know much about. Even among Final Fantasy fans, FFXII is not regarded highly at all. Not as many people have played it, and of those who have, a decent number say it's a terrible game. I've always loved the world, the geography, the different cultures, the plot, the characters, etc. of FFXII, but the majority of Final Fantasy fans love FFVII, FFX, or FFXIV, from what I've seen. FFVIII and FFIX get honorable mention, heh. I haven't played anything past FFXII, so I can't comment, but I did really love FFVIII and FFX. Anyway, my point is that FFXII doesn't have a large following. I've always believed that 1) that's because of how the plot got chopped up and the game's inability to be clear on who its main protagonist is due to some issues with writing, and 2) that's a huge shame. So because I know it isn't well known, I feel it's kindof a side job of mine on this blog to not only explain about my muses, but to also explain their world, culture, politics, mindset, etc.

But just a note on why I'm so detailed on this blog and really with all my muses, whether they're canon or OCs... I've always had this thing as a writer where I feel characters need to be and should be as realistic as possible. I know that sounds weird when we're dealing with magic and fantasy creatures and all that, haha, but that's not what I mean by realism. I don't mean... the real world, I mean they need to feel like real people in the context of their own world. That's what excites and engages me when I watch a movie or a show, play a game, or read a book, is if the characters really live and if I feel I really know and understand them, whether I like them or not.

If I don't feel like I understand their motivations, the reasons why they say and do things, the underlying reasons why they behave a certain way, etc., then that to me is a poorly written character. Or maybe at least an incomplete-feeling one, if that makes sense. So because that's something that I look for in other people's characterization when I consume media for entertainment purposes, I came to hold myself to the same standards. I write what I would want to read myself if this were someone else doing the writing, heh. And I see that a lot as advice to new/amateur writers, the "write what you want to read" advice, and that's what I've been striving to do for a number of years now.

Why do I want to read this kind of writing or see this in other media, and therefore strive for it myself? Because people don't exist in a vacuum, they have whole lives that surround them constantly, permeate their minds, shape every moment. Ancestors. Histories. Beliefs forged over the whole of their lifetime but also as a result of their family, culture, and upbringing. If these were real people and FFXII was a reality TV show, what we see in the game would only be 2% of their whole lives. There are childhoods, downtime, private introspection, and other events, occasions, and moments that shape them as people that we don't get to see. I feel that we don't need to see 100% of their lives, but 2% is not enough to truly understand a person either, so I strive for somewhere in the middle.

Another reason I provide a lot of detail and even extrapolate beyond canon for worlds and characters like my FFXII muses or even Nuada from Hellboy II or my Resident Evil muses is because, again, these are characters I love. What do all of us who are in fandoms crave? More of our characters! Isn't that why we write fanfiction? Well, sometimes to fix things because canon failed us, haha, but beyond that, we write them because we want more of them. More from them. More around them and related to them and to place them in the context of a greater world.

So in loving these characters, I want to know them better myself, so I do a lot of introspection work with getting inside their heads, I look at their clothing, their rooms, their houses, their accessories. I look at the company they keep and why. I scrutinize their nonverbal behavior and reactions as well as everything they say. Because there are so many clues and starting points and potential things to expand upon in all of that which often times goes by so quickly or trivially that we overlook it. I have an immense amount of fun analyzing those details and using them to create a more fleshed out, richer character. It's a fun hobby for me, as much as is the actual writing of them.

So yeah, the level of detail that I cram into my muses, haha, is as much for myself as it comes from a desire to share with my writing partners and anyone else who even just hangs out and reads my threads. I have fun producing that level of detail, it helps me as a writer to come from a place of detail and knowledge about who I'm writing and their home/world and lives, but I also really hope to be someone who can bring more of these characters to others. That detail the game was missing, or extra content we know we'll never get because Fortress was canceled... I want to fill that hole for people who loved this game, and I want to bring this wonderful game to people who know nothing about it too.

But that's also why I love random questions or meta topics from people like "Okay but what do they think about this?" or "Why did they do/think this at this point?" Because sometimes others will think of topics in which I haven't yet developed a muse that I wouldn't necessarily have thought of on my own. And none of that goes to waste, all the detail I make for my muses factors into the overall character when I write it.

Again, thank you for taking the time to write this, and I will try to keep up this level of detail here and with my muses on other blogs too! =)