#also im not god dhsbsnsns i just went w my gut for characterization and people liked it!

[gontagokuhara]

um hi! i dont mean to bother you but,,i was wondering if you could give some tips for writing connor/evan/jared? your fanfic is good at staying away from being ooc and like..how do u .. do it;..."?? are you god??

dndnddns hi!! ok so if im misunderstanding this ask im sorr but i think it means how i write each individual character as opposed to sincerely three so! i’ll do that

(also Disclaimer™ this is not thr One Tru Way to write them,, this is just how i characterize them nd ofc their fharacters are open to interpretation!)

ok so evan,, a fallacy some writers have when writing evan is that they make his whole personality Stutter Boy. like, yes, evan talks w a stutter at times, but there are also times when he gains a fair bit of confidence and can speak unimpeded. he also sometimes goes off on tangents (a good example: in the beginning of the show when he’s writing his letter to himself, and veers into talkin about his sweaty hands, etc) which showcases an aspect of his anxiety without being overbearing!

what i’d say is most important about evan is to give him a personality outside of his anxiety (and the tree thing, for the love of god, blease dont overkill the tree thing) because his mental illness isnt all that he is!

ive made a few posts about connor so ill keep it fairly brief. connor is a very complex character, and he can be tricky to portray accurately. big things to avoid would be reducing him to his mental illness(es), and writing him as being explosive and angry without cause, which we know from canon he isnt.

i personally see connor as fairly open and eager to make friends, but peoples idea of him gives him trouble with that. he tries to be kind, and makes an effort not to be awful, but something always seems to get in the way of him making a genuine connection.

something to be aware of is the fact that connor is not the person evan made up! actual connor is paranoid, distant from his family and has his guard up most of the time, and while underneath that hes fairly open, its important to recognize the fact that he is totally different from the connor that evan created.

and jared, my favorite!! ive seen some really good characterization of jared (highlighting his arrogant and crude persona that he uses to cover up some pretty big insecurities) and some really bad (showing him as an abusive, heartless ass for the sake of it and making him pretty one dimensional.)

jared makes a lot of jokes (not all of them in good taste), and overcompensates a /lot/ when he feels his confidence is threatened. hes a pretty closed off person when it comes down to it (its canon he lies a lot), and id bet that thats a cover for a lot of hidden issues on his part.

jared is a complex character, just like everyone else, and making him one dimensional is a disservice to his character. yes, hes nasty at times, but hes also insecure and willing to help evan through a lot, even if he masks his true intentions.

to write all of them, i’d say whats most important is to not gloss over their negative + ugly features and simply focus on only the “good” aspects of them. evan will lie about a lot of serious things if it benefits him, connor is reckless and absolutely awful at times, and jared is rude and obnoxious.

but at the same time, dont focus just on the ugly! a huge point of the show is that every person has good and bad in them, and we shouldnt take things at face value. all of these characters have immense potential to be great, and if you can work well with the source material, you can produce some pretty incredible content!

i hope this helped you!! 💜💜