#baby me was absolutely obsessed with dragonfish

[1caru]

dragonfish Twi as a last minute mermay pic :D

[mighty-mitte]

BDRP QUESTIONNAIRE | 2018

Your Name: Chloe

Characters: Mitte, Perry, Deb, Babette

Pick one of your characters and talk about their growth (we recommend choosing an older character, but it’s up to you!) What about their story has surprised you? What are you proud of? How have they changed from their original inception to now?

 Perry! I actually went and found my questionnaire from last year and found that I’d talked about him in my answer to the next question. Here’s what I originally wrote:

“Perry, my baby, my nerdy sad little detective. I want him to spend more time making friends and less time drinking scotch, I want him to get his head out of his ass and admit that human company is good for him and that sometimes the world is fun. He seems to think that because he has his own agency now that has to be his whole life and that is Not True. Next year, I want him to find a hobby and a solid friendship. He’ll probably have a lame hobby tho like idk finding spelling mistakes in the newspaper or learning a lot about bridges. Go outside, Perry.”

WELL. He doesn’t have much in the way of hobbies yet, honestly. But he DOES have more friends! Maybe even a girlfriend, even if he hasn’t quite figured that out yet. I’m so proud of him, honestly. He’s getting out there, he’s campaign managing and detecting and going out on walks AND trying to learn more about his asexuality. What a good year for my nice young man. I’m really excited, I kinda feel like he’s flourishing this year as he settles more and more into life with his curse, and life in the unpredictable Swynlake.

 Pick another character and talk a little about where you WANT them to go. What are your plans for them going into the new year? 

 BABETTE! #breakthecurse obviously, long term goal is partner and family- like, I don’t like using the phrase ‘endgame’ too much bc you can never be sure, but I want her to find love fUck she deserves it okay. But I also want her to think a little more about this obsession she’s got with having the perfect family- to be honest, I only started to think about the unhealthy slant to it recently myself. Her desire for unity and love is a strength, but it’s not rare for circumstance to turn that into your biggest weakness. True it began as nothing more than an honest desire- Babette and her parents didn’t have much, but they had each other and she grew up knowing that those relationships could sustain you more than anything else. But she was scared, and she lost herself in other peoples’ families for so long. Then she fell for Emily, a woman so absolutely unobtainable she became the safest option. Their eventual break up wasn’t because she was boring and domestic and predictable. It was circumstance, bad timing, bad luck. That curse, too, is obviously a huge burden. It’s the personification of her shame, her poor decisions. How could she possibly deserve a family when she makes decisions like that?

 Yikes, that was a lot. It’ll probably take her a while, and like, some real drama. I want her to argue with more people too, that whole thing with Attina was so fun.

 Pick a thread or a plot that you’re proud of and talk about why you loved it. 

 Does Mitte and Tibbs’ blossoming father/daughter relationship count as a plot. Like pretty much all of her good relationships it was born out of an alternate reality, wherein her real life was forgotten. I definitely want to explore Mitte’s problems with defending her morality more and this is actually a really interesting way to do that. Tibbs encourages her to take better care of herself, even if it’s not obvious.

 LET’S TALK ABOUT ___ The best dragonfish thread. To be honest, their relationship surprised me. Like Deb I worry about the future of it, teenage relationships aren’t easy to navigate and these two have a whole host of outside challenges against them. I expected Deb to be more resistant to it all, but I think the fact that Jake is so calm and capable at handling the madness of the magickal world she has been thrown into really helps anchor her. He’s her tether to a reality she only found out existed like two years ago. Even the average young couple talking about having sex for the first time tends to be a sweet, but awkward, and retroactively hilarious time. It’s actually a thread I dearly love because it’s something so normal, and that’s exactly what Deb wanted.

 In terms of your own writing, identify 1-3 strengths and talk about why you think it’s one of your strengths.

I’m not the best with these two questions. Like I said last year writing is pure hobby for me. Roleplays and lyrics are the extent of my writing really and I don’t often look at it with too critical of an eye, but here’s a chance to give that a try.

I think the way I like to sneak it little bits of back story is a strength. I have lots of little snippets about my characters’ pasts tucked away- I write them on a note on my phone when they come to me lol- and tend to slide them into paras where I think they’ll work nicely. A recent example is from the ‘like before, but better’ thread with Perry and Helene- I briefly touch on Lucy Burbank, an ex-girlfriend of Perry’s.

I’m getting better at putting more variety into the ways my characters react to the world. Like I think for a while I got kind of stuck in ‘this is how Mitte thinks and this is how Perry thinks’ etc. But lately I’ve been swinging their moods about a bit more, because you know, that’s how people are.

 In terms of your own writing, identify 1-3 areas of improvement.

 I’m bad at critically evaluating my own writing!! That kind of is a roadblock to improvement to be honest. If anyone fancies offering me some tips they think I’d like I’d be grateful lol.

I’m also still bad at proofreading, not too much more to say on that.

I still ramble too much, have a tendency to get caught up in the heads of my characters rather than actively responding to the things laid out in the thread- I’m getting better with that though. Sometimes I’ll write it all out and then just erase the parts I think make the reply too busy.

 Pick one of your plots, or even just a character, and come up with a list of 3-5 “mentor texts” where you can look for inspiration or research, then write a short (2-4 sentences) why you picked those texts. Advances in Lockpicking from Skyrim for Mitte

So I’m gonna throw some books for Perry down here.

Killers of the Flower Moon: the Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Grann. The title says a lot about it. In the 1920’s oil was found beneath the land of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma, making the members of that nation incredibly wealthy. They were gradually getting killed off, and it became one of the FBI’s first major homicide investigations, eventually leading to the discovery of a huge conspiracy. Of course as a detective Perry would love to read about one of the biggest moments in the history of the FBI. Plus as far as research goes it’d be real interesting look into how you go about such a huge undertaking.

How do Private Eyes do that? By Colleen Collins. Another non fiction work but this one more instructional in its approach- Colleen is actually a private eye herself, and while I’ve done research for Perry’s work a lot of it was just as I picked him up as a character, this could be a nice refreshment course kind of deal. I’d like to talk more about Perry’s work, so it’d be good to have a more general knowledge of it.

The Invisible Orientation: An Introduction to Asexuality. By Julie Sondra Decker. Yep, more non-fiction. What can I say, Perry is a facts and figures kind of bloke. I can actually imagine him reading something like this. Googling ‘why don’t I want to have sex’ in the middle of the night and stumbling upon this world, immediately rooting for academic and stoic resources to pad his knowledge, to make him feel more grounded.

 And now, a wishlist! Jot down a few themes or stories or genres etc that you want to maybe pursue in the upcoming year! (i.e. a good ol’ fashion forbidden romance, maybe you want to dig deep into racial identity etc) This doesn’t have to necessarily be attached to any characters or stories you have now– it’s just meant to help you see for yourself what kind of stories call to your heart.

 Kiss Babette, find out what happens.

Get conned by Mitte, just for the fun of it, ruin your muse’s life by letting Mitte break their heart and/or steal their money!

More #FIGHTS in general. Physical or just arguments, I want more FRICTION baby, fight me.

Do science things with Perry!!! Invent something together!!!! Talk to him about sexuality when you see him at drag night in Pixie’s!!!!!!!!!!

Romance Mitte, seriously, for realises. I issue a challenge; trick the trickster.

More freaky weather mishaps, just because I like it when all of our characters are forced to share a small space for days on end.

Find out about Babette’s curse. Use it to blackmail her somehow- she doesn’t want anyone knowing!

Deb’s parents basically drugged her. She could probably sue them for emotional damages. Someone tell her that. Help her figure out what to do with her life too lmao.

Pls take all ur mysteries to Perry Flynn.

I’m always down for fake dating, I don’t think I even really need to say that.

 OPTIONAL: Why do you RP?

Because I’m in too deep now!! Y’all mother fuckers got me in this prison for life!!

Idk, I like having an outlet that gives me opportunity to put emotion into words and confront issues while allowing for a certain sense of detachment. Helps me process things. Plus I love the creativity it requires, and the chance to be part of such a wonderful community like BDRP.