#his character development is so good..even if skylar had to suffer for it :

[lolhex12]

skylar and cirrus' kisses went from non-con to dub-con to full-con, which, dare i say, character development? cirrus shily asking 'can i kiss you' is the best meal yet.

[meadow-roses]

aske time :) for the writing asks: A1, A2, A10, A12, A14, your choice of anything in B, C8 ( :^) ), C11, D6

A1: Introduce the characters from one of your current WIPs in one or two sentences each. 

Okay let's gooo,,, I'll do The Keepers cause I haven't talked about that one as much. These aren't gonna be the best descriptions but whatever 

Ketsler: Quirky, fun-loving, everyone's weird grandpa, but also the most powerful person to have ever lived. He's old- so very, very old- and he's seen so much over all the centuries he has been protecting the worlds from Chaos, but he still makes an effort to slow down and appreciate the little things around him, because he knows better than most how fleeting life is.

Skylar: Skylar is from a world where faerie circles are real and witches turn people into frogs and trolls live in great, big castles and are slain by talking cats, a world where there's too much adventure to stay in one place, too many people to meet, and too many monsters to slay to stop running. He may be only a human (ooo mystery!!) but he is proficient in Wind magic and carries around a good bit of rune stones he and his pet dragon have found along his adventures. 

Felix: Felix is just a normal human from a small town after the earth becomes united under one world power. He wasn't born with superpowers like most soldiers are, but he was still skilled enough to join a special force working behind enemy lines when the rebellion made its move to free the planet from the tyranny that built this dystopian reality. 

Betty: A very sweet young lady, she's from a planet that was colonized by humans centuries ago. She may seem naive, but Betty can read anyone like a book and uses her gift to help those who are lost find themselves again. 

There's more characters but I'll just stick with those main ones cause I really struggle with descriptions xD

A2: Who's your favorite character to write and why?

Probably Joden? I haven't written most of my characters, but I looove writing his dialogue. He also makes me think so I can keep him clever lol

A10: What’s your character development process like? (As in how you develop them, not necessarily their development in-story)

I roleplay them! The more developed they are, the more I've acted as them. It really gets me inside their head to try and think like how they think, and that results in me being more equipped to "discover" why they are like that. 

A12: What kind of internal conflict does your character go through (want versus need, personality complexes or strong personality flaws/”fatal flaw” kinda thing)? How does this affect them?

It really varies depending on the character? For example Joden has this need to always have a plan, always be in control, and a breaking moment for him comes in when he finally just,,, doesn't know what to do. He's in over his head and the only thing he can do is trust Jacer to do what he can- knowing Jacer doesn't have things under control. 

So that's an example of a flaw that the character gets to overcome, but there also characters whose flaws are part of who they are. Skylar wouldn't be Skylar if he weren't stubborn. Ketsler wouldn't be Ketsler if he weren't arrogant. They never grow out of these flaws, they just learn to control them. Or I guess not be controlled by the flaw. 

This is actually something I think I struggle with for my characters, giving them those visable flaws. I see other people's characters that start out "bad" and grow into heroes, but it kinda seems like all my characters start out as heroes. 😅 I mean, they have flaws, but in comparison to other people's characters they feel really bland in that aspect. Idk

A14: Ramble about your characters. Anything special you like about them? Random little details you’ve added that you enjoy? 

Uh,,, I don't even know where to start I just love all of them for so many various reasons. Joden is just a clever little genius but he still can be so naive. He just has simple pleasures and it's not hard to make him laugh or smile and practically impossible to discourage him. He starts off just,,, wanting his old life back and then he sees what the world is like outside his little bubble and the bubble pops. He sees the atrocities for what they are and to be able to settle down again, he has to fix it. He can't just smile and do as he's told, he can't let the bad guys win. It I just his mother and wife and son he's fighting for, it's the entire wood and the idea of being actually, truly, free.

Jacer is so savvy, he knows what to do and what to say to get into and out of any situation, but at the same time he's just clueless when it comes to genuine connection. He's a princeling who's really never had a friend and now he's saving the world with Joden who only knows how to make genuine connections. Why does he have to keep hugging me??  

And Twylla who's ready to fight anything so she can get her clever idiot husband back? 

Adric who's just doing his best to be a good leader but everything keeps going wrong. He wasn't born to be a king, he wasn't born to lead an army, he always had his big brother to help him do these things and he's gone- he's gone and he's not coming back he messed up again so bad and yet here he is with everyone looking to him for answers and he doesn't know what to tell them. But he's got his friends, and he's got a good heart, and he genuinely cares and they're going to figure it out.

Skylar just keeps running forward and he never looks back at the past he just jumps from one adventure to another stopping the monsters and saving the day. He's got Gigi what more does he need? 

Felix is just,,, he's just such a nice guy. Over and over he stepped into the gap because someone's gotta fly that fighter, someone's got to fire that gun, someone's got to stabilize the bomb, someone's going to lose their life to ensure the victory, why shouldn't it be him? But he never actually dies, somehow he always survives and lives to fight the next day, and the next day and the next day, and then they win the war- the world is free. And even though he's been through so much he still hasn't lost that kindness, that love for all life that makes him himself. He still falls in love and starts a family and has his own beloved children… and even when he loses them he still doesn't become cynical. He still stands in the gap and is the one to fire the gun, to hold the hand of the one who's mourning, to scoop up the orphan child and carry them home. He fights, so others don't have to. Father to the fatherless and hero for all. Also he puts up with Skylar's time traveling craziness lol

And Ketsler? Unlike everyone else he never chose to be a hero. What are you supposed to do when you're a four year old boy and everyone tells you you're the hero they've been waiting for, praying for, you have to save them. It wasn't at all his choice to be born with the power of the universe running through his veins. To hold the Inness in his hands and bend reality to his will. But he didn't run away. He never hid from his destiny. He took the world onto his shoulders and never set it down. Only once- and he's never going to do it again. Never going to ask someone to fill in his role for him, it is his burden to bear… Except not anymore. Despite being multi-millenniums old, all that time didn't dull his appreciation for the little things. A baby's smile, sunshine through the leaves, the change of the seasons. The union of two souls in marriage, or the colors of the sunset streaking a foreign sky. He still sees these things, loves these things, fights for these things. Cause it's the little things he's fighting for, not just the big things. The precious moments and precious lives that make up the worlds. One of his apprentices asked him once, he'd been fighting for so long, when was it going to end? It's not his job to strike the final blow, to end the suffering and bloodshed, just to help. He saves the world, so that he can save it again. 

I have… several more characters I'd love to ramble about but that answer's gotten pretty long so I'll cut it off there. XD

B3: Do you have any plot twists? No need to describe them, just think about what kind of reaction you want from your readers. 

Oh I was just talking to August about this the other day. XD There is one plot twist in the Keeper's story I'm reeaaally looking forward to hehe I want to make people confused and then really mad when the whole thing is stretched out. >:) 

C8: Does magic exist in your world? Who can use it? How does it work?

It really depends on which WIP, but in general I like to keep magic restricted with rules. Joden's story and the Keeper's story are in the same universe (along with ThRoG) and follows that magic system. It's too complicated to go in depth here, but "magic" exists in another plane of existence, and things in the material world have varying levels of connection with it. It's kinda the energy that holds all worlds together and sustains life. The magic realm- the Inness is not a place where physical matter should exist, only spirits can walk there. 

Wizards are creatures that stand with one foot in the physical realm and the other in the Inness. Tevlar is destroying the world basically by turning it inside out- pulling the Inness out.

C11: Have you developed historical figures? How do you develop them? How in-depth do you go?

Oh yes. I am a complete history nerd so if any world EXISTS it has history, and history only happens because people. 

Sometimes it's a thought through process of "somebody needs to go here" and sometimes it's an npc from a time travel rp that took on more importance than I originally intended. 

It really varies how in depth it will go? Sometimes it's just a name to fill a spot and other times it's like, man I could write a whole book about this guy!

One historical figure would be Ares of the Pegasus. He was a powerful warrior that won a bunch of wars and united the different pegasus clans under his leadership and became the first king. He's really famous and people like naming their kids after him in a kinda superstitious hope they'll grow into attributes of his character. Ares is the male form of the name, Aris is for girls. It's like, the most common Pegasian name. XD

D6: Are there any writing styles that inspire you?

Probably the first writing style I wanted to emulate was Tolkien's, but I also really liked Andrew Peterson's? Tolkien is so dramatic, and Peterson isn't heavy on location descriptions, so I'm kinda aiming for in between I guess. 

[saintedfury]

🌹, 🍁, 🌻, 🌾, 🌼, 💫, ☄️

Soft OC Asks

🌹 Where in the world does your OC feel most at home? Is there any reason why? If it’s not the place they were born, where were they born? Is there a certain somebody that makes them feel at home where ever they may be? What does home mean to them?

((Right now, she doesn’t have a place like this. When she was younger, she could find this sensation in her grandparent’s house, but later it eked away from her. It moved to something she could find with her brothers to a point, but it was hard because they were all separated all over the city with different parts of the family, one or two of them placed in this house and that one. But after her grandparents passed, they never lived in the same place with one another again. 

I think for Furia home was always the people that meant the most to her, but when she was a kid that was easy because they were all in the same place. Once they were dotted all over town, she felt at home when she was when she was with them. 

Her family has grown and shrunk through the years, but it is still the places she shares with her family where she finds that sliver of home. 

Home for Furia means different things, depending on who she is with. With Shaundi there is a sense of whimsy and playfulness. With Oleg, a sense of freedom. Johnny makes her feel safe. 

As for where she was born–Stillwater Memorial, room 808.))

🍁 Where does your OC go when they need to have some time to themself? Would they ever have their own “comfort corner” filled with all the things they like? Do they have a favourite spot outside that feels like its theirs and theirs alone?

((That comfort corner has been a lot of places–Troy, her kitchen, her car, her garden. One thing that might not be good for her is that when things change majorly for her, she kind of resets her “world”–her personal space. 

At the current moment, she does not really have a space that feels like hers. Even the refurbished bar and the garden she’s replanted.))

🌻 What little things do they notice about people or the world around them that make them happy? What tiny little treasures do they find in the normal every day that makes the world seem a little brighter for them?

((Flowers, like little jewel-like pops of gems. The diamond sparkle of fresh fallen snow in the morning sun. Genuinely joyful laughter and music with a pulsing bass line that makes her blood sing. 

To be candid, it has been a long time since she noticed the vibrant traces in the world. Neither she nor I had really noticed it, but it seems she’s been kind of living under a dark cloud for a while. Sometimes she’d see things, but the sun would only the color the world in fits and starts. 

I’m not sure she’s truly let herself rediscover or recreate her happy place. I think she looked for it in people around her, rather than herself, and has been able to find it in herself.))

🌼 Who are this characters friends and found family? How did they meet, how long have they been friends for, could they ever be something more than just friends? What do they look for in a friend or a romantic partner?

((Her crew, Eli (even still she assures me that if he needed her, she’d be there), Talon, Meryl, Faith and her Johnny, Sean, Devin, Sam, Shackles, Ang and her brood (though she might not trust Matt’s boy), Eris, Tina, Colin, Flick and Eli’s oldest daughter, Skylar, Aiden, Cyrus and his Asha (she doesn’t trust Johnny, ritual or not), Jack, Eli’s Matt and Johnny, etc. [We are both sure she’s missing someone.]

I honestly couldn’t even tell you how long ago she met most of them. But they all seemed to bond over food and in some cases, sex. With Aiden, they bonded over random evaluations of his taste in lingerie. I think her attachment to Ang and Eli, led Furia to at least try with their spawn. She has a soft spot for kids, even though she is horrible with them in so many cases. Of course, most of her life she thought she was good with them. 

On this list there are a few people who she could be more than friends with. She’s slept with a fair number of them, though surprisingly few of her crew. I think she and Meryl could be more, save for the agreement Meryl has with her fellas. She and Eli had their chance. She and Troy as well, but she put him in a situation where she lost him. She and Johnny had a chance at it, but I think losing him in Steelport might have torched a few vital pieces in the puzzle that would give them a chance at a complete and proper relationship--he’s her second, the one she leans on, they have and do sleep with one another, but there are just these few pieces missing from their puzzle. I mean she loves him, and she would love for it to work for them all the way, but there is just this sliver that is missing between them.

Most of her “relationships” have revolved around sex, even in high school. She went from good girl to hellion overnight. And in her family there was nothing more reviled than a girl that went too far. So, that’s exactly what she did. She went too far, too fast, and until she turned twenty she really did not value herself as more than a vessel for the pleasure of others. In fact, Troy might have been the first person she was with that it wasn’t just about sex for Furia. 

She dropped back into that space when she lost him and her family in Stilwater. And I think she’s dipped back in it now. 

I think she looks for the same things in friends as in romantic partners--strong people with senses of humor and a fun-loving nature. She really doesn’t have a “type;” she just really enjoys getting to know new people, learn about them, and find common ground if there is some. There are some people she won’t even try with.))

Questions for You!

☄️ Does this OC deserve better treatment from you? Do you make them suffer just a little bit too much? Be nice to them!

((Oh hell, yes she does. Honestly, I’ve messed up a lot of things for her. In the name of character development, I’ve torn up a lot of her life which she seems to be suffering even more from now. 

I think I’ve tormented her more via RP than any other time really. The things I’ve done to her in RP have really been most of the cruelest things I’ve done to her. Though, stripping the remainder of her family from her life in SR2′s timeline wasn’t nice either. Then there’s that AU where she was pregnant and by the time she wakes up her son’s been adopted by her brother and she and Troy are at one another’s throats 24/7, except on those days when they both find themselves kind of “stalking” their kid–just checking up to see him, see how he’s getting on, and kind of wishing they could hear his laughter from that far away.

In RP though, I’m not the only one that tortures her. Honestly, I really wanted her to find some kind of happy ending. I really did. 

But I guess I can find some solace in the idea that it is all for character development, yes?

She does have one happy ending–and that’s the Happily Ever After AU, where literally despite it being Eli and Furia the most dastardly fights they have are about him eating all the cookies for the bake sale and her not being able to catch a flight on a whim.))

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

Review: Kiss of Broken Glass by Madeleine Kuderick Rating: 3/5

"And the pain doesn't feel like pain but more like energy moving through my body in waves."

Kenna never expected the tiny cuts she made in her skin would do any real damage but when she gets caught hurting herself in the school bathroom, her world is thrown into disarray. Committed to a psychiatric ward for 72 hours, Kenna finds herself at a crossroads. Will she open herself up to the idea of getting help or will she just continue down the path she's set for herself?

This is just another run-of-the-mill look at a teenage girl who cuts herself and ends up on a psych ward. I think Kiss of Broken Glass suffers from the fact that the main character, Kenna, is the least interesting character in the entire book. Donya and her bottled-up rage was fascinating. The way Skylar was caught between illness and recovery was fascinating. Jag's relationship with his father was fascinating. Hell, the little boy who isn't even named is more interesting than Kenna.

But, y'know, we need another book about a straight, white, cis girl from a middle-class background cutting herself and getting caught. Kuderick does try to make the point that self-harm is an addiction that affects all kinds of people but since she focuses on the most clichéd portrait of a self-harmer, that message really doesn't shine through. Though I did appreciate the acknowledgement that a person can't recover from mental illness after a few days in a hospital with Inspirational™ patients. Kenna knows she'll have to work at getting better which is a sentiment not enough YA books covering mental illness seem to consider.

While I wasn't fond of Kenna, I did like this representation of self-harm as a whole. Kuderick wrote this after discovering her daughter struggled with it and she nails the cyclical thoughts and the addiction side of it. Some of the methods Kenna used to cut were a bit iffy and the way she writes about the actual act is obviously written by someone who's never self-harmed. (There's gotta be a lot of blood for it to drip down the sink. And you don't break open pencil sharpeners to get the blade - you unscrew it.) But on a whole, I definitely connected with the representation.

In an author's note, Kuderick talks about how she was surprised that self-harm was something her daughter had known about since she was 12 years old though this didn't seem unusual to me. That's how old I was - younger, actually. Apparently, she also researched self-harm blogs on tumblr to get a better idea of how teenagers think about their own mental illness and self-harm. That's not an approach I've seen an author take (that I know of) and she does touch on some interesting things about the culture of self-harm. She condemns the way people get competitive about their scars and horrible online campaigns like "#cutforbieber". She does a very good job of showing the self-harm but never glorifying it which is so important.

Oh, and I thoroughly enjoyed the Dan and Phil name-drop and the idea of watching their videos to distract yourself from urges 'cause, honestly, same.

The representation was good, the background characters were cool, I think there just needed to be more focus and development with Kenna. If you're looking for a book that explores how some people start to self-harm, I think this could be a good place to begin. But do heed the warnings and remember that not all self-harmers are the same.

Warnings: Self-harm, set in a psychiatric ward, a side character with an eating disorder, some use of p*ycho and similar language, a lot of talk of cutting, scars and triggers.

[lakegrimstonerpg]

“Feelings do dictate who or what you become.”

» ABOUT

NAME: Ryan Nieves AGE: Eight / Twenty Two POWER: Empathic Shapeshifting OCCUPATION: Up To Player TOWN: Grimstone Point

» HISTORY

Ryan Nichols is a well-known name around Lake Grimstone and not just because he is one of the “miracle babies”—if anyone ever called him that he would more than likely try to use his power on them. No, Ryan is well known because of his charisma and ability to quickly make friends, something that he and his sister do not share. There’s much that the Nichols twins don’t share, so much that it would be easier to list the things that they do have in common: their birthday and their parents. While Skylar is more centered and compassionate, Ryan is more disorganized and he could really care less about the people in Lake Grimstone, other than a select few–mostly just his mother and sister.

Some would go as far as calling Ryan cold-hearted but that’s not the case at all. He simply has had to learn how to protect himself and his family from heartache–while Skyler doesn’t know the truth about her father, Ryan does—the last thing he wants is for his mother to suffer more and for his sister to suffer at all. Ryan tries his best to keep his distance from people, while he has a lot of friends he doesn’t let them get too close and vice versa. Ryan believes that the closer you get to people, the more chance you give them to hurt you in more ways than one. This wasn’t always his way of thinking, in fact a couple of years back it was the exact opposite.  It wasn’t until he found out the truth about how his father abandoned them that he began to change and developed this aloof persona that he is known for.

Fear of abandonment is what drives Ryan to act distant from most people, at times even his family. Of course Ryan would never admit to that fear, he wouldn’t be himself if he did.  As if fear of being abandoned wasn’t enough, he often also believes that he’s not good enough and that he will never be good enough. It doesn’t matter how much control he has over his power or how well he does in school he still feels like he isn’t enough and subconsciously he feels like his father knew that and that’s the reason why he left. What Ryan doesn’t know is that his father is living just on the other side of the lake, and that the man wants to reconnect--something Ryan would find unthinkable if he knew.

» CONNECTIONS

BLAKE & SKYLER NIEVES - Ryan’s mother and twin, respectively. Ryan sees himself as the “man of the house” and believes it’s his job to protect them.

JACOB VASQUEZ - Though Ryan doesn’t know who the man is, he has taken an instant dislike of him, given the way he’s always staring at Skyler. He finds Jay creepy.

ETHAN PARKINSON - Ryan takes simple joy in getting on Ethan’s nerves, and goes out of his way to do so

Ryan Nieves is an OPEN character and is portrayed by Diego Tinoco whose FC is NON-NEGOTIABLE.