#tbh depending on how this conversation goes this may or may not end up being a secret identity reveal speedrun

[simlit]

3, 6, 7, 9, 13, 19, 22, 24, 25, for VEN

What is your OCs fatal flaw? Are they aware of this flaw?

In his current state? Probably his selflessness. He gives too much to people and has a hard time drawing lines if it's someone he deeply cares about. Case in point, letting Naida more or less railroad the entire family into chasing the Fountain of Youth. In his defense, Naida isn't really someone you can win fights against, but considering the dangerous nature of the voyage, one would think he should have fought against it a lot harder. I do think he's aware of it, but not in a way he can actively check, because it's a lot of him overcompensating for the way he used to be and the things he's done. So I guess a larger and probably more fatal flaw is the fact that he carries around so much guilt and does a lot in the name of reparations.

How easily could your OC be convinced to do something that goes against their moral compass?

Easily, but tbh I feel this is one thing Ven shares with Kato. His morals can be bent depending on who is involved and the consequence of the situation. Ven isn't standing on moral highground in the first place, despite understanding right and wrong well enough. He certainly doesn't care enough about authority not to break rules, and as far as life or death is concerned, a life will always matter less to him if they're at odds with someone he loves. That being said, I think he's resourceful enough to find ways around making risky choices.

What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

Also a really fun question, cuz I haven't thought about it in years LOL. Though Ven stayed mostly the same from conception, he was supposed to be a bit more "roguish" even after his Reaper years. More of the typical pirate: loose, unkempt and thieving. But he ended up being way more charitable and straightlaced than I'd initially planned, but that ironed itself out almost immediately so I don't really consider it to have been "the plan" just "what I had had in mind at some point" lmao. Now the idea of Ven sleeping around with literally anyone is goddamn baffling to me.

Do you have a specific lyric or quote which you associate with your OC?

Every single word of his theme song, "The Balancer's Eye" by Lord Huron, but all of this: Nothing's waiting for us in the great sky Life is equal to dust in the Balancer's eye Now I know that I can't lift an old curse Tell me, how does a man change the universe? Will I ever be forgiven for the crime of my life? Will it haunt me till I die? To the end of time?

If you met your OC, would the two of you get along?

I think Ven is one of the few characters I can genuinely answer "yes" to this question lmao. Just because Ven is hands down the least judgmental of my OCs, not to mention packing all that charisma, he can literally talk to anyone. Although I probably would just be dead on the floor so it wouldn't be a very interesting conversation.

How does your OC behave when enraged?

We so rarely see Ven angry. Honestly, a bit like Kyrie, Ven has a quiet temper. He's good at restraining himself now, because he knows intimately well just how horrible of a person he can be, so he makes a concerted effort never to let anything get him that upset. Mostly, things don't anger him as much as he may be disappointed or saddened. There is one scene in OST:O I've had planned for years that actually showcases Ven's true anger and it is very much "silent and lethal" lmao.

What character alignment would you consider your OC to be?

Oof, I dunno, somewhere between neutral good and chaotic neutral. Hard to pinpoint lol

What is an alternative life path your OC might have gone done? How different would their life be if they'd made those decisions?

Oh, this one is interesting. I think Ven could have easily continued down the path he started on when he got the sight. That is, had he not been able to pull himself back from that maniacal person he'd become as consequence, he'd be unrecognizable today. That's not to say he isn't already because he absolutely was that person for a moment in time. The Reaper King wasn't just a persona, it was his entire essence. He was ruthless, violent and he did very literally kill dozens (I won't say 100s but it's up there) of people. We like to imagine him as the loving father and perfect husband he is now, but outside of maybe Elsera he's my OC with the highest bodycount. And while in a way you could justify he killed people because "they deserved to die" he was never in the right to pass that judgement. Had he not eventually woken up from that state of trauma and derangement, he'd still be a completely unstable murderous lunatic .-.

What is your favorite thing about your OC?

How hot he is. The end.

[americanrecord]

how do you plan your stories?

great question.

tbh, i don't really have an answer for this one! i don't wanna say it just sorta happens, but it just...sorta happens. on one hand, i send my friends 500 texts a day each about various things and then just stack thoughts and musings in my notes in the early stages, and then on the other, i make detailed outlines and go from there.

take the priest novel i just planned to start as of literally yesterday. it's been an idea in my head since november 2022, but it's taken so many forms since then, it's quite different now. as of right now, i'm just sending my aforementioned 500 texts a day—starting very small. character names, basic appearances, basic dynamics, and later on i'll move to bigger stones like character histories, overarching plots and arcs, and then into the building blocks of scenes, chapters, and The Novel.

so while i flip through baby books and shuffle through pinterest for inspiration, i also just have sporadic things that jump out to me and i hurry to pin it down. with the suicide blonde series (not the name, i just don't have a series name yet), i had a template of a series to jump off of and just changed and culled where needed. i hardly remember planning the original, but having a band timeline to base my arcs and general plot lines off of made things infinitely easier. i always knew, sorta, what i was working toward.

with the untitled priest story, i got nothing. this story is dust in my brain right now. i have an opening scene, i have an almost ending scene, i have the emotional climax, and i have various other visions in wisps that are out of order and literally just visions in my head. a lot of walks in the park (literally), an emphasis on meals and conversation as keys to the heart (body and soul), a phone call or two with an older sister, a fair deal of loveless sex. the works. i have three folded up sticky notes on my nightstand right now about the main characters' personal theory on grief being a bus that will never come that i scribbled while at work yesterday and makes sense to nobody but me. there are so many holes, so many stretches of nothing. granted, this will be an intense character study, single pov, lots of depressed monologue set beside lengthy conversations shared between the two mains, and a very small cast (my speciality and many others' personal hell), so plot isn't at the top of my list, but there still needs to be something. i haven't found it yet, but i'm only on day two out here!

when i do sort of establish all the major beats of the book, however, i will outline. so when people ask how i plan my books, i first say that i leave notes in places all over. i'm in a researching stage right now, so i write and sticky-tab and make notes in my notes app or amass everything on a doc, but i will also just have long notes in my notes app about scene ideas, themes, random bits of dialogue, etc. the second thing i will tell people is that i plan. i am a planner! always have been, always will be. if you are a pantser, i'm afraid none of my writing advice will be helpful. i've never been one to write something and say "oh, i'll see where it goes." no, i need to know. outlining may also save you re-reading a pantsed first draft and having to throw half of it out, because at least with an outline, however terribly written draft 1 ends up being, there is much more likely to be a coherent structure. but it's just personal preference. the type of outline i use depends on the book. with the SB series, i have a very, very large one that puts the chapter summaries (long) in boxes and also includes timelines, date stamps, locations (for touring), and personal timelines for character arcs, relationship arcs, band arcs, etc. so i don't lose track of anybody in my ensemble cast. they look a little something like this:

the outline is divided into three acts, each act 3 beats, each beat like 4 chapters, i believe. the standard set up is the 3 act, 27 chapter outline (3 acts, 3 beats per act, 3 chapters per beat). i just adjusted it for my 36 chapter deal (do not do this unless you want to meet publishable word counts, take it from me :|)

with this priest deal, however, it's much more minimalist. very ambitious in how smart it will have to be—how deep and thought-provoking, i guess—which is the big battle for me (the challenge), but very minimalist in setting, scenes, and expansiveness to make up for the intensity of the characters and their emotions. so the outline will probably reflect that and will probably be much smaller. it might still generally have the acts going on, the general beats, but because its not really a romance (it is, but it isn't (but it is)) and it doesn't have a big plot, the structure is looser. it's literary fiction in place of genre fiction, which isn't bound to as rigid of expectations such as where your inciting incident, climax, and resolution should be, etc. but i don't know yet, exactly, how this book will pan out. i'm excited to find out, of course, but i'm not certain.

i will just say that, for me, it depends on the needs of the story. some need more intensity than others and some appear in my head more vividly than others. i will never advise against outlining, obsessive note-taking, and productive research, however.