#this is mostly just word vomiting about lehna i'm sorry

[e-dragoons]

hope a reblog is okay but i have a lot to say! some ffxiv spoilers here, but i'll mark those separately.

it's just like you said: look at what you, as the writer, would do in a situation, and then consider different angles. this applies to both OCs and canon characters. especially because at the end of the day i think most characters we are interested in have something to do with things that are personal. whether that is what we desire, strive for, hate, love, the stories we want to get more exposure and tell... there are so many human emotions and exploring your own feelings through a character's development and actions is immensely satisfying.

shadowbringers spoilers: something i have done, for example, is: consider g'raha. i, the writer, love him and think he's wonderful. i understand why he did everything he did. however, lehna does not like him very much. the more i think about it, the more i realize she would be the type of person to not excuse what he did, and the way he idolizes wol so much would make her so immensely uncomfortable that she would keep her distance. she would appreciate his contributions and knowledge. but she would also be furious at the situation he put urianger in, and even more furious that he would risk the lives of all of her friends. she would be mad at him for not trusting her to make her own decisions.

END SPOILERS

on the flip side, though, self-indulgence is incredibly important, too. i ship lehna with estinien because he is my favorite character. i adapted her character arcs specifically to work with his story because he is very important to me. estinien's story very much helped shape who she is today because i simply wanted it to. i had to think about how estinien would react by considering his past actions and what kind of person he was to determine if things would even work out with them. (and i would like to point out that lehna/estinien was intended to be completely unrequited and i only decided otherwise several months after beating endwalker. i have lowkey shipped them since i started the game at ARR, so nearly 3 years).

oc asks and things like that do help a lot; and one thing i do want to point out, especially if you don't have a ton of followers or people asking questions is that you can absolutely do them on your own, whether you post the answers or not. just thinking about the answers to some of those questions--even, sometimes, the most mundane ones--can help a lot with developing a character and putting yourself in their shoes.

at the end of the day: cringe is dead. write what you want the way you want to do it. even for canon characters. i think estinien would wear crocs. does anyone agree with me? idk, but that's how i interpret his character and i think it's funny. putting yourself in the shoes (or crocs) of another character just kind of comes down to thinking about what you would do and why, then thinking about what might lead someone else to come to a different conclusion.

anyway. sorry about the novel and again i hope this was okay to reblog! but hopefully i could add some of my personal insight.

A question about process. Do you think that Eisha is a reflection of you, or maybe a reflection of the life you want and are living vicariously through, or is she a complete fiction that you have fun imagining? I'm having a hard time writing from the perspective of someone other than myself, so any tips would be appreciated! Thank you!

Oh boy 😅

Well, to be honest Eisha does have qualities of myself mixed in (my more negative qualities) but she is also a lot of the things I wish I could be. I do tend to write self indulgent things that help me (if you’ve ever noticed my tendency to write hurt/comfort it’s mainly cause I find it soothing for myself) & I do live vicariously through her, too, which is why a lot of my writing is romance-focused.

As for writing from someone else’s perspective, I try to look at what I would do in the situation, and what I wish I would do in a situation. Then I write the latter, and tweak it to add specific character quirks that I’ve established for Eisha. You could also try to have your character do the opposite of what your do, but this really comes down to what you want your character to be like. Are they hot-headed? Are they more likely to be consumed by their inner emotions? Are they aloof, cynical, or detached? Are they cool in times of stress? If it helps, write a list of character traits you want your character to have that you can refer back to.

I also find ask prompts that are character focused to be extremely helpful for developing your character. Ones that ask how your character would act in certain situations, how they tend to respond in tough times, even silly stuff can help solidify your character.