joiedecombat | Question Meme

From

funwithrage

1 - Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 - I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3 - You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 - You'll include this explanation.
5 - You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed

1. Okay, you can punch any one media character in the face. No guilt, no consequences, no use of superpowers to fry your ass. (Someone pretty well known, or at least pretty well known among the geek subset, because we're taking the "any Virginia Henley character ever" thing for granted here). Who gets the teeth knocked out?

Only one? Gosh. Let me think...

Buffy. At least from seasons six and seven, although really at any time past about season three she's likely to be needing a good solid smacking. Buffy wins out over characters like Jean Grey and Tamrissa from The Blending because Buffy started out reasonably cool, or at least non-offensive. And then over time she became so phenomenally self-centered that she could actually bend light, like a bony little black hole of angst and self-pity. Yes, yes, your life sucks. Nobody cares any more. Stop Your Whining!

Yaargh.

2. Character angst: where, when, how much is appropriate?

This one is especially fun following the first question, particularly since I'm not going to place a limit on how much character angst is acceptable. What I am going to decree is that a) it has to be justified, but b) you as a writer (or roleplayer, if you prefer) have to admit to yourself and others that your character has a problem with coping. Nobody likes self-righteous angst (Tamrissa, I'm looking at you).

I'll use one of my own characters as an example because, well, nobody's complained yet: he's had a horrible life. He's lost everything he ever cared about. He's been used, isolated, turned into a killing machine, given responsibilities that nobody should have to face and he really didn't want.

But he just can't get over it. He's almost pathologically incapable of coping with loss, and instead of taking the healthier outlook of cherishing the good memories and experiences and learning from his mistakes, he chooses to simply withdraw from human contact entirely. He lives a Spartan life not only to keep himself sharp and combat-ready but because it's a way of punishing himself for being what he considers worthless as a human being.

It's really kind of fascinating.

Getting back to my point - I think the key with character angst is to not expect other people to shower the character with sympathy. Either see to it that the character copes and moves on in a timely fashion, or acknowledge from the start that part of the character's problem is that they're reacting in the wrong ways. Be honest, and be as real as you possibly can. And for God's sake keep a sense of proportion.

3. What's the thing you most want to do--not "grand life goal", just "experience you most want to have"?

Right now, the single thing I want to do most is move into my own home - be it an apartment or whatever, as long as it's mine and I'm responsible for it and not answering to anyone but a landlord. I want that independence. I want the freedom to come and go when I want, to be online or watch TV or play music when I want, to put things where I want.

But if that's too serious and long-term, as back-up: I want to travel outside this country. I want to see other cultures. Most particularly I'd like to visit England and Japan. I think that would be really cool.

4. Men: charming and roguish or shy and quasi-Giles?

I can't have both?

....no, really, I can't have both?

But seriously, there's an appeal to both types. Charming and roguish because... hey, charming and roguish, and shy and Gilesy because vulnerability is endearing. However, if I have to pick one I'm going for charming and roguish because there are few things I hate more in a man than clinginess and the sort of attention-demanding that comes from a lack of self-confidence. If I'm going to be with someone, he'd better damn well accept the fact that yes, occasionally I'm going to admire other men, and not bitch and whine and demand to be told that he's better. Occasionally I'm going to want time to myself. That's just me.

5. Cyborg ninjas. Comment?

Acceptable, but only provisionally. The ideal ninja is entirely human and outnumbered at least twenty to one. Everybody knows that a ninja's coolness factor increases in direct proportion to how heavily the odds are stacked against them.