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Post by Kysic on Jul 22, 2007 0:28:08 GMT
Sorry if some of the characters you wanted to choose wasn't included. I only went with mostly complex characters or a trait that's hard to write about since there wasn't much room. Since some threads have been dying out, I decided to bring something else. I'm not voting, at least not now because I haven't had much of a chance to expeiment with many characters. I don't know if Vincent is hard to write about yet because I only wrote about his past so far, and I had plenty of time to study him. I can't write about most characters because I have trouble grasping even a little of their traits all at once.
Enjoy the poll. Sorry again for it being badly made.
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Post by gilventure on Jul 22, 2007 2:07:06 GMT
With some bemusement, I must say that the most difficult character to write must be Jenova. Given that she has no motivation, little development, and very little background, it is very difficult to find the essence of her character and her desires. Every other character, even more minor ones like Rufus or the Turks, is fleshed out enough that a past and future might be extrapolated. But I have to admit that Jenova seems the most difficult character to capture on the whole. She's probably a strange character to choose, isn't she?
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Post by Kysic on Jul 22, 2007 3:44:49 GMT
I can't believe I forgot to add Jenova! Well, I don't know for sure which character would be hard enough to write. It feels weird that I created this thread since I haven't had the chance to experiment with many characters. I hope this poll amuses everyone.
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Post by piedflycatcher on Jul 22, 2007 10:26:34 GMT
Barret, simply because of the way he talks. I've tried to avoid writing him as much as possible, and I admire anyone who can get his character right.
For characters I have written, Vincent is probably the hardest so far. I find it difficult to get into his head. Also, the whole Chaos thing confuses me.
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Post by Kysic on Jul 22, 2007 15:22:30 GMT
Dang! I had Barret on there, but changed my mind at the last minute, and replaced him with the Turks! Opps. Sorry.
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Sztorm
Recruit
I crush on dead men.
Posts: 191
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Post by Sztorm on Jul 22, 2007 18:35:31 GMT
Hmm, tough choice. Jenova probably would be the hardest, haha, but I do admit that I've never had the urge to give that sexy alien some lovin', creative-writing style. Poor Jenova has a tough lot in fanfiction. For a long time, I thought Reno was really difficult to get a good grasp on (as something other than comic relief, I mean), but not so much anymore. (His characterization just suddenly smacked me upside the head one day.) I think Cloud and Sephiroth are complicated, too, but I haven't really tried to write them, so it might just be inexperience with the characters. Well, and with Sephiroth's case, a lack of interest. As far as villains go, I like writing Hojo. For me, though...the hardest might be Aeris. I like her character, and I'd love to write her, but I think it's hard to make her human, as opposed to this pseudo-angel Ancient. Maybe it'll be like the Reno situation--one day I'll be writing a little Cetra drabble and she'll come out and smack me upside the head with that staff and basket of flowers. One can only hope.
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Post by ladyvaltaya on Jul 23, 2007 15:09:20 GMT
Jenova's, definitely the worst. I know because I've tried writing her, and let me tell you, that it was not one of my better experiments. ^_^ On the positive side, however the old girl was surprisingly fun to experiment with, even though I was unsatisfied with it in the end.
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Post by leafonthebreeze on Jul 29, 2007 19:37:18 GMT
Something about referring to Jenova as "the old girl" really made me smile I find most characters pretty easy to grasp, its plots I tend to have a problem with, but I guess I'd go for Sephiroth, as he's just way too complicated, even for me.
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Post by snarky on Jul 31, 2007 7:06:58 GMT
With some bemusement, I must say that the most difficult character to write must be Jenova. Given that she has no motivation, little development, and very little background, it is very difficult to find the essence of her character and her desires. Every other character, even more minor ones like Rufus or the Turks, is fleshed out enough that a past and future might be extrapolated. But I have to admit that Jenova seems the most difficult character to capture on the whole. She's probably a strange character to choose, isn't she? I completely agree with that. I have tried writing her, but she is a real challenge. She also begs the question: /Is/ she really a character capable of development or personality or anything other than attempted survival and dominence? Does she even have an intelligence we can understand and grasp enough to write about? Or, is she a thing of pure instinct and the only true intelligence to her comes from Sephiroth or whomever she had infected? As a second character, Chaos is also hard to write. People have a tendancy of writing himlike a sarcastic and mean commentator inside Vincent's head, but I have to wonder, wouldn't Chaos be more of a... feeling based presence? I mean, it wouldn't talk, per sey, but it would react and give impressions... and I tried writing something about that once, but it was just so hard to describe. I mean, you can write how Chaos seemed mirthful or how it expressed a bloodlust, an urge to destroy, but... that seems so superficial... I don't think Chaos is a mindless beast of a demon... thing... WeAPON... whatever it is. But, I don't think it thinks like humans (or Nanaki) might think, and, as such, its modes of expression would be different. Am I making any sense here?
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Post by piedflycatcher on Jul 31, 2007 12:27:33 GMT
Oh yeah, I think that makes complete sense. Non-human characters are hard to write, simply because they're not human, so you have to think hard about what kind of feelings and thoughts they might have, and what the world looks like from their perspective.
I've never tried writing Chaos, partly for that reason, but I wonder if he/it would even sense things differently... like infrared vision or something. Now that would be interesting.
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carzla
Recruit
never a mere memory
Posts: 121
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Post by carzla on Aug 3, 2007 23:48:46 GMT
Nobody seems to have mentioned them, but what about the Cetra?
The few stories that I've read that involved them write them as a collective voice in the Lifestream. One goes as far as to characterize that the Cetra would do anything to get rid of Jenova, like manipulating people who have a stronger connection to the Lifestream and using them to act out their collective will...
I've never tried writing the Cetra before, but well... any thoughts?
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Post by Neophyte Ronin on Aug 11, 2007 4:09:34 GMT
Because we are granted no background concerning the original crisis or its personalities, we are forced within our own human psyches to determine their mentality. They're just there to generate present-day conflict, nothing more. They never gave characters as Jenova or the Cetra much thought. From my perspective, the Cetra could be about as human as we are--just a civilization that traveled the stars but got grounded when such creatures as Jenova intervened.
Take it from the Mind Flayer's perspective. Those guys are insidious, diabolical, sadistic, self-serving creatures who look human enough... until you check out their lovely heads. They don't think like us, but what if their loss of emotion had withered away to the degree that emotion is like a drug? Suppose in a cave, somewhere near a deserted town, you come across a mass orgy of sex, violence, suicide, and havoc among enslaved humans. And far above them, you see a lone Illithid, its head tentacles tingling in delight to every sensation its telepathic mind perceives...!
The idea is: whatever you have to work with, you have to liven it up somehow. But there are patterns that people operate by and that's why so many of these stories sound so similar. The hardest characters are those we cannot relate to. How can you possibly fathom how they operate, except in those terms you plaster upon them? ...That's the conflict of every writer on this site, including me! The only way I could write Aerith is attach a villainous side to her, truth be known.
I understand in my own faith how innumerable temptations and snares from the devil were involved in the ultimate sacrifice; to properly emulate that tale, Aerith needs to resist a series of cruel lures as this resurrected goddess figure. Considering Zack a big ladies' man, he botches up their relationship in the lifestream. Aerith becomes a member of Einherjar and watches over Didymus. Becoming too attached as a GF, she decides to play with the White SeeD's mind--not above such temptation--shaping his mind into her little playmate. This is far from being honest about where his heart truly is, and it starts to interfere with his original mission.
"Failure to Empathize" explains why some people with a psychiactric disorder either have a hard time relating to others, or conversely, other people cannot relate to them. First, they're branded with a certificate that's like plastering "Caution: Bio-Hazard" on their heads, so that's grounds for conflict. Second, they have troubles with head wiring, so they don't perceive the world as others do. Let's not forget the whole chaos of being committed and placed on medicines that will explode their kidneys in forty years... how in hell can anyone relate to that? That's an alien world all the same; is someone going to say: "Hey, that person must have a hard time!" instead of: "Whoa, we should steer clear of that guy..." like they usually do?
The objective of a fiction writer is to empathise with subject matter. You won't find too many people around here who can write Barret Wallace because he's a thirty-seven year old surrogate father of one with a gatling gun attached to his forearm, who resorted to terrorist violence in a desperate bid to stop a multi-national corporation's technological excesses that are ruining the planet. Maybe a thirty-five year-old male father, firm on his environmental stances, could write Barret, but who among those men have played Final Fantasy VII and would also have an inclination towards writing the character for an Internet site?
Empathizing with outsiders makes me write certain characters in FFVIII, not others. The orphans seem like sort of an in-crowd and, since in life I've been repeatedly disenfranchised and disaffected from the in-crowd, I don't identify with them. (That ought to answer some questions). The Forest Owls are actually more compelling because they are clearly over their heads as counter-revolutionaries. Meanwhile Seifer and the posse are an odd bunch on the side, treated with wariness and disdain, but not quite enough respect. (Personally, they really didn't do Seifer's character well enough). Biggs and Wedge are repeatedly stepped upon, so they would make a great underdog story (albeit a twisted one). Joker is practically a wild man of the wilderness. White SeeDs are reclusive monks and monks are the only beings I'll play in D&D with any finesse.
So whoever you like to write about, you either empathize, or you're attracted to their strengths and fascinated by their flaws. In terms of FFVII, I'd say the hardest character to write for me is actually Heidegger of Peace Preservation. I'm not a slovenly tyrannical beard with a stupid laugh.
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Post by piedflycatcher on Aug 11, 2007 12:16:52 GMT
You won't find too many people around here who can write Barret Wallace because he's a thirty-seven year old surrogate father of one with a gatling gun attached to his forearm, who resorted to terrorist violence in a desperate bid to stop a multi-national corporation's technological excesses that are ruining the planet. Haha, yeah, I think you have a good point there about empathy. Sometimes it's harder to get into a character's head if they're nothing like you. But I think it's definitely possible. Authors do it all the time. I think it's an interesting challenge to write from different perspectives. I once wrote a fic from Voldemort's PoV, and I don't empathise with him at all.
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Post by Kysic on Aug 11, 2007 15:51:03 GMT
One major reason I prefer writing about Vincent so much is because I have so much in common with him. It's kind of easier for me to connect with him. For all the other characters, I have trouble with them a lot. I got a gift to imagine how someone mentally is or what would happen is something else happened, but when I turn on my wordpad, my thoughts go blank. I can normally just use some things I would do or the way I would be when I write Vincent. I can't explain it too well.
Barret may not interest me too much, but I do respect him. He's been through a lot and took in Marlene. He does sort of annoy me with a few things he says in FFVII, but most character annoy me at least once.
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Post by leafonthebreeze on Aug 11, 2007 16:54:09 GMT
I can empathise with nearly all the characters in some way, the exception being Barret and Sephiroth. Even Cait Sith (as I keep repeating... sorry) I guess I should explain that though... It's like he's just weird. Unashamedly, and for no reason. He's not doing it to get attention, he's not doing it to be cool, he is just weird because it's fun, because that's who he is, because he can't help it, because he's a robot cat riding a stuffed moogle.
Cut out the last part you could probably be describing me... except I'm a girl.
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