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Post by t3hmaniac on Dec 28, 2008 23:03:19 GMT
Yuffie used to be easy to write, now I'm struggling. But I rarely write anythnig in FFVII now apart from the odd update every few months
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Post by Moira Rose on Dec 29, 2008 5:43:30 GMT
Nooooo CRIME!
But Yuffie's just hard to write.
But I've recently found Seph to be hard too. Especially pre-madness/motherihadanepiphany Seph. Toughie... Pointers anyone?
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Post by Youko-Kokuryuuha on Dec 29, 2008 18:56:35 GMT
I've recently just slipped into Yuffie's shoes, and I find them comfortable enough. It's like...you can be as snarky and sarcastic and goofy as you want, without being a cold-hearted bastage, because that's just Yuffie.
I've also tried my hand at Reno. I wouldn't say he's difficult, per se, but I'm having a bit of a rough time finding that balance of cynical and humorous. I want him to come off as likable to the reader, while still retaining the understanding that he's a murderer who'll do whatever the hell he wants. Because Reno is gangster like that. :p
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Post by Jeanneandheralters on Dec 29, 2008 23:29:51 GMT
I love writing Reno, Koky ;D I really need to find the time, and inspiration, and ability to keep on track to write a more serious fic staring said red-head. *fails*
So, I've found that I need to experiment with many different characters for a story I'm working on. Pain. In. The. Arse. I am going to have so much trouble when all the characters come into play. Right now it's really only Cloud and Zack.... and Vincent. Oh gods why. I can NOT write Vincent. (ARGH! Darn you Cloud and your odd personality *stabs*)
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Post by YACCBS on Dec 30, 2008 1:19:08 GMT
I actually find Aerith the hardest to write. I know at least a couple people who find Tifa hard because she seems Mary Sue-ish - I have the same problem with Aerith. She just too nice.
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Post by Pen Against Sword on Dec 30, 2008 2:20:38 GMT
I actually find Aerith the hardest to write. I know at least a couple people who find Tifa hard because she seems Mary Sue-ish - I have the same problem with Aerith. She just too nice. Well, personally, I think both of them had their mean moments in the game. Especially Aerith -- I don't remember when exactly, or even the quotes really, but I seem to remember specific points where she was snippy or sarcastic. Not that that's a bad thing, just sayin' that the characterization of her being absolutely nice all the time may not be quite correct. And of course, the compilations have marred this because her brief appearances have not really been enough to lend to her characterization.
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Post by YACCBS on Dec 30, 2008 5:49:39 GMT
I actually find Aerith the hardest to write. I know at least a couple people who find Tifa hard because she seems Mary Sue-ish - I have the same problem with Aerith. She just too nice. Well, personally, I think both of them had their mean moments in the game. Especially Aerith -- I don't remember when exactly, or even the quotes really, but I seem to remember specific points where she was snippy or sarcastic. Not that that's a bad thing, just sayin' that the characterization of her being absolutely nice all the time may not be quite correct. And of course, the compilations have marred this because her brief appearances have not really been enough to lend to her characterization. Oh, yes, she does have her moments (I always thought that when she asked Cait Sith to read her and Cloud's fortunes in the Temple was particularly mean, but that's probably my inner-CloTi speaking) - what I meant was that I, personally, can't easily get around the fact she's a self-sacrificing, kind-hearthed flower girl who is still super nice to pretty much everyone despite being experimented on as a child and constantly under surveillance, etc. It's like my brain doesn't want me to be mean to the dead girl. xD
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Post by La Editor on Dec 30, 2008 6:41:48 GMT
In the original game, Aerith was generally very chipper - almost hyper at some points - but could also sometimes be a little off-putting. The first time she met Tifa went something like this:
Tifa: "You were that girl with Cloud at the park, right?" Aerith: "Right. With Cloud."
Towards the beginning of the game Aerith was fairly girlish and fun-loving, but she had her moments where she could be pretty high-school-b*tchy. (D: I did not just say that. I adore Aerith, so I feel like I'm blaspheming Cetra-Jesus or something.) As the game progresses, however, her text becomes less and less like the above example.
I have two theories on this: 1) Honestly, I feel Square didn't really flesh out their characters very much. Though it's canon, I can't see them re-producing the game and portraying a lot of the characters the same way they did in the original. (Example: original-Yuffie vs. DoC-Yuffie.) 2) I also think that this was a way to show Aerith growing up. She had never, as far as we know (unless something happened in CC, which I've yet to play/watch walkthroughs on Youtube), been out of Midgar before AVALANCHE took her on an adventure. She was very sheltered, and her focus was fairly small; I think that as the game progresses and she becomes notably less high-school-ish, she really matures. Her view broadens, and she accepts responsibilities she was afraid of towards the beginning. In a way, she morphs from the character who can be pretty catty or sugar-bouncy-sweet to the character presented in the compilation - the one who is portrayed in the calm, soothing 'earth mother' archetype.
I'm in the same boat as Yaccy, though. And, while I've never written just Aerith, overall I've written an awful lot about her from other people's points of view, mainly Yuffie's (by the by, I actually find Yuffie the easiest to write, even in comparison to Barret; her personality is daunting at first, but when you get to understand it, everything clicks and it really flows). I had Yuffie in my party when Aerith died, and that really left an imprint on me, though I hardly remember the scene itself. I really believe Yuffie looked up to Aerith and felt very close to her.
My whole problem with writing about Aerith is that I'm biased. I treat her, like guardian1 once described, as a Cetra-Jesus. I've morphed what I gathered from that death scene (there are really very few character interactions otherwise, between those two at least) into believing that maybe Yuffie viewed Aerith as a mother-sister-friend-guardian-angel. That all combines to my take on Yuffie (and my own take, from me) putting her on a sort of pedestal. Whenever I think/write-from-Yuffie-POV of Aerith, I think/write-from-Yuffie-POV of something infinitely good, something wonderful and warm and safe and all the love and cookies in the world and etc. More than once, in a fairly emotional part of a story, I've looked over what I've written and found Yuffie pretty much crying in her head at Aerith for comfort and support like some weird snot-nosed, overemotional kid sobbing to a playground-mom when she's shoved down and gets sand in her underwear or something.
Also, between the two, Tifa is actually the nicer one in the game (judging by text, interactions, and the like). She has a firmer sense of reality, and maybe that makes it more possible for her to see how to take care of her loved ones. Still, Aerith grew enough to the same point - she just didn't have as much of a chance to show it. It's pretty hard (at least for me) to compare the two. They're very similar and very different at the same time.
This has little to do with bad-at-writing-Tifa vs. bad-at-writing-Aerith, but that just reminded me a wonderful story Nagia wrote, and I remember a line that went something like this - 'Tifa was like chocolate, and Aerith was like cake. If asked my favorite I could choose, but I know I could be asked the same question five minutes from now and the answer wouldn't be the same.'
I... need sleep. I think the first line of this ramble makes sense, but I'm not so sure past that. ]x Sorry, gaiz.
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Post by quietncryptic on Mar 14, 2009 22:55:20 GMT
I never realized it before, but it's really hard for me to crawl into Genesis's head and write about him, which is makng it really hard to do my Pass the seph challenge...Gen is such a diva. Give me Zack or Angeal any day.
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Post by Sai on Mar 14, 2009 23:10:12 GMT
Sephiroth, Zack, and Hojo are honestly the hardest characters for me to write. Two of them are insane, and the other is such a lovable puppy with the biggest freaking FANBASE and if you screw up just once you get eaten by the lions in Antarctica. Then, they have no faith in the Zack you portray, and it's done.
Damn them.
Anyway, I also have trouble with Cloud because he's actually kind of a bland character. Next person would be Tifa, because she's more bland than Cloud. There really isn't much to her for me, and I try and give her a personality which makes people like her. Not easy, but I think it may just work.
As for Aeris, I portray her oddly, considering. I think that I've hit all the bases with Aeris: she's trying hard to be a woman, but occasionally she's childish. It's hard because of the whole love interest bit and the fact that Zack's still alive, but I think I do well by her character. As for Yuffie, I've made her super immature, but she has these glowing moments where she's honestly to heaven a down-to-earth 'Princess' of Wutai. I'm proud of how she's growing, and she'll do more as it keeps going.
(I am so sorry for constantly referring to Tenacity, but because it's literally like, the only story I've written that's exceeded 30k words, and it's still going after three hundred thousand, I can't help but to refer to it constantly. I'm proud of it, but I don't wanna bug you guys with the comparing)
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Post by quietncryptic on Mar 16, 2009 3:58:17 GMT
Heck, coulda fooled me. A three-day marathon of tenacity reading has got me utterly charmed with your descriptive powers and the way you catch the characters changes/adjustments to an unknown (i.e. Zack).
But you are right, insane people are hard to write, because let's face it, who the heck really knows their motives?
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