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  1. Hotpotato Butterfingers Hotpotato Butterfingers

    I really should start writing again, I've been developing some ideas in my head for the past few days and I think I could get an actual decent story out of them

    Thursday, 10-Dec-15 19:09:09 UTC from web
    1. Narwhal Narwhal

      @spots Best thing you can do is just write a bunch of them out into rough drafts while the ideas are still fresh then edit/revise and add to them later

      Thursday, 10-Dec-15 19:13:20 UTC from web
      1. Hotpotato Butterfingers Hotpotato Butterfingers

        @noelnarwhal I've written down some little fragments of information on a potential character and some story stuff on whatever's been handy cause I've heard it's really the best thing to do

        Thursday, 10-Dec-15 19:17:35 UTC from web
        1. Narwhal Narwhal

          @spots Yeah, understanding your characters is a great way to understand your story. I remember when I did my creative writing class in high school we had to do pretty detailed character bios before we could even start any actual plotting. I don't think that's always the route to take, but character building is undeniably a very important tool in writing.

          Thursday, 10-Dec-15 19:24:06 UTC from web
          1. Hotpotato Butterfingers Hotpotato Butterfingers

            @noelnarwhal This time around I decided I should ask more in depth questions, not just the basic "what's their name", "how old are they", "where do they live", etc. type of questions, but also what motivates them to do what they're doing in the story, how does the setting and other characters affect them, and questions like that. I'd left out things like that in the past, and I feel like if I knew these things the characters would feel more real and there would be more of a force to push the story forward.

            Thursday, 10-Dec-15 19:35:43 UTC from web
            1. Narwhal Narwhal

              @spots Yeah, questions of motivation and identity are the cornerstones of what set actual characters apart as people as opposed to narrative surrogates

              Thursday, 10-Dec-15 19:37:11 UTC from web
              1. Hotpotato Butterfingers Hotpotato Butterfingers

                @noelnarwhal There are a lot more questions to ask than I used to think, and it's a lot more work but I think it's going to be worth it to be working on a story with full, realistic characters instead of skeletons with a couple ideas attached

                Thursday, 10-Dec-15 19:46:14 UTC from web
                1. Narwhal Narwhal

                  @spots It's funny because you say that while having an avatar who's a skeleton that's also a dynamic and complex character

                  Thursday, 10-Dec-15 19:48:16 UTC from web
                  1. Hotpotato Butterfingers Hotpotato Butterfingers

                    @noelnarwhal I was too quick to judge the skeletons

                    Thursday, 10-Dec-15 19:51:13 UTC from web
                    1. Narwhal Narwhal

                      @spots Papyrus is the true unproblematic fave

                      Thursday, 10-Dec-15 19:54:15 UTC from web
                      1. Cerulean Spark Cerulean Spark

                        @noelnarwhal Nah, Asgore killed 6 children. That's way better

                        Thursday, 10-Dec-15 20:07:34 UTC from web
                        1. Narwhal Narwhal

                          @ceruleanspark Ah yes Asgore, the Machiavellian politician of the Undertale world

                          Thursday, 10-Dec-15 20:10:19 UTC from web
                          1. Cerulean Spark Cerulean Spark

                            @noelnarwhal Go back to the ruins and talk to Asriel after the only ending he lives through. He tells you that people generally only climb Mount Ebott to kill themselves. Those 6 people (and it's never stated that they were children. One of them had a handgun!) all wanted to die.

                            Thursday, 10-Dec-15 20:12:07 UTC from web
                            1. Narwhal Narwhal

                              @ceruleanspark Except I don't think that gave Asgore the right to kill them. I mean, it makes him less of a traditional "murderer" in that regard, but the narrative sure as hell doesn't reward him for it. The whole premise of nonviolent conflict resolution the game proposes is that more than anything else harmony in society comes with valuing life, because Undertale values life and people. Asgore makes promises to save face, which makes him a great leader but not a great representative for his people. His character arc is specifically to move from "fight fire with fire" to "mutually embrace a new progressive ideology".

                              Thursday, 10-Dec-15 20:19:32 UTC from web