Yes, I am "borrowing" the idea of the Mongols for Roy's father. At least, they're mostly-nomadic people who have a cultural reverence for horses and live in round semi-permanent houses called yurts. Since my knowledge of our world's Mongols comes from the Discovery Channel and the Internet, I named the "northern barbarians" referred to in my fic the Utars (that's what the Amestrians call them, anyway), and invented cultural myths and a worldview for them to suit the needs of my story. So--yes, they're inspired by the Mongols, no, they're not Mongols. Roy's mama prefers to go by the name her "grass-husband" bestowed on her, rather than her Xingese one, for reasons that I may or may not get into in the course of this story. (There's already one scene that I want to find a way to shoehorn in here somewhere, except I think it would distract from the main threads of the narrative. But the image of a thirteen-year-old Riza Hawkeye throwing silverware at a sixteen-year-old Roy Mustang delights me too much not to get into a story somehow.)
Thank you for commenting on the characterization! My worst fear as a writer is letting the characters become either caricatures of themselves, or worse, echoes of me. Hughes is particularly difficult to hold to character, since I identify with him a lot.
I'm planning to write up the next part of the story this weekend. I hope you enjoy it!
I love it when fan writers put a lot of thought into the backgrounds of characters. It shows they care about them and the story. All the theories and leg-work and research that goes into that kinda thing might not actually -show- in the story, but it definitely reflects in it.
Manic!Hughes is a tough one for me to write. I can do a fair Investigator/Cop!Hughes well, and a stable, level Hughes. The man -is- tough to write well, though, because he has so many facets to his personality.
Oddly enough, I actually have a harder time writing Al (and we won't even discuss writing Heist, from BoP).
Thank you for commenting on the characterization! My worst fear as a writer is letting the characters become either caricatures of themselves, or worse, echoes of me. Hughes is particularly difficult to hold to character, since I identify with him a lot.
I'm planning to write up the next part of the story this weekend. I hope you enjoy it!
Reply
I love it when fan writers put a lot of thought into the backgrounds of characters. It shows they care about them and the story. All the theories and leg-work and research that goes into that kinda thing might not actually -show- in the story, but it definitely reflects in it.
Manic!Hughes is a tough one for me to write. I can do a fair Investigator/Cop!Hughes well, and a stable, level Hughes. The man -is- tough to write well, though, because he has so many facets to his personality.
Oddly enough, I actually have a harder time writing Al (and we won't even discuss writing Heist, from BoP).
Reply
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