30-Day Writing Meme - Days 5 & 6
By age, who is your youngest character? Oldest? How about “youngest” and “oldest” in terms of when you created them?
This one... is a bit harder. By age, I can't compare my characters from different universes. I've seen my Avatar characters grow up. I know them from toddlers to middle-age. It's easy enough to know where they stand in relation to each other, but since they can be any age in that bracket, it's impossible to say if they're older or younger than my characters from other fandoms. But... I guess it doesn't much matter, since my other fandoms' characters aren't developed enough to gauge and go into depth about.
So... I suppose my oldest character, technically speaking, is Zong Lieu. And I already feel like I've said too much. XD Because while he was born first of the twins, Azula has a whole conspiracy under her perfectly manicured thumb that says that his twin brother is the eldest son and heir to the throne. Of the two of them, Zong is more reserved, more thoughtful. He's loyal, and he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, feels like his mother's sins - her abuse of power, her heartless treatment of her people, her lust for pain and conflict - are things that he must make amends for. As a child, he always felt ignored, neglected, looked down upon. Rightly so, since Azula made no secret that she preferred his brother, and Zuko avoided playing favorites. When he grew up and met his wife, he found his place. She became his world, the one thing that he truly needed. Of course, it took him a little while to learn what that meant, and there were a few, erm, casualties... or... unexpected side-effects? In the form of half-siblings and a ruined relationship with his brother. ... Holy shit, I've talked enough about Zong, haven't I?
Okay. Then. Moving on. The youngest of the bunch is actually Sheng... which is... more or less a stand-in name. He's a young boy, I think of Earth Kingdom descent?, who lived on the streets. But he was taken in by Ouron. Now he works in his teahhouse of ill repute (which I'm still not sure where I draw the line) as a kind of errand boy. And since Ouron has all but given up on having his own proper family, he's named Sheng as heir to the teahouse and, I believe, basically everything he owns. Sheng has basically adopted the waitresses/hostesses as big sisters, a couple of them somewhat more maternally than sisterly. Um. I think Sheng was an orphan, but I can't rightly remember all too well...
As far as oldest created, we've done that one yesterday, haven't we? And the newest creation was technically Andy. But he's a little prat. So I'm going with the next one I can remember - Mark. I really liked him, at first. Like. I really liked him. He was an upstanding easily annoyed guy. And that'll always be my Mark. But, what with fanfiction and close friends and all, Jess borrowed him for her own version of the universe. And her version of Mark was an evil abusive asshole. So now he's gone from the stepdad that has to deal with the kids being dumbasses towards him to the stepdad that hates his dead wife's son and landed in my mind back at the stepdad that ignores his stepson while the mom is too busy cooing over him--- holy shit. He's Jecht if he was only Tidus' dad through marriage! ... HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?! ... Only, Mark doesn't just ignore the kid 'cause he doesn't know how to be a dad. He ignores the kid 'cause he doesn't WANT to be a dad. Significant difference.
Where are you most comfortable writing? At what time of day? Computer or good ol' pen and paper?
Surprisingly, I'm most comfortable writing in public. From my limited experience, it was always easiest for me to write in class, in lunchrooms, in the halls as people walked by. When my mind's active, but no specific distractions. (Yes, that's how I did school. The lectures were white noise. Don't knock it, I never had trouble with quizzes or tests.) The time of day's pretty flexible, since it's more based on mood than time, and my moods are in no way related to the time of day. I suppose ideally, it'd have to be late enough for me to be awake, and not just up for hours but sitting around doing nothing, 'cause my brain's still asleep, that way. But it's gotta be before the crash that usually comes between 2 and 4 in the morning.
I usually do my writing on the computer, lately. But that's just a convenience since I hate typing things off of paper. And especially with fanfiction, I can't have anyone here dictate it. And I won't read it to anyone. So it's more practical for me to just draft on the computer. But somehow I always forget just how much easier it is to write on paper. The words always seem to flow more naturally with a proper pen in my hand, the scratching of felt against paper, it's soothing somehow. If I'm feeling particularly indecisive, it makes editing messier and more difficult, but it also makes things... clearer, more tangible.
This one... is a bit harder. By age, I can't compare my characters from different universes. I've seen my Avatar characters grow up. I know them from toddlers to middle-age. It's easy enough to know where they stand in relation to each other, but since they can be any age in that bracket, it's impossible to say if they're older or younger than my characters from other fandoms. But... I guess it doesn't much matter, since my other fandoms' characters aren't developed enough to gauge and go into depth about.
So... I suppose my oldest character, technically speaking, is Zong Lieu. And I already feel like I've said too much. XD Because while he was born first of the twins, Azula has a whole conspiracy under her perfectly manicured thumb that says that his twin brother is the eldest son and heir to the throne. Of the two of them, Zong is more reserved, more thoughtful. He's loyal, and he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, feels like his mother's sins - her abuse of power, her heartless treatment of her people, her lust for pain and conflict - are things that he must make amends for. As a child, he always felt ignored, neglected, looked down upon. Rightly so, since Azula made no secret that she preferred his brother, and Zuko avoided playing favorites. When he grew up and met his wife, he found his place. She became his world, the one thing that he truly needed. Of course, it took him a little while to learn what that meant, and there were a few, erm, casualties... or... unexpected side-effects? In the form of half-siblings and a ruined relationship with his brother. ... Holy shit, I've talked enough about Zong, haven't I?
Okay. Then. Moving on. The youngest of the bunch is actually Sheng... which is... more or less a stand-in name. He's a young boy, I think of Earth Kingdom descent?, who lived on the streets. But he was taken in by Ouron. Now he works in his teahhouse of ill repute (which I'm still not sure where I draw the line) as a kind of errand boy. And since Ouron has all but given up on having his own proper family, he's named Sheng as heir to the teahouse and, I believe, basically everything he owns. Sheng has basically adopted the waitresses/hostesses as big sisters, a couple of them somewhat more maternally than sisterly. Um. I think Sheng was an orphan, but I can't rightly remember all too well...
As far as oldest created, we've done that one yesterday, haven't we? And the newest creation was technically Andy. But he's a little prat. So I'm going with the next one I can remember - Mark. I really liked him, at first. Like. I really liked him. He was an upstanding easily annoyed guy. And that'll always be my Mark. But, what with fanfiction and close friends and all, Jess borrowed him for her own version of the universe. And her version of Mark was an evil abusive asshole. So now he's gone from the stepdad that has to deal with the kids being dumbasses towards him to the stepdad that hates his dead wife's son and landed in my mind back at the stepdad that ignores his stepson while the mom is too busy cooing over him--- holy shit. He's Jecht if he was only Tidus' dad through marriage! ... HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?! ... Only, Mark doesn't just ignore the kid 'cause he doesn't know how to be a dad. He ignores the kid 'cause he doesn't WANT to be a dad. Significant difference.
Where are you most comfortable writing? At what time of day? Computer or good ol' pen and paper?
Surprisingly, I'm most comfortable writing in public. From my limited experience, it was always easiest for me to write in class, in lunchrooms, in the halls as people walked by. When my mind's active, but no specific distractions. (Yes, that's how I did school. The lectures were white noise. Don't knock it, I never had trouble with quizzes or tests.) The time of day's pretty flexible, since it's more based on mood than time, and my moods are in no way related to the time of day. I suppose ideally, it'd have to be late enough for me to be awake, and not just up for hours but sitting around doing nothing, 'cause my brain's still asleep, that way. But it's gotta be before the crash that usually comes between 2 and 4 in the morning.
I usually do my writing on the computer, lately. But that's just a convenience since I hate typing things off of paper. And especially with fanfiction, I can't have anyone here dictate it. And I won't read it to anyone. So it's more practical for me to just draft on the computer. But somehow I always forget just how much easier it is to write on paper. The words always seem to flow more naturally with a proper pen in my hand, the scratching of felt against paper, it's soothing somehow. If I'm feeling particularly indecisive, it makes editing messier and more difficult, but it also makes things... clearer, more tangible.