30 Days of Writing: No small parts...
Today's question:
19. Favorite minor that decided to shove himself into the spotlight and why!
How could it be anyone other than Beclem?
Beclem, for the uninitiated, is a fairly minor character in FFX-2. He is not much liked by folks in the fandom, and not without reason: he acts as an antagonist and an irritant, and while he comes around a bit by the end, I can see why it would be too little too late. As a result, not much is written about him (only one story tagged under his name on AO3, and he's not even in the list of X-2 characters on FF.net), and I hadn't taken any serious interest in him either, until Aftermath.
The story: It all started a very long time ago, in the dim and misty days of 2005. Beclem made a couple of brief appearances in AGL, mostly to say derisive things about summoners and guardians. yuna_flowering left a comment on one of those chapters, speculating about Beclem's bitterness toward Yevon and wondering what might have caused it. Almost instantly, I flashed on an image of the end of Operation Mi'ihen: Auron confronting Kinoc about Yevon's motives, Kinoc's non-denial... and Beclem, in the near distance, overhearing the whole thing. Could that have been a turning point, for Beclem and others like him? My mind worried at the image for over a year, at which point I started setting it down (not long after finishing DSHnD, if I recall correctly).
At that time, my intention was to write a short. The scene I envisioned on the beach was to be the whole story, perhaps a thousand words, and then it would be done, and I could move on to other things.
And then, another flash: Beclem, walking away from the disaster, on the Mi'ihen Highroad to Luca... only to encounter Nooj, making his escape from the scene at the Travel Agency. And how was I supposed to resist writing that? And then the scenes that came after? It was all so clear in my head, and the next thing I knew the story was becoming an epic tale, the story of the founding of the Youth League, from Beclem's point of view. It's been a long, slow, sometimes tortuous process, but I'm working on Chapter 5, which I hope will be the last, and I am determined to finish it by the end of the year.
As for Beclem himself, I have very much enjoyed the process of fleshing him out: giving him a past and more personality, and giving the reader a reason to sympathize with him. I like that he has an outsider's perspective on the people and places we know so well, such a different point of view -- it lets me take on subjects that could be difficult otherwise, like how the average person is reacting to all the changes that Spira is facing. It has been a challenge, but a rewarding one; I would rank "Aftermath" as among the best of my stories, if I may be so bold as to say so. I would say it's among the ones I'm most proud of, but I'm not proud that it's taken me so long to finish it. So I'll hold off on that part for now.
30 Days of Writing: Complete list of questions
This entry is also posted at http://owlmoose.dreamwidth.org/485714.html. There are currently
comments on DW.
19. Favorite minor that decided to shove himself into the spotlight and why!
How could it be anyone other than Beclem?
Beclem, for the uninitiated, is a fairly minor character in FFX-2. He is not much liked by folks in the fandom, and not without reason: he acts as an antagonist and an irritant, and while he comes around a bit by the end, I can see why it would be too little too late. As a result, not much is written about him (only one story tagged under his name on AO3, and he's not even in the list of X-2 characters on FF.net), and I hadn't taken any serious interest in him either, until Aftermath.
The story: It all started a very long time ago, in the dim and misty days of 2005. Beclem made a couple of brief appearances in AGL, mostly to say derisive things about summoners and guardians. yuna_flowering left a comment on one of those chapters, speculating about Beclem's bitterness toward Yevon and wondering what might have caused it. Almost instantly, I flashed on an image of the end of Operation Mi'ihen: Auron confronting Kinoc about Yevon's motives, Kinoc's non-denial... and Beclem, in the near distance, overhearing the whole thing. Could that have been a turning point, for Beclem and others like him? My mind worried at the image for over a year, at which point I started setting it down (not long after finishing DSHnD, if I recall correctly).
At that time, my intention was to write a short. The scene I envisioned on the beach was to be the whole story, perhaps a thousand words, and then it would be done, and I could move on to other things.
And then, another flash: Beclem, walking away from the disaster, on the Mi'ihen Highroad to Luca... only to encounter Nooj, making his escape from the scene at the Travel Agency. And how was I supposed to resist writing that? And then the scenes that came after? It was all so clear in my head, and the next thing I knew the story was becoming an epic tale, the story of the founding of the Youth League, from Beclem's point of view. It's been a long, slow, sometimes tortuous process, but I'm working on Chapter 5, which I hope will be the last, and I am determined to finish it by the end of the year.
As for Beclem himself, I have very much enjoyed the process of fleshing him out: giving him a past and more personality, and giving the reader a reason to sympathize with him. I like that he has an outsider's perspective on the people and places we know so well, such a different point of view -- it lets me take on subjects that could be difficult otherwise, like how the average person is reacting to all the changes that Spira is facing. It has been a challenge, but a rewarding one; I would rank "Aftermath" as among the best of my stories, if I may be so bold as to say so. I would say it's among the ones I'm most proud of, but I'm not proud that it's taken me so long to finish it. So I'll hold off on that part for now.
30 Days of Writing: Complete list of questions
This entry is also posted at http://owlmoose.dreamwidth.org/485714.html. There are currently
comments on DW.