1. Maybe it's my high standards (high standards for eating an egg, ha!), but I find it enjoyable to eat it all. Not crushing it. Freezing it is a much better way to eat it. A nice cold Cadbury Cream Egg! Yum!
2. Me, too. I definitely looks like you have to pick and choose the predictions (And seriously? I'm still not getting R/Hr, not from the first book).
3. That's true. All of it. I guess that's really all one can do. It may be just one now, but it could become a movement that takes over Hollywood one day. :)
Hey, at least you actually put some thought into it. Most would just be like, "Oh, I need some deaths here to make it realistic! Ah! We need some people to die here in order to engage the audience!" And usually, it's some nameless characters in the background or characters we care about and are either killed off quickly or off screen or just done to give reader/watcher a engage the reader and make them believe all the characters can die. Burst the bubble, so to speak. Hold the characters hostage and make the audience believe, "Oh, we have the characters! They can die whenever we wish them to! Oops! There goes one! What will happen to the others? Oh, there's another one! Are you scared yet? Huh? Are you? Want to know more? Watch/read on! *evil laughter*"
Personally, I hate it when people do that. Makes me not want to read or watch whatever they're promoting. >_< Meh...
1) Mmm, reminds me of how I used to freeze Mars bars.
2) PS has this feeling of "looking back on it, with us meeting like that, maybe it's not so strange that we fell in love later on" for Harry and Hermione. I mean, the very first chapter after they befriend Hermione starts with a glowing description of how much that meant to Harry. And then there's the "friendship and bravery" scene, all of it. From the lip-quivering, to the bullrush hug, to the "Harry has to use logic to convince Hermione to do something rational", to the mutual admiration, to the everything about it dammit! Plus, when it comes to the troll-meeting, I'm looking at intentions and actions before I look at results. Just because Ron's use of Wingardium saved the day, doesn't make it more heroic than jumping a freakin' troll because you just have to save the girl! Plus Ron is literally only there because of Harry. If Harry hadn't had Hermione on his mind enough to remember that she couldn't know, Ron would have just gone along with the others.
To me it's all written in the sort of children's book way of a set up that if you were to read an epilogue where those two later got together and married, you wouldn't be too surprised. Their friendship started off as so indispensable, they needed each other. Sort of, I don't think you'd think they were in love (puppy love or otherwise) but you'd think they'd form a friendship that would grow into something like that.
3) Hold the characters hostage indeed. Death and rape are generally never well used in media, being the cheap scare tactics that are used to get the audience to think what you want them to. But because they don't consider the actual follow up, the reverse reaction is not too uncommon. You become annoyed instead of sad, raging mad instead of worried. All because the writers decided to put in an event without actual thoughts of consequences and characterisation, thinking it should be enough on its own. It's sort of how I think Rowling kind of embarrassed herself by thinking it strange that people were more upset with the death of Hedwig than they were with the death of nameless Muggle studies teacher that never had a line. She had forgotten that she had through the previous six books been investing the readers' emotions into this character, and that it therefor didn't matter if the character was an owl that couldn't speak. The owl was more "alive" to us than the teacher, even if the teacher was supposed to be "a fellow human being". But that's not how it works, because in the end? That teacher was never a human being, but a fictional character. You can't equate ink on paper with blood and flesh.
The only reason the readers cares about what happens to the characters, is because you as a writer make them care. And you can only do that by building up the characters so that they feel like flesh and blood, even if we can on an intellectual level realise that they are not. That requires giving reasons for the readers to emotionally invest themselves into the writing, by giving them characters that resound with you as a reader, and involve them in a story that makes sense on a consistant level. We end up caring for Harry because he starts off very sympathetic, and then we get to see him grow. And then his characterisation went all to hell, but until then we cared.
Another important thing though is that considering the actual follow up does not equate to "have them, regardless of prior characterisation, act in the exact way that you are supposed to react to these situations" because not everyone reacts the same way in reality, and the ideas of "how you're supposed to react" can be pretty damning. For it to actually work with the characters, one has to do two difficult things: One, get to know your character as a person, which is a must either way for proper characterisation. And two, actually force yourself to think about what the actual events mean and would feel like to their characters. You can never expect your readers to care about your characters, unless you care several times more. They might care more than you do any way (see Harry Potter) but you can't expect them to.
It's hard work, but if you aren't prepared to do it, you shouldn't use those tactics in the first place.
(Actually, due to what I consider my Magnum Opus project of original work, I have to consider this a lot. Basically I have two enemies who develop a strange bond with each other that eventually blossoms into a difficult love. I have to be really considerate of how the characters handle their situation and how they do fall in love, because otherwise this will be the most fail canon ship ever written! Although I do think that I might think more about the actual consequences of falling in love with an enemy than most works do. But then I do make these consequences way more abundantly clear and on the nose. And goddammit, these two characters are my one ultimate OTP. And I'm the only one who even knows about them and their world. I'm not even sure why I ship them so hard, maybe because while their relationship is difficult to write, whenever I get it right, I get it really right in a way I really feel. Mostly it confuses me because their relationship is so angsty, and I want to have them all fluffy and stuff, but at the same time I really enjoy writing them with all their bitter sadness, but they also have this wonderful banter that would be so cute if you didn't have to think about what they've been through together and because of each other. Goddammit!)
1. Frozen chocolate is great! Of course, I found the frozen cream inside the egg to be just as good! :)
2. Yeah, I don't think I'll ever get how the troll incident is supposed to be supportive of R/Hr. >_< I mean, Ron was the reason she was in the bathroom and he would have not gone at all had it not been for Harry remembering her. Had it been Ron who remembered and had to convince Harry, well, that's a whole different story! And they both saved her. Overall, it's a trio moment. It got them together, but not strictly R/Hr.
3. See, I like to scare people. Torture my readers, I call it! I like to pretend to be killing someone and then go, "Got ya!" Of course, I make sure the people have an emotional investment in the character before I do so. I don't like killing characters, but I do like to make people think I will. If I do kill some random character no one has had time to be emotionally involved in, it's only to show how cruel the villain can be. Nothing more than that! Oh, Hedwig! T_T I know! I heard of that happening! :( That upset me since I couldn't understand why I should be more invested in a random character getting killed and not Hedwig who had been around for 7 books! I didn't even read book 7 and I was upset over Hedwig!! T_T *cuddles her owl plushie*
Regarding the rest of your second comment, yep, I agree. That's how you're supposed to do things. Granted, I tend to keep that to certain stereotypical deaths (mentor types as one example) because I find myself way too attached to other characters to keep my head clear. And even then, I find having too many characters deaths too much. It should be rare or else you risk overdoing it.
Of course, like I said, I tend to be too emotional over characters. I'm not sure if I could kill a character anyway. :(
Isn't that the best of relationships, through? :) The ones that completely run away from you, despite all its frustrations? :)
2. Me, too. I definitely looks like you have to pick and choose the predictions (And seriously? I'm still not getting R/Hr, not from the first book).
3. That's true. All of it. I guess that's really all one can do. It may be just one now, but it could become a movement that takes over Hollywood one day. :)
Hey, at least you actually put some thought into it. Most would just be like, "Oh, I need some deaths here to make it realistic! Ah! We need some people to die here in order to engage the audience!" And usually, it's some nameless characters in the background or characters we care about and are either killed off quickly or off screen or just done to give reader/watcher a engage the reader and make them believe all the characters can die. Burst the bubble, so to speak. Hold the characters hostage and make the audience believe, "Oh, we have the characters! They can die whenever we wish them to! Oops! There goes one! What will happen to the others? Oh, there's another one! Are you scared yet? Huh? Are you? Want to know more? Watch/read on! *evil laughter*"
Personally, I hate it when people do that. Makes me not want to read or watch whatever they're promoting. >_< Meh...
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2) PS has this feeling of "looking back on it, with us meeting like that, maybe it's not so strange that we fell in love later on" for Harry and Hermione. I mean, the very first chapter after they befriend Hermione starts with a glowing description of how much that meant to Harry. And then there's the "friendship and bravery" scene, all of it. From the lip-quivering, to the bullrush hug, to the "Harry has to use logic to convince Hermione to do something rational", to the mutual admiration, to the everything about it dammit! Plus, when it comes to the troll-meeting, I'm looking at intentions and actions before I look at results. Just because Ron's use of Wingardium saved the day, doesn't make it more heroic than jumping a freakin' troll because you just have to save the girl! Plus Ron is literally only there because of Harry. If Harry hadn't had Hermione on his mind enough to remember that she couldn't know, Ron would have just gone along with the others.
To me it's all written in the sort of children's book way of a set up that if you were to read an epilogue where those two later got together and married, you wouldn't be too surprised. Their friendship started off as so indispensable, they needed each other. Sort of, I don't think you'd think they were in love (puppy love or otherwise) but you'd think they'd form a friendship that would grow into something like that.
3) Hold the characters hostage indeed. Death and rape are generally never well used in media, being the cheap scare tactics that are used to get the audience to think what you want them to. But because they don't consider the actual follow up, the reverse reaction is not too uncommon. You become annoyed instead of sad, raging mad instead of worried. All because the writers decided to put in an event without actual thoughts of consequences and characterisation, thinking it should be enough on its own. It's sort of how I think Rowling kind of embarrassed herself by thinking it strange that people were more upset with the death of Hedwig than they were with the death of nameless Muggle studies teacher that never had a line. She had forgotten that she had through the previous six books been investing the readers' emotions into this character, and that it therefor didn't matter if the character was an owl that couldn't speak. The owl was more "alive" to us than the teacher, even if the teacher was supposed to be "a fellow human being". But that's not how it works, because in the end? That teacher was never a human being, but a fictional character. You can't equate ink on paper with blood and flesh.
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Another important thing though is that considering the actual follow up does not equate to "have them, regardless of prior characterisation, act in the exact way that you are supposed to react to these situations" because not everyone reacts the same way in reality, and the ideas of "how you're supposed to react" can be pretty damning. For it to actually work with the characters, one has to do two difficult things: One, get to know your character as a person, which is a must either way for proper characterisation. And two, actually force yourself to think about what the actual events mean and would feel like to their characters. You can never expect your readers to care about your characters, unless you care several times more. They might care more than you do any way (see Harry Potter) but you can't expect them to.
It's hard work, but if you aren't prepared to do it, you shouldn't use those tactics in the first place.
(Actually, due to what I consider my Magnum Opus project of original work, I have to consider this a lot. Basically I have two enemies who develop a strange bond with each other that eventually blossoms into a difficult love. I have to be really considerate of how the characters handle their situation and how they do fall in love, because otherwise this will be the most fail canon ship ever written! Although I do think that I might think more about the actual consequences of falling in love with an enemy than most works do. But then I do make these consequences way more abundantly clear and on the nose. And goddammit, these two characters are my one ultimate OTP. And I'm the only one who even knows about them and their world. I'm not even sure why I ship them so hard, maybe because while their relationship is difficult to write, whenever I get it right, I get it really right in a way I really feel. Mostly it confuses me because their relationship is so angsty, and I want to have them all fluffy and stuff, but at the same time I really enjoy writing them with all their bitter sadness, but they also have this wonderful banter that would be so cute if you didn't have to think about what they've been through together and because of each other. Goddammit!)
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2. Yeah, I don't think I'll ever get how the troll incident is supposed to be supportive of R/Hr. >_< I mean, Ron was the reason she was in the bathroom and he would have not gone at all had it not been for Harry remembering her. Had it been Ron who remembered and had to convince Harry, well, that's a whole different story! And they both saved her. Overall, it's a trio moment. It got them together, but not strictly R/Hr.
3. See, I like to scare people. Torture my readers, I call it! I like to pretend to be killing someone and then go, "Got ya!" Of course, I make sure the people have an emotional investment in the character before I do so. I don't like killing characters, but I do like to make people think I will. If I do kill some random character no one has had time to be emotionally involved in, it's only to show how cruel the villain can be. Nothing more than that! Oh, Hedwig! T_T I know! I heard of that happening! :( That upset me since I couldn't understand why I should be more invested in a random character getting killed and not Hedwig who had been around for 7 books! I didn't even read book 7 and I was upset over Hedwig!! T_T *cuddles her owl plushie*
Regarding the rest of your second comment, yep, I agree. That's how you're supposed to do things. Granted, I tend to keep that to certain stereotypical deaths (mentor types as one example) because I find myself way too attached to other characters to keep my head clear. And even then, I find having too many characters deaths too much. It should be rare or else you risk overdoing it.
Of course, like I said, I tend to be too emotional over characters. I'm not sure if I could kill a character anyway. :(
Isn't that the best of relationships, through? :) The ones that completely run away from you, despite all its frustrations? :)
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