Thoughts on heroines

[katzengirl]

Well, the title is a bit misleading, it's just my mumble/ramble on my own my characters. I've got several different stories running around in my head practically all the time, and they are mostly fanfiction. (I consider premade sims stories a type of fanfiction.) Some I've published at fanfiction.net, some I've put up here, others, just on my own

Comments

[ext_218722]

Honey, nobody is good at the writing thing until they've written a lot. If reading other people's ideas about what makes a good character freezes your brain, stop reading them. You do not have to do everything "right." There is no "right." There's only the best you can do now, which is good enough - for now

[katzengirl]

Hi! I'm not sure if you're a simmer I know (with a different name) or a simmer who found my post through someone else, but I'm glad you commented. Thank you so much for your advice and bolstering my confidence. I've reread your comment at least six times now, and I think I'll come back to it any time I need that permission. It's a laying on of hands saying, "go forth and write!" And it was much needed, so thank you.

[genlisae]

Wow. Okay, deep breath. Then maybe another one and STOP STRESSING

[katzengirl]

Thank you, Kate. You are one of my inspirations when it comes to sims stories, so when you comment I get warm fuzzies, lol.

I've said recently several times that I can't get into playing TS2 premades anymore because the characters are so much more to me than what the game allows me to do with them. They have a much broader spectrum and more depth than [grow up, skill-skill-skill, make friends, have a romance, grow old, die].

It means a lot that, even with my little snippet up there, you can see that my characters aren't flat like I think they are. Thank you for telling me that.

I love that you keep telling me to breathe. I was telling my husband about all that's going on in my head with my stories, and when I stopped to look at him, he's got the wide, bug-eyed look of "OMG woman, stop and breathe for a minute!"

[marazion]

Hello, I found your journal while browsing, and this post really struck a chord with me. This is something I worry about all the time to the point it cripples my writing. Ever since I discovered what a Mary-Sue was, I've been paranoid my female characters are going to end up as one. I feel like I'm standing in a room filled with man traps at times, and every time I move the story forward I walk into another trap and my character becomes a Mary Sue.

Also, I can never sit down and work out whether they actually have arcs or not. Or flaws. I find if I start thinking too much about those sorts of things my brain just shuts down! My characters probably do have flaws looking at the way I've written them but I probably couldn't tell you what they were.

I always put a bit of myself into my main character as well. (I write in first person too.) In my current wip my main character suffers from depression, and she got that from me (which I'm sure she's very grateful for).

Anyway, I just wanted you to know you're definitely not alone on this!