the most difficult to write

[riventhorn]

 For those looking to procrastinate on their 520 assignment and other interested parties:

Which Guardian characters are the most difficult for you to write?

Poll #22011 Writing is hard!

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 17

View Respondents

Between the two leads

View Answers

Zhao Yunlan
3 (25.0%)

Shen Wei
9 (75.0%)

Among the SID

View Answers

Da Qing
1 (6.2%)

Lin Jing
6 (37.5%)

Zhu Hong
3 (18.8%)

Chu Shuzhi
4 (25.0%)

Guo Changcheng
4 (25.0%)

Wang Zheng
10 (62.5%)

Sang Zan
8 (50.0%)

Lao Li
9 (56.2%)

Other characters

View Answers

Ye Zun
3 (25.0%)

Zhu Jiu
3 (25.0%)

The Regent
6 (50.0%)

Zhao Xinci
5 (41.7%)

Other
2 (16.7%)

For myself, the answer to the first is Zhao Yunlan. I find it very difficult to get his often flippant, teasing attitude right, especially in dialogue.

For the second, I haven't really written Wang Zheng and Sang Zan much. So probably Lin Jing.

The third is hands down the Regent. Uggh--so hard. 

Comments

[jo_lasalle]

I was quite intimidated by Shen Wei before I wrote from his POV for the first time. Like, pacing the room and avoiding the desk nervous. I ended up powering through, but I do think he's the trickier guy to write, in part because more of his characterisation is about silences and the eleventy things he says with his face. Zhao Yunlan is a complicated character to get right too, but it's my impression at least that you can get... within ballpark distance of him and it sounds 'pretty close', because he's just louder and more verbal and closer to a type. Not-quite-right Shen Wei sounds more actively wrong, to me at least.

From the supporting cast, I find Wang Zheng the hardest; I find her a bit bland and opaque, but also feel like she should be interesting with her backstory, and I think the office HR person is actually important, and she's one of only two regular female characters, so I don't want to write her 'bland and opaque' but I have a hard time really finding a hook for her.(Not that I'd be likely to write from her POV, so it's less daunting than bloody Shen Wei was. But still.)

[riventhorn]

yeah, Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan are both difficult, it's true. I feel like I found my "Shen Wei voice," though, and I still haven't found my Zhao Yunlan voice exactly. When I write Shen Wei, he has a distinctive feeling in my mind now. Of course, my Shen Wei is my Shen Wei, that is, my interpretation of and feeling of his character. But that's always the way with fanfic and why it is always so interesting to see a character reflected through various authors' voices.

[maggie33]

I do think he's the trickier guy to write, in part because more of his characterisation is about silences and the eleventy things he says with his face. Zhao Yunlan is a complicated character to get right too, but it's my impression at least that you can get... within ballpark distance of him and it sounds 'pretty close', because he's just louder and more verbal and closer to a type.

It’s the same for me. Zhao Yunlan is a complicated character, but a bit easier to write for me. I tried writing a scene in one of my unfinished fics from Shen Wei’s POV and I got stuck pretty early on. It was much harder than I expected.

[jo_lasalle]

Yeah, I know what you mean. It's also a bit like... with Zhao Yunlan, you can warm up by writing him 'sort of close' and getting closer as you write? When Shen Wei is not quite right, it really stops me in my tracks and I have to Think It Through and argh.

Once I actually got there, I realised that there are also aspects of Shen Wei that I come easier to me (the restraint, in particular - a guy who has a leash on his own mind all the time actually plays to my natural writing style more than Zhao Yunlan's cop brain), but the getting there to start with was haaaaard.

[maggie33]

but the getting there to start with was haaaaard.

Ha, yes, that’s exactly the thing. :) I know that I should just try again. But as you said, I wrote a scene and Shen Wei was just not quite right and I didn’t know what to do to change that. And I got discouraged. But I will try again, just maybe not right now. :)

[jo_lasalle]

Yeah, maybe good to give it a break. But I hope you can figure him out and it'll be easier when you pick it back up! *cheers you on*

[green]

I haven't really written a lot of the characters so far, so I can't really say. Shen Wei's been the hardest for me so far. We'll see about the others later on. :)

[riventhorn]

I haven't delved too much into many of them either, but in the long fic I'm working on, I'm starting to and am struggling with Lin Jing in particular.

[teaotter]

It took me ages to get a hook for Shen Wei. Zhao Yunlan is a million times easier for me to write. I like characters who talk a lot but talk around things.

I have a scene that I've been working on that should be from Lin Jing's perspective. It's hard. His job in the drama is frequently to hang the lampshade on how all this magic-tech is actually SCIENCE!!! but I just can't figure out how that would work from the inside.

[riventhorn]

I haven't written Lin Jing's pov yet, either. But depending on how closely it's sticking to canon, it would also be interesting to try to capture the constant guilt he must feel for being a spy. The fic I'm writing now is an AU, so at least I don't have to worry about that part!

[tsubame_17]

OH! I did the same selection that you!

[riventhorn]

:) Zhao Yunlan is so difficult!! And I think I thought the opposite would be the case, but no.

Although part of it might depend on the setting. I've found the canon fics I've written from ZYL's pov a bit easier as opposed to this AU I'm working on.

[tsubame_17]

Zhao Yunlan is a really difficult for me because I don't understand him, I will try again when I read the novel and find a little more of my vision of him.

[extrapenguin]

For me, the hardest characters are split into three categories:
1. those where I have to spend an hour thinking about what they know and what sort of internality they'd have at this point, because they have lots of secrets in canon/are a total mystery onion and then I'd spend the whole fic second-guessing my choices (ex: Shen Wei, Da Qing, Zhao Xinci)
2. those where I just don't care about the character/the plots they get (ex: Sang Zan, Lao Li, Wang Zheng post-Hanga arc)
3. those where I haaaate the character too much to effectively immerse myself into their heads (ex: Guo Changcheng, some of the one-offs)

...so. Yeah.

[riventhorn]

Canon-setting fics can definitely be tricky in that regard, especially as canon itself is rather unclear on who knows what when.

Admittedly, many of them like Wang Zheng I haven't really tried to write much. Although sometimes I find that characters who aren't developed much in canon are actually easier to write because you have more freedom in developing their character yourself without risking any OOC moments.

For me, Guardian doesn't have any characters I dislike too much to want to write, thankfully!

[extrapenguin]

TBH, I only really write canon-setting stuff. (And am only really interested in canon-setting stuff. There are some setting change fics I've enjoyed, but I don't see there being a problem with the setting, so there's no need to "cure" it by e.g. making everyone a regular human.)

Although sometimes I find that characters who aren't developed much in canon are actually easier to write because you have more freedom in developing their character yourself without risking any OOC moments.
True, but if a character only really has one "hook" and I don't like that hook, it's going to be annoying, because I'm not into the one confirmed canon trait they have. :P

[teaotter]

a total mystery onion

Lol! I'm adopting that phrase!

[extrapenguin]

:D Go ahead! Everyone's favorite mystery onion has layers and layers of secrets, and unpeeling them will just make you cry at all the characterization takes you have to throw in the trash. *g*

[trobadora]

Your poll is missing the option of "EVERYONE". *cries bitter tears*

[riventhorn]

Oh dear! I sense trouble with a fic in that answer!

[trobadora]

I've been having trouble writing in general for some time now, so, yeah. :(

It's not the fic, or the characters. It's all me.

[riventhorn]

That is the worst feeling. *sends good vibes your way*

[xparrot]

Oooh, interesting! I find Shen Wei's POV harder to maintain (I've only done it a bit and the longest thing I've done with it I ended up hurting him pretty badly just to make him more manageable) because he's inhuman in multiple respects and fundamentally contradictory. Zhao Yunlan's POV comes easily to me because he's in a general mold I have a lot of experience with ficcing for, cocky and confident -- and super-sharp and very observant, which means you can convincingly squeeze almost any necessary detail into the narration; he's probably right there noticing it, whatever it is.

On the other hand Zhao Yunlan is one of the worst characters I've ever dealt with for just going and doing his own thing and not telling me why or that he was going to do it, which I think is why I keep ending up with fic five or ten times longer than planned? He's on a level with Loki in that and Loki is a damn trickster god! So...

Of the SID crew I find Lao Li the hardest because to date I have never actually remembered he exists and so have never have managed to write him at all! :P

[riventhorn]

Zhao Yunlan's keen observation skills are definitely handy in that regard!

At some point, I want to write a fic about Lao Li and Da Qing's relationship because I think it's really sweet.

[rheasilvia]

These are very good questions for which I don't really have good answers. :-)

I couldn't answer the first question because while both of them have given me considerable trouble (in very different ways), I don't think either of them is harder for me to write in general - for me, it depends on the story and situation. I think they both got easier once I felt I had a better handle on their overall motivations, but in some situations it's still very tricky.

And I haven't written many of the other characters yet, except for Da Qing, so my answers there are mostly hypothetical! ;-)

[riventhorn]

It's true that the story and setting have a big effect. Ironically, I think I have written more from Zhao Yunlan's pov than Shen Wei's.

And yes, there are many characters I haven't written yet either, but in the long AU I'm working on, a lot of them are going to come up. I am looking forward to trying out Ye Zun! I am regretting including the Regent.

[rheasilvia]

The Regent is definitely a challenge! I love him as a character precisely because he is so hard to pin down, but yeah.

I haven't written him yet, but I do have a plot bunny with him in a prominent role. It's not really his POV, though, and it's crack, so that may be cheating a bit. ;-)

Good luck with your AU!!!