riventhorn | the most difficult to write

You're viewing

riventhorn's journal
Create a Dreamwidth Account Learn More

Reload page in style: site light

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

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.)

From:

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.

From:

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.

From:

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.

From:

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. :)