How do you get over this problem in your writing?

Legendofgenii 2020-11-09 20:52:13 UTC #21

It’s all fantasy... right.

nathanKmcwilliams 2020-11-09 20:58:25 UTC #22

Oh yeah. That's not something that worries me, I'm able to separate reality from fiction with ease. I used to do a bit of character acting when I was younger, so that helped a lot with separating myself from the things I write.

I know a lot of people struggle with that though.

CeeMTaylor 2020-11-09 21:01:18 UTC #23

Very true, and very good point --

And perhaps a way to combine both outcomes for the author. Then it's not the MCs making the choice to kill, but the justice system reaching a natural, in-world conclusion.

Ah, this is very interesting! In which case there are definitely historical models that come into play.

Capital punishment following a trial might be a possibility for some of your antags, whereas others might be spared for showing remorse or for having a lesser role in atrocities committed (a la Nuremberg, which did result in death-by-hanging-or-firing-squad on multiple occasions, as Domi rightfully pointed out).

Something else you could take a look at is Reconciliation (capital R) in South Africa following the end of apartheid. I'm not South African myself and studied it relatively briefly (thus, don't want to say too much because I'm not super well-informed), but its aim was to heal and reconcile bitterly, deeply divided parts of their country by 1) holding those responsible for apartheid accountable and 2) bringing citizens who supported / participated in it back into the fold.

While I wouldn't model fictional events directly after IRL wars (and the fallout that followed), they might give you a little more background ideas re: a possible range of outcomes.

Butting in here to add that, even if there is something wrong with it ... sometimes it takes drafting it out and showing it to others to work out where the problem is. There's nothing bad about rewriting a chapter where your original idea didn't work!

I think sometimes we find it hard to give ourselves permission to try things that might not work. At least, I find that to be true in my case.

Legendofgenii 2020-11-09 21:05:11 UTC #24

Ah sorry, that was totally mean’t as a joke... I’m not very good at those.

aqua03 2020-11-09 21:10:18 UTC #25

Thanks. Yeah, one think I've been learning recently is that there's not really a "One size fits all" when it comes to production. Especially with "One man show" type of things like independent webcomics.

Yeah, though sometimes i wonder if I'm a bit too critical regarding Drachenseele given that I've had other story ideas that cover similar grounds to Drachenseele or deal with darker subject matter that I've been fine with. (Heck, one one shot idea I've been tossing around I've been having a bit too much catharsis in coming up with how the protagonist would finish off the absolutely vile main antagonist to make him pay for all the lives he's taken, including the protagonist's brother.) Maybe it's because of the fact that the Tarako and Dredge are two entirely separate races as well, so that kinda dips a little bit into things like racism and that's always a difficult theme to tackle gracefully, especially when it's more of a side theme as opposed to the main theme of the story as well.

domisotto 2020-11-09 21:20:31 UTC #26

And you don't even have to present the execution itself. Just the jury decision moment, tension builder, and the horror, remorse or defiance of the villains. that's all good drama.

Legendofgenii 2020-11-09 21:25:18 UTC #27

Hey if this is your passion project, never feel like any time you spend on it is time wasted. Research, development, critical thinking, even day dreaming about it for hours on end just means you are completely invested in it - heart and soul.

I’ve been reading your posts here on the forum and I can already see that you are.

aqua03 2020-11-09 21:43:41 UTC #28

You know, I've studied so much mythology for Drachenseele that I also should study some real world events or political groups similar to the plot of my comic as well. (As opposed to taking the easy way out and just making everything Space WW2 like so many things seem to make their fantasy conflicts. )

Yeah, that's something I need to keep telling myself that no idea springs fully formed and perfect from your head first try. You just gotta iterate upon your stuff and get it out there until it's good enough.

Thanks. That really means a lot to hear that. I guess I also don't want to just sit around on my passion project and never get anything done and build up an impossible standard in my head for it with it either like what happened last time with my previous passion project DRAGOONS/DRGN.

CeeMTaylor 2020-11-09 23:26:57 UTC #29

This!

It also sounds like you're already halfway there with some of your ideas! As someone who compulsively writes a lot of political themes into my writing, I eventually just had to bite the bullet and start looking at real-world events that mirrored what I was trying to do in-story and see how they unfolded -- not to directly ape them, but to get a deeper understanding of what I was trying to write. Like you said, it's not SpaceNazis, but it's examining how fascism became A Thing in one of the best-educated countries of the world at the time, etc.etc.

Now if only I could take my own advice .

aqua03 2020-11-10 01:00:08 UTC #30

You know, I wonder if a big problem I have with the Dragoons compared to other characters I have is the fact that I might have poured a bit too much of myself into the Creation of the Dragoons. Like, Selena is heavily based off of my own philosophies and others are partially based off of old self insert OCs I had. (Heck, Flare originally was an edgy self insert along with Zephyr to a lesser degree)

So maybe I'm having a bit of trouble with the more morally grey story for Drachenseele because of how attached I am/was to these characters. Hence why it feels a little bit more "Personal" to me when I write them in general if that makes sense.

Have you guys ever struggled with that regarding your own characters, feeling that they were based a bit too much off of you that it might have gotten in the way of writing for one reason or another?

How'd you get out of that trap if you did?

kelchan 2020-11-11 02:48:15 UTC #31

Theres plenty of stories where the MC don't kill the villians. I feel personally, if you understand your characters motivations and remove yourself and what you would personally do from the equation, seeing it though your characters eyes, everything writes itself. It sounds like you're writing a story about yourself through other characters instead of writing a story yourself about other characters, if that makes any sense.

To me my chars are always their own ppl, if we met irl we'd have disagreements, different views on things etc. They're just people so when I write something like this they may do things in certain situations that I'd never do.

Understand your characters backstories as well as well as their fears and hopes, it makes it easier to understand their morality and decision making.

aqua03 2020-11-11 03:07:31 UTC #32

Thanks for the advice. That makes sense. So focus more on how your characters would react as opposed to how'd you react to the situations they're in more or less?