Fascinating question, CC!
I might not be the best judge of who I can and can't write. Readers of my stories might well have a different opinion of my portrayal of characters I think I do well!
(You know, her Lois really stinks. Nothing like the character on the show. And as for that guy called Clark, who the heck is he? :rolleyes: And it's just as well she uses the names Martha and Jonathan, because otherwise I'd never recognise them at all... You get the picture.
)
Anyway. I love writing Luthor. And Nigel. Dunno whether that means I do them well, but they're such fun to write. I love Lex's formal speech patterns and Nigel's even more formal speech, together with the very English cadences. Lex is so sure of himself, so confident, and he gains so much enjoyment from his plotting. He also has a way of sounding so sincere when he isn't at all. And then he has a tendency to lose his cool when things don't work out, and you can almost sense him beginning to unravel, at least for a moment. I just love him as a villain.
Lately, too, I've also discovered that I love writing Lois/Henderson banter. Whether or not my Henderson feels like the series' Henderson I have no idea, but I write him anyway.
Who do I find hardest to write? Tempus. No doubt about that whatsoever. Lex is easy because he's mostly a serious character. No joking around. His plots, even if they're highly complex, have a clear purpose. Tempus is complex in a different way - for him, although obviously he wants to get rid of Superman, the irony of any plot is what's so delicious about it, so it's never straightforward and he also can't avoid interfering, rather than simply sitting back and waiting for it to unfold. I can't write his speech patterns. I can't write his humour. I have difficulty thinking up plots which suit his style - I know I didn't pull it off the one time I did use Tempus as my main villain, and that's why I haven't used him again in any serious way, though I love him as a character and adore reading other people's Tempus stories.
There are other characters I shudder to think about writing, but then I've never been all that interested in writing about them so it doesn't matter so much. I envy Yvonne her Mindy in FoDIV, for example. Others write wonderful Marthas; I can only dabble there and have never really been happy with the results. Hazel and CC have both written Lanas I admire and even ended up liking - in CC's case, I liked her Lana more than Lois and Clark, as she knows.
Others (coughYvonnecough) have written Lanas I loathe, but that's also a tribute to how well they're written. Yvonne's also written an excellent Trask a time or two, as have Pam (coughHeartsUnitedcough), Erin, Carol and others.
Interesting question, CC! Looking forward to hearing what others have to say.
Wendy
