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I can't write Lex Luthor.

I've never been able to. It's as if I have a tin ear where his character is concerned. So, try as I might to insert him into a fic, I've never pulled it off. I'm sorry to say I'm stricken with Lex Luthor Specific Writer's Block. I have no idea why.

I was lamenting this to another writer- who, exactly, I can't remember- and that writer had a similiar affliction, only it was Martha Block.

Which got me wondering if others are suffering silently, unable to write certain characters, not knowing why, and thinking they're alone in their difficulty...<sniff>

Who can't you write? And why not, do you think?

And on the flip side, who comes really easily? Does exactly as you ask and sounds precisely how they should?

And those of you who can write them all, don't be afraid to speak up and say so. (I have my suspicions, anyway.) If no character eludes your writer's lasso, then what's your secret? I want to know!

CC- who thanks one and all for any answers that come her way. I do award bonus points rather freely... just saying.

As far as I'm concerned I can't do...anyone I haven't tackled yet.

I get into a cold sweat every single time I have to write a 'new' character.

I was convinced I couldn't do Luthor - the thought of writing him in Masques terrified me. But when it came down to it, I just found him terrific fun to do, he was uncharacteristicaly kind enough not to give me any real problems, and, fortunately, no one who's read Masques has ever emailed me to say he was horrifically OOC, so I guess I didn't do too badly.

Can't think offhand of anyone else other than Lois and Clark I've written for. Jimmy. Did Jimmy in Caped Fear. But didn't find he was especially difficult.

I did chicken out in Caped Fear and not use Henderson because I had no confidence I could capture him properly. Ended up with an entirely different detective instead. He started out as Henderson early on, but along the way and pretty quickly seemed to morph into someone else, so I figured I might as well change the name and be done with it. <g> I think I watch too many cop shows to do Henderson properly. In Caped Fear, my detective just seemed naturally to owe much more to NYPD Blue than LNC.

Martha and Jonathan...can't recall that I've tackled them in anything posted. Martha in Epiphany, but that was only a few lines. Hard to mess that up. I have tackled both in various WIPs, but no one's viewed those yet and I'm less than sure they're right. Time - and my betas and readers - will tell. Well, might tell, if the Muse can be persuaded to finish them off.

The WIPs, not Martha and Jonathan. My Muse, so far as I know, doesn't moonlight as a hired assassin. /me narrows her eyes suspiciously at the Muse and wonders why she's wearing Ninja-chic.

Think that's it. At least, it's all my brain can cope with before lunch.

Oh, on the flipside: Lois and Clark - never had a problem with either of them. Thank goodness.

LabRat

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

Well, I'm sitting here racking my brains to think of anyone I really struggle with. I mean, on one level, I struggle with the entire cast and actually find my pet original character the easiest of all to write. After all, he's entirely my own invention, so I ought to know how he's going to behave.

But on another level, I really don't feel that daunted by any member of the cast. I've attempted most of them and have never reached the point where I haven't a clue what to do next. That said, like Wendy, I'm sure my readers have their own opinions on how well I write L&C characters, and those opinions won't necessarily agree with my own.

If I had to pick one character, I guess it would be Lois. I find it really hard to get inside her head; often I feel like I'm writing a pastiche of her real feelings and motivation. Writing Damaged was pure torture for me, because so much of it had to be from her POV - even though this was altLois and therefore I had more latitude with her character than normal. But I just can't empathise with her as well as I think I can with Clark. I don't know what it is - you'd think an urban woman from Earth would find it easier to get inside the head of another urban Earth woman, but instead, I find it much simpler to think like a farmboy from Krypton.

The supporting characters - Perry, Jimmy, Cat, Henderson, Klein, Tempus, Lex, etc - all have their little challenges, but the one which overrides all others for me is speech patterns. They're American and I'm not. I've had massive exposure to American speech patterns, of course, because American culture is so pervasive within our society (that's not a complaint, btw ) but it's still not my natural idiom and I *know* I get it wrong. But their motivation and behaviour patterns? I think I've got them sussed.

Yvonne

Well, to any of you who *think* you can't write a good character, I'm impressed as all heck that you even attempt it in the first place! I've avoided writing Lex and Nigel and Tempus altogether because they scare the heck out of me.

While I agree 100% with Wendy that readers' ideas of whether or not I write a good/bad character may differ completely with my own, I find that it's easiest for me to write Clark and a lot harder for Lois. In fact, until Haunting Eden I absolutely hated having to write from Lois's POV (with the exception of my very first fanfic). Funny enough, though, once I had Lois interacting with someone other than Clark, she came easier for me and I started to love writing her scenes with Grayson Ford. I have no idea why.

Lynn

Ahem.

It depends on the story. In some stories I've fallen way out of character, so much that as I think of them, I say to myself "Jesus, what was I thinking?" In others, I say "Wow, that was well done!".

I'm not sure I can answer this question by giving particular names. Generally, I think it's a matter of inspiration.

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

I can't write at all even though I have some good ideas. Just wanted to let you know that I think you all do a very good job. I think most writers do okay staying true to character. If there is ever a problem it is usually making the character too much. As in Lois a tad to bitchy or Clark a tad to wimpy when deal with Lois.

If I could write I would have problems with Lex and Tempus just because I feel that bring Lex back from the dead was a lot over the top. Once he jumped and went splat that should have been the end of him. I also don't care for Tempus so I would never even use him as a character.

Keep up the good work so those of us who can't write can keep enjoying.

Hmm...

Not that I have the patience to write anything beyond 6 pages :p , but I would think the supporting characters are easier to write simply because the show itself never spent an excessive amount of time delving into them. It seems to me that it would be easier to take a couple of liberties with them.

Clark just oozes out the word 'complex' when I think about him.

JD

I have... er, had trouble writing everyone except Lois.

I know who Lois is. I have a definite image of her and so I pretty much am comfortable with what I feel she will do and/or say in most situations. Now my vision of Lois is my own and may not jibe with the gentle readers but at least she's not a problem to write.

The main reason I feel I have trouble with everyone else except Lois is because Lois is the only one I actually care about.

Tank (who can't seem to write orginal characters either)

What an interesting discussion.

I think the character I have the most problems with is Tempus. The very first story I wrote with Tempus (Disruptions In Time), I was so intimated that by his speach patterns that I didn't write a single word of dialogue by Tempus - which is quite a challenge when he is the bad guy in your story . I think I portrayed him okay in The Big Couldn't and in Without A Superman. But it was a challenge.

I do remember when I wrote The People v. Clark Kent, having to write Jefferson Cole. I spent hours rewatching The People v. Lois Lane. I took notes on his expressions and would close my eyes and just listen to him talk - trying to think like him. Now, that was a challenge - especially since I don't think I had read any other fics with him as a main character (but I could be wrong about that).

Lex, Henderson and Klein are a challenge for me. I've started to get better at writing for Klein only because I'm temping for him in another story I'm writing. Lex is going to be a new challenge for me because I've made him an NPC character in that same story and I need to create a small storyline around him soon.

Another hard group of people to write for are Ellen and Sam Lane, especially when you're writing for them when they are younger. I'm working on another round robin story where it's based on Lois and Clark's teen years and getting into the mind of an alcoholic Ellen Lane has been a challenge, but fun at the same time. (If that makes sense).

Perry White can be a challenge because I want to make sure I get all of that Southern lingo down just right.

I have no problem writing for Lois and Clark though...especially Lois. I find it easy to get inside her head. We're both kind of neurotic so I think that helps.

I've never tried writing Lex, but I think I would have problems with the current version of the character as seen on L&C as well as the current comics continuity. I always loved Lex as he was written by Elliot S! Maggin in "Last Son of Krypton" and "Miracle Monday" and I have difficulty appreciating him any other way. He was the irreverent outlaw who was just looking for someone to have an intelligent conversation with. Well, have a conversation with as he broke all of those stupid laws society had incorrectly made anyway.

As for characters I love.to write...Lois, of course, jumps straight to mind. I really didn't think I would enjoy writing her as much as I did, but once I started I fell more in love with her than I had already been. I've even started working on a sort of stand alone Lois story. It's been fun just watching what she would do next because honestly I sometimes didn't know.

I do agree with Shadow in that I think supporting characters are a bit easier to write because there isn't a whole lot there from before so the writer can feel free to make them lean this way or that.

Let's see... Martha and Jonathan. I do okay with Martha, I guess... But I feel I'm too generic, too many "stock" phrases come out. "Oh, you poor dear!" That type of thing. So I'd say those are my two problem characters. Thank goodness my current wip is in the alt world. Though... I might have Lex in this story and that worries me since I've never attempted him before. We'll see what happens.

Now, as for who I *can* write... Well, I've found that I'm having an incredibly good time with alt-Clark. I don't think I'll ever be able to match Yvonne, Queen of Torturing Alt Clark, but I feel I'm doing pretty well. <g> Lois and Clark don't give me *too* much trouble... for the most part, though I certainly don't consider myself an expert. :p

There's this other character in my new wip that the muse is really starting to grow fond of... so this should be good.

I know this is a character thread... but can I just mention how much trouble I have with action? I'm not talking about bombs and shoot 'em up action, I'm talking about getting L&C from the apartment to the car! Does anyone else find that troubling? You know, without just saying: Lois and Clark went down to her jeep, got in, buckled their seat belts... Lois started the car and started driving to their destination... then the dialogue resumes.

See what I mean?

Interesting to read how much of a challenge people have writing secondary characters. So many stories really depend on our acceptance of these characters - that feeling that "Yeah, Henderson is just like that", or "That's so Martha". Am concluding that to recreate a secondary character so that we have a sense that we know this character and yet we're finding out more about him/her is quite an accomplishment for a writer.

Why is that I wonder?- a lack of empathy for a particualr character, or the challenge of capturing the speech patterns or an inablity to get inside the head of the character?

c (who never could write most secondary characters and now knows others have had the same difficulty - although, really Jimmy, is verrrry boring...

edit: Yes!! Those are the bits that always took me the longest to write, got the most attention in rewritng (frequent!) Yet to leave them out is to leave out what "Lois and Clark" was also about - these two people have jobs, they investigate, and he is .. welll... Superman. But so hard to write, harder than anyhting else.

Good gracious, yes. It's so incredibly tedious for me because I'll be all dialogue dialogue dialogue back and forth, and then it's like, okay wait. Lois has to get her jacket, and Clark needs to shut to door behind him, and then they have to both get in the car, but wait Lois should really start the car, and and...can't we just get back to the interesting stuff already? /me pulls some hair out. It's so annoyingly necessary, though. I can't plan out an entire story inside Clark's apartment because I'm afraid to let them out the door. Inside Clark's Apartment, coming to a fanfic archive near you.

JD
:p

LOL. This reminds of a story I was writing many years ago. I spent an entire afternoon stuck on one paragraph, in which I had to get my hero from one spot to another. Just could not find the words to do it.

Finally, in a fit of pure exasperation, I just exploded at myself, "Oh, for pity's sake, just say he walked across the bloody floor!"

It worked too. <g> Which was an object lesson in simple is always best and to avoid over-complicating matters.

LabRat

I was mostly intimidated by the thought of writing Tempus, which is why he never appeared in any of my fics until recently, and then they were very short appearances. I have no trouble with Lois and Clark (although others might think differently) Jimmy is no problem and I can swing into Perry's Southern speech pattern without any trouble (possibly because I learned to talk in North Carolina, and every now and then I catch myself doing a little bit of a Southern drawl.) Interestingly enough,, however, the supporting character I most love to write is Bill Henderson. Somehow, I seem to be able to get right inside his head and think just like him, which is scary when you think too much about it.

Nan

Peeping in to confess in shame...

I hate writing (angsty) Clark introspection. I can't write it as well as I write Lois. Or as easily, anyway. I end up dragging about things and trying really hard, where with Lois, if it doesn't come easily, at least it's not that difficult.

My explanation is pretty simple. I write until I feel he's such a wuss that I want to hit him in the face. And if I don't, then he's not wuss enough to me. <g>

/me hopes she won't mobbed

Julie

LOL, Julie!

I have the exact opposite problem to Sara. Dialogue comes to me fairly easily, but often I don't have a strong sense of where my characters are, what they're doing with their hands, and so on. So out comes a stream of dialogue with a sprinkling of internal thought. Then it occurs to me that this scene might be a whole lot more realistic if I got them to move around a bit while they're talking. But what to make them do? Well, the number of times my characters end up making coffee in the kitchen has to be seen to be believed.

But once I've figured out what they're doing, I don't have much problem describing it. The trick is to intersperse the actions with the dialogue or thoughts. I mean, that's pretty much what you do in real life, after all.

Yvonne

Lex and Tempus.

I've only done Lex in one story and I think the reason I haven't ever finished another one where he's supposed to play a fairly big role is . . . well, because he's supposed to play a fairly big role in it. And it's not that I think I can't do him either.

More that I'm almost afraid he'll take over the story . . .

As for Tempus . . . wwweeelll, I've never actually attempted to even write any scenes for him even though I've thought long and hard about putting him into stories. I think I have complete Tempus block. :rolleyes:

So I noticed something last night while I was writing. I was having a little trouble figuring out what Lois might do, so I put myself in her shoes and said, okay what would I be thinking if I was in this situation...

Does anyone else do that? Or maybe I'm just a little weird. :p

JD

LOL Jen! I do that all the time! And in testament to that fact, I'll share a little embarrassing moment with you. I was alone, so it wasn't *that* embarrassing, but still...

I'd been writing Lois for days and I was getting out of my car and stumbled over something. I said aloud, "Good one, Lois, good o.. ohmygod. I'm retarded."

I do find that it helps to write when you're actually in the character's mind... or as close as you can get. Sometimes I have trouble writing Lois's reactions when the conversation is in Clark's POV so I have to almost re-write it in my head from Lois's POV so that I get her reactions to ring more true.

Sara (who's off to do just that... <g>)