Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls Who Do You Find Most Difficult To Write?

Something Pam said over in another poll thread about finding Jonathan difficult to write for gave me the idea for this poll. I'd be intrigued to see which characters writers have most difficulties with.

When I was writing Masques, I was pretty spooked to begin with because it was the first time I'd really had to write Lex Luthor and I wasn't at all sure I could do him justice. As it turned out he was a lot of fun to work with and didn't give me too many problems.

So, writers - which of the LNC characters do you find hardest to write?

Anyway, hope I get this right. <G>

(Edit: Okay, ignore that typo in the poll itself. Should have waited till I was fully awake, I guess, to do this. )

LabRat

I put down Other. For some reason, I have no trouble sketching out a plot that involves Clark Kent and figuring out what he might say (i.e. teasing Lois about one thing or working on a story.) But I wish I could just cut Superman out of everything sometimes LOL! Sketching out a rescue or two on top of giving him a part in the evil villian's plot~saving the day blah blah~ just drives me crazy--I can't do it!

I'd have to go with villains. I'm working on a story right now, and I'm having a terrible time getting inside the villains' heads. Well, I've done other stories where I borrowed the villains from the show, and they weren't so hard. But for this story, well, I'm having a hard time deciding *who* my villains are, and it makes things so much tougher...

Melisma (trying not to worry about it, here under her Rock)

Well, I have voted for Cat, although I have to say that I was tempted to go for 'villain' or 'other'. The thing is, sometimes villains cooperate, and other times they don't. Sometimes I can come up with what I hope is a convincing original character. Sometimes I can't.

Perry I find tricky, but if I fight with him for long enough, we usually reach an almost satisfactory compromise. I'm sure 'my' Perry's could be better, but I can usually live with what I come up with.

Lex... I think I'm doing okay with Lex these days. I hope so, anyway. However, sometimes he won't be evil enough for me. Then I really have to prod him with a poker.

Cat, though... Cat I find thoroughly intimidating as a character to write. In fact, I'm not sure that I have ever actually included her in any of my stories, and it is simply because I don't think I could do her convincingly.

So, my answer is, it depends upon the circumstances.

Chris

I voted for 'other villian' although I probably should have included 'other' too.

With EAJALAC I'm having the most trouble writing the villian (trying not to give spoilers for those who haven't read it), because I've taken some characters from the show and changed some aspects of their personalities while leaving some other aspects the same.

~Anna

The other thing I have difficulty with is re-doing a moment that's been done a thousand times before... revisiting the "ordinary man" speech, or the "I thought you were dead, you rat bastard..." from TOGOM or Pilot rewrites... But then I'm easily bored I either try to come up with an interesting new twist (and I'm impressed when other authors manage that, too) or find a way to sidestep the problem entirely. "Two hours later, they'd agreed they'd both made mistakes and resolved to move forward." <g>

PJ

i put down "other." lois and clark live in my head. i give them a situation, they react to it, and there you go. it happens to a lesser degree with martha, jonathan, and perry. i think i've seen enough of pretty much all the main l&c characters that i can get a good feel for style. since i tend to focus on l&c, that's more or less all i need. if i have trouble writing someone else, well, they conveniently manage to not show up in the story that much.

it's the other characters that i have trouble with, the ones i don't know very well, especially the ones i have to invent myself. i think that may be the hardest part. maybe.

the thing that i really have the most trouble with, actually, is the plots. i can come up with ideas left and right, and i can usually come up with the people i need to make them work. i can come up with a few things that i think should happen and a general direction, but i have a devil of a time trying to flesh out the plots. that's why my average fic length is less than 15k...

Paul

Oh, I know, I so hear you there. If I can figure out how to flesh out some of my plots, like I would be writing epics right and left. But I usually burn out after I hit somewhere around 20 pages.

I tended to have the most trouble with Clark because I knew he was probably the most popular with the gentle readers.

Personally I'm not that enamored with Clark so it's harder to write him as interesting.

Lois is no problem.

Jimmy, I don't care about at all so I just ignore him. As for the others, they become the needed role fillers when I find I have use for one.

Tank the Retired (who can't understand why anyone would want to write a story that isn't about Lois)

I'd have to say the villains. The bad guy/gal can make or break a story, and they're the most challenging to write because it's difficult for me to understand their motivations.

I voted other, 'cause the one character I have the most problem with it Dr. Klein. I wasn't going to vote at all, but then Bernie showed up in the WIP I'm writing now and I realized my answer. Let's see, the reason..."Lois Babble" is easy. I do it in RL all the time, but "Techno Babble"...not so much!

I voted for Lois; I find reasonable/working/passionate Lois ok to write, but I'm no good at all with angry Lois.

I also voted for "Other", on account of original characters. In 8 stories, I've invented a grand total of two tiny bit-part original characters.

Mere

Oh, original characters get easier I think it took me a few years of practice, but they got easier... then when I was plotting Hearts Divided, it occurred to me that I'd need at least four OCs (with recurring involvement in the story, no less!) and panicked But as the story evolved, they did too, and I had a lot of fun with them

Though of course, you want to avoid making the OC the *main* character...

PJ

Funnily enough, original characters don't bother me at all. I guess because there are no rules to follow with them and no one can read it and say 'Well, X would never do that!'.

Although, I guess they could if it was a long story and a character pattern had been established that was worked against.

But, generally speaking, you have a much freer hand and less to worry about.

So, I'm curious - what is it about original characters that you've found restrictive?


LabRat

Main character OCs do run the risk of being < gasp! > Mary Sues.

It's why I enjoyed Gerry's "Date With Superman" so much. Rachel was very much an OC, but she didn't discover Superman's ID before (or even after) Lois, come from Krypton, wow everyone with her brilliance, investigate a mystery with more efficiency than Lois, discover a familial relationship with any of the main characters, reflect back on her close personal relationship with any of the main characters in the past, rescue Superman from Kryptonite, or even fall in love with Jimmy. (Of course, Tank prolly wouldn't classify that last as Mary Sue behavior... )

I'd say villains, particularly original villains, are the hardest characters to do right. I only read the first few sections of Yvonne's Purity, for example, so I can't say whether or not the characterization lasted all the way through, but her villains there were superb. Not insane mwa ha ha! types, but rather people with their own agenda, prepared to coldly and ruthlessly pursue it. Most bad guys don't think of themselves as such. Well, except for Tempus. And Lex, who was darn proud of it. :p

LabRat, I don't think that it is a problem with writing original characters, so much as writing original characters in the context of fan fiction. The problem there is that there are a couple of unwritten... not rules... exactly, but conventions / dangers of which I think the writer needs to be aware.

1) there is the danger that they might turn into Mary Sues, as Hazel said.
2) there is the danger that they become the focus of the story. Okay, so using original characters works sometimes, but I think there is a danger that they tip the balance away from Lois and Clark (or other series' characters), who, after all who the story is supposedly about. (But remember, there are exceptions to every rule; Irene's Firestorm etc series works very well indeed.)

So long as original characters stay in the background and advance Lois and Clark's plot they are fine.

What makes original characters intimidating, however, is that you have to flesh them out. With established characters, you can jump straight in to the story. We know what Clark looks like. We know what his motivations are. Ditto Lois. The challenge then is to get the established characters to react to the situation in which you place them.

Original characters are different. You need to sketch enough background to show where they are coming from, but not so much as to be boring. That is a quite different skill. The challenge with established characters is to keep them in character. With original characters, it is to give them a character to begin with, and make it one that the readers can react to and sympathise with.

I want to write original fiction, too. Oddly, I find that less daunting than writing original characters in the context of fanfic. There I can do what I like; they can react off each other. They can take over the whole story. That doesn't matter. It does here.

Does that make any kind of sense at all?

Chris

Yes, very good points, Chris and Hazel. And, of course, that's why many cut their writing teeth on fanfic - because they have a ready-made set of characters there that everyone recognises instantly and they don't need to do the groundwork on. That's very true.

In fact, now that you've pointed it out, I dare say that was the case for me too, when I started writing fanfic. It's so lost in the midsts of time that I've forgotten, but I'm pretty sure it must have been easier to start with established characters than it was to launch into my own.

LabRat

Uh, just curious. Does anyone want to elaborate on what 'Mary Sue behavior' is?

there's a good explanation of mary sue-ism here, which is where i got this particularly relevant exceprt...

basically, a "mary sue" is a way for an author to write him- or herself into the story and show off how cool the "character" is. wesley crusher from "star trek: the next generation" was, as mentioned, named after gene roddenberry, and was a representation of everything he wanted to be.

most mary sues, however, are not as well written as wes (and there are a lot of people who don't like wes, either).

hope that helps.

Paul

EDIT: i see chris was posting when i posted. yes, "gary stu" is a term for a male mary sue.

also, there are some fun mary sues... when this came up a couple years ago, tara "starkitty" smith took the idea and ran with it... take a look here.

Shadow, a 'Mary Sue' is a character who is more perfect than perfect. Imagine (and try not to shudder when you do so) a (usually female) character who:

1)is more beautiful than any of the other characters

2)has the most perfect personality

3)attracts the attention of all the male characters; they fall over themselves, competing for her attention

4)resolves the plot, saves the day etc etc etc, making all the other characters look flat-footed and useless in the process.

I believe the male equivalent is Gary Stu. Can someone confirm that?

Thankfully, there is very little Mary Sue-ism in LnC fanfic, but it is very common elsewhere. For more information, you might want to go here .

Chris