If Sufjan stevens liked Illinois so much why didn’t he write a song about the time my brother lost his iPod nano in the Chicago children’s museum ball pit and I wished on the first star I saw that night that it would be under my pillow when I woke up the next morning so I could give it back to him and when it wasn’t there I became disillusioned from the idea that the universe would manifest something for you if you wanted it terribly badly enough because it was fair the wishing star couldn’t give me a pet horse like I’d previously wished but this was such a simple and earnest request
WEIRDLY SPECIFIC BUT HELPFUL CHARACTER BUILDING QUESTIONS
- What’s the lie your character says most often?
- How loosely or strictly do they use the word ‘friend’?
- How often do they show their genuine emotions to others versus just the audience knowing?
- What’s a hobby they used to have that they miss?
- Can they cry on command? If so, what do they think about to make it happen?
- What’s their favorite [insert anything] that they’ve never recommended to anyone before?
- What would you (mun) yell in the middle of a crowd to find them? What would their best friend and/or romantic partner yell?
- How loose is their use of the phrase ‘I love you’?
- Do they give tough love or gentle love most often? Which do they prefer to receive?
- What fact do they excitedly tell everyone about at every opportunity?
- If someone was impersonating them, what would friends / family ask or do to tell the difference?
- What’s something that makes them laugh every single time? Be specific!
- When do they fake a smile? How often?
- How do they put out a candle?
- What’s the most obvious difference between their behavior at home, at work, at school, with friends, and when they’re alone?
- What kinds of people do they have arguments with in their head?
- What do they notice first in the mirror versus what most people first notice looking at them?
- Who do they love truly, 100% unconditionally (if anyone)?
- What would they do if stuck in a room with the person they’ve been avoiding?
- Who do they like as a person but hate their work? Vice versa, whose work do they like but don’t like the person?
- What common etiquette do they disagree with? Do they still follow it?
- What simple activity that most people do / can do scares your character?
- What do they feel guilty for that the other person(s) doesn’t / don’t even remember?
- Did they take a cookie from the cookie jar? What kind of cookie was it?
- What subject / topic do they know a lot about that’s completely useless to the direct plot?
- How would they respond to being fired by a good boss?
- What’s the worst gift they ever received? How did they respond?
- What do they tell people they want? What do they actually want?
- How do they respond when someone doesn’t believe them?
- When they make a mistake and feel bad, does the guilt differ when it’s personal versus when it’s professional?
- When do they feel the most guilt? How do they respond to it?
- If they committed one petty crime / misdemeanor, what would it be? Why?
- How do they greet someone they dislike / hate?
- How do they greet someone they like / love?
- What is the smallest, morally questionable choice they’ve made?
- Who do they keep in their life for professional gain? Is it for malicious intent?
- What’s a secret they haven’t told serious romantic partners and don’t plan to tell?
- What hobby are they good at in private, but bad at in front of others? Why?
- Would they rather be invited to an event to feel included or be excluded from an event if they were not genuinely wanted there?
- How do they respond to a loose handshake? What goes through their head?
- What phrases, pronunciations, or mannerisms did they pick up from someone / somewhere else?
- If invited to a TED Talk, what topic would they present on? What would the title of their presentation be?
- What do they commonly misinterpret because of their own upbringing / environment / biases? How do they respond when realizing the misunderstanding?
- What language would be easiest for them to learn? Why?
- What’s something unimportant / frivolous that they hate passionately?
- Are they a listener or a talker? If they’re a listener, what makes them talk? If they’re a talker, what makes them listen?
- Who have they forgotten about that remembers them very well?
- Who would they say ‘yes’ to if invited to do something they abhorred / strongly didn’t want to do?
- Would they eat something they find gross to be polite?
- What belief / moral / personality trait do they stand by that you (mun) personally don’t agree with?
- What’s a phrase they say a lot?
- Do they act on their immediate emotions, or do they wait for the facts before acting?
- Who would / do they believe without question?
- What’s their instinct in a fight / flight / freeze / fawn situation?
- What’s something they’re expected to enjoy based on their hobbies / profession that they actually dislike / hate?
- If they’re scared, who do they want comfort from? Does this answer change depending on the type of fear?
- What’s a simple daily activity / motion that they mess up often?
- How many hobbies have they attempted to have over their lifetime? Is there a common theme?
One of the hardest parts of writing gay anything is that they (often) use the same pronouns. Balancing names and pronouns so that I'm not overusing either of them is maybe THE hardest part of writing for me, because if you use 'he' too many times in a row you'll lose track of who's doing what, but too many names is repetitive and awkward to read!
“Alright,” Josh said, pushing him into the wall. “But it's really not that hard to navigate.”
“Who are you talking to?” Jayson replied.
“Shh,” he stroked his face, and studied his face like he was seeing it for the first time. “New speaker new line. They'll figure it out.”
He laughed nervously. “Are you seriously giving them a writing lesson right now?”
“Is it working?”
“I don't know,” he said. “Which one of us is speaking?”
“Obviously me,” Josh said. “It's not as if there's a third guy in this scene or anything.”
“Actually,” said the third guy.
Asteroid City (2023)
hey guys, i solved it! optimistic fiction and pessimistic fiction have the same moral value! we’ve done it! we’re free
like, ok
i’ll just pass this on to kurt vonnegut and fuckin…elie wiesel shall i
lmao YES like…whether you’re fourteen and creating characters who explode the preps with their brains or you’re an adult writing existentialist french novels…there are SO many reasons to engage with those ideas and emotions that aren’t “i am a rampaging asshole who hates hope” the way apparently some people assume??
like, it’s even reductive of who is experiencing the (fictional) cruelty. “dreaming of the battlefield” in dark fiction is just as likely (or more likely??) to mean “processing feelings of despair by imagining MYSELF as a cursed foot solider in an unending war” as it is “processing feelings of helplessness by imagining myself as powerful and unaffected by emotion”
or like. “hey guys, i actually WAS a cursed foot soldier in an unending war and it sucked shit.” if those guys are pessimists, fine, they earned it
from john ciardi’s translation of “the inferno” by dante alighieri