[Jei's Scrapbook] Scribbles, Doodles, and Scratches

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The player scrapbooks forum is literally a place for writers to warm-up, brainstorm, keep little scraps of notes, or just post things to encourage themselves and each other. Each player can feel free to create their own thread - one per account - and use them accordingly.

[Jei's Scrapbook] Scribbles, Doodles, and Scratches

Postby Jei on July 17th, 2018, 6:49 am

I'm not a very talented writer.

Hell, I'm hardly artistically inclined. I'm not gifted at drawing. I've never felt a thrill from playing an instrument. I've never been able to dance until my limbs became weary. My handwriting is straight and small, my hand focused more on conserving space and being legible than being pretty or elegant. My cursive is atrocious, I promise you, and my signature is literally a bit of scribbling and some quick little loopy things. And a dot for the 'i' in my first name.

I am, however, a coder. I learned HTML and CSS+ within a month, and as perfectionist as I am, everything I've made in that class has been either symmetrical or simply designed and "aesthetically pleasing". Not pretty or beautiful or inspiring or passionate, but.... Aesthetically pleasing.

I feel like I've accidentally started off Jei like that because of my writing. He's... Cardboard. He's a simple, pleasing code, interactive up to a point. A wild Myrian that has a penchant for eating people and stabbing things with an interesting looking dagger. A savage with a passion for war and the wild and the unknown.

One would think that he'd be fun to thread with, that people with flock to clash and encounter this (hopefully) unique adventurer. But not only do I fail to step out of my own mind and into that of a crazed man-eater, I fail to even make my failure look good. Thus far, my threads have been essay-like.

I don't know when and how to describe something to beautiful detail. To the sweet spot where the reader has just enough feel and begin to understand this character in earnest, but not so much that I would be commanding and telling the reader what to see. If that makes sense. I really don't know, but I do know that I am too symmetrical, plain, and static.

I'm not a very talented writer.


Last edited by Jei on November 8th, 2018, 5:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Jei
"Dance the edge of death..."
 
Posts: 28
Words: 23497
Joined roleplay: May 7th, 2018, 9:31 pm
Race: Myrian
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Scrapbook
Plotnotes

[Jei's Scrapbook] Scribbles, Doodles, and Scratches

Postby Jei on July 17th, 2018, 7:12 am


What I am, though, is vocal. I like to talk or type or write through what is going through my mind. It's all been essay-like, though, so there's still that.

What is going on through my mind now, and will probably be for awhile, is Jei. Jei, my sweet, underdeveloped, immature, cardboard baby. It's weird that I'd have an attachment to such a drab thing, but man, oh man. Jei. He is, in my mind, the perfect character. He is mean without being cruel. He is passionate without being bat-shit crazy. He is savage without being idiotic. He is a hard, judging, bloodthirsty character with the simple need to conquer the world for his Goddess-Queen Myri. He wants to take the jungle by the branches and master its wondorous and mysterious ways.

But his writer! Man, his writer just doesn't know what he's doing! He doesn't know how to develop him, or what needs to be developed, or what he needs to actually shine like a bloody ruby amongst rocks and twigs. He needs to be dynamic and full and powerful (relatively). But where the hell do you even start with a character?

I've got "him" written down and you'd think that would be enough but where is HE. I know that doesn't make sense, but bear with me, please.

There's a "he", a concept, an idea, an algorithm. But concepts need fleshing out and a strong background. Ideas need to be fully realized and implemented. Algorithms need inputs to get outputs.

What the hell do I input and why have I made two scrapbook posts back to back?

User avatar
Jei
"Dance the edge of death..."
 
Posts: 28
Words: 23497
Joined roleplay: May 7th, 2018, 9:31 pm
Race: Myrian
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Scrapbook
Plotnotes


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