Writing: Crafting Better Characters

I like writing characters. I personally think I’ve gotten pretty good at it by this point. There’s just something fascinating to me about diving into what makes someone what they are. Unfortunately, because I’ve seen some amateur fiction (including my own early works), I’ve seen a lot of really bad characters. So here are a ten tips that have helped me write characters in the past and general reflections about what does and doesn’t make a good character:

1. Spy and eavesdrop constantly. Chat with strangers.

The best way to make your characters realistic is to base them off of reality. As voyeuristic as it sounds, constantly observing your surroundings is a great way to get a feel for what people are like. Listen to how they talk. What they tell each other when they don’t think anyone is paying attention to their conversations and what they tell people when they’re in the company of more people. If you live in a place where it’s acceptable (e.g., rural America vs. New York City or the entirety of Japan), strike up conversation with strangers, especially people who come from a different area than you. You don’t even have to learn their names. Just get a different perspective. It’s these little bits of life that give you a bigger perspective of people.

2. Virtues lie between two vices.

Every character needs flaws to be interesting. You know that (and if you don’t, you may need some remedial lessons in writing characters). It’s easy to give a character negative traits. But keep in mind that this goes the other way as well. Aristotle believed that a virtue is a point between a deficiency and excess of a trait. In other words, lacking something good is bad (duh), but too much of a good thing can also be a bad thing. What’s more, due to its nature, such a trait can be portrayed as both good and bad at the same time, adding layers of depth to your character and your story.

Here’s an example from a pacifist playing devil’s advocate. Are you familiar with Trigun at all? It’s an anime/manga about an expert gunslinger called Vash the Stampede, who could probably take down the toughest adversaries in one well-placed shot if he wanted. The only issue is that he’s an extreme pacifist and does everything he can to cause as little harm to people as possible. His pacifism is portrayed not as cowardice, but as strength. It would be so much easier to kill his enemies, especially as they’re trying to kill him, but he refuses because of his commitment. However, that same strict pacifism also leaves his body covered in scars, and occasionally puts more people in danger because he’ll try to save everyone instead of simply killing one to save the rest.

Another example, and one maybe more people know, is Superman. Superman is noble, just, pure, and nigh indestructible. In fact, one of his character flaws is that he’s TOO strong. He always has to restrain himself because humans are as frail as bugs to him. Listen to his “World of Cardboard” speech in Justice League Unlimited. Superman’s greatest strengths are also his greatest burdens: he has the power to do anything, but he has to take care to keep that power in check so he doesn’t hurt anyone. He’s a savior of the people, but even he can’t be in two places at the same time and has to pick and choose who to save.

It doesn’t have to be as dramatic as that. Just keep in mind that there are always two extremes. Someone can be a nihilist, or they can be a zealot. They can be rebels, or adhere to rules so closely that it gets in the way of what’s “right.” They can refuse help from anyone, or be totally dependent. Flaws don’t always have to be so clean-cut.

3. Flaws should always have impact.

I’ve heard arguments that Bella Swan from the Twilight Saga is a terrible character because her only real “flaw” is that she’s a bit clumsy at times. Now, this isn’t the place to discuss the merits and flaws of the Twilight Saga (of which there are many of both), but I bring it up because of how Bella’s flaws are presented. Bella can be stubborn to the point of stupidity and trusting to the point of dependency, but we’re shown time and time again that this stubborn attitude of Bella is “right.” She’s clumsy, but it doesn’t affect her much and can arguably be an endearing quirk. The issue isn’t that Bella isn’t flawed. It’s that her flaws don’t matter.

There are a lot of things some writers view as “easy flaws.” Some flaw or vice to give imperfections to an otherwise perfect character. These flaws, however, are not to be derided, since they can work fine. Any flaw is a legitimate flaw, so long as it’s written well. Let’s pick on clumsiness again, since I’ve seen it a few places. People in real life are clumsy. Clumsy people can function in real life as well. But clumsiness does have repercussions. Make those repercussions important to the story. A girl who sometimes trips over her own two feet doesn’t have a flaw. She has a cute and endearing quirk. But that quirk is less cute and endearing when she loses her job waiting tables because she drops a tray of glasses, or when she fumbles the gun as the undead are slowly approaching. Going back to the previous point: Vash’s flaw is that he’s too kindhearted. Superman’s flaw is that he’s too powerful. Someone reading those sentences might scoff at them and say that those are cop-out flaws more fitting of a Mary Sue. However, those traits become legitimate flaws when written correctly.

4. Write characters who don’t share your beliefs, but aren’t strawmen.

One common bit of writing advice is to “write what you know.” This is often interpreted as “write so that whoever reads your work knows who you are as a person.” If you’re writing like that, you’re really restricting yourself. A better phrasing would be “If you don’t know anything about a subject, don’t make a fool of yourself by acting like you do.”

If your characters only believe what you believe, you’re preaching to your audience, whether you mean to or not. If you mean to, go right ahead. The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of Christian allegories, and they’re classics. But unless your story is set in a place where Christianity is the norm, making every character a Christian (save for the atheistic antagonist) just because you’re Christian probably isn’t a good idea. In real life, people are diverse and have mix-and-match views on politics, religion, sexuality, conspiracy theories, and whether or not LOST was an amazing show or overrated and convoluted crap.

Write what you know, but don’t stop there. Expand your knowledge and take a risk. Are you an atheist? Make a protagonist a Muslim! Have strong left-wing views? Maybe your main character’s love interest is a conservative! Don’t base characters’ beliefs on what you believe. Base characters’ beliefs on what they believe. And then? Do your best to make them sympathetic. Giving a character a belief just to have another character ridicule them for it is mean-spirited and sloppy writing. Writing a strawman will gain you no respect from anyone but those who hold the views you’re praising.

This tip, incidentally, will probably help you grow as a person, since it forces you to try to understand the point-of-view of others. Wouldn’t the world be a much nicer place if we could all entertain another’s point of view now and then?

5. What they look like isn’t as important as how they look.

We say that the first impression is always the most important, and that’s true of characters as well as real people. However, when we say that, we’re not talking about just their physical appearance. I’ve seen a lot of people struggle with trying to describe their characters, occasionally trying to detail something as inane as their cheekbones. It might just be me, but I cannot for the life of me remember the last time I looked at someone and noticed their cheekbones. Often times, a person can change much of their appearance just by affecting a different demeanor, just because our personalities and who exactly we are ends up being displayed in how we act. How we carry ourselves. How we move. Telling me the color of someone’s hair or eyes doesn’t tell me anything about them apart from what color their hair and eyes are.

Don’t tell me that he has blue eyes. Instead, tell me that his eyes are piercing, or tired, or shifty, or analytical, or that they have a glimmer of mischief in them. Don’t say she has black hair without telling me how she wears it. Long or short? In a braid or unbound? How deep is his voice, and what tone does he speak in? Does she have a rigid or relaxed posture? When he moves, does he stroll like a cat, or does he prowl like a wolf? Plod like a bull? Trudge like…like some animal that trudges? Does she stand with arms crossed or at her sides? Does he fidget, and if so, how? Yes, you need to paint a picture of what your character looks like. But you only need to make a sketch, not recreate the Mona Lisa. Readers will fill in details on their own. When you introduce a character, tell me who they are. You can always fill in the rest of the information later. Every fan of Harry Potter knows what Draco Malfoy looks like, but in his first appearance, all J.K. Rowling said was that he had a pale, pointed face and a bored, drawling voice. However, through those six words and the boy’s dialogue, she said more about who Draco Malfoy was than an objective physical description ever could.

6. Give them quirks.

It’s the quirks that really set people apart and make them interesting. When you get right down to it, nobody is truly “normal.” Everyone has something that makes them different from most everybody else. Maybe they drink vodka out of a sippy cup. Maybe they cross themselves before and/or after tense/important situations even though they’re not Catholic. Look to real people and be sure to note the little things that set them apart from others (if you have a significant other, these would be that list of things you love about them). Get creative, though not to the point that it gets gimmicky.

Also: quirks aren’t always a good thing. Give them quirks that make them irritating as well as endearing.

7. Fill out a character sheet for a tabletop RPG.

Okay, this one is incredibly nerdy, but bear with me. After all, generally one third of roleplaying games is becoming a character you create (the other two thirds are interacting with a fictional world and rolling dice, meaning that tabletop gaming is actually pretty great for developing your writing skills). Find a character sheet for some game. Dungeons and Dragons, maybe. Maybe for a game with a setting that fits your character’s world a bit better. It doesn’t matter. What this allows you to do is quantify your character’s personality. It’s not something you should swear by since stats are based around gameplay instead of narrative, but rather a way to look at their personality relatively. Figuring out how many points they have in strength, intelligence, dexterity, luck, and the like gives you a good indication of what your character is like.

Also, it’d maybe be a good idea to try to at least partially restrict yourself to the game’s rules on creating characters. Reminds you that your character can’t be the best at everything.

8. Details, details, details!

This one is, in my opinion, the big one, and is really the only important one since everything else is technically a part of it. To write your characters well, you have to know your characters. Everything from what their beliefs are and what motivates them to what their favorite food is and if they can play a musical instrument. Every little detail about someone tells you something about them.

This is perhaps simultaneously the easiest and most difficult part of writing characters. It has to be felt more than learned, but a lot of it is ultimately arbitrary and has to be thought up on the spot. While something as small as what brand of cigarettes your character smokes probably doesn’t matter to the story, knowing the answer helps both you and the reader understand the character just a little better. From what I’ve heard from smokers and people who sell cigarettes, there are stereotypes associated with different brands. If you’re asked the question, the correct answer could be “definitely this brand,” or “I don’t know, maybe this brand,” or “I’m not sure; what do you think?” The answer, however, is never “It doesn’t matter.”

You don’t have to know every little detail about your character. However, you do need to know the big details that the essence of your character is built on. That way, when the question of some small detail arises, you know them well enough to pick an answer easily.

9. Let them off their leash.

Knowing how to answer the question of details concerning your characters is different from knowing every detail about your characters. You cannot know every detail about your characters, and you probably should not know every detail about your characters. That way, there’s both room for interpretation and space for the characters to breathe and take over for you. One of the best (and worst) things that can happen to you is your characters taking on a mind of their own. Best because, when that happens, you know that you’ve successfully created a person and not just a puppet. Worst because they can sometimes screw up your entire plot. But hey, for a character who’s stable enough that they can write themselves, that’s a fairly small price to pay.

10. Become the character.

When professional actors are playing a character, they often start to become the character they’re playing. They act as them both on and off the set. And there’s some of that in writing, too. I’ve often thought that every character you write has a little bit of yourself in them. Now I think the reverse is equally true, if not more so: a little bit of every character you write becomes part of you.

I’m not advocating acting like your characters in your everyday life. In fact, doing so can be downright dangerous (bet you never thought writing could be dangerous!), as I’ve ended up going through a mental breakdown and insomnia along with my character, and I couldn’t for the life of me tell you which one of us was cause and which one was effect. What I am saying is that, as you write a character, your minds should be as one. You think their thoughts. You write with their voice. You feel their emotions.

This is probably the most dangerous advice on the list. Like I said, I’ve had a breakdown right alongside my character, and it’s fairly easy for the character to bleed into real life. But if you can master slipping in and out of characters and actually being who they are, you’ll be allowing them to speak directly.

 

Well, I could definitely come up with some more pretentious advice if I tried to. But for now, that’s a good, solid list of ten points. Good advice? Bad advice? Be sure to let me know! I hope this helps at least someone out!

TV Analysis: Siberia Episodes 1-3

It’s no secret that I’ve been really excited about Siberia lately. And what’s the best thing to do when you get excited about something? That’s right, analyze every little detail of it! And since there’s a lot to analyze about Siberia and I’m also three episodes behind on these analyses, I’m gonna jump right in without much preamble.

Naturally, spoilers will follow.

Episode Recaps

This covers what’s important in each episode. You can maybe skip over this if it bores you or something.

Episode 1

Episode 1 kicks off the series, and there’s not really too much that happens since it’s largely just setup.

It opens with the introduction of the show. Our host tells us and the players that there was a mysterious event that happened about 100 years ago that left the settlement uninhabited. A spooky story, to be sure, and it’s easy to dismiss it as nothing more. We hear that there are “no rules” (probably our first clue that the show’s not real, as “no rules” doesn’t rule out murder and what sort of reality TV show can get away with that?), then the contestants are sent off to reach the settlement, being told that the last two to arrive will be eliminated. Neeko takes the lead, with Johnny following close behind. However, it’s Sabina, who the cameras haven’t even focused on at this point, that gets there first. One of the men (Sam, I think? I can’t remember for sure) comments that Carolina seems familiar for some reason. I don’t know if this is related to the fact that she’s also one of only two cast members (the other being Annie, played by Anne-Marie) to not be using her actual name (Joyce Giraud), but it’s worth keeping in mind.

Esther takes out one of the flags marking the trail.  Berglind and Harpreet attempt to take a shortcut.  Daniel twists his ankle on the trek, and Tommy comes to help him. Everyone else arrives, and it comes down to those two pairs. In the end, it’s Tommy and Daniel who arrive, eliminating Berglind and Harpreet. That bummed me just a little, since it looked like Berglind would have potentially been a major player and she turned up to be not important at all, but what can you do? Boom. They’re out. Down to 14.

This opening sequence established a few things about several of the remaining characters: First, Neeko and Johnny are competitive. Second, Esther is willing to use any advantage she can in the game. Third, some of the characters, including Sabina and Carolina, are probably more than they appear. Finally, Tommy is a team player and the sort of guy who would risk his own status for others. Tommy’s set up to be instantly likable.

The contestants start to get settled. There’s some sexual tension set up between Esther and Miljan. There’s a mysterious roar in the woods at night. The cast finds a shortcut to information about mushrooms, more specifically that there are some here but poisonous until boiled. Daniel finds a three-legged frog in the woods that he describes as “mutated.” Miljan and Irene find a locked shed. A cameraman comes out of the woods bleeding from the head and yelling in Russian. According to Sam, he’s saying something about “I saw them,” though we don’t know the context or how accurate Sam’s translation is. Finally, it’s revealed that Tommy was fatally injured. Basically, he was set up to be likable so it was more of a punch when he died. That brings the number of contestants down to 13. The host tells the contestants that they can either continue playing or go on, take the money and run receive $5,000 if they decide to exit the game.

At the end of the episode, we were left with two main questions: what’s going on, and will Miljan get into Esther’s pants how much does the production team know about it?

Episode 2

In the end, only George decides to leave. Not really surprising that George left, considering how out of focus he had been, and not surprising that not many other people left considering that the show still needs a few redshirts. Anyway, we’re now down to 12.

The remaining contestants find out that there’s a gun hidden somewhere in the woods, and by the time the bulk of contestants get there, it’s been moved from its hiding place. Neeko suspects Johnny. I suspect Sabina, again because she’s too quiet and it’s pretty plain to me that she knows something. Later on, Neeko finds that someone has taken the bullets from him. Again, he blames Johnny. I blame not-Johnny.

Victoria starts picking up a presence in this episode. Unfortunately, that presence is short-lived, because the focus is on the fact that Esther encourages her to eat the unboiled poisonous mushrooms (though she believes it will only get her sick). But we’ll get to that later.

Daniel, meanwhile, is exploring the woods. He finds where the incident involving Tommy was, and discovers a large, strange footprint. He gets lost on the way back and finds Sabina emerging from a cave. What was in there? What was she doing there? Daniel stumbles across a sort of cave painting of men hunting “something big” that has a foot that matches the footprint he found earlier. Night falls, and he and Sabina end up pursued by something—probably the same something the contestants heard roaring that first night? Daniel later states that “when they stopped, it seemed to stop.”

A key is delivered (guarded by a snake), and Miljan automatically decides that the best course of action is to take everyone to the shed he told Irene not to tell everyone about and be the hero. Turns out the shed is full of food. Johnny thinks they should divvy it up and put everyone in charge of their own food. Neeko thinks they should ration it. The two get into a heated argument. Sam steps up, takes Neeko’s side, and ends up being put in charge of rationing the food.

Remember when I said we’d get to Victoria eating the mushrooms later? Well later is now. The mushrooms are apparently hallucinogenic, and Victoria freaks out. She starts seeing visions, and says something about the sky burning with green fire. Esther feels guilty, realizing just how dangerous what she did was, and that her actions are going to have consequences. Victoria’s fine the next day, but decides to leave, bringing the contestants down to 11. Daniel doesn’t buy her flimsy excuse and she privately admits that she remembered her visions, telling him that they’re all going to die. Ominous!

Oh, yeah, and Johnny got part of his finger cut off somewhere in there. But ironically, that’s not too important.

Carolina gained a much stronger presence in this episode, Sabina became even more mysterious, the tension between Neeko and Johnny built, and Daniel was elevated from “probably important” to “possibly the most important character of all,” since he’s the only one actively trying to figure out the mystery. Of course, this does not bode well for Natalie, Annie, or Irene, who’ve barely had any screen time or prominence up until this point and are consequently still very expendable.

This episode also raised a lot of questions. I’ll get to those at the end.

Episode 3

The contestants find a pool and go swimming (with some skinny dipping). The part that surprised me is that Sabina gets a confessional (i.e., a scene where she privately speaks directly to the camera) about it, talking about how pointless it is for them to be playing around like that. I might be wrong, but I think this is the first time she’s spoken directly to the camera.

Early on in this episode, we see some chemistry between Carolina and Johnny, who had been spending a fair amount of time together last episode as well. It also hints at some chemistry between Irene and Daniel, though it’s indicated as being mostly one-sided on Daniel’s part.

Anyway, the food shed burns down. Daniel notices that there should be more bits of glass jar than was in the remains, as well as a lantern, indicating that someone stole some food and burned the shed down. Johnny is furious, demanding that Neeko admit it was a bad idea to ration the food because of what happened. Neeko gives evasive responses, which the others present call him on. After all, he’s not trying to say that hindsight is 20/20 or that they had no way of knowing this would have happened, instead insisting that he “merely suggested” they ration the food.

The contestants get sent a bow and arrow, and Irene is revealed to be pretty good with a bow. Sam attempts to fish and fails, but finds a bracelet with some Russian writing on it (later supposed to be some sort of gift from one lover to another from the dedication (Sam speaks a bit of Russian)). Somewhere in there, Neeko spots a speaker up in a tree. Why he doesn’t investigate is beyond me.

Irene and Johnny hunt deer. Irene kills the deer with one shot, though it survives long enough to run off and make them hunt it down. Irene feels bad about killing it, but Johnny’s a farm boy who’s not bothered by stuff like that. He starts to bleed the deer to prepare it.

Meanwhile, the others spot a tiger and freak out (understandably). When he finds out that Irene and Johnny are hunting and the tiger might be drawn to blood, he risks his life to go after them. Fortunately, all three of them make it back all right and they chow down on venison that night.

That’s when Neeko and Carolina find Johnny’s shirt with a bunch of food from the shed wrapped up and hidden in the woods. They confront Johnny about it, and Johnny refutes the accusations, though he has no alibi to back him up. He stalks off into the woods. Carolina is upset by the whole thing. Neeko stows the food in a hiding place—to keep it safe, of course. Naturally.

The next day, Sabrina finds the tiger in the woods—dead. Mauled by something. We also see a bit of recovered footage of Carolina entering the shed, stealing the food and burning it down. DUN DUN DUUUUUN!

No one was eliminated in this episode, so we’re still at 11 contestants. Irene gained a stronger presence, probably buying her a few episodes for an arc. Unfortunately, we only saw a bit more of Natalie and still barely any of Annie, so their prospects don’t look too good. At this point, they’re the most expendable, followed probably by Miljan, Esther, and/or Sam, who don’t seem to be major players but are probably guaranteed a few more episodes to wrap up their arcs. Right now, I don’t know what to expect of Neeko or Irene’s longevity, since Irene’s only now coming into focus and Neeko seems like he’s being set up for a fall. Either way, I think you can expect Johnny, Carolina, Daniel, and Sabina to be around for the long haul.

And since I’m talking about characters, what all are their roles? What is there to know about them? Let’s discuss them a little bit.

Remaining Characters

Carolina: A pretty well-balanced Latina woman. She seemed to be just another character, but between Sam’s indication that she seems familiar to him and the fact that she was the one who stole the food and burned down the shed, I really don’t know what to expect from her at this point. One of two characters who isn’t using the name of her actress. Definitely a major player at this point, though her longevity on the show depends on what we’ll learn in upcoming episodes.

Johnny: He’s the loose cannon of the group. Self-serving, doesn’t care about getting along with others, etc. Of course, while he’s only looking out for himself, he’s pretty open about it, and it doesn’t seem like he’d go out of his way to sabotage everyone. This leads me to think that most everything he gets framed for, he’s not going to actually be responsible for. Probably a major player, though he could get killed off down the road. If he goes, he definitely won’t quit, since chopping part of his finger off wasn’t enough to deter him.

Daniel: Basically a stereotypical nerd. He looks like the youngest of the cast. He’s sort of the audience surrogate, in that he’s searching for the answers to the questions that we (i.e., both he and us audience members) have. He’s an incredibly valuable asset since he’s shown to be about the only person who’s truly analytical, and shows that brains are going to be just as important as, if not more important than, brawn. Definitely a major player, though his important specific niche and his curiosity lead me to think that he could get killed off at a crucial point. Definitely won’t leave, as he wouldn’t be satisfied leaving without knowing the truth.

Neeko: The man who seized the leadership role in the group. He seems well-suited for a leadership position. He has a pretty good command over most of the group, though Johnny refuses to comply. However, he’s confrontational, doesn’t take too kindly to relinquishing any bit of power, and has issues admitting to any mistakes, making him a bit of a bully. As the leader, he’s curently a major player, though all the tension with his leadership makes me think he’s being set up for a fall. That could either result in his death or quitting after cracking under stress.

Natalie: A sort of peace-loving, “save the whales” type of girl. We’ve finally gotten to see more of her lately (enough to get a bit of her personality), but the fact that she’s not playing any specific role makes her pretty expendable at this point. Not a major player, probably likely to quit.

Sam: A big, muscly auto mechanic. Looks intimidating, and while he seems to be able to keep his temper in check, he’s not exactly the most amiable person. He speaks some Russian, which he learned from his grandmother. He’s currently serving as Neeko’s unofficial second-in-command. He’s getting a fair amount of screen time, but he doesn’t seem like he’ll be particularly crucial in the long run. He’ll be around for a while, but his prospects of making it to the end of the series don’t look good.

Esther: An attractive and headstrong woman who’s willing to use any advantage she has to get ahead in the game. Might be changing her ways after seeing just how dangerous her way of playing the game is to others (i.e., poisoning Victoria).  She’ll be around for a bit yet, but I don’t think she’ll be a player in the long run.

Annie: I’ve barely seen anything of this girl. Um…she has a nose ring? I dunno, unless she becomes really, really prominent next episode, I think she’s pretty much just cannon fodder.

Miljan: This charmer certainly does like the ladies! He’s also proven that he’s kind of underhanded and untrustworthy. But he sure is charming! And he loves the ladies!

Irene: Shy (but attempting to come out of her shell), softhearted, a good shot, and a potential love interest for Daniel. A decent character, but her lack of relevance so far makes me worry for her safety. Her importance could tip either way at this point, but she could easily be built up just to make her death more impactful, or her softness could lead her to quit.

Sabina: We don’t know too much about her, other than that she’s a soldier (info provided in an online bio and possibly in confessionals). What we do know, however, is that she seems to know something. Definitely a major player, but it’ll probably be a few more episodes before we find out what. Also, her name doesn’t have an R in it. Sabina, not Sabrina. It took me three episodes to realize that.

The Mysteries

Anyway, on to the mysteries we’ve been introduced to so far. We’ve got a lot of questions. What is the meaning of [lots of various elements]? What is going on with Sabina? Who has the gun? The bullets? Why did Carolina burn down the food shed? Here are some some questions (in rough order of introduction) and some possible answers:

1. What the heck is going on?

That’s the big question. I think I’ll answer the smaller questions since I don’t think we have the whole picture, but we definitely have pieces of it. I’ll come back to it at the end to see if we can piece it together.

2. How much does the production team know?

At this point, I think they actually know quite a bit. Had they not, they probably would have pulled everyone after Tommy’s death, and definitely would have done so after some of the more mysterious events started occurring. Whatever’s going on, the production crew knows something about it.

3. What’s up with the frog?

Obviously, it’s a mutation of some sort. That sort of thing can happen naturally, but they wouldn’t have included it in the show if it had. All we really need to know is “it’s mutated.” The more important question is why.

4. What’s in the woods?

The first episode introduced a roaring, the second episode introduced a footprint and cave painting, the third introduced something that could kill a tiger. I’m pretty sure these instances are all tied together and that there’s one creature out there in the woods: a creature that’s nothing like anything we know. I’ll creatively dub it “the Creature.” We don’t get a good indication of what it looks like from the cave painting, but the structure of the foot makes it seem somewhat reptilian. It’s also somewhat strange that it stopped whenever Daniel and Sabina stopped, but I’m sure that’ll be answered later. I’m fairly certain, at very least, that this is what’s roaring, what was following them, what was depicted in the painting, and what killed both Tommy and the tiger.

5. Who has the gun? Who has the bullets?

Someone got to the gun before anyone else could. It’s obviously not anyone in that main group. It’s obviously not Esther and Miljan, since they went the wrong way completely and didn’t split up. It could possibly be Johnny or Carolina. Carolina is the more likely candidate after episode 3’s reveal, but I also think that the more likely candidate for the gun is Sabina. She was present when the information came, she knows how to shoot a gun, she’s obviously keeping some things to herself, and the first episode proved that she can get places quickly and without being noticed. However, I don’t think she has the bullets. The most likely candidate for that, in my opinion, is Carolina, in light of episode 3’s reveal.

6. Who made the cave painting?

This is an incredibly good question, and it kind of clashes with some of my later theories. Since the human figures are fighting it with spears, it seems to be quite old. I’ve honestly got no clue on this one apart from the obvious “ancient civilization.”

7. What was the significance of Victoria’s hallucinations?

Well, despite the fact that the hallucinations were obviously prophetic, there’s the vague warning that they were all going to die. Is that a fate they can fight? Is it possible for them to drop out? I don’t know. That one was pretty straightforward, though, and the answer is that they either will die or they can avoid that fate, and there’s really no way to tell which or who will die or survive. The bigger question is what was up with the green flames in the sky. Perhaps this has something to do with the 1908 event (see #13 for details on that).

8. Where did the tiger come from?

Probably from Tiger Village; how the hell do I know? Considering that the show takes place in Siberia and there are Siberian Tigers, I’m guessing it was just part of the natural wildlife. No great mystery.

9. Why is there a speaker in the tree?

There are two answers that I can think of. The first is that it’s put there by production. The second is that it has something to do with the events that happened 100 years prior. I’m thinking the latter, personally.

10. What is the significance of Sam’s bracelet?

I think Sam’s assessment was right, but there’s probably more to it than that. Most notably, it’s dated 1908, the date of the mysterious event that happened 100 years ago. Apart from that, there’s nowhere near enough to go off of right now.

11. What is Sabina hiding?

It’s obvious to me that she’s hiding something. I think she knows more than she’s letting on. I’ve got an idea that she knows at least some of what’s happening and is keeping silent because…well, I don’t know. But it should be obvious that she knows something, and that that something is going to end up being pretty vital.

12. Why did Carolina steal the food and burn the shed down?

Surprisingly, we don’t have to ask who burned down the food shed. Unfortunately, that answer only raises further questions. How did Carolina get in if Sam held the key? Why did she frame Johnny when it seemed that the two had some chemistry? And most importantly, why exactly would she do that? She doesn’t seem to be the type to sabotage things for everyone.  Could she be working with Sam? Is she trying to cause disorder and tension by undermining Neeko’s leadership, humiliating the trust they had in Sam, framing Johnny, and taking everyone’s food away? Is she thinking that’ll get them to leave? And is she really that manipulative?

And finally,

13. What exactly happened 100 years ago?

This is the big one, and probably what the whole show is going to come down to. It’s also one that I actually have a theory for.

The catalyst being talked about by the show is actually a real event in which a powerful explosion that left no crater occurred. At least one eyewitness account describes the sky as being on fire (sound familiar?). The show seems to be building up to giving an explanation for what caused it. There are really two directions the show can go for the explanation: fantasy or sci-fi. I think that either the Creature is a supernatural being that was responsible for the incident, or that the incident was the result of some scientific experiment that had effects on the wildlife, including the three-legged frog and the Creature.

The evidence for the first is mostly that the Creature appears in an old-looking cave drawing, hinting that it predates the incident. The evidence for the latter is some of the indications of human habitation around that time, the possibly atomic nature of the explosion, and the aesthetics of some structures potentially left by the Others Dharma Initiative scientists that I’m suspecting existed. Really, at this point the sci-fi/fantasy scale could tip either way.

That’s what I’ve been getting out of the show so far. I hope this is able to spark some discussion…or at least that someone sees this and points me in the direction of some community discussing this show!

Writing Portfolio

As I draw closer to needing to find a job doing something I’ll have a degree for, I’m realizing that it’d maybe be a good idea to have samples of my writing in easily accessible places for potential employers to look at.

And so, because I didn’t end up using The Wordforge for what I had originally planned, I’m converting it into a blog where I upload my past work. All of it is completed (or in the cases of novels, the chapters themselves are complete, even if I haven’t finished the story), although in a rough form. Most everything was written for school and/or off a prompt, and it’d be great to revisit them at some time in the future to try to bring them up to par with my more recent work. Which is why I’m tracking the “last edited” dates. You can see how old a work is and how well it compares to other work I’ve done.

Anyway, I’m slowly but surely working on getting my works added to the blog. So check ‘em out if you like!

TV First Impressions: Siberia

I’ve been in a funk lately. Since I’m an introvert who lives in a fairly isolated area and I’m constantly analyzing for the sake of writing, entertainment media is pretty important to me. However, I’ve been having a hard time really getting excited about anything lately. I’ve done most all I can in Fire Emblem: Awakening. I’ve rewatched Season 4 of Arrested Development to catch what I missed the first time. I’m waiting on more dubbed episodes of One Piece and Fairy Tail (since I refuse to watch shonen anime subbed) and don’t have the money to continue in the manga. The Assassin’s Creed series has been more and more of a letdown with each installment, but I want to finish ACIII before I move on to other games. I was excited for Attack on Titan before it decided to hammer me over the head with the fact that the world sucks. the audiobooks I’ve been listening to are generic fantasy novels. The Slender Man Mythos has been oversaturated by Sturgeon’s Law. New seasons of the stuff I like is still a ways of. Everything I’ve been watching or reading or playing lately has just given me a “well, it’s okay, I guess” response, and rewatching things often just doesn’t have the same impact.

I was feeling apathetic and disappointed and all sorts of other negative feelings, lacking any sort of enthusiasm. I needed something worth fanboying over, I realized.

That’s why I’ve been so thrilled to find out about NBC’s new “reality game show” Siberia. It’s given me back a lot of what I’ve lost, and from what I can tell, almost nobody’s really even heard of it.

I got lucky. A friend told me to check it out after he decided to give it a try on Hulu. He said it was described as “a cross between Survivor and LOST,” and that’s pretty accurate, though I’d throw a little Blair Witch Project in there too. While I could act like the show is real (it isn’t) to give you some surprise when it isn’t, I think I’ll just be up front because pretending that it’s a wilderness survival reality TV show isn’t going to hook as many people, and the people it does hook won’t be the right crowd. So here: it’s fake. Scripted. The contestants are actors/actresses. But that doesn’t make it any less good.

Siberia is a “game show” where sixteen people are sent into the Siberian wilderness to survive for…I don’t remember how long. Whoever’s left at the end of the [time period] gets $500,000 to split amongst themselves. They have to be completely self-sufficient. The only way to leave the game is to cross a line and press a button to call the helicopter. Apart from that, there are no rules. From that point on, everything’s fun and games until a cameraman comes out of the woods bleeding from the head and the host shows up to tell them that there was an accident and one of the contestants has died. Around that point, it becomes clear that there’s some sort of conspiracy going on that the producers may or may not know about. There are hints that some contestants are more than they seem. Above all, one thing is clear: this is not an ordinary game show.

Siberia is still in the buildup phase and is not quite to that peak where the show could tip between greatness and crap. I think that it’s currently dropping just enough hints, and from what I can gather, it definitely knows where it’s going and can get there. This is a huge advantage. LOST may have known where it was going, but getting there was a different matter. Most of what we saw in the first season didn’t get payoff until the sixth, and those expecting everything to suddenly magically make sense were put off. It didn’t move fast enough. Siberia, on the other hand, is already starting to provide answers, or at least hints of answers, to those looking for them. What’s going on? We don’t know. But we have ideas, and these ideas make sense.

Basically, I think Siberia’s going to keep going strong and continue on to be great. I might be wrong, but my optimism isn’t unfounded at this point. I’m going ahead and recommending that everyone check it out. You can stream it free on NBC’s site, for now at least, and it’s definitely at least giving a chance. It does have its flaws (“No rules” pushes willing suspension of disbelief quite a bit, and the characters are fairly blatant archetypes), but they’re more than made up for by the premise and beginnings of a plot that the show’s setting up.

Watch it. Now. I need someone to talk about this with.

Anime Reflections: Is Neon Genesis Evangelion Really a Deconstruction?

Edit: 6-5-15
Okay, so I wrote this based off of TV Tropes' definition of "deconstruction," which is, since Tropers have no clue what they're talking about, wrong. Let me try to set the record straight. "Deconstruction" is actually a form of literary criticism that is incredibly complex, but let me try to give a horribly simplified version of my (possibly wrong) understanding of it. Deconstruction is a response to Construction, which in terms of literary criticism is a movement about establishing meanings for symbols and ideas. Deconstruction is about undoing everything Construction does. It will say "this is what this work is probably supposed to be about...but here's how it could be about the exact opposite.
In this case, we're talking specifically about genre deconstruction. Surprisingly, I had most of what I said right before. genre deconstruction relies on taking elements or staples of the genre and then using the viewers' expectations against them. Which Evangelion does as well as those other things I mentioned. I have no clue why I came to the conclusion that it didn't, considering that it turns the expectations of mecha tropes against the audience so well that I've seen people argue about whether or not it's actually part of the mecha genre. So I guess take everything that follows with a grain of salt.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is famous for many, many things. The complete budget breakdown, the incomprehensible ending(s), the popularization of the tsundere archetype, the probable creation of the Rei Ayanami archetype, the mindscrews, etc. Perhaps what it’s most famous for, though, is being a deconstruction of mecha (i.e., giant robot) anime. Thinking back on the series, though, I’m not so sure that’s the case.
First of all, I’ll need to define the term “deconstruction” for those unfamiliar with it. A deconstruction is an attempt to break down common tropes or genres to portray them more realistically. Some people think that this means “in a dark way,” and that’s usually the way deconstructions go, but it’s not the case. A deconstruction is not an attempt to make something “darker and edgier,” but an examination of the consequences that we don’t normally think of. That’s what deconstruction is all about: exploring the consequences in order to make you stop and think.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is based very heavily in realism, and it was one of the first mecha shows to be so. I won’t go into the details since they’re long and complicated and not too relevant, but basically, you get the impression that the mecha aren’t just magical robots. They’re actual technology that frequently break down, malfunction, need incredibly strong power sources to succeed at doing much, etc. And then it turns out that they’re kind of more than that as well, but hey, spoilers.
But why don’t I think Evangelion counts as a deconstruction of the mecha genre? Well, let’s look at a few things that I do consider to be deconstructions. Note: this post will contain spoilers for all these stories mentioned.
First, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, an anime I’ve talked about before.  Madoka Magica is your generic magical girl story up until a teenage girl gets her head bitten off because she was too distracted by the hope of friendship to focus on her battle. The “Soul Gems” that give the magical girls their power are gems that literally contain their souls (i.e., their bodies will cease to function if they get too far from the gems), and that the cute little animal guide is actually a lifeform trying to protect the universe by harvesting energy—energy produced by driving magical girls into despair so that they become the very witches they battle. Also, the wishes they make to become magical girls? They tend to backfire since they’re selfish wishes in a selfless guise.
All those elements—the importance of friendship, the cute animal mascot, magical talismans, magical powers themselves—are all staples of the magical girl genre. Staples that any fan of magical girl shows will automatically recognize, and that even those with only a passing familiarity with the genre (like myself) probably will. Madoka Magica is a deconstruction because it relies on examining the implications of the tropes we see and recognize so frequently. It is a show that only works as a magical girl show.
Let’s move on to Watchmen, often cited as one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. It takes a look at superheroes—or rather, masked vigilantes taking the law into their own biased hands, or killing hundreds for a greater cause, or being powerful to the point that they just don’t care about humanity. These characters are not superheroes, but either heavily flawed humans playing at being superheroes (usually for selfish reasons) or a superhuman being who doesn’t care enough to be called a “hero.” Again, it only works as a superhero story because we can recognize the hero archetypes being deconstructed.
Finally, take Spec Ops: The Line, a video game that provides you with the absolute brutality and hell of war, as opposed to the games like Modern Warfare that glorify it. Or Digimon Tamers, a show that looks at just how dangerous having a Digimon partner would be, and what sort of impact watching that partner die would have. The latter only works as a comparison to the previous (and later) seasons of Digimon, whereas the former has nothing to deconstruct if the shooter elements are removed.
Basically, all of these stories are stories that only work within their genre (in fact, Spec Ops: the Line has its roots in Apocalypse Now, which has its roots in Heart of Darkness, and from what I understand war/invasion is kind of essential to all three). Madoka Magica deconstructs magical girl anime, Watchmen deconstructs superhero comics, Digimon Tamers deconstructs monster companion anime (its own franchise in particular), and Spec Ops: The Line deconstructs war shooters. Those stories are tailored specifically for those genres, and don’t work in any others.
This is a large part of why I don’t think Evangelion is a mecha deconstruction. All the elements that are absolutely essential to the story? That make the story what it is? They’d work fine in several other genres. To me, the mecha genre is just the framing device of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Yes, the mecha are important to the story, but you could replace the mecha with [something else], adjust everything related to the mecha so that it’s related to [something else], and the story itself would still work pretty much exactly the same way. It’s not a mecha deconstruction—it’s just mecha realism.
However, to say that Evangelion is not a mecha deconstruction does not mean that it does not deconstruct. Evangelion does deconstruct plenty. However, its deconstruction focuses more on character archetypes. Asuka, the tsundere, is brash and abrasive because she seeks validation. Under all her antagonism is a desire to be loved, admired, wanted—and belittles people in an attempt to gain it. Rei is a deconstruction of quiet, submissive girls. She’s almost incapable of showing emotion, and allows others to dictate her life because, as a clone, she believes that she is expendable and that she can be replaced, assuming that her life has no value. Though she’s presented as having a laid-back, fun-loving attitude, there’s a reason Misato is a heavy drinker. And Shinji? Shinji is a normal teenager (quite probably with severe depression) simultaneously seeking affection from his distant father and being forced to put his life at risk to save the world on a regular basis. Evangelion explores just what sort of impact that would have on the psyche.
These deconstructions could be done in other ways, of course. They’re just framed within a realistic mecha show. It’s not the Evangelions or the Angels themselves that drive the show. They’re merely the vessels that provide the drive. They do a good job of that, for sure, and the realistic take on the mecha genre is definitely entertaining, but Evangelion’s deconstruction comes from other sources.
Of course, this doesn’t really add to or detract from NGE’s value. So everything I just wrote is really more of a discussion of semantics and probably ultimately pointless.
Um…hooray!