[Meme] Top 5 things to keep in mind when writing various characters

[edenfalling]

As seen around in various places:

Pick a character* I've written and I will explain the top five** ideas/concepts/etc I keep in mind while writing that character that I believe are essential to accurately depicting them.

* Try to make it someone I've written either often or recently in order for me to answer.
** May not actually be five.

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Susan Pevensie (Chronicles of Narnia), for branchandroot

Ginny Weasley (Harry Potter), for silverblade219

Haruno Sakura (Naruto), for silverblade219

Prince Rabadash (Chronicles of Narnia), for hungrytiger11

Dave Strider (Homestuck), for askerian

Aravis Tarkheena (Chronicles of Narnia), for rthstewart

Lucy Pevensie (Chronicles of Narnia), for snacky

Uzumaki Naruto (Naruto), for vehrec

Comments

Dave Strider

[edenfalling]

1. Dave is hilarious. Over the internet, this is mostly on purpose. In person, it's mostly not. This is because it's a lot easier for him to control his image online and project someone who is closer to what he imagines Bro to be like, while concealing some of his own awkwardness.

2. Dave is incredibly verbal. He talks all the time, whether anyone is listening or not. He will leave giant wall-of-text messages for his friends when they're away from their computers or otherwise ignoring him. He makes fun of Rose for her pretentiousness and mocks unfamiliar words, but he has a pretty extensive vocabulary himself. He likes to play with language, both in the form of rap (at which he is, frankly, not that good) and the form of bizarre metaphors, which frequently get away from him and/or lead him into seriously non sequitur topic jumps.

3. Dave is highly creative in at least three fields: art, music, and words. We don't see much of his photography, but we see a bunch of his artwork, hear some of his music, and watch him in the process of composing (bad) raps. He seems to constantly be making art of one kind or another, regardless of his mood or external circumstances.

4. Dave is reactive, not proactive. He doesn't want to be a leader. This is not to say he's a perfect follower -- he spends a LOT of time arguing with Rose about her various plans -- but he never really comes up with an alternate one, just a slight variation on hers (wherein he would die instead of her). He also doesn't like or look for change, which I think helps explain why he's so uncomfortable on the meteor -- he and Rose are outnumbered by the trolls and are thus under more pressure to change their culture to fit in than vice versa -- and why he's so upset at the idea of meeting the alpha!kids and having to deal with someone who is Bro-but-not.

5. I sometimes suspect Dave may suffer from clinical depression, given his conviction that he doesn't matter compared to his friends (or to Bro), his suicidal impulses, and his growing feelings of social isolation.