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Jun. 11th, 2003
On the phone with a friend a couple nights ago, I mentioned that I was slowly starting to get interested in Ninja Storm, partly because the show constantly makes fun of itself (which works for the campiness) and I was starting to like Cam. "You can have him," she said, reminding me that she couldn't stand the character's constant complaints. But the snappishness actually interested me, believe it or not...
In a mainly earnest or out-to-lunch *cough*Dustin*cough* cast, Cam is usually the one making the snide comments which don't really help. In some cases, he was saying things that the cynic in me really wanted to say. (Dustin's nice to look at, but I wish they wouldn't keep hammering the point home that he's not the brightest crayon in the box.)
And yet, I realize, that may actually be WHY I got interested in the character.
Not all of your characters can be sweetness and light, and altogether likable - there's frequently someone in a cast who rubs the viewers the wrong way. And now this makes two contrary characters that I actually like.
To add to this, I am in the minority in New Series TP fandom... I kind of like Lisa. I like writing her. I have a good handle on her. And the reason I keep going back to her is the reason other fans groan about her: when everything goes awry, instead of immediately rising to the challenge, she will probably bitch about things for a few minutes before doing something. She didn't immediately take to the idea of being a Tomorrow Person like Ami did. She didn't deal with things beautifully at all. Something about that kind of clicks for me.
Now let me get this straight: if I interacted with characters like these in real life, yes, I'd want to smack them on occasion. I'd probably tell Cam to get over himself and tell Lisa to stop whining.
But when it comes to writing - well, characters with issues like these just work so well for me.
Take Lisa, for instance. I've still got that Now and Again/TP crossover that's been on my backlog for a while now. Initially, I plotted it so that Ami was the daughter Dr. Morris never knew. But then I thought about it, and realized that Lisa would work SO much better. The place of birth and the singing predilection was more believable on her end, true, but that's not why I picked Lisa instead.
Ami, as talkative and flighty as she seems sometimes, always struck me as a lot more adaptable and well-grounded than Lisa. I couldn't see Ami discovering her father was still alive, starting a fight with her mother because of it, and seeking him out mainly out of stubbornness. I couldn't see Ami finding him and then accidentally disrupting an investigation while trying to figure out how to approach him. And I certainly couldn't see Ami getting fed up with the runaround and the accusations and revealing who she was in a completely inappropriate shouting match with Dr. Morris. (Actually, I couldn't imagine Ami managing to irritate Dr. Morris to the level he needed to be.) I picked Lisa BECAUSE of the traits that have turned off other people. I needed someone who had more of a tendency to be bitchy.
Maybe I tend to identify with these characters because while I say I'd deal with their situations well, I'd probably be lying. Because when everything went to hell, I'd be there bitching right along with them.
Does that make sense to anyone else?
More much later. Had a meeting that dumped a lot more work in my lap and must escape to lunch now...
In a mainly earnest or out-to-lunch *cough*Dustin*cough* cast, Cam is usually the one making the snide comments which don't really help. In some cases, he was saying things that the cynic in me really wanted to say. (Dustin's nice to look at, but I wish they wouldn't keep hammering the point home that he's not the brightest crayon in the box.)
And yet, I realize, that may actually be WHY I got interested in the character.
Not all of your characters can be sweetness and light, and altogether likable - there's frequently someone in a cast who rubs the viewers the wrong way. And now this makes two contrary characters that I actually like.
To add to this, I am in the minority in New Series TP fandom... I kind of like Lisa. I like writing her. I have a good handle on her. And the reason I keep going back to her is the reason other fans groan about her: when everything goes awry, instead of immediately rising to the challenge, she will probably bitch about things for a few minutes before doing something. She didn't immediately take to the idea of being a Tomorrow Person like Ami did. She didn't deal with things beautifully at all. Something about that kind of clicks for me.
Now let me get this straight: if I interacted with characters like these in real life, yes, I'd want to smack them on occasion. I'd probably tell Cam to get over himself and tell Lisa to stop whining.
But when it comes to writing - well, characters with issues like these just work so well for me.
Take Lisa, for instance. I've still got that Now and Again/TP crossover that's been on my backlog for a while now. Initially, I plotted it so that Ami was the daughter Dr. Morris never knew. But then I thought about it, and realized that Lisa would work SO much better. The place of birth and the singing predilection was more believable on her end, true, but that's not why I picked Lisa instead.
Ami, as talkative and flighty as she seems sometimes, always struck me as a lot more adaptable and well-grounded than Lisa. I couldn't see Ami discovering her father was still alive, starting a fight with her mother because of it, and seeking him out mainly out of stubbornness. I couldn't see Ami finding him and then accidentally disrupting an investigation while trying to figure out how to approach him. And I certainly couldn't see Ami getting fed up with the runaround and the accusations and revealing who she was in a completely inappropriate shouting match with Dr. Morris. (Actually, I couldn't imagine Ami managing to irritate Dr. Morris to the level he needed to be.) I picked Lisa BECAUSE of the traits that have turned off other people. I needed someone who had more of a tendency to be bitchy.
Maybe I tend to identify with these characters because while I say I'd deal with their situations well, I'd probably be lying. Because when everything went to hell, I'd be there bitching right along with them.
Does that make sense to anyone else?
More much later. Had a meeting that dumped a lot more work in my lap and must escape to lunch now...
