Done and done. On top of that...I just realised that the story I'm writing for the Summer challenge also fits the criteria of the Spring/Summer challenge. Darn. As in, part one is Summer, part two is Spring/Summer.
So, with about two weeks left on our current challenge (see the top of post #2 and the index here), I thought I would check in and see how things are going. Any thoughts/epiphanies/concerns/ideas? Your friendly neighborhood sock is at your service.
I have kind of sort of started a little something, too—whether I finish it before the 2nd remains to be seen, but, true to my mouse muse, it involves Squibs.
Do I have to finish the whole story by the due date? I never had this happen before and now I just have to ask.
Ack, sorry, I forgot I hadn't replied to this yet! In general I'm going to follow the same policy here that I do in the Fanon Thread, which is that the story has to have at least one chapter posted by the due date. And you've done that, so you're good.
I managed to finish a challenge entry after all: Somewhere Out There Though because I'm also the interim thread host, I'm placing it out of competition.
OK, everyone. Summer is coming to an end—school’s starting back up—goldenrods are blooming—leaves are just starting to turn—and VOTING HAS BEGUN for the OC Revolution Summer 2018 Challenge! There are two stories in the running for this challenge: Waterstories by Ewok Poet "Sometimes I Just Know" by Raissa Baiard And one out of competition: Somewhere Out There by Findswoman Here's what to do: PM your vote to this sock by 11:59 pm PST on Tuesday, September 11 18. (Note that this is slightly over the usual single week of voting time, because I’ll be out of town the weekend just before.) Deadline extended as of September 13. Here's what not to do: vote more than once, vote for yourself, vote using a sock as well as your normal account, vote for something that's not on this list or not in competition, etc., etc. I'm sure you all know the drill by now. Here's when the winner will be announced: September 12 or 13 19 or 20 (barring all RL catastrophe). And here's what the winner will get: the opportunity to come up with this thread's next challenge! (I am glad to work with you on the latter if it would be helpful—just shoot me a PM.) Happy reading and voting!
Anybody up for a wicked & random discussion? How many of your OCs are author avatars and in what way (faceclaims, purposely based on you and/or those you later realised were such)?
If I am reading this right, I think you’re asking how much do our OC reflect our own selves as authors? If so, I don’t think my OCs are much me at all. They are other people i know, though. For example, one of my favorite OCs to play with is kind of a version of my own daughter. She’s gutsy, a born leader, someone with a strong sense of justice who speaks up for others, but she also makes mistakes and has to learn from them. I think just like artists paint their friends and family into pictures, we tend to do the same with our original characters. And then other OCs are strictly based on imagination, no real person inspiration whatsoever.
Interesting discussion question here. For my own part, I feel like I put some of myself, to varying degrees, into each character I write, whether OC or EC. Perhaps unsurprisingly the OCs, especially my principal ones, generally end up with more of me in them—I don’t know if they’re “avatars” of me, exactly (maybe I’ll leave it up to my readers to decide that), but my principal OCs definitely tend to end up with some of the same interests and talents, similar speech patterns, and I even gave one of them my tendency toward headache. Kind of a “write what you know” type thing, if you will. And of course, another way OCs can reflect their authors is by loving the same (established or otherwise) characters that their authors love... though that is arguably a different discussion.
Thanks for the discussion question, @Ewok Poet! I’m curious to see who else will weigh in, and I generally welcome discussion ideas from any member at any time—so don’t be shy. Also, just a quick reminder to get your votes in for the OC Summer Challenge! So far no votes have come in, and technically today is the last day of voting—though I am willing to extend voting another week (till the 18th) if that would help. So if it would, let me know! ETA Sept. 13: Since Tuesday the 11th came and went with no votes, I am indeed going to extend voting till next Tuesday, September 18.
Sennah was specifically created to be who I would want to be if I were in the GFFA. Most of my main character OCs are similar to me in one way or another, usually personality, because I have a hard time writing characters who are too different from me. I have trouble getting into their heads. I'm actually trying to force myself to kind of grow past that, but it ends up with the story just kind of stalling.
See, for my own part, I don't see that as necessarily being a shortcoming or something that needs to be "grown past." It seems to me only natural that we as authors are going to put some of ourselves into our stories in whatever form—it's a form of the old writers' advice "write what you know." If done right (and what constitutes "doing it right" is admittedly a whole other discussion), I've found such characters can be immensely effective. (I'm finding Sennah a very effective and engaging character already! ) Of course, that doesn't mean trying to put oneself in the shoes of a totally different kind of character isn't worthwhile too, and that too can lead to very effective results if done right (that phrase again ). But I think we needn't feel that our characters won't be well-rounded and effective unless we make ourselves do that. If that makes sense.
Just popping in to remind folks that you have today and tomorrow left to get your OC Summer Challenge votes in! Also a heads-up that it may be closer to the end of the day Wednesday (the 19th), or possibly the morning of Thursday the 20th, that I announce results. But yes, do send in those votes—think of it as a way to keep the OC torch burning!
Oh, Sennah's always going to be completely me, the "problem" I'm trying to get past is making sure Danyal for example is not also completely me. I want to try to have a variety of personalities. They're going to all have bits of me, just because I wrote them. But once, I had each of my main characters from across multiple stories I'd written do a personality quiz. All but the two I'd focused on absolutely making different were all the same personality type as me. I just want to kind of evolve past that in my writing.
I solved this in the most unexpected way - I halved me. I put the aggressive, unruly, controversial me in an ENFP character and the quiet, passive-aggressive, suffering, scared me in an INFP character. I only realised that the first one was me as well recently. Then again, as a person with a black and white brain, I can pull this off. The other characters are definitely not me, but they're mostly based on people I know and people I admire. I shall elaborate when my brain comes back. I think the left side went to Romania to save my crush from the wrath of Vlad.
One last reminder: today's your last day to get your OC Summer Challenge votes in, people! Come do your civic duty!