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~ A random repository of how-to-write and geekery, with an occasional snippet of accidental wisdom.

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Tag Archives: bbc merlin

Character Profile Five: Collaboration with WriteFury

12 Thursday May 2016

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics

≈ 58 Comments

Tags

bbc merlin, bbc sherlock, characters, colorblind, connor rawleigh, doctor who, generations, j.r.r. tolkien, loyalties, my novels, novels, star wars, superheroes, the lord of the rings, wow what a lot of bbc stuff around here, writing

Update: Important character trait added to list. I also brought it back to the top because it’s been a while.

Character Profile One

Character Profile Two

Character Profile Three

Recently, WriteFury and I were talking about Type Four in the Character Profiles series which she is currently working on. Basically, Type Four is the fun guys who are always smiling, really fun to be around.

But, while we were talking, I identified a Type Five.

And since she wasn’t familiar with most of the characters I classed as part of the type, she asked me to write this post. So here goes!

These characters are defined mainly by their sheer complexity. They appear to share traits with both Type One and Type Two, and are almost always extremely intelligent.

Like, (almost)ALWAYS-the-brightest-person-in-the-frame intelligent.

They tend to also be perceived as quirky or eccentric, and can be much more emotional than Type Ones, or borderline-sociopathic. Their senses of humor vary between sarcastic, wry, witty, or they may not have an apparent sense of humor. Another trait that they share with Type Ones is situational humor–they may make a wry quip about the mess they’re in.

This may be due to the fact that they’ve had bad things happen to them in the past, and it’s their coping mechanism.

They may be quiet or talk a lot, but you will never get more information out of them than they intend to give you.

They’re very clever, and often pretend to be stupid or use their eccentricity to hide just how dangerous they truly are from their enemies, and sometimes their friends. They’re many-layered, using different “facets” of their personalities as a smoke screen, and often extremely private.

And last but not least, they tend to be extremely dedicated to one or more of the other characters, to the point that they would die for them–but not on the other character’s terms or on their enemies’ terms. Only on their own terms. They will risk everything they hold dear for that one special person. They are also the most likely to do things for the good of other characters without their consent or even knowledge, which makes them more than a little frightening.

This type, along with Type One, is the most likely to punish themselves over things that may or may not have been their fault, in ways that are subtle and not easy for others to notice, whereas Type Two may do dramatic or drastic things (such as attempting suicide, in extreme cases) and Type Four falls into a deep depression.

These are also the hardest characters (along with Type One) to kill. They simply can’t give up, and refuse to die. (Sometimes literally. *gives the Doctor a meaningful look*)

Type Five characters have a strong moral code, often in lieu of following their emotions, because they (sometimes) fear that emotions will lead them in the wrong direction. They tend to be logical, but will sometimes choose non-logical options, especially as they tend to be extremely loyal to their friends–and sometimes not merely their friends, but to their cause.

When a Type Five is a villain, they may still have this strong moral code, but in a corrupted form (I present Count Dooku for your inspection.)

Also, sometimes the line between a Type One and a Type Five may be so blurred that it’s difficult to tell where they should be classed–but if there’s any doubt, your character is probably complex enough to be a Type Five. (Case in point: Horatio Hornblower, who shares most of the traits on the list, only he doesn’t use different layers of his personality to maintain his privacy in quite the same way as most Type Fives.)

Here’s the list of common traits:

Intelligence/Intuitive brilliance

Strong-willed or stubborn

Complexity

Does not trust him/herself to do the right thing much of the time

Planning ahead and/or last minute planning/split-second decisions

Dubious or dangerous history (VERY common!)

Extreme empathy bouncing to near-sociopathy (or one or the other)

Sarcasm/finds things that no one else gets ironic or funny

Self-hate (to an extent)/possible masochism (what? It’s true.)

Uses appearances to make others underestimate them

May make subtle into an art form (see above)

Very private

Logical

Loyal

Can be unscrupulous or ruthless

Rigid moral code (especially the ones who don’t trust “feelings”)

Now for some examples!

Sherlock Holmes

Baker Street’s resident not-a-psychopath,-Anderson, Sherlock Holmes is most definitely a Type Five, wherever he is portrayed. Brilliant and often unfeeling, and holding a soft spot for Watson, Lestrade, Molly Hooper (in the BBC series) and Mrs. Hudson, Sherlock is among the most complex of literary characters. A rare hero, in that he doesn’t hesitate to pull a gun on the bad guys, Sherlock may be “on the side of the angels,” but if you mistake him for one of them, that will be the last mistake you ever make. Sherlock holds himself unflinchingly to his own code, knowing that if he ever steps over the line, that will make him no different from his worst enemies, and he is willing to sacrifice himself for both John (The Reichenbach Fall) and Mary (His Last Vow)–in one case, a physical death (though, again with the planning ahead, that didn’t actually happen) and in the other the death of his good name.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Rigid moral code? Absolutely. Obi-Wan’s code is probably the one thing that defines him most as a character. Take the loyalty and boost it by five hundred percent. Situational humor? Definitely.

While Obi-Wan is less extreme than most of the others on the list, he is absolutely entirely in the details. Subtlety is his other defining trait; sometimes he’s even so subtle that it meshes right into the other related item, using his appearance to fool others into underestimating him.

Obi-Wan is not above using Anakin’s attachment to him to manipulate Anakin for the sake of the greater good (Deception et al.) It would be safe to say that he’d do the same for and to Anakin for Anakin’s sake.

Obi-Wan’s least-Type-Five/most-Type-One characteristic is his extreme selflessness, but again, he’s certainly complex enough to warrant a spot on this list. Extremely empathetic and deeply passionate, Obi-Wan still does not trust his own emotions to guide him, relying on logic and intuition instead. He holds himself to a much higher standard than he does others and is somewhat disillusioned, but his honesty and kindness are strongly endearing. (The reason there are Obi-Wan haters in the world, in my opinion, is because Obi-Wan is so subtle at times that he even fools his fans!)

Merlin

I hate it when this happens...

Another BBC favorite!

Merlin, also known as Emrys (which is, in case you were wondering, the Welsh equivalent of “Ambrose” and means “immortal”), is the protagonist of the BBC show of the same name (rather than having Arthur take the reins, as usual.) Merlin is, like many BBC characters, a very complex character, and might almost have been classed as Type Two or Type Three, except for his darker side. He is friendly, charming, a bit of a dork, and just generally the type of guy you want to have backing you up, but on the flip side he has an inner darkness that, fed by his magic tutor, the dragon Kilgarrah, SPOILERS eventually indirectly leads to the fall of Camelot. END SPOILERS However, under the guidance of mentor Gaius, he builds strong, lasting friendships with Arthur, Gwen, the knights, and fellow servants.

Merlin is brilliant with magic, but he doesn’t act like it. He’s sometimes clumsy but at other times he can be graceful. It’s mainly his ability to fool everyone (including Arthur–again, for Arthur’s own good and at the cost of wanting to tell him desperately about his secret) around him into underestimating him that has him here on this list.

The Doctor

Shut up, you’re adorable.

That is the Tenth Doctor, just to avoid confusion among non-Whovians. 😛

Anyway, the Doctor is the very definition of complex. With thirteen different incarnations, all played by different actors and each with different personalities, he sort of has to be. While all the different personalities tend to revolve around a theme and all involve some version of a few basic traits, each version of the Doctor is still entirely unique. And he tends to use his apparent clumsiness (recurring theme here) into fooling people that he’s stupid or doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s got some pretty toxic guilt over something that I gather is still a spoiler (?!), and definitely does not trust himself.

While he is in an age group comparable to Yoda, it just feels as if he’s been much farther than Yoda has ever traveled and seen more messed-up stuff. While Yoda does the funny-old-guy routine, the Doctor takes a route that is a bit more logical, in my mind; that long lifespan has only gone to make him much more complex, and he’s probably the most experienced person in any field that you’re ever going to find.

He also tends to find jokes in things no one else gets, is brilliant to the extent that it’s possible that he’s the most intelligent of any person on this list, is on par with Steve Rogers at thinking on his feet, has phenomenal situational awareness (um, that has nothing to do with the list, more to do with him being good at split-second tactics), and is both extremely compassionate and utterly unfeeling at times.

And I can’t even begin to list how many times he’s done things for his companions that they would never have allowed him to do, if they knew what he was planning.

Gandalf the Gray, Frodo Baggins, Aragorn, Faramir

gandalffrodoaragornfaramir

Boromir is a Type Two and Merry and Pippin are Type Four. What about the others?

Well, Sam Gamgee might be a type one, but Frodo is a Type Five. Almost everyone underestimates him, and rather than a hidden darkness, he has a hidden majesty–as does Aragorn. Faramir is conflicted (though not in quite the same way as he is in the movies). And Gandalf… well, when you’ve been around for about three thousand years, you’d expect a character to be a bit complex!

Now for my own characters!

Winter and Tairya

Winter has a personality somewhat similar to Merlin’s or the Doctor’s, except without the clumsiness, he is a bit more grim, and people underestimate him more because they don’t know him. However, he also has a sense of humor, is very loyal, especially to his mentor and friends among the Rangers, and has a kinder side that is rarely seen, except by his apprentice Elian. He is the bodyguard of the Princess and sworn to protect her.

Tairya, the woman Winter is sworn to guard, is probably the only villain on this list. Less blatant than most villains and completely without remorse, mercy, or compassion, Tairya is a Type Four gone horribly wrong. She is the archetype of everything any Type Four could slip into becoming. However, she does have a slightly lighter side; a soft spot for her husband and child–but this turns her even more sour when Winter, in an attempt to fulfill his oath in some way despite his failure to save her, kidnaps (or rescues) her son.

Winter and Tairya both appear in my unfinished novel Loyalties and are among my most complex characters ever.

Connor Rawleigh

More in the vein of Master Kenobi than any other character on this list, Connor’s personality is somewhat similar to that of a type two. He’s mild, clever, funny, and a good friend. However, under his mild, kind exterior, hidden so deep that even Connor himself is not aware of it, he has a secret:

Connor is a trained assassin, part of a failed conditioning experiment by a ruthless businessman, and his perceived colorblindness is psychosomatic–in rebelling against the conditioning, he effectively “made himself” colorblind. While he appears to fold to any situation, when he takes a stand it’s quite clear that he’s got some steel in his backbone, probably inherited from ancestors who fought in the American War for Independence. Connor stars in my unfinished novel Colorblind.

Wait… mild-mannered reporter living in a superhero world… Never mind. Connor’s only real “superpower” is the ability to see in the ultraviolet spectrum… which is pretty useless in a fight.

Nothing to see here, DC Comics.

If there’s another character who I missed who you think should be on this list, please tell me about them! I’d love to meet them. 🙂

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Archivist of Selay’uu’s Journal: Detours

10 Saturday Oct 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics, Tales from Selay'uu, Tales of a Wandering Bard

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

bbc merlin, doctor who, fun stuff, humor, selay'uu, star wars

Jack Harkness was laughing uproariously as Madame Jocasta peremptorily ejected us from the Archives. Gwaine could barely stand upright, and Gawain stared at the character with whom he only shared a name in horrified disgust. Obi-Wan was trying to shush us all, with limited success, and Siri was determined to make things even more insane. The Doctor went and sulked in a shadowy corner.

“That was one awesome party!” Jack declared. “We should have brought drinks with us, though.” I stared at him, shuddering with horror. Perish the thought.

“Jack, please,” Obi-Wan snapped in frustration. “There are minors present.”

“Well, since we forgot all the majors,” Jack said and collapsed with laughter over his own joke. I slapped him across the back of the head with a convenient book. He overbalanced and fell flat on his nose. I waved the book at him half-heartedly.

“Ha ha!”

“It serves you right for wrecking her office,” Obi-Wan observed, picking up Gervaise, who had somehow gone all loopy on thin air and was talking to people who no one else could see.

“But peppers are good, Natasha,” Gervaise said to no one. Obi-Wan hoisted him up.

“I’m taking him to the infirmary. The rest of you–” he gave us a warning look. “Behave.”

“I hate you all,” the Doctor muttered, looking as if he was about to cry. I ran across and hugged him.

“Don’t give me the puppy eyes, please! You know it leaves me a total wreck,” I whispered. He sighed, making a Herculean effort to regain his self-control.

“Fine.”

“Let’s prank Jack until he’s cross-eyed,” I suggested softly. Merlin winked at me. I could feel the Doctor smiling into my hair.

“Deal.”

The Great Prank War–the Prank War to end all Prank Wars–was on.

Favorite Screen Characters Tag

02 Friday Oct 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics, Tales from Selay'uu, Tales of a Wandering Bard, Uncategorized

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

baroness emma orczy, bbc merlin, bbc sherlock, being professorish, c.s. forester, captain america, doctor who, horatio hornblower, i'm jamming my tagging system but i don't care, j.r.r. tolkien, movies, star wars, television, the lord of the rings, the scarlet pimpernel, wow what a lot of bbc stuff around here

Hey, everyone. So I was nominated for this one by Sarah, my fellow superhero. Go check out her blog! 🙂

Basically, the idea is to name your top ten favorite characters from movies and TV (and like Deborah, I agree: Ten is far too few.) I’m also limiting myself so I never do too many per franchise.

I also apologize in advance, especially to my American fans, as this list will probably be largely dominated by the BBC. (British Television, people.)

10. Sir Percy Blakeney/Marguerite Blakeney. I had to include the husband-and-wife duo from A&E’s The Scarlet Pimpernel movies, because they are both brilliant, amazing actors, and a force to be reckoned with, saving lives and defying death during the Reign of Terror.

9. Jack Frost (from Rise of the Guardians) because, why not? Jack is the Guardian of Joy, so that people like him would make perfect sense. (Also, his story is MUCH better handled than Elsa’s and he became immortal while saving his little sister’s life.)

8. Merlin (from BBC’s Merlin.) Merlin is charming, hilarious, and a little bit clumsy. Added to that, he has the most awesome bromance with the other side of the coin, Arthur (who is, to use Merlin’s word, a bit of a prat.) These boys broke my heart. Also, Gwaine died (spoilers!) But anyway,

7. Sherlock (specifically from the BBC show Sherlock… I told you it might be BBC-dominated!) Sherlock is truly a hero, though he doesn’t actually believe that. He can be unfeeling, even brutal, at times, but he is committed to John’s (and, by extension, Mary’s) safety, and is a true friend.

6. Hiccup (from How to Train Your Dragon, but you knew that. :-P) Hiccup is the most unlikely hero you could imagine, but when he does find something to fight for, and remembers that his father loves him, he’s a force to be reckoned with. Also, sarcasm. 😛

5. If I have to pick just one character from the Lord of the Rings… Faramir. He’s a good man and a wise one. (I also love Sam, Frodo, and all the rest, but Faramir doesn’t get nearly the respect he deserves.)

4. Horatio Hornblower. Need I even start? Horatio is intelligent, a brilliant tactician, and always tries to be a good man. I sort of feel a connection to him because I’ve got the same sort of constant mental commentary coming after me, and sometimes I hate myself over some decisions I’ve made. Also, awesome swordfighting… need I say more? 😉
Horatio is a unique character because, instead of being addicted to adrenaline or totally fearless, he’s actually really nervous before going into battle, and sometimes struggles with relating to people. He’s a bit more logical in his approach to fights and such, and I find that unusual.

(These next three are actually about equal in my mind. I’m just ranking them this way because of how often I watch the movies featuring them and

3. The Doctor. I know you’re probably all fed up with how far I’ve gone into the Doctor Who fandom by now, so I’ll keep this short. I just think that the Doctor is amazing, and both incarnations I’ve seen so far were incredible. (Christopher Eccleston was brilliant and hilarious, and David Tennant… um. The word “precious” comes to mind–you know, in the sense of a small child… I’ll stop talking now. Oh look, Merlin quote!) Intelligent and funny, I think the Doctor is an intriguing character because he uses ridiculousness as a weapon, like Sir Percy Blakeney, who should also be on this list somewhere. Oh great, I just obfuscated again…
Um. Anyway, basically, the Doctor uses his sometimes-a-little-childish behavior and attitude to make the bad guys underestimate him.
The two main things you need to know about the Doctor: a) he sometimes behaves like a small child. b) he has some inner darkness going on, sort of a deep-seated cold rage. (The most murderous species in the universe calls him “The Oncoming Storm.” How’s that for credentials?!)

2. Steve Rogers. Do I even need to start? Loyal, selfless, and a tactical genius, but you wouldn’t know it if you were just casually talking with him. He has a homey sort of side that’s very appealing. Also an example of how you don’t have to have the sort of intense training Black Widow does or even a particularly tragic childhood to be a superhero. It’s the heart that matters. It’s the man that makes the superhero, and Steve is probably the BEST example of this. (Steve is in this slot on the list because I’ve been a fan of him for a little while–not as long as Horatio–but I rewatch the movies featuring him pretty often.)

1. Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan is my all-time favorite character from any movie. He’s brave and kind and intelligent and doesn’t need to be the “Chosen One” to be brilliant and the absolute best. (I have a whole theory that in a fight between Sidious and Obi-Wan, Sidious absolutely would not walk away from it, even if Obi-Wan was killed as well. But I’m not going into that here.) I may stray from fandom to fandom, but Obi-Wan is one character I’ll always come back to.

I probably forgot several of my favorite characters. *sigh* Like I said before… only ten?! Is that even possible?

And because I keep forgetting about this, I’ll tag Iris and WriteFury (I don’t think either of them has done it…) and Proverbs31teen. Also the Professor, because I would love to find out who his favorite characters on screen are… 😉 Good luck, people!

Archivist of Selay’uu’s Journal: Summer, Day 49

04 Tuesday Aug 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Tales from Selay'uu, Tales of a Wandering Bard

≈ 406 Comments

Tags

arthurian legends, bbc merlin, completely random posts, doctor who, doomyness, humor, long rants, long rants that do not technically belong to me, marvel, randomness, selay'uu, steven moffat, the avengers, the Thing, thor

“Try the… thing!”

“I have tried it, Master Doctor!”

“Then try the other thing! I don’t know how it works! Just… poke it, I guess.”

“Why do you not use the mallet you do when your ship slips off course?”

“Why don’t you?”

“I fear I might accidentally demolish it if I did.”

“…touche.”

I opened the door to my room, only to find that it led not into the hallway, but into somewhere else. The Doctor was running circles around an object that could only be described as a Thing, while Thor was gingerly prodding it. It was shaking dramatically from side to side, glinting like a disco ball and buzzing ineffectually, like an annoyed insect.

“What’s going on?” I demanded. Thor looked up apologetically, while the Doctor opened his mouth irately and went off into a long rant or complaint (it didn’t sound much like an explanation) about rogue Time Lords, King Arthur’s second-best hat, a green-eyed basilisk, a carrot and a pigeon.*

“If you can’t get it to work,” I said practically, “and you don’t know what it is or what it does, why not just destroy it?”

On second thought, maybe not so practical–but I had had work (not the fun kind, the kind that brings in money and is miserable) and was in a vicious mood.

The Doctor opened his mouth and shut it again. “That just might work,” he said dubiously.

I looked around. “Also, why is my bedroom in the TARDIS?”

“I think the TARDIS likes you,” said Thor, bringing Mjolnir down on the Thing with a resounding clang. The Doctor muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “traitor”.

It also sounded like the TARDIS was laughing in the background.

We never did find out what the Thing was for.

It was probably a dummy and did not do anything. It is also likely that the Thing was constructed by the Master (who we put in a looney bin) as a chew toy. Or a cuddle beastie.

Who knows?

(It was a very confusing day.)


*Please don’t ask me to tell you how those particular objects are related. One: I am not Steven Moffat. Two: I doubt even Steven Moffat can understand the Doctor when he starts babbling like that. Three: I also doubt that even Steven Moffat can explain the “three things and a lizard” comment, so you should definitely NOT ask me.

Author’s Note: Who wants Thor to be a companion on Doctor Who? *raises hand* (Weeeell, any of the Avengers, really. Except maybe Tony, because he’d try to take the TARDIS apart, and that would make the Doctor really mad. Maybe. I don’t actually know.)

Writing Prompts

01 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics, Tales of a Wandering Bard

≈ 136 Comments

Tags

bbc merlin, bbc sherlock, captain america, doctor who, fanfiction, fun stuff, marvel, plot prompts, star wars, the avengers

I found a grape when I went to bed last night. (Thanks a lot, Harold.)

Anyway, that was actually my sister’s doing. We were watching Doctor Who and sitting on my bed and she was eating grapes. (Fortunately, there were no grape stains, thanks for asking 😉 )

But I had an idea.

It’s not something I usually do.

Okay, here are some prompts for fanfiction and/or short stories!

First of all, the universal fandom prompt:

Character you don’t often write. Random household object. Random cameo by anyone (from that fandom, real life, or other fandom, I don’t care which.) Love it, hate it, take it, or leave it?

Go!

Bruce stared tiredly at the salad spinner. It might have been staring back at him, but he wasn’t certain. If it had eyes, he couldn’t tell where they were.

Behind him, the kitchen door opened and closed. The footfalls were evenly spaced, light, but with weight behind each one. Bruce rubbed his eyes. It was just too late for this.

“I never did get the point of that contraption,” Steve Rogers said, nodding at the spinner. “Why crank something up or pop batteries in when you can just…” He mimed tossing something into the air. Bruce cracked a smile. Instantly, Steve honed in on the tiredness emanating from his fellow Avenger. “Doctor Banner… are you all right?”

“Fine. I just need to sleep for a week.” Steve half-smiled, but his concern was still obvious. It was… nice, for a change. “But I can’t yet. Delicate experiment, hours setting it up, still not quite done… Talk to me. Where have you been?”

“West coast.” Steve leaned back against the counter top; it creaked softly. “Some maniac thought that he could ‘accelerate to the next stage of evolution’ by just setting off a bigger and better bomb. Believe it or not, we actually pulled out the inner workings of the bomb–after it was deactivated–and locked him inside the casing until the cops got there. Tony offered me to stay the night in Malibu, but…” The helplessness in the younger man’s eyes pulled at Bruce’s soul. Steve and Tony were friends–he would even go so far as to say that, if they had been switched as children, they would have grown into each other–but that very likeness sometimes drove them apart. They were both stubborn, with quick tempers and often said or did things in anger that they would regret later. Steve was struggling to connect, quite literally taken aback while he tried–probably futilely–to think things out.

“I’m sorry.” Bruce sighed. He had been running too long, and while he had been away, emotion and human relationships had gotten even more complicated.

“It’s not your fault.” Steve said.

Back at the Battle of New York, just after the end, Bruce remembered looking at Steve and seeing him, twenty-seven years old, and looking very lost. Next to the rest of them, he was practically a kid.

“It’s too early in the morning to be philosophical about a salad spinner,” he said.

Steve laughed.

Now for the actual fandom prompts!

Star Wars:

Before the prequels: Obi-Wan has a rough night (is the kid sick or just not sleeping?) and Qui-Gon is trying to ignore the television in the background.

Obi-Wan doesn’t like these new shoes.

Siri is going undercover as “Miss Corellia”. Obi-Wan tries on her heels in an attempt to cheer her up but probably also succeeds in incurring injuries.

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon don’t always understand each other. Of course, that’s only to be expected when their minds work on entirely different wavelengths.

Prequel Era: Anakin notices something he didn’t before. Padme lights candles. Obi-Wan writes. (Any or all of the above. Is it wrong that I love the thought of Obi-Wan with a pen and ink?)

Original Trilogy: Han makes no sense when he has a concussion. Leia hates it when people give her new lingerie pieces. Luke/Books OTP (‘nough said.) Any or all.

Avengers/Marvel:

Hair cut. Reading aloud. Cooking. Generally being domestic.

Sam Wilson being awesome.

Steve Rogers being a dork (because let’s face it, he is. He is representative of the best side of America. ^_^)

Tony Stark inventing a new language (which only Pepper can understand.)

Coulson plus hat.

Loki falls down the stairs. And sulks. And turns himself into a cat.

All the Avengers dress up as each other for a day.

Any or all, whichever you like.

(Please note: I like adding Peter Parker to the Avengers, especially when he brings out Steve’s little-kid side *winkwink*)

Doctor Who:

The Doctor has an allergy (otherwise known as the Doctor needs a doctor.)

Rose Tyler makes her own jewelry. Turns out that her mad skills with needle-nose pliers come in handy.

Mickey Smith is not a tin robot dog. He’s the only sane person aboard the TARDIS.

(This one’s for Iris!) Donna Noble is not having a good day. The Doctor tries to cheer her up, but (predictably) things don’t go as he had planned.

Window boxes are the third item on the list of things the Doctor loves about Planet Earth.

the Doctor/Owl City music OTP.

Merlin:

Merlin has a cold. This has bizarre effects on his magic. (As usual, Gaius is looking into it.)

Gaius is feeling down. Merlin tries to cheer him up. Naturally, pandemonium ensues.

Merlin cheering up Gwen/Guinevere.

Merlin is Gwen’s wingman.

Merlin ships Arwen (for those of you who haven’t heard the term before, that’s Arthur/Gwen).

Merlin vs. the Orange.

Merlin vs. the Grapefruit.

Gwaine doing ANYTHING (because the man is ridiculous and an incorrigible flirt. Seriously, he’s like they recycled Captain Jack Harkness and then added an extra gallon of ridiculous.)

Gwaine/Food OTP.

Sherlock:

John takes up photography. Mrs. Hudson gets a new photo album. Sherlock re-invents color film.

Sherlock has a new hobby.

John can cook.

John knocks Sherlock out cold.

A goat tries to eat part of Sherlock’s coat.

Lestrade is a secret musician.

*rubs hands together* There we go!

Okay, if these prompts inspire you, then please send me a link to your finished pieces–I’d love to see what you come up with!

Ready. Set.

GO!

Archivist of Selay’uu’s Journal: Summer, Day One

08 Friday May 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics, Tales from Selay'uu, Tales of a Wandering Bard

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

avengers, bbc merlin, big hero six, coruscantbookshelf, doctor who, generations, horatio hornblower, humor, john flanagan, loyalties, marvel, novels, ranger's apprentice, selay'uu, star wars, summer

It’s pretty normal for people to run, whooping, through the Selay’uu Mansion. However, normally I’m in my room, writing, when it happens. This time, though, I was leading the charge.

I had just finished my spring semester classes, which means I have no classes for a couple of months until my summer ones start. Which means an excess of energy and a lot of excited screaming.

And, unfortunately, an excess of energy leads to foolish decisions, such as the one to challenge Captain America to a ping pong tournament.

That was a humiliating fifteen minutes.

Anyway, once that supremely humiliating so-called “tournament” was over, I calmed down a little–just enough to invite Rosalie over to work on realizing a few plot elements in one story. I’m good with theory, but actually bringing something to paper takes chemistry sometimes, and she’s much better at that than I am. Of course, we had Bruce Banner as well, but we kicked Tony out, because he wasn’t doing anything but make unhelpful comments.

In the middle of what we were working on, we got called out to a crisis. Harry Potter and friends had invaded Percy Jackson’s world without permission, and as a result it was raining golems on Telos. Never a boring day…

And when we got back, it was chaos.

Tony Stark had already built another Iron Man suit, but the programming was malfunctioning and it was flying in circles around Winter, who was threatening to destroy it, as it had “kidnapped” his apprentice, Will was trying to turn the curtain rod into gold and Halt was making unhelpful comments about alchemy (who put them up to that? If anyone has any information, please tell me. Because starting Will on “alchemy” was Not. Funny. It was probably Tony Stark–I have Gilan and Natasha Romanoff investigating, but no positive proof yet.), and Fred from the Big Hero Six had glued poor Peter Parker to the wall with Rosalie’s and my unfinished polymer. We had to invent a new solvent and abandon what we were originally working on and it took us five hours. In the meanwhile, Steve (God bless you, Steve) tackled the malfunctioning Iron Man suit and freed Elian, Will had figured out that alchemy wasn’t real, and Mordred had to turn Morgana into a potato (there is no magic in potatoes, and she was having an Evil Day and freaking everyone out, including Bucky, who broke a window and nearly killed her–the potato spell worked just in time!)

Six hours after that, the kids were in bed (I don’t know how Melilana and Steve managed that, but thank you all), Morgana was back from being a potato, Bucky had calmed down somewhat (thank you, Rosalie!), and the golems on Telos had all been put to sleep (“swefn” is a very powerful spell, but for some reason Winter had to say it, because I was tongue-tied. And he’s the one who doesn’t use magic!)

Fortunately for Horatio, he got back after all the hubbub was over. (I wonder how he’ll react when he finds out that we planned a combined birthday party for him and Steve. Oh well. That’s not for a few months yet.)

So, as I write this, things are somewhat calmer. (Obi-Wan had to avert some crisis on a far world–maybe he went to Gallifrey.) Bucky is falling asleep on my lap and I’m not willing to disturb him, not after Rosalie’s good work in getting him calmed down (I think Sam Wilson went with Obi-Wan.)

It’s certainly time for bed now… how else am I supposed to get up and do it all over again tomorrow morning!?

Archivist of Selay’uu’s Journal: A March Hare Fling…?

26 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Tales from Selay'uu

≈ 30 Comments

Tags

bbc merlin, bbc sherlock, camp nanowrimo, camp nanowrimo april 2015, captain america, captain america: the winter soldier, colorblind, connor rawleigh, marvel, national novel writing month, novels, selay'uu, sir arthur conan doyle, star wars, writing

Clearly, it is one of those days.

I woke up this morning after a sleepover in heaven. I was actually nice and warm, which is not very usual post-sleepover. And comfortable, which is even less common.

It turns out that at some point while still asleep, I had snuggled up to Steve’s back, and Bucky was tucked close up against mine, and somehow we’d shared all our blankets.

Who knew the Winter Soldier was a closet cuddler?

Anyway, it was heavenly. They both have a slightly-higher-than-usual body temperature, so I was warm. Chaste cuddle pile. It’s a wonderful way to wake up.

Unfortunately, the moment Bucky rolled over and kicked me in the shoulder (without waking up), I knew it was going to be one of those days.

Before I had even finished the thought, Bucky’s kick had rolled me entirely over Steve’s shoulder, which woke him up, and I ended up nose to nose with Captain America. Talk about awkward. Also, did I mention my hair was in his face? Which prompted a rather ill-timed sneeze.

And suddenly Bucky started to snore. Which, normally, our resident supersoldiers do not (in case you didn’t know, snoring tends to be linked to health problems. Like allergies, but more often obesity.) I think Bucky’s irregular way of getting the serum means that it actually prompted an allergy or something… but I’m not a scientist. Anyway, later that morning, we were dealing with a huffy, sulking former Soviet assassin. But we made pancakes!

He got better.

But then things got crazy.

I put on an Owl City CD in while I was working on my Easter dress, and Connor was, apparently, bored while I was trying to figure out his backstory and the one character who’d already been killed off. So, naturally, he started dancing to it, and Obi-Wan joined in with him (when he’s a teenager–especially a slightly-insane one–he’s really… um. I think I should probably just explain what happened.) So, they were trying to do a swing step, but somehow Obi-Wan got a hand tangled up in Connor’s gear harness (I don’t know why, but they were both in combat black as well as tactical gear…) and they ended up in a pile on the floor. Of course Bucky had to join in, trying to teach Steve to dance, but Steve was tripping over all four of their feet. I’m not even sure how that’s possible, but he managed to do it. Gaius was trying to untangle the Jedi and assassin, but at one point he ended up holding both of Obi-Wan’s wrists, and that triggered a panic attack (for reasons that should be pretty obvious–poor lad.) So that led us all on a manhunt through the entire mansion, trying to catch Obi-Wan and bring him back to the land of the living before he could hurt himself or anyone else. I decided to work on the latest story with Obi-Wan to try and get things under control, and then Anakin wandered around. Turns out he’d had a bit too much of the Unicorn Cider from the Camp Nanowrimo Cafe and as a result he was loopy. He was singing the Unicorn Song and insisting that Siri’s middle name was Meredith. Siri was not amused and brained him with the Travelling Shovel of Death. Of course, Anakin wasn’t dead, but then he had to go and pick on Merlin, who turned him purple. Which Padme liked, but Anakin did not.

Anyway, along came Moriarty, who was drunk in the normal way. He was flirting with everything and rambling about flying cheetahs and generally creeping me out, so I whacked him in the kidney with a mop, then bashed him in the head with the Captain’s shield.

Just another one of those days.

It absolutely has to be March.

 

The Brooklyn Project: Protagonist-Centered Morality and Why it’s Bad

16 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Story Dynamics, The Brooklyn Project

≈ 61 Comments

Tags

accountability, baroness orczy, bbc merlin, bbc sherlock, captain america, captain america: the first avenger, captain america: the winter soldier, character development, characters, dynamic characters, editing, harry potter, heroes, marvel, marvel superheroes, star wars, story dynamics, the brooklyn project, the scarlet pimpernel, undo the sue, writing

Sometimes, an author will become so preoccupied with his or her hero or heroine that they can do no wrong–even when they are. The rules bend for these protagonists. And people in the stories (and occasionally the reader as well) see nothing wrong with this.

This can potentially lead to the creation of a Mary Sue.

Protagonist-centered morality is bad because it takes away the possibility of accountability as well. If your hero does something wrong, you want it to have repercussions. They can’t just get away with a slap on the hand! It reinforces to the reader that the hero has done something wrong, and it also makes for deeper characters. If the hero has slipped up once, they have to fight harder to even be allowed to do it right the next time..

On the other hand, if you don’t add responsibility, your protagonist can become spoiled and obnoxious (as in real life) or unrealistically angelic (sickening.) The latter would make him/her a Mary Sue, no matter how many de-Sue-ifiers you threw in to try and balance it (without removing the lack of accountability.)

Apart from the message that it sends, that it’s okay to do bad things, it’s bad for the story at large.

I’m trying to think of a few examples, but all I can think of is that, though in the final cut, we never see the response to Steve’s failed attempts to enlist, falsifying information, I think there was actually a scene planned where someone found out and didn’t trust Steve for a while. They just didn’t officially tell anyone because if they did he’d be court-martialed and they couldn’t have that. In the planned Howling Commandos fanfic that I’m writing, I was going to have one of the people in the USO show tour find out and hold it over Steve. There are, however, strong consequences when Steve fails to predict that the train is a trap and save Bucky, even if it’s not technically his fault.

Another example would be the BBC show Merlin. While, all around, this is generally a good show, the BBC slipped up a bit (for once); this show displays a bit of protagonist-centered morality. Though, later on, they add more consequences, even to past actions, early in the show there are a few episodes where Merlin slips up and gets away with it. However, for the show’s other protagonist, Arthur, there are always consequences to his actions. Inconsistent much? Or just waiting around? *sigh* I wish they’d done it earlier on.

In the BBC show Sherlock, we’re actually hoping to see protagonist-centered morality blown out of the water; at the very end of the last season, Sherlock killed someone, point-blank, in cold blood (attempting not to give spoilers here); we want to see how people react to this. There’s always mistrust, and rightly so, after something like that.

In Star Wars, Obi-Wan’s attempt to distance himself, to not become emotionally involved, backfires when Anakin turns to the dark side; Obi-Wan’s aloof affection was simultaneously too much and not enough.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier comes with a thorough message about accountability (where Civil War is essentially about people’s Constitutional rights, from what I’ve heard). This is especially true for Natasha, who risks, in a selfless action that proves she is capable, no matter what she (and incidentally, Hydra) thinks, of heroism, she spills all her dirty secrets across the Internet in order to bring Hydra down (again, trying to avoid spoilers.) Ironically, this bypasses the same failsafe that Hydra thought would protect them; they insist that Natasha (or anyone, really) wouldn’t incriminate herself like that.

From what I’ve heard, Harry Potter is really bad about this–it sounds like he consistently breaks rules of both the magician and human world without any consequences.

One very good book that could make better use of accountability (without outright protagonist-centered morality) that I love is “The Scarlet Pimpernel.” Except for Marguerite, the book doesn’t use it quite as well as it could…

Accountability. Use it for deeper character.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

Silliness, Part Two

19 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics, Tales of a Wandering Bard, Uncategorized

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

bbc merlin, completely random posts, confusing nonsense, extremely random posts, humor, insanity, j.r.r. tolkien, rambling musings, randomness, silliness, the chronicles of narnia, the hobbit, the lord of the rings

Does anyone remember A Random Story, that silly take-a-turn writing piece I did back in January with two friends to pass the time as we headed back from the March for Life?

Well, here’s some more! With thanks to everyone at Mockingjay14’s birthday party. (The first part is mine, the second is Iris‘… it was her sister’s birthday party, anyway. 😉 ) Everyone took a turn at writing a little more onto a story, and each paragraph represents a different writer. Enjoy the silliness!


Once upon a time in a room full of dead ferns a man in black rose from purple moss and strode purposefully away. He threw a black sword into the black air with a black scowl and proclaimed, “WOOF!”

No, really, that wasn’t what he actually said… what he actually said was, “I summon thee, Dark One,” after which a cloaked figure appeared. The man was surprised by the Dark One’s short stature, and when he threw back his cloak, he turned out to be…

Bilbo in disguise! He was quite grumpy because he had lost all of his pocket-handkerchiefs. He had been searching for one when he had…

fallen down a cliff, meanwhile hitting his head, passing out, and rolled into the purple moss. He happened to be allergic to it, so…

his whole face swelled up, and he began to notice that it was becoming hard to breathe. So, he threw himself down, and took a nap.

Then, when he woke up, he suddenly felt an urge to eat circus peanuts when he saw…

an elephant who wanted peanuts as well. The elephant said, “I DON’T LIKE PURPLE!”

Bilbo ran away from the elephant because it was scaring him, but it chased him! Then a flying figure appeared above Bilbo. It was…

Fledge, with Merlin, Frodo, and Cor and Corin on his back and all of them were having a huge argument. Bilbo and everyone else…

decided to get as far away as possible. On the way, they ran into Tauriel. She saw Bilbo and said, “Aww, you poor little hobbit. Here, let me help.” Then she healed Bilbo, and they set off for the Shire. But if they ever got there or not, we’ll never know.


Author’s note: Erm… sorry about this. It’s been in my drafts for months. About five months, in fact. Apparently I lost it in my drafts–you’re just super fortunate I finally found it again. Always good for a laugh, right?

Thanks for reading, and God Bless! (Merry Christmas!)

 

The Sisterhood of World Bloggers Award

21 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics, Tales of a Wandering Bard, Uncategorized

≈ 35 Comments

Tags

authors, autumn, award, baroness orczy, bbc merlin, bbc sherlock, blogging, captain america: the first avenger, dee henderson, disney, dreamworks, editor, fall, fall break (finally!), frozen, irene hannon, joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat, louisa may alcott, madeleine l'engle, pixar, prince of egypt, roleplaying, sewing, singing in the rain, star wars, star wars rebels, story dynamics, the clone wars, writer, writing

wpid-wp-1410292848725I have been awarded the Sisterhood of World Bloggers Award by Robyn Hoode of Spiral Bound… Thank you, Robyn! 🙂

Okay, the rules are to show the icon on your blog, answer questions, make up new questions, nominate bloggers, and notify them of the nomination. (It isn’t exactly fair to them if you expect them to just read your blog and see, “Oh, I got nominated!” A lot of us are really busy people, so it takes a while for us to get back and realize that we were nominated, if you don’t comment on our blogs to tell us. PLEASE NOTE: I am NOT pointing fingers at anyone. I’m just making an observation about something, because the last two times I got nominated no one commented to tell me that I had been. Don’t worry about forgetting if you did nominate me and don’t remember if you notified me or not, because you probably did, but if you haven’t seen your award up on this blog please comment and tell me and I’ll do my best to respond to the nominations in a timely manner. 😉 Don’t loose any sleep about it, just do your best to notify people of nominations, and no one will hate you if you forget, and the whole world will go a lot smoother. 😉 )

1. What is your favorite musical? Ooh, hard to say. I’m bouncing between Prince of Egypt, Singing in the Rain, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. 😉 Partly because the latter was the first and only real musical I’ve seen live. 😉

2. If you could guest star in any TV show, which show and who would you be? Any TV show? Including ones that have stopped running? Well, I have a lot, but I’ll have to pick three… BBC’s Merlin as an assassin sent to kill Arthur but who instead winds up siding with Merlin against a bigger threat (no romance, because that’s overdone!), Star Wars: The Clone Wars and/or Star Wars: Rebels as a Jedi (or maybe a Mandalorian, just because 🙂 ). I’d also like to be on BBC Sherlock, but I have no idea what I’d be doing there. 😛

3. Do you have a favorite number? I don’t know… Nine seems like a nice round number. For some reason, twenty-seven doesn’t seem nearly as perfect. But I also like the smaller prime numbers, just because they’re interesting…

4. What is your favorite thing about autumn? I don’t know. Probably the beautiful color of the leaves (and jumping in the piles). Or the hot beverages–wassail (spiced hot apple cider) is the best!

5. What’s your favorite girly thing to do with your sister/female cousin/best friend? Umm… I don’t know. Sewing projects. Sitting down to watch a movie and then discuss it. (I know. Not very girly.) Roleplaying. (As a boy, occasionally–so again, not very girly!)

6. Best movie you’ve seen this year? So far? At the moment, I rather think that that would be Captain America: The First Avenger. I haven’t seen many movies for the first time this year, and I was rather underwhelmed by Frozen, after all those stupid spoilers.

7. If you had to change your name, what would you change it to? Wow… I don’t know. I might change it to Erin (as Erin is not on my birth certificate, if you were wondering :-P) I don’t really plan on saying here what I would like to use as a pseudonym, as that could be–could be–personal information. As to why I go by Erin online, it’s a long story. 😉 If you want to hear it, I suppose I could post about that… which should tell you just how bored I am and how low I am inspiration-wise.

8. How do you feel about chick-flicks? Not much into them. Don’t know much about them. That’s all.

9. GIFs? I like them, but I don’t use them much. (Oh well!) The first time I encountered a gif was over on the Merlin Wiki back in 2013, and I was a bit amazed at first–it’s a moving picture (minus the sound), after all!

10. Favorite female author? I know I’m probably going to have a bunch of angry people on my hands, but Madeleine L’Engle is my absolute favorite female author. Baroness Orczy is a close runner-up. I also like Dee Henderson and Irene Hannon. I haven’t been quite as “in” to Louisa May Alcott as some others… yeah. Rather limited, I know.

Now, for my questions!

  1. How many times in a day do you look things up online, on average?
  2. What is the strangest thing you have ever said to anyone?
  3. Since my dad is having us watch The Avengers and all the movies leading up to them… who’s your favorite Avenger? 😉
  4. Which Avenger are you most like, in your opinion? In your friends’ opinions?
  5. If you had to pick one–just one–fictional character to be caught with in the middle of a natural disaster (or a nuclear war, take your pick) who would you choose?
  6. Oddest thing you’ve sung in the shower?
  7. What is the biggest thing you’ve had malfunction about your account or blog? (Mine is the elusive “like” button which I have often complained about.)
  8. Favorite kind of fruit?
  9. What book/movie/poem/short story has made the biggest impact on you lately?
  10. And, last but not least, what was the funniest thing you read recently? Please share! 😉

Okay, so now I need to nominate people… let’s see…

Tara Therese (check out her new… well, relatively new, site! 😉 )

Miko (because she just nominated me, and so I can’t nominate her back on the other award reception post I’m working on.)

PinkDoughnuts15, because Winnie the Pooh, and relatability as well. 😉

Rachel Carerra, because awesome stories!

Portergirl, even though she might not accept the nomination, just to point more people to her awesome blog! 😉

Rayne Speryll of Writing in Rivendell, just because. 😉

I was probably going to nominate a bunch of other people, but oh well… I can’t remember half of who I wanted to nominate. *sigh* I’m trying to nominate mostly people whom I haven’t before, but one day after I receive the award myself, everything goes out the window. As I said, oh well. 😛

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