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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: captain america: the winter soldier

The Brooklyn Project: Writing Anger, Part Two

17 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics, The Brooklyn Project

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

bbc sherlock, captain america, captain america: the first avenger, captain america: the winter soldier, character development, character types, characters, doctor who, marvel, star wars, story dynamics, writing, writing about emotion

Welcome back to this Brooklyn Project special on Writing Anger!

In the previous post, I explained why anger (and other emotions) is important to your novel and the different tendencies of character types in anger. In this post, I will give specific examples, explain how backstory can influence a character’s emotions, and give some advice and handy tools for writing it into your novels.

Anger tends to vary drastically within types as well as within genders. Take Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Doctor, for example. I have them both classed as Type Fives because they’re both extremely complex characters who use a lot of misdirection and subtlety (as a side note, I watched part of David Tennant playing Hamlet and I’d have to say, Hamlet is Type Five as well.) Obi-Wan and the Doctor are both a bit more emotional than the stereotypical Type Five (Sherlock Holmes, for instance), but they have tendencies towards different emotions. Obi-Wan, while he’s a generally optimistic person with a mostly-happy childhood, is also a realist (see? really complex!) and slides toward sadness as an adult (as a child, he had a very quick temper), and I’d imagine that of all the Star Wars characters he’s probably the one hiding the fact that he has to take antidepressants. Obi-Wan has a tendency to switch topics without warning (non sequitur to the Rest Of The World), but has come to manage that in his adult life so he acts more like an INFJ than an INTJ (which I’m pretty sure he is.) The Doctor is much more bipolar. He sometimes has dramatic mood swings, jumps from idea to idea without consistency and gets depressed when he loses Rose in his tenth incarnation. (The Ninth and Twelfth Doctors were both much more focused, while Eleven just seems a bit aimless and underdeveloped to me.)

As a child, Obi-Wan was under a lot of stress much of the time–his teachers had high expectations, he routinely exceeded them, which in turn made his teachers set their standards for him even higher. No one ever particularly told him that he was clever, which certainly helped him to become the humble character we all love, but it didn’t do much to help him cope with his workload–being observant, he knew that most of his age-mates weren’t working this hard. Either he didn’t know the reason, or he simply rationalized it that he was stupid, because he was working so much harder than everyone else. Because he was stressed, he tended to flare up in anger when bullied, which made people perceive him as an angry person when he really was a compassionate and thoughtful one under a lot of stress. (He was probably also dealing with depression, but it went unnoticed because he didn’t fit the stereotype.) This was dramatically exacerbated when he came closer to the cut-off date for apprenticeship. It was a self-fueling cycle that pushed him down, but fortunately Yoda observed what was going on, realized that he was caught in a cycle and they weren’t seeing his true self, and used the fact that he’d recently gotten into a fight with another Jedi hopeful to get him out of the Temple and away from the cycle. (“The Rising Force” by Dave Wolverton. What makes me think he was dealing with depression? The hopeless way he responded to being taken away from the Temple and his difficulty in finding the will to fight back when attacked on the transport. I may be wrong about depression, but that seems to fit the facts.)

As an adult, Obi-Wan was not as likely to flare up, even when provoked. It took a major provocation (oftentimes aimed at his loved ones rather than himself) to get him angry. While he was outwardly a model of serenity, he was really a visionary, passionate and idealistic, and had an innate ability to read other people and respond to them in a disarming way. (Oh, sorry, did I say Obi-Wan was INTJ? It’s really hard to tell if that big letter is a T or an F, especially with him.) Obi-Wan was both a traditionalist and a reformer, and given enough time he might have been able to get the entire Jedi Order back on track. Obi-Wan always had a sarcastic and often dark sense of humor with a love of wordplay and a cutting wit that he used as a smokescreen to hide any internal trepidation. However, his sarcasm was more often a part of his humor than of his anger.

As an adult, Obi-Wan responded to anger in one of two ways. One was a sudden burst of anger (in response to sudden provocation), followed quickly by calm, rational thought, and the other was a cold, distant, controlled and calculated wrath that was completely terrifying, even if you were not the target of it at the time. Obi-Wan was not an angry person, however. His anger was aroused and then when it was over, it was completely gone.

The Doctor, while he had a similar upbringing (taught at an academy with little to no familial contact after his induction), was always more of a rebel. While Obi-Wan had an intuitive understanding of the world and the people around him, the Doctor, while brilliant, would often find himself confronted by situations and things he didn’t understand. The Doctor never particularly cared about other people’s opinions and was often more sassy than sarcastic. Sarcasm was not often a part of his anger, either. The Doctor didn’t often have those rapid flare-ups of temper as an adult–his anger was a constant, a perpetual and constantly controlled presence and as such it was always tightly controlled. When openly angry, the Doctor’s anger was similar to Obi-Wan’s calculated cold fury. He would often be verbally cutting (though not sarcastic,) whittling people down (often to tears) with words. His word choice, posture, and expression would all become menacing. For me, the most effective thing about David Tennant’s performance as the Doctor was the way he could play a character who is sweet, charming, frankly adorable and a little bit ditzy but who is at the same time an intensely driven individual, with an ever-present and deep-rooted anger–especially the way Tennant is able to jump so quickly between the two.

the idiot's lanternthe idiot's lantern 2

There was another image I was going to use, but it’s the most terrifying expression you are ever likely to see, so I’m going to refrain. This blog is mostly G-rated, after all.

Their angry expressions vary, too: Obi-Wan presses his lips together tightly, the Doctor tends to display his teeth (which is slightly unnerving in its own right–Ten’s teeth are sort of angled-in, which prompted him to comment “That’s weird” immediately after his regeneration.) Obi-Wan’s anger is all in the way he looks calculatedly at people, while the Doctor’s anger is all in the eyes and mouth–eyebrows draw together, lips curl back, and his nose wrinkles a little. The Doctor looms over people, while Obi-Wan tenses up in his core and has to remind himself to breathe. That last one could be more because Obi-Wan’s training was a little more martial in style, so he’s preparing to leap into action at any second. The Doctor’s anger intimidates, while Obi-Wan prepares to fight.

(Bottom line, fangirls: The Doctor is scary. He does have a fluffy side but he also has quite the dark side. Do not occasion David Tennant giving you The Eyebrow… if he did it to me I’d probably burst into tears.)

Let’s talk about Steve Rogers, a typical Type One. Steve doesn’t get angry often, but when he does, you do not want to get on his bad side. Captain America: The Winter Soldier has several prime examples. In the first fifteen or so minutes of the movie, he tells Fury off for not giving him the whole story about the opening mission. Rather than verbally attacking Fury or using sarcasm, though, he lets Fury know he’s angry and then tells him why in plain language that’s not calculated to make Fury angry in turn. As a result, we find out how much Fury really respects Steve–in response to Steve’s accusation, he shows us that he values Steve’s respect by showing Steve SHIELD’s latest top-secret project: Project Insight. You wouldn’t think that Fury would let something like Steve’s respect be that important to him, but it is.

The other notable anger we see Steve display in The Winter Soldier is his anger following the shock of discovering that his best friend is still alive and has been brainwashed into a Soviet superweapon. “Would you have compartmentalized that too?” he asks Fury, the most biting his language to Fury has gotten thus far. He’s being a little bit irrational, which is not really typical for Steve at all. I think that in the scene on the bridge when Sam Wilson says “He’s the kind you stop,” Steve is still angry about it but keeps himself from lashing out viciously at Sam because it is not Sam’s fault.

You can’t really see it on his face when Steve is angry because his angry look is more “calculating” than “angry.” You have to listen to him to know he’s angry. Also, Steve’s sarcasm is rarely connected with his anger–it’s more self-deprecating. We generally only see him use sarcasm when he’s angry with himself or trying to work with people, and then he uses his sarcasm the same way–to defuse the situation through self-deprecating humor. It’s very rare for us to see Steve use anything but plain language–which would seem to be a fairly common trait for Type Ones. They can get technical, but most of the time they whittle things down to the barest meaning they can.

Bucky Barnes is different from most Type Twos. He’s brave, funny, active, adventurous, and a people person. Cool factor was harder to figure out, but he’s the Winter Soldier. However, he isn’t as much of a planner as Steve is and as a result we never see him planning anything in particular. Rather than acting or taking the initiative, we see him reacting (which is probably because his supposed death is the “Mirror Moment” of The First Avenger–the moment the main character goes from reacting to initiating the action.) Bucky is more of what I’d call a mature Type Two–a Type Two who is aware of their own character flaws and dark side, making it more of a character strength for him than a weakness. He’s less existential than Type Ones or Fives though, so he doesn’t deal with such deep self-hate as, for instance, the Doctor, Obi-Wan, or Steve.

When Bucky gets angry, it’s normally because someone has attacked Steve (verbally or physically.) I’d imagine that when someone badmouths Steve, Bucky attacks them personally with his words and tears them down completely. He is quietly angry about the injustice of people constantly taking it out on Steve, but doesn’t quite know what to do about it (because he’s more based in social norms than a Type Five like Sherlock, who would not be held back in going after the wrongdoers simply because it wasn’t “okay.”)

Wow. This post turned out long. I’ll have to split it into three, rather than two as I had planned… Stay tuned for the final installment of this series!

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

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

20 Wednesday May 2015

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

≈ 26 Comments

Tags

avengers, c.s. forester, captain america: the winter soldier, horatio hornblower, humor, j.r.r. tolkien, john flanagan, lord of the rings, marvel, novels, ranger's apprentice, selay'uu, spider-man

“What the…”

“Seriously, I don’t even know.”

“It wasn’t me.”

The low murmur outside my door was too much for my curiosity. I left my study, to see something I’d never have expected. (Selay’uu has a tendency of showing me the unexpected, but even so…)

Connor, Peter Parker, Winter, Gilan, and Steve were standing in the hallway. Horatio had been thrown over Steve’s shoulder and was apologizing profusely.

“I am so sorry. I didn’t know it was going to… and then… I swear I will never touch a portal again!”

“Especially not when you’re tipsy,” Sam Wilson added, appearing behind everyone covered in mud and walking Bucky, who was wearing a pair of broken sunglasses, toward them.

“How did that happen?” I asked. As one, all the men turned slowly to look at me and answered in a ragged chorus.

“Nothing…”

I looked them over again. Horatio looked a little green, while Connor seemed somewhat dazed, and had lipstick on both his collar, chin, and in his hair. Gilan looked as if he had gotten into a fight with Shelob and lost–there were spider webs in his hair. But from Peter’s guilty look and shuffling feet, I thought I could tell where the spider webs really came from. Winter was looking as silent, aloof and mysterious as usual, but the effect was somewhat marred by the fact that he was too obviously wearing an outfit that was mostly Bucky’s, with one of Steve’s jackets thrown over it.

“What happened to you?” I blurted out. Sam decisively took control.

“I think we can all agree that we should never speak of this again.”

“All of you lost me partway between the leprechaun that insisted he’d known Steven’s parents… and the dragon.” Horatio mumbled, slipping out of Steve’s grip and crumpling into a boneless heap on the floor.

“What did you do?” I gasped.

“And another thing we can agree on,” Winter continued, “is that if you see the Winter Soldier dressed up in a pink tutu you should run like…”

“Language,” Steve interrupted tiredly.

I never did find out what had happened to them.

The Brooklyn Project: Situational Humor

05 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics, The Brooklyn Project

≈ 22 Comments

Tags

c.s. forester, captain america: the winter soldier, colorblind, connor rawleigh, horatio hornblower, humor, indiana jones, nathaniel "nat" brachevis, star wars, writing, zombies

Oftentimes, you’ll come across a character who is, to quote Chris Evans, “not a funny guy.” At the same time, they clearly do have a sense of humor. And if you’re in an action story, most of the humor won’t be jokes, of the verbal or practical variety. Nine times out of ten, in an action/adventure flick, your hero won’t be the kind to tell or play jokes. Aside from a wry quip, you won’t hear anything “funny” from them.

What’s an author to do?

Humor is a vital tool, not only in keeping a story from getting too dark and intense, but also as a coping mechanism for the characters. Every story needs humor.

However, these not-so-funny characters often exercise their sense of humor in another way. Patricia C. Wrede, the author of the Phantom Menace young reader novelization, referred to it as “battle humor.”

You were right about one thing, Master. The negotiations were short. ~~Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Phantom Menace

A more commonly used word is “sarcasm.”

And what is sarcasm?

Basically, it’s poking fun at a situation. It’s a coping tool.

If they’re shooting at you they’re bad! ~~Steve Rogers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Oftentimes, this sort of snark will take a reader off-guard, but take them off-guard in a good way. Let’s use an example from my work-in-progress “Colorblind”: Connor and Nathaniel are pinned down by the bad guys, in a field. There’s practically no cover, and they will be entirely exposed when the sun comes up. The bad guys are taking pot-shots over their heads in an attempt to get them to jump out early. They are in very deep Trouble, with a capital “T.”

And then, Connor says, “I’m starting to think they just like shooting at dirt.” Nat gives him a rather odd look, to which Connor shrugs and says, “On the other hand, they could be just trying to use up excess ammunition.”

I don’t think it will get a lot of laughs, but that’s Connor for you. His sense of humor is a little off-target.

Nine times out of ten, an action hero won’t crack a joke. He will quip, however. His humor depends on the situation; his humor is really about telling the universe that he doesn’t care what sort of nonsense it drops on his head, he’ll deal with it and own it.

Like a boss.

So, situational humor.

Horatio Hornblower is well-known for this. I can’t think of one particular example at the moment, but a wry aside is something that just happens from time to time.

“Why are they still coming at us?” one grunt shouts in the zombie apocalypse. “I thought they were looking for brains!” (Yeah, this is only the second time I’ve mentioned zombies on this blog. Don’t get used to it.)

Also, if Indiana Jones does differently, please do not notify me. I’d rather not get any spoilers before I’ve seen the movie.

Oh, and late Happy Star Wars day. May the Force be with you–you’re gonna need it.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

TCWT: Dear Lovers

10 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

captain america: the first avenger, captain america: the winter soldier, couples, marvel, novels, shipping, star wars, teens can write too blog chain, whatever, writing

Okay, this snowballed.

I can’t remember which couple I was going to write to at first, so I ended up just writing to several of my favorite ships. And I’m supposed to be working on a novel! Um… oops?

(Yes, my college-and-work schedule is majorly breaking up my writing schedule. *sigh*)


Dear Pepperony,

You two are just the sweetest thing! You have the best romance I can think of right now, and you’re even realistic–you both have problems holding up your ends of the relationship, it’s sympathetically portrayed, and you keep on going despite the odds.

Pepper, I don’t know how else to say this: You. Are. Awesome. Somehow you put up with Tony, who could try the patience of a pantheon. Greek or otherwise. In my book, you outdo just about everyone at being awesome, despite not-really-having-superpowers (unless you count the latter part of your third movie.) And even when you panic, you tie us all down back to earth–you’re more than just fiction–you’re a person too.

Tony… I don’t even know what to say to you. We have major differences, sure, but I think that you certainly overcame them with your convincingly and enjoyably told story. I was sort of surprised that I loved your character as much as I did. Your story is certainly a great one about overcoming adversity. (I’d love to work at your Stark Industries, too.)

Your devoted fan,

Erin


Dear Siri and Obi-Wan,

You two…

I know you spent much of your lives simply as friends and never really had a chance at romance, but I still ship you two. (Even though I’ve never really written the two of you romantically, except by hinting very vaguely at it.)

Also, I think it’s pretty funny (and so sweet!) that Siri is pretty much the only one who can consistently take Obi-Wan down a couple of notches. Without even a hair out of place. (Girls rule!)

And Siri, I’m still in denial of your death.

Your ever-loyal fan,

Erin


Dear Peggy and Steve,

I don’t even know where to begin.

Your story is just so tragic–about as tragic as it gets without someone turning entirely evil and madly murdering everyone else in the family like Darth Vader.

The temporal displacement is certainly the saddest part–a long-distance relationship has nothing on the pair of you.

Still, I think it’s important to remember that, even while you were separated by time, the polar ice caps, and death itself, you still drew strength from your memories of each other.

Stay strong.

Sincerely,

Erin


BONUS ROUND!

Dear Connor and Alex,

Your ship is very new. In fact, it’s not even been published yet. And I did not even see it coming.

Alex, you just walked into the story and stole the stage in your cameo, so of course I had to continue writing about you. But the part where you become Connor’s possible potential love interest? That came out of the blue.

Still, I think you two actually fit pretty well together. I just hope I don’t ruin it–to warn you in advance, I couldn’t write just romance pure and simple to save my life.

I should probably go to someone else for tips…

Your affectionate author,

Erin

P.S. Next time, just don’t spring it on me like this! GAH! *throws a punching bag at the wall*


5th – http://www.adventuringthroughpages.wordpress.com/

6th – http://www.theworldofthewriter.wordpress.com/ (hi Saxon!)

7th – http://musingsfromnevillesnavel.wordpress.com/

8th – http://freeasagirlwithwings.wordpress.com/

9th – http://miriamjoywrites.com/

10th – https://erinkenobi2893.wordpress.com/ (thanks for dropping by! :-D)

11th – https://introspectioncreative.wordpress.com/

12th – http://whileishouldbedoingprecal.weebly.com/

13th – http://nasrielsfanfics.wordpress.com/ (hi Rosalie! Are you going to tell Anakin he’s an idiot about how he conducts his love life? Because it’s true… even if he is really a sweetie most of the time.)

14th – http://unikkelyfe.wordpress.com/

15th – http://ramblingsofaravis.wordpress.com/

16th – http://www.juliathewritergirl.wordpress.com/

17th – https://clockworkdesires.wordpress.com/

18th – http://horsfeathersblog.wordpress.com/

19th – http://from-stacy.blogspot.com/

20th – http://semilegacy.blogspot.com/

21st – http://themagicviolinist.blogspot.com/

22nd – http://www.pamelanicolewrites.com/

23rd – http://arielkalati.blogspot.com/

24th – http://irisbloomsblog.wordpress.com/ (take cover, men! Major shipper alert!)

25th – http://theboardingblogger.wordpress.com/

26th – http://allisonthewriter.wordpress.com/

27th – http://stayandwatchthestars.wordpress.com/

28th – http://butterfliesoftheimagination.wordpress.com/

and http://abookishflower.wordpress.com/

29th – http://gallopingfree.wordpress.com/ andhttps://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Book-Gap/603228309718111

30th – http://hautehealthhails.blogspot.co.uk/

and https://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com/ (We’ll announce the topic for next month’s chain.)

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!

Mechanical Heart

26 Monday Jan 2015

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

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

captain america: the winter soldier, fanfiction, hot cocoa and candy canes, lindsey stirling, song-related fiction

Okay, I was planning on posting something entirely different today, but then… The Winter Soldier barged in. And there were snowballs, and hot tea, and candy canes. The candy canes came in first. (Yes, I attacked the Winter Soldier with a candy cane. *glares at audience*) But then, I kind of had a “I need a Lindsey Stirling fix” moment and went on YouTube, which led to a thought of hey, this could be Bucky, so here you are!

Partially inspired by steampunk genre, partly inspired by the various marvelous “Ready Aim Fire” Captain America: The Winter Soldier tributes, and partly because “Shatter Me” would make such a perfect tribute for Bucky.

Enjoy!


Mechanical Heart

                It’s all clockwork, really.

Cogs and springs and soft, soft ticking that never goes away.

It’s there when he gets up, when he trains, in exact rhythm with his pounding heart, breathless with exhilaration.

And then he lies down again, and his heart is silent, and his breath is gone, and there is nothing but the slow, soft ticking. Click-click, click-click, sometimes a squeak as the motion hitches momentarily, and then moves on.

Over time, he comes to rely on it. And then, he can hear other people ticking. Hearts and breaths are slowly silenced, fading out of his world as it turns all into clockwork.

Until one day.

There’s a man on the bridge, and there’s a sudden pounding that is not mechanical, a rush of chilly air that he should not be able to feel.

They’re flung forward, at each other, as if they must fight, star-crossed, fated from the beginning of the world, leaping into battle. The heartbeat flies faster, faster—until his own heart—he’d forgotten he even had one—is chiming in perfect time with the stranger’s.

They take him away, they take the stranger away. The man on the bridge. I knew him. I knew him!

There is no more clockwork after that. At last the heartbeat bursts free, ripping toward the surface, gripping something unknown; the man he used to be.

He fights. It’s all he knows. But then, when it’s over, he runs.

It’s all too much.

Something else is breaking free. He’s not sure if he likes it. He’s afraid. The clockwork is all he knows. It’s all he knows. But then, he knew the stranger too.

It was all clockwork, but now something else is free for the first time.

He was a machine.

Maybe he doesn’t have to be a machine forever.


The Soldier’s Prayer

21 Wednesday Jan 2015

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

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

captain america: the winter soldier, fanfiction, marvel, oops i did it again, poetry, the avengers

Because I could not stop at one post today and Iris is not currently near a computer to read my email and I’m flailing around waiting for The Winter Soldier.

Enjoy!

The Soldier’s Prayer

Red star for death, silver for light.

The pale ghost stands against the knight.

Pawns hover on the sidelines screaming,

Broken from their complacent dreaming.

No fear, no pain, no dreaming grace;

Seeking, finding, another place,

Hope rises to be crushed by an iron fist,

Terrors rise by chaos kissed.

I can’t forget, I must relive

Once more pour out all I can give

But once more it may not be enough

And I can’t see what a diamond is in rough

I want it back, wish I had died

Worthless all the tears we’ve cried

We could imagine, we could pretend,

But this path only leads to the end.

Red star for death, silver for hope,

Teeth gritting, against a straining rope.

I won’t back down, I will not bow

Only God holds this solemn vow.

Red star is dying in the night,

Self-destructive terrifying sight,

But will another replace it tomorrow?

All future sight is veiled in sorrow.

We could imagine, we could pretend,

But I’m not blind to this desperate end.

Red star for death, silver for light,

Please Heaven don’t let me fail this fight!

…okay, that started as a commentary on how a red star is a great metaphor for Communism, since a “red” star is a dying star, and Communism as a political system is inherently flawed and self-destructive, but then Steve stepped in and turned it into a more emotional thingummy than just a philosophical musing. *punches Steve in the arm* Thanks a lot, I really do like you but sometimes you just do unexpected things to me! Like throw a wrench in my perfectly good plot outline… *sigh*

Setting the Stage: Color and Mood

12 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics, Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

captain america: the first avenger, captain america: the winter soldier, color, j.r.r. tolkien, lighting, marvel, movies, peter jackson, setting a scene, story dynamics, the avengers, the lord of the rings, tricks and tips, worldbuilding, writing

Color is a tool.

Watch any well-made movie, and you’ll see what I mean. Some movies (such as Star Wars) use color to define a character’s alignment and/or leanings towards another side. Aladdin notably uses color to hint at danger, greed, or corruption. Military units use color as an identifier.

Color is a hint to character. Humble, soft-spoken characters will often prefer muted colors; browns, dark reds, navy, royal blue, gray, forest green. Vivid, vibrant characters love the jewel tones. And if you have a sweet little girl, princess or otherwise, she’s almost certain to like pastels.

However, color isn’t just useful in reminding the reader what sort of character he or she is dealing with at the moment. It’s also handy in setting a scene, adding to a mood. (Watch “The War Was In Color” if you don’t believe me. Then again, listen to it anyway. Even if you’re not a fan of the movie-from-which-the-fanvid-was-made. I could’ve found another one that would have also worked, but this is more fun.)

If you have not watched The Lord of the Rings, then you won’t be able to relate, but Peter Jackson masterfully uses color saturation and lighting to set the scenes, highlighting a progression through the story in a way that characterization might be able to convey, but never in the exact same way as Tolkien’s words do. However, Jackson is able to reasonably emulate Tolkien’s literary style through an art style, visual cues, and lighting.

In the Shire, the light is warm; the most common colors are green and bright yellow, and the lighting feels natural, like bright summer sunlight. As the travelers leave the Shire, the lighting moves towards grays and blues; still natural, but more like the light of a cloudy day. Rivendell is fittingly full of fall colors, as a refuge of the Elves that may be compared to their eternal autumn; the lighting is, again, natural, warm, but softer, full of memory; “sunbeams” and avenues shot with frequent lights are commonly seen in Rivendell. Upon leaving Rivendell, we are again exposed to a similar winter light. Moria’s strategically placed beams of white light against the overall dimness create a greater impression than mere blackness could, and Lothlorien is filled with a soft silver radiance, colder and purer than any other light in the whole set of movies, symbolizing the eternal refuge of the Elves in which the world is forever young.

However, it is not until The Two Towers that the lighting really takes on a role all its own. The blue, pale lights of Frodo’s journey, washing out the hobbits’ faces and making them seem paler, almost sickly, contrasting Frodo’s hair still more strongly with his skin and eyes, the drab, gooey look of the Dead Marshes, and the sickly, greasy light of the Morgul Vale reflect the growing darkness and danger of Frodo’s quest, and the poisonous lure of the Ring. Of course, it leads to the pass at Cirith Ungol and Shelob’s lair, which was nearly impossible to convey through film as written; with the dirty gray-and-white look in the movie, Jackson did a fair job. The journey culminates in the red-and-yellow-saturated Sammath Naur on Orodruin, the lighting underscoring the crux of the quest. The remaining scenes of The Return of the King have a soft, distant, dream-like quality, which is best summed up by Frodo’s quote: “We set out to save the Shire, and it has been saved; but not for me.”

The two Captain America movies and The Avengers use a similar progression of color, though more subtly than Jackson’s use in The Lord of the Rings. In The First Avenger, many of the scenes are cast in warm sepia tones, like a haven from the horrors of war; the entire film has a charming vintage-yet-unexpected look. The Avengers expertly uses shadow and light to convey a mood, while many of the scenes from The Winter Soldier (which I still have not yet seen) appear to be cast in a bluish, cloudy winter light, similar to some scenes from The Two Towers.

However, these colors are not all mutually exclusive. The First Avenger uses the chilly, cloudy natural light to hint at forebodings of ill-fortune, while certain deleted scenes from The Avengers make use of a similar sepia cast, and the forest confrontation scene uses a nighttime moonlight that is reminiscent of the blue cast from The First Avenger. While I can not say much about The Winter Soldier, I think it is safe to assume that it follows the same trend, using sepia to highlight memory or safety, pale blue light for foreboding or the realization of a horrible fate, and a chiaroscuro theme for the uncomfortable truths that will come to light (no pun intended.)

So should it be with your stories.

Not that you can pick a color scheme to symbolize every last thing in your story, but you can at least use a color scheme to evoke an emotional response in the reader, and reusing those color schemes is just a bonus to help keep the reader interested. (Readers like repeated imagery and symbolism, because it makes them feel good because they’ve been paying enough attention to notice it when it first appeared.)

Think of yourself as a filmmaker. Pick a color palette and stick with it. Use color effectively.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

Flash Fiction: “Helpless” and A Few Tools (Avengers edition)

09 Friday Jan 2015

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

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

captain america: the first avenger, captain america: the winter soldier, characters, completed stories, fanfiction, iron man, short stories, story dynamics, the avengers

First things first: the Flash Fiction of the day (and then everyone who’s only here for Story Hour can just skip to the comments, if they want. ;-P) Warning: Dark. References to suicide. Continue at your own risk.


Steve reached into his mouth.

Gripping the capsule in his fingernails, he pulled it from the empty space where one of his wisdom teeth had been pulled months before. (He remembered that. He wasn’t supposed to. A patch on the back of his neck had immobilized him, and an IV line fed tranquilizers and painkillers into his bloodstream, but his metabolism had broken them up, burned them out of his blood. It had hurt. It was too strange, to be in pain like that and yet physically incapable of screaming.)

He stared at it, and it seemed to be winking evilly back at him, its glossy coat like a milky, unseeing-yet-aware eye.

He wanted to yell, to scream, to crush it into powder, into fluffy gray ash, but he couldn’t. It was filled with the most virulent substance SHIELD had been able to concoct, and he could not risk it getting into the city’s water supply. Even diluted more than a million times, it would still cause people—living real actual thinking breathing people—to sicken, waste away, fade, die.

All he could think was How did it come to this?

All he could do was to slip it back into its space and resolve not to use it.

He was still screaming inside.


Yup, it’s dark. There are cookies in the comments for anyone who can point out the huge, glaring, obvious main reference in this piece.

Now, on to lighter stuff; a few tools for writing the Avengers in everyday life.

1. Neither Thor, nor Steve Rogers, despite both being blond and muscular, are idiots, not by a long shot. Thor is a warrior, and unabashedly so. He’s probably good at cranking out a couple of battle plans when they need them (after he gets over his arrogant streak in Thor, that is.) Thor has a vocabulary that no other Avenger can rival, and has some operating knowledge of battle tactics, as well as being even more experienced than Cap. Steve is more intuitive than Tony Stark, which may be why people discount him, because sometimes it can be hard to follow, but if you’ll bear with me… Steve is a reader. (Remember that scene in The First Avenger, with all those books?) Steve uses his head. It’s not like he had a choice, since his body was rather lacking for the first 24 years of his life. So maybe he was getting beat up every other day, but he was also probably pretty good at outwitting the bullies. Steve Rogers was probably the SSR’s most valuable tactician, for goodness’ sake! Not only could he come up with an effective battle plan beforehand, he could also modify and adapt it while a bunch of Nazis and HYDRA agents were trying to kill him. Not even sloppy, to tell the truth. And then, in the Avengers, we get to see him strategize on his feet again, and we learn something more about him–Steve is an excellent judge of character and is extremely good at placing his teammates for the optimum effectiveness. Steve is empathetic and compassionate. That’s his edge.

2. Tony Stark is a bit more vulnerable than you’d think. His brash, arrogant front is more bluff than reality. He uses it as a shield to try and keep him from getting close to anyone else, because his experience with Obadiah Stane tells him that caring is a vulnerability. Actually, he and Steve clash not because they are absolute polar opposites, but because they’re different sides of the same coin. They have some personality traits in common, but they have different backgrounds, and their pasts tend to come between them. I think I love these boys so much because anything goes, really. It would be possible to write them as friends, or to have Tony be a supervillain without really wanting to be (can someone please write this with Pepperony instead of that other painfully non-canon ship… the Ship-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named), or whatever. The tensions between them are because they are somewhat similar but with personalities that still clash.

3. All the Avengers (with the possible exception of Thor and Clint) would probably have a preference for organic food, whenever possible. Thor isn’t choosy (though he still would probably like organic, since it’s the only kind of food on Asgard), while Clint is perfectly okay with junk food. However, the others’ reasons for choosing organic are different. Bruce does it because it’s healthy and he wants to support organic farmers, Tony for similar reasons (also partly publicity and elite whatever,) Natasha just because it is a choice she does have and I think with her history she’d like to have the chance to choose for herself, and Steve… well, his senses are enhanced, and nothing tastes familiar to him, with all the artificial flavoring going on these days. If he doesn’t have a choice I suppose he could live with processed or whatever but really, even for normal people, after eating organic for a while, processed foods are disgusting. (The limited-edition sugar-not-corn-syrup Coke would be a godsend for him.)

4. Concerning Steve Rogers: he never actually completed basic training. Thus, his knowledge is all entirely practical, learned on the fly while in the middle of leading the Howling Commandos. (This is why we respect Cap: He was thrown into a battle situation practically unprepared and still owned it.) His military bearing was mostly learned from the Commandos. (Ironically, this makes him a little more like Colonel Phillips, who also strikes me as a bit of an unorthodox commanding officer.) Also due to the fact that he was learning on the job, he knows some unexpected things as well as borderline-legal ones. For instance, due to Hydra’s obsession with Norse mythology, I imagine Steve as being able to read runes, in German, and pronounce anything from that mythology (or anything Asgardian) better than Jane Foster can. Also, apparently he knows how to hotwire a car, and I would expect that he knows how to disable certain types of bombs and IEDs. Not entirely hopeless with technology. After all, with Tony’s help, only a couple of weeks after waking up in the twenty-first century, he is able to help fix this sci-fi helicarrier engine. That’s impressive by any standards.

5. Tony Stark sees more about his teammates than he lets on, and while he struggles with compassion and being a team player, I expect he acts on it.

6. Clint Barton has a sense of humor and enjoys startling people. (No one else, except for Natasha, really intentionally startles people. Mostly it happens because Steve or Bruce is sitting in the background and they’re so quiet people forget they’re there.)

7. Bruce is compassionate, but he hates worrying over others’ problems because he feels helpless to fix them. (Did I mention that I love Bruce Banner? He’s such a sweet guy!) One of Bruce’s flaws is that he tends to be focused to a fault on anything he’s working on… there is room for story development here.

8. Natasha Romanoff is perhaps the most screwed-up of the Avengers. When she’s not on a mission, she doesn’t know exactly how to respond to personal barriers or how to put together any of her own. (This will probably cause her to make Steve uncomfortable; he doesn’t like other people in his personal space, and he doesn’t particularly like to be touched, either; in The First Avenger the only person who he really allowed to touch him was Bucky, who was perhaps the only friend he had had for many years, and he wasn’t used to other people in his space.) She does know to give Bruce space, though.

9. Most of the Avengers have snarky sides, though Tony will probably pretend to be surprised every time Steve snipes right back at him. (They should absolutely have an insult war.)

I think that covers just about everything… Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

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