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luna_rainbowI'm doing retrograde(?) Writing again. I've skipped forward to the bit just before Vivant goes to Averron (as opposed to last time, when I was writing Vivant in Averron). I'm afraid the Ponnlay arc is rather tedious, but it's important in setting up the characters and I don't want to shirk too much on that.
The problem with retrograde(?) writing is that things have danger of becoming inconsistent, but I want to write it before I forget the ideas, as I have regrettably done for other bits of the plot ~~;;; I'm hoping that going with the vibe will help this time...and besides, I really need Vivant to rip into people (this is getting to be a trend).
This post is really for me to bounce ideas and to comb things into some sort of sense, which means I'll probably disagree with what I say here in a few days XDDDDD
I think I wrote down a long time ago somewhere that Vivant is such a good actor that he doesn't even know who his real self is. He's not so much an actor as a becomer? He's not quite like, for example, Moist, who easily dons various masks...I think for a large part Vivant believes the role he assumes. At the moment he's acting the part of the carefree, well-meaning, morally righteous boy because it suits him. Because I think for a long time he believes that's what he needs to be and he becomes it. I guess most people have an ideal image of themselves and work towards it, but maybe the difference for Vivant is he assumes it so easily...and discards it just as easily. It's what I've been trying to get at in his exchange with Neillan...for a moment he really believed his own words, he meant very much every compliment he paid to Neillan, but at the same time he realised how easy it was for him to then step back and detach from it, to slip just as easily into another thinking mode.
I think after a while he loses himself. He doesn't know who he really is any more. He's uncertain what's important any more, because he could so easily slip from one perspective to another. He doesn't know if he truly cares for other people, because in one role it would be so easy for him to weep at how much love and trust people place in him, and in another role it would just as easy for him to trample over their good intentions and walk away with a shrug. He doesn't know if he's truly carrying out his duties as a Master Sorcerer, or if he's driven by an anger that he needs to quench.
Anyway, enough about Vivant.
Rossaer, the little prince I've been both dreading and looking forward to writing...sort of like Neillan at the time, actually. Happily, with what I've been writing recently, he's been sketched into shape, and I think the result is better than I originally envisioned. It's hard to actually describe his character at the moment because I haven't written enough, except to say that he's nothing like Neillan XDDDD At the moment the story is full of nice guys or morally righteous guys, and fortunately he isn't one =D Can you tell how frustrated I am at how nice everyone is at the moment? LOL.
He's slightly older than Vivant, always planned him to be, and I think both boys are far older than their years. Rossaer's environment made him a cynic and also an amoralist. A part of him knows the morals and wants to follow them, but the overruling pragmatic part knows it's fruitless. In that aspect, at their first meeting, he's the direct opposite of Vivant, who stuck bravely to the morals but was always harbouring a nasty streak that he had to keep sedated.
I don't think Vivant ever ends up liking him all that much, but I think in fact they do like each other a lot (yes weird). It's like they come to an understanding that they will like each other by not liking each other, and trust each other by not trusting each other. I think later on Rossaer becomes special in a way that Rossaer himself realises but Vivant doesn't, and Rossaer fosters it...so that he becomes the only place in which Vivant can play out his nastiness without feeling guilty. I don't think it's self-sacrifice. At first I don't think Rossaer even means it to be, but I think Vivant makes it hard for Rossaer to hate him, and unable to help himself, Rossaer finds himself attached, to the one person who gives him a place and who's seen all his dirty laundry and still accepts him...even if it means being nasty to each other. Vivant is no follower, and neither is Rossaer, and I think these two kids fight with each other for dominance, not because they necessary want to lead the other, but because it's turned into a game that they need to play in order to feel they are still themselves.
Rossaer himself is also a good actor...at least, he's good at turning on the charm. He's the forbidden fruit with an alluring scent and a lethal taste...I know that sounds terrible in light of what he is, but I think he has that sort of effect on people. When he does turn the charm on, when he doesn't make the effort to be the villain, people fall for him, for his dangerous beauty and his dominating aura. They want to follow him because he doesn't need them to mandate his confidence...and I think in real life, crowds get smitten by people like that.
The problem with retrograde(?) writing is that things have danger of becoming inconsistent, but I want to write it before I forget the ideas, as I have regrettably done for other bits of the plot ~~;;; I'm hoping that going with the vibe will help this time...and besides, I really need Vivant to rip into people (this is getting to be a trend).
This post is really for me to bounce ideas and to comb things into some sort of sense, which means I'll probably disagree with what I say here in a few days XDDDDD
I think I wrote down a long time ago somewhere that Vivant is such a good actor that he doesn't even know who his real self is. He's not so much an actor as a becomer? He's not quite like, for example, Moist, who easily dons various masks...I think for a large part Vivant believes the role he assumes. At the moment he's acting the part of the carefree, well-meaning, morally righteous boy because it suits him. Because I think for a long time he believes that's what he needs to be and he becomes it. I guess most people have an ideal image of themselves and work towards it, but maybe the difference for Vivant is he assumes it so easily...and discards it just as easily. It's what I've been trying to get at in his exchange with Neillan...for a moment he really believed his own words, he meant very much every compliment he paid to Neillan, but at the same time he realised how easy it was for him to then step back and detach from it, to slip just as easily into another thinking mode.
I think after a while he loses himself. He doesn't know who he really is any more. He's uncertain what's important any more, because he could so easily slip from one perspective to another. He doesn't know if he truly cares for other people, because in one role it would be so easy for him to weep at how much love and trust people place in him, and in another role it would just as easy for him to trample over their good intentions and walk away with a shrug. He doesn't know if he's truly carrying out his duties as a Master Sorcerer, or if he's driven by an anger that he needs to quench.
Anyway, enough about Vivant.
Rossaer, the little prince I've been both dreading and looking forward to writing...sort of like Neillan at the time, actually. Happily, with what I've been writing recently, he's been sketched into shape, and I think the result is better than I originally envisioned. It's hard to actually describe his character at the moment because I haven't written enough, except to say that he's nothing like Neillan XDDDD At the moment the story is full of nice guys or morally righteous guys, and fortunately he isn't one =D Can you tell how frustrated I am at how nice everyone is at the moment? LOL.
He's slightly older than Vivant, always planned him to be, and I think both boys are far older than their years. Rossaer's environment made him a cynic and also an amoralist. A part of him knows the morals and wants to follow them, but the overruling pragmatic part knows it's fruitless. In that aspect, at their first meeting, he's the direct opposite of Vivant, who stuck bravely to the morals but was always harbouring a nasty streak that he had to keep sedated.
I don't think Vivant ever ends up liking him all that much, but I think in fact they do like each other a lot (yes weird). It's like they come to an understanding that they will like each other by not liking each other, and trust each other by not trusting each other. I think later on Rossaer becomes special in a way that Rossaer himself realises but Vivant doesn't, and Rossaer fosters it...so that he becomes the only place in which Vivant can play out his nastiness without feeling guilty. I don't think it's self-sacrifice. At first I don't think Rossaer even means it to be, but I think Vivant makes it hard for Rossaer to hate him, and unable to help himself, Rossaer finds himself attached, to the one person who gives him a place and who's seen all his dirty laundry and still accepts him...even if it means being nasty to each other. Vivant is no follower, and neither is Rossaer, and I think these two kids fight with each other for dominance, not because they necessary want to lead the other, but because it's turned into a game that they need to play in order to feel they are still themselves.
Rossaer himself is also a good actor...at least, he's good at turning on the charm. He's the forbidden fruit with an alluring scent and a lethal taste...I know that sounds terrible in light of what he is, but I think he has that sort of effect on people. When he does turn the charm on, when he doesn't make the effort to be the villain, people fall for him, for his dangerous beauty and his dominating aura. They want to follow him because he doesn't need them to mandate his confidence...and I think in real life, crowds get smitten by people like that.