Mememememe borrowed from stackcats:

[trace_of_scarlet]

Pick a character and I will give and explain the top five ideas/concepts/etc I keep in mind while writing that character that I believe are essential to accurately depicting them. Any and all characters welcome - even ones I haven't written but you think I know about.

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Comments

[ceitfianna]

Minerva Mcgonagall, please.

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

Not totally certain I'm doing this right, but:

- Minimal reactions. She's very stiff-upper-lip English (even though she's actually Scottish), and unless she feels something extremely strongly, she's very, very understated in speech and in action.
- Lack of visible emotion does not mean lack of emotion. She's a total Gryffindor, just filtered through a very fine mesh of common sense. Gryffindor + common sense is basically how I'd sum her up, really.
- Scottish. JKR didn't stint on the stereotypes, so I can't really leave them out.
- Her age. She's the oldest of my characters (apart from Sam, who generally prefer to forget this slightly irritating factoid unless he really needs it), and she does behave like an adult. She's really quite old-fashioned, though not as old-fashioned as her pupils tend to believe.
- Her class. She's definitely upper-class, and although she's not snobbish she is definitely a product of her class and family background. This also brings in the fact that she's a witch to her core - I don't believe she'd do very well if she had to 'go muggle' for some reason.

[innerbrat]

Edna.

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

- OBSESSION. She has two obsessions - clothing, and herself - and everything she does revolves around them.
- Speed. Everything about Edna is done in at least triple time, ESPECIALLY her speech.
- Her height. At between three and three-and-a-half feet tall, her entire worldview is very different to nearly everyone else's.
- She's from a cartoon - and a superhero cartoon at that. Her ideas on physics are not exactly realistic, but at the same time it is all perfectly normal for her - especially if it's for a sight gag.
- Visuals. Everything about Edna deals with visuals - sight gags, what she sees around her, what she does (rather than what she thinks, because everything she thinks, she says) and the things she makes.

[rowanberries.livejournal.com]

Sam!

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

- He's a trickster. If he hadn't acquired the whole 'devil' reputation, he'd definitely have been considered a trickster god. He's certainly not amoral as such, but he's willing to do almost anything to amuse himself and he's slippery as an eel. He doesn't consider that rules apply to him, and he won't do anything he doesn't want to.
- MAGIC. Sam is emphatically not-human: he's half Magic Incarnate, so he's got a world-view that is totally different to humans (even though he does a very good impression of humanity). Magic colours everything he does, sees and feels.
- Understatement. Sam likes to fit in, or at least not to be too noticeable. He's attracted to shiny things, but it's an impulse he keeps muzzled outside of the bar. Unless he's furious, he tends towards more low-key magics, and he doesn't like fuss in his appearance. He LIKES scruffy black, okay? It's comfortable and comforting, and it doesn't stand out.
- Fun. Sam likes to have fun, even when it's ill-advised. He's utterly irreverent and he's not scared of anything, even when he really should be. It's an attitude that extends to his feelings on sex: it's fun and light-hearted and it means as much as you want it to mean.
- Time. Sam has all the time he ever needs, and never enough of it with anyone. It means he can be lazy and light-hearted, because hey, there's always tomorrow, right? But at the same time, behind it there's a hunger, a burning reminder that the clock is ticking and that eventually he will go on and most of the people he knows will leave him in the dust. It's a big reason why in Milliways he tends to be friendly with people who are, shall we say, 'differently mortal' - though I'm not sure how conscious this decision is.