![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Sep. 22nd, 2008 12:23 amI did over four thousand words today. I'm awesome!
Sep. 22nd, 2008
The strange case of Laruna Troven
I've rambled a lot about Alec and his changing relationships, but I've been doing a subplot with his twin sister, Laruna and it's gotten me thinking about her and Mary Sues, for I know that she'll end up being messed with. The strange thing about her is that I don't think she's very Sue-able. At least with some tropes. Let's see, the common Sue Tropes are the Warrior Sue, the Princess Sue, the heritage Sue, the tragic past Sue, the angsty Sue and the not completely human Sue.
First the Warrior Sue. These Sues are the ones who say that they're just as good at the guys in fighting and everything else. They should be allowed to go on quests with the guys and are subjected to the Designated Misogynistic Bastard. Now there's Laruna. She is just as good as the guys in fighting. She's also better in controlling her powers than her brother, Alec. Misogynistic Bastards, if subjected to her, will have her brothers back her up and they have the actual knowledge that yes, she does have the abilities. Sure, she can't fight with a sword, but she's a damn good water wizard, and there's something dangerous about a person who could, in theory, freeze ever drop of water in your body. After all humans are mostly water. She can also drink almost anyone under the table and likes to start bar fights (much to her brothers' chagrin). So, she can't be turned into a Warrior Sue because she's already one. It's canon.
The Princess Sue is the one who's a princess and hates wearing dresses and wishes that she could be like a guy or loves wearing them. She wants to fall in love with someone and marry a prince. She wants to adventure and will often run away with a prince or fall in love with a handsome prince and get married. Now, Laruna loves pretty dresses. She loves dressing up and flaunting her womanliness. She's a horrible flirt. And will freely have sex with anyone who catches her eye, man or woman. This does make it kind of difficult for her to be a virginal Sue whose first experience is with the DLI, but at least she won't have any issues of having sex before marriage. In regards to the wearing of men's clothes, she does that too. No one sees this as unusual. It's just Laruna. They're fashionable and perhaps a bit feminine at times, but they're pants and a tunic. Just like any other guy. So, that kinda kills that one.
One of the annoying things about heritage Sues is that the SUDDENLY SOMEHOW learn that they're a princess, royalty etc at some MAGICAL time on a SPECIFIC birthday. Laruna is the equivalent of nobility and as high as you can get in her society. She's already a member of one of the twelve first families, so she can't mysteriously find out that she's already one of them. She's even related to royalty, the fey court royalty. Her ancestor is the Queen's brother. This also knocks out the non human inheritance Sue, because she is a bit non-human. Admittedly the blood is a bit thin, but she does have the Fey's grace and beauty. Alec inherited the ears and physical traits which make him look kinda gawky, while Greywolf inherited the ability to be impregnable to psyhic attacks and couldn't grow facial hair if his life depended on it. Sooo that takes care of the heritage and non-human Sue bits.
Now, Laruna (and her siblings) do have tragic past. It doesn't involve abuse (not that will stop the fan girls) but it is tragic. Her mother died when she was ten and her father up and left them. (This may change later). She also almost got sold into slavery (again, might change) and has a severe case of claustrophobia. She got trapped in rubble when a building collapsed on her with a dead guy who wanted to hurt her when she was sixteen - seventeen. So, tragic past, check.
The only Sue that will be uncanon for Laruna would be the angsty Sue. She does not angst. She's optimistic, cheerful and loves life. She'll meet any challenge and kick it soundly in the balls. While at times she can be introspective, she just doesn't angst. It's just not productive. She'd rather go out and do something about the problem than sit around and weep.
Of course, this won't stop the fanits from totally destroying her character, but I thought it was an interesting bit about her characterization. And the thing is, I didn't set out to make her anti-Sue, she just turned out that way.
I've rambled a lot about Alec and his changing relationships, but I've been doing a subplot with his twin sister, Laruna and it's gotten me thinking about her and Mary Sues, for I know that she'll end up being messed with. The strange thing about her is that I don't think she's very Sue-able. At least with some tropes. Let's see, the common Sue Tropes are the Warrior Sue, the Princess Sue, the heritage Sue, the tragic past Sue, the angsty Sue and the not completely human Sue.
First the Warrior Sue. These Sues are the ones who say that they're just as good at the guys in fighting and everything else. They should be allowed to go on quests with the guys and are subjected to the Designated Misogynistic Bastard. Now there's Laruna. She is just as good as the guys in fighting. She's also better in controlling her powers than her brother, Alec. Misogynistic Bastards, if subjected to her, will have her brothers back her up and they have the actual knowledge that yes, she does have the abilities. Sure, she can't fight with a sword, but she's a damn good water wizard, and there's something dangerous about a person who could, in theory, freeze ever drop of water in your body. After all humans are mostly water. She can also drink almost anyone under the table and likes to start bar fights (much to her brothers' chagrin). So, she can't be turned into a Warrior Sue because she's already one. It's canon.
The Princess Sue is the one who's a princess and hates wearing dresses and wishes that she could be like a guy or loves wearing them. She wants to fall in love with someone and marry a prince. She wants to adventure and will often run away with a prince or fall in love with a handsome prince and get married. Now, Laruna loves pretty dresses. She loves dressing up and flaunting her womanliness. She's a horrible flirt. And will freely have sex with anyone who catches her eye, man or woman. This does make it kind of difficult for her to be a virginal Sue whose first experience is with the DLI, but at least she won't have any issues of having sex before marriage. In regards to the wearing of men's clothes, she does that too. No one sees this as unusual. It's just Laruna. They're fashionable and perhaps a bit feminine at times, but they're pants and a tunic. Just like any other guy. So, that kinda kills that one.
One of the annoying things about heritage Sues is that the SUDDENLY SOMEHOW learn that they're a princess, royalty etc at some MAGICAL time on a SPECIFIC birthday. Laruna is the equivalent of nobility and as high as you can get in her society. She's already a member of one of the twelve first families, so she can't mysteriously find out that she's already one of them. She's even related to royalty, the fey court royalty. Her ancestor is the Queen's brother. This also knocks out the non human inheritance Sue, because she is a bit non-human. Admittedly the blood is a bit thin, but she does have the Fey's grace and beauty. Alec inherited the ears and physical traits which make him look kinda gawky, while Greywolf inherited the ability to be impregnable to psyhic attacks and couldn't grow facial hair if his life depended on it. Sooo that takes care of the heritage and non-human Sue bits.
Now, Laruna (and her siblings) do have tragic past. It doesn't involve abuse (not that will stop the fan girls) but it is tragic. Her mother died when she was ten and her father up and left them. (This may change later). She also almost got sold into slavery (again, might change) and has a severe case of claustrophobia. She got trapped in rubble when a building collapsed on her with a dead guy who wanted to hurt her when she was sixteen - seventeen. So, tragic past, check.
The only Sue that will be uncanon for Laruna would be the angsty Sue. She does not angst. She's optimistic, cheerful and loves life. She'll meet any challenge and kick it soundly in the balls. While at times she can be introspective, she just doesn't angst. It's just not productive. She'd rather go out and do something about the problem than sit around and weep.
Of course, this won't stop the fanits from totally destroying her character, but I thought it was an interesting bit about her characterization. And the thing is, I didn't set out to make her anti-Sue, she just turned out that way.
My view on government and problem solving
Sep. 22nd, 2008 11:33 amKippur's Newspaper Initiative.
A way to sensibly solve problems with today's world leaders and other conflicts.
As we all know, leaders of countries often have trouble agreeing on things that really seem to be, in the common person's eye kinda dumb and trivial. For example people bomb one side because the other side bombed them because they got bombed, and so on and so forth. Or governments complain about lack of money for schools because they cut programs for them and give the money to other sillier things. Obviously these are rather silly things.
My solution is this:
1. Take the two leaders of a conflict, or the person in charge of say writing bills, or whoever is doing something stupid.
2. Sit them in a room together.
3. Have them discuss terms of what they'd like for a compromise.
4. Whenever someone says something stupid, bash them over the head with a rolled up newspaper and say "Stop it" or something to that effect.
5. Repeat as necessary.
6. If a rolled up newspaper doesn't seem to have much of an effect, move onto heavier objects such as a book, bat, oar or an anvil if they seem to be exceptionally thick.
7. Reward good behavior.
An example of a session might be as follows:
George Bush is sitting in a room. The topic of the session is torture.
He says, "Torture is wrong and shouldn't be practiced unless we, the United States need to do it."
Bash him over the head with the newspaper and ask him to try again.
Repeat until you get the appropriate response: "Torture is wrong and shouldn't be practiced. No matter who is involved."
A way to sensibly solve problems with today's world leaders and other conflicts.
As we all know, leaders of countries often have trouble agreeing on things that really seem to be, in the common person's eye kinda dumb and trivial. For example people bomb one side because the other side bombed them because they got bombed, and so on and so forth. Or governments complain about lack of money for schools because they cut programs for them and give the money to other sillier things. Obviously these are rather silly things.
My solution is this:
1. Take the two leaders of a conflict, or the person in charge of say writing bills, or whoever is doing something stupid.
2. Sit them in a room together.
3. Have them discuss terms of what they'd like for a compromise.
4. Whenever someone says something stupid, bash them over the head with a rolled up newspaper and say "Stop it" or something to that effect.
5. Repeat as necessary.
6. If a rolled up newspaper doesn't seem to have much of an effect, move onto heavier objects such as a book, bat, oar or an anvil if they seem to be exceptionally thick.
7. Reward good behavior.
An example of a session might be as follows:
George Bush is sitting in a room. The topic of the session is torture.
He says, "Torture is wrong and shouldn't be practiced unless we, the United States need to do it."
Bash him over the head with the newspaper and ask him to try again.
Repeat until you get the appropriate response: "Torture is wrong and shouldn't be practiced. No matter who is involved."
It's the infamous Spying Chapter
Sep. 22nd, 2008 06:28 pmSo, I ran Laruna through the Mary Sue Litmus test She got an eight.
Bella got a Sixty Six. Mind you half of this was guessing because I'm not Meyers. Fifty Plus is Kill It Dead.
Edward got a Seventy Four.
Chapter Fourteen: Mind Over Matter
So, Edward is driving the two of them back. Bella is amazed at his PERFECT driving abilities. He doesn't even need to look at the road while he drives. Instead he holds her hand and stares at her a lot. He likes oldies music from the fifties, better than the sixties or seventies. Eighties were good though. I'm not too sure about that one, but he's allowed to have his opinion. There's nothing wrong with that.
Bella then asks how old he is. We get a loooovely piece of purple prose.
The setting ORB. Who refers to the sun as an orb? It makes me think of a giant marble in the sky. And the fact that it glistens off his skin making it ruby colored makes me think of Dorthy's ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz. So, we have a giant flaming marble glittering on a human ruby slipper.
I'm not so sure that works.
Edward relates to us his Story Of Woe. He was born in Chicago in 1901 and dying of the Spanish Influenza in 1918. Carlisle found him and changed him into a vampire because he was an orphan. He doesn't tell us how it happened except that it hurt. Then Carlisle found his wife Esme. They found Rosalie who was supposed to be fore Edward, but he only loves her like a sister. Which is okay because she found Emmett who nearly got eaten by a bear. She was afraid she couldn't turn Emmett into a vampire herself so she ran a hundred miles back to Carlisle, the thing that kept her going? Something in Emmett's face. *sighs* Sometimes they live as a married couple, other times not and they have a wedding again every so often. It's Twu Lub.
Then there's Alice and Jasper who are Speshul. Alice was created as a vampire and woke up alone but didn't turn into a savage because she could see the future and knew that she would meet up with the Cullens.
Um... I'm again, not really sure how that works, but okay. Also her ability is going to be useful. You just know it is. After all because she can tell when a supernatural threat is coming. This is an unsubtle bit of foreshadowing.
We learn that there aren't that many vampires and the reasons for the only can come out at night myth is probably because of their sparkliness. They live in the Olympic Peninsula because it's one of the sunless places in the world. I'm thinking this miiiight be one of those weather issues going on. STILL I honestly don't see why they can't live in a city where people are likely not to notice them. There are plenty of cities where they don't get much sun and they're less likely to get noticed. Like... St. Petersburg... or I dunno. Big Cities. And there's also MAKE UP to cover up the sparkles, I'm sure.
Here's a fun line, "It was easier to say in the darkness, knowing as I spoke how my voice would betray me, my hopeless addiction to him." You know, this isn't a good thing, Bella. No addiction is hopeless, but you're just saying you don't want to try and get away from him. She wants to be with him. Even though he's threatened her life and said she shouldn't be around him.
Of course, it gets worse. Bella discovers that Edward's been sneaking into her house. When Bella learns this:
"You spied on me?" But somehow I couldn't infuse my voice with the proper outrage. I was flattered.
He spied on you. When you were sleeping. Who knows what the hell he could have done to you. This is not something you should be flattered about. This is something that you should be screaming frightened about.
Instead she's more worried that he heard her talking in her sleep. Not sneaking into her bedroom and watching her because he finds her interesting, but hearing her talk in her sleep. This is not good and normal behavior. This is stupid and dangerous behavior. It's like asking the serial killer over for tea and complaining that he might see your dirty laundry.
Flattering is not the proper mindset. In fact she's angry with him because he hears her talk in her sleep and not because he likes watching her sleep. She stops getting upset though, when her father comes home.
When Edward asks if her dad should know he's here, she says no. So he vanishes, up into her room.
Bella got a Sixty Six. Mind you half of this was guessing because I'm not Meyers. Fifty Plus is Kill It Dead.
Edward got a Seventy Four.
Chapter Fourteen: Mind Over Matter
So, Edward is driving the two of them back. Bella is amazed at his PERFECT driving abilities. He doesn't even need to look at the road while he drives. Instead he holds her hand and stares at her a lot. He likes oldies music from the fifties, better than the sixties or seventies. Eighties were good though. I'm not too sure about that one, but he's allowed to have his opinion. There's nothing wrong with that.
Bella then asks how old he is. We get a loooovely piece of purple prose.
He sighed, and then looked into my eyes, seeming to forget the road completely for a time. Whatever he saw there must have encouraged him. He looked into the sun — the light of the setting orb glittered off his skin in ruby-tinged sparkles — and spoke.
The setting ORB. Who refers to the sun as an orb? It makes me think of a giant marble in the sky. And the fact that it glistens off his skin making it ruby colored makes me think of Dorthy's ruby slippers in the Wizard of Oz. So, we have a giant flaming marble glittering on a human ruby slipper.
I'm not so sure that works.
Edward relates to us his Story Of Woe. He was born in Chicago in 1901 and dying of the Spanish Influenza in 1918. Carlisle found him and changed him into a vampire because he was an orphan. He doesn't tell us how it happened except that it hurt. Then Carlisle found his wife Esme. They found Rosalie who was supposed to be fore Edward, but he only loves her like a sister. Which is okay because she found Emmett who nearly got eaten by a bear. She was afraid she couldn't turn Emmett into a vampire herself so she ran a hundred miles back to Carlisle, the thing that kept her going? Something in Emmett's face. *sighs* Sometimes they live as a married couple, other times not and they have a wedding again every so often. It's Twu Lub.
Then there's Alice and Jasper who are Speshul. Alice was created as a vampire and woke up alone but didn't turn into a savage because she could see the future and knew that she would meet up with the Cullens.
"She saw Jasper and knew that he was looking for her before he knew it himself. She saw Carlisle and our family, and they came together to find us. She's most sensitive to non-humans. She always sees, for example, when another group of our kind is coming near. And any threat they may pose."
Um... I'm again, not really sure how that works, but okay. Also her ability is going to be useful. You just know it is. After all because she can tell when a supernatural threat is coming. This is an unsubtle bit of foreshadowing.
We learn that there aren't that many vampires and the reasons for the only can come out at night myth is probably because of their sparkliness. They live in the Olympic Peninsula because it's one of the sunless places in the world. I'm thinking this miiiight be one of those weather issues going on. STILL I honestly don't see why they can't live in a city where people are likely not to notice them. There are plenty of cities where they don't get much sun and they're less likely to get noticed. Like... St. Petersburg... or I dunno. Big Cities. And there's also MAKE UP to cover up the sparkles, I'm sure.
Here's a fun line, "It was easier to say in the darkness, knowing as I spoke how my voice would betray me, my hopeless addiction to him." You know, this isn't a good thing, Bella. No addiction is hopeless, but you're just saying you don't want to try and get away from him. She wants to be with him. Even though he's threatened her life and said she shouldn't be around him.
Of course, it gets worse. Bella discovers that Edward's been sneaking into her house. When Bella learns this:
"You spied on me?" But somehow I couldn't infuse my voice with the proper outrage. I was flattered.
He spied on you. When you were sleeping. Who knows what the hell he could have done to you. This is not something you should be flattered about. This is something that you should be screaming frightened about.
Instead she's more worried that he heard her talking in her sleep. Not sneaking into her bedroom and watching her because he finds her interesting, but hearing her talk in her sleep. This is not good and normal behavior. This is stupid and dangerous behavior. It's like asking the serial killer over for tea and complaining that he might see your dirty laundry.
Flattering is not the proper mindset. In fact she's angry with him because he hears her talk in her sleep and not because he likes watching her sleep. She stops getting upset though, when her father comes home.
When Edward asks if her dad should know he's here, she says no. So he vanishes, up into her room.