Advice needed: who should I pair Helena with?

Advice needed: who should I pair Helena with? by Kі nо Shirayuki on 2025-01-27 05:08:30 UTC Writing

On the topic of checking in with the comm on my writing, by Kі nо Shirayuki on 2025-01-28 02:56:51 UTC Edited Reply
You may notice that my missions so far have had no failures. This is because:
1. Adding failed missions would overly complicate the plot and compromise the tone for stories meant to be light-hearted. This is also why I don't intend to kill off (especially Hazama clan members; killing them would flat-out lead to plot holes) or irreversibly mentally break any of my agents either.
2. The main conflict is not agents vs. badfics. It's agents vs. each other and agents vs. their wacky life in the PPC. Those areas are where I put conflict and failures in.
Do note me if there's anything wrong with this set-up.

I don't know that any of them do. by Linstar on 2025-01-28 00:04:21 UTC Reply

And, frankly, you don't need to shoehorn a relationship in just to have one.

--Ls, agreeing with Nesh and Lily
Er, why is that a rule for you? by Neshomeh on 2025-01-27 15:37:47 UTC Reply

And why only for female characters?

~Neshomeh

It's because female characters tend to get the short end of the stick when it comes to romance, by Kі nо Shirayuki on 2025-01-27 15:45:21 UTC Reply

especially in fanfic, so I impose this rule as a kind of protest.

Right, but there's no need to shoehorn things in. by Lily Winterwood on 2025-01-27 16:02:25 UTC Reply

Characters develop relationships organically as you continue writing them into situations. I know I didn't start out intending to put my Agents together; they just kinda fell into it after a while. And amatonormativity--the preference for romantic love uber alles, and how everyone's expected to fall in romantic love and place romantic relationships above all others--is equally worth "protesting", especially in fanfiction spaces. ;)

Can you clarify what you mean by this? by Linstar on 2025-01-28 00:06:22 UTC Reply

I think you made a typo in saying "the preference for romantic love uber alles", because I'm not sure what that means.

--Ls probably won't be using the concept of amatonormativity, unless as a trivia question

I can: It's a German phrase. by Neshomeh on 2025-01-28 03:44:25 UTC Reply

Translates to "above all," and perhaps carries a connotation of excessive dogmatism.

~Neshomeh

Seconding this. by Neshomeh on 2025-01-27 19:46:31 UTC Reply

Female characters honestly get shafted in all sorts of ways, including very often being written solely as romantic lovers or love interests with nothing else going on in their lives. The world loses nothing by having more female characters fulfilled by friendships and activities, without needing to be/do anything else in order to be worthy.

And that goes for real women, too. {= )

~Neshomeh
Alright, thanks for the advice 😊 by Kі nо Shirayuki on 2025-01-27 16:10:15 UTC Reply

Honestly, sometimes I doubt my own writing, which is why I regularly check in with the comm to make sure my writing doesn't violate the general spirit. Do stop me if I come off as repetitive or attention-seeking.

Doubting your own writing is normal for young writers! by Lily Winterwood on 2025-01-27 16:52:32 UTC Reply

And honestly older writers, too--we all have these moments of doubt regarding the reception of our work. But I can say for sure that writing for yourself and what you want to see will always make for better writing than writing for the opinions of other people.