Subject: I'm not exactly certain what the issue is
Author:
Posted on: 2015-07-19 07:02:00 UTC
If you are asking what to do with the character, here's what comes to mind for me. Even if you create a character you are uncertain about, at least give some more depth to the character. It certainly will not hurt.
I know that I posted a thread about this further down, but it's kinda been forgotten.
Anyway, I was browsing the wiki for the Monster Girl Encyclopedia with Firemagic (which I don't recommend, the original MGE is very NSFW), and I ran across the kraken. She's basically a giant squid-scylla.
My automatic idea generator started constructing Stephanie Podd as a character, native to the Monster Musume universe... but I pulled the brakes, because I know that 90% of my ideas are bad ones.
This is basically my feeling. I'm sitting here, with an idea I'm twelve kinds of uncertain about, unwilling to use it but unwilling to throw it away for good. Stephanie's only partly characterized—all I've ascertained is that she's from Norway—and I'm not sure whether to add more.
Something I recommend you do, that might be helpful, before dismissing an idea, find someone to bounce it off of first. That's kind of what you are doing here, but you are being too hard on yourself. Everyone has ideas that are hit and miss, and it kind of reminds me of a quote from Thomas Edison, paraphrased since I cannot remember the exact one. When asked about failing multiple times before succeeding with his light bulb, he responded along the lines of I did not fail 99 times, but discovered 99 ways not to build a light bulb.
Really what I am trying to say is, just because the first attempt at an idea did not work the way you wanted, do not dismiss it as bad. With this idea now, it has potential, but it is too skeletal to really know for certain. It needs more to determine how it would work. If you are hesitant to go too much further in depth with the character, because you think it will be a "bad idea" and you want to work on it still, you can hit me via e-mail and you can run it by me. Of course, my ability to respond will be severely hampered over the next two weeks, but you can still try.
If you do want to use me to further work out this idea or others, my e-mail is border name without brackets at Google. And that actually goes for anyone else interested in hashing out further ideas. I spent about two years in various workshops, so I would be happen to listen to any ideas and provide input.
Sometimes all it takes is one stray thought and then BOOM, the idea train pulls in.
In this case, it was the knowledge that cephalopods swim at a kind of "eh" speed, but they can rocket through the water in short bursts thanks to their siphons.
And the moment that crossed my mind, she had the basis of a personality. She lives in bursts; Stephanie alternates between whirlwinds of energy and lazing about in a sluggish stupor.
That's kind of what the crux of my comment was. Don't give up on an idea, and I think that could make an interesting character, a lot of decent interactions.
While designing her character, her appearance and her abilities, I drew on all my knowledge of cephalopods (not just squid, but also octopi and cuttlefish). For instance, Stephanie can change her color at will, and her control is astounding considering she's, you know, totally colorblind (which is true of cuttlefish). It's like she has psychic knowledge of what color she needs to be.
Of course, with other elements, my mind went to some awful places...
This white text is NSFW.
She still has breasts, but she doesn't have a reason since she's not a mammal... or does she? My interpretation is that she produces ink from them. You're welcome for the mental images, by the way.
...just badly implemented ones.
So, according to that Monster Girl Encyclopedia, the whole reason for a kraken's existence is to kidnap male humans and basically hold them prisoner, raping them for the rest of the man's life. Gulp! Now that could cause a lot of juicy, interesting conflict, especially considering the PPC's official policy on rape as something agents just plain aren't supposed to do.
So maybe Medical and FicPsych have got Stephanie permanently pumped full of libido-suppressing drugs, but there are still going to be a lot of males who won't feel comfortable near her just in case the drugs wear off. And some straight women will hate her just in case the drugs wear off and she rapes their boyfriend/husband/slave/whatever.
Build the story around that conflict, and it might work.
Stephanie would be from the Monster Musume universe, not the MGE universe. I'm not comfortable with writing anything that's actually from the MGEverse because there are a lot of elements that creep me out, such as forced physical and mental transformation.
Most of the sexual aspects would be toned down by necessity, because that's what Okayado does for MonMusu. Stephanie wouldn't be a sex drive on tentacles, she'd be an industrial-sized Norwegian girl who happens to have tentacles instead of legs.
To be honest, I don't see the point of the whole "tentacles instead of legs" thing. Why not just make her an industrial-sized Norwegian girl with ordinary legs? What do the tentacles add to the story, apart from satisfying your fetish?
And, just so you know I'm not judging you: One of my sexual fantasies is being headless. (There's something strangely empowering about the thought of being so in control of myself and of my own body that not even losing my head can stop me!)
But despite that, animal people tend to fall right into the uncanny valley for me. Whether anthro or half-and-half, they just creep me out in the same way that headlessness creeps other people out. So there needs to be a reason to justify the gimmick for people who don't share the fetish.
In Stephanie's case, maybe you could lampshade that. Make part her character arc. Go in totally the opposite direction you did with Kala. Give her a partner who is secretly grossed out by her tentacles but he's trying to be polite, not let it show, not upset her or let her suspect how he feels.
Maybe he was shown a head and shoulders photo of her when he's assigned as her partner, and thinks she's just a gorgeous Norwegian girl. So it's quite a shock to see that she's a ... a horrible, slimy thing from the waist down. He wants to keep looking away from her tentacles but knows that might seem rude, but if he forces him to look at them, it would seem like he's staring at them which is equally rude.
Maybe he even tries to look up about krakens online, and finds that MGE entry. That'll really freak him out!
Meanwhile how does she Stephanie feel about this? Does she suspect how he feels? Is she used to it, resigned to it being inevitable? Has she lost lots of partners over time, because they couldn't get used to her tentacles? (If she mentions this to him it could make him even more uncomfortable.)
Or is she new to both the PPC and to our world, and surprised and puzzled that people could feel that way about her? Or maybe it works both ways and she's secretly grossed out at the thought of humans walking on two solid legs like ... like some kind of deformed featherless bird with a kraken's upper half!
Over time, the partners slowly get to know each other. Slowly, very slowly, without even realising it, her partner finds himself thinking about about her tentacles less and less. (If Stephanie ever had any problem about legs, she'll get used to them a lot quicker just because so many people in HQ have them.)
But, just as everything looks as if everything's going sommthly, Stephanie comes across something her partner wrote after he first met her, or overhears some old gossip about something he once told a friend about he.
She doesn't know that his feelings are changing (not surprising, since neither does he, yet) and she's shocked to find that he feels this way, especially since she thought she liked him. She wonders how long their partnership is going to last, and whether it would be best for both of them if she asks the flowers for a new partner.
But then, on a mission, the DORKS breaks, causing them to revert to their normal forms. The warrior!Sue spots the kraken and attacks. But Stephanie's partner reacts instantly and saves her life by grabbing a couple of tentacles and pulling her to safety! Even after the fight is over, he's just concerned that he might have hurt her by pulling too hard. They're bot surprised that he wasn't bothered by touching her tentacles at all!
When their mission's finally over, they head back through the portal, one of her tentacles wrapped gently around his arm ans if it's the most natural thing in the world for both of them. Even if they never become lovers like Valon and Kala, at least they new feel comfortable in each other's company.
(Yeah, yeah, I know, as it stands, it's not the greatest of story arcs. In fact it's just one tired old cliche after another. But it's a starting point. Right?)
Also, fun fact: monster girls are not my fetish. Even reading the MGE, I'm rarely interested in that way.
Valon's not into Kala because she's a monster; he's into her because she's a girl, and she's a friend. I only made Kala a girtablilu because I wanted a character from that universe, and I originally planned for the 211 team to never get together. I thought that wish-fulfillment was an automatically bad thing at the time, and that Valon (AKA my author avatar) getting into a relationship would make him Stuish.
Wanna know something? Kala's human half isn't even my ideal woman! The women I'm interested in almost always have long, dark hair, and they're usually average height. Kala has fairly short blonde hair, and she's incredibly short herself (four-foot-nine, even in disguise).
I am serious when I say that I could not give less of a crap about the fanservice in MonMusu. I actually do care more about the story than the sex appeal. Okayado's world is fascinating to me, and with characters like Kala Jeng, Stephanie Podd, and the as-yet-unreleased Betty Borea (who's a yeti), I'm just trying to fill the gaps.
The confusion was entirely my fault not yours. Guess I've just got a dirty mind. Sorry.
Who might be one of the most interesting Anime/Manga characters ever created.
She's probably one of the sweetest non-human girls in Anime/Manga! Yes, I'm saying this even after fully up to date with MonMusu manga!
Shun the heretic! Shun! SHUN!
*throws a confetti-and-glitter smoke bomb and disappears*
Because if we use a definition of anyone not identified as human, Celty is good, but I think she losses out to either Belldandy (Ah! My Goddess) or maybe Ceras Victoria (Hellsing) as goddess and vampire/draculina respectively.
On a completely unrelated note, Voyd, I recommend you check out Ah! My Goddess if you have not already. It really is basically a family friendly version of Monster Musume.
I don't see anything bad about the idea you have right now, other than the fact that it's very small. Here's my suggestion: flesh Stephanie out some more. Give her a personality, a life, some quirks, some hobbies, and some flaws. Think of a character arc for her, with ways for her to grow. Then, I suggest a test drive. Try one of the 46 (I believe) Permission Prompts-- select one at random or just pick one. Take Stephanie out for a whirl and see how you like her.
You say that 90% of your ideas are bad, but I disagree. I think you're second guessing yourself too much. You said you cut off a thought immediately, because you thought it might be bad, and you're extremely uncertain about it at a very early stage. The thing is, right now you only have a tiny idea, like a little seedling. You can't know what it will grow to be, but you're already worried about it. So that's my advice-- nurture the seed a little. Let it grow up enough to see what it's really like, and then make a careful, thoughtful judgement on what you want to do.
And here's another little piece of advice, one I'm still struggling to adhere to myself. Don't throw away your ideas: write them down. Keep a little folder on your computer for the ideas you have. Jot them down whenever you have them, then look at them every so often. Even if you don't think they'll work now, later on down the road you might like them.
Keep your chin up, Voyd-- I like your writing, and a few bad ideas aren't always... well, bad. They teach you what will work, and what won't. And because you've been open about your problem (which isn't the easiest to do) we can help you.
Remember: "Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."
If you are asking what to do with the character, here's what comes to mind for me. Even if you create a character you are uncertain about, at least give some more depth to the character. It certainly will not hurt.