First Off, No Hate To This Person Or Any Of The People Agreeing - At The End Of The Day, People Have

“Fatherless behavior” stop giving my DAD credit for all the work my MOM put into making me a terrible person!! Stop erasing women in history!!

Here is my contribution to @meabhd‘s coloring contest! She did the lines, I did the coloring. 

I had sooooo fun with this, mostly cause they are Harry Potter characters (Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown) but also cause I tried a new coloring technique! Turned out to be great practice and something I’ll definitely try again.

Thanks for the opportunity to color your lines Méabh, your art is amazing and it was an honor omg lmao *-* <3

rereading the cruel prince and i forgot that cardan's nervous habit is smiling.

jude always notes he's smirking/smiling around her.

jude makes him nervous.

tell me thats not literally the best thing you've heard all day

Will never not be funny to me how Padmé purposefully exaggerated her attraction to Palo to tease Anakin and make him jealous 🤣

Now why would Padmé, Senator Amidala who’s only focused on her duty, want to make her “strictly professional” friend jealous by milking out her old crush’s looks? 😏

I'm writing my first fic, so are there any tips to write Harry so I don't Butcher his character, lol

Like, I can try and give advice, but writing is such a personal journey, and it can work very differently for every writer. Like, what works for me and helps me to stick to his character might not work for you.

What I can tell you is that the first HP fic I ever wrote had a Harry I will now consider OOC.

It's not the worst I've seen, but I know I'm better at it now than 4 years ago when I wrote that story because I know him better, and I became a better writer. But that first story has an OOC Harry, an OOC Voldemort, and, well, a lot of other characters are OOC there, too. I'm pretty sure Sirius is the only one I consider somewhat in-character in that story, lol.

I can explain what I do, which again might not work for you. The only way you'd know what does work for you is if you try different methods, experiment, and learn. Becouse if you know what you're doing and you're a good enough writer, there aren't a lot of rules you can't break or characterization you can't pull off. And to become a good writer there is no way other than writing. And reading. A lot.

You just gotta start writing and figure out what methods work for you to get the characters the way you envision them.

Also, please remember fanfic is supposed to be fun. I might be super picky about Harry's characterization, but I promise you there are a lot of readers who aren't and would be happy to read a good story even if Harry isn't characterized perfectly. As I said, I wrote some bad OOC fic in my life (40+ bad wips that would never see the light of day). These bad fics were necessary so I could get good. Becouse to get good, you need to start somewhere. So, as I said, write, don't be scared of making mistakes, figure out what works for you, and trial and error your way to victory.

That being said, this is my list of what I do to write any character consistently and in character, not just Harry, (and some writing advice in general, really):

1. Get the mannerism right

What I mean by that is that characters, like human beings, are capable of a lot under the right circumstances. When writing a fic a character isn't going to stay the same as in canon if their situation changes, so I find it more useful to think of how characters do/say things rather than what they do. Basically, any character can do anything and it would feel in character if the circumstances and how they go about it make sense.

For me, I know dialogue is one of my strengths as a writer, and I put effort into learning characters' dialects and speech patterns. Harry would use the word "bloke" and not "guy". He never uses "Bloody hell" or "Blimey". Harry's swears are often censored from the books, so I take it Harry says "fuck" or "sodding hell". When he thinks mid-sentence he says "er..." often. Harry, in general, doesn't speak as often as Ron or Hermione.

Ron, on the other hand, says "bloody hell" and "Blimey" often. He also says "mate" a lot. Hermione rarely shortens words. Often in the books, she would say "we are" rather than "we're" and is generally more formal in her speech. She also uses more words than both boys to get the same point across.

All these little patterns of speech add a lot to the characters feeling like themselves. The choice of words matters more than what they're actually saying, a lot of times. The what can be heavily influenced by the circumstances but the how should be familiar.

Let's take a reaction of surprise to the same good thing happening:

"Blimey, I can't believe it," said Ron, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh, that's wonderful," Hermione said, smiling and turning to Ron and Harry, "You can see this too, right?"

"That's brilliant," said Harry, grinning at the sight of [thing].

So, these sorts of details just add a lot to characterization and I find that if you can pull the voice and mannerisms off, you can pull off almost any actions, and the character would feel in character as long as it's not outrageous.

2. "Character Bible"

I usually have a little "character bible" which is like 6-10 commandments of how the character needs to behave (key personality traits and behavior), and when I'm editing, I go back to it. What you choose to put in your "character bible" can change depending on what matters to you more as a writer. For Harry, my character bible is something like this:

Says more in his head than outside his head.

Snarks back when threatened, hot-headed when in emotional distress, doesn't say anything if it's a possibility (unless he likes who he's talking to).

Wit. Wit. Wit. (add witty remarks in narration or dialogue if the opportunity arises. Sarcastic humor is good for Harry's narration).

Very talented and smart, very low self-worth

Awkward, but no one but him knows this

"I won't!" (He does not do well with authority or direct orders. The quote is from GoF when he resists the imperious curse)

Trust issues galore (he doesn't really trust anybody besides Sirius. Only in HBP does he start to tell Ron and Hermione everything).

Selectively observant (Harry observes what he cares about. If he doesn't care, it might as well not have been there) and super judgmental in his narration.

Wants to be left alone and be content and safe.

3. Edit.

I'm sorry to say it, but reading through your own writing again and again and fixing it up every time helps so much. After I finish writing a chapter I take a break to go to bed and then come back the next day and reread the chapter with new eyes and correct everything that seems out of character, any phrasing that feels awkward, spelling and grammar errors if I notice them. But this first go-through immediately after is mostly for characterization, voice, and plot.

In general, during a first draft, your goal is to get it written, making it good is what editing is for. That's why my mantra during the process of writing the first draft is: "I'll fix it in post".

4. Let the character take the wheel

This is more specific to my own writing method, but, you know how there are method actors? So I'm a method writer. Sorta, I'm half-joking.

What I mean by this, is that I get to know a character by writing them (a lot) and then I don't really need to think about it. Like, I just write what feels right to the character. Like, whenever I'm unsure about a scene, I'd go: "Harry take the wheel" and just type what the character thinks, in my mind. It's kind of hard to explain, but it's sort of discovery writing in small limited doses, essentially. I sort of let the character take over for the scene. Like I'm not writing the story, just typing it. Kinda like demonic possession, just, not.

I know it's not really the characters and that I'm writing it, I just find this process hard to explain. When you write a character a lot and often, you can become capable of writing them naturally. Almost like breathing. Like writing your own narration, except, it isn't. But it takes effort to get to this point.

Again, this won't necessarily work for everyone, but it's what I found works for me.

5. Unsure? Open the books

The books exist and if you're unsure how Harry would react to something, just, check. I have an ebook version of GoF open when I'm writing my fic, which takes place in GoF. So, if I'm unsure how Harry would phrase something or react to something, I just check.

6. Get a Beta Reader

My best advice though, is to find a fandom friend to beta read for you, someone you trust to tell you if you're writing OOC and help you fix it (preferably they would also be a writer). Becouse sometimes you don't see it yourself after you just wrote it. My beta for my fic also helped me write my novel, and she knows me as a writer, I know her as a writer, and she knows what sort of things she needs to pay attention to in my writing and vice versa.

That first OOC fic I mentioned? I let her read it, and she told me that the pacing is crap and Harry is acting off (in nicer words, she was very polite about it, but that's what she meant). And that sort of feedback is invaluable for improving and I'm incredibly grateful to her.

Sometimes, you need to hear the truth, even when it's unpleasant, that's how growth happens.

(Now she practically never comments on characterization or pacing, improvement!)

7. Perfect is the enemy of good

I don't think my characterization of Harry is perfect. I don't think my writing is perfect. Whenever I go back to edit, I always find more stuff to fix. But there is a point where you gotta stop fixing it and just post it. Because you'll never know how it will go if you don't do it.

At some point, after all the editing, you just need to declare your work is "good enough" (having a beta really helps in telling when "good enough" is, especially at first, since most writers tend to be hyper-critical of their own work). You'll always reread your work and think "oh, I could've wrote this line better" or "oh, that sounds wrong" even after you post it (but so could the best authors to ever live, I'm sure. It's just how it is).

So, It won't be perfect, nothing ever will. But it can still be great and amazing and make someone's day, even if it isn't "perfect".

So, don't be scared to make mistakes or butch it up on your first attempt, you're human, you're learning, and you can improve. But that can only happen if you start writing because nothing teaches better than hands-on experience.

— George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant

back into my hp and retj obsession and wondering how to sort the characters and i think i’ve figured them out (note: this will follow the original french!retj characterizations) 

romeo: gryffindor. no contest there ha juliette: hufflepuff, but her personal choice would be gryffindor, which the hat would probably accept. girl is brave as hell, drinking fake death potions and all. benvolio: hufflepuff all the way precious bby mercutio: slytherin. not a typical one obvs, but still. either that, or he’d want to be slytherin so he can get his family off his back. also think about all the puns he’d make!!! and the dynamic with the other rois du monde!!!! tybalt: gryffindor, although to placate his family he’d beg the hat to put him in slytherin. imagine the drama that will cause if he turned out a gryffindor.  le prince: slytherin. his le pouvoir is too cynical for him not to be. also, it runs in the family.  paris: slytherin. not because he’s a dick (depends on the production and all) but political ambition and a family resemblance goes a long way (i headcanon paris as a cunning diplomat and good with the intricacies of politics). lord capulet: either gryffindor or hufflepuff. you can make the case of him being slytherin too (i see it more with his hungarian counterpart).  lady capulet: either gryffindor (french) or slytherin (hungarian). socialite, extroverted, slightly shallow.  lady montague: ravenclaw OR slytherin for her iron will and general badassery. though as always, depends on the production. my headcanon puts lord montague in gryffindor. i suppose that’s where romeo gets his gryffindor-ness.  the nurse: hufflepuff. homely and loyal, but immensely practical, which i think is a hufflepuff characteristic.  montague youths: most of them are gryffindors/hufflepuffs (lady montague is the exception because she is not a montague by blood but by marriage) because they seem more fun-loving than the capulets, and much more prone to reckless behavior.  capulet youths: now this is where it gets weird because i see them more as slytherins/ravenclaws, as they seem much more aristocratic, cunning, and restrained than the montagues, but it doesn’t jive much with the sortings for the heads. probably the auxiliary capulet cousins (like tybalt’s father and their family, including lady capulet) are more slytherin (i definitely headcanon tybalt’s father as a slytherin). also, if you’re going by the hungarian production, though, the capulets are definitely hardcore slytherins. 

James: Why don’t you just tell Marlene how you feel about her?

Remus: James had to ask Lily at least a hundred times.

James: And guess what, we’re married now.

Remus: Exactly, what have you got to lose?

Sirius: Her.

#these luke/anakin and leia/padmé parallels are so tragically overlooked

Okay, the joke is funny sometimes, but the “Luke is a baby uwu who wouldn’t hurt a fly and Leia is so much like Anakin and would have killed Darth Vader instantly with the sheer force of her awesomeness and rage” fanon take irks me sometimes. Like, did Luke going absolutely lava-rage-monster insane on Vader, beating the living daylights out of him, hacking his arm off, and just barely holding himself back from chopping his head off or slashing his breathing apparatus open or sending him plummeting into the chasm below for even mentioning Leia and just barely holding himself back from giving into that darkness mean nothing to you? We all think of Luke as this sage-like bastion of light, which isn’t necessarily incorrect, but I think we all forget how hard-earned that is. The entire point of Luke’s arc in Episodes 5 through 6 is just how easily he could fall to the dark side. Yes, Luke is kind and sees and brings out the light in others like Padme, but he is so much like his father! That’s the whole point! He grew up wanting to escape a desert planet, he’s a mechanic, he’s an incredible pilot, he connects to the Force so easily it’s like breathing, he’s impatient, he’s reckless, he develops attachments too easily and they run too deep. He runs out on his training in Episode 5, and from that point on, he’s standing at a precipice—he could fall so easily. He could fall like Anakin. He saw his own face in Vader’s mask in the cave even before he knew the man was his father—he knows it. He has all that darkness in him, but the difference is that he conquers it. Luke is supposed to be what Anakin could have been if he had not fallen; he is Anakin’s chance at redemption. But ignoring all of this beautiful parallelism between the two for the sake of a “haha baby Luke girlboss Leia” take is a severe disservice to both Luke and Leia’s characters, as well as the main narrative arc of Star Wars as a whole.

He said fiercely, though the effort of standing upright was draining him of still more color and he swayed slightly as he spoke. HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN | 1999