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Quix's Random Bullshit Thread (Comments Welcome)

[size=-2]I have a few ideas as to who it is. While I am slightly touched that I am the only one you allow to call you Quiz, it should be noted that I didn't come up with the nickname, Xanaphia did. Granted it was by mistake. I merely arrived in the nick of time to notice it and so one's human error become another human's joy. Back to the topic at hand: Lies! You have liabetes, you're a liabetic. Once a drinker always a drinker. [/size]
 
Malicious Lullaby said:
I like that e-card a lot better than your definition of V-Day lol xD I guess I won't be going on a truth bender lol.
I don't even drink anymore xD I've cut that out lol.
Click to expand...

That e-card is quite appropriate as it relates to most of my friends, both here and offline. As for the other one, they weren't my words, I stole them from someone else, and I'm not quite that cynical about Valentine's Day, although:

il_570xN.909028584_n27z.jpg


However, that could have been partly my fault, because I'm one who likes people to say what they mean upfront, and am not good at interpreting attempted subtlety or hints, so

give-her-something-long-and-hard-that-will-really-make-her-moan-sfw.jpg


You mean I haven't driven you back to the drink, yet? Obviously I'm not trying hard enough :)
 
LOL. Loved that last one and I knew you weren't as cynical as those cray-cray words were letting on lol.
No, don't even try. It's nothing something I want to get back into. It takes 48 hours to recover from a hangover! And my taste for alcohol is just going away altogether. I can't enjoy red wine the way I used to; I have to put juice into it to cut the bitterness. And beers are hard to drink after a while. I do like the once in a while cocktail though ^^
 
Malicious Lullaby said:
LOL. Loved that last one and I knew you weren't as cynical as those cray-cray words were letting on lol.
No, don't even try. It's nothing something I want to get back into. It takes 48 hours to recover from a hangover! And my taste for alcohol is just going away altogether. I can't enjoy red wine the way I used to; I have to put juice into it to cut the bitterness. And beers are hard to drink after a while. I do like the once in a while cocktail though ^^
Click to expand...

You know me too well, Mali, xD

I'm pretty much the same, and have never drunk alcohol for the taste of it, as I don't actually like it too much. Except for a nice, cold beer on a hot Summer's day!

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Some random musings as I'm up to date on my writing, which isn't so unusual these days, considering I've not many active.

However, I do have a couple in planning, one I'm particularly looking forward to with an old partner-in-crime, which will be my first ever incest story. Not that it's the major theme, just what we thought would be a fitting addition to an already slightly fucked-up plot about deluded, co-dependent siblings who embark on a cop-killing spree in an attempt to stop their abusive Evangelical, God-Like, Police Chief Foster Father, - years later, a Senatorial Candidate - from potentially initiating Armageddon and damning them to the oft-threatened consequence of eternity spent burning in Hell.

It's enjoyable bouncing ideas back and forth to come up with something unique, and if nothing else, Adam and Eve will be another departure for me in regard to character type and personality. I think the challenge is going to be in attempting to realistically portray the protagonists mental demons and delusions - as a form of PTSD - whilst keeping them relatively normal in most other aspects of their lives. Could still be a little way away from starting, depending on how much further caught up we get in the planning, as there's a few other elements to the story still to be fleshed out.

The other potential stories are on E, however, if they'll work out, I'm not sure and I'm not that concerned if they do or not. I waver from being keen, bumping my thread and receiving approaches, to being less than enthusiastic about writing on there. I guess I'll just wait and see, but not make too much of an effort to chase up if I don't hear back.


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Lastly, thanks goes to Xana, for drawing my attention to the below Tumblr post, which I found amusing in its accurate depiction of certain aspects of Australian culture. Possibly aspects that only those who were born, raised or have resided here for a length of time could ever fully understand, xD


Throwback to the time my poor German teacher had to explain the concept of formal and informal pronouns to a class full of Australians and everyone was scandalised and loudly complained “why can’t I treat everyone the same?” “I don’t want to be a Sie!” “but being friendly is respectful!” “wouldn’t using ‘du’ just show I like them?” until one guy conceded “I suppose maybe I’d use Sie with someone like the prime minister, if he weren’t such a cunt” and my teacher ended up with her head in her hands saying “you are all banned from using du until I can trust you”

Australia’s reverse-formality respect culture is fascinating. We don’t even really think about it until we try to communicate or learn about another culture and the rules that are pretty standard for most of the world just feel so wrong. I went to America this one time and I kept automatically thinking that strangers using ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am’ were sassing me.

Australians could not be trusted with a language with ingrained tiers of formal address. The most formal forms would immediately become synonyms for ‘go fuck yourself’ and if you weren’t using the most informal version possible within three sentences of meeting someone they’d take it to mean you hated them.

See also: the Australian habit of insulting people by way of showing affection, which other English-speakers also do, but not in a context where deescalating the spoken invective actively increases the degree of offence intended, particularly if you’ve just been affectionately-insulting with someone else.

By which I mean: if you’ve just called your best mate an absolute dickhead, you can’t then call a hated politician something that’s (technically) worse, like a total fuckwit, because that would imply either that you were really insulting your mate or that you like the politician. Instead, you have to use a milder epithet, like bastard, to convey your seething hatred for the second person. But if your opening conversational gambit is slagging someone off, then it’s acceptable to go big (”The PM’s a total cockstain!”) at the outset.

Also note that different modifiers radically change the meaning of particular insults. Case in point: calling someone a fuckin’ cunt is a deadly insult, calling someone a mad cunt is a compliment, and calling someone a fuckin’ mad cunt means you’re literally in awe of them. Because STRAYA.


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[size=-2]Thus, a new way of complimenting people and being in awe of them was born. God bless Straya, we hardly knew ye. One more day until a certain someone's awakening. [/size]
 
I love being 'Strayan. The land where the more polite we are, the less we like you...the land where "Bastard" can have 4 or 5 different meanings, dependent entirely on context...likewise "mate" can be a term of affection or ridicule, again depending on context.

We (and by that I mean true-blue, dinkum Aussies) don't even take ourselves seriously...unless you piss us off.

Awesome Tumblr post, Quix. :)
 
Totally agree, Sync. Just have to try to remember sometimes that or how we communicate with and understand each other, is different than a lot of other places and cultures, and although it's all in good humour, they don't know that. However, it's difficult sometimes, as it just comes so naturally to us, we expect people to receive it in the same way, and can't comprehend why they don't get it! However, they will know when we're truly pissed off.

And that provides me the opportunity to post a song about another distinct Aussie attitude that comes back to us never really taking anything that seriously or viewing it as a big deal. Not sure how many others outside of Aussie will find it humourous, which I do because of being able to directly relate to the attitudinal truth of the "She'll be right, mate," expression in our culture, which is pretty much equivalent to, "Oh well, shit happens, and there's no point in crying spilt milk, so get over it and look on the bright side instead. It always works out in the end."

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvv6v5OLuok[/video]
 
Of all the maps of Australia, I always found this one to be the best:

Funny-Map-of-Australia.jpg


Maybe closely followed by this one:

24cb44b8e8cd093bedeeadb766badd47.jpg


To me, they both accurately sum up good ol' Aussie larrikinism.
 
I love those, too, and am smack-bang in the middle of Dickhead Politicians. The best way to an Aussie's heart, and to earn their respect, is not by being deferential, taking us seriously or getting on the defensive, but by throwing our own shit back at us. Do that, especially with biting sarcasm and dry humour, and we'll be your best friend forever.
 
(Sorry 'bout that. Spoilers in.)

Yeah... depending on which Map you go with, I'm either surrounded by Convicts or Bushfires. >.>
 
Sync said:
(Sorry 'bout that. Spoilers in.)

Yeah... depending on which Map you go with, I'm either surrounded by Convicts or Bushfires. >.>
Click to expand...

No worries, thanks for that. I'd take Bushfires over Danni Minogue any day of the week!
 
Mr Quixotic said:
No worries, thanks for that. I'd take Bushfires over Danni Minogue any day of the week! For a sense of scale, if anyone's interested, the driving distance between Convicts and Dickhead politicians is about four-hundred miles.
Click to expand...

That's a tough call, that one.

It's kinda like asking a guy if he'd like his dick removed with a chainsaw or a band-saw. O.O

EDIT:

Just in case people have no idea just how big Australia really is:

%2521%2521%2521%2521.jpg
 
Dark Desires said:
[size=-2]Nice avatar Quiz, it gives me a jack the ripper vibe.[/size]
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Thanks, Dark, that's the vibe I was going for, but have to thank Fruit for understanding precisely what I was looking for, without me having provided too much specific detail, finding the perfect images, and bringing it to reality.

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As soon as I mention the two potential stories on E, and wasn't too worried if I went ahead with them or not - not because of the stories, or collaborators, simply for the fact of needing to write on E - the partners respond to say they're still interested, so it appears they're both goers.

Hopefully, I'll get into the swing of writing on there after a while. The hesitancy can be put down to my visual idiosyncrasies. It takes me a long while to become accustomed to anything visually, like I am now with BMR threads, where the layout is ingrained in my head, whilst anything new is off-putting and clashes with what I'm already used to. It's hard to explain, but why I prefer to stick to a single platform.

One, I need to write an opener for, which is always more difficult for me even than normal posts, for the requirement to 'start from a blank slate', whilst the second is still a little way away from commencing. It's funny, because the original idea she approached me with for the second was virtually identical in concept to the story I'm writing on here with Xana. However, after bouncing back and forth, whilst still retaining elements of that, ie, incorporating a conniving female with sinister intent, it's quite different now. More of a power-play situation from the beginning, and the potential to turn fairly dark.

So, I've suddenly gone from being quiet to, with Adam and Eve in the works as well, wondering if I might be taking on too much! Now, if I could only stop bumping my threads, xD
 
Finally started another story, and am quite proud of the opener. Not so much for the content but for one of the rare times on here the post just flowed from my head onto the page. Rather than the week or two it usually takes me, stressing about how, where and what to start with, then writing and revising drafts that I alternate between hating and thinking are okay, this one was fully completed within an hour and a half of conception after the scene randomly popped into my mind, and I needed to write it down before I lost it. An almost miraculous occurrence for me, which may be somewhat appropriate considering the theme!

]

Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping.

Rain pattered down, striking the metal roof of the small trailer and sluiced off the sides, causing large puddles to form on the ground, and turn it to slush and mud. Inside, the digital clock beside on the nightstand ticked over from 3:08am to 3:09am, and the face of the bed's male occupant screwed up in distaste. Snoring lightly, he buried his lips into the hair of the naked woman next to him and tightened his already secure grip further around her, subconsciously afraid she might be snatched away whilst he lay dead to the world.

"Spare the rod, spoil the child."

His teeth clenched in his sleep and he screwed his eyelids closer together, attempting to chase away the bad dream.

WHACK

The well-remembered harsh sound of the rattan cane striking his soft, unblemished flesh after his adoptive Father had forced him to pull his shorts down and bare his butt, in order the administer the punishment they'd become so accustomed to. That latter fact had never lessened the humiliation or pain.

"What did I tell you. No MTV. That music. Those men and women are sick, disgusting, perverted. Evil."

THWACK

"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

"Like you, like your Mother and Father were. Do I need to remind you again of the consequences of disobeying the Lord's word? Of why your parents now burn for eternity in the company of Satan?"

THWACK

The six foot, three inch, two hundred and fifty pound man puffed, panted and ranted as he caned, steam spouting from his ears and fury darkened eyes darting between Adam and Eve. "It was not an accident. There are no accidents, misfortunes, or coincidences. Your parents fornicated outside of wedlock, not once, but twice, and they paid the Lord's price, delivering you, the Devil's Spawn, to me to save." The young boy's screams of agony and pleas of contrition were inconsequential as were the sobs of his younger fraternal sibling, who knew she was next. "How do I know God's plan? Because in this house, in your lives, I AM GOD."

Oh, fuck, why had he never been able to protect his little sister from the abuse and the beatings? The one time he'd tried, really tried, had been the straw that broke the camels back. The day after turning eighteen, old enough to legally leave of his accord, he'd attempted to sneak sixteen year old Eve out with him only to be greeted downstairs by two of their Step-Father's blue-uniformed acolytes, both with huge grins on their faces, as if the Police Officers expected the couple at that precise place and time. But how could they have known? The real question, he realised afterward, is how could they have not. Father had often enough before proved himself omniscient, no matter what precautions Adam and Eve took.

"Don't forget me, boy, and don't dare to attempt to contact Eve. If you do, next time we meet I'll send you and everyone you've ever loved to Hell." That promise issued as Adam clutched a hand to his stomach and stumbled from the gutter with blood spurting from his broken nose elicited the same fearful reaction in him when he recalled it now as it had back then.

CRACK

Inside the trailer, Adam's body jerked at the peal of thunder, and his eyes flew open. Remnants of the dream lingered, and he trembled when he sat upright, rain crashing off the roof, thunder reverberating around the small trailer and flashes of lightning casting nightmarish shadows on the walls. There'd be no more sleep for Adam Magdalene that night, so with shaking fingers he collected the remote control for the one luxury item he and Eve possessed, a big screen television. Needing something for company to help keep the demons at bay, but not wanting to wake his sister, he muted the volume.

It was when the black slowly crystalised into an image and his eyes adapted to the brightness that Adam was met with a visage that he'd hoped, at least in real life, to never encounter again. The hair was a little grayer, and the white, flowing beard, trimmed, however, the face was immediately recognisable. Especially the coal-black pupils that when they locked on Adam through the screen, seeming to bore into his very soul, caused him to emit an ear-piercing howl of terror loud enough to raise Lazarus from his grave.


Not sure what my partner's initial reaction was when I first posted it to her via PM as, since we were still in the throes of plotting, I don't think she was expecting it. Still, she liked it well enough to say, yep let's go with it! One of the things I'm interested to discover with Adam and Eve is, with the way we feed of each others humor and sarcasm OoC which led to that dynamic naturally (and enjoyably) bleeding into our last collaboration, whether that happens again or if the story remains more serious in tone. Regardless, even if it's the latter, I think anything the two of us write together is still bound to contain at least some elements of black humour and parody.
 
Reading a book on the history of the iconic Australian song, Down Under, and the court case when almost thirty years after it's release Men At Work were sued for having plagiarised one of our classic Children's works, Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree.

Though probably already being well known to music afficionados, for me, being audibly as I am visually, ie unable to recreate sounds/chords in my head or 'remember' them (*see below), I found the below clip enlightening, interesting and amusingly very well done. Found when I googled some of the more technical references and jargon in the book to try to understand better what the author was talking about when relating it to the Down Under case.

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I[/video]

For anyone who knows the song/s, here's a video on the offending piece that possibly lead to the death of the Greg Ham, the man who played the 'stolen' flute riff. He died not long after Men At Work lost the case.


[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mfve0oxbPA[/video]

* Researching aphantasia, I'm on the scale of not only being unable to conjure images in my head, but being unable to synthesise any of the senses at all in my mind. People can really taste something when they're not actually eating it, feel a touch when it's not there, recall the voices of loved ones, or still hear a song when it's not being played? That's fucking weird!
 
After coming across that Axis of Awesome video the other day, I had to google more of them, and thought this next song might be appreciated by a few on here. Especially those of us who believe there's never been a movie or television show made that's better than the original novel it was based on!

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbVTdRQuwSc[/video]

And, of course, the particular theme of this one and the inherent ridiculousness it parodies also struck a chord with me, xD

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKmh-0E5BjU[/video]
 
FUCK ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A little vent here, to stop my itchy fingers from taking their sarcastic revenge out on others!

So, I posted on here and E a thread searching for another version of Internet Killers, a plot centred around a serial killer partnership incorporating sadistic agency on both sides, which clearly stated:.

"I am looking for a fellow protagonist, and an equal, not a Master/Apprentice or Villain/Victim type dynamic."

"If you've something else in mind for a psychologically dark and provocative story which breaks a few taboos, along with the female lead as nothing more than subject of male intent mould, feel free to throw your ideas at me."

From the two requests I received, I quote:

Firstly;

"We could go as far down that path as you want to, either only submissive in the context that he chooses the victims, and he is the ultimate decider of their fate or we could go full in, and she is utterly submissive to him in every way."

Secondly;

"I find your serial killer post intriguing. However I don't really have a desire to play a serial killer myself. I want to go up against a fiendish serial-killer/rapist. Maybe I'm a young whore, or porn star, or just a runaway. In any case, the killer knows that his choice of victims won't make him a very high priority to the police."

How the fuck do either of those conform to what I specifically stated I did and didn't want, in a stand-alone request thread that both referenced when responding to it?

I'm sorry, I shouldn't get frustrated. It's my fault for somehow expecting to play opposite female characters who'll be the equal of a man when it seems that the great majority who write them either don't view women that way themselves, or for reasons I'll never comprehend, simply refuse to portray them as such.

Being a feminist sucks!

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On a brighter note, came across a roleplaying problem I'd never encountered before, and had never thought of, when composing the latest post to one of my stories. That is, in a brother/sister collaboration, particularly with my penchant for incorporating background and exposition, when you're writing it for your own character you're also writing it, at least partly, for the other! Fortunately, I have an awesome partner who trusts me, xD
 
Ah, that time when your brain just refuses to cooperate and you know what you want to say in a post, but the words won't come out and it takes three hours to compose one measly paragraph! Then, after it's done, because you've spent so much time on it, you've no idea if it actually reads well or like absolute crap, xD

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After the rant in my previous post, some positivity to celebrate a couple of anniversaries that have come and gone, and a shout-out to my partners who've stuck with me for the long-term.

Mali - the first person I ever wrote - and subsequently completed - a story with, our friendship and writing partnership still going strong after passing three years in February. I continue to be amazed that you've not once been wrong in all that time, xD

Silv - my fourth writing partner on BMR. As with Mali, a great partner who took a chance on me when I knew nothing about writing or roleplaying. We've now, as of this month, been collaborating for three years, currently on our second story, which itself has been going for over two.

Aurelia - have no idea what number you are, but our first story commenced in April 2015, and I know we were having so much fun with plotting that it took us more than three months to start (plus I recall stealing your car that Christmas!) so it's also well over two years. Commiserations to the both of us!

Xana - I just double-checked when we started our first, and damn, that was two years ago this February as well. Doesn't time fly when you're having fun.

Here's to many more years writing stories together. As well as having a strange head for numbers and dates, I can also remember the first conversation I had with every one of you like it was yesterday. Thanks for being so awesome, both as writers and people; you each deserve a medal for putting up with me for so long!

Of course I can't neglect those I'm no longer writing with, but with whom I still keep in touch, or those I may not have written with, but chat to OoC, who've known me just as long. You're equally responsible for me enjoying my time on BMR as much as I do.
 
Received another interesting PM yesterday, from someone saying they got a laugh out of my request thread, whilst wondering how many angry PM's I got because of it. The answer to that last questions is actually, very few these days! However, the PM did make me think about how so many people misinterpret my thread, and what I'm looking and so rarely find in female characters, expressed so much better than I'd ever be capable of doing in this article.

The Secret to Writing Dynamic Characters: It’s Always Their Fault[/color]
]

Original article here:

It’s a morbid joke among writers: we are so mean to our characters. And we love it. It’s the stuff of good stories. It’s the stuff of epic conflict. And yet, all this very important imaginative cruelty can sometimes trip us up on our way to writing dynamic characters who can, in turn, deal with this epic conflict in an equally epic and meaningful way.

A question I’m commonly asked in interviews is: Which of your characters would you like to be for a day?

Uhh, none of them?

Honestly, that’s kind of like asking the torture master to trade places with the condemned.

My characters may be awesome and do awesome things, but have you looked at the hell they have to go through to get there? Yeah, no thanks. They can have their heroism, and I’ll just stay right here in my comfy desk chair with my trusty cattle prod and keep right on poking.

Poor characters, right? Poor victimized, helpless little dupes. Right?

Wrong-o.

This is exactly the trap writers often fall into when trying to create dynamic conflict. They make their character a victim of his horrible circumstances—and, as a result, the character himself ends up lying there on the page: inert, pitiful, alternately whiny and long-suffering, and ultimately entirely incapable of driving his story’s conflict.

Yes, You Do Have to Be Mean to Your Characters

Now, before I proceed, let me just stop and stress something to the kind-hearted among us: yes, you really do have to mean to your characters.

Some writers revel in this (*raises hand*); others find their dislike of conflict in real life makes it difficult to create it on the page. Makes sense, after all. You create these people you love—people who are always extensions of yourself to some extent. Why would you want them to suffer?

Because you want to write an interesting story, that’s why.

Stories about what James Scott Bell calls “happy people in happy land” are numbingly boring. They aren’t stories, because nothing happens. There is no conflict because the characters aren’t encountering obstacles to their goals.

Those obstacles can be relatively slight inconveniences (red lights on the way to work), or they can be terrifying disasters (hurricanes, murders, imprisonments, betrayal, you name it). Both will move your story, and your choice of how cruel you will be to a character will always depend on the needs of the story.

But if you’re not pulling out the stops somewhere in your story, then you need to ask yourself if you’re really exploring your character’s potential. This doesn’t mean you have to introduce a serial killer into your cozy hamlet tale. But you do need to examine your character.

Find out what her weak spot is. What is she most afraid of? Usually this will tie back to the Ghost and Lie you’re using in her character arc. This is not just a general misfortune; this is something very specific to this character and her inner journey.

Are you exploiting that fear? Are you using it to bring your character to her knees?

If not, you’re almost certainly not being mean enough.

Hold That Thought: You Don’t Have to Be Mean to Your Characters

Now that we’ve established your characters most definitely need to suffer, let’s take a step back and look at this from a totally different angle.

You do not have to be mean to your characters.

In fact, it’s best if you stop thinking in terms of anyone in your story being mean to your character.

But… what about the evil bad guy who has the hero locked on the rack? He’s pretty mean.

True. But is it the evil bad guy’s fault your hero is on the rack?

Is your hero 100% innocent? Was he nabbed from the local village to be made a random example to the rebellious serfs? Is he a guiltless victim?

If the answers are yes, that undoubtedly makes him seem like a pretty good guy. But it also makes him a pretty boring and lifeless protagonist.

Here is the single most important thing to understand about your protagonist’s suffering: He must always be responsible.

What? You mean, he volunteered to be tortured?

Probably not. (However, do stop to think about how much more interesting that angle makes the above scene.) But he did do something that created the situation he’s in now.

Maybe he’s a serf himself—and he chose to rebel, even knowing what the punishment would be should he be caught.

Maybe he is innocent of the rebellion, but he chose to take blame in order to protect his guilty son.

Maybe he knew there was a rebellion underway in the southern villages, but he chose to travel through in a desperate hope of getting medicine for his dying wife.

Maybe he was just passing through, minding his own business, but when confronted with a random cruelty from the local lord’s guards, he chose to stand up for the poor peasant.

See what’s happening here? This is not a passive character. This is a character who is making choices.

Not only is he personally responsible for driving the plot, he’s also personally responsible for the consequences. His own choices—whether right or wrong—are what have put him in this fix. This raises infinitely more interesting thematic explorations than those you’d find if your hero were the entirely undeserved victim of someone else’s choices.

Catalytic, Not Catatonic: 5 Steps to Writing Dynamic Characters

Dynamism, by its very definition, is about forceful movement. In writing dynamic characters, you are writing characters who drive events. They are causes that create effects. In short, they are catalysts. What they are not is catatonic. They are not passive rag dolls, tossed around by random antagonistic forces.

The best news for you is that these catalytic characters are a blast to write. Consider five immediately applicable ways you can take your character from victim to overcomer.

1. Make Your Character Knock Down the First Domino

It’s true your antagonist controls the overall conflict (which is why it’s often best to begin your plotting by examining the antagonist’s goals, rather than the protagonist’s). This means your antagonist gets to make the first move on the chessboard. This does not mean, however, that the antagonist’s first move victimizes the protagonist.

Even if the antagonist’s move immediately affects the protagonist in an undesirable way, the protagonist must still actively make a choice that engages him in the rest of the plot. The antagonist may have knocked over the first overall domino. But the protagonist must knock over the first domino in his personal involvement in the conflict.

This usually happens at the Inciting Event, the turning point halfway through the First Act at the 12% mark. This is the Call to Adventure, where the protagonist first brushes the main conflict. Usually, he will start out by rejecting it in some way. He doesn’t want to engage with the conflict. Often, this very avoidance of his destiny puts him on the road to meeting it anyway. He makes a choice, for which he is responsible and which puts him on an inevitable collision course with the antagonist force.
For Example:

In Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen chooses to take her sister’s place in the Reaping. Consider how vastly more interesting a story we have thanks to her having to choose to take part in the Hunger Games—instead of being randomly reaped herself.

Katniss is a dynamic character, because she is not a passive victim of her circumstances. She actively chooses to take part in the Hunger Games, in order to prevent her younger sister Primrose from being “reaped.”

2. Knock Your Character Down, Then Make Him Choose Again

Although your character’s initial choice to engage with the conflict will ultimately be the cause for everything that follows, you can’t stop there. Many authors will set up their character’s involvement with the antagonistic force by hitting the character as hard as they can, knocking her to her knees—and then leaving her there. Scene after scene occurs in which the character is buffeted by trial after trial. And she just takes it.

The patience of Job is not what we’re looking for in a protagonist. When your character gets knocked down, she can’t just stay down. She must make an active choice.

Even if that choice ends with her getting knocked down again (and, frankly, I hope it does—especially in the first half of the book), she must continue to move proactively through the story, choice after choice after choice. Her choices are what cause the next round of getting knocked down—until eventually, she starts learning how to make better choices and stops getting beat up so often.
For Example:

In Diana Wynne Jones’s Howl’s Moving Castle, Sophie chooses (however reluctantly) to lie to the king about Howl, in an effort to get him excused from employment. The scene goes entirely sideways when she inadvertently shows her true beliefs about Howl’s goodness and capability. But the result of both her presence before the king and her inability to hide her growing love for Howl are both the result of her own choices.
Howl's Moving Castle Sophie and King

In Howl’s Moving Castle, Sophie reluctantly talks to the king on Howl’s behalf. However, despite her reluctance, she remains a dynamic character because her action is still entirely her own choice and the results are the consequences of her own actions.

3. Make Your Character Culpable

When your character gets himself stuck in a horrible situation despite having done only the right thing with the best of intentions, it can sometimes be hard to paint him as anything but a victim.

But what if he’s not so innocent after all? What if his own culpability for a downright wrong decision, either early in the book or somewhere in his past, means he actually deserves some of the horror he’s being hit with?

In their desire to make characters as likable and “good” as possible, authors often fail to explore this possibility. But nine times out of ten, dashing a little gray into your character’s choice will make both him and his conflict vastly more complex and interesting.

Consequences are the most interesting thing in fiction. The more deserved those consequences, the more interesting they become.
For Example:

Erstwhile assassin Jason Bourne is a tremendously likable character. He’s obviously a good man, just as he has obviously been the victim of tremendous desecration to his body, mind, and soul. In many ways, he is not truly responsible for the murders he was brainwashed into performing. And yet… he made the choice to “commit himself to the program.” Even though he can no longer fully remember it, he knowingly chose to allow himself to become a lethal tool in the hands of men with (at the best) dubious ethics and motives. At the end of the day, it’s all his fault. He knows it. We know it. And his suffering is all the more poignant for it.
Bourne Ultimatum Matt Damon Albert Finney

Even though Jason Bourne is undeniably a victim in some ways, he remains a powerful and dynamic character in large part because he is ultimately responsible for having chosen to be turned into an assassin.

4. Let Your Character Make Both Good and Bad Choices

As your story progresses and your character makes choice after choice that knocks over domino after domino in your story’s plot, you will want to vary the types of choices she makes.

Just because she’s the smart, brave, righteous good guy doesn’t mean she should always make the right choice. Mix things up. Let her make some righteous decisions. Let her make some morally problematic decisions. Let her make some smart decisions, but also let her make some poorly informed decisions. As Geoff Johns says,

The characters that have greys are the more interesting characters. The hero who sometimes crosses the line and the villain who sometimes doesn’t are just much more interesting.

You need a balance of both in order to keep readers believing in your character’s goodness and intelligence—while still allowing them to explore the fascinating ramifications of her fallibility.
For Example:

In Sergey and Marina Dyachenko’s fantasy fable The Scar, hubristic young nobleman Egert Soll makes bad decision after bad decision, starting with two ill-fated duels, one of which ends with his killing an innocent student and the other of which ends with his being scarred and cursed in recompense for his heedless cruelty to others.
Scar Sergey Marina Dyachenko

In The Scar, protagonist Egert Soll brings a wretched fate down on his own head thanks to his own misguided choices and decisions.

5. Allow Your Character to Take Responsibility as Part of His Journey

Even though your character will be at least partially culpable for everything that happens to him, he won’t necessarily recognize this. In fact, he may very well rage against the heavens, declare himself a victim, and insist he doesn’t deserve anything that’s happening to him.

Although I would caution against laying on the self-pity too thick, you do want to let your character experience a progression of revelations, leading him to the ultimate choice of taking responsibility for his life in the Third Act.

Ultimately, all character arcs come down to this central Truth—we’re all responsible for our own lives—no matter what specific Lie your character is struggling with. As such, his ability to take responsibility for the consequences of his own actions needs to be an evolution.
For Example:

In Jane Austen’s Emma, Emma Woodhouse comes to the Third Act revelation that her actions have been selfish and misguided—and have very likely cost her the love of the noble Mr. Knightley. This revelation is the central revelation of both the plot and her character arc. In its aftermath, she chooses to take responsibility for her actions, both proactively and retroactively.


Jane Austen’s Emma Woodhouse only gradually comes to realize how her choices have affected others—and herself—over the course of the story and her own personal evolution.

Themes of responsibility and consequences are inherent in all stories. The more adamantly you claim them and force your character to face them, the stronger your story will become. Even better, you’ll learn how to begin writing dynamic characters who electrify readers.


What I find on here in regard to great majority of female characters is that the writer of them refuses to assume responsibility for knocking down any of the dominoes, or portraying women where what befalls them are consequences resulting from their own independent actions or motivations, ie, in any way, their fault. In fact, not only is it a near miracle to find a female protagonist, they'll very rarely even act as antagonists, instead just expecting events to occur for absolutely no reason, or at least ones that they have no input in creating.
 
I'll just leave this interesting little news article here, with no additional comment. (Wouldn't want a certain person to think I was rubbing it in! xD)

Seven ways Australia is heaps better than America[/color]]

Original article here:

PRESIDENT Donald Trump is continuing his campaign to “Make America Great Again”, attracting controversy whenever he finds his Android phone, wherever his staff have hidden it.

But when I read about his plans for achieving said greatness, I’ve been struck by something that perhaps not enough of us acknowledge — that Australia is pretty great already.

While we can never hope to compete with the huge variety of fast food chains and cable channels in the US, there are so many things we take for granted here that Americans simply don’t have.

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

Obamacare was the signature achievement of the previous President, delivering coverage to millions of the poorest Americans, but even that didn’t go as far as our own precious Medicare system.

We can take it for granted that if anything is seriously wrong with us, we can go to public hospital and it will be free, even major heart surgery. We all have public health insurance where the premium varies according to our capacity to pay.

Plus, our pharmaceutical subsidies significantly defray the cost of prescription drugs. As someone who spent the past 20 years taking asthma drugs twice daily, I’m very grateful to every healthy person whose taxes have subsidised me breathing — cheers.

Paul Ryan, who designed the Republican plan, has been talking a lot about choice in recent weeks. But surely nobody would choose not to have health cover if they could afford to. Whereas in our system, private cover really is a choice that provides additional options, rather than a matter of life and death.

It remains to be seen whether the GOP will manage to get its “TrumpCare” plan through — the Congressional Budget Office estimates that 24 million Americans will lose coverage if they do — but our Medicare system is politically untouchable. Even the idea of paying a couple of dollars every time you visit the GP was abandoned after the public howled it down.

FREE (ISH) EDUCATION

We’ve all heard about those nightmare US student loans where 20-year-olds graduate hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Why, one lucky person recently managed to pay back her $220,000 in just three years simply by being given a condo and buying another while living with her grandparents!

Australia’s system has gotten a lot more expensive since I was a student and had to pay about $1000 per semester — sorry, millennials! But the great thing about our HECS system is that you only have to pay the loan back at a relatively slow rate via your tax return — and only if you’re earning a reasonable income.

BETTER ELECTORAL SYSTEM

Our compulsory voting rules guarantee that we have a truly representative parliament, and gives us all the chance to enjoy sausage sizzles — everyone’s a winner. Plus, the independent Australian Electoral Commission ensures that votes are conducted fairly — no claims of millions of illegal immigrants voting here — and that the same system is used everywhere.

So, we have none of those hanging chads, or rules that exclude minorities, or results that are certified by partisan officials. Occasionally the AEC stuffs up — take a bow, WA division in the 2013 Senate poll — but our system is still the envy of the democratic world. Plus, rather than dubious voting machine, we use good old reliable (and relatively fraud-proof) pencils.

IT’S EASIER TO DUMP OUR LEADERS

Many of us probably view the frequent turnover of our prime ministers in recent years as a bad thing, and it certainly isn’t without its problems. But let’s say, hypothetically of course, that someone incredibly incompetent, erratic and even potentially dangerous had been elected President — you know, the kind of person who would make bombshell allegations about being the victim of espionage without any evidence, that kind of thing.

Well, impeaching a president is extremely complicated in the American system. Here, all you need is a quick spill and it’s done.

OUR POLITICIANS HAVE TO DISCLOSE THEIR FINANCIAL RECORDS

If we had leaders with extensive investments in Russia, to choose a completely random example, we’re going to know about it. The media keeps a close eye on Malcolm Turnbull’s extensive investment portfolio, for instance, and if a Prime Minister happens to invest in a piggery, it entertains everyone for years.

CAMPAIGNING FOR A MUSLIM BAN DOESN’T WIN ELECTIONS

We’ll see how One Nation goes at the next federal poll, but it would be fair to say that based on this weekend’s WA result, they aren’t exactly emulating Trump’s electoral success. What’s more, the Liberal Party’s deal with Pauline Hanson’s mob hurt them at the polls, too.

NO MASS SHOOTINGS SINCE 1996

This is the main reason why I could never live in America, where there were 136 mass shootings last year, amid 33,000 gun deaths annually. Here, touch wood, they’re practically obsolete after Howard’s post-Port Arthur reforms.

But in America, even the most minor restrictions like background checks seem politically impossible to implement, no matter how horrifying the shootings in schools and beyond.

WE’RE GREAT, MATE ...

So, we Australians have much to be thankful for. Our system is fair and kinder in quite a few respects than that of our friends across the Pacific, and we’re all a lot more moderate, as a rule.

We may be lagging behind with same-sex marriage and that whole republic business, we can’t hold a burning lump of coal to the innovation of Silicon Valley and neither country has much to boast about when it comes to race relations.

But the reality is that most of us are doing fine. Sure, our government isn’t getting much done just now. But in America, the entire system results in gridlock by design — as the new president is in the process of learning.

In recent months it feels pretty great to be Australian.
 
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