Post AcDo7mETefALg2wOki by tj_vista@www.minds.com
(DIR) More posts by tj_vista@www.minds.com
(DIR) Post #Ac2KbRMAhWIaFuD1iS by NSonic79@www.minds.com
2023-11-21T14:50:08+00:00
1 likes, 0 repeats
No. I don’t do that. I want to avoid that given it’s been done before in other time travel stories as companion audience inserts. Having a blank slate would feel too much like a NPC to me. 🤷♂️
(DIR) Post #Ac2QmUTQ3IKuphFehU by NSonic79@www.minds.com
2023-11-21T14:49:47+00:00
1 likes, 0 repeats
No. I don’t do that. I want to avoid that given it’s been done before in other time travel stories as companion audience inserts. Having a blank slate would feel too much like a NPC to me. 🤷♂️
(DIR) Post #Ac2QmiJIbiYlkMcls0 by authorbrookeshaffer@www.minds.com
2023-11-21T14:57:19+00:00
1 likes, 0 repeats
I think I have a large enough cast that any reader will find someone that they can identify with, or they might identify with different elements from multiple characters. But I don't have any blank slates as you say. I want my characters to have their own personalities and be people, not cardboard cutouts."Everyman" characters are supposed to be blank slates so that any reader can project themselves onto it, but such a character is still bound to the plot. If that character reacts in a way that is inconsistent with what the reader might do, then the character itself falls apart because it likely has no developmental backing to justify it because it is relying on the developmental backing of the reader (which it just lost or maybe never had in the first place).
(DIR) Post #Ac2Qml983zCuXgtBw0 by antonyobeara@www.minds.com
2023-11-21T15:13:45+00:00
1 likes, 0 repeats
I sought to do something like that in Clara by making the other characters nameless so they could be more universal.
(DIR) Post #Ac2Qmo635tWfh0TH3A by marquesedliddle@www.minds.com
2023-11-21T15:14:39+00:00
1 likes, 0 repeats
I'm currently working on a second 2nd person choose your own adventure kids' book in which the protagonist is literally this, a blank self-insert for the "reader."Writing in second person achieves the intended effect instantly, much like an RPG, table top or videogame.The benefit is engagement for young kids who can't quite read on their own yet and who are desensitized to stimuli thanks to TV, videogames, etc. Alongside pictures, the self-insert aspect made my test reader (for whom I wrote the first book for her birthday) interested enough to read through multiple times night after night. She really enjoyed the idea that the story was "about her" and that her input mattered (though that aspect isn't directly related to blank-slating).
(DIR) Post #Ac342kXLzbspUxpsKu by lordjestocost@www.minds.com
2023-11-21T18:48:51+00:00
1 likes, 0 repeats
I've never even heard of that. What are some examples from literature?Edit: I've heard of reader stand-ins, sufficiently ignorant characters who need as much exposition as the reader and so ask the necessary questions. But, there's no reason these can't be full-fledged characters. That's got to be different than a "blank slate."
(DIR) Post #Ac6UTTHPRWeA4rezOi by asihart@www.minds.com
2023-11-22T06:13:18+00:00
1 likes, 0 repeats
The entire romance genre.
(DIR) Post #AcDo7mETefALg2wOki by tj_vista@www.minds.com
2023-11-27T05:03:21+00:00
1 likes, 0 repeats
This is something I'm concerned about when writing the protagonist in project Psycho Lover, as while he remained composed despite having to deal with his crazed girlfriend. I'm worried he may not have a personality other than dealing with the trauma of having to watch people get killed (especially in a number of brutal ways) by the crazed girlfriend.