Character Evaluations for meeeeee

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I haven't done one of these in a long time - last time was sort of a personal disaster as no one really responded to mine so I didn't get any constructive criticism or nice things said, and let's face it, we do these sorts of threads to get some positive reinforcement.

THAT being said, here I am again, with a load of characters, and wanting to know what you like about them. Or what you don't like about them! Presently active characters mostly, but you can dip into the past to Mutants or whatever you feel like...if you feel like it.

Star Wars:
Lilaena De'Ville
Arya Ravenwing
Serena Laran
James Prent
Bette Davis
Ndonsa
Sasseeri Reeouurra (she's active just not in anything right now)
Capt. Monmoo
Jane Starborn (she died)
Daanaari Meorrrei
Kiattaara / The Pride Mother
Saarrreeaa Raurrssaatta
Kal Olorin

DC
Barbara Gordon


(Feel free to copy this thread idea, just put "character evaluation" in the tag box at the bottom of the screen, that way they can be searched)

[Aurelias Kazaar]

I've always liked De'Ville, and am curious where she's going as a character. I do like the Mandalore thing and am hoping you explore it more.

[Kazahan]

The one thing I have noticed and loved about most of your characters is their competence and bad-assery. Arya, Laran, De'Ville, Bette, Ndonsa; all of them are capable and confident in their respective fields.

They're all also something of a mystery to me. Not in the sense that I don't know their motivations or personalities, but there is, in all but Ndonsa, this sense of a gap between my understanding of them and their stories and themselves and their stories. Maybe it's because I haven't written enough with you to get a handle on them, or maybe I'm just a jerk and don't read enough of your stuff (honestly the latter might be why :\).

Ndonsa has it. She's still got this sort of otherness to her, but instead of making it hard to understand her and her place and her story, I feel like it's part of her story, and part of what makes her Ndonsa.

Saa in my opinion has this the least of all your characters. Maybe it's due to seeing her emotional and playing a hand in why she got that way but Saa has so much personality and verve that I can't not picture her and her story clearly in my head.

Arya I love, because she has this air of competence and feels like a real person; when writing Sarin in the Kessel thread I could really get a handle on what his place and her place were in the story, and they played well off each other. It's my fault the follow up thread faltered. I lost sense of him and her and the others in the thread and couldn't get it back.

Lilaena and your other characters are pillars of this setting though, and unfortunately I don't feel I've written/read enough of them to be able say anything worth the time it takes to write it out here. Maybe after the Kazahan/Laran thread I'll be able to tell you my thoughts on her!

All in all though you have a distinct style that honestly manages to put so much into so little (I'm thinking especially of Meanwhile On Coruscant here; I go back and reread that occasionally). Your characters and stories have organically evolved from when I first looked at them, and the tapestry of history and world and culture building you have done is amazing. Maybe putting your competent and confident characters into situations where they make mistakes or their confidence falters due to the opposition they face if you feel like they are being difficult (sort of a disciplining thread? "Stop being difficult to write or I'll make you suffer again! Hahaha!" :uhoh).

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I've always liked De'Ville, and am curious where she's going as a character. I do like the Mandalore thing and am hoping you explore it more.

Thanks - I do have a hard time figuring out what do to with her now. I've vanquished her main foe (A'na) and Salem is MIA so there's nothing really for her to rage against which... is weird.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The one thing I have noticed and loved about most of your characters is their competence and bad-assery. Arya, Laran, De'Ville, Bette, Ndonsa; all of them are capable and confident in their respective fields.

They're all also something of a mystery to me. Not in the sense that I don't know their motivations or personalities, but there is, in all but Ndonsa, this sense of a gap between my understanding of them and their stories and themselves and their stories. Maybe it's because I haven't written enough with you to get a handle on them, or maybe I'm just a jerk and don't read enough of your stuff (honestly the latter might be why :\).

Ndonsa has it. She's still got this sort of otherness to her, but instead of making it hard to understand her and her place and her story, I feel like it's part of her story, and part of what makes her Ndonsa.

Saa in my opinion has this the least of all your characters. Maybe it's due to seeing her emotional and playing a hand in why she got that way but Saa has so much personality and verve that I can't not picture her and her story clearly in my head.

Arya I love, because she has this air of competence and feels like a real person; when writing Sarin in the Kessel thread I could really get a handle on what his place and her place were in the story, and they played well off each other. It's my fault the follow up thread faltered. I lost sense of him and her and the others in the thread and couldn't get it back.

Lilaena and your other characters are pillars of this setting though, and unfortunately I don't feel I've written/read enough of them to be able say anything worth the time it takes to write it out here. Maybe after the Kazahan/Laran thread I'll be able to tell you my thoughts on her!

All in all though you have a distinct style that honestly manages to put so much into so little (I'm thinking especially of Meanwhile On Coruscant here; I go back and reread that occasionally). Your characters and stories have organically evolved from when I first looked at them, and the tapestry of history and world and culture building you have done is amazing. Maybe putting your competent and confident characters into situations where they make mistakes or their confidence falters due to the opposition they face if you feel like they are being difficult (sort of a disciplining thread? "Stop being difficult to write or I'll make you suffer again! Hahaha!" :uhoh).

:) Thanks for this. Do you mean there's a gap between them and their story arcs and your understanding of their relationship with their own stories? I'd be happy to try to explain anything you've got a question about, or point you to a thread to read. ;)

I've put my characters into tough situations before, only to have them stuck there when other people's characters wander off for indeterminate amounts of time. It's... frustrating. I get what you're saying but it's really difficult to get a story arc like that going and actually finish it. Serena is in the middle of one right now, even, just...can't...finish...it. :cry James is sort of in one as well, or has been...constantly. You should read her, you'd enjoy how terrible her life is. ;)

also please bring Sarin back pleeeeease

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Yeah, apologies for the wait. I need to get Charley to post to that. I only hope that the endgame will be worth it.


LD - I enjoy LD, and I really like her growth. I loved her prereset so much, and you've really built on top of that in great fashion post-reset. She's got these little idiosyncrasies that really make her feel like a real person. She's not overpowered, and she has weaknesses and demons of her own to fight, so it's really fun to read her journey. Keep going with her and the Mandos, because I love the very insular type of world-building you have been doing with her and her group. Branching out with Eleutheria is a natural progression I think, and it works perfectly. i can't wait to see more of what you have in store for her.

Arya - I want more Arya. I also want more Arya/s'Il action. Those two played off of each other so well pre-reset, and IMO they only improved post-reset. Next time we have a chance to do some story planning, we should suss out the medallion story :hug

Serena - Serena gives me so many 'hold on what' moments. But I think that's because I've never really gotten a grasp on her, and it's not through any fault of your writing, it's more my understanding of her. Which isn't bad, trust me. She strikes me as very old-school wrapped up in wanting more, yet the shit she's been through is another filter that everything else passes through, so it creates a very unique mindset for her. It also makes her incredibly interesting to read, and I find myself surprised all the time at her reactions to things and how she handles situations.

James - I love James. Plain and simple. She's just been thrust into something that she thinks is way bigger than what she can handle, but she still manages to figure out how to adapt. The James Tau thread we did still gets me, since there were so many emotions from her in that thread. It was like a rollercoaster and I enjoyed every minute of it. I also really enjoy the dynamic between her and Byl. The two are so natural together.

Ndonsa - She's fun in a sort of infuriating kind of way :p Her directness is a breath of fresh air, frankly, and there's no deeper meanings to try and look for in the words you write for her. You get what you see, but at the same time you know that there's a lot more to be had, and it's that that keeps me reading her threads. Her growing comprehension of things isn't stilted or unbelievable, and I've actually laughed aloud at some of your posts with her.

Kia - WANT MOAR

[Charley]

You've made LD's journey very compelling. I admit that I hadn't read much until the past two years, but I occasionally dredge up a thread that passed me by and you've built a great tapestry into what makes her tick, but also in turn what her motivations are in creating Eluetheria. I really am interested to see what the long game is with her after she's arranged her planet of misfit toys, as it were.

I keep waiting for something with Serena, and not sure what it is. There's a lot of complicated stuff built between her and Solomon that for both reasons IC and OOC can't be resolved, but I'd really like to see her pull the veil back a little. It would be cool if during Draiya's training, a little of Serena's story leaked through their interactions. Draiya sees Serena in a pretty formidable light. It would be interesting for them to share a moment of vulnerability?

As for James, I feel really bad for her, and I honestly want to find some happy space for her to inhabit. I don't know if that's with Byl (who now has to confront his own demons) or with the Jedi (who James rightly is wary of). Maybe that can be settled in Only the Good, but I'm curious as to if you have any preference on direction? She deserves to have a nice turn of events.

Ndonsa is frankly amazing. She's probably my favorite of your characters now, just because I tend to like particularly earnest characters, and she has this way of translating things to herself and then forcing the reader to translate her as well. I am also really curious about how she exits the Repeating Day, because she's had a lifetime (if not more) of experience in learning new things.

Sasseeri is really fun, but I kinda feel like her story (and Sanis's, since they share the same orbit) have kind of plateaued in the present era. It feels like there's this arc out there to explore where their weird frenemy relationship gets explored. They don't like each other much, but they also have total chemistry and I think they both want to use the other, but not totally in a detrimental way. I'm not sure if you have anything in mind, but with Sanis's destiny in the present era completely in her hands, I'm quite curious. There's also the feud with her and Taataani that I'm curious about. I know part of that is in delivery with her setting Pierce on her half sister, but I think it might be interesting to see them eventually working together for a change. I've had a notion in my mind for a long time that Taataani is a whole lot more similar to Sasseeri than she would ever admit, so setting those two on a similar task would be delicious.

Kia has a lot of potential energy, and I know it's tricky to put her into the field due to pageantry and such. I am kind of curious to what becomes of her leading to the TFA era though? Can't invoke Kia without mentioning Daani, because it seems their orbits run very close too. Does Daani remain in royal service? Do you feel that she would come back to the family with an eye on running things? She's currently the only player character Meorrrei who hasn't had a lot of her story played out, and I'm eager to see what you have in mind, and would like to collaborate on making it happen. I want to see what kind of person she grows into.

I was really liking working with Saa in that thread with Callomas and Hal before the TSO thing kinda fizzed, so I'm definitely keen on rekindling it to a degree. She's got all this anger in her and Callomas seems to be at peace with his calling, and they have the potential to make a cool duo. I hope that she finds a way to bury her demons and not let them consume her.

I only got a little bit of time to interact with Bette, but I like her a lot. Tough stuff, strong female lead before that became a catchphrase. I hope I get to be involved with her in a thread.

[Scout Ravenwood]

I'm pretty terrible at knowing characters as I still feel very new here, so I can only really do the ones that I've actually interacted with (or at least been around for activity of):

I love Ndonsa, though I only know her from the TFA era. She's always fascinating to read, because she's at war with her own humanity (or, uh, foxmanity?). I know we have a lot of fun teasing Aria trying to crack her shell, but it is a lot of fun. It's hard to predict exactly how she will respond and the person she is inside, and that makes her fascinating. But she clearly does have a heart but she's crushed it under the years of experience and doesn't let it out any more, and it's not clear if she wants to or not, which makes me want to keep reading her and her experiences.

Your take on Barbara Gordon is both great and really original. Usually you get Batgirl or Oracle, but you kind of combine them both (without the costume) and it works really well. I can't wait to write more Steph/Babs stuff :).

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Yeah, apologies for the wait. I need to get Charley to post to that. I only hope that the endgame will be worth it.


LD - I enjoy LD, and I really like her growth. I loved her prereset so much, and you've really built on top of that in great fashion post-reset. She's got these little idiosyncrasies that really make her feel like a real person. She's not overpowered, and she has weaknesses and demons of her own to fight, so it's really fun to read her journey. Keep going with her and the Mandos, because I love the very insular type of world-building you have been doing with her and her group. Branching out with Eleutheria is a natural progression I think, and it works perfectly. i can't wait to see more of what you have in store for her.

Arya - I want more Arya. I also want more Arya/s'Il action. Those two played off of each other so well pre-reset, and IMO they only improved post-reset. Next time we have a chance to do some story planning, we should suss out the medallion story :hug

Serena - Serena gives me so many 'hold on what' moments. But I think that's because I've never really gotten a grasp on her, and it's not through any fault of your writing, it's more my understanding of her. Which isn't bad, trust me. She strikes me as very old-school wrapped up in wanting more, yet the shit she's been through is another filter that everything else passes through, so it creates a very unique mindset for her. It also makes her incredibly interesting to read, and I find myself surprised all the time at her reactions to things and how she handles situations.

James - I love James. Plain and simple. She's just been thrust into something that she thinks is way bigger than what she can handle, but she still manages to figure out how to adapt. The James Tau thread we did still gets me, since there were so many emotions from her in that thread. It was like a rollercoaster and I enjoyed every minute of it. I also really enjoy the dynamic between her and Byl. The two are so natural together.

Ndonsa - She's fun in a sort of infuriating kind of way :p Her directness is a breath of fresh air, frankly, and there's no deeper meanings to try and look for in the words you write for her. You get what you see, but at the same time you know that there's a lot more to be had, and it's that that keeps me reading her threads. Her growing comprehension of things isn't stilted or unbelievable, and I've actually laughed aloud at some of your posts with her.

Kia - WANT MOAR

I was actually referring to Solomon and Serena's heart to heart more than Serena being in limbo in the pre-Battle of Ossus stuff, but yes, you're right, you're holding me up too! ;)

I'm not sure what to do with a lot of my characters anymore. I do miss Arya and s'Il shenanigans but there was a point somewhere where the Lupine angle with Arya became not a collaboration anymore, and I felt/feel like just an intruder on your plans and world building for the Lupines. Esalis stopped wanting to having anything to do with Arya despite the groundwork being laid for Arya as the source of a super soldier program and so I've been really wary of doing anything with her that might have to do with her heritage because I don't want to step on your toes. So yes I'm willing to plot and plan, just tell me when. I just feel like if it's a Lupine-centric story that I don't have anything to bring to the table, creatively. If that makes sense?

Can you give me an example of a Serena "hold on what?" moment? I'm interested in what it is about her that caught you off guard. :D

Thanks for the words, I really appreciate you taking the time to write this up. :hug

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Thank you Charley and Leah, I appreciate you taking the time to reply! Charley, you know I'm always willing to rekindle any old RPs, you just need to post to them. ;) Kia is in the middle of one that you need to post to, in fact, if you really do want to see more of her. :)