Character relationships, and why everyone loves them.

    Character relationships (all relationships, not just romantic ones), when written well, can be some of the most interesting and entertaining part of a story, wholly independent from things like the composition of the dialogue or thematic execution. But, what, exactly is a good character dynamic? And what makes them SO compelling for so many people compared to, for example, a single beautifully written page?

     Unlike in real life, if two fictional characters interact for even a single, fleeting moment, they immediately have an established relationship. This relationship can be as simple and trivial as "Met once in a tavern, one served drinks to another" or as complex and impactful as to be the focus of an entire series.

    

    An often overlooked part of character writing seeing how different characters react react in wholly different ways, both emotionally and through action, to the same scenario. What makes these instances utterly fascinating, however, is when two characters from the same story are put in the same scenario, and they both influence the other's reaction.

    

    This is the first half of making an interesting dynamic between two characters: Incitement and retaliation. If you want two characters to be interesting to your audience, you must show them behaving together in ways only they would. I'm going to use an example scenario for the remainder of this explanation: Let's say some twisted deity takes two characters away from their world into a heavenly coliseum, and tells them they must fight to the death. Refuse, and both of them will be obliterated.

    What ensues in this arena depends entirely on the characters who were chosen. Do they reluctantly refuse to fight, teary goodbyes declared on either side? Do they question the deity, or begin to fight it, side by side? Or do they jump at the chance to finally destroy one another, unhindered by societal expectation or legal retribution? 

    The latter half, and perhaps more important than the behavior of the individuals, is how their actions contrast one another. Perhaps one character selflessly asks to be sacrificed, and the other coldly agrees with the first. Maybe one quietly weighs their options as the other screams at the person who brought them here to be let go. If both are experienced fighters, contrast could be found in one's focus on strikes and kicks while the other attempts to grapple and choke their foe into submission.

    

    Contrast is the best way to learn about who characters are on a deep level. If you simply show your audience what one character does compared to another, and they can easily extrapolate why, even on a subconscious level. Not only does it help make your writing more nuanced, it also very easily endears your characters to the people reading about them. People just love seeing your characters clash in subtle ways.

    

    So, when you have two characters, try brainstorming weird scenarios like this! Even things that would never occur due to tone or setting of your story are quite helpful to get used to your own characters, and can simply be really fun to write!

                                    

                              Will update soon,

                                                           -Skribo

    

Character Showcase! (Mikal, The Phantom time Theory)

     It seems like a fitting beginning to this little project would be to show everyone the character I've been writing longer than any other; as well as the primary protagonist to my most developed story. 

Name: Mikal

Epithet: Worldbuilder

Sex: Male

Height: ~1.75 meters

Weight ~75 kilograms

Age: >5000, exact date of birth unknown

Abilities (at peak performance): Near-omniscience, powerful magic, flight, matter manipulation, mind control

Weapon of choice: War hammer

"It pains me to say, but this world has not met my... expectations. I have made a grave miscalculation. I simply must activate the Failsafe... It will be destroyed, and I shall begin once again."

    It's hard to call him the protagonist, exactly... This series switches between quite a few POVs, with 3-5 fully-fledged narrators across the entirety of the plot (depending on what you think counts as, well, a fully-fledged narrator). Besides that complication, he is not the one that defeats the primary antagonist, and other characters serve the themes more... Direct manner, perhaps. Though, I still call Mikal the main character; he is the first one you meet as the reader, the narrator of the first two books, and is perhaps the only character that consistently  holds a presence or is otherwise present in any given moment of the narrative.

    He was born in a different sort of reality, the first realm known to exist. He lived here happily for thousands of years, but after civil war erupted within the heavens and he got in a nasty fight with his brother, he was sent away into a place of profound nothingness. Seeing it so empty, he wanted to create a new world, free from outside influence; entirely his own. 

    He carved mountains and valleys, built towns and cities, though when the time came to create life, he realized he was unable. The life force within this universe is called Will and is, for the most part, a fixed constant. Like the energy in our universe, it cannot usually be created nor destroyed, though unlike that, the laws of Will are known to have some exceptions. Though, unfortunately, none of those exceptions applied at the time. In order to create life, he had to sacrifice some of his own. He split his soul into eleven pieces. These were the first humans he had made. When he realized that he could not expend this much of his own soul for each person he wanted to create, he began to make more, with only a fraction of a fraction of what he used for the first 11.

    Just like that, there were thousands. But he wanted more. He wanted to create millions, or billions, or more. But if he kept going, dividing his soul further, he would soon be reduced to nothing. But, by this point, he was far too weak to reclaim his Will from these things he had created; he was nothing more than a phantom. So, before he allowed time to flow, he wove within each piece of matter in this land a failsafe. Once the strongest of the first 11 humans were to die, the one called Kassius, the universe would fall apart in a way where he would be able to reclaim the strength of the thousands of lesser beings, (Who had so little Will, they had no agency, and thus would not continue life after death) The plan was simple: he would set in place a future where Kassius is to die in his young adulthood, and once that happened, he would begin creating a world once again with more resources.

    He watches over this world, making sure the 11 never use their ability to choose in a way which would interfere with his plan. Despite the world not being as vast as he had hoped, he still thought it was beautiful, and he wanted to see it run its course. For more than 20 years, he watches this world, only intervening when something goes wrong, be it an error in his calculations, or one of the 11 true humans making the wrong decision. He would simply correct it, and move on. Everything goes according to plan, until an odd thing happens... Someone else, not a human, but someone like him, enters this world. He has an odd feeling that they've met each other; himself and this new being.

    Regardless, he asks this new being if they would like to see this world he has created before it is destroyed. They oblige, and they begin to follow the Phantom around while he continues to make sure nothing goes wrong, as the appointed time for Kassius to die is mere months away.

    Once again, everything is going well, until yet another variable enters this equation: It seems to be Mikal's brother. This one, however, cannot be so easily accounted for as the first was. He begins to interfere with reality in irreconcilable ways, ways that the Phantom can do little to prevent. As the appointed time draws nearer, Mikal must keep it from falling apart in increasingly desperate and unsustainable ways... But how will this world fall apart? The way that was intended from the beginning; the way Mikal designed it to... or in a less literal sense, where his brother disrupts it so wholly that it becomes unrecognizable from the way Mikal wanted it to be? Not Mikal, nor his brother, know how it will end.

    That's just about everything I could say without major spoilers... That drawing is really the first solid design I've made for this character, though keep in mind that is NOT what he looks like when the book begins. Thank you for reading!

                            Will update soon,

                                                           -Skribo

Introductions!

     Welcome, everyone, to the Worldbuilder's Notepad! Here, I'll be posting semi-regular updates on any writing, worldbuilding, or art projects which I'm currently working on. I have been writing in my free time for over a year at this point, and would like to begin building an audience, partly to share my work and partly to improve it through criticism.

    A typical post might begin with how must I've written since the last update, what the writing was, any drawings I've done, questions about where to take a narrative, or anything else that I think might fit. I may also posting character bios, plot synopses and other ways to get you accustomed to my worlds and characters.

    There are two separate canons which I'm actively working on. The first is relatively episodic in nature, and somewhat comedic in tone, though still with an overarching story, (currently without a title). The second, however, is an entirely story-focused epic fantasy metafiction series, The Phantom Time Theory. 

    I have been working on the Phantom Time Theory ever since I began learning prose and storytelling a while ago, and it has only improved since then. By this point, I have a fully fleshed-out main cast, over 15 developed characters, completed worldbuilding, and a written detailing the plot of the first two book/installments. After writing, and rewriting, and editing, and rewriting again, over and over, for so long, I have committed to fully outlining the full series before I begin truly writing a full first draft.

    The one without a title is, at the moment, fifteen pages of vague notes-to-self written and scattered around my desk, but essentially, revolves around an energetic, optimistic, somewhat naive magic-girl character being thrown into dangerous situations alongside her companion: an angry, serious, massive sword-wielding Shonen protagonist with unhealthy amounts of emotional baggage (This concept may or may not be elaborated on further at some point).

    I draw my own characters almost exclusively, and typically with traditional art, though I will occasionally do digital, as well as sometimes draw little bits fan art or memes. 

    I only started taking my own art seriously a couple months ago, buying supplies, drawing from reference, learning anatomy, etc. Because of that, I'm still mostly doing pretty basic character portraits and scenes, though I very much plan to keep improving! I hope to see you all here in the future. 

            Will update soon,

                                             -Skribo