Sweet, kind, loving and innosent
Maby thats just me
But also (on another note) a bit fiesty, flirty(though not to much, otherwise its not so good), knows what she wants
...........hum........ this reminds me of a person i realy like.
Wonder why!!!
characters to fall in love with
Play every final fintasy game since 7. The three basic archetypes are almost always represented. Well, the three archetypes that square picked as most important.
On a side note, can I ask why we neccessarily want to fall in love with the character? Wouldn''t it be more important for the characters to fall in love with the characters? Anyone with a sense of compassion would then extend themselves into the role, I.E., they would identify with the characters. In that respect the female character could be of any type, it''d just require the evolution of their personality to the point that the characters met on the same wavelength. Though admittedly thats a very hard thing to do.
Anyways, I''ll stop going around it, you wanted input, here''s my archetype:
Caring and Compasionate.
Moderately intelligent, moderately sophisticated.
Resourceful with good crisis management skills.
Modest. Not too shy, but enough to blush a bit at a compliment.
Good cook, or willing to learn.
And most important, INTERESTED IN ME.
-> Will Bubel
-> Machine wash cold, tumble dry.
On a side note, can I ask why we neccessarily want to fall in love with the character? Wouldn''t it be more important for the characters to fall in love with the characters? Anyone with a sense of compassion would then extend themselves into the role, I.E., they would identify with the characters. In that respect the female character could be of any type, it''d just require the evolution of their personality to the point that the characters met on the same wavelength. Though admittedly thats a very hard thing to do.
Anyways, I''ll stop going around it, you wanted input, here''s my archetype:
Caring and Compasionate.
Moderately intelligent, moderately sophisticated.
Resourceful with good crisis management skills.
Modest. Not too shy, but enough to blush a bit at a compliment.
Good cook, or willing to learn.
And most important, INTERESTED IN ME.
-> Will Bubel
-> Machine wash cold, tumble dry.
Author
Inmate 2993 - Why we want to create characters that people fall in love with:
1) People who have a crush on at least one of the characters in a game/story create the fanatic core of that game''s fans. These are the people who write fanfiction, and more importantly the people who buy related products and email publishers to demand sequels, that sort of thing. Some of these people will take their fannishness a little further and buy other creations by the voice actors, artists, and (the one that matters to us) writers who created their favorite character. Fanatical fans are good for your pocketbook.
2) Making someone fall in love is one of the most difficult manipulations a writer can do to their readers - pulling it off is like having the readers give you a medal for writing quality. Fanatical fans are good for your ego.
3) If your audience is in love with a character, they are more likely to learn moral lessons that character is involved in in the story. (Which I''m assuming that you as writers would like to teach people moral/political/etc. lessons, this may not apply to particular writers.) Fanatical fans are good for your agenda.
4) If you yourself are in love with the character, aren''t you more strongly motivated to write about them? If you are a fanatical fan, this is good for your muse.
1) People who have a crush on at least one of the characters in a game/story create the fanatic core of that game''s fans. These are the people who write fanfiction, and more importantly the people who buy related products and email publishers to demand sequels, that sort of thing. Some of these people will take their fannishness a little further and buy other creations by the voice actors, artists, and (the one that matters to us) writers who created their favorite character. Fanatical fans are good for your pocketbook.
2) Making someone fall in love is one of the most difficult manipulations a writer can do to their readers - pulling it off is like having the readers give you a medal for writing quality. Fanatical fans are good for your ego.
3) If your audience is in love with a character, they are more likely to learn moral lessons that character is involved in in the story. (Which I''m assuming that you as writers would like to teach people moral/political/etc. lessons, this may not apply to particular writers.) Fanatical fans are good for your agenda.
4) If you yourself are in love with the character, aren''t you more strongly motivated to write about them? If you are a fanatical fan, this is good for your muse.
Author
Hmm, I'll try to explain the range of attractive male character archetypes that I keep stumbling across in fandom. I'll use examples from Harry Potter and anime because these are what I've spent the most time doing character analysis of, because it's easier to pick the archetypes out of juvenile writing.
General princliples of female attraction - according to books on evolutionary psychology, there are certain traits that will attract almost all women.
1. If the character is wounded in some way, either physically or emotionally, this will call on the woman's instinct to nurture and heal. The area of fanfic known as 'hurt/comfort' deals with this. Examples: Saionji from Revolutionary Girl Utena, Chichiri, Nuriko, Nakago, and Tomo from Fushigi Yuugi (which is practically a hurt/comfort series, athough it could use more of the comfort part), Harry Potter and Severus Snape from Harry Potter. (This character must have either a melancholy temperment, an angry temperment, or a smile-to-hide-the-tears temperment to convince the reader that they haven't gotten over their injury.)
2. Women can tell what a character's testosterone level is and will pick one which either matches of complements their own, depending on the woman's goals. A woman who is a natural leader will pick either a man who is a natural follower or a man who is as dominant as she is and won't let her manipulate him. A woman who is a natural follower will pick either a man who is a strong leader or a submissive man who won't try to dominate the woman. A woman who is neither a leader nor a follower may pick a man who is the same, but may also pick a dominant man or a submissive one. A more dominant man will defend his family and fight other men for resources for them, and a more submissive man will be more loyal to the wife, helpful with childcare, and be less likely to get killed while competing with other men. Mathematically, this results in characters at both extremes of the spectrum being more popular than those in the middle.
3. Egotism as aphrodesiac - arrogance is this odd trait that makes a disliked character easier to hate but a liked character loveable. I think it's like, not only is the character self-confidant, which is appealing to a lot of people, but their overweening pride becomes a tragic flaw - you have a character who's rich, powerful, handsome, etc. but instead of being boringly perfect, he's a spoiled arrogant SOB, whch is like a challange to women to 'see past all that' to 'the inner him' which they often imagine to be a 'sensitive soul'. Plus you have someone who acts arrogant as a defensive tactic, which takes us back to hurt/comfort. Examples: Touga from Revolutionary Girl Utena, Kuno from Ranma 1/2, Nakago from Fushigi Yuugi, Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter. It's interesting to note that these characters are all minor villains in their respective story worlds. My evolutionary psychology book also says that self-confidence is sexy because it means the character (who is the one who knows themself best, after all) sees themself as likely to be approved by others, which means that the character probably is worth approving of, i.e. a good candidate to be a father.
4. The Man who's Good With Children - ever notice how a guy who is taking care of a kid by himself is the target of all sorts of female eyes? Particularly if the women know that the child is not the guy's, but is his sibling or cousin? Women who like children (and not all of them do) look for men (and male characters of course) who like children too. Examples: Tamahome from Fushigi Yuugi (Probably Nuriko too, but he's never shown interacting with kids), Carrot Glace from Sorceror Hunters, Ryoga from Ranma 1/2, Remus Lupin from Harry Potter. (Except for Tamahome these characters each have some disability that gets in the way of them becoming fathers, which increases their character pathos but may also make them less attractive to the audience.) This is also where MPREG stories come from, but I won't frighten anyone by explaining what those are. You would probably rather not know.
5. Golden Blood - A male character who is one of a very few, or even the last, of a sub-race, who has special powers or abilities or riches because of his heredity. These are ideal fathers genetically, as opposed to behaviorally. This is often a large part of the appeal of vampires, aliens, werewolves, heirs to the estate, etc. Examples: Count D from Petshop of Horrors, Nakago from Fushigi Yuugi, Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter. (Again, these work well as lonely mysterious minor villains, and they often have that isolation/loneliness pathos going for them.)
7. Other archetypes I have identified: the childlike man, the mystic, the homme fatale; I can't explain these further because I haven't figured out why they're appealing yet.
8. Both men and women are attracted to people who have about the same level of intelligence they do. Since onlt people above a certain intelligence level read books and play difficult elaborate RPG and adventure games, characters of both moderate and high intelligence will be attractive to different portions of your audience. There is a caveat here that it's very akward to try to write a character who's more intelligent than you yourself are.
So, did I forget anything? Who can write the same thing about attractive female character archetypes? What of the above info applies equally to them, and what doesn't?
[edited by - sunandshadow on February 6, 2003 1:05:45 AM]
General princliples of female attraction - according to books on evolutionary psychology, there are certain traits that will attract almost all women.
1. If the character is wounded in some way, either physically or emotionally, this will call on the woman's instinct to nurture and heal. The area of fanfic known as 'hurt/comfort' deals with this. Examples: Saionji from Revolutionary Girl Utena, Chichiri, Nuriko, Nakago, and Tomo from Fushigi Yuugi (which is practically a hurt/comfort series, athough it could use more of the comfort part), Harry Potter and Severus Snape from Harry Potter. (This character must have either a melancholy temperment, an angry temperment, or a smile-to-hide-the-tears temperment to convince the reader that they haven't gotten over their injury.)
2. Women can tell what a character's testosterone level is and will pick one which either matches of complements their own, depending on the woman's goals. A woman who is a natural leader will pick either a man who is a natural follower or a man who is as dominant as she is and won't let her manipulate him. A woman who is a natural follower will pick either a man who is a strong leader or a submissive man who won't try to dominate the woman. A woman who is neither a leader nor a follower may pick a man who is the same, but may also pick a dominant man or a submissive one. A more dominant man will defend his family and fight other men for resources for them, and a more submissive man will be more loyal to the wife, helpful with childcare, and be less likely to get killed while competing with other men. Mathematically, this results in characters at both extremes of the spectrum being more popular than those in the middle.
3. Egotism as aphrodesiac - arrogance is this odd trait that makes a disliked character easier to hate but a liked character loveable. I think it's like, not only is the character self-confidant, which is appealing to a lot of people, but their overweening pride becomes a tragic flaw - you have a character who's rich, powerful, handsome, etc. but instead of being boringly perfect, he's a spoiled arrogant SOB, whch is like a challange to women to 'see past all that' to 'the inner him' which they often imagine to be a 'sensitive soul'. Plus you have someone who acts arrogant as a defensive tactic, which takes us back to hurt/comfort. Examples: Touga from Revolutionary Girl Utena, Kuno from Ranma 1/2, Nakago from Fushigi Yuugi, Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter. It's interesting to note that these characters are all minor villains in their respective story worlds. My evolutionary psychology book also says that self-confidence is sexy because it means the character (who is the one who knows themself best, after all) sees themself as likely to be approved by others, which means that the character probably is worth approving of, i.e. a good candidate to be a father.
4. The Man who's Good With Children - ever notice how a guy who is taking care of a kid by himself is the target of all sorts of female eyes? Particularly if the women know that the child is not the guy's, but is his sibling or cousin? Women who like children (and not all of them do) look for men (and male characters of course) who like children too. Examples: Tamahome from Fushigi Yuugi (Probably Nuriko too, but he's never shown interacting with kids), Carrot Glace from Sorceror Hunters, Ryoga from Ranma 1/2, Remus Lupin from Harry Potter. (Except for Tamahome these characters each have some disability that gets in the way of them becoming fathers, which increases their character pathos but may also make them less attractive to the audience.) This is also where MPREG stories come from, but I won't frighten anyone by explaining what those are. You would probably rather not know.
5. Golden Blood - A male character who is one of a very few, or even the last, of a sub-race, who has special powers or abilities or riches because of his heredity. These are ideal fathers genetically, as opposed to behaviorally. This is often a large part of the appeal of vampires, aliens, werewolves, heirs to the estate, etc. Examples: Count D from Petshop of Horrors, Nakago from Fushigi Yuugi, Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter. (Again, these work well as lonely mysterious minor villains, and they often have that isolation/loneliness pathos going for them.)
7. Other archetypes I have identified: the childlike man, the mystic, the homme fatale; I can't explain these further because I haven't figured out why they're appealing yet.
8. Both men and women are attracted to people who have about the same level of intelligence they do. Since onlt people above a certain intelligence level read books and play difficult elaborate RPG and adventure games, characters of both moderate and high intelligence will be attractive to different portions of your audience. There is a caveat here that it's very akward to try to write a character who's more intelligent than you yourself are.
So, did I forget anything? Who can write the same thing about attractive female character archetypes? What of the above info applies equally to them, and what doesn't?
[edited by - sunandshadow on February 6, 2003 1:05:45 AM]
(i''m not trying to offend anyone here but) a lot of these posts state or imply that the character we fall in love with is female. is this the ultimate geek fantasy? some people already fall in love with the elegance of maths/code/hardware, there are already virtual girls in awful "games", the last thing we need is to do a good job of it and get people hooked. actually falling in love with a computer character is socially tragic compared even to getting aroused by one.
********
A Problem Worthy of Attack
Proves It''s Worth by Fighting Back
********
A Problem Worthy of Attack
Proves It''s Worth by Fighting Back
quote:Original post by sunandshadow
2) Making someone fall in love is one of the most difficult manipulations a writer can do to their readers - pulling it off is like having the readers give you a medal for writing quality. Fanatical fans are good for your ego.
Making someone fall in love with you is one of the most difficult things to do - period.
I don''t ever want to fall in love with a fictional character, I''m behind in my therepy as it is
If at first you don''t succeed, call it version 1.0
SketchSoft | SketchNews
Author
Maybe I''m in the minority, but I''d rather be in love with a fictional character than with no one. Being in love is fun if sometimes agonizing, and useful in that it motivates me strongly to write. Also I look at it this way: Exploring what I am attracted to in terms of fictional characters gives me a better understanding of myself and what I like, and perhaps what I should look for in real life.
I''d have to say that it''s acts of love on the part of the character that tend to make me fall in love with them. Sort of a, you have to be a friend to have a friend, kind of thing. A somewhat obvious thing I suppose and not as specific as you''d like, but no one''s said it yet.
Author
kseh - actually I think that''s a very useful observation - that sometimes the thing that makes a character appealing is not the character herself but a character dynamic she''s in. I can think of another example of this - a trope that crops up regularly in fanfic is ''love thy enemy'', where you get a stormy violent romance between two characters who start as rivals or actual enemies. And you get funny dialogue like: "I hate you" (Kiss grope) "I hate you too." (Kiss bite suck) 
walkingcarcass: I''m making the assumption that most of the people here are males, and males "loving" males is a subject for another day thank you much.
On that note, lets put "love" to the side and figure out the arcehtypes that we just identify with. For example, what Male figures do males (optional: heterosexual) find themselves identifying with and taking a liking to? And taking the risk that we have a female participant or two, what female characters do females (optional: heterosexual) find themselves taking a liking to?
sunandshadow: don''t write stories that are aimed at being a commercial success, otherwise we''ll have a game where you play badboy oil-drillers who go into space to save humanity from an evil asteroid. =P
-> Will Bubel
-> Machine wash cold, tumble dry.
On that note, lets put "love" to the side and figure out the arcehtypes that we just identify with. For example, what Male figures do males (optional: heterosexual) find themselves identifying with and taking a liking to? And taking the risk that we have a female participant or two, what female characters do females (optional: heterosexual) find themselves taking a liking to?
sunandshadow: don''t write stories that are aimed at being a commercial success, otherwise we''ll have a game where you play badboy oil-drillers who go into space to save humanity from an evil asteroid. =P
-> Will Bubel
-> Machine wash cold, tumble dry.
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