Chewing on Character Motivations

[aldersprig]

ysabetwordsmith was talking about character motivations, and it occurs to me that I could use some work on that topic.

Err, my writing that is, although I couldn't exactly tell you what my motivations are, either...<.<

This is placeholder post until I get some more time to think about this.

So! Either:

* Name a character of mine, any character of mine, and I will come up with a piece of their motivation.

* Say "random," and I will use a random date generator to pick a day & a piece from that day, and tell you something about /their/ motivation.

* Tell ME something about a character's motivation (mine or someone else's), and we can discuss.

Posted:
* Rozen
* Maureen, Lady Foxglove
* Rin
* Caitrin
*Morrigan

Comments

[clare_dragonfly]

Hmmmm. Tell me about... Maureen!

[aldersprig]

Maureen learned early on that she enjoyed making people happy.

She's gone through several iterations of that - courtesan, madame, barkeep - but it comes down to playing councilor and taking care of people.

She's not great at familial relations, which may explain why she overcompensates so much with everyone else's family.

[clare_dragonfly]

Aww. That's a nice motivation! :D

[aldersprig]

Wow, supahfast response!

[clare_dragonfly]

So was yours! Aren't you at work or something? :-P

Homophone watch

[thnidu]

• playing councilor and taking care of people.
-> counselor

A counCIllor is a member of a high-level board, or council.

A counSElor gives advice, or counsel.

Re: Homophone watch

[aldersprig]

I did not know that one! Thank you!

[kissofjudas]

Rin and/or Girey.

Morrigan (that's your hunter-type from Cali, yes?)

Caitrin.

[aldersprig]

Rin!

Rin is hard, I'll work on her first.

She is driven by a vague sense of duty she doesn't quite understand, first instilled into her by her parents/family/position - education as a royal involves a LOT of duty.

Then by the temple where she trained as a healer, where those gifts are to be used for the good of all, with a small understanding that the gods prefer "all" to be "Calenyena first."

Then by the army, because the Emperor's Army is all about duty.

Somewhere in there is this vague sense of selfishness just awakening - but what about what I want? But what about me?

But mostly she doesn't recognize that voice for what it is.

[aldersprig]

Morrigan (that's your hunter-type from Cali, yes?) [yep!]

Morrigan is a weird case: she does what she does because it is the job that was given to her as a condition of her freedom. She doesn't particularly like it, but she knows that slavery can be not nearly as bad as most of the kidnapped think it can be. So she tries to help them smooth the transition, not just because it makes her job easier, but because, if there have to be slaves, they should be as happy and well-treated as possible.

Caitrin

[aldersprig]

Caitrin likes helping people.

She's a very good doctor, but came of age in an era when female doctors were still not a widely-accepted thing, so spent many years masquerading as a nurse while doing the healing work she is so good at under cover.

She likes being in control, though - not a control freak; she just has a strong personality - and so, given the choice, gravitates towards jobs where she can be the boss.

Regine's job offer lets her do both, while not pretending not to use magic.

Re: Caitrin

[kuro_neko00]

I'm a little hesitant to post this, since I said I wouldn't rant about the staff anymore, but it's just a question so I'm going to go ahead with it: Does Caitrin really believe forcing young girls to have babies against their will is helping them?

Of all the staff I've always wondered about Caitrin's motivations most of all. Forcing children into a situation of prolonged rape and abuse would be anathema to any good doctor, and yet Caitrin has never really shown any disagreement with the system, or even any guilt as we've seen from Luke and Mike. Though it might just be that she's good at hiding her feelings, since we don't really get anything from her point of view. Since you're writing this I'd appreciate anything you'd like to share.

Cheers,
Kuro_Neko

Re: Caitrin

[aldersprig]

Caitrin believes that having a skilled, competent midwife there when young girls end up being pregnant is helping them.

There is a great deal of Caitrin - and Pelletier and Luke, and others - yelling at Regine that doesn't get seen, because the stories are almost all from the students' point of view.

One of those ways I'm fairly certain you will disagree with her: Caitrin believes in the end goal of the school enough to break some eggs for the omlette. She just prefers to break as few eggs as possible, as gently as possible.

Re: Caitrin

[kuro_neko00]

Thanks for the quick reply.

One of those ways I'm fairly certain you will disagree with her: Caitrin believes in the end goal of the school enough to break some eggs for the omlette. She just prefers to break as few eggs as possible, as gently as possible.

You're right I do disagree. I'm of the opinion that nothing justifies rape and child abuse, full stop. And I won't say anything more on that or I'll just start ranting again.

There is a great deal of Caitrin - and Pelletier and Luke, and others - yelling at Regine that doesn't get seen, because the stories are almost all from the students' point of view.

Would you consider some commissions to show some of that yelling?

Also, slightly random question: what exactly did Pelletier say to everyone to make them so confident in the school's purpose that they believe traumatizing something like a thousand children is worth it? Or do they simply have that much trust in Pelletier that they just take her word for it?

Cheers,
Kuro_Neko

Re: Caitrin

[aldersprig]

It is one of those situations where the characters have decidedly different morals than, say, the author.

And yes, I would totally write that.

The short version with Pelletier is that she laid out the options.

Re: Caitrin

[kuro_neko00]

Sent $25 through the 'story futures' link. You can use it as a word bank to write as many or as few stories as you wish and it can support.

Cheers,
Kuro_Neko

Re: Caitrin

[aldersprig]

Received! I will get to work today on it; I already have some ideas.

Upper/lower limit on school years?

Re: Caitrin

[kuro_neko00]

Since this is primarily about the staff the timeframe isn't that important, but if it's not an inconvenience set between y5-10 would be preferred since that's the era covered by the existing stories. I don't mind if it's outside that though if you have a really good idea that requires it to be.