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Question Riley's Character

5 years 2 months ago #1 by Enemyoffun
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    • I feel like I NEED to clear something up here that's really been annoying the hell out of me.

    RILEY IS NOT PARANOID.

    I'm getting really tired of others insinuating that she is. Not only here on the forums but on the Discord as well. If someone perceives the character in that manner, there's some kind of projecting going on. She's an angsty, annoyed teenager. Her beautiful, blonde sister gets ALL the attention in her family while she's all but ignored. There are reasons for it that will be explored in later stories but to jump to conclusions now and label someone that way---without all the facts---its called profiling. I'm NOT going to stand for it.

    I've received a total of two different kind of reactions toward the character: She's either called a "paranoid bitch" or everyone seems to want to force a 14 year old into a relationship with either a boy or a girl. Its frustrating as an author to see months of work turned into Water Cooler childish nonsense. Hate me or not, I don't give a fuck. Just don't judge my characters and work in that manner.
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    5 years 2 months ago #2 by null0trooper
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    • Enemyoffun wrote: I feel like I NEED to clear something up here that's really been annoying the hell out of me.

    RILEY IS NOT PARANOID.

    par·a·noi·a /ˌperəˈnoiə/

    a mental condition characterized by delusions of persecution, unwarranted jealousy, or exaggerated self-importance, typically elaborated into an organized system. It may be an aspect of chronic personality disorder, of drug abuse, or of a serious condition such as schizophrenia in which the person loses touch with reality.


    tl,dr: It's not paranoia when they really are out to get you.

    Enemyoffun wrote: I'm getting really tired of others insinuating that she is. Not only here on the forums but on the Discord as well. If someone perceives the character in that manner, there's some kind of projecting going on.


    Well, if the reader's projecting themselves into Riley's POV but bringing along the meta-narrative that her problems can't be real threats because of MC Plot Armor™, ehhhh, maybe. I thought Domoviye had cured most of the readers of that.

    Enemyoffun wrote: She's an angsty, annoyed teenager. Her beautiful, blonde sister gets ALL the attention in her family while she's all but ignored.


    You left out "older". I wonder how many readers had to put up with "why can't you be like [older sibling]?" all through school? Her sister also appears to have won the powers lottery, including the exemplar effects.

    However, it's also normal to take what an angry teenager says with a grain of salt, because as a population they don't have the experience to have a sense of perspective. So far, we've been told what her family's like via unreliable narrator. Maybe opinions will change when it becomes time to show more of it.
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    5 years 2 months ago #3 by Mister D
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    • This sort of early reaction is always going to be a problem, when you are sharing stories in an episodic manner.

    The smallest incidents in the early episodes will be blown out of proportion in comparison to the later episodes.

    Add in the Unreliable Narrator trope for the reasons of Incomplete Information on the part of the character, due to their limited viewpoint, and, the Incomplete Information on the part of the readers, due to them not knowing the full story, and this sort of dance appears.

    It's called the communication breakdown. :P

    Normally i try not to comment upon Work-In-Progress, but I'm looking forward to the next part of the tale. :D
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    5 years 2 months ago #4 by Kristin Darken
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    • This sort of thing is why I used to complain hardcore about the difference between asking questions / giving feedback... vs speculating (and giving feedback and asking questions based on the speculation). The first is welcome. Encouraged, even. And if you WANT to speculate, you are welcome to do that with the caveat that you claim it as your opinion and acknowledge that its speculation. But at the point where people start responding to the author as if someone's speculation is part of the canon knowledge of the story arc/character... then you start to get into dangerous ground. Detailed discussion of speculation undermine's dramatic tension, sometimes forcing an author to do completely unprecedented plot twists just to keep things from being boring all the time because the fans have already used speculation to map out all the possible directions the story goes. And IF that speculation goes in a direction someone doesn't like, then suddenly opinions rebound against the character and story... and on the author. Which is frustrating, because the author wasn't responsible for the 'bad' idea in the first place...some random person speculating did.

    And... in all seriousness (moderator hat on, even), if an author publicly states that a piece of speculation is off course and that discussion ABOUT that speculation is contrary to what they are trying to do with the story; please acknowledge that and stop. The author of any given story/character is its ultimate authority... it is the dumbest possible thing in the world to argue with an author when they say 'no, that is not right'. And I KNOW some people do it to try to 'trick' the author into revealing more to 'prove' their point.. and that's not cool.
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