On Characters: The Power of No

How do your characters build up their willpower?

First let me make a clarification about something that often gets overlooked: There is a difference between the ability to make decisions and the ability to stick to them.

If your brain has to make a lot of decisions in a short period of time, you tend to run out of energy and get paralyzed. This isn’t willpower. This is, “fuel tank is empty, nope”. It’s one of the reasons decluttering even a small area, or arranging one folder of notes or box of books on the shelf, can be exhausting. A short break and a snack may be all you need to face the task again.

The ability to stick to a decision once it’s made, and carry through no matter what comes along to distract or tempt you - that’s willpower. It can range all the way from “I am a decent person, I will make a habit of not swearing in public”, to “I am going to study for X years and do everything I have to to become a good doctor”, to “I am going to die fighting here so that others may live.”

Willpower is like a muscle. It can be built.

One of the easiest ways to do that is small acts of self-denial. No, I will not take that extra cookie. No, I will not be rude to that bank teller who did nothing to me. No, I will not give the finger to the idiot who cut me off in traffic. Because I am striving to be a decent human being. Not good, not great - just, you know. Decent.

Get into the habit of self-control, and then when the harder tests come along, you’ve got a reserve of no to draw on. Of I won’t do this. Of I actually am a decent person, I’ve proved it to myself by saying no and sticking to it, I won’t jump for this bait no matter how often you say everyone else is doing it too.

If your characters are heroes, they should have that habit of no. It might not be obvious in-story. It might just be background color, where your tired PI holds the door for the frazzled mother wrangling kids out of the store, or takes a deep breath instead of telling the latest smug punk exactly what he thinks of that level of stupidity. But show your character pulling off the small denials. Then, when the chips are down, all seems lost, and the Evil Overlord offers your hero the chance to join the “winning” side-

“No.”

And your readers will believe it.

1963 Refrigerator 🤔

i do unironically think the best artists of our generation are posting to get 20 notes and 3 reblogs btw. that fanfic with like 45 kudos is some of the best stuff ever written. those OCs you carry around have some of the richest backstories and worldbuilding someone has ever seen. please do not think that reaching only a few people when you post means your art isn't worth celebrating.

mmm soob

Selfshippers who ship with weird/unappealing characters. I love you. Like hell yeah you go get with Mr Crocker. Go get with lord faarquad

iceland is threatening to pull out of eurovision unless israel is removed... please g-d let them blacklist israel that would be so huge

inspired by the scariest words my dm has ever said to me and the subsequent coolest (AND SCARIEST) scene of my life

Lord of the Rings fanart! I watched for the first time recently and loved it

🙃 Regular reminder that while Hozier has amazing love songs, he is ALSO very outspoken about his leftist politics, specifically anti-fascism, anti-racism, reproductive rights, Palestinian rights and more.

Take Me To Church and Foreigner’s God are scathing critiques of organized religion, specifically the Catholic Church and the colonization of Ireland.

Moment’s Silence is about oral sex but it’s ALSO about how that specific sexual act is often distorted to a show of power rather than that of love.

Nina Cried Power is an homage to various (mostly Black) civil rights activists from the US and Ireland and a call to follow their path.

Be criticizes anti-migrant policies and Trump and his ilk.

Jackboot Jump is about the global wave of fascism and about protest and resistance.

Swan Upon Leda is about reproductive rights and the violent colonial oppression of Ireland and Palestine.

Eat Your Young is about the ruinous way the 1%/capitalism and arms dealers prioritize short-term profit over everything else to the detriment of the youth/99%

Butchered Tongue is about Irish and other indigenous languages being suppressed and erased by imperial powers.

If any of the above surprised you, please, please delve deeper into Hozier’s music, you’re missing such an important part of his work.

Alice Te Punga Somerville, Always Italicise: How to Write While Colonised - Kupu rere kē

[ID: A poem titled: Kupu rere kē. [in italics] My friend was advised to italicise all the foreign words in her poems. This advice came from a well-meaning woman with NZ poetry on her business card and an English accent in her mouth. I have been thinking about this advice. The convention of italicising words from other languages clarifies that some words are imported: it ensures readers can tell the difference between a foreign language and the language of home. I have been thinking about this advice. Marking the foreign words is also a kindness: every potential reader is reassured that although you're expected to understand the rest of the text, it's fine to consult a dictionary or native speaker for help with the italics. I have been thinking about this advice. Because I am a contrary person, at first I was outraged — but after a while I could see she had a point: when the foreign words are camouflaged in plain type you can forget how they came to be there, out of place, in the first place. I have been thinking about this advice and I have decided to follow it. Now all of my readers will be able to remember which words truly belong in -[end italics]- Aotearoa -[italics]- and which do not.

Next image is the futurama meme: to shreds you say...]

(Image ID by @bisexualshakespeare)

Niffty’s new hobby