Well, I confess this thread made me anxious enough that it affected my sleep. Heh. Perhaps this was a mistake.
Well, ignoring it won't make me feel any better, so I'll just keep going.
I realized something earlier - I think I've developed something of a blind spot for this sort of thing because I've been mired in Japanese moé culture for so long where they have absolutely no objections to exploiting highly visible character flaws for that sort of appeal. I always thought that sort of thing was at least a little gross (especially with particularly unrealistic saccharine-type characters that are more bags of tropes than characters), so the thought that I may have been subconsciously engaging in similar behavior was pretty eye-opening. I have this thread's posters to thank for that, so good work! (That's not sarcasm, by the way. Just making sure.)
That being said, people keep mentioning characters being overpowered by traits or exploiting them unfairly, and I feel compelled to mention that, well, that's pretty obviously bad writing. Of course you want characters to feel more like well-rounded characters (i.e. human beings) than a collection of tropes and plot devices. I don't think it even needs to be pointed out since it's such a matter-of-fact thing, but this is something I internalize on a daily basis, so maybe I'm not the target audience for those statements.
On another note, I keep seeing people emphasizing shyness =/= social anxiety disorder. I'm sure folks are just trying to make sure people are on the same page on this, but I keep getting this implication that people feel I am being disingenuous on my claims of possessing such a disorder. As I don't feel like doing an impromptu psych eval or listing off symptoms on a public forum is very appropriate, you'll just have to take my word for it that, yes, I am very well aware of the difference between the two and I am not co-opting the disease for my own gain (although what sort of gain that would be, exactly, I'm not sure). I've already explained why I try to look at these things positively despite the hardship, so I wager I don't need to repeat myself here.
At any rate, I'm still glad I made this thread despite how anxious it's made me, as I am learning quite a bit here and I really appreciate the varied perspectives. I hope I haven't hurt anyone with some of my insensitive statements and I'd like to be able to leave the thread alone with no hard feelings, so don't be afraid to let me know when I'm being a moron, yeah? (Though I would hope you would at least be a little nice and understanding about it, eheh...)
Well, ignoring it won't make me feel any better, so I'll just keep going.
I realized something earlier - I think I've developed something of a blind spot for this sort of thing because I've been mired in Japanese moé culture for so long where they have absolutely no objections to exploiting highly visible character flaws for that sort of appeal. I always thought that sort of thing was at least a little gross (especially with particularly unrealistic saccharine-type characters that are more bags of tropes than characters), so the thought that I may have been subconsciously engaging in similar behavior was pretty eye-opening. I have this thread's posters to thank for that, so good work! (That's not sarcasm, by the way. Just making sure.)
That being said, people keep mentioning characters being overpowered by traits or exploiting them unfairly, and I feel compelled to mention that, well, that's pretty obviously bad writing. Of course you want characters to feel more like well-rounded characters (i.e. human beings) than a collection of tropes and plot devices. I don't think it even needs to be pointed out since it's such a matter-of-fact thing, but this is something I internalize on a daily basis, so maybe I'm not the target audience for those statements.
On another note, I keep seeing people emphasizing shyness =/= social anxiety disorder. I'm sure folks are just trying to make sure people are on the same page on this, but I keep getting this implication that people feel I am being disingenuous on my claims of possessing such a disorder. As I don't feel like doing an impromptu psych eval or listing off symptoms on a public forum is very appropriate, you'll just have to take my word for it that, yes, I am very well aware of the difference between the two and I am not co-opting the disease for my own gain (although what sort of gain that would be, exactly, I'm not sure). I've already explained why I try to look at these things positively despite the hardship, so I wager I don't need to repeat myself here.
At any rate, I'm still glad I made this thread despite how anxious it's made me, as I am learning quite a bit here and I really appreciate the varied perspectives. I hope I haven't hurt anyone with some of my insensitive statements and I'd like to be able to leave the thread alone with no hard feelings, so don't be afraid to let me know when I'm being a moron, yeah? (Though I would hope you would at least be a little nice and understanding about it, eheh...)
