hawk and gracen for the ask meme?
the ask game: pick a character i’ve written and i will explain the top ~three to five ideas/concepts/etc i keep in mind while writing that character that i believe are essential to accurately depicting them
hawk stevens of AMT (high school horatio, ghost aficionado whose main social media is goodreads, an english professor on all levels but physical)
- AMT is written in script format, obviously, so having distinct character voices has been critical for me to keep track of. the main thing i try to remember when writing hawk is that his voice isn’t stiff, but it’s definitely the most formal of the cast’s. specifically, he has this very matter-of-fact tone. there are certain hawk lines that simply make me absolutely sure that he has a smile like the mona lisa
- he’s also very quiet! partially because he’s shy (i’ve joked that this vine is hawk talking to strangers), but partially as... a sort of defense mechanism? he’s never really gotten along with people his age, for various reasons, and he tends to fade into the background. which he prefers. he really really does not enjoy being the center of attention, because it’s hard for him to open up outside of very small groups of close friends.
- ...and even then. it’s hard for him to open up. one of the most critical things about hawk is that he has a really, really hard time talking about personal things - he tends to bottle everything up. which is a specific kind of loneliness. because even around his friends, even around his dads, he sometimes feels very distant. and he’s not sure how to bridge that gap.
(jesus, this sounds bleak. i promise his arc is about this im not just like “hawk is sad forever end podcast” ghdfbbfwbw)
gracen stayer of darkling (emotional support eldest daughter; chessmaster figuratively and literally)
- the anger. the anger. the anger. if i had to break gracen down to her core: she is so fucking angry all the time. she’s an abuse victim who’s been basically fending for herself for most of her life, and that’s resulted in a LONG slow-burn of fury...
- ...that she keeps inside of her all the time! hand in hand with the anger goes the repression. externally, she is the most stoic person you will ever meet. she’s afraid of what will happen if she lets her feelings loose - so she doesn’t! she just bottles it all up inside. and she doesn’t talk about it to anyone - cressida’s still gracen’s baby sister, in her eyes, and she and ruby have been at odds for a few years now, and gracen doesn’t really... have anyone else. so she just keeps it all to herself.
- beyond “you did it you broke gracen stayer down to her bare essentials” - i often have to remind myself that she’s not as stilted as i’d like to write her! something about her makes me want to write all of her dialogue like she’s living in a victorian period fantasy but like... if anyone in darkling talks that way it’s cressida fdbdsbfsjbfsdnfs gracen’s just. mean
- because, like... she DOES care. intensely. about everything. she pretends she doesn’t; she keeps tabs on literally everything happening around her but never interferes in any of it and pretends she does not give a shit. but she does care! she very much does! she’s just also. [veronica sawyer of heathers voice] a mythic bitch. and i love her for it
