#rucha's rambles

[gold-onthe-inside]

snake eyes - dr. reid and dr. bishop go undercover to flush out a ritualistic killer addicted to gambling

[writer-in-the-dark-prompts]

hello! i was wondering if you had any tips on how to write dialogue with a pre existing character from shows or movies? I feel like im pretty good at writing for my ocs and their mannerisms or how they would act, but when it comes to making dialogue for a character i feel like it always ends up sounding like my oc or just plain. i loved how you wrote piper and spencer from what ive read he doesnt feel ooc at all. anyway anything helps :)

I guess my main advice would be to really study their mannerisms and the way they speak, as well as the vocabulary they use. so with Spencer, for instance, he's very verbose, because he's got a lot of information to get out as concisely as possible. So really tapping into his mannerisms help, and for that, you just have to be familiar with the source material.

So, for Spencer, for example, he's sort of fidgety in the earlier seasons, but he doesn't talk as fast as he does in s7-9. there's a nervousness to his words, he's trying to fit in with the others, and a lot of defensiveness as well. His voice will go higher up in pitch when he's defending himself, or sort of dry when he's angry/irritable. but then mid-seasons spencer is a lot more confident, he carries himself a lot better, he's not afraid to step up in confrontations.

And the other thing is to really understand the character. Like this is a guy who grew up reading difficult literature, who was very socially isolated in school, and a lot of the more positive social interactions probably happened with teachers and professors more often than with other students and peers. So he carries himself in that same intellectual way with the team as well.

my advice would be, don't be afraid to give pre-existing characters a personality for fear they might sound out of character, because a) this is fanfiction. you're supposed to have fun with it. and b) there is always something that might push a character to do something that is otherwise out of character. so if there's something you want the pre-existing characters to say or do, thinking about the motivation behind it and how that aligns with the character might help.

So cutting a long story short, a) study the character's style of communicating (is it verbose? is it short and concise? is it swaggery?), b) understand the character, their background, down to the changes and growth a character goes through in the source material, and c) lean into it. Have fun with the character, experiment with different dialogues, reimagine the scene from their perspective and write that way, just to get into their headspace. Again, it's fanfiction. Take the pressure off of yourself and just have fun with it.

[gold-onthe-inside]

I like JJ as a character most of the time. But the second a mother is involved in the episode she becomes the worst. Her entire character every few episodes revolves around her being a mother. It would be funny if it wasn't so annoying. If I ever do a full rewatch Im making a spreadsheet of all her "a mother blah blah blah" lines.

i haven't liked jj since s1 tbh, but that could be me projecting but like... the thing that rubs me the wrong way is that for someone who doesn't bring a lot to the table, she's got so much attitude.

jj, to me, is a completely forgettable character, like i remember from the episode after she left, nothing was really missing from the team. they mention feeling jj's loss in one episode when penelope takes of the media liason job as well, and it's like... well, if you can just split the job between hotch and garcia, what's the point of having her?

and even as a profiler, her insights are the weakest, i legitimately cannot take her seriously. maybe she gets better in the later seasons (i haven't watched past zugzwang), but a lot of it is really just... stereotypes tbh. the only time i remember her being useful to a profile was in 'north mammon' with the soccer girls being kidnapped and 'risky business' when she talks about suicidality -- again, things drawn from her own experience.

i just think that everyone on that team is supposed to be the best of the best and you can see it. hotch is an incredible profiler when there's noone around, rossi needs no words (the man founded the place), spencer's a walking encyclopedia (he knows everything about everything), morgan's expertise is a little more subtle but you can see it in his interrogations and when he's walking a crime scene, emily's good with languages and undercover work and she's also great in interrogation.

jj's just... there. like i just don't see what she brings to the table apart from rossi just going, let's get the band back together after emily dies (it doesn't strike anyone as odd that hotch didn't think of doing that?). like as far as strengths go, maybe they could have shown off more of her political prowess (like when she's getting the DoD contact to give her the Dorado Falls file), or that she's a great sharpshooter, but again, none of that ties into her being a good profiler. i really think they should have just given her the media liaison job back.

and the whole mother thing is just sexist and lazy writing. like go deeper into it. show us how she's struggling with being a good mom and a good agent. or how she feels like she's failing at both. like i feel like the foundation for it is there, and they've done it well a few times -- like when will and jj were arguing about her having to leave when henry's febrile. show us how she has her own complicated history with her mom. like i feel like because they went into her backstory so late with 'tall man', the first good chunk of the show is weak when it comes to her character. they had the small town stuff, they had roslyn's suicide, they could have built on it in s4, like they did with everyone else. we had derek's backstory by s3, we had spencer's backstory by s4, emily's backstory in s2 and s4, and s5 was completely hotch-centered. why did they wait so long to get into the grittier parts of her story?

[gold-onthe-inside]

being a writer is so hard, why can't i just say, 'derek looked straight up betrayed'?

[gold-onthe-inside]

aight, it's 11pm, i was watching 7x08, and this whole interview with the child has... just so many red flags that like... okay, bear with me here

first off, they're having this interview IN PUBLIC outside her SCHOOL BUS and PEOPLE SHE KNOWS

do you remember being in high school? getting out of the bus at fucking 8am, you have class in like, a half-hour or something, these two fbi agents come up to you, asking if you remember a friend that was like a sister to you that went missing SEVEN YEARS AGO? i mean, never mind the ethics of these two talking to a minor without a legal guardian or a trusted adult present (cm has never cared about that).

they completely brush past her anxiety over this guy coming back. by the way, this is where you assure someone they aren't in danger (or if they are in danger, the necessary precautions are in place to protect them). look at her little face, that is FEAR. but instead of addressing that, they just dive right into their questions. also, maybe the writers have forgotten what high schoolers are like, but i assure you, they would be gawking right now.

and then they do the cm twist of empathy which is basically psychoanalysing someone to their face. now, don't get me wrong, everything emily says is actually really telling of her own struggles in the wake of doyle but it isn't ACTUALLY useful in this setting. and so hope responds in the same way ANYONE would. defensively.

and then the copy paste phrase. like it's just so ridiculous to me how clumsy this whole thing is. like a true clusterfuck of an interview. if cm had been a braver show, heather would have gone 'fuck you' to jj and emily and run off to class. but heather goes over the heartbreaking story of how she was kind to a stranger who wanted to play with them.

granted, jj's question of 'why didn't you tell anyone?' is definitely a line of questioning that was needed, because it's possible the unsub may have done something to pressure her into saying nothing. but it's too accusatory (it doesn't matter how much you tilt your head and say it softly), and it puts the onus on her. a better question would be 'what stopped you from telling someone?'.

and then you have the pat pat after this girl is crying over this being her fault, and granted, this is a show, they only have so much time, so they settle for the little pat-pat and the dramatic eye contact between jj and emily. but you know what's more important than that?

telling this 15 year old girl that it wasn't her fault that an older man took advantage of her trust. that is THE FIRST THING you do. these are BASIC microskills. which is why you have a trusted adult present, like a social worker, or the school counsellor. this should DEFINITELY have taken place in the counsellor's office, in a private space, with a trusted adult, maybe even a trusted teacher, or a parent present.

but hey, it's just fiction, right?

[gold-onthe-inside]

rucha finish this fic by end of the day challenge

*cracks fingers* let's gooooo

[gold-onthe-inside]

Hey ✨ love your work! Since 2025 is almost over, what are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing this year?

hello! i can't believe the year's almost over. i think i'm most proud of getting through the majority of my master's degree. i graduate in april, but this is the last semester i have. i'm also proud of all the work i got to do as a therapist, in terms of doing 30-36 hours of supervised therapy. i'm also proud of all the work i did for my mental health, finding a sort of zen while still living at home with my parents.

[gold-onthe-inside]

born to lie on the floor with spencer reid and listen to indie music, forced to study for my practicals exam tomorrow :(