Expanding a thought from a conversation this morning:
In general, I think "Is X out-of-character?" is not a terribly useful question for a writer. It shuts down possibility, and interesting directions you could take a character.
A better question, I believe, is "What would it take for Character to do X?" What extremity would she find herself in, where X starts to look like a good idea? What loyalties or fears leave him with X as his only option? THAT'S where a potentially interesting story lies.
In practice, I find that you can often justify much more from a character than you initially dreamed you could: some of my best stories come from "What might drive Character to do [thing he would never do]?" As long as you make it clear to the reader what the hell pushed your character to this point, you've got the seed of a compelling story on your hands.
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it’s basically a rite of passage for every one of Bruce’s robins to sneak behind his back, try on Batman’s cape, and then nearly topple to the floor as they realize it’s close to 25 lbs of reinforced Kevlar and insulation.
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#attempted murder for the ask game! 🌱
"...So I'm dead now," Danny ends his story, face in his hands.
"You were dead before this," Sam points out. She takes a bite out of her perfectly carved celery sticks.
"I know, but now I'm dead dead," Danny groans, earning a pat on the back from Tucker. "Like. Dash pushed me off a bridge. And sure, it was an accident, but come on! There's no way I could survive that if I wasn't...me! I can't, like, reappear after that! I should have been a goner!"
"I mean, it was probably an accident," Tucker adds encouragingly, continuing the patting. It's well meant but not helpful in the slightest. Danny groans.
"Congrats on faking your death by accident," Sam says through her celery. She offers Danny a celery stick in commiseration. He eats it, but it tastes like nothing. "Have any big plans?"
"I dunno. Die?"
"You did that already," Tucker and Sam point out.
Danny puts his face in his hands. "I... Did he even report me? Did he even report that he probably killed me? Like...to anyone?"
Tucker pulls out his newest PDA, Pollyanna. A few taps of the stylus. Some scrolling "...Nah, dude. No news, no cops. Legally, you're still alive."
And they sit there, in Sam's room, in silence, wondering how one of their classmates managed to mostly get away with murder.
"...Think he'll cry if you show up to school tomorrow like nothing happened?" Sam mutters, more out of spite than anything.
Everyone looks at each other.
"...Ten bucks," Tucker says.
"No bet. I do the scary eyes and he probably pisses his pants," Danny snorts.
"It's a deal," Sam decides. "All in on making Dash have a mental breakdown?"
Hands go in. One, two, three— Danny and Tucker whoop as their three hands go up, the two high-fiving as Sam holds in her cackle.
"Jazz is going to kill us," Danny snickers, almost guilty.
"After Dash killed you? Please. If anything, Jazz might fetch the Jack O' Nine Tails and kill him first."
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This post is your reminder that you are not obligated to blog about current events.
Things are bad. Really bad. Do not let people guilt trip you into tormenting yourself even further over the fact that things are bad. Doomscrolling is not activism.
If you're just on tumblr to blorbopost or reblog pretty pictures, you are not harming people by inaction.
You are not a bad person for not dedicating every aspect of your life and leisure space to whatever disgusting mask-off attack on human life and dignity some government has decided to enact.
Take action where you can, but don't confuse doomscrolling and digital self harm for action.
If you need to lose yourself in blorboposting, go for it.
If you need to log off for the day, whether it's to take irl action or to protect what little sanity any of us have left over the past 7 years, then by all means, do.
Morale is important. Hope is important. Small joys keep us from burning out completely in times like this. Do not let any "if you don't reblog this I'm judging you" guilt trip convince you otherwise.
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