ButterPopcorn8 wrote:

Weekly #1

the second part must be 500 word

i kind of k!lled one of my characters in my diolouge, how am i supposed to make a character arc for her? should she have her arc in the afterlife or should i set the character arc in the past? any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Aaaaaah I decided I wanted to turn my characters into a book series (and try to publish it, yeah I like them that much) but if I have to write it from the villain's point of view there will be so many spoilers ;-;

--Violetfern-- wrote:

Aaaaaah I decided I wanted to turn my characters into a book series (and try to publish it, yeah I like them that much) but if I have to write it from the villain's point of view there will be so many spoilers ;-;

I dunno, try to be very vague and mysterious? Don't give out too many spoilers and remember that dropping a few hints can always make the book more mysterious (or at least that's my experience as a reader, if you want better feedback I'm not the best because I have zero experience as a writer. ^^')

hm- you could also design an entirely new villain as that's kind of the point of the weekly <33

Cherrie_Tree wrote:

hm- you could also design an entirely new villain as that's kind of the point of the weekly <33

i think they're saying they designed new characters and then fell in love with them

-DesVision- wrote:

i kind of k!lled one of my characters in my diolouge, how am i supposed to make a character arc for her? should she have her arc in the afterlife or should i set the character arc in the past? any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

you could make a character arc for a different character! or you could make the dialogue take place after the completion of your character's arc! <3

whiteandblackcat wrote:

-DesVision- wrote:

i kind of k!lled one of my characters in my diolouge, how am i supposed to make a character arc for her? should she have her arc in the afterlife or should i set the character arc in the past? any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

you could make a character arc for a different character! or you could make the dialogue take place after the completion of your character's arc! <3

I decided that I was going to make one new character and have my previous character deal with loss

whiteandblackcat wrote:

Cherrie_Tree wrote:

hm- you could also design an entirely new villain as that's kind of the point of the weekly <33

i think they're saying they designed new characters and then fell in love with them

side note but i also created new characters for tis weekly and also fell in love with them

for part 2 there is a minimum 500 word

S_theCreator wrote:

ButterPopcorn8 wrote:

Weekly #1

the second part must be 500 word

Already did that

Quick question - in Part 4, when you say to include the character arc, can we include the Part 2 that we’ve already written, but in the villain’s perspective? Also, does Part 1 need to have EXACTLY 200 words, and Part 2 500?

WestEndLover15 wrote:

Quick question - in Part 4, when you say to include the character arc, can we include the Part 2 that we’ve already written, but in the villain’s perspective? Also, does Part 1 need to have EXACTLY 200 words, and Part 2 500?

Hi. I think 200 and 500 is minimum.. I think you should re check with Kat.

whiteandblackcat wrote:

SWC November 2021 Weekly #1 - Characters

Welcome, lovely campers to the first weekly of the November 2021 session of SWC!

In this weekly, you’ll learn and write about characters. You’ll complete 3 workshops, write several writing pieces and design multiple characters, before tying everything you’ve learned together at the end!

You may begin working on this weekly at 12:01am on the 2nd of November, UTC timezone. You have a full week to complete it, so do your best not to rush or stress out!

Part One: Character Voices
Often, different characters have different ways to differentiate themselves from other characters! One way is character voices! Check out this amazing workshop by @rey_venclaw: Distinct Character Voices. In it, you’ll learn all about character voices - what they are, how you can utilise them and why they’re important.

Once you’ve done that, you need to design two characters. Focus on their personalities and how this could affect their character voices. Then, write 200 words of dialogue between your two characters.

The epic @Cherrie_Tree has written an example for us. Here she’s talking us through her thought process while designing distinct voices for two of her characters:

I have one character who is extroverted and outgoing. They like to have extended conversations with people and to get others. This could mean they speak in longer sentences and rather informally. They usually speak in a more excited manner, but can come off as pushy sometimes.

The other character is more reserved. This character is more thoughtful about certain topics, but because they’re more shy, they would use short and direct sentences to get to the point. They might also speak more formally and use proper grammar and capitalization too!

You can share your thought process with us too, but it’s not required! This example is just here to help you understand what you might want to think about when writing your own weekly.

Your writing piece for this part should look something like this (note: the dialogue does not correspond with the two characters above!):

”I don’t really think..” she said, trailing off yet again “It might not be…”
“Yeah, ‘course it’ll be fine!” He interrupted. “Always is, trust me.”
“I just don’t…”
“Leave it to me, sugar.” At this Juliet took a deep breath, furrowing her brow.
“Mr Joyce, your plan isn’t going to work. It’s evident right here that we barely have the funding to sustain the first stage, let alone the following three. Besides, the penultimate stage is a mess and will be catastrophic for the company’s public image. We cannot execute this plan,” she spat out in one breath. Mr Joyce waved his hand.
“She’ll be right, so you can stop meddling in my beeswax, love.”

Part Two: Character motivations
Now you have two characters, you’re ready to flesh them out a bit. So go do this awesome workshop by @Imacreamoo: Character Motivations. You’ll learn all about character motivations for both heroes and villains, which will really help you build up both your plot and your characters.
After you’ve learnt all about that, it’s time to put it into practice! Take the two characters from before: It’s time to refine their motivations and plan out a character arc. Write a 500 word scene depicting a turning point for your character - maybe their motivations change, or an event kickstarts their character arc. Such turning points are often important in a story.

Here's an example of me designing a protagonist and writing a sample scene:

I’m designing a protagonist, let’s call her Sadie. Her self worth relies a lot on what others think of her, so she’s continually seeking approval from others. Sadie’s motivation is getting praise and approval so when she meets our villain, she’s easily manipulated - all the villain has to do is praise her and she will want to help them.

I might write my scene something like this (although this is shorter than yours will be!):

Sadie crept through the cavernous space, heart lurching at the sound of each muffled footstep. Creeeaaakk - she whipped around, barely breathing. A noise had come from the door.
“That’s neat work you’ve made of the locks there.” a voice said behind her. “I’m impressed.”
She couldn’t help but smile a bit at this: Finally someone acknowledged the level of finesse required to open locks such as those. The voice spoke again, coming closer “I sure could use someone like you in my team.”
At this, a figure stepped in front of her, revealing herself to be none other than Velavia, the elusive head of the destructive (and certainly evil) Valendra. “My girls always bash up locks, we dearly need a skilled lockpicker like you. You’d show them how it’s done, wouldn’t you?” Sadie felt her heart warming at Velavia’s words. She knew she’d be appreciated here, and how could a woman as appreciative as this really be evil?
“Will you work for me? If money’s the issue, I have lots of it,” Velavia said with a small smile.
“Well, I don’t know,” Sadie said. She desperately wanted to work for Velavia now. She couldn’t wait to be valued and, well, be important. But she couldn’t show that. “What’s in it for me?”
“Whatever you like, my dear.” That sold it.
“Okay, it’s a deal.” Sadie couldn’t wait to work with the Valendra. Surely there was more to them than what meets the eye.

Part Three: Villains
Now you have characters, it’s time for a villain! You can either design a whole new one (be sure to include a distinct character voice, motivations and a character arc!) or use/modify one of the characters you’ve already designed for this weekly. Use this fantastic workshop by @suburban-darkness to help you: All About Villains. You’ll learn so much in this workshop, from motivations to flaws, backstories and appearance.

Here’s an example of what your process might look like (courtesy of the wonderful @Cherrie_Tree once again):

I think that I want my villain to not scream ‘I am a villain’, so I’ll make him peculiar enough, but not enough to be like ‘oh this is the villain’! Maybe he’ll dress slightly fancier than usual, but always have narrow eyes. He also doesn’t get excited that easily, which is a signature trait he has but grins sometimes when he feels amused. The character might have a lower, more composed voice and talk in a non-straightforward way.
Because of this, my villain is more mysterious and cunning, but desires genuine connections and relationships. However, he often plays games in order to see if they are worthy and often uses manipulation as a tool to see whether this friend is true. He often manipulates the heroes for his own goals and if the villain tries to befriend the hero, kind of emotionally torments them. I think the villain and hero can be dualities in their personalities, and in a way, by facing off each other they grow and become more genuine.
A minor flaw might be that he is slightly arrogant, a major flaw is that he tends to categorize people into black-and-white good / bad categories, and a fatal flaw is that he’s so dishonest, that he can’t distinguish truths from lies. I might make his backstory something about desiring friends because he was relatively lonely, but people simply used him. His motive might be simply wanting to be loved. The villain and hero will mirror each other in their desires, however, they have different flaws (the hero is too trusting, the villain is too dishonest). Later, I may decide to list more (and infodump).

You don’t have to write all this down though! This part isn’t a writing task - it’s a character design task. So you don’t need a specific amount of words, and this explanation is to help you see what your thought process could look like - not as an example of the work you should have for your task.

Part Four: Bringing it together
Once you have your villain, it’s time to complete the final part of this weekly. Your task is to write a 1000 word story from your villain’s point of view, including the characters and character arcs you have planned. 1000 words isn’t very long for a character arc, but see what you can do - I’m sure you’ll surprise yourself!

To receive 4500 points for your cabin, comment in the main cabin that you have completed your weekly with links to the following proof:

• The dialogue you wrote between your characters (part 1), which must be at least 200 words
  
• The scene you wrote as a turning point for your character (part 2), which must be at least 500 words
  
• A brief description of your villain (part 3)
  
• Your final story tying together everything you’ve learned this weekly (part 4)

You must do so before 11:59pm on the 8th of November, UTC time zone. If you are late or do not complete all of this weekly, you won’t receive points.

What do we do?

Question: The parts we’ll write for like the character voice and motivation, will we include that in the 1000 words, does that have be a completely separate thing?

Sorry if you addressed this already, and I didn’t get it!

svnflxwers-- wrote:

whiteandblackcat wrote:

snip snap snip

What do we do?

Follow the directions in here. Do you have a more specific question about a single part in here, because I think kat explains it pretty clearly.

Also, for future notice, please snip long posts ^^

Your task is to write a 1000 word story from your villain’s point of view, including the characters and character arcs you have planned.

could someone explain what it means to write from the villain's point of view and what's character arcs?? I'm terribly confused

SSingh2008 wrote:

Your task is to write a 1000 word story from your villain’s point of view, including the characters and character arcs you have planned.

could someone explain what it means to write from the villain's point of view and what's character arcs?? I'm terribly confused

For the villain’s pov, you write in first person with the villain speaking. Like “I’m the villain” in I form basically, and character arcs are an excerpt in which the character develops changes and ends up as a different person that before (in personality). That’s from my understanding, and if I’m wrong pls do correct me!

ArtisticRoyal wrote:

SSingh2008 wrote:

Your task is to write a 1000 word story from your villain’s point of view, including the characters and character arcs you have planned.

could someone explain what it means to write from the villain's point of view and what's character arcs?? I'm terribly confused

For the villain’s pov, you write in first person with the villain speaking. Like “I’m the villain” in I form basically, and character arcs are an excerpt in which the character develops changes and ends up as a different person that before (in personality). That’s from my understanding, and if I’m wrong pls do correct me!

Oh thanku for explaining

svnflxwers-- wrote:

whiteandblackcat wrote:

-snip-

What do we do?

Hi! For the first part, you need to create dialogue between two characters of your own. This part should be 200 words or more.
Example:
“Hey Diana!”
“Ugh…not you again.”
“Rude! Anyway are you down for the party tonight?”
“No, never in a million years.”
“C'mon! Pretty please…”
“NO.”
———————————–
For the second part, you take one of your characters, or make a new one and create an event that changes them. This part should be 500 words or more.
Example: A mean girl begins to regret bullying her classmate when she learns the classmate has cancer.
———————————–
For the third part, you need to create a villain! You can write about how you made them, their backstory, or their plan. Also, you use one of the characters from the first part, or make a new one. There isn't a minimum or maximum of words on this part.
Example:
My villain's name is Aubrey. She's a high school student who is secretly making a device that could end the world. She thinks that everyone and everything on earth is horrible, so she wants to get rid of them all.
——————-
And for the last part, you need to write a story in your villain's point of view(like you see the world from there view). This part needs to be 1000 words or more.
Example:
Aubrey was almost finished with the machine. Soon everything would be over. Everything.
Suddenly, she heard someone open the door.
“Aubrey?” It was Diana. “I need to apologize to you. I was being super…”
Diana paused. Her mouth dropped open. Aubrey began trebling with anger.
“Diana…”
———————
Once your done with the weekly, you can either post it here or post it in this forum: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/553307/

-NightWrite- wrote:

svnflxwers-- wrote:

whiteandblackcat wrote:

snip snap snip

What do we do?

Follow the directions in here. Do you have a more specific question about a single part in here, because I think kat explains it pretty clearly.

Also, for future notice, please snip long posts ^^

Okay!