1. Lifeline

    Lifeline South. Supporter Contributor

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    A letter to your characters

    Discussion in 'Word games' started by Lifeline, Jun 14, 2016.

    Has anyone (beside me) written a letter to his/her characters? I found this tip I don't know where anymore and I did it a whole long while ago because I felt down at the time. However, whenever I now look at this little piece of writing it lifts my heart.

    It is a constant reminder that I truly care about my characters, and why I want to tell their stories. I am posting the beginning here, maybe it will inspire you to give it a go, too :)

    My dear friends, lovers, companions.
    I am writing this letter to let you know that I think about you every day, night, and all the moments in between. Indeed, there is seldom a breath I take without being reminded of you. My life has meaning, I can tell your story. People will read of you, and embrace you - as we have kissed each other to life. These frogs have transformed into princes, every one of us. And if you are cynical, disillusioned, or even warped by the things you have done and seen, you gift me with truth, and I wouldn't be the person I am without you. I like being me and I will forever cherish the time we spend together.
     
  2. Wayjor Frippery

    Wayjor Frippery Contributor Contributor

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    That's a lovely thing, Lifeline – not so dark all the time then, eh? ;)

    ------

    Dear William,

    Who are you? Staring out in black and white, blu-tacked by the monitor, hard eyes, proud man. A hero? I hate heroes. I want you to be one. Who is the dullest character in any thriller? The hero, stupid. I'm sick of drafting you in different styles. Will you stay this time? Have I found you? Who are you, William? Who are you?

    Your humble servant,

    Wayjor
     
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  3. VynniL

    VynniL Contributor Contributor

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    Damn you @Wayjor Frippery I wanted to be the first one to respond to this thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *glare*

    I was mid way typing something, got distracted by @BayView's alert...went off somewhere else to write another private message to a dear friend and when I return you were here!
     
  4. VynniL

    VynniL Contributor Contributor

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    And double damn you, by telling you off for stealing my thunder, I over-wrote my half written post! *more glares*

    Go steal a poem instead!
     
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  5. VynniL

    VynniL Contributor Contributor

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    Phew...turns out I wasn't totally retarded and did actually copy text before I growled at @Wayjor Frippery

    Continuing what I wrote earlier...

    Awww... Lifey Lifeline, I did not know you started this thread and revealed you wrote a letter to your characters. I love the idea.

    So I'll write my letter right now....much later than I intended....


    Dear Nathan.

    I love you. I really do.

    You are gorgeous at 5 and I think you will be quite the precocious child at 12, but through the trials of growing up, I will make sure everyone knows you have potential. Don't worry... that snotty girl will come around.

    After all, you will grow up to be a charismatic leader to a powerful House, and I have complete faith in your ability to handle any challenge I throw at you. As I write this, I realized I've not got around to thinking about your flaws...If anything, I've probably spent too much time idealizing you;I really don't want you to just be smokin' hot and capable.

    So in my devotion to you, I will ensure to bring you down a few notches by blessing you with some not so appealing personality traits. Yes, I know you worry I might go a bit overboard, but have faith. I will always go back and edit all my dodgey stuff. ;-)

    I'll get back to you in a fortnight. Until then, I'll just keep listening to the music that makes me think of you and what's yours.

    Be good.


    Linny
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 5, 2016
  6. Lifeline

    Lifeline South. Supporter Contributor

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    Ow poor guy(s) to have such authors! Let's not make this a pissing contest who is the most evil of us :twisted:. But - as you two have been brave and posted your characters - I can do no less and post the whole of this letter. Some parts are not finished yet - as the story itself is not finished. But I look forward to it, more than I can say. So.. read and enjoy!

    My dear friends, lovers, companions.

    I am writing this letter to let you know that I think about you every day, night, and all the moments in between. Indeed, there is seldom a breath I take without being reminded of you. My life has meaning, I can tell your story. People will read of you, and embrace you - as we have kissed each other to life. These frogs have transformed into princes, every one of us. And if you are cynical, disillusioned, or even warped by the things you have done and seen, you gift me with truth, and I wouldn't be the person I am without you. I like being me and I will forever cherish the time we spend together.

    Rooke, thank you for looking beyond orders and trusting a stranger, one you had every reason to be suspicious of. You taught me that there is such a thing as second chances, if one is brave enough to reach for them. Such an unexpected gift, and a curse.

    Breann, you had only ashes to pick up and you deserved better. Sometimes life just goes not as one might wish for, and you got caught in the maelstrom. For what it's worth, I am more sorry than I can say.

    Ceol, some things should never have happened. You and I know this. I value your choice to fight for what you felt to be true and I will take your determination into my own heart, to guide me in dark times. I will make it my own. This is a gift which demands a high price, my life.

    Irrynhin, it took a long time to find out who you truly are. The anger cut too deep, but you are free. To choose and make a better life for all, and you do care about that. You know the dark corners in men's hearts and don't despise them, because you have been there. I will revel in every moment we watch the flames spreading together.

    Jaraley, I wish you could take me to your favourite club and let the night turn into morning, whirling around each other in a dizzying dance of joy. We both made choices to arrive where we are and they cannot be remade - but we can forge new paths. You showed me what it means to take the step into the true unknown, so take my hand and let us alight the stars.

    James, Mike, Vance, Andre and Carl, I promise to take care of your Commander, never fear. Anything is possible with backup like yours.

    Thryaleos. You surely know that I love you. You were the one who spoke first and that always is special. Following you led me, ultimately, to this whole pyre of truth that is this story and my world out there. I can't speak, there are not words enough to express all I want to say. I am rather like you in that, just be assured that you will find your life anew out of the ashes and the rubble. All men will stand beside you, and me too. There is hope.
     
  7. Wayjor Frippery

    Wayjor Frippery Contributor Contributor

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    I shall keep it safe until you need it.
     
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  8. Seraph751

    Seraph751 If I fell down the rabbit hole... Contributor

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    I don't write my letters down but they circulate through my mind so this is good opportunity for me to do so!

    Dear Characters,
    You drive me nuts.
    -Seraph
    P.S. I still love you.
     
  9. RichieMarcus

    RichieMarcus New Member

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    This is a really interesting idea. I've always noted that my characters act like me too much, in one way or another. Guess I'll give it a go.

    To the ones I keep in my mind,

    I spend a great deal of time creating all of you. Even those who I at once thought to be complete are still growing, almost beyond my control. Those of you who have yet to be named, have yet to be given a personality, have yet to even have a face, your time will come.

    For now, most of you are condemned to the insane, illogical depths of my mind. Some may be immortalized in the written word, some may stick to the more personal space. But all of you have one thing in common: you are all me. In one form or another, you are a reflection of myself, an embodiment of my own emotions, mentality, and experiences. Whether it be my unusual sexual desires, my dwindling hope for this earth, or the overwhelming hatred and fear I experience on a daily basis, you are all a culmination of me. Some of you share the same reflection, not in a physical way but in much deeper ways. The countless times I've compared two of you and said "There's too many similarities! I can't tell you apart! It's all the same to me, and I hate it!" are numerous. Regardless, I hold each of you to your own identities and will continue to do so despite any possible thought of being unnecessary.

    I've all but forgotten how to live in the 'real' world. Any opportunity to retreat to this world that I have created I take without second thought. My physical being is little more than an anchor to the 'real' world now, holding me back from my desires to join you. Perhaps in a different life I can and will, but for now you are faced with the burden of an unseen creator.

    There will be both times of joy and times of suffering, that much I can say for certain. They may seem cruel and unnecessary, but everything that happens has a reason. Some reasons may be justified, some may be just plain sadistic. But know that each of your own existences are ones I hold dear to me and will live on one way or another.

    - Richie

    Now that I've gotten that all written out, I feel the urge to write a response to that for each of my characters. Another idea to add to my Leaning Pile of Ideas.
     
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  10. Constance Cole

    Constance Cole New Member

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    This is a pretty interesting idea, let me see:

    To all the characters I've ever created,
    You are all equally special to me, know that you have impacted my life one way or another, and for that I am thankful.
     
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  11. Simpson17866

    Simpson17866 Contributor Contributor

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    I'm not sure I could convince myself to do this because I'm not sure I could convince myself that my characters would be interested in meeting me after everything I've done to them.

    Nor would I be interested in meeting the characters who would be interested in meeting me ;) Seriously, my brain is messed up, guys.

    Good luck if you are on speaking terms with the characters you've come up with!
     
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  12. GuardianWynn

    GuardianWynn Contributor Contributor

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    Similar in my case. In the sense that my characters are just epically talented super people. I think they would find the lazy security guard just... boring? lol.

    On topic. No, never wrote a letter from me to them, but I have written letters in 100% pure form from them. Like, as in I even included typoes and such. Like, if I ever release such content, I am going to have the paper aged and stained and hand written, and I meaningfully included typoes, because, heck, people typo when they write in pen.
     
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  13. VynniL

    VynniL Contributor Contributor

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    Awww Simpson, you keep surprising me. I would never have thought you thought your brain was messed up. You seem so steady. I hope you do convince yourself. I think it's a fun little exercise Lifey @Lifeline came up with. It serves to remind us that we've got characters demanding life, if only in words.

    I can't believe you visited and didn't write a letter! You, the girl who keeps talking non stop with such love of your characters! Consider yourself their guardian angel (a.k.a writer who will see them through the good and the bad). I'm sure they'd love to hear from you.

    Also, you're a lazy security guard?! I can't imagine that. I always had in my mind you're a cutie student! Not that you wouldn't be a cutie security guard. ;-)
     
  14. Simpson17866

    Simpson17866 Contributor Contributor

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    [​IMG]
    I don't know, I really like surrounding myself people that I know aren't paying any attention to me :D I mean don't get me wrong, I love people, it just takes a lot of energy for me to do anything with them. Seriously, doing something I love with people I love is often more exhausting than doing something by myself that I don't like.

    That's why I love the people in my head so much (even the psychos and the serial killers). No matter how loud they get, they're never trying to rope me personally into whatever they're doing.

    And believe me, they get pretty loud. You have any idea how hard it is to sleep when you got two super-villains trying to one-up each other's plots to take over the destroyed world? The best lullaby I've found for humming to myself to sleep is "Baloo Baleerie:" it's calm enough not to get my heart rate up, the words are English enough that I never lose my place by Celtic enough that I can focus on the sounds, and I will always associate it with zombies after my attempt at watching Night of the Living Dead as a 12-year-old (I got 90% of the way through on my first try!) left me unable to sleep at night for a month without A) a dart gun under my pillow and B) Margie Butler playing in the background.

    And the door closed for the first month after NotLD, but then I watched The Cave (and all preceding trailers: Snakes on a Plane, Flightplan, The Fog (remake), that Russian vampire one whose name I can never remember
    ) in theaters about a month after NotLD (I must have been crazy persuasive :twisted:) and got even less than 90% of the way through. That night, I still had Margie Butler and the dart gun, but I also tried to keep my bedroom door closed because I'd been doing that all month. I had to wake up at midnight and open the door back up because being trapped inside with enormous bat monsters was scarier than the zombies not being trapped outside.

    And I am not embarrassed by any of this. There are ≈24 hours in a day, ≈365 days in a year, and ≈80 years before I am dead (of which I have already lost north of 25%). I have enough time in my life to do boring things, but I don't have enough time in my life to be boring :D

    So back to my characters: yeah, we really work best together in a long-distance relationship :p
     
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2016
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  15. VynniL

    VynniL Contributor Contributor

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    @Simpson17866 - okay... I stared at your funny pic, read your words, watched your trailer, listened to Baloo Baleerie and tried to figure out how Margie Butler has anything to do with a dart gun but then realized what you meant. You're no longer steady and I truly feel your madness. hehe

    Anyway, I hope you don't mind I roleplay you and offer you some inspiration. :-D

    LinnyV pretending to be @Simpson17866 writing to his super villians:

    Yo Pyschos!

    Let me sleep or else.

    I, ultimately control the keyboard and that sweet person you wish to dismember? You wouldn't want me to miss-type or get confused and find yourself taped to a table with the roar of a chainsaw in your ears.

    I've no favourites; you both will have to die at some point. The question is, who goes first?

    Now, close the door on your way out and please be quiet.

    Love

    Simpson ~
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 20, 2016
  16. 123456789

    123456789 Contributor Contributor

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    Dear @matwoolf,

    The pleasure from deliberately ignoring you the other day was short lived, and stained with regret. Please forgive me.
    Love,
    Shit, wrong thread
     
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  17. VynniL

    VynniL Contributor Contributor

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    @123456789 - that is right, WRONG thread! It is not the place for you to write your love letters to @matwoolf. :p
     
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  18. I.A. By the Barn

    I.A. By the Barn A very lost time traveller Contributor

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    Dear Characters,
    You're all lovable twats of some degree. You annoy me but also make me grin in delight when you respond just right to the stuff I throw at you. One problem though is that you minor characters, Veen, Simon and Flo, yes I see you trying to shove your way to the front, are too big for your place in the story. Turn it down a notch please.
    Love I.A.
     
  19. Simpson17866

    Simpson17866 Contributor Contributor

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    Thank you :twisted:

    Fun fact, I actually tried to do this last night, and I found a new, very specific reason why it didn't work for me as well as it works for everybody else:

    I need reasons for everything that happens. In my stories, in my life, that's why I've always loved my math classes and extracurricular math projects: everything that happens is a perfectly natural progression of applying one rule of logic to another.

    Writing to my characters felt weird because I live in one universe, they live in an alternate universe, and trying to justify to myself why my letter was moving from one universe to another got my brain sucked into a Stranger than Fiction scenario where I run into a guy on the street, he introduces himself as "Alec Shorman," – the name of the villain protagonist of my Urban Fantasy novel – and I sarcastically ask if he's seen any vampires around. He then shoves a gun in my face and forces me to someplace quiet where he asks how the hell I knew he was involved with a vampire.

    At this point I ask if he's seen Stranger than Fiction – he hasn't – and beg him to let me go home to get my laptop and show what I meant by vampire. He asks how he knows I'm not a cop – from either the human world or the supernatural – and I point out that if I was investigating him specifically for his involvement with the vampire calling herself "Nemesis," then I'd have to be an idiot to blow my cover like that... Next thing I know it's 12:30 AM in the real world :D
     
  20. VynniL

    VynniL Contributor Contributor

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    @Simpson17866 ...

    I read your latest spoiler and when you combine it with your previous post, it all became clear to me.

    A simple letter wouldn't work for you. This might be more applicable...

    image.gif


    ....:bigtongue:...:-D....
     
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  21. GuardianWynn

    GuardianWynn Contributor Contributor

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    lol. Oh, wait, first thing first. I'm a boy! Common mistake. Everyone assumes that at first.

    But yeah, even now. I can't think of anything I would say to my characters. I mean, not in that sense. Would I ask them questions? Sure. I would love too! I think there are interesting and I would love to see how they react. I would love to ask them how the felt about a given situation and see how there thoughts matched my own impression of their thoughts. That is why I think they would find me boring. Because I don't do things. I don't go on adventures, I don't have any scars to show.

    Does that make sense?
     
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  22. VynniL

    VynniL Contributor Contributor

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    No it doesn't @GuardianWynn!

    The letters would completely be appropiate. Your courageous women would appreciate the interest and support of the pressures they have to deal with. Life isn't easy being an assassin or soldier and expected to toss cars around and beat up annoying villians.

    The letters are about their interesting lives and their scars. ;-)

    They would love to know you care to write, to tell them you will eventually guide them to the light. If not, then at least a shallow pit they can hide in wait for their next ambush?

    It's all about them.

    Also....you're a boy too?!

    Why has everyone I've chatted to lately have turned into boys?!?!
     
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  23. GuardianWynn

    GuardianWynn Contributor Contributor

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    I dunno! Why them boys keep poping out.

    So, lets see. Yeah, I guess I could see that in some of there cases. But like the first one I think of. Victoria. I can easily picture her reaction.

    Okay, here we go.

    Dear Victoria,

    Its kind of funny in context. A context you may never understand, but you have helped me with strength before. Your strength inspires me, and I hope it will inspire others. Surprisingly it isn't just your strength but your weakness. It reminds me that you aren't perfect. Even soemone as neat as you, still isn't perfect. You can be immature and a brat sometimes, but when the chips are down. You always get the job down. And you never so much as expect a thank you. ll the same.

    Thank you.

    ***

    Victoria reads note. Crumbles it into a ball and tosses it in the waste basket before cracking a smile as she walks away thinking. "Dumbass. Thank you with words is meaningless. Be a better person if you want to thank me."
     
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  24. JD Anders

    JD Anders Member

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    Dear companions,

    We've been together for awhile now. The few of you that have settled in my brain and formed a small village are easily the most intriguing people I know. Might I address you each, if only briefly? I know you have many other friends, but you three stick out to me.

    Barker- for years you have sat, waiting for me to get to know you. I know all you want is reconciliation; the things that you did were out of grief, not out of malice. And yet I have forced you to sit and twiddle your thumbs, and you grow older and older, until the intrigue you hold for me is overshadowed by others. I am sorry. One day, I promise, we will have a long conversation, and when we do, I will be equipped to tell your story to the world.

    Hyeena- My oldest friend. Your goofy nickname notwithstanding, you have more depth and more life than any other. We've traveled through trials of many kinds together, though most of them existential. Now you run a bar, and I have a grand dream for that bar. I just hope that you'll cooperate.

    Scott- I know you are busy being a Senator, but the few times we've spent together have been enlightening for me. In you, I see the brokenness and emptiness I struggle with reflected. Your pursuit of hollow joy helps me run the opposite direction. It may kill you, but at least in your death you'll achieve the simple goal you once had: to help others.

    Take me on an adventure. Tell me your stories. Show me what it is like to be you. There's value in your stories, allow me to find it.

    I cannot quit until I know your full stories.

    JD
    ------------------------

    Therapeutic, honestly. Thanks for the idea.
     
  25. SoulGalaxyWolf

    SoulGalaxyWolf Active Member

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    I love this idea. It's fun and exciting. Have you ever thought about replying to your letter but in your characters point of view? That might sound a little crazy, but I don't know I thought it would add to the fun.

    Dear Companions
    I haven't got to know all of you yet, but hopefully on our journey together I'll learn more and more about you and continue telling your stories. I root for all of you, and I'm sure someday all of you will succeed in your quest.
    Kelly- You are going to face hard decisions that will make you question your beliefs. You are going to have to face your demons. You may not understand the world yet, and you don't want any help or have anyone close to you. I'm here to show you that you can allow others inside and to trust them.
    Eli- I appreciate you helping Kelly out and protecting her no matter what she says or does. You are a cinnamon roll that I enjoy writing about. Do me a favor and keep doing what you are doing.
    Melody and Kingsly- You two are the most devious clever little rascals, but I love you two all the same.
    Laloni- I'm proud of you. You think about your people and how you can serve them and protect them, and that is what a true princess should do. Try to be patient with Kelly though although she could be a hardheaded pain.
    Jamil- You are a good protector and guardian for the whole group. You are the rock and you are an intelligent kind guy. Hopefully, I'll get to see more past all that aloofness to see a deeper character.
    Sincerely, JBL

    Most likely that the twins and Kelly wouldn't want to read this for obvious reasons but the other three will appreciate the sentiment. Laloni will most likely so that she can't give any promises.



     

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