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Extended Thoughts on: Cecilia Sharpe/Lucille Larke
2 years ago
What a fun commission this was! I haven't done mental changes this extreme since Ralphie Frye. There's no personality tweaks or gradual acceptance this time: it's allll identity play (/death, if you're a bad boy like me). And some great physical TFs: definitely the most animalistic in a while, maybe since back when I commonly did feral!
Let's start with that. I do believe this is the first time I've ever written a bird TF over here, and what a character to start with! This character features a lot of bird anatomy, so I had to do a lot of research about birds... which just meant Google and Wikipedia. Still, I learned a lot! I took Zelda's rito as a starting form, and added my own little things, mostly making her more birdlike. It's definitely the most form-intensive character I've written in a while, up there with Sam and Hana! Enough that I had to split all the bird facts I learned into its own section in the trivia...
The mental changes are extreme too! This character let me do some real intensive mental stuff, but it came with a bit of a problem that player characters have: since the story is second person, how do I write a transformation where the character does not realise they're transforming? It'd be a pretty boring character if the last dozen changes were just "nothing changed this round". The solutions are to either write "beyond" the second person perspective at times, or to write the changes and mindwipes in real time, which is what I settled on. The last couple transformations run a very strict formula: Cecilia/Lucille sees a change, gets fed false memories, and then declares that there was no change. Hopefully it didn't become too formulaic!
I think that's it. Again, I had a lot of fun with this character, especially the mental changes, both the subtle and extreme ones. Here's the trivia!
- First comes names, then comes music. Cecilia Sharpe was meant to sound overly sibilant and kinda gross. Her initials are also C. Sharpe! Lucille Larke is juuuust similar enough to her original name to make it a gradual shift, while also having the "Name Animal" trope .
- Music choices started off with my typical mellow post-rock, but it got heavier and heavier, until I was listening to metalcore for the final stages. Not sure why. For proofreading, I chose Miss Misery as the “end credits track”.
- Speaking of, I cribbed a line from Elliott Smith for my epilogue, after he performed at the Oscars. The full quote is “I wouldn't want to live in that world, but it was fun to walk around on the moon for a day.” Such a great line... rest in peace.
- A cesura is a pause, whether in poetry or music. Kinda fitting that the name of a soulless music corp is the absence of sound~! It also has a symbol that works as a gross corporate logo, "//".
- I was a little nervous including that "AFTRA-ass" line, but I think it works for the character: I don't think corporate shill Cecilia would be so keen on workers rights. You should be, though! ♥
- Shoutout to my friend who taught me how underrated the human wrist is!
- I think I closed all my brackets first try with this character! Might be the first time that's happened. To make up for it, there were waaay too many typos for me to fix. Can't win 'em all.
Now, it's time for bird facts. So many bird facts.
- There are so, SO many birds out there. I decided to base Lula on a tanager, one of the many birds that sing! Though Wikipedia claims tanagers “are thought to have dull songs”, because Wikipedia has no chill.
- This did give me a bit of a problem: tanager males are more colourful than females, and I wanted Lula to have bright red feathers. My workaround was to have Lula's “hair” dyed brighter, to play with gender expression!
- Lula's four-toed feet are called “anisodactyly”! What a fun word.
- Bluejays have been known to decapitate other birds. The moment I learned that, my playlist put on this song, which was very creepy. Felt like I found the final boss of Bird.
- The final boss of Bird is an eagle, btw
- Birds don't have hollow bones because it makes them lighter; it's because it helps them take in more oxygen! I had to rewrite a section because of that...
- There's apparently some confusion/controversy about how many “fingers” birds have. It's mentioned on Wikipedia, so I picture a bunch of ornithologists getting into heated arguments/fistfights about it. I'm not gonna comment on it, lest I make a bunch of birdwatchers angry, and they all poop on my car.
- I... really didn't know how to research bird cloacas (cloacae?), but I assume the bigger and omnivorous birds have'em, too? I... just didn't wanna read more about duck sex, okay?? I don't wanna know about people doing it, let alone birds...
- Lula's scared of cats for a reason: cats have caused sooo many species, especially birds, to go extinct. Apparently the mere existence of cats in an area could harm some species; they're that much of a threat to wildlife. Keep an eye on your pets, y'all!
- The great potoo is, objectively, the best bird. Great potoos, cats, and eels are all my comfort animals: when I feel sad, I look up pictures of potoos.
My Question: I know I've asked this before, but what are you listening to? Last thing I've listened to was some Evanescence, cuz I'm very dark and mysterious.
You've just read Birded Up, the worst journal on FA. <SQUAWK!!>:
- yoshielder
Let's start with that. I do believe this is the first time I've ever written a bird TF over here, and what a character to start with! This character features a lot of bird anatomy, so I had to do a lot of research about birds... which just meant Google and Wikipedia. Still, I learned a lot! I took Zelda's rito as a starting form, and added my own little things, mostly making her more birdlike. It's definitely the most form-intensive character I've written in a while, up there with Sam and Hana! Enough that I had to split all the bird facts I learned into its own section in the trivia...
The mental changes are extreme too! This character let me do some real intensive mental stuff, but it came with a bit of a problem that player characters have: since the story is second person, how do I write a transformation where the character does not realise they're transforming? It'd be a pretty boring character if the last dozen changes were just "nothing changed this round". The solutions are to either write "beyond" the second person perspective at times, or to write the changes and mindwipes in real time, which is what I settled on. The last couple transformations run a very strict formula: Cecilia/Lucille sees a change, gets fed false memories, and then declares that there was no change. Hopefully it didn't become too formulaic!
I think that's it. Again, I had a lot of fun with this character, especially the mental changes, both the subtle and extreme ones. Here's the trivia!
- First comes names, then comes music. Cecilia Sharpe was meant to sound overly sibilant and kinda gross. Her initials are also C. Sharpe! Lucille Larke is juuuust similar enough to her original name to make it a gradual shift, while also having the "Name Animal" trope .
- Music choices started off with my typical mellow post-rock, but it got heavier and heavier, until I was listening to metalcore for the final stages. Not sure why. For proofreading, I chose Miss Misery as the “end credits track”.
- Speaking of, I cribbed a line from Elliott Smith for my epilogue, after he performed at the Oscars. The full quote is “I wouldn't want to live in that world, but it was fun to walk around on the moon for a day.” Such a great line... rest in peace.
- A cesura is a pause, whether in poetry or music. Kinda fitting that the name of a soulless music corp is the absence of sound~! It also has a symbol that works as a gross corporate logo, "//".
- I was a little nervous including that "AFTRA-ass" line, but I think it works for the character: I don't think corporate shill Cecilia would be so keen on workers rights. You should be, though! ♥
- Shoutout to my friend who taught me how underrated the human wrist is!
- I think I closed all my brackets first try with this character! Might be the first time that's happened. To make up for it, there were waaay too many typos for me to fix. Can't win 'em all.
Now, it's time for bird facts. So many bird facts.
- There are so, SO many birds out there. I decided to base Lula on a tanager, one of the many birds that sing! Though Wikipedia claims tanagers “are thought to have dull songs”, because Wikipedia has no chill.
- This did give me a bit of a problem: tanager males are more colourful than females, and I wanted Lula to have bright red feathers. My workaround was to have Lula's “hair” dyed brighter, to play with gender expression!
- Lula's four-toed feet are called “anisodactyly”! What a fun word.
- Bluejays have been known to decapitate other birds. The moment I learned that, my playlist put on this song, which was very creepy. Felt like I found the final boss of Bird.
- The final boss of Bird is an eagle, btw
- Birds don't have hollow bones because it makes them lighter; it's because it helps them take in more oxygen! I had to rewrite a section because of that...
- There's apparently some confusion/controversy about how many “fingers” birds have. It's mentioned on Wikipedia, so I picture a bunch of ornithologists getting into heated arguments/fistfights about it. I'm not gonna comment on it, lest I make a bunch of birdwatchers angry, and they all poop on my car.
- I... really didn't know how to research bird cloacas (cloacae?), but I assume the bigger and omnivorous birds have'em, too? I... just didn't wanna read more about duck sex, okay?? I don't wanna know about people doing it, let alone birds...
- Lula's scared of cats for a reason: cats have caused sooo many species, especially birds, to go extinct. Apparently the mere existence of cats in an area could harm some species; they're that much of a threat to wildlife. Keep an eye on your pets, y'all!
- The great potoo is, objectively, the best bird. Great potoos, cats, and eels are all my comfort animals: when I feel sad, I look up pictures of potoos.
My Question: I know I've asked this before, but what are you listening to? Last thing I've listened to was some Evanescence, cuz I'm very dark and mysterious.
You've just read Birded Up, the worst journal on FA. <SQUAWK!!>:
- yoshielder
