Confessions of a Character Freak

Confessions of a Character Freak: once upon a time

I’LL ALWAYS TRY TO AVOID SPOILERS!

Zoe Jay S

Welcome one, welcome all! How are you doing on this beautiful Lazy Sunday? Did you eat yet? Breakfast? Lunch? Brunch? Brunch: Mimosas. Mmmm. Well, whatever you’re indulging in, grab it along with the remote. Where discussing TV today!

I love a good villain, don’t you? We’re told by societal norms to like, even love, the good guys. But there’s something about sinister smiles and wearing mainly black that gets my adrenaline pumping!
Regina Mills for example.

Uuughhh! Look at this baddie! A queen. A fav. Slay! Tell me you didn’t swoon when she ordered everyone’s deaths for hiding Snow White and I’ll call you a liar.

My forever queen from Once Upon A Time, an ABC drama that lasted for 7 indulgent seasons… and quite frankly could’ve been stretched out a little longer. No? Just me? Ok.

Any who, Regina Mills is the awesome Evil Queen that you love/hate to envy, depends on who we’re asking. She’s the type of character whose petty level is trés hot (if I had her powers, I’d copy some of her moves on some people * side eye *) and her nature to be good is still there. Regina wasn’t always bad. And that’s what I love about certain villains. They were good people who got hurt.

* clears throat * PSA-this is in no way, shape, or form me saying doing bad things in the REAL WORLD is acceptable. Cool? Ok

Back to Regina. Zodiacs and astrology have taken the world by storm so why not add which teams I think these characters rep for? 2 come to mind immediately.

We’ll start with Aquarius gang! Whoooo!

Yeah, she’s emotional, love. What can I say? A lot of the moves the Evil Queen makes stems purely from how she feels in that moment. Aquariuses are quick to react without thinking of the consequences. We usually regret it later.

Then, we have Scorpio. …yay.

She can be REALLY mean. Take it from me? Rule numero uno, don’t piss off a Scorpio. They aren’t afraid to cut you off. And the anger! The rage! Ouch. It hurts just thinking about it.

The two aforementioned are kings and queens of petty anger.

Overall though, you have to love Regina Mills, if you disagree, you’re the problem, I’m sorry. From the branded red lips to her luscious brunette locks to the fire bending abilities. This malicious queen will send shivers down your back.

Also, why the heck couldn’t they let my good sis just be happy?! Do you know how many times Regina tried to have a happy and healthy relationship?! I WANT A WORD WITH THE WRITERS ON HER BEHALF!

But seriously, it sucks how the “good ones” can find love so easily but when it comes to those who have just a little spice added to their attitude must suffer through life alone!! Wait… does this mean I’m a villain too? RIP to my love-life, I guess. Oof!

Lana Parrilla, you did your thing playing this role. I personally believe that stars who have to play the jerk roles and/or bad people are almost always the better actors/actresses point blank period. It’s a huge art form. A plus for execution.

Let me know what characters you guys want me to do in the future! xoxo

Thomas Benke: Looking Around In Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott, in the Chapter “Looking Around,” says this: Now, if you ask me, what’s going on is that we’re all up to here in it, and probably the most important thing is that we not yell at one another. Otherwise we’d all just be barking away like Pekingese: “Ah! Stuck in the shit! And it’s your fault, you did this …” Writing involves seeing people suffer and, as Robert Stone once put it, finding some meaning therein. But you can’t do that if you’re not respectful. If you look at people and just see sloppy clothes or rich clothes, you’re going to get them wrong. She goes on to speak about empathy for other people and also, as an extension empathy for yourself. So, in a sense as you try to write believable, relatable characters, you will come to forgive people their trespasses—because no one believes they are the villain of their story, so you have to write “bad,” or “evil” characters from a point of view where they rationalize what they are doing in such a way that it is the right or only way they see is possible. By extrapolation, then, if you begin to forgive and withhold judgment from your less-than-desirable, or annoying characters, perhaps you can extend the same courtesy to yourself and forgive your own trespasses and sins. This, for me, starts to enter the realm of “writing as therapy,” and though I am a firm believer in that—I practice it to this very day—I think I would caution anyone who thinks that simply writing through things is going to lead you to a place of light and love. I am not saying it can’t by any means. What I am saying is I have wrote through my thoughts and my problems and my desperation and depression for decades and I still had enough baggage on my shoulders to supply an army platoon with rations for a year. In any case, when thinking about craft, it is very important to step into the shoes of all of your characters, especially those characters that you see as antagonists and villians. I believe there are very few universal maxims in writing but one thing is virtually certain: every character you write is your version of that human being. Confucius said “everywhere I go, there I am,” and that is never more true than when you are writing. So if you are writing a character that is distasteful to you, it might be effective for you to ask yourself why that is the case. I wrote a blog for Obscura last semester titled, “The Puppy Had It Coming.” The gist of the article was to pose a puzzle to writers. How can you write a scene where an adult human kicks a puppy across the room and the reader at least understands why. I am not saying there is any way to justify the action or for the readers to be on the human’s side unless they are sociopaths. I am saying you need let the reader know how dark the place is in the character’s mind that he is capable of doing that.

Confessions of a Character Freak

Confessions of a Character Freak: once upon a time

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Confessions of a Character Freak: once upon a time

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