Infinite Stratos Character Creation and Fanfiction Discussion

[demino_hellsin]

There's the screenshot of Ichika's class so we roughly have an extra 20 or so girls for a headstart.

[wavehawk]

Yes, but how do you define their individual personalities? They have had a few moments but haven't been strongly fleshed out yet. And to be honest you might want to look at other characters from other media to give them (the undeveloped female characters in IS) something that will at least give them some distinct character when you write them. They have to stand out from the original cast as unique people and have a bit of flavor to their interactions.

If nothing else it's to make original and memorable characters that you won't confuse as being Houki #2 or Charlotte #5. I feel that the original 5 characters are starting to blend together as Izuru lacks the means to expand their characterization. I mean seriously, they've got lives outside of Ichika's circle and the IS, I wish theyd use those a bit better.

[demino_hellsin]

I have never stopped complaining about Izuru giving the girls background stories but only as some sort of paste on backdrop. There is no depth to that background, there is no dimension to the girls.

Sadly much of the girls I saw in the screenshot are rather generic in nature with only a few standing out somewhat. I have convinced myself of the theory that because this is anime, the really special girls are already within Ichika's arms' reach. Hence why everytime in anime you see girls being hailed as the smartest, being called the school idol/goddess, being the really weird girl who stood out against the crowd. The girls left behind are the peanut gallery/normal girls.

Some might be rich but not as rich as Cecilia, some might be famous but only as some sort of B-roll product model. They are your B-list heroines that nobody ever really took notice to. Suffering in mediocrity would be the major theme but they still share similar problems across the board.

I don't want to go off the walls crazy like Meister and start giving girls drug addiction problems without necessity. For example, what if there was a girl who had serious self-esteem problems who always didn't believe that she was supposed to be in ISA? She's only there because of some miracle of being good enough without really trying while others worked their asses off to get in.

An example I have would be Rina Aikawa who initially introduced herself and someone I deduce to be athletic in nature. I would think that she was some sort of soccer or basketball player that has issues with standing out, conversely not being able to stand out. She seems so plain despite being adequately talented that despite her skills she would still be overlooked as average because gifted people like Houki, Cecilia and Rin exist. This kind of problem ofcourse overlaps with Kanzashi but how they deal with it is different because Kanzashi treats this issue as a rivalry with her sister so she's trying to do something outlandish to show off. Aikawa would just be gung ho about everything and pretty much overdo her antics just to get attention.

That kind of thing.

[wavehawk]

Why not try other angles? EG characters that you would not meet as part of the day to day life at IS Academy? Characters who wouldn't be under that influence nor be required to meet the needs of IS Academy standards.

Even more insane, Ichika has a 'Guardian Angel" (sort of) that directs him around and makes comments about dating simulation games or Mass Effect.

[demino_hellsin]

So mostly girls from the town? I've actually thought about that for awhile now. Maybe the lady at the bakery? The lonely christmas cake OL who bumps into him every time he goes back to his house for the weekend? Mmmm... yeah this is starting to go the really ecchi route.

There are still other secondary characters to play with though like the elder harem's members and even girls like Chelsea who exist but aren't mentioned much in both canon and fan conversations.

[wavehawk]

Originally Posted by demino_hellsin

So mostly girls from the town?

- Possibly. I just figured it would be interesting if, once Ichika realized what he's been duped into, he'll most likely try starting out somewhere away from the original harem gang or anyone associated with them. And it just spirals way out of control from then on.

I've actually thought about that for awhile now. Maybe the lady at the bakery? The lonely christmas cake OL who bumps into him every time he goes back to his house for the weekend? Mmmm... yeah this is starting to go the really ecchi route.

- No, I think the first would be a normal girl in a normal school, but one with a a pathos she's been hiding. EG not an incredibly attractive elite but a girl more ordinary and next door with a little bit of sad backstory that you wouldn't initially guess from meeting her...

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Hooboy. This could get complicated...

No, let's try something else. How about a girl who likes fencing? The quiet and aloof type who always wears red gloves to hide her injuries and her secret mission to...

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GAH. Dammit, FOCUS! this isn't gonna work...

There are still other secondary characters to play with though like the elder harem's members and even girls like Chelsea who exist but aren't mentioned much in both canon and fan conversations.

- True, and Chelsea would be an awesoem character to add if only we'd be able to flesh her out more.

[demino_hellsin]

A girl next door with a phonestrap that is special to her. She doesn't hate ISA but she doesn't seem to care for it when Ichika mentions that he's a student there and he has friends in that school. The girl is taken with him but oddly distant at the same time. Ichika thinks the girl could be one of those that could help him but begins to delve deeper as he notices that the girl is decidedly ignoring all things related to ISA.

It is later revealed after Ichika helps her find her phone, which had been pickpocketed from her, that the girl had a best friend who went to ISA. In fact the girl and her best friend were so close they got matching celphone straps and treated each other more like sisters than anything. However life in ISA was both demanding and extravagant. The girl found herself unable to keep up with the friends changing tastes, their old favorite hangouts becoming more and more disgusting to the friend. In the end they distanced themselves to the point that the friend returned the matching phonestrap tot he girl and from then on the girl didn't care for ISA. She thinks its a place that took her friend away from her.

I don't want issues that are overdramatic. I was kind of getting sick of those already. I'm trying to take a page out of Persona 4's book and focus more on insecurities and near debilitating complexes than outright tragedies.

[wavehawk]

That's fair enough, and you can actually make a good short story just from that--basically making her interactions with Ichika the exchange of those different ways of thinking. Not everything needs to be too dark (I unfortunately just work that way).

[Fireminer]

Originally Posted by demino_hellsin

A girl next door with a phonestrap that is special to her. She doesn't hate ISA but she doesn't seem to care for it when Ichika mentions that he's a student there and he has friends in that school. The girl is taken with him but oddly distant at the same time. Ichika thinks the girl could be one of those that could help him but begins to delve deeper as he notices that the girl is decidedly ignoring all things related to ISA.

It is later revealed after Ichika helps her find her phone, which had been pickpocketed from her, that the girl had a best friend who went to ISA. In fact the girl and her best friend were so close they got matching celphone straps and treated each other more like sisters than anything. However life in ISA was both demanding and extravagant. The girl found herself unable to keep up with the friends changing tastes, their old favorite hangouts becoming more and more disgusting to the friend. In the end they distanced themselves to the point that the friend returned the matching phonestrap tot he girl and from then on the girl didn't care for ISA. She thinks its a place that took her friend away from her.

I don't want issues that are overdramatic. I was kind of getting sick of those already. I'm trying to take a page out of Persona 4's book and focus more on insecurities and near debilitating complexes than outright tragedies.

Which of course is harder. Which detail first popped in your mind when you first thought you this scenario?

The more mundane the matter is, the more vivid it needs to be. This is a rule.

By the way, if you think about it, a number of schoolgirls nowadays in fact spend their little fortune investing in bonds (I read from newspaper). And, Representative Cadets receive quite a large income, so...

Cecilia, of course, is doing it.

[demino_hellsin]

It's not a matter of vivid or not. The idea of using insecurities is because they relate more to people who face everyday problems Sure you can use outright tragedies but people who partake of your media have this invisible barrier that they're unaware of. They feel involved in a way that they have someone they want to root for. To them it's a story. Outright tragedies will only resonate with people who experience the same outright tragedies like being a murderer, being addicted to illegal substances, being a child soldier. There is a distinct barrier because it is a story but it's not your story.

Stories of insecurities and complexes in the human psyche are far more relatable on a wide scalebecause many people understand what it feels to feel alone despite never being alone, they know what it feels like to feel praises as empty because they can't feel their own worth, they know the feeling of being left behind by friends more so than being shot at by a friend. The story is no longer something they can only sympathize with. It becomes their story too, something they empathize with. They don't just want a happy ending because the character deserves it, that character deserves a happy ending because you want to know at the end of all this bullshit that there's a rainbow beyond this fuckstorm.

[The 48th Ronin]

Ichika and the girls are sent into a mission in a certain island in the Pacific to destroy a PT base that house a potential game-changing weapon. As they were about to finish the mission, disaster strikes.

Turns out, the weapon is a genderbending cannon, and it manage to fire at Ichika before it was destroyed, transforming Ichika into a Madoka look-a-like.

[Router25]

And I think conveniently cloning women is out of the picture too. (since he died within SG arc and had not met Madoka yet)

[Tempest35]

I have noticed one thing - there aren't many stories about how other women are coping with IS. Seems like you can be in something IS-related, or just a 'normal woman', which is a bad thing. The ones who don't have any ability in IS or can't do it for other reasons can turn out like the woman at the shopping mall that got on Ichika's case and Charl had to 'rescue' him.

[demino_hellsin]

I've long wanted to do something like that but the idea isn't very sustainable. At least on my end because my imagination on the subject is pretty limited.

[SRW-Otaku]

This might sound a bitch cliched, but...
A girl who is a "closet nostalgic otaku" enters the IS Academy so she can protect her younger sister even though her younger sister is basically Jotaro without a Stand. The younger sister thought that her older sister might want less emotional attachment (basically Lightning Farron), so she turns from a perverted, sweet and kind younger sister into Jotaro. But in reality, the older sister wants to emotionally understands her younger sister.

The younger sister see the fact that the older one is entering ISA is an insult, because their mother died in an IS and their father was the one that made the misfortunate IS, while the older one constantly tries to change her sister's oppiniom on that subject, while constantly searches for their father, who MIGHT work for PT.
(if Spoony say anything about Ichika going rouge, Mr. Fluffypaws might become a cat smoothie.)
Their father and the older one are people with special powers known as Tesladrivers (basically an Electro master, but WAY less durable). These people also have a nerv system with higher information transfer speed, allowing them to be much faster and have hightened senses, at the cost of suffering much more pain because of the improved nerv system and being extremely vulnerable to abnormal electromacnetic waves and EMPs (aka put them near Combattler V and they're toast).
Also, the older one designs her own IS. Who wants the specs?
...anyone? No?...
...

[wavehawk]

Originally Posted by fireminer

The more mundane the matter is, the more vivid it needs to be. This is a rule.

- No it's not. I don't think enough people appreciate what subtlety can do. Being overly extreme and overly vivd works well in a visual medium such as film and animation but not always the case with written texts. Again, this also depends on how the character is presented and how they interact. Sometimes two ver low-key characters meet and a violent reaction occurs or even explodes. I would prefer not to tell what will happen until those characters interact and meet.

Again, going back to my complaint that Izuru hasn't really delved any deeper into the existing girls' personalities since accumulating the harem.

Originally Posted by Captain Orange

Turns out, the weapon is a genderbending cannon, and it manage to fire at Ichika before it was destroyed, transforming Ichika into a Madoka look-a-like.

- Didn't someone write that already?

Originally Posted by Tempest35

The ones who don't have any ability in IS or can't do it for other reasons can turn out like the woman at the shopping mall that got on Ichika's case and Charl had to 'rescue' him.

- The haters are losers pretending to be winners.

What I think should be explored more is how the world ruled by women isn't all that different from a world ruled by men. The main movers and shakers are still the same, the people pulling he strings are still the same, etc.

Originally Posted by SRW-Otaku

This might sound a bitch cliched

- Oh, you should read that again. *SNRK*

[SRW-Otaku]

sorry mate. Not used to the E71 yet. Been a while since I last used this ol' gal.
Dad took away my J1, handed me the E71 and I feel just fine.
Also, what do you think of that retarded idea of mine?

[Fireminer]

Originally Posted by wavehawk

- No it's not. I don't think enough people appreciate what subtlety can do. Being overly extreme and overly vivd works well in a visual medium such as film and animation but not always the case with written texts. Again, this also depends on how the character is presented and how they interact. Sometimes two ver low-key characters meet and a violent reaction occurs or even explodes. I would prefer not to tell what will happen until those characters interact and meet.

Again, going back to my complaint that Izuru hasn't really delved any deeper into the existing girls' personalities since accumulating the harem.

We strife for the best, don't we?

It's the little details that make a great story - for example, one method that Lev Tolstoi used regularly is Repetitive of Cosmetic details. Using the exterior to describe the interior of a character is nothing new, but repeating it times after times, with subtle change in each time, simply put it, bring the character to a level of living archetype of himself (see Lise Bolkonsky's lips in three different times for example.)

But you have a point, as always.

Also, now I know why rom-com writers keep repeating cliches - it's damn hard to come up with one true genuine situation.

VOLUME 6: CAMARADERIE
1) Rin
a) Rin asked Ichika to join him in one of the ITube cooking show.
b) The video went horribly wrong.
c) Reminisced about the past.
d) Rin kept the video for herself.
2) Cecilia
a) Ichika met Chelsea and found out that Cecilia had a tragic past.
b) Cecilia escaped the bodyguards and went on a date with Ichika.
3) Laura and Charlotte
a) Clothing store
b) Café
c) Night tea
4) Houki
a) The summer festival
b) Ran
c) Houki’s failed confession
5) Chifuyu
a) Morning
b) Mid-day
c) Evening
VOLUME 7: TESTS
1) Before the storm
a) A mysterious figure with dozen of Golems.
b) Tatenashi woke up to find Ichika slept on his table.
c) Ichika fell asleep in “Directive and Awareness” class. Lyudmila’s punishment.
d) Charlotte suggested a study group.
2) Friction
a) The drama at the study group’s meeting.
b) In the infirmary, Ichika asked how could his sister and Houki’s got along so well.
c) Tatenashi suggesting a “Cross-club” event.

From my rewrite. Terrible, right? (Yes, I know, why bother changing so much when we could have tweaked a few from here and there.)

Don't try to blame Izuru that much on his incompetent. Not everyone can be a microwriter.

[wavehawk]

Originally Posted by Fireminer

We strife for the best, don't we?

- Yes we do. But there's a difference between an intense character and an over-the-top character. Each has their place but it all depends on what kind of story you want to do.

Again, some of it relies more on subtlety--not of the character but how well you can describe or express the character without being too blunt.

Also, now I know why rom-com writers keep repeating cliches - it's damn hard to come up with one true genuine situation.

- mainly because most rom-com writers haven't been in a real romance themselves?

But besides that: As a writer you need to be able to act out your characters to some degree, heroes villains etc. You can take a cliche character andflesh them out and it will be okay, but a lot of writers throw in lots of characters, don;t make them special or distinct, and it just seems to blend in as part of the pavetnbetaafdasdfcv

[Fireminer]

Originally Posted by wavehawk

- Yes we do. But there's a difference between an intense character and an over-the-top character. Each has their place but it all depends on what kind of story you want to do.

Again, some of it relies more on subtlety--not of the character but how well you can describe or express the character without being too blunt.

- mainly because most rom-com writers haven't been in a real romance themselves?

But besides that: As a writer you need to be able to act out your characters to some degree, heroes villains etc. You can take a cliche character andflesh them out and it will be okay, but a lot of writers throw in lots of characters, don;t make them special or distinct, and it just seems to blend in as part of the pavetnbetaafdasdfcv

Agree. And romance itself might be less than exciting for a lot of people who had done it.

Gah! Writing about a married couple is much more easier, especially with children!

By the way, you old foxes haven't do much recently?