T. K. Arispe

Today's writing notes:

Working on: revising Worth Fighting For

One rather major change I'm making in terms of character development is making Hyren read better--namely, making him less grumpy. Well, he's still grumpy, but he's definitely not as annoyed by his family's antics as he acts sometimes. And I also felt that it was important to establish that back when he was with Dr. Sloth's military, Hyren was not a cruel sociopath like Sloth himself--Commander Hyren's just a guy trying to do his job and look out for himself, because he doesn't really have anyone else to look out for. Meeting his future family and having to protect them and work with them helps him realize what a huge emotional void they're filling in his life, which is what the title of the story alludes to--it's the tale of how Hyren found something really worth fighting for, more than his own prestige.

I feel that these changes not only make Hyren more sympathetic - like how I revised Isengrim's character development in Worth Searching For - but make his character arc make more sense, giving a better reason for his change of heart.

Not that I don't believe cruel sociopaths can change (before I left Neopets, I actually kind of wanted to do a story about Hyren's family helping Dr. Sloth), but considering Hyren's present character and personality, I think these alterations make more sense for him as a whole.