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He roller-coaster, he got early warning He got muddy water, he one mojo filter He say "One and one and one is three" Got to be good-looking 'cause he's so hard to see Come together right now over me -- John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Come Together red is a creator with enormous potential, who has stuck with the FPL through thick and thin for years. His story-driven characters often catch the eye of the more sophisticated set of FPL readers. While he has yet to win a Main Event, red has several characters in the Hall of Fame, and is always a force to be reckoned with. This past summer he set up a website for so-called "red Challenge"s, a device to help newbies learn to write and all creators develop more discipline and variety in their work. Here red takes time out of his day to answer a few questions with poise and thoughtfulness. Abdiel changes topic to 'We're going to paint the town, red.' red catchy. Abdiel Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions for all your adoring fans, red. red Both of them will be thrilled. (and I'm one) Abdiel If you've read the archives, you'll know what my first question is. But just in case you haven't... Which of your creations do you feel is your "greatest success", and why? red I'm really split on the subject. I think that my greatest creation would have to be either Walden or my Variations characters. I really don't view success as votes, really. My creations are successful if I feel that they accomplished everything I wanted them to. Walden definitely does that. When I read that character, I feel satisfied, I can see her. Abdiel Do you have a common goal for all your creations, or are your expectations tailored differently for each one? red That is a toughie. I guess I would say that they are tailored. For the Variation series of characters I am trying to make a series of four characters that are essentially the exact same, but under different possibilities, different timelines, different dimensions, etc... Success there looks very different from someone like Red & Rosario In Love, for example. Abdiel So is there any one quality that you feel your "successful" characters have in common? red One thing about the characters I am making in the Variation series is that they all have some connection to each other and their pasts. The details that are included always have to refer back to the other characters that preceded, while in R&R in Love, it was more like, "well, what can I throw at them next?" Abdiel What about when determining the worth of others' creations? What, to you, separates "good" characters from truly amazing ones? And can you give us an example or two of each type? red A good character is one that can stand up on its own, like The Facts of Life Hydra. Good concept, good execution, it stands on its own. A great character feels alive, you can picture the character. It may not have a cool power set-up, but it’s got a great concept behind it, and definite personality and voice in the narration. A great character would have to be Trevor Bouvier Not only does the narrative depict him as insane and absolutely brilliant, but his own voice and personality give him incredible narrative power. He could have only taken "Communication with Plants" and still have been successful. Abdiel Which creators do you feel consistently create great characters? In other words, who are your picks for the top 3 creators of all time? red Landon is at the top of everyone's list, and not without reason. The guy makes consistently solid characters. I would definitely add Corporal Tarquin; he knows personality better than anyone out there. Finally, I have liked everything that Evangelist has put out. Lemming would be up there, though... And Lawman... etc... down the list. Abdiel Do you have any advice for newbie creators who have yet to have their first successful character (by any definition)? red Let me answer this three ways... 1) Newbies who have never made anything at all and come in trying to make their first character should let their first five characters die, and get as much advice as possible. 2) Newbies who can't seem to break the 5 or 6 win cap, try to create something never seen before, with your own twist on it. In other words, find your own way of writing. 3) Newbies who can't seem to get anyone to vote for their characters: don't worry about it. While the game is to win, the real thing is to create. Once you start creating what you enjoy, your writing tech will get better. After a while you learn to write in the genre, the FPL is a genre. Abdiel Speaking of voting, roughly what percentage of matches would you say you vote on? What are your criteria for determining who should win a match? red That one varies on how busy I am, sadly. I try to vote on as many as possible, but when there are a lot of new characters, I will only vote on the ones I have already read. Currently, that is something like....say.......50%? The last few rounds, though, I was able to vote on all. Criteria: Usually which I think was better executed. As in, more personality, more story (usually implied), better detail... Abdiel Do you feel serious characters have a natural advantage over humorous ones in this regard? red Absolutely not. Funny characters seem to have an edge, here. Abdiel how so? red The most over done concepts are all serious. Very few action heroes are very different. You won't see any in the FPL cause they are so hard to do. Currently, it’s a bit more trendy for serious characters to win, if that is what you are talking about, but something like the Dead Man in Dean's Fridge will always win over Destroyer Mark 8 or something like that. DMOD sorta grins red Also, humour characters are always changing. Serious characters have to act in character, while funny ones can crack jokes breaking the fourth wall, etc... If a serious character comes back in a way unnatural, we won't accept him. That is what happened to the second Tommy Lost the Battle character--it wasn't a real change in my opinion. Austin's OTHERS insert came back as an insert hunter, and we were all like, cool. Personality to the extreme. Abdiel interesting. So what, to you, prevents more humorous characters, joke characters from becoming one-trick ponies? red The character must still be real. Back story, characterization, plot, narrative voice. It can't just be a joke contained within a paragraph that gets expounded upon the entire character sheet. I can't come up with too many examples of bad characters, cause most of them don't really stick in my mind Abdiel Do you count Rika characters among that group, or did they have depth, in your mind? red I enjoyed the different levels of humor in the Rika characters. I tended to vote for them, unless there was something just way too cool battling them. Their success had to do with their concept: playing around with FPL current issues. Munch Monster for example. The character would never have passed by [when we had review], but it was so frickin hilarious that it kept racking up the wins. red That was when the character review was taken out. Abdiel Some of my other interviewees have suggested that while they enjoy humor characters, they feel that they shouldn't often win the highest honors available to FPL creations: the Main Event, and the CoC, since the winners of these contests "represent" the FPL in some respect. How would you respond to this? red Humor represents the FPL every bit as much as serious characters. Sometimes these characters represent the FPL better than serious characters because the serious ones can't comment on the fpl, or even live in Khazan at times. Dodge Murphy was, to some extent the representation of the FPL: He was written through other characters, and very aware of his surroundings in Khazan. Someone like Sphere was not Khazan-aware. Someone like The Dead Man In Dean's Fridge, again, was very aware and worked marvelously. In my mind, it’s not a factor. Abdiel What inspires you, when you're creating characters? Any particular form of media (literature, movies, etc) that seems to have more influence over your works than others? red I thought about this a lot. I think what ever comes out of us, in whatever art form, is a product of everything we have been taking in. Clara Ands, who I started my most successful fic about, is a manifestation of some Feminist Theory I have been reading lately. Specifically about Simone de Beauvoir, a French Feminist, who talked about the nature of women as being confined to being the Other/object of any One/Subject-Other/Object relationship. So I thought, "How can a man create a Feminist Character?" And obviously its one estranged from the perspective of the writer, so no one understands what she is doing, but only instead the power she wields. Then again, sometimes it’s watching cartoons. red shrugs red DeDestroyah wouldn't let me put a DBZ reference in our collab character... Abdiel What's your take on collaborative efforts between creators in the FPL? Do you think they add another element to the mix, or are they usually just self-congratulatory, going-through-the-motions showcases? red A bit of both. First off, they add an element of continuity through the battles and matches. I like that. But then again, a lot of people join in like it’s the flavor for the week, and don't put a lot of effort into it. Ok, another shameless plug here, but the same thing goes with The red Challenge. A lot of people just go through the motions, but in some other cases, it helps people hone their writing talents. Basically it’s an open-ended collab. I like to take advantage of those situations if they get me thinking of really cool ideas... but if I have to strain to think of what to do, then it’s not worth it. Abdiel Is there any particular direction you want to take these "red challenge"s in the future? Or are they accomplishing what they've set out to accomplish? red They are doing a pretty good job right now, but I would like to keep them directed to problems I see in the FPL. For example, there was one a while back that required the character to be based off of a previous character in the hall of fame, while simultaneously containing resistances. There were a lot of "newbies" at the time, so it got them plugged into the hall of fame. Also, after the first week we had people complaining about how powerful resistances were, though no one was using them within the previous month. I just look for problems, and set to it. Sometimes, though, its just plain old challenging. Abdiel What prompted you to start these challenges in the first place? Were you inspired by Pie's old create-a-character threads, or did you feel one issue simply had to be addressed? red I didn't know about Pie's old threads, I guess that was before my time. I dunno, I just wanted to be a part of the FPL canon. Also, it was nice to address the issue, certainly. It's pretty much created for newbies. I do them, occasionally though. I was going to update the site for November with an email address to submit characters to, so that newbies could get some feedback. Abdiel What's your take on "unofficial teams" in the FPL? Any particular ones you'd like to point out for their awesomeness (or distinct lack thereof)? red I think that unofficial teams are really good for variety. They inspire new ideas and foster a sense of the FPL canon. I really like a lot of FUBAR characters. I don't know too much about many of the other ones, except the OTHERS and COMING, but they have pretty much disbanded. Perhaps one of the coolest characters out there is Jim Strange, and we wouldn't have him without both LotMU and the LotMU revivalists that eventually turned into FUBAR. They give variety and coherency where there isn't any, in teams like MH or SLJ of the Fallen. I think the most disappointing one, however, was the Society of Shadows. DMOD twitches red I think it was mainly cause Xyex started with that one too early in his creative career. If he had started it now, when he is making good character after good character, it would have a lot more solid basis. Just my own personal preference. He just wasn't ready for it. Abdiel Do you feel the FPL's IC elements are an important part of the whole experience? Do IC works help characters become more successful, or are they not a factor? Also, what are some of your favorite sagas? red I doubt they are a factor, but I still love the IC element. Let’s see...probably the OTHERS and COMING storylines, just cause they all got so mixed up and convoluted. I was barely a part of the OTHERS, just really at the tale end when it fizzled, so mostly I am talking about their earlier efforts. The Apocalypse was good, just took me a long time to get through. heh. Good, though. They are, though, a very important part of the experience. I would suggest that people pick one or two IC stories to keep up with, but not too much more cause then they start running together. Abdiel Do you think "elitism" exists in the FPL? If so, what if anything should be done about it? red No, elitism does not exist in the FPL. I would chalk all of it down to learning the form of the character creation. Character creation is a type of literature creation in and of itself, different from poetry or short stories. Some people have learned that form really well. Elitism, though? No. Abdiel What would you say makes you unique in the FPL community - a certain style of creation, technique in writing, presence in chat/on the boards, etc, that separates you from everyone else. Basically, how would the average FPLer remember you? red I don't think I am in any way unique, here in the FPL. Right now, I have one character in the Hall of Fame, a couple on the various team pages. Probably for the red Challenges, though I hope for the story-based characters and continuity throughout all my characters. All of them exist in the same universe, you see, so they will reface to each other. Abdiel If you could change any one thing about the way the FPL operates, what would it be? red I would keep the 25 point advancement throughout the power levels, but I would have a few powers that start at very low numbers, like 5 or 10. Probably add a fan boy kit. Give Serge an interactive throne room with all of us as his meager subjects. Abdiel what would the fan boy kit entail? red Oh, automatic weakness to Pheromones for starters. +25 to the mind stat, cause most of them are rather....geekish, y'know? -10 to both body and strength. heh. Must be accompanied by an anime pic. red nods, sagely. Abdiel Are there any dream matches between your characters and others that you wish had happened? Any matches you wish you could do-over? red Na. The best match ever was between Chance Ikkoshi and Omnifish. That was a perfect match, story wise and power wise. I would like to beat up Spock though. Abdiel good luck red thanks. Abdiel Do you have any plans for future characters or stories you'd like to share? red Oh yeah. Tons. I have my unititled fic totally mapped out in my mind, two more Variations characters as different as can be...etc.. red So, the Variation characters are essentially the same character, having splintered due to his nature of being a collection of the same soul compounded upon itself from alternate dimensions, so he is split up again, and several of those different versions of himself survive, living radically different lives while being the same person. It gets complicated. The untitled fic involves two timelines going different dimensions, but that is all I'll say about that. I could go into more detail, but it wouldn't be too interesting, until the final result. Abdiel Who do you feel is due for their first ME win? red Man, I barely keep up with who has won and who hasn't.... Abdiel you can name someone who's greatly underappreciated then, if you want red Let me think a moment... Lord of Nothings could use some further recognition. He makes wonderfully crafted characters. And David, Master of Disaster. DMOD has that very....chaotic feel to him. Abdiel If there were an actual "FPLCon" where all the creators got together in one place, and money was not a concern, would you attend? red Absolutely. Further, I would require everyone to Cosplay one of their own creations. Abdiel Anyone you think you'd want to avoid, "in real life"? red Not really, but then again I have a sick fascination with odd people. Eh. Yeah, I would see them all. Abdiel What's your favorite article of clothing? red Coats. Love coats, the heavier (weight wise) the better. Abdiel any particular kind? red I used to wear a green trench coat everywhere, but it got really old - now I wear either a leather coat or a sports jacket when I can, in sort of a quasi-punk fashion. Abdiel what's your favorite time of day, and your favorite season? red I like winter, cause you get to throw weather at people. I like the afternoon cause I'm finally awake. Also, about seven pm is pretty good. No reason. Abdiel Who should I interview next, if you had your way? red Probably Captain Moltar, cause the whole coming out from Lemming as Moltar was a pretty big shocker. Also, he creates cool stuff. Can I say Lawman and pretend to be psychic? Abdiel Landon slacks on many projects. Which of them should he finish first? red Lets work on the Heart of Dios, first. But then, I would love to see him do that Student tourney again with a full out IC collab. Abdiel If you could kill one person and get away with it, who would your target be? red Santa Claus. Cause technically he doesn't exist, yet it would impact the youth of the world. Except in a bad way, I guess. Otherwise Gary Coleman. No reason. Abdiel What, am I a clown to you? Am I here to amuse you? red Finally you realize. Abdiel What did you do on your 18th birthday? red That was, like, forever ago. I'm nearly 22. So, let’s see. I think I got out of school, cause it’s in December, right after school got out. And I did some cool stuff that was really amazing. Abdiel What's the best book/movie/TV show/entertainment form we're not experiencing? Anything non-FPL you'd like to plug? red Probably everything I know other people already know. But, I would like to plug Sluggy Freelance at Sluggy.com, and POCHO.com, which is a really funny site about Chicano culture satire. Abdiel Do you wear sunscreen? red I live in Colorado, the worst area in the US for sunburn, so yeah, when I hike and stuff. red Why, do you? Abdiel hey, I'll ask the questions here. If there were a movie about your life, who would you want to play you? Bonus question: who would they really GET to play you? red I think I would like Vin Diesel to play me....but they would probably get Antonio Banderas...he is always up for those heavily masculine roles where all the women swoon...yep. Abdiel Do you... Yahoo? red beats DMOD with a fish DMOD jerks back up red I have no witty response to that. Instead I (insert a catch phrase here) Abdiel To be, or not to be? red Twas. DMOD or better yet: Two beers, or Not two beers, what WAS the question? red Three for me, and I'm feeling just fine... Abdiel Okay, I think that's about it for me. Thanks for talking with us, red. Anything you want to say to the FPL at large while you're still in the spotlight? You have the last word. red uhhhmmmmm......Obey your thirst! Previous Rants |
