DaD Re: Cast List · 8:40am Dec 19th, 2019
Heya, Folks!
Kinda spoilers for DaD here, so I'm putting a page break just in case. But fair warning—long post.
You may remember back in July that I posted a blog about the 'cast list' I've been keeping for DaD. I wanted to know if it was worth continuing it because I had never seen anyone looking at it when I went in to update it and nobody made any kind of comment about using it. The answer was a (relatively) resounding yes.
Here's the thing: the list has become a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, from what I've seen and been told, since there are so many named OCs, it's been helpful for there to be a list because people can keep tabs on who's who when there are gap times between chapters (which has happened way more than I would like), and there have been instances where descriptions weren't written into the narrative, so some characters that may have been (or are) important were literally just names. On the other hand, because there are so many named OCs, having every single one of them named and described in the list has been overwhelming, especially since there are some characters that have been either mentioned or appeared maybe once and then were never seen again, or just never seen 'on-screen.' I did say in the list intro that each character would have a coat and mane color and a relationship to someone included in it so you knew at least the basics of who they were and what they looked like. Herein lies the problem: for some of these named characters, descriptions have been completely unnecessary (for a variety of reasons, but generally because of that 'never actually being seen 'on-screen' bit), and I've basically just been whipping up color schemes by the seat of my pants (using this website, if you end up in this kind of situation).
Someone made a really good point in the comments:
Frankly, I would have loved to do that. Here's the problem: the reason I even included these 'unimportant' characters in the list in the first place is because I purposely didn't want to make it obvious who was important and who wasn't because I thought it might reveal spoilers. Like, say one character was introduced early on who gets mentioned very briefly and then doesn't appear again for a while, maybe even like, ages. If I put in a description for them then you might be saying, "Okay, no, this character has a description, so they must actually be important; guess I should remember who they are." Even though it would have made things a boatload easier for me, doing the equivalent of putting in a 'null' would make it even more obvious that certain characters weren't important.
One of the other things I mentioned in the list intro was that there would be 'updates' on characters if there was some kind of new development with them. My first thought regarding this is that if you were to look for a character in the lengthy list, you'd likely do a ctrl/cmd-F search to find them, and could potentially see a later development earlier than you should because the name would show up later in the list as well. Even though in this case that I will tell you it doesn't really spoil anything, let's use Crimson Star and Tesla Coil as examples. They were introduced as two of Cotton's friends in chapter 4 when she was still in elementary school, then in Act 2 they appear at Cotton's 16th birthday party having been established as a couple. In this case it didn't really matter, but if it did, if you'd gone searching for Tesla to find her description and discovered that she would have a boyfriend when you were still only reading Act 1, that could be problematic. Say she was a crucial character to the story and she didn't become partners with Crimson until chapter... let's say 45, and that was a big part of the plot. If a ctrl/cmd-F search accidentally brought you to an update instead of her first introduction, not only would that be a spoiler for her, but you'd possibly get glances at other characters that were yet to be introduced.
*Thinking about it, I might actually have a potential solution for this. Anyway—
Now I'm rambling. Let me get back on track (I would say cut to the chase, but there's more coming). Ideally, I would ask if you all would be okay with me just stopping the cast list. Given the first time I asked that, you probably wouldn't be very happy about it. The other option I'm thinking—even though it would likely be a huge hassle—is to retcon in (though technically I don't think it's actually a retcon since the story itself wouldn't be changed) descriptions for all the characters that are seen on screen into the story, then only put characters' names and relationships in the list under their entry chapter. Again, I would want to have them all listed so you don't know who is and who isn't important, but you would at least get an idea of what they looked like in the chapter when they're first introduced.
Then that leads me to what I believe was one of the first reasons the list was even suggested— that characters' descriptions would be forgotten, and then you'd forget what they looked like if there was another gap between their appearances. Then you'd need to go back into the chapter where they were first introduced just to find their description (you'd at least have the chapter where they're introduced listed, but it'd still be a hassle). Say Cotton's friend Daisy Withers was gone (off-screen) for a long time, but frequently mentioned, you'd know she was an important character, but over time might forget what she looked like. When she appeared 'on-screen' again, I wouldn't say something like, "And so Cotton gave her yellow-coated, blue-maned friend a hug after having not seen her for years." That's just stupid and you know it. Then there's a different kind of example: Sergeant Novamac. He's a decently important character, and was introduced as early as the Prologue, but is only mentioned as having a scarlet-gray coat. Even now I've never mentioned his mane color. If you forgot, he's Pinkie Pie's grandson, and thus, his mane is a bright pink, but he dyes it a light brown. I've never mentioned that. I mean, I have an idea of how I could say that in-story, but it's just so telly.
Okay, this is becoming a chapter in itself, so now let me try and cut to the chase. First I'll ask the question that will likely get a 'No' answer— can I stop continuing the cast list? If you'd rather I not, what would some of you suggest in terms of listing the characters while still keeping importance not particularly clear? Just writing names into the cast list would be easy enough for me to continue doing— but continuing with listing color schemes is just getting to be too much of a challenge, especially in cases where it really isn't important. One thing I can think of that might possibly help is to use white font so highlighting is required to find out information that might potentially be spoilers, but that can only do so much.
I'm turning to you guys for a little advice here.
—LD
If its that hard on you, I dont mind if you stop updating the list. You should probably still keep it open so we check up on some earlier chapters, though.
5171994
Well, check out the comments in the post I linked at the top and you might think otherwise...
Personally, I'd suggest changing the cast list drastically in a way that makes it simpler.
Each character have listed "First Appearance" with the chapter the character first appears in. If said character does not have a complete physical description in said chapter, include the description as well. Include nothing else. Literally make it a cast list, rather than a character list.
5172024
Hm... I'm liking the sound of this. You mean something akin to a cast list at the end of a movie with "(In order of appearance)"? And characters that don't need to have physical descriptions due to not being on screen just leave those out?
One of the other ideas I had was to have a separate document with the character updates that would be linked to that would be in white font so only highlighted text would be seen. Like:
On Cast list: Update1 (insert link to—)
Update list: Update1: [Insert update text]
5172032
Yeah, that's more or less what I mean.
Unless someone's using a different view method.
5172040
Hm. I realized this doesn't quite solve the problem. It's the physical descriptions that are the main issue. Listing the characters' basic identities is easy enough— and I think that was actually the original issue: people forgetting who the characters are, not necessarily what they look like. I started putting in descriptions when I realized some of the important characters didn't have them in the narrative. But then I realized that if I don't want it to be obvious who is and isn't important (because it might be a spoiler), I would have to give everyone a description if they were given a name. So now the challenge is determining how to, all at once:
1) Give characters that are important descriptions if they aren't in the narrative
2) Not need to give characters that aren't important descriptions
3) Not make it overtly obvious who's important and who isn't
I may have misunderstood what you meant if you think your suggestion did do all three of those at once.
5172133
Hmm...
Maybe the problem is how complex you make the descriptions. I mean, using the example you gave in the blog, the cast list should look like this:
Novamac: Prologue chapter X; scarlet grey coat, pink mane dyed brown
Name, first appearance, very basic physical description
And if you want to throw things off, if a full physical description wasn't given yet, you can just have it say "Not yet revealed" whether the character is important or not.
5172156
Hm. Well, if I'm looking at your example properly, let me try something and add some notes to get your take:
Not narrated
However, will be seen later *Twist is mentioned multiple times, but not actually seen until the war arc. And even then, a description isn't mentioned. Would his description be given here? It seems like it would be kind of... late.
Basically never mentioned again, and technically isn't actually an OC
5172197
Everything in blue and red would be - and would remain - "Not yet revealed". The idea is to link back to the first appearance...and that's it.
5172198
Ahh, key word is 'yet'...
And if descriptions are in the narrative later?
5172201
Still leave it as "yet", because at the time of first appearance, it was not yet revealed.
5172214
Got it.
Alrighty then. Thanks a bunch.
Now to go make a V2.