Some recommendations and a writing tip on the side

I have once again returned to do my usual rant to myself. Blogs are a good thing to look back on, honestly I've treated them more as a diary if anything else. Part of me feels as if I should do more of these, more self reflection in written form spurs on more action, but at the same time I don't think about this place most of the time. Out of sight out of mind ya know? Course as per the title I decided I'd do some reading, that friend of mine that was writing sort of dumped his idea and started doing other things, but as per usual I didn't dump it immediately after.

With that in mind I couldn't quite read his stuff since he wasn't writing and I was getting bored of Manhua and Manga. So I came back here to see if there was anything worth reading or revisiting, suffice to say it didn't take long to find it. Skeletor Master of the Empire was a...pleasant surprise. Decided to say fuck it and picked one of the first things on the featured section and it looked like Displaced. Old classic trashy genre? Nostalgia bait right there, and it ended up with me staying up till 6 in the morning and having to force myself to sleep. It was way better than it had any right to be. Got me back on the whole craze.

So I started reading some others such as Horse Feathers which actually was a blast from the past. Didn't even know HAV isn't around anymore when I found this, honestly only reason I found this was because I was searching for Displaced that have a work count about 30,000 which is...rare. This also ended up being really good. Who would've thunk that things tend to be good when someone can stick through with it and actually improve? Real mystery I know.

As for my final suggestion before I move onto some writing tricks I found there's Renegade which started out really trashy. Spelling mistakes and typos everywhere. Home sweet home, but as the story progressed things actually got pretty good. Interesting ideas were introduced and foreshadowing that actually went places. Frankly I would love it if more people read this one, since I doubt the other two I mentioned need any help in getting around. While the first two I mentioned start good and stay good if not get better Renegade was interesting cause that's not how things were.

Now with those suggestions out the way allow me to regal you all with a tale. One day I just so happened to find a youtube channel called Film Courage and found an interview where a screenwriter talked about this thing called the Enneagram. It's a personality test type thing albeit with a lot more nuance then the other ones where it outlines the basic fears and motivators for the 9 different types and how the good and bad aspects of each type can come through a person. For example Type Two, The Helper, are empathetic, sincere, and warm-hearted. However, their greatest fear is being unwanted and unloved and how this fear affects them shifts how their personality comes through. Such as some being selfless in their acts to help others, finding the love they want in simple thanks. While others may be highly possessive and try and force people into situations where others have to rely on them, so they won't fear being unneeded. Using such simple fears and goals as a base template really helps solidify how every character can interact with one another. such as Type Four, The Individualist, has their main goal to be to find themselves, to gain some kind significance in their own life. With two sides of the coin for Type Two and Four they would obviously get along as they bounce of each other, while you can easily find types that naturally throw each other off.

In conclusion, when writing side characters I'd recommend an Enneagram or some variant when making any characters. Even if the depth of that character only goes as far as being just vaguely afraid of something it still helps flesh them out enough to bring something interesting to the table. Stereotypes aren't bad, they just need to be used with purpose and the Enneagram helped me see how they can be.