The logical question that came with designing the clothes: why would this character wear this instead of that? More precisely, why is this character wearing a Sheriff attire and who is he?
This is where I started attributing roles to these people and fleshing out my story a little bit more. The plot itself is far from finished, even one year later (of course not spent on writing that story) and it has evolved and changed a lot since its first draft, but the characters are still pretty much the same.
My story is a fanfiction. I did not create those characters. Who are they?
Amour Sucré is a point-and-click game that takes place in a high school. The playable character is a new student and almost all the characters around her are students as well, with a few teachers, some other teenagers, and parents. As I said in the first post, they are all stereotypes - fanfiction allows more flexibility. The goal is to reappropriate these characters and make them unique and interesting.
The main cast of the game is essentially composed of potential love interests and classmates.
Castiel is a bad boy, living on his own with his dog (Demon) since his parents travel a lot. He has dark red hair, likes rock music, plays guitar and hates everybody.
Of course, his arch enemy is Nathaniel, a hard-working student and class representative. Nathaniel is a calm, blonde boy who wears ties and white shirts, likes serious people and administrative stuff. He hates Castiel and likes detective novels. In one episode, the main character discovers he has bruises on his back - there is no explanation yet, but the next episode will probably reveal why. The most obvious theory is child abuse; in the game, he mentions his parents are quite hard on him and the bruises are discovered the day after a problematic event.
Castiel has a best friend: Lysander. He's a weirdo who lives in another era; he has white hair that fades to dark green/black, one green eye and one golden eye. He's polite and friendly, wears Victorian clothes, writes poems, and sings. He also forgets a lot of things. Besides his uncommon looks, not much is known about him, he seems to be a normal student. His personality is simple enough to be expanded in multiple directions when writing about him.
Kentin is the main character's childhood acquaintance, but the game gives you the choice to be more or less friendly with him. During the first episodes, he appears as a small boy with acne, huge glasses and ugly sweaters ; he follows the main character everywhere and is deeply in love with her. You can choose whether or not to return that affection.
At some point in the game, he leaves for a military school, on demand of his father who thinks he should become a real man. He later returns as a handsome teenager wearing military pants and acting like a jerk on occasions. He pretends he's not afraid of Castiel and always acts with more confidence than he has.
Nathaniel has a younger sister, Amber, who is the main character's rival. Blonde and attractive, she acts like a queen and is always followed by her two friends, Li and Charlotte, who never say much. She has a crush on Castiel and bullies the main character and Kentin.
The class representatives have an office and you can often meet the other class rep, Melody, a serious and gentle student who has a crush on Nathaniel. There are a few more characters in the game that you can regularly talk to and who will help you during certain episodes. You can sometimes meet Dakota, the PE teacher's nephew who comes from Australia and likes pretty ladies. In the game, he always appears flirting with the main character, kissing her on occasion and almost harrassing her.
Who would they be in a stereotypical western movie?
I chose to have the same kind of dynamics as in the game: i kept the playable character as the main character of my story. A lot of what happens revolves around her as we see the game through her eyes. I am still working on her; she originates from the game but most of her personality is based on myself and I'm trying to make her unique and likeable while not being stereotypical or shallow.
Nathaniel is the head of the student administration in the game; him being a Sheriff was an obvious solution. I liked the idea of him being in a leading role while having trouble to keep up with the expectations, both of the people he has to protect and of his father - thus making a parallel with the original character, except I decided to kill his father in my version, making their relationship harder to forgive and understand.
I'm not sure women had any positions of power in the Old West, but screw that, I live in 2014 and write fan fiction. Melody is, of course, assisting the Sheriff in his duties — and has a crush on him. I want, however, to give her a more important role than the very poor one she has in the game.
Castiel was an easy choice to make too. He's kind of an outsider, doesn't like people and does his own thing while still being one of the good guys. In my story, he's a mercenary. I liked the idea of having him not really follow any rules, but still somehow work to make a living. Castiel being a cowboy in the literal meaning, participating in cattle drives, didn't really seem fitting. Killing or capturing bad guys sounded much better for someone like him. I want to focus on his very independent nature, while having some sort of internal conflict because he actually needs to let people into his life. He also has daddy issues.
I am keeping their rivalry and am hoping to expand a little on it, since I like to think someone would convince Nathaniel to look past their conflicts to realize Castiel is the best man he can trust to avenge his father and find his murderer.
Lysander was introduced by Castiel in the game. In fan fiction, the two are often associated too. It seemed logical to have him run after criminals with his best friend. While Castiel is fine with that kind of life, due to Lysander's more serious and thoughtful nature, I chose to give him some ambition. He doesn't like killing, and wants to make a name for himself to eventually join the Pinkerton Detective Agency - which I discovered through the Lucky Luke comics and did some research on.
I had the good guys, but I needed bad guys too.
In western movies, the bad guys are criminals, generally unwashed murderers missing teeth, with some exceptions since Henry Fonda is definitely too classy for that.
In Amour Sucré, the "villain" is Nathaniel's sister. Except she's not really evil, she's just stupid and her only goal in life is to be the fairest of them all. One reason why she's opposing the main character is her love for Castiel, who is one of the possible love interests - and who is generally a lot friendlier to the playable character than he is to Amber.
In an Old West setting, I couldn't really find a reason for her to be the villain, especially since she was the Sheriff's sister. She can consider herself a queen and keep her privilege, but I didn't want her to necessarily be one of the main characters. I still haven't fully settled on her evolution yet, but I definitely want to change her a bit since the original character is really dull. Rather than having her being the leader of the "mean girls" I think I will make her discover her purpose when she meets Li and Charlotte, who are far more experienced in life and extremely different role models from what she has been used to.
For some reason, I immediately thought of making Charlotte the main antagonist in my story. In the game, she never talks but has this very judgemental look on her face. I decided she would be the one who killed Nathaniel's father, the former Sheriff. This story is still a huge work in progress so I'm not quite set on her motivations.
Charlotte doesn't need to be evil, or at least not entirely. She just needs to be the personification of independence and power. She's a leader, but doesn't care for her followers. She's respected but doesn't have any respect for the majority of people. I want to make her be some kind of fascinating, free woman (who don't need no man). I would like her to influence either Suzanne (the main character) or Amber in some way, bringing them another perspective of life.
Another character I am completely changing is Li. In the game, the rare times when Li speaks, she says really dumb stuff and just follows Amber (I'll say more about this relationship later). Her default pose is her putting red lipstick on. Once again, I wanted to expand on this unknown character — the nice thing about empty characters is that you can fill them however you like.
In Lucky Luke comics, I've always seen the saloons featuring a band of cabaret dancers. Li could be one of them. A dancer, really attractive, provocative and seductive but she plays by her own rules and can't be touched if she doesn't want to. I like the idea of her having lived a somehow hard life but always getting back up stronger. She has seen a lot of things but she is only wiser.
There are two other particular characters I don't really know what to make of.
Kentin is barely out of his teens, used to be a timid and fragile boy, and was in love with Suzanne when he was younger. I don't really know his role or purpose in the story, but I like having him being the cliché young man trying to prove himself, pretending he's a badass and playing with guns for showoff. I want him to be in the "grey" zone, not really being a villain but not a good guy either. He kind of rebelled against the bullying and authority people had over him when he was younger, and he joined a gang of bandits. He's an outlaw but is probably not meant to be one.
Finally, I want to include Dakota as yet another outlaw who isn't really evil either.
In the game, he's a charming young man, who likes surfing and flirting. He does seem genuinely friendly and funny, be he can prove to be quite annoying and almost sexually harassing the main character. I will probably get rid of that last part in my story.
I don't know what to do with him and he will probably not be as important as I originally wanted him to be. He's not part of the main cast of the game, which is why I want him to have a bigger role here — I have read too many stories about Castiel, Nathaniel and Lysander, and I want to write more about secondary characters and their theoretical lives.
There are a lot more other characters but these are the main ones I want to write about. One of my principal challenges will be not to let my story become too cluttered and messy: if I start tying too many intrigues and characters, will the readers be lost? It makes me think about A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin — I forget the less important names, I remember the main characters but not necessarily all the plots when I stop reading for a while. A number of my friends have told me there were too many people in ASOIAF to follow.
This is where I started attributing roles to these people and fleshing out my story a little bit more. The plot itself is far from finished, even one year later (of course not spent on writing that story) and it has evolved and changed a lot since its first draft, but the characters are still pretty much the same.
My story is a fanfiction. I did not create those characters. Who are they?
Amour Sucré is a point-and-click game that takes place in a high school. The playable character is a new student and almost all the characters around her are students as well, with a few teachers, some other teenagers, and parents. As I said in the first post, they are all stereotypes - fanfiction allows more flexibility. The goal is to reappropriate these characters and make them unique and interesting.
The main cast of the game is essentially composed of potential love interests and classmates.
Castiel is a bad boy, living on his own with his dog (Demon) since his parents travel a lot. He has dark red hair, likes rock music, plays guitar and hates everybody.
Of course, his arch enemy is Nathaniel, a hard-working student and class representative. Nathaniel is a calm, blonde boy who wears ties and white shirts, likes serious people and administrative stuff. He hates Castiel and likes detective novels. In one episode, the main character discovers he has bruises on his back - there is no explanation yet, but the next episode will probably reveal why. The most obvious theory is child abuse; in the game, he mentions his parents are quite hard on him and the bruises are discovered the day after a problematic event.
Castiel has a best friend: Lysander. He's a weirdo who lives in another era; he has white hair that fades to dark green/black, one green eye and one golden eye. He's polite and friendly, wears Victorian clothes, writes poems, and sings. He also forgets a lot of things. Besides his uncommon looks, not much is known about him, he seems to be a normal student. His personality is simple enough to be expanded in multiple directions when writing about him.
Kentin is the main character's childhood acquaintance, but the game gives you the choice to be more or less friendly with him. During the first episodes, he appears as a small boy with acne, huge glasses and ugly sweaters ; he follows the main character everywhere and is deeply in love with her. You can choose whether or not to return that affection.
At some point in the game, he leaves for a military school, on demand of his father who thinks he should become a real man. He later returns as a handsome teenager wearing military pants and acting like a jerk on occasions. He pretends he's not afraid of Castiel and always acts with more confidence than he has.
Nathaniel has a younger sister, Amber, who is the main character's rival. Blonde and attractive, she acts like a queen and is always followed by her two friends, Li and Charlotte, who never say much. She has a crush on Castiel and bullies the main character and Kentin.
The class representatives have an office and you can often meet the other class rep, Melody, a serious and gentle student who has a crush on Nathaniel. There are a few more characters in the game that you can regularly talk to and who will help you during certain episodes. You can sometimes meet Dakota, the PE teacher's nephew who comes from Australia and likes pretty ladies. In the game, he always appears flirting with the main character, kissing her on occasion and almost harrassing her.
Who would they be in a stereotypical western movie?
I chose to have the same kind of dynamics as in the game: i kept the playable character as the main character of my story. A lot of what happens revolves around her as we see the game through her eyes. I am still working on her; she originates from the game but most of her personality is based on myself and I'm trying to make her unique and likeable while not being stereotypical or shallow.
Nathaniel is the head of the student administration in the game; him being a Sheriff was an obvious solution. I liked the idea of him being in a leading role while having trouble to keep up with the expectations, both of the people he has to protect and of his father - thus making a parallel with the original character, except I decided to kill his father in my version, making their relationship harder to forgive and understand.
I'm not sure women had any positions of power in the Old West, but screw that, I live in 2014 and write fan fiction. Melody is, of course, assisting the Sheriff in his duties — and has a crush on him. I want, however, to give her a more important role than the very poor one she has in the game.
Castiel was an easy choice to make too. He's kind of an outsider, doesn't like people and does his own thing while still being one of the good guys. In my story, he's a mercenary. I liked the idea of having him not really follow any rules, but still somehow work to make a living. Castiel being a cowboy in the literal meaning, participating in cattle drives, didn't really seem fitting. Killing or capturing bad guys sounded much better for someone like him. I want to focus on his very independent nature, while having some sort of internal conflict because he actually needs to let people into his life. He also has daddy issues.
I am keeping their rivalry and am hoping to expand a little on it, since I like to think someone would convince Nathaniel to look past their conflicts to realize Castiel is the best man he can trust to avenge his father and find his murderer.
Lysander was introduced by Castiel in the game. In fan fiction, the two are often associated too. It seemed logical to have him run after criminals with his best friend. While Castiel is fine with that kind of life, due to Lysander's more serious and thoughtful nature, I chose to give him some ambition. He doesn't like killing, and wants to make a name for himself to eventually join the Pinkerton Detective Agency - which I discovered through the Lucky Luke comics and did some research on.
I had the good guys, but I needed bad guys too.
In western movies, the bad guys are criminals, generally unwashed murderers missing teeth, with some exceptions since Henry Fonda is definitely too classy for that.
In Amour Sucré, the "villain" is Nathaniel's sister. Except she's not really evil, she's just stupid and her only goal in life is to be the fairest of them all. One reason why she's opposing the main character is her love for Castiel, who is one of the possible love interests - and who is generally a lot friendlier to the playable character than he is to Amber.
For some reason, I immediately thought of making Charlotte the main antagonist in my story. In the game, she never talks but has this very judgemental look on her face. I decided she would be the one who killed Nathaniel's father, the former Sheriff. This story is still a huge work in progress so I'm not quite set on her motivations.
Charlotte doesn't need to be evil, or at least not entirely. She just needs to be the personification of independence and power. She's a leader, but doesn't care for her followers. She's respected but doesn't have any respect for the majority of people. I want to make her be some kind of fascinating, free woman (who don't need no man). I would like her to influence either Suzanne (the main character) or Amber in some way, bringing them another perspective of life.
Another character I am completely changing is Li. In the game, the rare times when Li speaks, she says really dumb stuff and just follows Amber (I'll say more about this relationship later). Her default pose is her putting red lipstick on. Once again, I wanted to expand on this unknown character — the nice thing about empty characters is that you can fill them however you like.
In Lucky Luke comics, I've always seen the saloons featuring a band of cabaret dancers. Li could be one of them. A dancer, really attractive, provocative and seductive but she plays by her own rules and can't be touched if she doesn't want to. I like the idea of her having lived a somehow hard life but always getting back up stronger. She has seen a lot of things but she is only wiser.
Kentin is barely out of his teens, used to be a timid and fragile boy, and was in love with Suzanne when he was younger. I don't really know his role or purpose in the story, but I like having him being the cliché young man trying to prove himself, pretending he's a badass and playing with guns for showoff. I want him to be in the "grey" zone, not really being a villain but not a good guy either. He kind of rebelled against the bullying and authority people had over him when he was younger, and he joined a gang of bandits. He's an outlaw but is probably not meant to be one.
Finally, I want to include Dakota as yet another outlaw who isn't really evil either.
In the game, he's a charming young man, who likes surfing and flirting. He does seem genuinely friendly and funny, be he can prove to be quite annoying and almost sexually harassing the main character. I will probably get rid of that last part in my story.
I don't know what to do with him and he will probably not be as important as I originally wanted him to be. He's not part of the main cast of the game, which is why I want him to have a bigger role here — I have read too many stories about Castiel, Nathaniel and Lysander, and I want to write more about secondary characters and their theoretical lives.
There are a lot more other characters but these are the main ones I want to write about. One of my principal challenges will be not to let my story become too cluttered and messy: if I start tying too many intrigues and characters, will the readers be lost? It makes me think about A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin — I forget the less important names, I remember the main characters but not necessarily all the plots when I stop reading for a while. A number of my friends have told me there were too many people in ASOIAF to follow.
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