Other Your Characters Come to Life: How Screwed are You?

[MizuHi]

Exactly what the title says. Some of us made characters who are good, upstanding citizens. Some of us made characters with highly questionable moral and life choice. Then there are some that enjoy making irredeemable monsters or apocalypse bringers. So, if all of your characters came to life to meet you, how would it go and how high is your chance of survival?

 

[Simon_Hawk]

If the characters come to life knowing that you, the creator, are responsible for their life being made a living hell would be interesting. I usually make good guys but if they knew I was the sole reason their life sucked and that I caused all the bad stuff to happen to them, might make them want to do some good old-fashioned bodily harm to me. haha

 

[Crayons]

If the characters come to life knowing that you, the creator, are responsible for their life being made a living hell would be interesting. I usually make good guys but if they knew I was the sole reason their life sucked and that I caused all the bad stuff to happen to them, might make them want to do some good old-fashioned bodily harm to me. haha

Same. My people aren't all good guys but I'm sure none of them would be pleased with their creator deity XD

 

[Simon_Hawk]

Same. My people aren't all good guys but I'm sure none of them would be pleased with their creator deity XD

Exactly. Most of mine live in medieval fantasy realms, they are pretty used to fighting and killing, so I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult for them to kick my butt....they'd probably get XP for it! XDDDD

 

[Crayons]

Exactly. Most of mine live in medieval fantasy realms, they are pretty used to fighting and killing, so I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult for them to kick my butt....they'd probably get XP for it! XDDDD

I know for sure that it would be my morally challenged character Suiren who would slip some poison into my drink...and she'd be hella smug about it too. :/

 

[Simon_Hawk]

morally challenged

lmao, that's a good way to put it. XD

 

[nerdy tangents]

Mine are the type to adopt strays so they would probably feed me tbh.

They might tease me about never following thru on their storylines but there would be no real drama.

 

[Melpomene]

There is one particular I worry would chop me with a sword since I have denied him of his security on his throne...

And another might literally smash my head in, though he has been failing upwards rather decently.

The rest I would be scared of a beating but perhaps not death.

 

[BloodThunder27]

I'd have to reserve the entire Maternity Ward at the Hospital. Hope it's not understaffed.

 

[GojiBean]

Oh, this is a fun topic!

Whether or not I'm screwed depends on which character of mine I'm dealing with and whether or not I've done something to wind up on their bad side. Because all characters, to at least some extent, should be capable of doing the unthinkable if the right circumstances are met.

For example, one of my characters is an assassin. He's known as a "Demon" for his brutality and efficiency, but at the same time he doesn't kill indiscriminately. To earn his blade you either have to be the designated target of his mission passed to him by his superiors, or you have to genuinely earn his personal ire by doing something he finds worthwhile to kill you over. So as long as I'm just being me and not bothering anyone, he'll leave me alone. But if I were a lowlife POS who just attacked a woman in a back alley then I'd have every reason to check over my shoulder every 2 seconds to make sure he wasn't there because something like that will put me in his crosshairs. And since I'm not a lowlife POS who would do something like that, I've got nothing to fear from him even if we did meet.

If I may offer a quick tangent and something of a mini-rant about this subject (and this is 100% personal opinion, btw), I believe it's the sign of an incredibly underdeveloped character if you can predict exactly what's going to happen if you cross their path.

Characters with such predictability carry no mystery or anticipation for their next move or their next words, and as a result they're just not that exciting or fun to interact with in my personal experience. If I know exactly how a conversation or physical interaction because my own character and that of someone else's would go before it happens, more often than not I find myself looking for reasons to avoid interacting with that character because I'm already bored with them. I want my character to interact with others that keep me on my toes and that make me wonder what's going to happen next.

Even the most irredeemable villain characters and world-ending antagonistic forces should have at least a little more depth than just being "death if you cross their path."

It's kind of a cheesy example, but take Frieza from DBZ since he's both of the aforementioned. He's a consistently malicious psychopath and world-ending threat, yes. But he's also unpredictable. He doesn't always murder anyone and everyone at the drop of a hat for no reason. Sometimes he decides to have his minions do it instead. Or sometimes he decides to do is, but only after he's gotten what he wants. And sometimes, though it's exceedingly rare, he actually lets someone go if they do as he wants because getting what he wants is what Frieza's all about. Just because you cross his path doesn't mean you're automatically dead. But if you piss him off or annoy him, then yeah. You're very likely going to die. How you're going to die, however, is a mystery until it happens. And that sliver of unpredictability about the how you're going to die is what makes Frieza such a fun villain to watch when he's not in combat situations. He can be remarkable civil even if there are undertones of intimidation and death threats in his well-chosen words.

Anyway, mini rant over.

At the end of the day everything I said above is personal opinion and I believe firmly that everyone should construct their characters however they want. Fiction writing has no rules, and sometimes a good story needs a one-dimensional and predictable villain to counter a much deeper and more nuanced protagonist since the protagonist, not the villain, are the focal point of the story. They might not be the most compelling or award-winning villains ever written. But they still serve a purpose. Even so, I like to think that every character, whether good, evil, or somewhere in between, is capable of more than such predictability as knowing exactly what happens if you cross their path.

Cheers!

 

[MizuHi]

Ah I'm sorry that it isn't clear in the question. When I asked it, I mean what would happen if our characters meet us with full knowledge that we are their authors. But reading the scenario where they meet us a as a random passerby in the street is interesting as well.

That being said, I realized that so far none of my characters would kill me, but only some of them would thank me for giving them a good life (for now), while more than half of them would definitely lock me up and held me at gun/sword point to write a happy ending for them.

 

[GojiBean]

Ah I'm sorry that it isn't clear in the question. When I asked it, I mean what would happen if our characters meet us with full knowledge that we are their authors. But reading the scenario where they meet us a as a random passerby in the street is interesting as well.

That being said, I realized that so far none of my characters would kill me, but only some of them would thank me for giving them a good life (for now), while more than half of them would definitely lock me up and held me at gun/sword point to write a happy ending for them.

Ah. Thanks for clarifying.

Well, in that case I'm 100% screwed because I'm always an evil bastard who tortures my characters to the umpteenth degree in more ways than one to achieve the most impactful and dramatic moments possible. XD

 

[kibou]

My death would be swift.

 

[Jannah]

Mine would be a pretty mixed bag as the characters I write are pretty diverse. At least one of them I would get along with since we cling to similar values.

 

[Villain Shoto Todoroki]

I WOULD BE HELLA SCREWED
I GAVE MY VERSION OF SHOTO SO MANY POWERS THAT WE ALL WOULD BE DEAD Syfer

 

[Anxiety Riddled NERD]

This is interesting. If the characters I created came to life an they were self aware of me an what I've made of their lives. I would probably die in the hands of their powers lol.

 

[FoolsErin]

Depending on which character, I'd either have a new good friend or get executed without a second thought. Mostly the latter. Probably a painful death, too. I don't think I would go peacefully in between the pyromancy, the army of origami creations, the pillar of spiky plants erupting from the ground beneath where I stand, and the full-sized monster of a dragon. It's less "how would they react" and more "who would kill me first" to be fair.

 

[Jules8008]

Depends.

Do they not know that I created them? I'll be fine.
Do they know I created them? I better move out to Peru and get myself a new identity. Oh, wait, impossible, because Yasukoo now exists and she and her crew are gods at tracking people.

 

[unscientific]

......... Yeah, I'm dead

 

[Villain Shoto Todoroki]

......... Yeah, I'm dead

i feel ya........

 

[Daisie]

Bahahaha, in most of the cases I'd definitely be dead. One character would do it out of anger, one character would do it out of maliciousness... I do have a couple of characters who might spare me. One would just settle for hating me for the rest of his life, and the other would be annoyed, but not much more than that.

Net negative response. Nobody likes me.

 

[Funnier President]

Welp. Im toast. My lighting assassin boi would kill me, stab me, and turn me into a fried chicken finger if he met me and found out I made his childhood a living H-e-double hockey sticks

 

[StorytellerLathos]

hmmmm

i think i'm safe?

most of my characters would put my existence as a living creature above their possible anger, those few who have the bloodlust or insanity to kill me already know i exist so... they'd just be friendly and try to creep me out for fun.