So Your Character is From Japan ... Featuring Mami Suzuki + Noriko @ Diary of a Bookfiend

It's time for this week's So Your Character is ... Post! This is a weekly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country or having a disability. I'm hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven't checked out last week's  So Your Character is from South Korea ... be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!

I've been into Japan since I started watching anime as a teenager. Getting used to Eastern culture, took me a while, but now I love so many things Japanese, including the food, cultural traditions, J-pop, and I've even picked up some of the language from watching 200+ episodes of subbed anime. One of the countries that I really wanted to find this year was Japan, so I'm so happy to have found Mami and Noriko!

Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts are as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.


(None of the Images are Mine)

Wanderer's Pen Fifth Bloggoversary!

I can't believe I've been blogging for five years! It's pretty crazy. Blogging has really grown me as a writer and a person and I'm so happy I start even though this blog had humble beginnings.

Villain Necrologies and Debacles: DreamWorks Animation Edition

Villains meet their demises in so many different ways. For some this means death, for other this means an unfortunate incapacitating situation. Writers put a lot of thought into how their antagonist finally fails, but which way is best for your villain? That all depends on so many different circumstances, including audience and genre. This is what inspired my series "Villain Necrologies & Debacles." Over time, I'll be analyzing different animation studios, franchises, and more. These posts are meant to show you what sort of defeats have been done whether common or uncommon, perhaps inspire some villain defeats of your own, or you can just enjoy the morbid humor. Check out last month's Disney Live Action Edition!

DreamWorks Animation has been really hit or miss at least in my opinion. I won't like their films for years then all of a sudden they'll release a film I really love, and as you'll see I like most of their old films, cause I'm a 90s kid. ^ ^ Therefore I'm only listing the films that I believe are worth noting because the villains are decent. There's a good few of this company's films I think should just fade into obscurity and we'll just leave them there.

Warning: Spoilers for all of the villains in these movies. 

The Dual Character Inquisition Tag

Kate @ Story and Dark Chocolate and Christine @ Musings of an Elf both tagged me for this one a while back and now I'm finally getting around to it! I literally have a little note with a stockpile of tags. XD I want to stick to Starblood characters so here are Rouyn and Elasa!

So Your Character is From South Korea ... Featuring Lizzy @ The Bent Bookworm + Jiyeon @ JJellie's Journal

It's time for this week's So Your Character is ... Post! This is a weekly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country or having a disability. I'm hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven't checked out last week's  So Your Character is from Puerto Rico ... be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!

Happy July 4th everybody! Today I have a post about well no America. XD I've had South Korean friends growing up, I love shopping at the Korean franchise Hmart, there's a large Korean population in my area, and I love Korean food, especially Korean BBQ. So I'm so happy to have Lizzy to tell me more about the country besides just the food. ;)

Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts are as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.


(None of the Images are Mine)

Comic Relief Characters 101

I feel like every comic relief character is expected to be either cute, crude, funny, witty, or stupid. Oftentimes, this is all those characters are, making them very one-dimensional and even throwaway characters. However, I believe the most memorable comic relief characters are more than just good for a few cheap jokes or slapstick antics. 

Comic relief characters are a literary tool meant to relieve tension when the audience can get too wound up in the conflict and need a laugh. They're most common in suspense stories, because sometimes if a story takes itself too seriously it can come across as bland and boring. On the flipside, unless your story is a blatant satire or comedy, too many jokes can cheapen the story. Thus a good balance of comedy must be struck and often you need a good comic relief character to take on that mantel.