I'm working on a fic atm but I'm having a terrible time getting Dresden done right.

In the books he's witty and quirky but manages to be aware and intelligent at the same time. He's not an easy character to write at all.

Anyone have any tips on keeping him in character? Writing DF with an OOC Harry seems kind of pointless.

 

Heavy on the sarcasm. He's often unaware of what's going on, but in hindsight/reading later on, he just appears to have some sort of clue when he really didn't.

 

Also remember that he makes interesting and off parallels. So if any clever similes come to you, use them.

Vash writes a really good Dresden, the sarcasm is darker and more cynical in his though. To lighten it up look at some of Butcher's earlier books.

Also Dresden is distinctly aware of his own emotions, this can get old in the books sometimes when he is moping or crying but it is part of his characterization.

 

I think Harry's really difficult to get a handle on, characterization-wise or even dialogue-wise, because even with all the books already written about him, there's always this sense of "He knows a lot more than the reader, way more" - and I mean that about Butcher and Dresden both. I've been working on potential ideas for writing in the Dresden universe, but it's not easy - there are still so many mysteries, and so many crucial concepts not yet explained.

I guess I have no advice, since I don't know how to write him either.

 

Yeah, I would think Dresden would be much harder to write than Potter.

HP is pretty much defined by his friends. By himself, he doesn't have much of a personality. It's actually a lot easier to describe Ron and Hermione's character than Harry's.

What we do know of HP's personality isn't exactly flattering. We know he is a lazy, procrastinating, and unmotivated/unambitious to the point of sitting around playing chess when he knows that people are after his head when he should have been studying and practicing magic (thanks Ron), somewhat introverted and slow to accept people as friends (if ever), a little prejudiced towards certain groups of people (again, Ron's influence), easily angered and impulsive, naive, etc.

It's hard to think of what drives Harry, what his likes and dislikes are (besides Chess/Quidditch/Weasley's, and Malfoy/Snape/LV/Dursley's), what his plans for the future are, what ambitions (if any) he has, etc. It's much easier to think of these for Ron and Hermione. I do not include the very end of DH when considering this because it was just JKR pandering to the fangirls. I highly doubt Harry would actually want to be an auror after all the shit he's been put through in canon.

Basically, canon!Harry is extremely frustrating, unrealistic and boring. When writing HP fanfiction, you have to make changes to Harry's character because his personality is so bland and undesirable in canon. Pussy!Harry is a sure path to failure. You need to beef him up a little bit in all aspects to make him more interesting and tolerable. I think JKR completely fucked Harry's character from the start. A real person would have acted differently to just about every situation in canon. Looking at his pre-Hogwarts life, he should have reacted a lot differently to his fame and fortune.


Bah, I didn't mean to go off on a rant, but canon!Harry thoroughly pisses me off.

 

I think the problem with writing Dresden is you sometimes go too far in one personality over the other. Sometimes you'll write words that Dresden wouldn't say (he didn't finish High School). Other times he does. I think the key aspect is the sarcasm, and male bravado, while at the same time being afraid and alert.

 

I dunno... All this "Its harder to write Dresden than Potter stuff." I find it easier, actually. I read over a bit of the book I'm writing about and can get a pretty good feel for him, and even with original scenes, just getting the attitude is enough, because it (to me) is pretty easy to imagine how Harry would respond.

But that is pretty much my suggestion. Get the book around the time-frame of canon you're writing about and just read a little. You can get a pretty good feel for him.

The actual writing is the part most people have trouble with, I think. Its not exactly easy to write First Person stories from what I'm told. I like them though, so I kind of diddle with that stuff even when Im not writing a story. Its pretty easy for me to do.

When you do write it though, and if you use FP, just remember. You see everything through that characters eyes. There is no hinting that the Killer is hiding around that corner there, or that the Girl really loves Him, she is just acting tough to hide it.

If you really wrap your mind around the character, its actually fairly easy. Going back and editing it can help, but I suggest writing the scene out first. Fix spelling and grammar when your done. Plot holes can be fixed when its finished too.