That1Cellist

And I have now made 1,000 posts on the shard! It's taken way longer for me than some of you to get this far, but I'm finally here! Thank you all. It's been so much fun talking and interacting with you all. It makes me remember that some humans are cool. Thank you all, really.

Music Recommendation: Main Menu theme from Dark Souls 3. I've never played this game, though I want to eventually. I really like big choir stuff, especially acapella pieces with interesting chords. (Tchaikovsky's Hymn of the Cherubim comes to mind)

Here is my list of characters! It isn't expansive, as I know I've forgotten some. Feel free to agree, disagree, and/or pose additions in the replies. Or feel free to ask why I have/haven't included some characters on the list. I'd love to hear it and respond with explanations!

I know I'm missing awesome characters but I can't remember and it's making me frustrated aaaaaaaaa

Yo, was the shard not working for other people for a few days? I haven’t been able to get on, and it’s been rather frustrating.

Since this is such an impromptu SU, no music recommendations, sorry.

The school year is done! I’ll probably make my 1,000th post and celebratory SU tomorrow when it’s not as late and more people are online.

Thanks, everyone!

So, I actually am almost at 1,000 posts now. I know it's been this way for a few years now, but I do actually anticipate hitting 1,000 in a day or so. I have a list of fictional characters typed out, so I might share that. Alternatively, I guess I could try again to put together an actual recording of my Kakariko Village arrangement for 3 cellos.

Or I guess I could just do both.

Music recommendation: "Crimewave" - Crystal Castles. This one is definitely one of the strangest songs I've recommended. However, after a few listens it becomes kind of addicting. At least, it is for me.

Another school year is almost over. I need to focus to get all my schoolwork done, and yet all I want to do is hyperfixate on fiction and not worry about it at all. However, I'm afraid that if I care about real life less, I'll just slip entirely and give up on everything. It is rather unfortunate for both current and future me.

LAST ONLINE 21 HOURS AGO

HI HI HI HELLO

It’s crazy to think that another school year is not far from being done. I guess it’s true what the adults say about time going faster as you get older. 

Music recommendation: “Somewhere Tonight” by Beach House. Honestly, I doubt anybody listens to my recommendations, but I’ll keep putting them out anyway. I like them.

I think I’m going to get a bit more into composition and character writing. I have some good ideas that I really want to write about, but I always either get distracted or am too worn out to want to be able to get things done. Does anyone have any tips for this? I’d really appreciate it if anyone has advice that could help. Thank you all.

Hi, everyone! I wrote a little thing today I want to share. I might add some aspect of it to worldbuilding later. I was just thinking yesterday, and a concept I really liked came to me, so here it is! 
 

Every second rings within his mind

Forcefully, unrelentingly 

Each moment like the resounding clang of a bell

Eternally, unendingly named

I know it‘s pretty short, but I’m fond of it. My music recommendation today is the Largo from Eccles Cello Sonata in G minor. I really like this one, and it’s a lot of fun to play as well.

Hello, everyone! It's me, That1Cellist, back with some random nonsense that, realistically, nobody cares about. Today, I'm here to complain a little bit. Not out of anger, but out of exasperation. I'll get into that momentarily.

Music Recommendation: "No Surprises" by Radiohead. This is definitely a strange one. The only way I really know how to describe it is that it has a certain unique charm or "vibe" to it that I don't see that often. Or, perhaps I'm just looking in the wrong places.

Alright alright alright so I am an enjoyer of mysteries, right? I really like detectives, deduction, mind games, and that sort of thing. So, I was looking for a new show to watch, and came across one that seemed interesting. It only has one season for now, but I thought I'd go ahead and watch it. The base concept was really interesting, and I was excited because the character design seemed really good as well. So, I was very disappointed when my detective show had so little actual detectiving in it. Instead, the detective character was just insanely unrealistically smart for no logically described reason. No reasoning at all, just conclusions and fights. And then they messed up the basic premise of the show, which was the part I was most excited about. And I want to like it really badly because the base idea and character design is good, so why does it have to be so mediocre and yucky? It really makes me just want to take the concept and simply do it better. And, I unironically think that I could, which should say something about the level of disappointing I have found this to be.

On a much, much more happy note, I finished Your Lie in April  a few weeks ago. I won't say anything about the ending, and, honestly, even if I wanted to give spoilers, I couldn't do the ending any sort of justice. I'll just let it be known that I haven't cried at a piece of media like that in quite some time. It was superb, and really resonated with me on so many levels.

Anyway, thanks for reading, everyone who took time to do so. I appreciate you all!

Hello, everyone. I'm back with another probably incorrect writing take that nobody asked for and nobody cares about. I'm not sure how long this will be, but it might turn into a longer SU, so I'm really sorry about that.

Music Recommendation: Dvorak Symphony #8 - This one is pretty fun to play, too!

Alright, so, I've been doing a little worldbuilding this last little while, and it's made me think about my own writing. I don't write nearly as much as I wish that I did. However, thinking it over while working on this project has made me realize something. The reason that I don't write isn't because I don't have interesting ideas, it's because I know I will be inevitably unhappy with my execution of the ideas I have. In at least my case, the issue isn't that I can't think of anything writing-worthy, but that nothing I write down seems to have any real substance to it in a way that doesn't feel forced. This line of thinking, along with some other reasoning that I'll get into in a second, has led me to conclude the following things

Worldbuilding ≠ Good writing

Interesting magic system ≠ Good writing

Intricacies ≠ Good writing

What actually makes a world good is its characters, not how it is built.

In my writing, it often feels that the things I'm trying to explain or the direction I'm trying to go is forced. As in, it feels as though every aspect simply serves a bigger purpose instead of simply existing in the story and allowing the world to flow naturally. In my opinion, Brandon Sanderson has always struggled with this. Especially when it comes to the more recent books (Defiant being a particular offender), it feels as though almost everything character related merely serves to drive the plot to its intended goal. Brandon Sanderson makes interesting worlds with a lot of depth. Brandon Sanderson writes intricate magic systems that are fascinating and unique. And yet, especially recently, I find his books seem exist merely to fill a gap, pushing the Cosmere (Or cytoverse) to where he eventually wants it to go. This particularly seems to happen as his series continue to increase in length. The original Mistborn and The Way of Kings, as well as many of the standalone Comere novels, do not suffer from this as greatly. Mostly, it seems to occur in the later books, such as the last two books from Era 2 of Mistborn. 

To make the point I'm trying to make more clear, I want to talk about one of my favorite authors. Kate DiCamillo writes some amazing books, and if you haven't read any, you should check some of her stuff out. She has stated before that, when she starts writing a book, she has no idea how it will end. She simply writes, and the stories eventually create the ending themselves. Her worlds are neither vast nor minutely detailed, but they are beautiful. They are beautiful because of the characters and the story they tell, and they serve no greater purpose than to tell that story. The heart that the characters have truly brings everything together, as opposed to with Sanderson, where the characters feel more like action figures moved by an unseen hand. I think that this also shows in the fact that, often, the side characters are some of my favorites in Brandon's stories. Yalb and the fisherman guy from Stormlight are some of my favorite characters in the series, and they don't get more than a handful of chapters. They're just people who exist in the world, not people who exist because of the world, and that is what really makes them truly colorful.

Essentially, what I'm trying to say is that I cannot write because I cannot put down what I want to in a way that seems natural. Sure, I can come up with ideas, but I can't seem to come up with characters. Characters are what truly bring a world into its own in most cases (though Bradbury is sorta an exception) and I simply don't seem to have the capacity to create a compelling character that I can care about. And, personally, I think Brandon has some troubles along the same lines; Using his worlds to create a character, as opposed to letting his characters really shape the world.

Anyway, that's a thought that's been on my mind. I hope that it can perhaps give some insight to you all.