), summarising like 70% of my personal philosophy
I like to question things. I like fiction. I like to question fiction. It's the most functional relationship I've ever had.
CharacterInWhite is a handle I made long before I even had a cognitive grasp on tropes. It is a play on the stereotype of the Devil always being a guy in black clothes. Which is not to say I consider myself an equal of Satan - but rather, I am an aggravator, a catalyst of conflict, a Socratesian aspirant as it were.
Naturally when I discovered TV Tropes, I spent about 18 hours sifting through it on my first session. My GPA dropped by 0.3 that day and hasn't gotten any higher since.
In terms of my own work, I'm a big advocate of making things personal. It can't just be a mystery series for me. I'm not motivated to write unless a character has something important to lose, like friends or family. A lot of cop books/shows lack this element and that makes it harder for me to care.
My contributions to TV Tropes are pretty scattered. I have a few works I occasionally Entry Pimp, but I don't add examples very often. I'm pretty good at English spelling and grammar, so I tidy errors when I find them. Generally the only continuous activity I perform is a war on assumed Americo-centrism—clarifying or re-framing examples so they acknowledge that not everyone is American. For example, someone referencing a "southern accent," when referring to a Texan, will have their entry rewritten by me to read "American southern accent." I also change references of "America" to "North America" when the reference is supposed to include Canada and/or Mexico.
In other words, We All Live in America is my mortal enemy.
When I'm not poring over fiction, I'm probably doing research into gender, history, biochemistry, immunology, genetics, various philosophies, archery, and cunnilingus.
- Canadian, eh?
- Devil's Advocate: Any idea that can't stand to opposition and criticism isn't an idea worth keeping.
- Atheist: Shouldn't be surprising, given the above point.
- Transgender: As of April 2013, I've come to the conclusion I am transgender.
- Trans Equals Gay: A misconception that I'm hopelessly inadequate to tackle for anyone who hasn't covered Queer 101—I'm predominantly attracted to women.
- Stepford Snarker
- Apologises a Lot: Sorry.
- Everything Sounds Sexier in French: I love me some English accents (as in Received Pronunciation), but Parisian accents induce full on panties-across-the-room response.
- Being Personal Isn't Professional: Don't screw around with me while I'm writing or planning a production.
- Beware the Honest Ones: I have no patience for office politics. If someone asks, I tell.
- Bookworm
- Catchphrase: "I will make this a thing."
- Determinator: Mitigated for 2014, where I've been struggling with Depression.
- The Fashionista: I know what I find visually appealing, and that helps me assemble women's outfits.
- Hates Small Talk: So very much.
- Hipster: Part of stating my findings on gender lies in my own gender presentation. I like the hipster aesthetic because it is usually androgynous, and serves as a visual short hand for my opinion on Western gender norms. I've even been told at house parties that I, and I quote, "look like a lesbian feminist" (which is uncalled for and hardly the entire truth)
- Insult Backfire: Hipster, feminist, slut. Yep. If they had cards, I'd be carrying them.
- Heartiste also describes the decline of women being attributed to "careerist androgynes." Upon reading this, I changed my facebook profile to have that as my job title.
- I Am What I Am: Even though I pass without issue, I don't plan on abandoning the trans label even post-operation. This is in part to protest trans erasure, though I acknowledge that I can realistically do this only because Canada's civil rights department is robust compared to some countries.
- Berserk Button: I'm generally calm and collected except for three circumstances:
- If you can't get over the fact that I'm small or trans. I'm a human being, and if you want to trip on something, I have a whole host of so-called "radical" philosophies for you to pick apart. But don't fucking linger on what I am.
- Tumblr. It's a poor platform to discuss politics, because anyone can participate. That's a huge problem when not all of the participants have any real data to discuss and are forming their opinions from the hot air in their ass.
- Do not dismiss any school of thought without actually examining it first. That is the fucking zenith of stupidity and represents like, every pitfall of any worthwhile intellectual movement.
- In Touch with His Feminine Side: Though the "his" is problematic for obvious reasons, I kept this trope after outing myself because it still applies to how I'm perceived.
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: One of the pitfalls of not having advanced placement until high school was that all the children seemed sluggish and repulsive to me.
- Jerkass Has a Point: I'm never unintentionally rude.
- Like a Fish Takes to Water: When I actually tried creative writing, I found myself arriving to all the techniques recommended in fiction writing books without needing their prompt first.
- Shorter Means Smarter: I guess.
- Rob Thomas (author, not musician)
- Kristen Bell
- Eddie Izzard
- Ellen Page (the day she came out was literally the best day of my life *swoon*)
- Suzanne Collins
- Erin Morgenstern
- Robin Benway
- Joss Whedon
- George RR Martin
- Ken Follett
- Kenneth Oppel
- Veronica Mars: This is how my totally healthy obsession with Kristen Bell and Film Noir/Mystery may have started. Another attractive feature of the series was the lovely father/daughter relationship, though it was the second to catch my attention.
- Frozen: It doesn't matter when you're reading this, I'm more likely than not to have the soundtrack stuck in my head.
- Luther: British. Dynamic lead characters. Unexpected plot twists. Fascinating interactions between crazed killer and killer crazy. Luther is everything a good mystery show needs to be and more.
- Hannibal: Doctor Bloom. *fans self* Strangely enough, Hannibal is more of an influence concerning direction rather than writing. While the dialogue is excellent and the characterization beautiful, it is the way the information is provided to us that makes this show remarkable in my mind. The direction is simply inspired.
- The Hunger Games: This trilogy broke me. I cried for a week after finishing Mockingjay. I consider it nothing less than a literary monument, and a great standard to try and emulate.
- The Night Circus: Where to freakin' start. I adore this book in every possible aspect. I love the philosophies it tackles and how seamlessly the allegory is weaved into addictive characters and a fantastic setting. As her contemporary, I also find it incredibly intimidating! She inspires me to put forth the kind of effort she did, and I hope it shows.
- Audrey, Wait!: This was the first work page I launched (and subsequently entry pimped). It's wit and humour are exactly the sort of things I go to for Young Adult literature. If I can write half this funny, I'll die happy.
- Orphan Black: Guys. Guys. Guys. Cosima is me.
- Heroes: kind of. It's love/hate considering how up and down the writing is and how much I hate the concept of destiny. I did only watch season two because it had a certain someone in it. You can probably guess who.
- Dexter: I love moral ambiguity. And Rita. But mostly moral ambiguity.
- Castle: For a Police Procedural it sure has a lot of heartwarming little Aesops woven in to each episode to make it entertaining.
- A Song Of Ice And Fire: Modern Shakespeare in terms of plot. Incest, intrigue, politics, deceit, backstabbing, determination... what's not to love? Other than taking 6000 pages of reading to consume.
- Californication: I love analysing father/daughter relationships and this remains my favourite.
- Silverwing and its series: It made me love the characters who were bats. I consider it a splendid exercise in characterization (that, and I'd be hopeless if I met a girl half as cool as Marina).
- This Dark Endeavour, another book by Ken Follett, put the most interesting spin on Frankenstein I've ever seen.
- The Pillars Of The Earth: Like George Martin's lengthy series, Ken does a splendid job teaching memorable character introductions in this work.
- Homeland: Terrorism, politics, intrigue, and great writing all wrapped up in the pretty bow that is Claire Danes? Yes please.
- Breaking Bad: Dramatic irony, good cold opens, an interesting premise, and once again, moral ambiguity.
Why yes, I did see When in Rome and Forgetting Sarah Marshall purely because they had Kristen Bell in it.
