Do It For The Future You Want

Beauty and the Beast features my favorite love story and my favorite Disney Princess, so it holds a very special spot in my heart. So, it’s worth looking into the film to decide when the Movie is supposed to be set.

During the opening musical number “Belle”, Belle is telling the Baker about the book she’s been reading. She’s clearly describing Jack and the Beanstalk, the earliest version being the tale of “Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean” in 1734. But she also deliberately mentions an ogre, not a giant. Near as I could find, the only version with an ogre was written by Joseph Jacobs in 1890, making Belle nearly contemporary to modernity. Belle’s excitement over the book is likely a sign that this is a new story.

During the same musical number, we see a sign depicting a tobacco pipe, but unlike with the Calabash pipe from the Little Mermaid movie. I could place it to possibly be a Billiard type, but the exact era of creation escapes me. However, tobacco pipes have been around as long as Tobacco has been introduced to European trade, starting in the 16th century.

The history of colored printing goes as far back as the 16th century, and there are illustrations from the early 1700s with an impressive variety of color that help establish a stronger time period. The book also shows the words Le Prince Charmant or Prince Charming. Prince Charming started being used in 1697 in Charles Perrault’s version of Sleeping Beauty, although there, Prince Charming was not a name. Rather, Perrault stated that the Prince was charmed by her words. The first story to use Prince Charming as a name is the Tale of Pretty Goldilocks. It was written at some point in the 17th Century by Madame d’Aulnoy, but in her version the hero was named Avenant. It wasn’t until 1889 when Andrew Lang retold the story that Avenant was dubbed as Charming. One year later in 1890, Oscar Wilde used the term “Prince Charming” sarcastically in his novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, meaning that the term had gotten its more modern meaning by this point in time.

Gaston’s musket is a Blunderbuss, which was invented in the early 1600′s and remained popular through the 18th century before falling out of fashion in the middle of the 19th century. However, considering Belle states that this is a backwards town and Gaston is an old-fashioned, Primeval man, it’s possible he’s using a largely outdated weapon.

While there are no street lamps in the city, we can see in the background lanterns on the sides of buildings, which might allude to the movie taking place before the invention of gas lamps. However, gas lamps were invented in 1809, and if the version of Jack and the Beanstalk is from 1890, then by all accounts the town should have gas lamps. What this amounting evidence is leading me to believe is that the film is directly following the plot of the original fairy tale.

In the story, Beauty’s father is a merchant who loses his fortune due to a storm destroying his cargo. They’re forced to live on a farm until the merchant stumbles upon the Beast’s castle and kick starts the plot. In the opening song, Belle says “every morning’s just the same, since the morning that we came, to this poor, provincial town.” This could mean that she grew up in a much more modern, urban, and progressive town. Possibly even Paris. But that after Maurice suffered severe financial trouble, he was forced to move them to the small, backwards town that was practically living an entire century behind the rest of France, which is why she’s so bored and unimpressed by the little town. It helps explain why she’s so eager to want to get out of this town and see the world. She wants to be part of the modern world again.

Interestingly, I can support this theory with background information. According to some of my research, Belle’s village was based on the little town of Riquewihr, France, which still looks like it did in the 16th century to this day. So the idea that Belle’s little village lacks so many modern elements could be a nod to the architecture of this sleepy French village that has remained largely untouched by the march of time. Hence why it looks more like something out of the 1700s despite the many elements from the 1800s being present.

During the song “Be Our Guest”, Lumiere dances with a match stick. Match sticks were invented in 1805. Assuming the film still takes place in the 1890s, this would be concurrent with the other evidence we’ve seen thus far. Later in the same song, the silverware makes an Eiffel tower, which was constructed in 1889. Since Jack and the Beanstalk was written after that, it still fits within the suspected time frame.

During the climax of the battle, Cogsworth is wearing military garments reflective of Napoleonic styles. Napoleon was coronated in 1804 until 1814, had a brief return to power in 1815, and eventually died in 1821. So this is also congruent to the established time period.

In the Youtube Video “Fashion Expert Fact Checks Belle from Beauty and the Beast’s Costumes” by Glamour, April Calahan, a Fashion Historian from the Fashion Institute of Technology directly noted that Belle’s yellow gown lacks the shape of a proper 18th century dress, and more closely resembles the shape of 19th century dresses, fitting into the evidence that’s been mounting in support of a late 19th century setting.

As a part of his primary costume, Lefou wears a waistcoat and tailcoats, which came into vogue in the 1800s, namely from the 1840s through the 1850s.

But if the film is set in the 1800s, how can the Beast still be a prince after the French Revolution? Well something worth noting is that when he finds out that Belle isn’t coming to dinner, the Beast storms through the halls to her room as Cogsworth calls after him as “Your Eminence” and “Your Grace”. The address of “Your Eminence” is reserved for Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, and is an ecclesiastical style of address. “Your Grace” is noticeably an English style of address, but it’s being used by Cogsworth who is British, so I can chalk that up to just part of his culture. Although it was used for British monarchs, it fell out of use during the reign of King Henry VIII (1509-1547) and after that, the use of “Your Grace” became used to address archbishops and non-royal Dukes and Duchesses. Now clearly the Beast is not a cardinal or a bishop, especially if he is looking for the love of a woman to make him human, since it’s forbidden for Catholic priests to marry. So clearly that is not what is meant here. But the other answer actually does hold a bit of weight. Beast’s father was in fact, a Duke. So how is the Beast a prince? He’s not. Not entirely. See, there’s more than one kind of Prince in French nobility. There’s a Prince du Sang, or a Prince by Blood. Effectively, the Crown Prince, the sons of ruling monarchs. But the title is also given to lords in charge of a Principality, one of the smallest territorial sizes. The Beast’s principality probably only extends to having power over the little unnamed village. And with it being after the revolution, Beast might not even have the proper use of his title anymore. He’s effectively a rich kid in a fancy house with no real authority or power. He’s just old money from a by-gone era of human history. But if Beast’s address of “Your Grace” is accurate, that would mean that he’s a non-royal Duke, meaning he would not likely have been executed during the Revolution, as his family would have essentially been governors or senators than actual monarchs. They just had jurisdiction over a small piece of the Kingdom of France and reported back to and obeyed the orders of their King. Thus, he would not have been important enough to be killed or chased out of power by the townsfolk.

CONCLUSION

The movie is set between the late autumn and early-to-mid winter of 1890. Although the snow is gone when Belle returns to the village, the trees are still bare, signaling that it may just be unseasonably warm, though it could be the very early spring of 1891 between the receding of the snow and the blossoming of new spring foliage. Between the books, clothing, and references made, my conclusion is that Belle is a very modern girl living in a backwards little town stuck in the past, thus why a village in 1890 looks so completely lacking in modern technology despite the era. The Prince is nothing more than a fancy title as the son of a Duke, and he likely has very little if any actual government authority. Essentially, Belle married into wealth, not power, and will never be a proper queen, and I’m not sure if the wife of a lord ruling a principality is a princess or not, but I suspect the answer is no. Making Belle, like Mulan, a Disney Princess who did not marry royalty, was not born royalty, and thus, cannot be called a Disney Princess. She’s definitely a noblewoman, but she’s not royal by any means.

SETTING: Riquewihr, France

KINGDOM: The French Republic (France)

YEAR: Autumn, 1890 - Spring, 1891

PERIOD: The Third Republic (1870-1940)

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica (by way of Wikipedia), “costly battles on the Western Front forced France to conscript men up to the age of 45.” It’s not impossible that The Beast sees combat during WWI. Trench warfare, gas warfare, no man’s land, all the horrors of front line at the dawn of the 20th century. It’s entirely possible that Belle signs up with the Red Cross as a nurse, maybe utilizing a mechanical aptitude inherited from her father to aid in the war effort.

When Germany invades Poland, Belle and The Beast will be 56 and 60, respectively. In the spring of the following year, the Nazis invades France. They occupy castles and large estates across France, to use as both bases of operation and as strongholds to hoard stolen wealth (in the form of gold and art) and political hostages.

Would Belle and the Beast fight off Nazi invaders from their home? They’ve defended it before, but is there enough magic left in those old walls to mount a defense? Or would they flee their chateau, go underground, and use what remaining assets they have to aid La Résistance?

Do they have children, and if so what’s become of them in this time of war?

off the top of my head the closest i could think of coming to this is wendy doniger's work on hinduism - she's written several books worth looking into. pankaj mishra has also done some writing on this e.g. this essay. marzia casolari is another scholar worth looking at, plus also some of romila thapar's work - e.g. this paper and this collection of essays.

I've been staring at this question for 3 days, my mind blank, all books I've read in my life erased permanently from my memory. I can't tell you my favourite book, because I have no idea what I've been reading. But I can tell you about a recent book that is still pending deletion in my memory.

A friend told me little while ago "I'm reading a book and one of the characters reminds me of you" and you can't get a more powerful pull to read a book than that; so I asked what book it was.

That's not a stupid question! You do literally use more words to express an idea in French (generally speaking). Translators call this the expansion / contraction ratio of languages. Translating a text from English to Romance languages like Spanish, French, Italian typically makes it 20-30% longer. Other languages like Chinese or Korean will result in a contraction. Appropriately enough, the French term for "expansion ratio" is "taux de foisonnement" which has an expansion ratio of +33%.

It's a combination of factors:

word length: English uses so many monosyllabic words, unlike languages with mainly Graeco-Latin roots. It can be a headache for translators who translate online stuff because apps designed with English in mind have tiny frames and buttons meant for tiny English words and if you can't modify the layout, your language might just not fit... Same problem when you translate subtitles, or small signs in public places (“Please wait here” is 16 characters in English, vs. you need 15 characters in French just to say ‘please’ / s’il vous plaît...)

rigid syntax: in French you can't use shortcuts like "word length". You've got to say "the length of the word". We don’t have concise adjectival structures like X-friendly, X-based, X-prone, and often need to use an entire clause (“which is prone to...”) to translate them. Articles are mandatory (e.g. you would need to start this sentence with "the articles" rather than "articles"), the possessive form can’t just be a quick apostrophe (not “Mary’s friend” but “the friend of Mary”) etc.

a general preference for simple, active, direct and pared-down writing in English vs. a preference for 'diluted', passive, indirect, embellished phrasings in French. French adores grammatical emphasis / redundancy while English hates it (I saw a translation recently where the English phrasing was “This explains—”; the French one was: “C’est donc ce qui explique”, I.e. “It is therefore that which explains—”) Someone very accurately commented on my last ask “French goes on and on enjoying itself.” English style guides are absolutely obsessed with advising writers to prune their sentences, use straightforward syntax, remove 'unnecessary' words, while this really isn't perceived as evidence of good writing in French. Writing talent rather lies in “savoir manier la langue” / knowing how to wield the French language, and keeping your sentences direct and to the point doesn’t demonstrate your ability to do that...

English prefers connecting ideas implicitly rather than explicitly, which is easy to do with short, straightforward sentences. I was translating a text the other day that was full of logically-linked sentences, e.g. “This is part of a larger problem. We won’t solve it without tackling [other thing].” English doesn’t mind this staccato style but French finds it ugly and much prefers to use one long, flowy sentence, eg “Seeing as it is part of a larger problem, we won’t be able to solve it without—” or “This is part of a larger problem, and consequently it won’t be solved unless—” I remember reading a bilingual edition of a novel in which the original French went “Il s’acquitta du montant puis, après avoir froidement salué, il sortit.” The English translation was “He paid the fee, coldly bowed, and went out.” The French version says “He did X, then, after doing Y, he did Z,” while in English the ‘then’ and ‘after’ are implied by placing actions one after the other (in the first example, the ‘consequently’ is similarly implied.) French likes to add tool-words everywhere in order to keep its more convoluted sentences clear, by making all the logical connectors visible.

Like a new apple desktop costs like $1500-$2000 and you get like 16gb of ram or less, barely any USB or hdmi ports, barely any storage in general, ect. Additionally its incredibly hard if not impossible to get into it and switch anything out if something breaks or if you just want better part.

Meanwhile my desktop pc maybe cost $900 all together and it has an awesome graphics card, 16gb of ram standard and can be updated myself in seconds if I want to, space for like 5 hard drives (I currently have a 2 terabyte HDD one installed as well as a smaller SSD for the OS), 10 USB ports, multiple hdmi ports, old VGA ports, and tons of other features you would have to pay an arm and a leg to get in a new pre-made pc if you could find them at all.

I do know that not everyone is gonna have the time or the resources but there are places you can go for help and tons of guides and forums on the internet where people can answer your questions, and at least on pcpartpicker.com they even have example builds where they list everything you need to buy along with guides for how to put it together. I really think if you can its worth learning cuz now that I know more about computers it seems ridiculous what Apple and Microsoft will charge for a pre-built pc that sucks ass and, at least in Apple’s case, can’t be customized.

https://pcpartpicker.com

Basically, market research for japanese bakeries determined that a) they sell more breads and pastries the more different varieties they have, and b) japanese bakery customers prefer items which are not wrapped, because individually wrapped things give the impression of being like, preserved or something instead of fresh and good I guess? So the obvious solution is to sell as many different kinds of unwrapped breads and pastries as you can.

But! In actual practice, that’s a nightmare. No packaging means no barcodes to scan, so the cashier needs to know all like 200 different (often very similar) items by heart and add them up manually, which means training new employees is a slow and painful process and customer service in general suffers badly. And having a person handle all those un-packaged foodstuffs to count them or examine them, in addition to being slow and clumsy, is unsanitary as fuck.

So one bakery chain owner approached this computer guy in 2007 asking for a system to automate the checkout process. It took five years and the company barely survived a financial crisis in the middle, but long story short they developed a highly specialized AI that will look at the pile of bread a customer picked out and automatically identify everything, tally it up, and charge them correctly, while the live cashier is free to make small talk or help people out or whatever. The whole process is simple, fast, sanitary, and pleasant for customers and employees alike, and to an outsider it looks like fucking magical bullshit.

however. i don’t like the implication that victims of violence (regardless of gender) lose their agency once they are subjected to that experience. i think that overlooks the way that stories are used to illuminate parts of our culture that are harmful, that we don’t like to think about, that aren’t addressed how they should be, and their power as a means of expression and healing for people who need a place for their experience of violence.

i’m not saying there’s not a place for retellings where persephone is a badass with a healthy relationship with her sugar daddy husband hades and medusa has been blessed with the power to protect herself from men rather than cursed and sought out to destroy by men as a monster for the rest of her life (and actually athena is a feminist icon supporting other women). i’m just saying that these are the retellings i see hyped up constantly as being inherently better than stories where the woman subjected to violence isn’t your modern cardboard cut-out Strong Female Character or in which there is no experience of violence at all. i don’t think that’s a responsible way to frame the conversation around injustice experienced by women in mythology and modern literature. worse, i see people claim that these are the true intent of the original myths. i…. don’t even know what to say to that except don’t trust shit you see on the internet making historical claims without checking their damn sources. that’s all

1) a fundamental misunderstanding of the myth,

2) a fundamental misunderstanding of greek religion and culture despite trying to make claims about the theoretical “original” myth (i won’t even get into that but there’s a lack of understanding the academic theory that claim is based on and how trustworthy it is, which is not at all imo),

3) the inability to engage with stories about women without it being through the lens of a male perspective or at the very least without a romantic relationship,

4) the desire to continue to understand complicated or difficult stories at the level of childhood which is where most people first heard greek myths – and to not be told that they were taught simplified versions of those themes because they were children but now they have a likable version of hades in their mind and try to defend it at all costs for some reason. and they’re unable to relate to older women or mothers so they can scapegoat demeter without realizing that she’s the point of the story,

6) that people will talk in circles about wanting to restore agency to and empower female figures in ancient literature while simultaneously overlooking complicated and powerful women. people want persephone to be powerful and in control so bad but they totally write off how powerful and compelling demeter is, in fact most retellings leave out huge chunks of the story that don’t feel “relevant” to modern audiences when they were the most important parts to ancient greeks and probably the reason why the myth exists in the first place (justification for rituals to demeter, including the eleusinian mysteries and the thesmophoria in athens). there’s all kinds of theories about the “original” persephone but i see no reason to believe and of them are true or that there was a version of her that exists before this story, unless it’s as a component of demeter (they’re referred to together as the demeteres so i can see arguments for her existence as a facet of demeter’s role in the pantheon).

it’s also for the sake of this glamorized aesthetic where persephone is simultaneously a flower goddess and queen of the underworld – a revisionist “girl power” image of the goddess that appeals to what seems to the modern reader like a radical contradiction of life/fragility/femininity and death/power/masculinity. imo this is neither radical in terms of modern feminism to align weakness with womanhood or to put this version of powerful women on a pedestal, nor in terms of the ancient greek understanding of these themes since life and death, agriculture and famine, earth and the underworld go hand in hand in these stories. demeter is also a chthonic deity as well as her better known role as an agricultural deity (or really, because of this role – chthonic due to her association with earth and the ground and her control over life & death, as an agricultural goddess). so we could easily apply the “goth flower power” aesthetic to demeter as well, but she’s old and unmarried and has no “shipping” potential so nobody cares about her enough to do so. not that i particularly want this treatment for her but it’s just that much more obvious that people don’t get this myth or greek mythology at large (even though they think they do because they read percy jackson in elementary school – a book series, by the way, that does the “demeter is an overprotective, hovering, toxic mother” thing lol)

i also think that people don’t want to be told their favorite retelling is “wrong” so they have to try to justify it by denying that the extant version of the myth is the “right” version by trying to deny its legitimacy, either by calling it fanfic or by making claims about an original “feminist” version of the myth, and as much nicer as it sounds for a matrilineal pre-greek society to tell the story of a young girl choosing to walk into hell and stay there, you’ve gotta be living in a fucking fantasy world if you think that’s the most likely theory of persephone’s origin (my friend showed me a video about this topic where one theory is that she’s derived from this super ancient ultra powerful goddess who was a daughter of poseidon or something and i just ????? like no. sorry. i just don’t see it. where the fuck are your sources)

Not having to listen to them

Not having to exhaust yourself making them feel good about themselves

Not having to listen to lies and twisted re-telling of events

Not getting shut down, insulted and humiliated when you try to speak

Not having your emotions invalidated and ridiculed

Not having everything about you used against you

Not being treated like an object or a property

Not being yelled and screamed at when you try to stand up for yourself

Not having to second guess your every thought and opinion

Not having everything you know to be true denied to you constantly

Not having to imagine worst case scenarios constantly

Not having to bottle up all the fear, pain, and anger

Not being self-conscious about your appearance

Not having to worry about being degraded, called out or insulted based on your appearance

Not being stared at and feeling like you’re being watched and judged no matter what you’re doing

Not being glared at and addressed with hatred and scorn

Not being forced to compete for attention

Not being denied attention

Not feeling pathetic and horrible about your needs

Not feeling like everyone hates you and you’re unnecessary

Liking yourself

Loving your body

Gaining confidence in yourself

Knowing what you can do and how capable you are

Being aware of your talents and virtues and feeling proud and content

Being able to point out what’s wrong without getting shut down

Being able to call anyone out on their shit without getting attacked

Being able to express your pain, fear, anger, without getting abused

Being accepted

Being good enough as you are

Being important to yourself and other people

Having your feelings and opinions matter

Having your point of view matter

Having your work and care valued and reciprocated

Talking about whatever you feel like talking about

Being heard and listened and validated

Being allowed to complain and rant and cry 

Feeling comfortable asking for what ever you need

Feeling entitled to what you need to be alive, healthy, and content

Having a clear mind and knowing exactly what is the truth and what isn’t

for starters, there’s Twine, which is fucking great for making all kinds of interactive experiences (it’s what Crystal Warrior Ke$ha was made in so you KNOW it’s good) at all skill levels (i picked it up and made a game in two minutes a few nights ago)

if you want a bit more involved experience there’s Inform 7 which is a simple language for text-based adventure games that reads like slightly-weird English and also relatively easy to learn

you can do some pretty fucking cool stuff with Unity (my personal engine of choice) but you may need to dig a bit farther to get at the good stuff. there’s lots of really good presets though (i made an entire game just mixing and matching pre-existing templates and adding in my own art, won an award at a game jam for that one) and if you want help the community’s pretty dang friendly from what i’ve seen!

2D Editors:

GameMaker : Potential for pure drag-and-drop “programming”. It is recommended to read-up on the program’s functions to make good use of it. Good for prototyping. Uses its own language called Game Maker Language (GML) that is similar to a C language (e.g. C++ or C#). For both Mac and PC; free version available.

Construct2 : Drag and drop level editor that uses an “If-Then” event sheet structure for programming. Good for prototyping and for beginners. For PC; free version available.

GameSalad : Drag and drop with no code requirement. Good for programming. For both Mac and PC; free version available.

Solpeo : HTML5 based game engine for 2D and isometric game development. Some programming knowledge needed. Platforms supported: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer 9+. Free version available.

Stencyl : Drag and Drop “programming,” templates you can edit the variables/values for.

Scratch : Lego-block-style coding platform by MIT; totally free and a great intro to thinking in code. Very kid-friendly and comes with a community site. Browser version available.

3D Editors:

Unity : 3D editor that creates 3D games. Can build games for browser, as an app, or for mobile devices (iOS and Android). For both Mac and PC; free version available.

UDK (Unreal Development Kit) : Full-fledged, highly advanced editor. Features a complete set of tools that go from level design to visual scripting to cut-scene creation. Uses it’s own programming language called Unreal Script that can be arranged with Kismet, a visual code editor. For Mac and PC; free.

2D Art/Animation Software:

GIMP : Free photo editing and digital painting software.

Easy Paint Tool SAI : Free digital painting software with a UI similar to Photoshop.

Mischief : Free digital painting software with an endless canvas.

3D Art/Animation Software:

Sculptris : From the company that created Zbrush, this free software is ideal for beginning 3D sculptors.

Maya : Animation, VFX, lighting, and rendering software.

Magical Voxel : Voxel Art (3D Pixel Art). Very intuitive and quick to pick up.

SketchUp :  Architectural modeling software, great for creating 3D environments and buildings. Free version available.

Text-Based Games:

Twine : Create interactive text stories using Twine’s visual map system that links your game together. Easy to learn and use. End result is browser-based. For Mac and PC; free.

Quest : Interactive text stories that you can build in-browser.

Ren’Py : Create visual novels using a modified version of Python that reads like a combination of stage directions and a CYOA novel. For PC, Mac, and Linux; free.

Audio Resources/Editors:

Indie Game Music : This site offers free indie music with no need to worry about royalties or licenses.

Audacity : A free, open-source, cross-platform sound editor that allows you to record and arrange sound.

Super Flash Bros. : This site allows you to record theremin-like (8bit) sounds and export them as .wav files for your games.

FL Studio : Free music composition software.

Miscellaneous Tools:

Donjon RPG Tools : Randomly generates maps, items, XP, etc.

W3Schools : Web-code tutorial database: HTML, CSS, Javascript+.

Debut Video Capture : Video screen capture to record Let’s Play videos, showcase your game on Youtube, etc.

Korsakow : Free tool for creating interactive and database films.

Processing : Flexible programming language used for visual and interactive artworks and simulations.

From Student to Designer, Part 2 : Tips for making a well-rounded, solid portfolio

Places to Publish/Share:

Itch.io : Platform for self-publishing games

TV Shows

Yo a ti, Cas.

Supernatural

Loki

The Owl House

The Mandalorian

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

WandaVision

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

Shadow and Bone

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Druck

Animaniacs

Hannibal

Julie and the Phantoms

The Untamed

Good Omens

The Eurovision Song Contest

Doctor Who

The Witcher

Bridgerton

Amphibia

Supergirl

Squid Game

wtFOCK

Steven Universe

9-1-1

The Umbrella Academy

Danny Phantom

Ducktales

Adventure Time

The Bad Batch

Gravity Falls

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Merlin

Criminal Minds

Infinity Train

Shameless

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

The Wilds

Ted Lasso

Lucifer

What If…?

Castlevania

The Haunting of Bly Manor

Riverdale

Word of Honor

What We Do In The Shadows

Teen Wolf

Sherlock

9-1-1 Lone Star

Young Royals

Invader Zim

Stranger Things

Winx Club

Skam France

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Sex Education

Cobra Kai

Voltron: Legendary Defender

The Legend of Korra

Prodigal Son

Vincenzo

Cherry Magic

Outer Banks

The Crown

His Dark Materials

Ghosts

Euphoria

Game Of Thrones

Carmen Sandiego

Leverage

Hawkeye

Community

The Simpsons

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Saturday Night Live

Wynonna Earp

The Good Place

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series

Phineas And Ferb

Legacies

Peaky Blinders

Monkie Kid

South Park

True Beauty

Legends Of Tomorrow

Invincible

Killing Eve

Manner Of Death

Blood Of Zeus

Powerpuff Girls

Star vs. the Forces of Evil

Moominvalley

Black Sails

Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Roswell, New Mexico

The Office

Star Wars: Rebels

Teen Titans

Hi, love!  Thanks for your question and your patience :)  I love writing unique character voices, both in dialogue and narration, just because it can make a story completely different just through the way it’s told.  There are a lot of different aspects to a character voice, though, so I’ll just go through the basics I run in my mind when I develop voices.

Aspects of Character Voice

Education – To be as realistic for your character as possible, you need to consider the level of education they received growing up.  There are too many characters in modern fiction who speak eloquently, confidently, and grammatically correct, yet don’t have the educational backstory to support this.  This is especially important if the character has to speak publicly, which many overlook as a skill that must be developed.

Influences – People learn how to speak, how to joke, and how to appeal to others from their family, friends, and idols.  For example: my aunt is much more reserved than my father and uncle.  She’s a quiet, thoughtful psychologist – but every once in a while, she shows her roots over her education by engaging in some of the awful puns that run in my dad’s side of the family.  Puns seem uncharacteristic of her at first glance, but it adds depth to who she is by reaching back into her childhood.

Communication Style – I touched on this in my post on character traits, and it probably applies even more here.  Your characters aren’t all going to speak up at the same times, about the same things, in the same ways.  Some people avoid confrontation; some people can’t ignore irritants.  Some people are open about their personal affairs; some don’t feel comfortable sharing their middle name with friends.  Some people think out loud, and occupy the room subconsciously.  Some people use humor to mask their feelings, and rarely speak without a hint of irony in their voice.  Some people are horribly self-aware, and some people talk without really hearing or filtering themselves.  It’s all important.

Demeanor – Mood, countenance, disposition – basically, what is the character’s general attitude?  If someone were to describe them in a couple of words, what would they be?  Some people are generally positive, and some are generally negative, or irritable, or uncomfortable, or emotional, or just really strong in whatever direction.  I had a friend in theatre describe me as “anxious at rest”, and I think that pretty much covers my demeanor.  Now, no one behaves one way all the time – this is just more of a “default emotion” that colors how they approach certain situations.

Example: Because I’m “anxious at rest”, I feel happiness like butterflies in my limbs, and sadness like it’s raining bullets in my stomach.  Because my brother is naturally chill as hell (my words), he feels happiness like a warm, gooey piece of pie, and sadness like a thin, wet sheet clinging to his skin.

Social Skills – This can tie into education and influences, but also has a lot to do with personality.  A character can be raised to know and value social convention, or they can pick it up themselves; or they can disregard social “rules” despite any kind of education.  How does your character handle awkward situations?  Are they blunt with strangers?  Are they respectful to authority?  Do they keep their opinions to themselves, or speak up no matter what?  Do they at all change themselves or their behavior to adapt to new situations?  There’s a spectrum there, between 100%-Integrity and Chameleon status, and your character’s somewhere on it.

Sense of Humor – I’ve talked about this before, too, but for posterity, I’ll add it here.  When writing a character’s voice, you have to think about what amuses them – and it’s not necessarily what amuses you.  I think of the show The Office, which is basically a playground of different senses of humor.  There’s Michael Scott, who works with things like “that’s what she said” and celebrity impressions; there’s Jim Halpert, who’s both sarcastic and a diehard prankster; there’s Pam Beesly, who can only offer puns along the line of, “I’ll put out an A.P.B. – an Ask Pam Beesly.”  These small details make characters sound distinct from each other.

Introversion/Extroversion – Lastly, a lot of how a character communicates depends on how they experience social interactions.  Are they energized by conversations and social events, or do these things drain them?  Do they seek out others, or do they wait to be addressed?  Are their thoughts focused outwardly – on what’s going on around them, what others are saying or thinking, on how they appear to others – or inwardly – on their internal thoughts and interests, on what they’re thinking and feeling?  This will affect how they speak and how they narrate the story, even if you’re not writing in first-person.

Anyway, that’s basically what came to mind when I saw your question.  If this doesn’t help you, be sure to send us another ask with more information :)  Good luck!

– Mod Joanna ♥️

One by one by one, over years and years and years. Your halls are empty now. Your floorboards creak. Your walls groan. Your foundations are beginning to sink. It’s only a matter of time before the humans decide you’re better off abolished, and so bring their loud machines to pick you apart brick by brick by brick.

You’d accepted that when humans began running away from you just because you’d opened a shutter to let in some light, or when you’d open doors for them to allow passage through your lonely halls. This world and these humans have no need for what they do not know or understand; such things are fearful for them. And yet, in contrast to such simple logic, they hold within them an insatiable curiosity. That is, after all, why time and time again, humans return to you, a house with a supposed soul to behold the truth with their own eyes. Most leave in fear, but there are some who are struck by awe; the knowledge that there are things beyond their understanding (those are your favourites). They have endeared themselves to you in this way - even the loud ones who come with their long metal sticks and intent to do you harm. Any attention is good attention when you’re lonely, you suppose.

Until…

There is a smear in this group of humans. You can sense it; an excited unrest in the one who smiles too wide and shows too many teeth. He hides something from the rest of them, but you know. Having seen so many humans come and go over so many years—most good, some bad, but all of them so wonderfully curious—you know.

Run! you try to convey, through fluttering shades and flickering lights. Leave me on this night, so that you may live to see another!!

But such theatrics are the norm now, and they see your warnings as the signals of your old soul. They venture deeper, and that one human smiles wider, the knife at his back gleaming in your blinking lights.

The first one falls with a hiccuped gasp, choking on blood that rises to their throat. It spills onto your floorboards, seeping into the cracks and crevices until you can almost taste it.

That’s when the screaming begins.

And for the first time in your long life, you become enraged. Your walls shrink and grow, pulsing with fervent life; the angered huffs and puffs of restraint. The glass in your windows shriek from the strain as a second human falls with their fear still reflected in their glassy stare.

Not like this! It is never supposed to be like this!

It will not happen again!

Not in your halls that a family once called home. You are a sanctuary for those with wonder in them. For those who look at you with nostalgia and remember something from a distant past that you can not ever fathom. For those who gently touch your peeling wallpaper and smile. The ones who seek thrill. The ones who want to live.

You slam all the doors closed until they become stuck in their jambs. Your shutters close and meld with the walls until they become solid.