The Mock Turtle Chronicles

Jonathan doesn’t have many female friends, catwoman is on his bully list and while he respects Ivy, they don’t interact much. Of course, there is one special lady in Jonathan’s eyes, and I mean that in a completely platonic way.

Harley Quinn

Jonathan really cares about Harley, and Harley really cares about Jonathan. I’ve coined their relationship “Psychology Buddies” because that seems to be how those two would bond, over a shared love of the mind.

Some people headcanon Jonathan as Harley’s teacher, other’s see them as going through school together, and no matter how you think if, their friendship is inevitable.

Harley, like Jonathan, is extremely smart. Sure, she’s a little ditsy but heck–give her a patient to help and she’ll work her ass off treating them properly and caringly.  Jonathan is not like this, and would rather cause more harm than good but that doesn’t discount his intelligence.

Together, they could be two of the best doctors in Arkham, despite often being admitted to the place. They know their psychology, they know the doctors and they know treatment.

No real person is cool and composed 100% of the time. Everyone's a little awkward sometimes, gets too excited about something dumb, or has a fear that makes zero logical sense.

Being a bit of a loser is basically part of the human condition, and leaning into that is what makes a character feel like a person instead of a concept. Here's 20 small flaws to work in.

1. Being Bad at Something They're "Supposed" to Be Good At: A great cook who can't bake. A doctor who faints at the sight of their own blood. The mismatch is more memorable than if they were just good at everything.

2. A Genuinely Silly, Specific Fear: Not spiders, something weirder and more specific, the texture of wet paper, a particular sound, mannequins. Specificity is what sells it.

3. Laughing at Their Own Jokes: Before anyone else does, sometimes before the joke's even finished. It's a small thing, and it makes a character feel instantly more human.

4. Being Weirdly Competitive Over Something That Doesn't Matter: Board games, trivia, who can parallel park better. The stakes being embarrassingly low is exactly what makes it funny and real.

5. Holding a Grudge Over Something Petty: Still annoyed about a comment from three years ago that nobody else remembers. It says something honest about how their brain actually works.

6. Being Terrible at Taking a Compliment: Deflecting, downplaying, immediately changing the subject. Tip: this one's a great way to show insecurity without ever having the character say they're insecure out loud.

7. A Guilty Pleasure They're Embarrassed About: A trashy show, a boy band, a food combination nobody else understands. The embarrassment matters more than the thing itself.

8. Getting Overly Attached to an Object: A specific mug, a childhood blanket, a pen that "just writes better." Irrational, a little silly, and completely believable.

9. Chronic Procrastination: Not because they're lazy, because starting feels harder than it should. They'll do genuinely anything else first, and somehow it still gets done at 2am.

10. Talking Too Much When They're Nervous: Rambling, over-explaining, filling silence that didn't need filling. It's the opposite of the composed, quippy character, and it's usually more endearing.

11. Being Chronically Late: Not out of disrespect, just a genuinely broken internal clock. Great for a character who means well and still somehow makes everyone wait every single time.

12. Interrupting People Without Meaning To: Excitement gets ahead of them before they can stop it. It's a flaw that reads as enthusiasm more than rudeness, if you write it right.

13. Overpacking or Over-Preparing for Everything: Bringing five contingency plans to a simple errand. Usually rooted in a deeper need for control that the character probably hasn't examined too closely.

14. Struggling to Apologize Properly: "I'm sorry you feel that way" instead of an actual apology. Not malicious, just genuinely bad at the specific skill of admitting fault out loud.

15. A Weirdly Specific Food Aversion: Won't eat anything that touches on the plate. Refuses a food purely because of the texture. Small, harmless, and instantly humanizing.

16. Being Nosy: Can't help asking questions that aren't really their business, and can't quite explain why they need to know either.

17. Hoarding Things They Don't Need: Receipts, old birthday cards, a drawer of cables to nothing. A small, physical way to show a character who struggles to let go of things in general.

18. Being Bad With Names: Meets someone five times and still blanks. Endearing on a stranger, mortifying when it happens to someone they're supposed to know well.

19. Overthinking Simple Decisions: Standing in front of a menu for ten minutes over what to order. The stakes are nonexistent and the anxiety is real anyway.

20. A Terrible Sense of Direction: Gets lost in buildings they've been in a hundred times. Small, low-stakes, and a nice way to let other characters tease them without it turning mean.

Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks?

Check out the rest of Quillology with Haya; a blog dedicated to writing and publishing tips for authors!

Jonathan is so unbelievably iron deficient— because of his upbringing being more religion forward which, is putting it VERY lightly. Rather than medical/science focused. He thought all his symptoms were all just normal things. He thought everyone got exhausted easily and needed to constantly lay down, or that it was normal for your vision to completely black out when you stand too quickly. Or to be so pale you’re practically see through.

It wasn’t until he was well into adulthood that he realized that is indeed not normal— but you may be asking, did he do anything about it? god no. He’s a stubborn old man from the deep roots of Georgia, why would he? (Edward slips iron supplements into his food whenever he comes over to cook for him, sort of like slipping a pill into some rolled up deli meat for a dog.)

Jon is a huge breakfast guy. Like out of all the meals during the day, he’d pick breakfast every single time. And he goes all out! Grits, bacon, sausage, cat-head biscuits, pancakes— you name it, he cooks it. Certain rogues— such as Harley and Waylon, love coming over for that exact reason. Jon always makes far too much, so he gets to share— and they get a tasty breakfast. A win-win!

Jonathan is pansexual, though he is more woman leaning— he’s certainly been with a few men before. So all in all he’s not picky, Intelligence and self-assuredness is what attracts him the most. It brings a certain mushy feeling in his cold, black heart.

He is very much a black coffee man— and he’s not ever picky on the brand. He’s never been fancy or particular with anything in his life— so why start with coffee? hell, you could put used grounds in a cup and he’d grab a spoon and go to town. So long as he gets that disgustingly bitter taste he loves so much.

But on that topic, He also LOVES chai. He’s a huge sucker for cinnamon and nutmeg flavors. This is also included for pastries— he loves coffee cakes, cinnamon pull aparts, monkey bread— cinnamon rolls too! but no cream cheese frosting, he’s never been a fan of that stuff.

He’s very crafty, with sewing, stitching, any sort of paper crafts, and knitting! to no one’s surprise— given he’s the one who made his own costume. He isn’t super open on his love for crafts— well, except for with the group of senile old women he meets up with at the local nursing home to do knitting circles with. None of them realize he is a criminal. And frankly? I think they’re too old to care.

He has a guilty pleasure of watching really, really poorly made horror movies. Like, you’d think for a guy who has been studying fear and its effects on the human mind and body for his entire life— he’d have better taste, but no. Don’t ever ask him for a recommendation. He’ll tell you to watch rock ‘n’ roll nightmare or Basket Case. He is actively setting you up for failure.

On that note— absolute luddite, he hates technology so much and it hates him just as much. Granted there is some he actively uses— Like his fax machine, his pager, his VCR, and tape recorder.. but that’s it. That’s as far as he’s willing to go. I fear if you put an iphone near him he’ll implode from the sheer stress it puts on his old man brain.

I do not have to reinvent the wheel every time I write fanfiction

I do not have to make every chapter's word count above 1,000 in order for it to be good

It is okay if some things don't make sense

I can write whatever I want

I am writing this shit for free

If people don't like my stuff, they can block me. If they're being mean about it, I can block them.

The most important part of writing fanfiction is having fun

Writing fanfiction is supposed to be fun

I do not have to appeal to people

This shit is fun

write insane shit that’s way beyond your perceived ability and skill level even if you don’t finish it even if you think it sucks