Monday relationship dissection
Pick two of your characters who have met or interacted in a more than superficial manner. Best friends, enemies, lovers, rivals, relatives... Something with some meat to it.
Then tell us how they feel about each other in as great a blithering detail as you can manage to do. What do they view as each others' flaws? Each others' virtues? Do they get along with each other, or are things tense? Do they respect each other? Despise each other? Find each other amusing?
Have their opinions of each other been the same throughout their relationship? If not, how have they evolved? What factors of each characters' personality influences how they relate to the other character?
Well I may as well start over with dissecting Marce and Emil's relationship, given that lately I've found out some interesting stuff about Emil that throws a wrench into the entire first half of my novel.
Marce and Emil are partners, best friends, lovers, and spouses. They are the loves of each other's lives. It wasn't always that way between them; they started off pretty acrimoniously as reluctant partners in debate while in university. At that point Marce thought Emil was selfish and arrogant, while Emil was convinced that Marce was a thorny, unpleasant, and unrefined upstart. What kept them drawn to each other even at that early stage was Marce's being upfront and passionate, and Emil being curious. Marce was not about to let Emil's apathy slide, while Emil wondered what made Marce tick. It took a long time and much pain before they could trust each other, but once that trust was earned, their bond was pretty much cemented. It was just a matter of things developing from a partnership to a close friendship, to a very solid romantic relationship that eventually ended up in a marriage. They go through a lot of hell before ending up together for keeps; they are apart for a year, they nearly break up at least once, and go through a few near-death experiences all before their engagement.
Marce considers Emil as her touchstone in life's craziness, the person who nurtures her, her confidante and equal. She greatly respects his intellect and charisma (she'd be the first to admit that he bests her as a lawyer), as well as his strict adherence to his principles. She appreciates that he has her back in everything from her career as a prosecutor, to her family troubles, and even to raising their children. She loves how passionate and earnest he is, and how unashamed he is to show that he cares for people. She trusts him completely; it's well earned considering all they've been through together and all the times he's proven his honorable intentions to her. She's never considered herself as capable of feeling any physical passion---till they got together. She also thinks he makes a better parent than she does. She secretly likes how protective he gets; it helps that they have a one-foot height difference. She also finds his geekiness about comic books, swing, and obscure culture very endearing.
Sometimes Marce gets infuriated when Emil does not think things through, when he makes rash decisions (especially when he's worried about her or their children), or when he goes in too far to try to help people. She also dislikes it when he takes things too personally and gets upset or moody. Sometimes she has to remind him to keep his masculine ego in check. She also gets annoyed at his vanity at times, and reminds him that she loved him before and after he got scarred, and that putting on some pounds, getting gray hairs, or other things aren't going to change her opinion of him.
On the other hand Emil credits Marce with being the one to wake him up and show him possibilities beyond his usual sheltered sphere. He considers her as the person who brought him back to life, who made his world new again. Falling in love with her was like falling for the first time. Marce isn't "the woman of his dreams", but she's the woman he can "face reality with". He loves how dedicated she is to her causes, and how passionate she is in fighting for people. He worries at times how he is supposed to protect her, but he never holds her back from pursuing her goals. He feels rather privileged that he's the one who knows Marce's softer side, that part of her which is more life-giving and less of a fighter. He also trusts her completely, so much that he does not hold back his vulnerabilities from her. He likes how insightful and straightforward she is, and the fact that he can be brutally honest around her without risking his life, usually.
As far as Emil is concerned, Marce's flaws revolve around her difficulties with managing anger and forgiving people. He tries to keep her from wearing her battle scars too proudly, encouraging her instead to heal and move on instead of constantly opening up her psychological wounds. He also thinks she can be too proud and foolhardy at times, and is sometimes stuck having to pick her up when things go wrong. He sometimes has to remind her that there are more important battles to fight.
The two of them are very close, having their special forms of communication such as handwritten letters. They have particular routines: lunchtime dates, going dancing or waiting up in the mornings. In a way it keeps them sane, especially Marce. They are no-holds barred whether it's in loving or fighting each other. Their sources of conflict usually are about child-rearing or about who gets to take a dangerous case that week. Since they do have a family to raise, they agreed that only one of them is allowed to take a controversial case at any point in time. It's difficult to balance this out when they are both in demand, or when they cannot let cases drop. However since they are up-front with dealing with each other, conflicts are threshed out pretty quickly. Marce is said to be the less affectionate one in their relationship, but a look at their letters might reveal otherwise. I wouldn't call them co-dependent but they do make it a point to clear many big decisions with each other.
Then tell us how they feel about each other in as great a blithering detail as you can manage to do. What do they view as each others' flaws? Each others' virtues? Do they get along with each other, or are things tense? Do they respect each other? Despise each other? Find each other amusing?
Have their opinions of each other been the same throughout their relationship? If not, how have they evolved? What factors of each characters' personality influences how they relate to the other character?
Well I may as well start over with dissecting Marce and Emil's relationship, given that lately I've found out some interesting stuff about Emil that throws a wrench into the entire first half of my novel.
Marce and Emil are partners, best friends, lovers, and spouses. They are the loves of each other's lives. It wasn't always that way between them; they started off pretty acrimoniously as reluctant partners in debate while in university. At that point Marce thought Emil was selfish and arrogant, while Emil was convinced that Marce was a thorny, unpleasant, and unrefined upstart. What kept them drawn to each other even at that early stage was Marce's being upfront and passionate, and Emil being curious. Marce was not about to let Emil's apathy slide, while Emil wondered what made Marce tick. It took a long time and much pain before they could trust each other, but once that trust was earned, their bond was pretty much cemented. It was just a matter of things developing from a partnership to a close friendship, to a very solid romantic relationship that eventually ended up in a marriage. They go through a lot of hell before ending up together for keeps; they are apart for a year, they nearly break up at least once, and go through a few near-death experiences all before their engagement.
Marce considers Emil as her touchstone in life's craziness, the person who nurtures her, her confidante and equal. She greatly respects his intellect and charisma (she'd be the first to admit that he bests her as a lawyer), as well as his strict adherence to his principles. She appreciates that he has her back in everything from her career as a prosecutor, to her family troubles, and even to raising their children. She loves how passionate and earnest he is, and how unashamed he is to show that he cares for people. She trusts him completely; it's well earned considering all they've been through together and all the times he's proven his honorable intentions to her. She's never considered herself as capable of feeling any physical passion---till they got together. She also thinks he makes a better parent than she does. She secretly likes how protective he gets; it helps that they have a one-foot height difference. She also finds his geekiness about comic books, swing, and obscure culture very endearing.
Sometimes Marce gets infuriated when Emil does not think things through, when he makes rash decisions (especially when he's worried about her or their children), or when he goes in too far to try to help people. She also dislikes it when he takes things too personally and gets upset or moody. Sometimes she has to remind him to keep his masculine ego in check. She also gets annoyed at his vanity at times, and reminds him that she loved him before and after he got scarred, and that putting on some pounds, getting gray hairs, or other things aren't going to change her opinion of him.
On the other hand Emil credits Marce with being the one to wake him up and show him possibilities beyond his usual sheltered sphere. He considers her as the person who brought him back to life, who made his world new again. Falling in love with her was like falling for the first time. Marce isn't "the woman of his dreams", but she's the woman he can "face reality with". He loves how dedicated she is to her causes, and how passionate she is in fighting for people. He worries at times how he is supposed to protect her, but he never holds her back from pursuing her goals. He feels rather privileged that he's the one who knows Marce's softer side, that part of her which is more life-giving and less of a fighter. He also trusts her completely, so much that he does not hold back his vulnerabilities from her. He likes how insightful and straightforward she is, and the fact that he can be brutally honest around her without risking his life, usually.
As far as Emil is concerned, Marce's flaws revolve around her difficulties with managing anger and forgiving people. He tries to keep her from wearing her battle scars too proudly, encouraging her instead to heal and move on instead of constantly opening up her psychological wounds. He also thinks she can be too proud and foolhardy at times, and is sometimes stuck having to pick her up when things go wrong. He sometimes has to remind her that there are more important battles to fight.
The two of them are very close, having their special forms of communication such as handwritten letters. They have particular routines: lunchtime dates, going dancing or waiting up in the mornings. In a way it keeps them sane, especially Marce. They are no-holds barred whether it's in loving or fighting each other. Their sources of conflict usually are about child-rearing or about who gets to take a dangerous case that week. Since they do have a family to raise, they agreed that only one of them is allowed to take a controversial case at any point in time. It's difficult to balance this out when they are both in demand, or when they cannot let cases drop. However since they are up-front with dealing with each other, conflicts are threshed out pretty quickly. Marce is said to be the less affectionate one in their relationship, but a look at their letters might reveal otherwise. I wouldn't call them co-dependent but they do make it a point to clear many big decisions with each other.