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Here's my old DeviantArt post about my Basil Headcanon
Here's the decription with some typos fixed:
more thoughts below;
Basil still isn't my fav, but I do still know he's objectively an intressting character. I still agree with the thoughts above. Basil has clearly been emotionally neglected & abandoned by his parents, he is further traumatized by the Thruth and the later break-apart of the friendgroup (& later the bullying by Aubrey). The fact that he thought up the idea to hang Mari, and seemingly also hallucinates? Clearly he is suffering as well.
Basil is, to me, the first character I'd make aro if I had the power. He isn't the first thing I'd think of with "aromantic", and I think that part of why I like this HC this much. He is some-one who clearly cares about his friends deeply. He generally has a soft aesthethic. He is an emotional mess. He is so clearly not a robot. I want Basil's suffering in game not be just because of romantic attachment. I guess it's particially because of spite. Not cause of the Sunflower shippers. But instead of those who keep writing yandere!Basil (honestly, I'm just generally not a fan of yanderes).
Here's the decription with some typos fixed:
I'm aro-spec; I get to make the aro headcannons!!!
short answer: IDK man, I just think it's neat!
long answer: I thought it be great to have a aro headcannon where the aro character cared a lot for his friends (not that loveless aros are bad! they're great!). The more I thought about it the more it felt like a non-loveless-aro story. Basil is seemingly (at least emotionally) abandoned by his parents & mainly taken care of by his grandmother, and it's implied that he has trouble making friends. After Mari's death he is basically abandoned by all his friends (including the one he did a awfull thing for). While OMORI doesn't deal with amatonormativity, it is based on the IRL world, does likely having amatonormativity. Amatonormativity doesn't place high value on friendships, and by extension, the hurt of friendship break ups. Basil seemingly had to deal with the loss of all his friends to grief all while likely dealing with the trauma of not having his parents, thus worsing his already existing attachment issues. While he is not my favorite character, I do think he is intressting and, in my opinion, he´s made more intressting as an aro person.
even shorter answer: aro feels go brrr
more thoughts below;
Basil still isn't my fav, but I do still know he's objectively an intressting character. I still agree with the thoughts above. Basil has clearly been emotionally neglected & abandoned by his parents, he is further traumatized by the Thruth and the later break-apart of the friendgroup (& later the bullying by Aubrey). The fact that he thought up the idea to hang Mari, and seemingly also hallucinates? Clearly he is suffering as well.
Basil is, to me, the first character I'd make aro if I had the power. He isn't the first thing I'd think of with "aromantic", and I think that part of why I like this HC this much. He is some-one who clearly cares about his friends deeply. He generally has a soft aesthethic. He is an emotional mess. He is so clearly not a robot. I want Basil's suffering in game not be just because of romantic attachment. I guess it's particially because of spite. Not cause of the Sunflower shippers. But instead of those who keep writing yandere!Basil (honestly, I'm just generally not a fan of yanderes).
no subject
Date: 2024-01-11 06:55 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2024-01-11 07:01 pm (UTC)From:Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-12 09:09 pm (UTC)From:Well reasoned.
>> Amatonormativity doesn't place high value on friendships, and by extension, the hurt of friendship break ups. <<
Yeah, that's a problem. When you try to make one relationship (the sex/romance couple) fill all the social needs, it rarely turns out well.
I'm interested in more diverse relationships, in other ways that people can form deep and lasting bonds. It doesn't always have to be based on sex/romance.
>> Basil seemingly had to deal with the loss of all his friends to grief all while likely dealing with the trauma of not having his parents, thus worsing his already existing attachment issues. <<
Definitely.
>> I want Basil's suffering in game not be just because of romantic attachment. <<
See now, this is a perfect piece for writing practice. You understand what you want the character to be and feel, and what not. So you could write a characterization vignette of him thinking to himself, or talking with someone else, about how miserable he feels and why and that it isn't at all what other people expect. That would be interesting, and there's not a lot of aro/ace fanfic, and people do search for it.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-12 09:44 pm (UTC)From:I can already imagine an idea for the vignette; him talking to Aubrey. Them being akward because she's both his first friend & ex-bully (+ the truth about Mari). [the actual meat of the vignette] Maybe she misunderstands his attachment to Sunny (best friend that moved away) as romantic & decides to talk him out of it so he can not focus on Sunny so much. Basil then ends up venting about his fears with his friends leaving him no matter what. Them just, talking about what friendship means really.
Sorry about dropping the plot bunny here '^^ just wanted to write it down quick.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-13 08:47 am (UTC)From:Okay, let's unpack this a bit.
* It's okay to write OOC. This is why some people want to write fanfic in the first place.
* If you're trying to stay consistent with the character as presented in canon, then that influences the range of stories you can tell. You might not get it perfect at first. That's OKAY. If you're not making any mistakes, you're not learning, you're coasting.
* Anchor your fanfic with bits of canon if you want to keep it close to canon. Think about the specific things that make you interpret this character in a certain way, and reference them. Frex, I wrote Tony Stark learning blacksmith skills, which is a very dirty, physical, blue-collar skill that doesn't seem to mesh with a rich man. But he already is a blacksmith, per the movie Iron Man; and you just can't learn that from a book, you have to build the muscle memory the hard way. So for an aro/ace character, look for lines in canon that sound different than an allosexual person would say.
>> but I have to remind myself 2nd drafts ARE a thing I'm allowed & even encouraged to do.<<
It's a valuable skill.
https://www.emwelsh.com/blog/how-to-edit-a-short-story
https://www.wikihow.com/Edit-a-Short-Story
https://michellerichmond.com/sanserif/story-revision-checklist/
https://www.highlightsfoundation.org/2018/05/07/tools-and-tips-on-character-revision/
https://www.almostanauthor.com/how-to-edit-characters/
I can tell you from experience that editing skill responds very well to plain old level-grinding. By this I mean get a big heap of stuff and edit it; you will get better. So one effective way to improve editing skills for your own work would be to volunteer to beta-read someone else's work. If you want to practice proofreading in particular, feel free to use mine -- when I post things during a fishbowl, sometimes I scramble letters and don't notice it. Or you could offer to beta-read stuff that people submit to your communities, for anyone who's interested in that. Some authors crave it, others avoid it.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-13 02:44 pm (UTC)From:1) You're right.
2) still correct, cause even if my first works are awful, at least they exist.
3) Huh, not something I thought about while watching Iron Man, but yea that makes sense.
Back at it again with the helpfull links :D
On the beta-reader stuff: I'm anxious that people will ask for things that I can't help with. But I'll consider offering beta serives for spelling/wording checking.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-14 09:35 am (UTC)From:Yep, you can't edit what you haven't written.
>>I'm anxious that people will ask for things that I can't help with. But I'll consider offering beta serives for spelling/wording checking.<<
People want a beta-reader for many things. Just tell folks what you're offering and see if anyone's interested. People are always looking for betas.