Writing a Challenge (Ryan)

There should come a time in every RMI-ers time here that they realize they need or want to push themselves as an author. Mine came when I began to want to add a third character. I had my first character Jonas Finn, he was a reliable, well mannered boy. I also had Anders Bradbury,a surfer boy who defied the rules of what a pureblood was. Of course, I had my staff character, who was none other then Gaston Munro, who was a young, fun loving, retired Quidditch star.

I loved my group of guys but I began to realize something was missing; I had no girl characters. Even the ones I would write for Rosie Finn, and Carla Hudson were half women, caricatures
of women I loved and adored in my real life. So randomly in the Chatzy I asked, “Should I write a girl character?” Of course Bossman responded, with a wild “YES” fairly quickly and so I began to think of my character.

There was one thing that I had really wanted since coming to RMI and that was a special character. One with special abilities like a Vela, or a werewolf. So I began to ask the Bossman how I would go about this. I wanted the yet to be named girl to stand out from her fellow classmates. There was one thing I had yet to see written and that was a Parselmouth. So I researched and came up with the LeBeau clan.

Finding out where she was from helped me developed her character. I was so excited! I submitted Roxanne and she was accepted. I counted down the days till orientation was too start, ready to break out my new special girl! The day finally came I read the Orientation thread through, giddy. I had word opened to a fresh new page, I had headphones on to block out the TV. I was ready to write!

Yet, nothing came, I just watched the cursor flash again and again. Waiting for me to type something, anything. After a while it seemed like the thing was mocking me so I typed in Roxy’s name. Nothing came! I got annoyed. I knew nothing about being an eleven year old girl! I could fake a Parselmouth easily enough. There was google for that. They talked to snakes how cool was that. So I was stuck.

I decide to walk away from the computer, after all I couldn't google what an eleven year old girl was! So I took an hour to myself. During that time I thought about Roxy who she was and began to ask people, “hey do you think an eleven year old girl would do this/think this/wear this?” After a while I sat back down at my computer and wrote the first Roxy LeBeau post. It wasn’t very good but it was okay for my first try.


How have I been able to write a girl? I talk to girls. I talk to a lot of moms with girls that age. My buddies tell me stories of what their daughters do or did growing up. I research silly things that girls seem to like, sadly for me most of these things make me groan. One time I even had my sister play Justin Bieber for me. I watched Twilight with Layla. As creepy as it may seem I look at girls’ clothes and I ask myself ‘would Roxy wear that?”

Besides that I make Roxy realistic by watching how children act in movies and TV shows. Sure, sometimes they aren’t the best examples but it helps me write Roxy. In the end it comes down to how I think an eleven year old girl acts. Yes, it’s mostly me hoping that’s how my daughter is when she’s older.

Even now three terms into writing Roxy the Parselmouth, I have trouble writing her. She’s my favorite to write because it is such a challenge for me. Not only do I have to make her realistic in girl form, but also in Parselmouth form. When I sit down to write a post with Roxy, I struggle, get angry, get annoyed but every time I post her I feel that much stronger about my feelings for her.


Sure, Jonas is a nice guy, but I can’t stand him he bores me. Anders and I are buddies. Gaston and I are so much a like its scary but it’s Roxy I love to write and it’s because she’s a challenge. So I decided to challenge myself in little ways with each new character. Jonas’ younger brother Riley Finn is coming this term, and he’s a bit out there if you haven’t read his posts. I hope he becomes one of my favorites too. So my challenge to each of you is push yourself with each new character. Change up their genders, their sexual orientation, their background, the way they act etc etc. I am sure you will learn to adore those characters more then the ones it takes ten minutes to write a post for.