Constitution Writing Workshop 106
Shore leave! What a wonderful opportunity to switch focus away from plot, like we would during a mission, to instead focusing on your character. Shore leave is all about you, after all!
We all have an idea in our head about how our character ticks: who they are; their history; how they act, speak, and react. In fact, you've probably already listed most of this on your wiki bio. And when you did, you probably asked yourselves a set of basic questions:
However, people change, adapt, and grow based on the sum of their experiences, and our characters should be the same. They experience trauma, challenges, victories, learning opportunities, and much more throughout their career. How do these mission events affect them? Can they shrug them off, or does it take them time to come to terms with these events?
So, you decide that you'd like to take some time during shore leave to explore how your character has progressed, or perhaps in dealing with the positive or negative aspects of the last mission. What are some of the tools that can be used to do that? Flashbacks, dream sequences, and the like can be used to great effect to draw attention to how a character used to be, compared to now, or in referencing past events that lend context to your character's current status:
But sometimes you just want to write subplots or small storylines on shore leave as a means to have your character socialize. That is awesome! Often during missions your character is forced into an Away team with a limited number of other characters, or you're stuck with interacting with only your department peers. You'd like to branch out and write with someone you didn't get the chance to during the mission, in order to explore shared hobbies, start or foster a friendship, or even explore the sparks of a possible romance. If you're at all unsure how to get these types of interactions going, take a look at this article:
And above all, this is a great chance to add nuance and layers to your character. After all, none of us want our characters to be a Mary Sue!
Your challenge this shore leave is to reach out to another player that you haven't written with much yet, if at all, and initiate some social interactions, with the goal of creating an opportunity to expand our knowledge and understanding of the characters involved. Conversely, pick a trait or hobby of your character and explore it in more detail. Why do they play a didgeridoo in the Jefferies tubes? What happened in their past that makes them cringe every time they see a tricorder? Be creative and really let us learn something new about your character!