Lazyboi - Profile

As always, looks like you didn’t censor a particular word carefully, so your comment got sent to the shadow realm again, author-san. I believe I actually referred to the fact that not every character needs to have some form of deep exploration or development in one of my previous conversations with you. Such a thing would naturally extend to romance as well. Nonetheless, the idea of viewing female characters as f***able 'meat bags' isn’t a healthy thought to entertain, in my opinion. You would be surprised at how much that bled into your writing when you’re in your own world. I even dare say that it’s shown somewhat through Adam’s thoughts when he was talking about Rias’s mom. It’s preferable to control primal desires and avoid implementing “one-night stand” situations like your example of Adam potentially sleeping with Freya or what he did with Melanie before. Also, I suppose this conversation is more about preventing the story from turning into what you could consider “trashy smut” with scenes that usually hold no real value other than satisfying urges. You would be familiar with them if you frequent AO3. In the end, my advice is that you should try focusing on developing relationships between Adam and his romantic interests in a more genuine direction, rather than striking directly towards third base or just having him going around sleeping with other females, author-san. As a side note, those methods that Chinese novels usually employ, where they undermine the value of side characters (unless you were talking about something different), is basically what you would deem as a cheap plot device. It’s in the same wavelength as those bashing fics in Harry Potter that either over-extravagant or completely change a character to create a narrative. I personally find them very tiring once you’ve seen enough of those.

Romance is quite a fickle thing, if I were to be honest with you. The main reason is that we’re dealing with it in a fictional setting, so it isn’t exactly advisable to make it as realistic as possible. Most harems don’t last well or even are capable of existing under such an implementation. As such, I don’t think you need to have personal experience with love to write it, author-san. Although you still need to know the basics to write a good romance. Active teasing and flirting aren’t what I’d say are effective ways to indicate growing relationships. They’re more in line with being byplays that happen after characters have developed romantic interests in each other. It’s like saying that “these two characters are going to fall in love after they’ve f***ed one another” in one passionate night. That is pretty screwed-up logic to use, even from a fictional standpoint. Getting to know someone more deeply, as you’ve mentioned, author-san, would be a better way to make the romance genuine. It’s very much the foundation that allows the romance to work, and for Adam and his female friends to step over the line to become lovers. Moreover, it does help Adam a lot because, frankly, I don’t think he’s going to score any females with that Casanova role you currently have going on for him. I mean, you could still make the romance occur using your power as the author if you were to go that route. However, the consequence is that it wouldn’t seem genuine in terms of development. Also, I’d suggest that you don’t let the mindset of “letting Adam screw with every hot female that comes his way like they’re toys” consume you, author-san. An example of this would be a suggestion you gave me a while ago when I asked you what kind of future role you had in mind for Jinn after she joined Adam, and you replied with this among other things: “She could become his f*** toy.” Yes, it has been a long time since then, so I’m likely not wording that sentence correctly. Regardless, it does show how unhealthy that thought process is for you as a writer. Given enough time, you might even start seeing irrelevant females as meat bags for Adam to enjoy during his travels, further destroying future possibilities for you to write proper characters.

That is certainly good to know then. Also, I wasn't actually kidding when I said that it has become quite tiring to always hear almost every harem protagonist aiming for Venelana if the DxD world is on the list for that system fanfic. So yeah, probably best to not stick to that "h**ny for married women" trope if you can help it, author-san. On another note, how has your comprehension of "romance development" been as a writer? I recently found something that might be able to aid you with it, but do answer the question first for me.

Say author-san, there is something I wanted to ask you, and it's a bit unrelated to what we've been discussing thus far. You aren't actually planned for Adam to follow through with his thoughts for Venelana, are you? There is, after all, a fine line between a harem protagonist and one that catch females like they're pokemon. And his constant thoughts about getting his meat wet aren't exactly helping Adam much in this case. Of course, everyone do have those 'thoughts' from time to time. It's just that a lot of fics make whatever the protagonist thinks about to be very literal, as they did just that in the following chapters, so I'm unsure if yours is in the same vein.

That is where you’re wrong, author-san. I wasn’t trying to imply that the “second choice” would somehow change Salem’s ways. It’s more about her realizing that there exists another choice that can be made – one that goes beyond the path she currently treads. Salem knew deep down that even if she accomplished what she set out to do, what awaited her at the end would merely be hollow satisfaction. It’s ultimately a meaningless path. However, she still follows it because she understands who or what she is in the world: an Evil Queen that craves an answer so she can finally ‘rest.’ The story of Salem and that unknown Faunus isn’t meant to be fully explored. It’s there to show that there is indeed a path towards a better reality. That, I suppose, is the beauty of storytelling. You don’t need to make sense of every single detail or try to tie in all the nodes that would help make it ‘realistic’ for readers and yourself. It’s merely there to push forward a single message. In the end, Salem would never change or be swayed from her path… but perhaps one day another person, who is different than her, could come along to defeat her and make that ‘choice’ she knew was possible. It’s why I wanted to emphasize the importance of the meeting between Adam and Salem, the game they played to get the final relic in Atlas, and how it’s impossible for Adam to convince her to join him. That last part is honestly a bit biased. I never liked the idea of the protagonist bringing back every shiny trinket and character they come across. It’s certainly wish-fulfillment, but also redundant because it doesn’t tell a good story. In the end, most things hold more value if they begin and end in the same world to which they belong. That is one of the things I’m trying to show you through my ideas for the RWBY arc, no matter how convoluted a lot of them are, author-san.

Stubbornness is a rather good answer, author-san. I’m not sure if you guessed it, but the person I was implying is Salem for this story. It would be an bad decision to make her motives a mystery and keep everyone in the dark for the entirety of the RWBY arc. After all, that can’t be seen as mystery since it should be much more whimsical than that. So, what if we were to entertain the thought that ‘something’ happened in the past that managed to spark a small ember within Salem? I suppose it’s the beauty of world-building and exploring characters who aren’t the protagonist. The idea is that Salem encountered someone you would deem an ‘irrelevant character’ during the period after she became the Grimm Queen. She didn’t have any agents or pawns back then, so she was all alone. Perhaps because of this, a strange bond was formed between them. This person was an orphaned faunus subjected to the scorn of humans, like many of their kind during that time. They spoke of hope, wishing for a day when humans and faunus could reconcile. It was a laughable wish, as Salem knew, and both sides knew it was just impossible no matter how much time passed. Regardless, it was a beautiful dream due to innocent and sincere it was. They even reminded her of her former children… Fast forward to an unknown time period, Salem met that person once again. Although it wasn’t the meeting that either of them had hoped for, as said person was on the verge of death. At some point, they had been drafted into one of the many conflicts between the faunus and humans and got unlucky in a battle. She couldn’t use her healing magic because they were too far gone. Maybe she could have turned them into a Grimm with her current power, but she decided she didn’t want them to live such a cursed life like hers (yes, Salem retained most of her humanity back then). The only thing she could do was to be with them in their last moments. Strangely, there still existed that glimpse of innocence within their eyes. It was melancholic. Despite the cruelty they’d witnessed humans and faunus committed, they held onto that wish they had all those years ago. “Wouldn’t it be nice if that hatred could cease to exist one day?” was all they said before the light finally died out. Those words allowed a different path to blossom in Salem’s mind, a second choice she could take when all her plans are realized and she has obtained all the relics. Alas, she knew deep down that she couldn’t do it. Her selfishness to make a wish that might possibly doom everyone in the process was just too strong. However, that second choice hadn’t completely disappeared from her mind, and perhaps it would have a chance to become the truth once she meets Adam. As it looks, this isn’t exactly the full thing because I haven’t touched upon quite a few details. Nevertheless, do let me know what you think about it, author-san. It’s essential because it helps make sense of a certain idea, I’d like to tell you in my next message. It’s good that you haven’t completely fallen into that writing obsession, author-san. Although it’s also not wrong to indulge in that when you’re free of worldly problems. After all, you would be surprised of what deep ideas you can get during such a ‘trance.’