Thieves In Time Redux Progress Meme

My biggest tip for fanfic writers is this: if you get a character's mannerisms and speech pattern down, you can make them do pretty much whatever you want and it'll feel in character.

Logic: Characters, just like real people, are mallable. There is typically very little that's so truly, heinously out of character that you absolutely cannot make it work under any circumstance. In addition, most fans are also willing to accept characterization stretches if it makes the fic work. Yeah, we all know the villain and the hero wouldn't cuddle for warmth in canon. But if they did do that, how would they do it?

What counts is often not so much 'would the character do this?' and more 'if the character did do this, how would they do it?' If you get 'how' part right, your readers will probably be willing to buy the rest, because it will still feel like their favourite character. But if it doesn't feel like the character anymore, why are they even reading the fic?

Worry less about whether a character would do something, and more about how they'd sound while doing it.

Thieves In Time Redux: Rewriting the tutorial

You guys likely already know how Thieves In Time Redux begins. Penelope gets dragged into the events of the game against her will. Let's go over how she does during the story's opening...

We open near the museum, same as in canon. The only difference? There's four figures instead of three. The opening exchange now includes Penelope.

I'll just go ahead and show you the entire thing...

"Okay, you three remember the plan, right?"

"Of course! My mind is like a steel cap!"

"Uh, that's 'trap', Big Guy. And everybody relax! We've been over it a million times. What could possibly go wrong?''

"Famous last words! Look, we're only going to get one shot at this, so we can't mess up!"

"Alright, no messing up allowed. Now stop worrying! This is gonna be a piece of cake!"

"Question. Is it too late for me to back out?"

"I'm afraid so. You're coming with me, remember?"

"...Fine."

"We won't be out here forever, Sis! All we gotta do is take that dagger, do our thing, and clobber some fools into next week!"

"...Right. I'll keep that in mind."

"And with that, I'll see you all inside. Now let's get going!"

Penelope will be joining Bentley in the sewers. Before the opening, she had been targeted by kidnappers. She told Bentley about them in a panic, and... that's why she's here. She doesn't get enough time to vanish without a trace. Oh, and her blueprints for Le Paradox's blimp went missing.

Spoiler alert: They were stolen.

Sly's section is identical to canon, save for a few new lines. Same deal for Murray.

Bentley's section is changed up to accommodate Penelope. She'll only be following him for now... at least until her segment begins.

Just like in canon, Bentley falls deeper in the sewers... and gets separated from Penelope.

"How's that security system coming, Bentley?"

" Uh... Great! Perfect! I'll be done in a jiffy! *moves forward, only to realize he didn't land where he was supposed to* H--how did I...?"

"I thought you said 'no messing up allowed', old friend."

"I'm... taking the scenic route tonight!"

"Uh-huh... *short pause* You haven't forgotten Penelope, have you? Aren't you supposed to be watching her?"

This leads to a tutorial section for our favorite mouse girl. Her objective is finding Bentley. She's also given a title: The Wild Card.

"Sorry, I'm a little nervous. Nearly losing you to kidnappers does that."

"'A little', you say? You've been a nervous wreck ever since we left HQ."

Since this happens to be Penelope's very first solo outing, poor Bentley is freaking out. Penelope, meanwhile, isn't nearly as uneasy. She's just annoyed that she's been dragged into this adventure against her will. Not that she can tell Bentley why...

She instead tries to reassure him that yes, she can take care of herself... only to immediately follow that up by trying to run off. Bentley, of course, thinks she got lost and turns her around. She plays along and evades suspicion.

Since running off is no longer an option, Penelope goes off to find Bentley... When she does, he's in the process of almost getting jumped by a guard. She responds by knocking said guard out... because nobody touches that turtle except her.

Now reunited, they move onward to the same control room from canon.

Everything after that is nearly identical to vanilla. Yes, even Murray's segment. And yes, even Carmelita catching Sly in the act of thieving around.

The only difference is Penelope now being in the van with the boys as they all drive into a time portal.

Not a bad intro, huh? I've already talked about everyone's character arcs in previous posts, so here's a quick recap...

Sly learns that maybe ditching his friends on Kaine Island wasn't the best idea.

Bentley learns that he needs to not be overprotective of Penelope, but rather supportive.

Murray... doesn't go through much of a arc. He's focused on being a good older brother towards Penelope.

And Penelope? She's got a lot to learn about friendship. I bet you can't wait to see how she goes from distant and not wanting to be here to willing to take responsibility for what she's done. Because yes, she is still responsible for the Le Paradox incident in this rewrite.

I won't be writing Penelope as a sociopath, but rather as someone disconnected from her friends and what she actually needs.

I kind of neglected to mention that since Penelope is still behind the events of this game, she's going to be a bit confused about how Le Paradox's evil plan has gone ahead without her.

Lastly, I want to address how long it's been since the end of Sly 3. It's been roughly 19 months since Sly started faking amnesia.

At the beginning of this rewrite, Sly and Bentley are 22, Murray is 23, Penelope is 21, and Carmelita is 25. No clue about Dimitri or the villains.

Yet another cut scene from Sly 3…

I’m guessing this was the reason that the gang’s first attempt at breaking into Doctor M’s vault didn’t go very well.

hiii heehee hoohoo

this little fountain area was my fav part of the venice level

please reblog if you leave a like!

Thieves In Time Redux: Why Toad Town?

Check this post out for context.

You may be wondering why there's so much music from Paper Mario: The Origami King associated with this project. This was actually a decision I made quite recently.

For now, I'm only talking about Origami King's Toad Town.

I started work on Thieves In Time Redux long before Origami King ever existed. It was just a massive stroke of luck to see OK's Toad Town of all pieces work so well together with the progression of my little story. Or more specifically, a certain mouse girl's evolution into the true hero I know she can become.

Take Toad Town Ghost Town, for instance. It's assigned to Episode 1, the beginning of our heroes' time traveling adventure. Not only is it perfect for Feudal Japan, it's also perfect for the beginning of Penelope's character arc.

Might as well talk about each step in the music's progression. Toad Town - Red Streamer Removal is assigned to Episode 2. Perfect for a wild west town, is it not? Here, Penelope is beginning to understand the consequences of her actions, mainly through what happened to Sly and Carmelita.

My favorite, though, is Toad Town - Blue Streamer Removal. Assigned to Episode 3, that's when Penelope undergoes her change of heart. It happens after she gets placed on bed rest and needs the boys to take care of her.

Then there's the more heroic shift in tone that comes with Toad Town - Yellow Streamer Removal. In which our heroine successfully strikes down her own creations without being discovered as their creator.

Episode 5 gives us Toad Town - Purple Streamer Removal. Penelope's nearing the end of her character arc, and the boys are proud of her. Too bad Le Paradox outs her as his mole at the end of the episode.

Toad Town - Green Streamer Removal gives us the end of her character arc with Episode 6. After her journey across time, Penelope has changed for the better, she's been found out, and she's willing to take responsibility for what she's done.

How in the heck did freaking Toad Town manage to retell my entire fanfic so perfectly? Even I have no clue... But I'm so glad it turned out that way.

Long story short, I love how the music progresses to its final form.

attempting to copy sly cooper's art style lmao

betrayal and trust prompts

“i never thought you’d be the one to betray me.”

“after everything we’ve been through, this is how it ends?”

“i told you my deepest secrets, and this is how you repay me?”

“you’ve broken my trust, and I don’t know if I can ever forgive you.”

“i thought you were different, but you’re just like the rest.”

“i wish i could turn back time and see the truth sooner.”

“i don’t know if I can ever look at you the same way again.”

“you’ve shattered everything we built together.”

“was any of it real, or was it all a lie?”

“you were the last person I expected to hurt me.”

“i trusted you more than anyone else, and you broke that trust.”

“how long were you planning this? how long have you been lying to me?”

“you’ve left me with nothing but questions and a broken heart.”

Medium Support for Cooper

Penelope wasn't informed that Carmelita went to this gym. Alternative of Carmelita because her chest fur is inconsistent.

This was posted on my Patreon and Ko-fi weeks ago. If you'd like early access and exclusive art you can support me there!

penelope doodles!! she definitely awakened my love of techy ladies

trying to find a consistent way of drawing her with … some limited success?? in my sly she looks basically the same as her sly 3 design but she’s kinda scrappier and also probably has adhd because i must project

breaking through loooong art block and experimenting with a looser line art style (a bit inconsistently here) and i think i might not hate it actually

still gonna set up that discord group i’ve talked about btw!!! just been struggling with bad internet and some health stuff hhhhh

Writing Notes: Types of Characters

You may recall from your literature classes that characters can be “flat” or “round,” and likewise, “minor” or “major.”

A character also may be a protagonist or antagonist.

Look at F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby for examples of character types.

Note that the characters in the novel are more complex than what is stated here, and that Gatsby faces other antagonists—such as class, bourgeois snobbery, and the progression of time itself.

Protagonist: the main or central character, the hero (Gatsby)

Antagonist: opponent or enemy of the protagonist (Tom Buchanan)

Flat/Minor: a character(s) who helps readers better understand another character, usually the protagonist. Also, “a static and undeveloped character of two dimensions” (Knorr and Schell 165). (Nick Carraway)

While Gatsby is our protagonist, the one who we want to succeed, his success would mean ousting his beloved Daisy’s husband, Tom Buchanan.

An idea can also function as an antagonist: Gatsby is also fighting against the bourgeois prejudice of elite 1920s New York City, where “old money”—such as the Buchanans—is worth more than new money, as exemplified by the divide between East Egg and West Egg.

Usually, the protagonist is also a Round character, “a developing three-dimensional character” (Knorr and Schell 165).

In other words, the protagonist must be a character that grows and changes during the story; it is the progress of this change that keeps the reader interested and cheering for the character.

Archetypes

Part of why The Great Gatsby has endured in American literature is because the characters are complex, rather than being simple archetypes.

You are already aware of many archetypes; you can recognize them in the movies you watch, such as the Reluctant Hero (Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games series).

Using an archetype is a kind of shorthand; if you put in a character like The Lonely Old Lady With A Dog, the reader recognizes the character and knows what to expect from them.

This may be helpful when populating your world with minor/flat characters, because it is reassuring and comforting to your reader; your reader knows these archetypal characters already.

Unfortunately, that also means that archetypal characters may be clichéd. Once you put your character down into their world, they can react in various ways to the setting and reality of their lives.

In Mooring Against the Tide: Writing Fiction and Poetry, Knorr and Schell write:

…your characters may react to the world in one of four ways. They may see this society and its values and assimilate by adopting those values as their own; they may accommodate in that they do not like those values but will adopt them anyway if only to get along; they may rebel against those values in any number of ways; or, they may take flight from that society and, as did Huck Finn, head out to the new territories.

In other words, just as our choices in life determine where we go, the plot of your story is determined by the nature of your characters.

These four choices might not seem to offer many different plot options, but in reality, they can play out in an infinite number of ways. Think about your favorite novel or short story—it’s likely that the main character is faced with a choice and has to pick one of the four routes described above.

Otherwise, there may not be much conflict in your story.

Source Writing References: Worldbuilding ⚜ Plot ⚜ Character