Oh God this is turning into an Amulet account I dunno how to feel about this
GOD it's finally done, this took a month to work on, so uh, I hope I did them justice. Thank you everyone for this journey! ^_^ Uhh I'm sleep deprived so not much notes for now.
Individual character illustration under the cut:
and pose refs:
15th year anniversary
Textless ver:
Understandable, I just thought your art and writing was really good and could even fit in an Amulet series too. Also your rewrites are quality, because they add more character to the, well characters. Also thanks for answering!
What would you do if you had the chance to write an adaption for the Amulet series? I feel like you'd be the best candidate to make one
Adaptation is a far off dream ngl, I don't really have the means nor skill to do so. I do enjoy making up rewrites in my head however, but that doesn't mean it's quality!
The biggest thing that pisses me off about book 8 of Amulet, Super Nova, is the confrontation between Ikol and Emily is anticlimactic as fuck.
She took off his mask and he died?! That’s it? Are you kidding? My elementary school self didn’t even like that which is saying a lot because most of the time when I was a kid, I couldn’t tell the difference between lazy writing and good writing; all I cared about was cool visuals.
There wasn’t even a fight scene, unless you count when Emily electrocuted some of the palace guards, which wasn’t even a fight scene since she DID NOT have to struggle at all. She pulled off his damn mask and he disintegrates like a vampire in the sunlight. And I have said this once and I’ll say it again, if it was that easy to defeat the elf king/Ikol, WAS HE EVEN A DAMN THREAT? Answer: F NO!
What also frustrates me is that it wasn’t a big deal. Again, the entire point of the revolution was to take down the elf king and when they learn that he is dead, they don’t give two flying monkeys’ asses about it. And it’s frustrating because they had so much build up from it, even from the very first book, which did not give a lot of information of the world around them, mentioned and talked about how treating the Elf King was. And you’re going to tell me, that the big threat now is some stupid shadows?!
Verdict? Super Nova made terrible choices that created bad writing from a storytelling perspective and makes me want to scream.
Why did I hyperfixiate on a Sonic Lost World rewrite instead of studying for my fucking business exam? No clue there's something wrong with me today
Me: man I love writing characters!
Also me: Writes either the most traumatized, depressing, horrifying, or devastating ocs imaginable
Also me electric boogaloo: Writes the sillies
Hell yeah I've been waiting for this moment to talk about character writing and all that jazz. I may not be a professional writer but...
But...
Anyways so, the way I'd write Emily is to make her at least do more heroic actions and actually be willing to help save Alledia instead of it being some sort of prophecy that makes her into a designated hero. I also want to write in more moments that humanizes her or at least make her somewhat relatable
First off, looking at character she's a bit of a stoic loner with a lot of grief from the death of her father and having the responsibility to save Alledia from the Elf King (even though she's literally a minor). And well... it's alright. I'm not much of a good critic but, I feel like the story doesn't make her feel like the protagonist.
Sure she's the main character, but the story keeps forcing her to be a hero she probably doesn't want to be. She's forced to save a world she wasn't familiar with and was forced to become a member of a guardian council. And even when her character relates to the themes of grief and not being alone both themes are sort of thrown out the window in supernova (especially the not being alone part because not everyone can solve their problems with their future selves).
But if I want to get to rewriting Emily's character I'd also have to rewrite a few things in the story. To start, let Emily become more interactive with her family. She could have more times where she'd talk to Navin, maybe they could either have more time bonding together since the theme of siblinghood sorta just faded a bit as the series went on. Maybe have more moments where they work together fighting enemies (that titan scene in book 2 is a good example but I wished I had more). Have moments where they bicker and argue and maybe have some tension with each other but let them get along and understand each other more in the end. Let them both have more moments with their mother too and show why their bonds are so strong apart from just by blood.
And especially this, let Emily also have a found family with other characters. Let Miskit be like a mentor and possible big brother-like figure to her (and lemme rewrite Miskit into being actually useful and use the damn info he got from Silas). Let Leon also be like a mentor to her (and maybe have Miskit and Leon have a rivalry on who's the better stonekeeper teacher). Let Emily learn more about the word of Alledia from Enzo and Rico (they could be like her uncles even). If family is important, then found family could also be a great addition to its theme.
Next, let Emily become more active in the story. Show the audience that she's worthy of being a hero by writing her to do heroic things not because she has to but because she wants to. Let her take some time to save other civilians in danger, such as in book 2 where she could have saved other civilians from the Elf soldiers while the clinic was under attack. I don't want to sound too pushy but I wish she was written with more agency as a character. Maybe there could even be a moment where she is allowed to have a choice between going back to Earth or staying at Alledia instead of some strange stonekeeper curse. But instead of choosing to go back to Earth, she wants to stay because she genuinely wants to help Alledia stop the Elf King (and later that stupid swirly voice guy). And relating to the theme of family before, let her stay in Alledia because she's made more bonds and friends/family there than on Earth and she doesn't want to lose them just like she lost her father.
Speaking of loss, let the truth of the stone come out quicker, the truth that she can't bring her father back from the death. Let her accept overtime that even if her father was gone, she can't bring him back. Even if time travel existed (which I really wish it wasn't but oh well thanks supernova) let Emily realise that she can't change the past without dire consequences. But let her know that she isn't alone. That she could still talk to others about her grief and about her past life before all these Alledia shenanigans. That even if her father's gone, he would've been proud of her and he has lived his best life with her and her family.
Finally, her loneliness and also her friendships. I feel like her friendship with Trellis should have a little more utilization, such as giving them time to bond together as not just allies (as in people that work together because they have too) but as friends. Let them share their feelings together, let Trellis even bond with her family and let Emily bond with Luger a bit (even though I don't like him a lot tbh). And when the time comes, let their friendship save them from certain doom. From Emily saving Trellis in book 5, to Trellis saving Emily in book 8 (instead of her future self because it came out of nowhere and undermines the themes of the books booo).
In conclusion... I think I may have gone too far. I may have had a few wonky and weirdly written paragraphs here and there but it's almost midnight and I forgot that I have to sleep for school. I'm sorry that I wrote a little too much I went overboard with the rewrites and stuff. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this, I try to put a lot of thought into this essay... reblog... whatever it's called
Question to fans: We don't know much about Emily, how would you develop her as a character?
I have nothing much to offer at this time,