Do you like the way Donnie acts around April this series?

[Netkeeper]

Originally Posted by Konchadunga

1) You do not have any statistics on hand that things like Twilight lead to sexual assault. I think it sucks, mind you, but the fact that much of the female populace disagrees proves that yours isn't the only opinion. Accept it.

I can't explain why some people like Twilight. I really cannot. But it doesn't change the fact that behaviours like those lead to sexual assault, because that's what goes through their heads. Like, if you use your brain, you can easily come to the same conclusion.

Originally Posted by Konchadunga

2) You do not need to SUBJECT US to your tirades to help you be a better writer; use a damned journal. And if you really aren't trying to convert us, then why the shell are you just repeating the same argument over and over to people who obviously don't agree? How about you stop "preparing" to write the fanfic with your incessant bitching, and just go write the damn thing instead?
3) I may be crossing the line here, but if you bring up doge, then you're damned as a writer anyway so far as I'm concerned.

I can't believe how serious every word of that drivel is. Talking with myself and debating with myself isn't going to make me a better writer! Shoving myself into conversation with people who are unlikely to share my views is! Opposition helps refine your views, and you can learn a lot from hearing an outside perspective. I've learned a LOT during the time I've been posting here. I love it!

Originally Posted by Konchadunga

How about you stop "preparing" to write the fanfic with your incessant bitching, and just go write the damn thing instead?

Unfortunately, little do you know my little project already contains approximately 18296 words.

Originally Posted by Konchadunga

A chart may be creepy to you, but it is, in fact, a hyperbolic representation of the actual dilemmas men go through about how to approach a girl in a way that isn't scary to them.

No, it really is not. I don't make charts trying to turn "no's" into "yeses". Do you know how to approach anyone you find attractive? You talk to them like they are any other human being on this Earth. Wow. So difficult. And if you have feelings for that person, you tell them "I think I have romantic feelings for you". Again, this isn't difficult. All you have to do is be up front and honest, which appears to be a concept a lot of people have trouble understanding.

Originally Posted by Konchadunga

I really want to know, how would you have done it "better"? Is there any way at all they could have had Donatello crush on April that doesn't offend you?

I absolutely would have done it better if I wanted to write something like that, but the fact stands that I have no interest in writing a Donatello/April crush, and I have no interest in writing Donatello with a puppy crush at all. I tried it once. It was stupid.

But to humour you, I'd set things up in a way where April is well established before any romantic feelings start showing. It's important to display what each half of a potential couple is like independently, and as friends, before any crushes enter the picture. This mistake was made in episode number one of TMNT 2012: Donatello is already lovestruck and nobody even knows what her name is. That is god awful writing.

Donatello is an intellectual character. Writing him with a crush isn't difficult, but it isn't going to be incredibly obvious, either. His hints need to be subtle, and they need to be given an intellectual, not a physical, basis. Showing April being interested in mathematics or computers, or a teenage girl with an ambition to make good grades, would be a good step in the direction of having him develop a crush that makes sense. He would show admiration for mind, not body. A strong, self-assured girl that has a good wit would be a nice fit for 2k12 Donatello, but I'm also of the opinion that fellow geniuses fit him nicely as well [like 2k3 April].

This is the type of thing that would develop slowly for him, assuming that Donatello is even the first one to start feeling anything to begin with. April's feelings are equally as important, but in order to write the development well, adjustments to her character would also be necessary. She'd have to be given a lot more spotlight. This teen April would have worked wonderfully in centre-stage, main protagonist territory, imo, but it doesn't necessarily have to go that far for it to be relevant to show what April is like and what her life outside the turtles revolves around, because it sure as hell don't revolve around the turtles and it shouldn't. When April is aged down so she is the same age as the turtles, we're missing an opportunity to give her the relateable role, the "average kid that is probably watching the show right now" role.

If it were me, I'd have spent season one displaying the characters independently and working as teams, showing their platonic dynamics with each other, then come season two if any crush was going to develop it'd happen then. And it would be slow and out of focus. Even as the crush grows, it would not be the main focus of either character involved, and it would not be the driving force behind every single interaction the two characters had, because at that point there would be more to them than "one is crushing on the other lmao", there would be an already-existent platonic dynamic that continues to grow.