probably my least productive weekend in a while, but in my defence, I did write some of the second year genfic. God, is Noya hard to characterise. You'd think he's a straightforward character to write, but no! I can't find any way into his mind at all.
And the absolute worst part?? I have nothing to draw reference from, because I disagree with 90% of all Noya characterisations. The remaining 10% are mostly character studies, and if I refer to them too much I know I'll end up getting influenced. As it is I've already had to force myself to change a huge part of my vent fic because it was too similar to one of the Noya character studies I read.
For some reason, I just can't get my finger on who Noya ~is~. It's easy enough to write him from another person's POV, but to write with Noya's voice?? Impossible. My only ever published fics written from Noya's POV are 1) the Yakunoya bedsharing fic, which didn't turn out as I wanted it to, and 2) the Ennonoya genfic, which admittedly was better but didn't necessarily have much of Noya's voice.
It's ridiculous, because in comparison to say, Yaku, I technically have so much more canon material to base my own characterisation off of?? He's a strangely complex character to write, and I love that about him but I also hate it because I never feel like any of my Noyas do the real one justice =_=
I'm very aware of which characters are easy for me to write and which are not, which is why I actively try to switch things up and not write in the same person's voice all the time. I've only written a very small range of characters so far, but as far as I can tell I'm getting most - if not all - of them close to canon characterisation. I'd rather write for a small cast and get them right, than to write everyone but end up with them being OOC. Speaking of everyone: a lot of other in HQ are terrifying to even consider writing. Tendou, for one. Asahi, too. Miya, for another. Both Miyas. I've tried writing a Miya brothers fic, but because Osamu's personality is still being introduced to us, I'm holding off on that until I have a better grip on him.
So far, out of the characters I've actually written, I've found that Yaku is awfully easy for me - but that's because I see myself in him. Even in eggshells, I projected myself onto Yaku, so it wasn't difficult for me to write him from Kuroo's POV. He's exactly like me, in terms of how we deal with our emotions: with anger, by closing up/off, refusing to let anyone in, basically by building walls so that nobody can come in. Only really stubborn idiots like Kuroo will even bother.
Kuroo was a huge challenge at first, as was Futakuchi (and Shirabu and Taichi) but once I got hold of their snark and bad jokes, they became easy to write. I mean... I'm the one churning out bad jokes in my group of friends irl. Futakuchi is very fun to write, and I can easily write him because he's so obnoxious, but yet so... vulnerable, in a sense.
Kageyama and Hinata... Kageyama is difficult, I have to admit. I struggled with giving him a voice of his own in Sunrise at first, because I kept writing him in relation to Hinata. It was only when I'd gotten to the scene with Go board where I hit on how to properly write him. He's... Kind of simple, like a one track mind, but in a complicated way. Hinata is easy, I don't know why, but he just is for me. He seems kind of dumb and silly at times, but he's really enthusiastic (100% of himself into everything) and dorky too.
Ennoshita has a very vague canon personality, but he's nowhere as hard to write as Noya is, because I already have a rough idea of how his personality is - deadpan, rational, passionate, very capable, innately confident - and I also have a number of good Ennoshita fics I can refer to.
Kenma is another problematic one (how did I even end up wanting to write a Noyaken, I don't even know how I'm going to write two characters I can't take hold of): he kind of feels like a bunch of contradictions to me, but he's also got his own brand of confidence. He's quiet, and observant, and doesn't fear calling bullshit or taking leadership when he needs to. But he also prefers to lurk in the background, and also to win. The competitive streak in Kenma is so strong, gosh..
Let's talk about Noya: he's loud, maybe obnoxiously so, exuberant, enthusiastic, a good libero, believes 100% in his friends,.. But he's also super perceptive, observant, serious, passionate, all or nothing, confident and yet humble.
I think the biggest challenge for me, in writing him, is that all these traits are so OUT THERE that I don't know which of his traits should take centre stage at any given point in time. And even more difficult is to look inside him, past the loudness, to find his inside voice. Too quiet doesn't cut it, because he's so loud. But too loud doesn't either, because I know he is quiet. If Kenma is a bunch of contradictions, then Noya is a balance so fine that I can't quite catch.
Also... I do know (have known since I first met Noya) that I project parts of myself onto him. If Yaku is my emotional self, and Kuroo/Futakuchi are my sarcasm and bad jokes, then Noya is just... me, and how I carry myself in everyday life. So I do know that it is entirely possible to be simultaneously the loudest person in the group (...I have no excuses.) and also the quietest and most observant. And in a way, I think Noya's character is one that I personally do look up to, however ridiculous that sounds. I look up to a lot of his traits, and I respect him a lot.
So in that line of thought - is it because of the different personality traits that Noya has, all acting in tandem, that makes him impossible to perfectly capture? I always feel that fandom only manages to capture half of his true self - more often than not, it's the loud and dumb side, overriding the fact that Noya is /not/ just a loud voice in a crowd, he is noted to be quiet and silent and surprisingly serious - which always angers and saddens me because:
Nishinoya is more than just a loud holler across a gym. He is the slap of a ball on forearms, the squeak of rubber against wooden floors. He is the roaring of thunder and the gathering of clouds, and the flash of lightning splitting the sky apart. He is the guffaw echoing in the smallness of the storeroom, the pounding of footsteps down the classroom corridor, the scratching of a pen on paper and the frustrated slam of a door. Nishinoya is energy and stillness, the cresting and crashing of a wave. He is the frantic clatter of chopsticks against a bento box, and the rustle of curtains in the evening breeze. He's the glare of the morning sun and the orange hues of the sunset, all at once.
I guess what I really want to say is, Nishinoya Yuu is an enchanting dichotomy, and I want to one day be able to figure out how to capture him, and his inner self.
I'll probably use that paragraph up there for a fic, someday. I feel like it's inspired from something I've read about Noya, though, so I need to... Well, check that it's not.
...i knew it, it's from a
character meta-analysis of Noya, one of the very few that I actually agreed 100% with. I read it when I was just starting to get into HQ, but even today I still agree with everything that the op wrote.
edit: After talking to Mel, I think... I might have a better idea now. Noya doesn't think, but he feels, and he acts based on that feeling. The challenge is in showing what he feels, without showing his thought process that leads to his actions.
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