Sanders Sides BROTP One-Shots: EXPLAINED

Chapter 10: The Imposter

SPOILER ALERT!

A Little Background:

After I let myself down with The Darkness of Deceit, I felt that you all deserved a story that involved Deceit, and I finally felt as if I was in a position to write it. That being said, let's get into this Explained chapter.

Inspiration:

Where the idea for this story came from was MY ABSOLUTE BURNING HATRED FOR MY PREVIOUS STORY INVOLVING DECEIT! Okay, being more fair to myself, I actually had a thought, what if Deceit were now angry with Virgil for being the one to catch on and expose him. I also wondered what it would be like if Deceit tried to imitate Virgil. That being the case, I know most people are on board with the idea that the two have some sort of history with one another, so I decided to try and elaborate on that somewhat as well.

The true back story between the two of them was explained in a later chapter, so I instead focused on Deceit wanting to take control away from the current four Sides, and this time around, instead of Patton, Virgil would be the puppet.

Overall Thoughts On The Imposter:

The Imposter is probably in third or fourth place if I were to rank which of my stories I like best, I actually really liked the way the situation played out and the characterization, which I will get to momentarily. One thing that I found to be quite difficult was the reactions of the others when they found that Virgil was acting like he did prior to his redemption arch, which is similar to the How far is too far point that I made in a previous chapter. Trying to balance the anger and betrayal the others would feel with their character development over time was a feat for sure.

Now, onto the characterization, which is probably the thing I am most proud of in The Imposter. You all seemed to take really well to this, and I absolutely LOVED writing angry / protective Virgil. It was so fun being able to write him in a position where he was completely done with someone else's s***, and he quite simply wasn't going to put up with it any longer. However, as I was writing, I thought about the term that I uses as a descriptor for Virgil quite frequently: Fight-or-Flight Reflex. When it comes down to the wire, if his family was in real trouble, I feel like Virgil would have absolutely no problem what so ever in punching the living daylights out of whoever deserved it. Don't believe me, just go back to the video where Deceit is introduced, and look at Virgil's expression when Deceit is first revealed.

Now that leads me to Deceit's characterization, and seeing as he hasn't had much screen time, it was really left up to my own creative interpretation. That being said, and knowing that Thomas is a Disney fan, I decided to have similarities between Deceit, and who I consider to be the most malicious and cunning villain to ever come from an animated Disney movie...Scar! There are even lines that Deceit says in the story itself which allude to this, for example...

Deceit's Line: "ah, Virgil...how wonderful it is to see you."

Scar's Line: "Simba, oh...I'm a little surprised to see you."

Deceit's Line: "Ooo, I quiver with fear!"

Scar's Line: "Ooo, I quiver with fear!"

Yeah, I literally used the exact same line for that one...but it seemed to fit.

Writing Tips Based On The Imposter:

-Creative interpretation in characterization.

· No matter how much development or screen time a character has, an author always has some creative interpretation, because there is no feasible way for the source material to cover ever possible scenario. That means you should feel comfortable with your abilities and take the source material that you can apply and run with it. Don't be afraid to push characters to their limits, it gives you more opportunity to show off both their strengths and weaknesses, as well as ways that they can react to an unknown situation or one another.

Also it is okay to use ideas from other works (For example how Deceit was similar to Scar) just don't plagiarize or make a carbon copy of the same character.

-Dominance and Power-Plays.

· This isn't a writing tip I ever thought I would cover in this specific series, but here goes nothing. In any situation you are going to have someone who seeks power whether they have malicious intent or not.

The ones who are malicious are going to use power-plays, a way to try and take the control / power away from others, and in many cases they will stop for nothing to get it. That brings the quote, "absolute power corrupts absolutely," to mind. Using this complex of dominance and power-plays with a character who seeking out power at the cost of someone else makes for a good villainous trait. It also brings out the strengths and weaknesses I talked about earlier.

Those who stumble into power, or are natural leaders (in the case of The Imposter, that character is Virgil) they are more than likely not going to use power-plays. They are more likely to stay calm yet commanding until they or someone / something they care about is threatened, and in that case they will display that they are the one with the power. Once the situation is over however, they will back down again. They only display their power when they have to, reminding me of Dumbledore's quote from The Sorcerer's Stone:

"Only a person who wanted to find the stone...find it but not use it...would be able to get it." Only a character who has power, but doesn't abuse it will really be a natural leader.