Writing style of Coeur Al'Aran

The **writing style of Coeur Al'Aran**constitutes the diction, syntactical decisions, and overall structure regarding the frame narrative of his literary works. This includes his means of characterization, style of writing, and its evolution over time.

## Origins

### Early Inspirations

Coeur's inspiration for writing would start with reading literary texts such as *Animorphs*and *Lord of the Rings* starting in 1996. These are more mature books than what most children read at the time, so it influences his writing with more mature themes, although Coeur likely did not integrate these themes into his first fictional works written in 1997 about characters such as Sonic the Hedgehog. Coeur would continue reading books that influenced his perspective through his secondary and tertiary years of education, such as *Stormrider* by David Gemmell in 2002.

The incorporation of mature themes would manifest in 2001 when Coeur wrote a romance-based fantasy novel centered on a female character drafted into the army as a healer. The main character was captured and taken to the enemy capital to be sentenced to execution; however, she had been sexually assaulted by the guards. One of the guards had enough honor to not do that, taking her as a personal maid and servant to keep from having to engage in that act.

### Dialect

Being from the United Kingdom, specifically bordering Yorkshire, Coeur's writing is filled with 'Britishisms' that juxtapose the American dialects of *RWBY*. While writing for *The Unseen Hunt*, he enlisted help from the Professor Arc Forum and Internet-based resources in comprehending how Americans on the east coast speak to give greater immersion, as it is currently his only work that takes place in the real world.

## Characterization

### Canon Characters

Coeur states that he has an easier time writing Jaune Arc and Blake Belladonna compared to others such as Ruby Rose due to them having proper motivations and obstacles from the beginning. In spite of his ability to write them, Coeur does not consider them his favorite characters, preferring Roman, Neo, Sun, and Yang over Jaune or Blake.

In chapter 49 of *The Writer Games,* Coeur states that when writing a character, he tends to consider their personality via the way they act and write them as close to that as possible. Using Blake as an example, he imagines a real woman in the situation based on her strengths and flaws and proceedes from there.

### Original Characters

When it comes to original characters, Coeur's actions show that he is not fond of using a massive number of original characters, mainly wanting to stick with the original cast without introducing more voices than is necessary. The main exceptions come with filling in the blanks for characters where needed, but no indication with other traits at the time of writing, such as Jaune's family or members of Salem's faction.

## Romance

### Monogamy

Coeur has been writing romance-based literature since 2001 and his first *RWBY* publication from November 2014 was in response to "convenient and forced" romances in the *RWBY* archives. Subsequent pieces would focus on similar principles to maintain realism in interactions between characters, but only feature a single monogamist relationship rather than polyamorous relationships until the final chapter of *White Sheep* published in February 2019.

### Harems

On November 10, 2015, Coeur states that he has plans to write all possible Jaune-female pairings before attempting other relationships. Following this statement and enforcement of his ideal, he has been labeled a "harem writer" under broad definitions by reviewers and contemporary writers, much to his confusion. The disagreement over whether Coeur is a harem writer is down to semantics, as Coeur maintains one definition of what a "harem" is as while contemporaries use broader connotations.

Coeur's interpretation of a "harem" is direct polyamory, where one (usually male) character has multiple (usually female) consenting concubines. As of August 2019, Coeur has published one story of that caliber, *White Sheep*, which features Jaune having children with Ruby and Yang. Other people denote "harem" as when self-insert characters gain the romantic attention of multiple characters with little effort, but not necessarily through marriage. This is likely tied with the "Accidental Harem" trope mentioned on the TV Tropes page for *White Sheep*, along with the amorosity toward Jaune in *Professor Arc*.

Another rationalization for how Coeur is a "harem writer" is that the majority of his works center around Jaune getting together with female characters. When viewed in a greater aggregate, it would appear he is writing Jaune as a protagonist attracting attention or getting together with several females. However, each canon is reliant on Jaune experiencing a different backstory or series of events to allow romance to transpire, which changes his characterization in that work in the process. Jaunes' across continuities cannot be interchanged and still "work" in a narrative sense. As an example, it is unlikely that the Jaune from the *Not this Time, Fate* and *The Entertainer* would be able to fulfill each other's character roles. Even pieces where Jaune gets together with the same character, such as *One Good Turn Deserves Another* and *From Beyond,* would work if Jaunes' switched roles.

When referring to the etymology of "harem", it has Islamic origins denoting the structure where multiple wives for one man were kept, but the term evolved to describe the women in the relationship instead. Similar definitions appear in the context of scientific research, as Merriam-Webster denotes. The best application within a textual work that the historical and scientific definition would be when one character consummates with multiple characters within one narrative rather than across multiple independent works.

## Punctuation

Throughout literary frames, Coeur consistently employs the Oxford comma.

## Misconceptions

### Self Inserts

A common criticism levied against Coeur in reviews is that Jaune is either a self-insert for himself or the audience, which rationalizes why he has done far better than other works published on the platform.

As mentioned in a forum post on May 31, 2019; Coeur notes that works that do not center around Jaune such as *Captain Dragon* or *Dating what Daddy Hates* have done worse with his core audience. Coeur's rationalization for this, as mentioned in his bio, is that the other characters are lacking in the characteristics which make them "great protagonists" such as the right kind of conflict or character arcs.

## Additional Links

### History

* *Coeur Al'Aran's writing style in 2014*
* *Coeur Al'Aran's writing style in 2015*
* *Coeur Al'Aran's writing style in 2016*
* *Coeur Al'Aran's writing style in 2017*
* *Coeur Al'Aran's writing style in 2018*
* *Coeur Al'Aran's writing style in 2019*

## References

1. ↑ https://archive.is/f6WpN#selection-2537.56-2537.410
2. ↑ http://archive.is/h7bgu#selection-1413.4-1413.138
3. ↑ https://archive.is/f6WpN#selection-2541.0-2549.109
4. ↑ http://archive.is/OkDBZ#selection-1023.0-1035.374
5. ↑ http://archive.is/OkDBZ#selection-1045.0-1049.367
6. ↑ *http://archive.is/OkDBZ#selection-1059.0-1071.99*
7. ↑ https://archive.is/tnrwg#selection-1343.0-1343.274
8. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150513095910/https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10817938/1/One-Good-Turn-Deserves-Another
9. ↑ *https://web.archive.org/web/20151111034529/https://www.fanfiction.net/u/6272865/Coeur-Al-Aran*
10. ↑ http://archive.is/41SQQ#selection-1627.101-1627.325
11. ↑ *https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/WhiteSheep*
12. ↑ https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/harem
13. ↑ https://www.fanfiction.net/topic/189701/175015842/23/Headmaster-Arc