How do you decide what you make a shrine to?

Talk with others about anything shrine-related, be it presentation, content or something else.
Destinie
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How do you decide what you make a shrine to?

Post by Destinie »

How do you decide what characters you make a shrine for? Or what series, for that matter. Do you pick or does it come innately to you?

I usually have to dwell on the idea of making a shrine for months to a year before actually making it. I have to think about if I like the character enough because I will definitely close down a site after a while if I don't feel like I care about it enough anymore. So I usually have to have a long-term fandom or things I really enjoy.

But say you have two really awesome characters you like? How do you pick which you make a shrine to? Or do you do both (or all) of them?
Saya
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Re: How do you decide what you make a shrine to?

Post by Saya »

Well actually, if I look at the stuff I shrined, and I want to shrine, well then I can say it's stuff I still absolutly adore, look at Oscar, it's 30 years she is part of my life, and I always admired her. Yuuko was one of my favorite characters from the beginning of the series and I absolutely love her.

Mostly I need lot of time before I actually decide to start making a shrine. For example, it also depends if I'll start something on how much information I can get about it, to have a back up of facts, or if perhaps isn't something that is too big... an example is that I never will probably make a shrine for Captain America or Iron Man, because there are so much different information, and universes that I would die before actually manage to sum it. On the other hand, I'm still quite pumped about making a shrine for Mulan (disney classic), but till I'm not sure 100% I won't start.
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Crystal
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Re: How do you decide what you make a shrine to?

Post by Crystal »

It's tough. I usually want to make a shrine for everything I love but I know too much can be overwhelming to take care of properly. What I usually have to do is sit down and think "do I really want to make a shrine to this subject?" Usually playing around with it, like making a layout, helps me confirm whether or not the answer is "yes", but also whether or not I can relate to the subject tends to play a factor in it as well (but this mostly counts for characters). Other subjects like my Song of Storms and Ocarina of Time tributes depend greatly on how much the subject means to me.
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Eden
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Re: How do you decide what you make a shrine to?

Post by Eden »

I have this issue somewhat... I think the best shrines to make [for me] are characters/series I know a lot about. I'd have issues with characters that had multitude of universes and the info is different. I'm also scared of making a shrine to a well known character in a well known series. What if I do it wrong? That's my concern. I know what characters I want to dedicate something to, I just don't know how I'm going to approach it. I'd also like to do stuff to series no one really cares for and see if I can encourage people to watch. The subject in question has to be really important in order for me to dedicate time and energy.
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Crystal
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Re: How do you decide what you make a shrine to?

Post by Crystal »

Eden wrote:I have this issue somewhat... I think the best shrines to make [for me] are characters/series I know a lot about. I'd have issues with characters that had multitude of universes and the info is different. I'm also scared of making a shrine to a well known character in a well known series. What if I do it wrong? That's my concern. I know what characters I want to dedicate something to, I just don't know how I'm going to approach it. I'd also like to do stuff to series no one really cares for and see if I can encourage people to watch. The subject in question has to be really important in order for me to dedicate time and energy.
Honestly, there is no right or wrong way to make a shrine, although I do agree that it can be intimidating to create a shrine to a popular subject. But really, as long as you're happy with it that's all that matters.
There are shadows before us - but only because the light is at our back.
dubiousdisc
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Re: How do you decide what you make a shrine to?

Post by dubiousdisc »

It comes to me naturally, or through some trains of thought that lead elsewhere (it's already twice that I end up building a site because of some conversation I've had with you!). It does mostly depend on my enthusiasm at a certain time. Even if that fades away with time, hey, I still had fun when I was writing it, and I have made something for other people to enjoy.

As for your other question, I think I would eventually make a site for both. Maybe not at the same time, but definitely at some point in time. If I had to choose which one to start from...I guess I would go with the one for whose site I have the most ideas.
Crystal wrote:
Eden wrote:I have this issue somewhat... I think the best shrines to make [for me] are characters/series I know a lot about. I'd have issues with characters that had multitude of universes and the info is different. I'm also scared of making a shrine to a well known character in a well known series. What if I do it wrong? That's my concern. I know what characters I want to dedicate something to, I just don't know how I'm going to approach it. I'd also like to do stuff to series no one really cares for and see if I can encourage people to watch. The subject in question has to be really important in order for me to dedicate time and energy.
Honestly, there is no right or wrong way to make a shrine, although I do agree that it can be intimidating to create a shrine to a popular subject. But really, as long as you're happy with it that's all that matters.
I also wanted to second this. :)
Aku
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Re: How do you decide what you make a shrine to?

Post by Aku »

Much like everyone else has already said, it's something that I often dwell on for months or even a year! Actually, even with fanlistings I'm like this. If I get an inkling to do something, I'll sit on it for at least a week to make sure I'm not just being impulsive. If I still get that inkling a week (or even weeks!) later, I then figure out about how I will go through with it. I am by no means a spontaneous shrine maker. (I used to be though, holy cow!) These days, I don't really even consider shrining unless I know I can bring my own form of narrative about the subject to the table. I find it hard to flesh out a shrine if it's a character I don't have strong ideas about. XD All the characters which I've shrined are ones that I really really love, and will probably always love.
Eden wrote:I have this issue somewhat... I think the best shrines to make [for me] are characters/series I know a lot about. I'd have issues with characters that had multitude of universes and the info is different. I'm also scared of making a shrine to a well known character in a well known series. What if I do it wrong? That's my concern. I know what characters I want to dedicate something to, I just don't know how I'm going to approach it.
I run into this problem a lot too--even just a manga vs. anime adaptation can throw me off. I have the tendency to pick one medium (maybe the one that I like better) and just focus on that. I think sometimes it's good to look at shrines at a micro-level, rather than a macro one, so you don't get too overwhelmed. I almost approach my shrines in a narrative format, and ask myself, what is it about this subject that I want to tell the world? From there, you can build out your sections to a minimum product, and always expand out! For example, Gintoki is a really enormous character to approach for shrining--but I knew I wanted to do one thing: show the Gintoki of the past (a demonic bloodthirsty war veteran) to the Gintoki of the present (a sarcastic, comedic jack-of-all-trades), so the site focuses on contrasting and interconnecting those two personalities.

That was a little tangential, but when I spoke about characters "i have strong ideas about", that's kind of what I meant. Not sure if that makes sense at all! XD;
Puppeteer
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Re: How do you decide what you make a shrine to?

Post by Puppeteer »

My shrining history is a bit erratic timeline-wise, I guess. Of course I'd only put a great amount of effort into something I really love, so in the past I based my choices on characters I've "known" or liked for awhile in real time. For example, I'd only thought of shrining a Bleach character after I'd followed the series for a few years. Even for series that were already completed like Honey and Clover, I didn't think to shrine someone from it until I'd had a few months to simply enjoy it and even rewatch a few times.

And theeen almost immediately after finishing FMA:Brotherhood earlier this month, I powered through my Greed one-pager in less than a week. xD So I think for me it might depend on a combination of how much I like a subject and how long it takes for me to understand why I like them--and that certainly differs from character to character.

As for the multi-verse dilemma, I tend to agree with Aku and try to focus on the variation I'm most familiar with and, if it's relevant to the subject's characterization, I might make a few comparisons in a separate place. I've also gotten interested in how translation (particularly in anime) impact how a character is portrayed, and I've thought about shrining characters where I feel the discrepancy is more noticeable and can be analyzed.
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Shiori
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Re: How do you decide what you make a shrine to?

Post by Shiori »

How do you decide what characters you make a shrine for? Or what series, for that matter. Do you pick or does it come innately to you?

I tend to like a character and then gauge how I feel about re-watching/re-reading the series they're from. If the thought of watching/reading the series again makes me want to poke out my own eyes then I usually bench the shrine idea until I'm in the mood to immerse myself in that particular series again. Making a shrine can be a huge investment (time/money/sanity-wise) so I like to be sure I'm up for it before I go too far.
Todd
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Re: How do you decide what you make a shrine to?

Post by Todd »

Shiori wrote:How do you decide what characters you make a shrine for? Or what series, for that matter. Do you pick or does it come innately to you?

I tend to like a character and then gauge how I feel about re-watching/re-reading the series they're from. If the thought of watching/reading the series again makes me want to poke out my own eyes then I usually bench the shrine idea until I'm in the mood to immerse myself in that particular series again.
This. I have shrine "ideas" but I don't get serious about shrining until I'm ready to replay/rewatch/reread. For me, it's a bad idea to make a shrine my first time through a series. How the series ends can change how I feel about a certain character, for better or worse. Replays allow me to enjoy something I love, and to think about a character or subject analytically as I go through it again.

I recently bought FF4 for Vita and started replaying it. As I replayed, I thought, "I should probably shrine someone," because I've been wanting to make a FF4 site for ages, and during a replay is the best time. I like to approach shrines like that.
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