Opinions on in-depth analysis

[Bobbi]

I feel like in the days of wiki sites for every character and every series, in-depth analysis is sort of the key to making a site stand out as more than just basic bare-bones information.

I like to link things together, the whys, the hows, different unrelated subjects that somehow tie in. I freaking love etymology and mythology and drawing connections between the character and their name and why it was chosen. I love it when I find information like this and it just clicks. It gives the visitor a reason to look deeper at something that they may have not considered before, which is really cool.

The in-depth articles and writings give the site personality. Not only do you get to learn more about the character and what makes them tick, but you learn more about the site owner. What their values are, what they find to be interesting. It's something that I've always loved about character shrines.

Otherwise, the information is just copy paste from everywhere else and nothing really new is said. I try to keep that information limited to a page or two, just for the sake of having it.

[Fiona]

I agree with what was said already -- that in-depth analysis show the shrine-maker's connection and views towards the character/series/thing he/she is shrining and it's what makes a shrine a shrine, giving it personality and so on. Personally, I find it interesting to see how other people think, and reading something someone else wrote gives me the chance to see into their brains a little bit.

I would say that I am someone who prefers the design/coding part of making a shrine than writing for a shrine. However, I do enjoy researching and analyzing things, because I've always wanted to know why things are the way they are and/or why certain aspects of certain things or stories etc. are interesting to me. This was also one of the reason why I wanted to get back into shrining again -- my desire to talk about stuff I like or find interesting.

However, I think I have a mild fear of writing essays, actually, since I'm far too self-conscious when it comes to my own writing. I tend to have a lot of trouble translating thoughts onto a page. It usually takes me a few hours just to write a few paragraphs for a section, but I think taking a break and coming back to it later tend to help. Sometimes inspiration would strike and words would flow more smoothly, but for that to happen for me, I usually would have to mull over what I wanted to say for a few days. lol.

Even with all the trouble, I would still say that I enjoy working on analysis more than writing up the basics stuff. I think the section I hate to write the most would be the introduction, but at the same time, I do think that having an introduction is a good idea to let people know what the character you're writing about is from or what the series you're writing about is actually about etc.