I think it's fun that we have the space to play though when it comes to Natasha's background and characterisation :) When it comes to writing I work off motivations - why is this character doing/saying this and does that why fit in with what I know about them? Probably because I will read anything as long as the writer makes me believe in it, so bad characterisation for me isn't a character doing something I wouldn't expect from them, but there being no basis for it, no fic set up, if that makes sense?

I'm not hunting down Avengers comics, although I might dabble. I think a lot of comics art is naff to be honest and whilst there's lots of snarky dialogue a lot of the plots and writing are as well. I've been spoilt by Neil Gaiman's stuff and the Joss Whedeon X Men comics, heh.

Haha, I've not watched most of series either, just odd episodes and got info through osmosis. There is a grand dvd swap going to happen this summer between me and a few friends, so I may be getting Buffy to catch up on :) Don't apologise though, because if anything that makes it sound more intriguing :)

See, that's actually very helpful to hear, because my tendency is to see the end point (whether that's how she is when she meets Clint or how she acts at X point in time) and try to manipulate the circumstances to shape her so she ends up like that. When I put aside my notion of what she'll be like later, and focus on what she wants to do now, suddenly everything becomes much easier. The character can drive the action and the consequences, and later chapters are always rewriteable. I've stopped jamming her into a corner, I guess.

I snagged Sandman from my library and read all of it in under a week. It was brilliant. The best part is, I get the feeling I didn't completely understand everything the first time through, so I can reread it over and over and catch more new things.

Osmosis via internet; definitely had that happen before. If only it worked for my classes too...