As promised, Monday updates are back!
This week I've been reading The Glasswright's Apprentice, by Mindy L. Klasky. It's a fascinating example of how a story that is very plot driven (in the sense that the action comes from external forces, not from decisions the character makes) can actually be used to illuminate a character. Rani makes almost no proactive decisions in the first half of the book, and the reactive decision she is most often called upon to make is what name to give in any given situation (she has four, and I suspect she'll have five by the end). She's 13 years old, and most of the time life just happens to her, but she is given the detail, complexity, and depth that people sometimes mean when they talk about "character driven" stories, through the way she thinks and feels about the situations into which she is thrust.
Writing progress has still been slow, but I reread the existing draft of Pointlessly Contrarian, in accordance with Chris Brecheen's instructions on how to get back to a story you've been away from for a while. The only actual writing I've done has been this post and half of another one about the economics of fantasy, which should be going up in the next few weeks.
Happy Pride Month.
Be gay, do crimes, and read All The Things!
This week I've been reading The Glasswright's Apprentice, by Mindy L. Klasky. It's a fascinating example of how a story that is very plot driven (in the sense that the action comes from external forces, not from decisions the character makes) can actually be used to illuminate a character. Rani makes almost no proactive decisions in the first half of the book, and the reactive decision she is most often called upon to make is what name to give in any given situation (she has four, and I suspect she'll have five by the end). She's 13 years old, and most of the time life just happens to her, but she is given the detail, complexity, and depth that people sometimes mean when they talk about "character driven" stories, through the way she thinks and feels about the situations into which she is thrust.
Writing progress has still been slow, but I reread the existing draft of Pointlessly Contrarian, in accordance with Chris Brecheen's instructions on how to get back to a story you've been away from for a while. The only actual writing I've done has been this post and half of another one about the economics of fantasy, which should be going up in the next few weeks.
Happy Pride Month.
Be gay, do crimes, and read All The Things!
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