To Want Something Is Not Enough

To Want Something Is Not Enough

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This is a post about writing.  Specifically, it is a post about how characters interact with the events of a story and how the two things inform each other. First, though, note the standard disclaimers about ‘writing advice’: Everybody writes differently.  Everyone has different things that allow them to connect with the story that they are trying to tell and to then get it to manifest in words, and also different stories often require different approaches.  Any ‘advice’ you might…

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Title Image for SSCS04
SSCS 04: Installment 31 of 34

SSCS 04: Installment 31 of 34

The Heart of the Gull Queen’s Huntress This is Installment 31 of this year’s SSCS. If you want to start at the beginning of ‘The Heart of the Gull Queen’s Huntress’, go here! If you want to know what the heck an SSCS is, go here! (And the character list is here.) Previously… The words held more power than they ought to have.  At the speaking of ‘peace’, Du felt a longing so strong wash over him that he nearly…

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Title Image for SSCS04
SSCS 04: Installment 30 of 34

SSCS 04: Installment 30 of 34

The Heart of the Gull Queen’s Huntress This is Installment 30 of this year’s SSCS. If you want to start at the beginning of ‘The Heart of the Gull Queen’s Huntress’, go here! If you want to know what the heck an SSCS is, go here! (And the character list is here.) Previously… She lay supine on the floor of a small chamber at the end of the passageway, nested upon and wrapped or covered in something like rags, and…

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Title Image for SSCS04
SSCS 04: Installment 29 of 34

SSCS 04: Installment 29 of 34

The Heart of the Gull Queen’s Huntress This is Installment 29 of this year’s SSCS. If you want to start at the beginning of ‘The Heart of the Gull Queen’s Huntress’, go here! If you want to know what the heck an SSCS is, go here! (And the character list is here.) Previously… “My mistress breathed this morning.”  A quiet wail, the Salt Queen’s Avatar, her Emmissary and keeper of, of all things, her Breath, showed himself convincingly pale, and…

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Across Genres

Across Genres

So, I was recently reading this very excellent post/lecture/essay by Brandon Sanderson about the innovations Tolkien made creating the genre of High Fantasy, when, near the end, he mentions an interaction he had once with the mother of one of his fans.  Just after he had signed the daughter’s book, the mother stopped and asked him something like, ‘Not to be rude, but how do I get her to stop reading all of this fantasy drivel?’.  Sanderson then goes on…

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