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only die once
So, Sleeping Beauty's parents die while she's asleep. (Perrault, not Grimm, the learned will note.)
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the things you miss
The heroine has brought another character back to life. (Ah, the luck you (sometimes) have in fairy tales!)
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connections
The muse is often so busy chasing after bright ideas that she misses the obvious.
So, if the story is rife with ghosts, AND the brothers of the heroine die, the question of whether they will be ghosts will arise.
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So, if the story is rife with ghosts, AND the brothers of the heroine die, the question of whether they will be ghosts will arise.
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the DM vs the writer
One difference between the writer and the DM is that the writer controls reactions. This is vitally important in the arena of level-inappropriate encounters.
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necromancy and the metaphysics
You don't actually have to do that much metaphysics to have a necromancer -- or rather, some kinds of necromancer.
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The Atomic Age
In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. ‘How are we to live in an atomic age?’ I am tempted to reply: Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.’
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outline to text
One thing about outlining is that sometimes it seriously underplays how hard a scene is going to be to write.
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you know you're writing a MacGuffin
When you are half way through the outline and you still haven't defined what exactly they are going after.
Not even whether it's a person or an object.
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Not even whether it's a person or an object.
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decisions and subplots
So, should I put Kari and Pierre's scenes in the foreground as actual scenes? From one of their points of view? Or both? (Or possibly from the villain's?)
On one hand, they do kill one of the villains. And there aren't that many.
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On one hand, they do kill one of the villains. And there aren't that many.
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enter the travelogue
And off goes my heroine with a flock of other pupils and two teachers. For a field trip that involves circling the magical boundaries of their refuge.
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crime lords and class
So, if a D&D/Pathfinder game, or a GameLit novel, has a crime lord, what class should that character be? Hmmmmm. . . . hmmmmm. . . .
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motives, backgrounds, and focus
The need to focus in a novel has repercussions that make for some harder to recognize difference between role-playing games and novels.
For instance, the characters need motives -- BUT -- not too much motive. Particularly for the less important characters.
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For instance, the characters need motives -- BUT -- not too much motive. Particularly for the less important characters.
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complications
Plugging along, fitting together stories, contemplating the episodic nature of fix after fix, noting that tales with even mild scoundrels are out (villain triumphant loses punch if there's more than a smack of villain about the hero(ine)) -- when it hits me.
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Entry tags:
peck his eyes out
Sometimes your fairy tale heroine needs a little protection, and it gets complicated when the hero's dead.
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kill someone already
There are stories where you can get by without killing any of the major characters.
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pieces and fragments
Considering I know what the villains will do in the end, it's surprisingly hard to get the clues, like ducklings, in a row.
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the horror, the horror
Was philosophically contemplating how hard it would be to convey to most readers how horrible some things were in past years. So that they could really enter into the dread of and danger for the characters. (And get some realism in it.)
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