In real life, the interesting bits are far outnumbered by the boring. Intense emotions are less common than their more apathetic cousins. In a good story, though, we aren't looking for boring parts. Because they're boring. If a story can't be told without being boring, tell a different story. The point is entertainment -- for me, writing is to entertain me. If I expect someone to read it, the goal is now to entertain them.
So there must be intensity -- without melodrama. I specify this because melodrama is also boring, because whenever something's so overblown that I can't take it seriously, I don't. Graham is going to be going through a tough time -- we know this because he's cursed, and dying. That's fine. And he's going to have tough moral decisions thrust upon him, and that's fine too. That he'll have the decisions means he'll likely end up with a measure of responsibility. Also great.
But we can't make him whiny, so he's going to have to be very calm. Calm can come from acceptance, emotional distance, or self control, among other things. We can't have acceptance, because he has to "Rage, rage against the dying of the light." and fight to survive. We can't have emotional distance because that's inhuman and we couldn't identify with him. So it'll have to be self-control, which makes sense for a wizard anyway. We can't have him be all "The primal forces of the universe are my playthings." and be constantly chasing his every whim. He'd be a monster.
I will get around to religion and society, but it will have to be later, because that's going to require some charts.
No comments:
Post a Comment