tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12613342777439872092024-03-05T04:58:15.030-05:00David Alex LambScholar, Writer, Computer GeekDavid Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.comBlogger116125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-27391612649630974632021-12-16T11:22:00.004-05:002021-12-16T11:22:49.334-05:00Migration to Wordpress<p> I am suspending posting to this blog, having created a personal WordPress-based site at <a href="http://davidalexlamb.com">davidalexlamb.com</a>. I copied over all my old posts, and will slowly be adding categorization that I rarely did here. If you were subscribing to this blog using an RSS aggregator like Feedly, you should update it to point to the new site instead, since I don’t expect to post here again.</p>David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-51294955030192444782021-08-02T11:50:00.000-04:002021-08-02T11:50:09.569-04:00Unifying Three Story Structures<p> <span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">I’ve been reading about writing for years, and am often puzzled by
the differences in what different people tell you are essential,
approaches to various aspects of writing. I am usually skeptical of
“essentiallism” and “only one way” approaches; one of my
teachers, </span><a href="https://maryrobinettekowal.com/" style="text-indent: 0.2in;">Mary Robinette
Kowal</a><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">, once said in one of her Patreon classes that “all
writing advice, even mine, is what worked for that writer.” So I
focus on what seems useful to me in my current state as an aspiring
writer.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.2in;">
At the moment, what I’m working on is <span style="font-style: normal;">character
development</span> for my protagonist and <span style="font-style: normal;">secondary</span>
characters. I’ve been mostly plot-driven in the past, and my
characters <span style="font-style: normal;">have</span> to a large
extent been “cardboard” plot tokens. So I’ve been <span style="font-style: normal;">studying</span>
sources on creating character arcs; this is a summary of what I’ve
learned.</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.2in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">I</span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">n
NaNoWriMo terms I</span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">am</span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">a plantser: I use a mix of
discovery writing and outlining. </span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">I
have usually started with inspiration from a </span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">few</span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">
mental image</span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">s</span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">
or brief scene</span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">s</span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">,
and have to figure out how to connect </span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">them</span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">
into a coherent story.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">When
the story is growing from those initial ideas, I’m in a period of
discovery writing, keeping a some notes on whatever ideas come to
mind and keeping track of them in a growing “bible” of things
I’ve (at least temporarily) decided. But for a while </span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">now
</span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">I’ve been stuck trying to
</span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">put</span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">
the pieces together, and have decided to follow advice from my
teachers: use some structuring method to diagnose the problems I’m
having </span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">and suggest some
fixes</span><span style="text-indent: 0.2in;">.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.2in;">
I recently read <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28947421-5-secrets-of-story-structure"><i>5
Secrets of Story Structure</i></a> and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32606730-creating-character-arcs"><i>Creating
Character Arcs</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">by
K.M. Weiland, and noticed that most</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">of her 10 </span><span style="font-style: normal;">points
in stories</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><span style="font-style: normal;">correspond
to </span><span style="font-style: normal;">the </span><a href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2015/10/dan-wells-on-7-point-structure.html"><span style="font-style: normal;">7-point
structure as outlined by Dan Wells</span></a><span style="font-style: normal;">,</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">albeit sometimes with
different terminology, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">and
with one omission</span><span style="font-style: normal;">. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Over
the same period, I was learning the DREAM structure from Mary
Robinette Kowal </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(<a href="https://writingexcuses.com/2018/06/03/13-22-character-arcs/">Writing
Excuses 13.22</a>, or its <a href="https://wetranscripts.dreamwidth.org/143751.html">transcript</a>)</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">About a month ago I had a
minor insight about how to combine the three in a coherent whole that
seemed like it could be a good tool for figuring out my current
novel.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">I explain all three methods briefly
in the following, but there is a lot of value in consulting my
sources, which provide deeper explanations, with good examples.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Weiland’s approach is more
detailed than the others, and is based on the classic Three-Act
Structure: the protagonsist starts in a “normal world” in the
first act, is forced to deal with the major conflict in the </span><span style="font-style: normal;">s</span><span style="font-style: normal;">econd
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">a</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ct,
and resolves the problem in a climax in the </span><span style="font-style: normal;">t</span><span style="font-style: normal;">hird
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">a</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ct.
She prescribes a series of plot elements that are to take place at
rigid places in the story (25% first act, 50% second, 25% third, and
similarly with specific places within those acts), and requires a
setup where, in the classic Positive Change Arc, the protagonist
starts off believing a </span><a href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2020/05/character-wounds-and-lies.html"><span style="font-style: normal;">Lie
that results from a Wound</span></a><span style="font-style: normal;">
in their past (usually a traumatic event), and must discover the
Truth in order to resolve the conflict. I’ve found several other
teachers that adopt a similar approach, though they might refer to
“negative core belief” instead of Lie, or </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Ghost</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
in place of </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Wound</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">The DREAM structure originated with
a writer of romances, and starts with something the character is
lacking in themselves (</span><span style="font-style: normal;">which,
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">as far as I can tell, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">is
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">a more general idea than a
Lie). At first the character </span><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>D</b></span><span style="font-style: normal;">enies
there is a problem. When faced with some evidence to the contrary,
for a while they </span><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>R</b></span><span style="font-style: normal;">esist
change. Eventually they begin to </span><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>E</b></span><span style="font-style: normal;">xplore
the idea of change, in small steps, without fully </span><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>A</b></span><span style="font-style: normal;">ccepting
a new status quo. Finally their </span><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>A</b></span><span style="font-style: normal;">cceptance
leads to a </span><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>M</b></span><span style="font-style: normal;">anifestation
that demonstrates their full acceptance </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">(in
the original formulation, for romances, Manifestation was Matrimony</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">).</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">In this draft I</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
indicate </span><span style="font-style: normal;">steps or
explanations from 7-point</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> in
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>small italics</i></span><span style="font-style: normal;">.
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">I use bold red for things
from</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> the </span><span style="color: #c9211e;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>DREAM</b></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">
structure.</span></p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Before Starting</span></h2>
<p>Weiland recommends that, very early on, you think through several
story elements, which she always capitalizes.</p>
<ol>
<li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">The</span></span><b><span style="background: transparent;">
Lie </span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">the
Character Believes, </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">usually
subconsciously. I don’t completely buy in to this as the only way
to characterize the character’s subconscious motivations; I’m
fond of an idea from <a href="https://writingexcuses.com/transcripts/13-18/">Writing
Excuses</a> called the </span></span><b><span style="background: transparent;">super-objective</span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">:
an unlikely-to-change fundamental drive such as one of the Seven
Deadly Sins or Cardinal Virtues.</span></span></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">The
Thing She </span></span><b><span style="background: transparent;">Wants</span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">:
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">this
is a conscious goal, perhaps the same thing some writers refer to as
the character’s <a href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/articulating-your-characters-greatest.html">greatest
desire</a>. This seems to correspond to the idea of an </span></span><b><span style="background: transparent;">o</span></b><b><span style="background: transparent;">bjective</span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">,
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">a
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">current
goal </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">motivated
by the super-objective. </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">Objectives
can change, but will always reflect the super-objective</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">.</span></span></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">The
Thing She</span></span><b><span style="background: transparent;">
Needs</span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">,
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">which
is </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">usually
the </span></span><b><span style="background: transparent;">Truth</span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
opposing the Lie. </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">This
might be a very powerful sort of drive; in objective/super-objective
terminology, this is unlikely to be a complete change in personality
or super-objective, but might be a healthier set of objectives than
the ones the protagonist started with.</span></span></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">The
</span></span><b><span style="background: transparent;">Ghost</span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
/ Wound, </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">an
often traumatic </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">event
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">or
condition that </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">precipitat</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">ed
a</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
belief in the Lie.</span></span></span></span></p>
</li></ol>
<p><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This
is </span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">the
initial conditions established (perhaps hinted at) during the First
Act, which the character </span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">carries
with them</span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
(physically, mentally, or metaphorically) </span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">into</span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
the Second Act.</span></span></p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">First Act</span></h2>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <span style="font-weight: normal;">When
the story starts, the character is in </span><span style="color: #c9211e;"><b>Denial</b></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">about something they need
(such as the</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Truth </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Weiland
talks about). </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">This part of
the story breaks down into:</span></p>
<ol>
<li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">Establishing
the Normal World. Wells calls this the </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">h</span></span></i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">ook</span></span></i></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">,
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">the
initial state</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">s</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">of
the character and world</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">,
opposite </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">in
some way </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">to
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">those</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
of the Resolution.</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">Many
sources describe elements that must be included in the <a href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2020/06/first-acts-chapters-pages-and-lines.html">first
chapters, pages, and even lines</a>.</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
Weiland says it must include her version of a </span></span><b><span style="background: transparent;">Hook</span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">:
a</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">q</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">uestion
piquing reader's curiosity.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="background: transparent;">Inciting
event</span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">(7-point:
Plot Turn 1)</span></span></i></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">:
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">This
is the f</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">irst
brush with main conflict; </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">it
“</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">starts
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">the
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">ball
rolling</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">).
Weiland uses this </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">term</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
to make a distinction between several different things that people
call the inciting incident; what many use that term for, she calls
the First Plot Point.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="background: transparent;">Key
event</span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">:
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">This
is something that </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">irrevocably
engages protagonist with main conflict; </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">it
is often</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
inextricably linked to First Plot Point, </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">but
sometimes they are separate; </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">the
character may take a brief time to react to the key event first.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="background: transparent;">First
Plot Point</span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">(7-point:
Pinch 1)</span></span></i></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">:
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">This
is the end of the first act, where the p</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">rotagonist
must start reacting to </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">the
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">changed
status quo.</span></span></p>
</li></ol>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">Second Act</h2>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">During
the </span></span><b><span style="background: transparent;">Second
Act’</span></b><b><span style="background: transparent;">s</span></b><b><span style="background: transparent;">
First Half</span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">(approximately),
the character is </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">in
reaction mode, </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">f</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">ighting
to keep </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">their
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">head
above water; </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">they
will need to discover the Truth to make effective progress. </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">They
have agency, but their actions are ineffective in overcoming the
conflict</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">.
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">In
DREAM terms they are</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
</span></span><span style="color: #c9211e;"><b><span style="background: transparent;">R</span></b></span><span style="color: #c9211e;"><b><span style="background: transparent;">esisting</span></b></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
the Truth.</span></span></p>
<ol start="5">
<li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="background: transparent;">First
Pinch Point</span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">.
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">This
is something that d</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">emonstrates
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">the
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">antagonist’s
power, </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">applying
pressure to the protagonist</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="background: transparent;">Midpoint</span></b><span style="background: transparent;">
</span><span style="background: transparent;">(which Weiland also
calls the </span><b><span style="background: transparent;">s</span></b><b><span style="background: transparent;">econd
plot point</span></b><span style="background: transparent;">)</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">.
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">There
is a Moment of Truth, where the protagonist realizes something (a
glimpse of the Truth) that moves them from reaction to action.</span></span></p>
</li></ol>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">During
the </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b><span style="background: transparent;">Second
Act’</span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b><span style="background: transparent;">s</span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b><span style="background: transparent;">
Second Half</span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">,
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">the
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">protagonist
starts implementing </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">her
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">own
plans, </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">which
are now more effective because she has begun to try to apply the
Truth (albeit without completely abandoning the Lie)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">.
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">This
amounts to </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #c9211e;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b><span style="background: transparent;">Exploration</span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
of the Truth.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<ol start="7">
<li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Second Pinch
Point</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">applies
more pressure to the protagonist, reminding her of the stakes in the
conflict.</span></p>
</li><li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="background: transparent;">Third
Plot Point</span></b><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
</span></span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">(</span></span></i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">which
</span></span></i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">7-point
</span></span></i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">calls</span></span></i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
Pinch 2</span></span></i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">)</span></span></i></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">:
</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">the
character may or may not have achieved a seeming victory, but in any
case at this point suffers a major reversal:</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">the
</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">all-is-lost
</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">moment</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">,
</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">the
</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">jaws
of defeat.</span></span></span></span></p>
</li></ol>
<h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">Third
Act</span></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">A</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">t
the beginning of the third act, the character has been forced to a
low point, where she has to analyze </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">her</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
own actions and motives, and get to core of her personal arc. She
must fully </span></span><span style="color: #c9211e;"><b><span style="background: transparent;">Accept</span></b></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
the Truth, </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">winning
the internal conflict, in order</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
to win </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">the</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
external conflict.</span></span></p>
<ol start="9">
<li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">At what the
7-point structure calls Plot Turn 2, the character has an Aha!
moment realizing that she has all the tools<span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">to </span><span style="font-style: normal;">succeed</span><span style="font-style: normal;">;
she begins the final push to victory</span></p>
</li><li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b><span style="background: transparent;">The
Climax</span></b></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">:
</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">This
r</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">esolves
</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">the
external </span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">conflic</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">t;
since acceptance of the truth led to being able to </span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">succed</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">,
this </span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">seems
to </span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">count
as a</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #c9211e;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b><span style="background: transparent;">Manifestation</span></b></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
of acceptance of the Truth.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b><span style="background: transparent;">The
Resolution</span></b></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">:
</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">This
briefly shows the n</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">ew
status quo, </span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">h</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">ow
character reacts to </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">the
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">climax,
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">and
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">how
world has changed.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
</li></ol>
<h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Reflections</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: normal;">I’m a scholar, so finding
similarities and differences among different sources is part of what
I’ve been trained to do; it’s part of the classic “literature
search” for any new piece of academic work. I feel reasonably good
about this first attempt at unifying three sets of plot advice.
Whether it’s useful is going to depend on two things: other
peoples’ reactions to the work, and how successful my attempt to
apply it to my own story might be. Both are things I’m hoping to
have happen over the next few weeks.</span></p>
<p><br />
<br />
</p>David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-90030945039280758532021-02-27T12:04:00.003-05:002021-02-27T12:06:27.807-05:00Settlers 6 Custom Scenarios, Part 1<p> I’ve said before that <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2013/04/cities-civilizations-and-combat.html">city-builders
are one of my two favourite forms</a> of video game. Unfortunately,
sometimes they have “gotchas” that make you start over from the
beginning (or from a many-turns-ago save file) that lead me to wish
for walkthroughs that don’t give away too much but at least give me
a chance to prepare for whatever the problem might be. Lately I’ve
been playing <span lang="en-CA"><a class="western" href="https://www.gog.com/game/the_settlers_rise_of_an_empire_gold_edition">The
Settlers®: Rise of an Empire – Gold Edition</a> </span><span lang="en-CA">(</span><span lang="en-CA">released
April 18, 2008 </span><span lang="en-CA">by <a class="western" href="https://www.gog.com/games?devpub=blue_byte_studio">Blue
Byte Studio</a> / <a class="western" href="https://www.gog.com/games?devpub=ubisoft">Ubisoft</a>)</span><span lang="en-CA">.
</span><span lang="en-CA">There is a </span><span lang="en-CA">nice</span><span lang="en-CA">
<a class="western" href="https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/936009-the-settlers-rise-of-an-empire/faqs/55712">walkthrough
for the campaign scenarios</a>, but </span><span lang="en-CA">I
haven’t found one</span><span lang="en-CA"> for the custom ones. If
anybody out there is still playing this </span><span lang="en-CA">almost-</span><span lang="en-CA">1</span><span lang="en-CA">3</span><span lang="en-CA">-year-old
game, here are a few warnings</span><span lang="en-CA">. </span><span lang="en-CA">If
you want to try to reduce exposure to spoilers, just read the list
immediately after the break gives the key idea of the gotcha.</span></p>
<p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>The three scenarios this post covers are<p></p>
<ul>
<li><p>Four Kingdoms, where expanding too far in certain directions
encounters bandits who demand tribute you can ill afford in the
early game. Stick with the territories immediately adjacent to your
starting one until you can afford to lose a few hundred gold every
so often.</p>
</li><li><p>Kagunda, where expanding adjacent to enemy territory leads
them to attack you. Don’t claim territories where you can see an
enemy border colour along its boundaries until you have enough
troops to resist an attack.</p>
</li><li><p>Olduvai, where the quest you should do first isn’t revealed
until you complete the one you should do last. Plus, bandits.</p>
</li></ul>
<p>In <b>Four Kingdoms</b>, the goal is to achieve the highest rank,
Archduke. In some games with this goal, you can win completely
peacefully. Once you know the basics of how the game works, managing
city growth is usually straightforward: build up your city slowly,
making sure you have enough goods to keep it going without settler
strikes, and trade for things you don’t gather or make on your own.
It can be a little bit of work to get enough rich buildings for the
higher ranks, but I found that building a few more level 3
(twice-upgraded) buildings was sufficient.</p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqPmxYOyEM17CReKV7aMKMv_F9bT0ikYriIvnYGmvHEFizKuk6v3QGswrSfUQCuFwyOMvbP6ZkRvDcNpx38h1N2Zf3LgOTxO-Ffsi7pTbvmL7AjAsS3MrLhVfb95dcQLgGXeP7jY_0LOQ/s386/S6FourKingdoms.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="334" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqPmxYOyEM17CReKV7aMKMv_F9bT0ikYriIvnYGmvHEFizKuk6v3QGswrSfUQCuFwyOMvbP6ZkRvDcNpx38h1N2Zf3LgOTxO-Ffsi7pTbvmL7AjAsS3MrLhVfb95dcQLgGXeP7jY_0LOQ/s320/S6FourKingdoms.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: left;">A late-game </span><b style="text-align: left;">Four Kingdoms</b><span style="text-align: left;"> map. Starting territory has the X showing fish exhausted. Some other resources are permanently exhausted, such as stone to the starting location’s northwest, so don’t show</span></span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Unfortunately in this scenario there is a moderate “gotcha”:
there are two regions with bandits who demand tribute once you
contact them (in the far south, and east of the game to the northeast
of the city. It isn’t a problem later in the game where you are
getting substantial income, or have the troops to destroy them, but
it’s a significant drain early on when your taxes and sermons
aren’t bringing much in. If you don’t pay they become hostile and
capture your trade carts. I’m not whether they attack you, since I
kept appeasing them, but I I let them become enemies late in the game
so I could attack them.</p>
<p>So what you need to know is this: To your west are cattle, herbs,
and game. To the northwest are two stone quarries and fish. In a
large territory across the north and east are sheep, game, and lots
of forest for wood. There is plenty of room in these territories for
one each of cattle, sheep, wheat, and beehives, leaving your original
territory for all the city buildings you need.
</p>
<p>Further north from the sheep-and-game is one of the two bandit
territories, blocking you from accessing the three cities to your
northwest, northeast, and east. So stick with your first four
territories until you are well established and can afford the tribute
– or have enough iron to hire enough soldiers to take them out
(yes, there’s iron, to the southeast across the pond).</p>
<p>In a counterclockwise arc from the western cattle-herbs-grain are
several territories you don’t need until later in the game: more
stone, more herbs and game, and (at the end of the arc before the
town of Leran), iron and more stone. However, if you head south from
the herbs-and-game, you encounter the other of the two sets of
bandits, so head east into the iron-and-stone instead.</p>
<p>I was a little concerned about how hostile the bandits might get,
so build stone walls around the edges of the three adjacent
territories, but it proved unnecessary. When I had enough troops, I
refused tribute, let them become hostile so I could attack them, and
wiped them out. Only then did I go and find the three kingdoms –
but I didn’t need to contact them to win the game. That might be
considered a flaw in the scenario design. From what I understand of
the quest mechanics, there could easily have been requirements to
visit each of the four, and even to conduct some trade with them.</p>
<p>In <b>Kagunda</b>, the goal is to occupy twelve territories. You
have one friendly city, <span style="font-style: normal;">Olinka,</span>
to the northwest. You can buy small quantities of iron, but everyone
else is hostile – sufficiently hostile that they attack you if you
claim any territory adjacent to one of theirs. <span style="font-style: normal;">I
had to restart this one several times as I discovered more
complexities.</span></p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcFM-JwubFP3YXpVgUUiWBFnEiBAoZbyPxaP7c-BtUzyU-9DtFqOGcJA8Pam_ylmcOVR9l3rz1RjKEVM60pfbFlLTfxkg2GjkpAByqpD2abqL_N2LUbEs_1jxK26pFZ_B3esxcFhlM3-U/s379/S6Kagunda.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="342" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcFM-JwubFP3YXpVgUUiWBFnEiBAoZbyPxaP7c-BtUzyU-9DtFqOGcJA8Pam_ylmcOVR9l3rz1RjKEVM60pfbFlLTfxkg2GjkpAByqpD2abqL_N2LUbEs_1jxK26pFZ_B3esxcFhlM3-U/s320/S6Kagunda.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><p><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Map of 11 of the 12 regions you need for <b>Kagunda</b>. Starting location has the leader’s shield. Final territory was south of the near-central iron.</span></i></p><div><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div></td></tr></tbody></table>Fortunately there are enough territories <i>not</i>
adjacent to theirs so that
you can build up to the point
where you can hire enough mercenaries to capture their iron territory
(near the cenre of the map)
and survive long enough to
build stone walls to block their attacks.<p><span style="font-style: normal;">You start with an easy battle
with hostiles at the western entrance to your stockade. This first
western territory has herbs and some wood, with </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Olinka</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
to the west. Clockwise, there are sheep, deer, fish, and stone, with
mercenaries to the east </span><span style="font-style: normal;">of
the stone </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(exhausted in the
map)</span><span style="font-style: normal;">. Further clockwise is a
territory with two stone, but it is adjacent to the bandits-and-iron
territory to the west. </span>
</p>
<p><span style="font-style: normal;">My </span><span style="font-style: normal;">second
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">strategy </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(after
discovering you get attacked) </span><span style="font-style: normal;">was
to use just those initial territories, before </span><span style="font-style: normal;">claiming</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
the double-stone, and build up a prosperous city while </span><span style="font-style: normal;">clearing</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
out the </span><span style="font-style: normal;">initial </span><span style="font-style: normal;">quarry.
The I rapidly hired mercenaries, claimed the double-stone territory,
conquered the iron territory, and built </span><span style="font-style: normal;">a
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">stone wall </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(with
gatehouse)</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> to the south of
the iron. Then I discovered that the enemy can attack from southeast
of the double-stone </span><i>despite</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
not having any adjacent territory</span><span style="font-style: normal;">,
and had to try again from before my attack, quickly building a stone
wall (with gatehouse) to the southeast of the double stone. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">I
then expanded southeast from the double-stone </span><span style="font-style: normal;">into
the bandits-and-iron</span><span style="font-style: normal;">,
building a wall once again adjacent to the southern enemy territory.
This, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">along with the very
expensive mercenary area,</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
gives 11 territories. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">W</span><span style="font-style: normal;">hen
ready you can attack south from the iron territory into </span><span style="font-style: normal;">your
twelfth, which has</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> iron and
cattle.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-style: normal;">I had to try that last attack
three times. The first time I discovered that I couldn’t withstand
the constant counterattacks from adjacent enemies. The second I
discovered that my mercenaries didn’t have enough torches to </span><span style="font-style: normal;">take
out</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> the enemy outpost.
Finally, I hunkered down until I had enough iron to build a </span><span style="font-style: normal;">larger,
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">tougher army of </span><span style="font-style: normal;">regular
troops</span><span style="font-style: normal;">, built up my castle to
get the </span><span style="font-style: normal;">highest</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
possible </span><span style="font-style: normal;">soldier limit</span><span style="font-style: normal;">,
and </span><span style="font-style: normal;">put together</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
a big enough force to protect the cattle-and-iron until I’d built
an outpost of my own.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-style: normal;">In </span><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Olduvai</b></span><span style="font-style: normal;">,
you have to deal with scarce resources in an arid landscape, and
eventually claim a central fertile territory. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">You
really need Hakim with his upgrades-cost-less passive ability; you
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">may</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
run out of resources </span><span style="font-style: normal;">early
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">without him, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">as
you will if you try to build too many buildings. Don’t double up on
resource gatherers to get faster output</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.
</span>
</p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg849Vh5TRc0bTH_5HIYrD6NbKxeA8MRJ6lwGW0Kjailw2aEZ8y0hYfsSrcZl4zE0_joq0dekYi5D6CTnGrckOVHFYauTyfw4F_MgaQGfxInoL2Zbn0NJtaIwrHoHGad3Df0UUXKlDHWnE/s371/S6Olduvai.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="330" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg849Vh5TRc0bTH_5HIYrD6NbKxeA8MRJ6lwGW0Kjailw2aEZ8y0hYfsSrcZl4zE0_joq0dekYi5D6CTnGrckOVHFYauTyfw4F_MgaQGfxInoL2Zbn0NJtaIwrHoHGad3Df0UUXKlDHWnE/s320/S6Olduvai.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: left;"><b>O</b></span><span style="text-align: left;"><b>lduvai </b>map. The first quest is for the bandit-infested Eastern Basin. Settle the territory to its northwest frst. Starting territory is to the east</span></span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="smallcaption-western">You’re told that your first
goal is to claim the Eastern Basin, which requires that you pacify
the bandits in there
long enough to build a 1000-gold
outpost. They
demand 100 gold tribute once you find them, and
if they’re like bandits in other games like Four Kingdoms, they
will eventually ask again. So
the idea here is to avoid
their territory until you are
rich enough to both buy them off and build the outpost right away.
However, after you claim the
territory, you’re <i>then</i>
told to claim the Western
basin; this is the
“gotchas” I mentioned.
It’s better to get the Western basin first; you
will be running out of wood and food by the time you can afford it.</p>
<p><span style="font-style: normal;">Head north, where there are
trees, zebras, and three ruins, then head west to stone and iron </span><span style="font-style: normal;">and
another ruin; the ruins give you money to help pay for the outposts</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.
Once you have 50 stone for a quest (plus however much extra you need
to upgrade your infrastructure before then), head south into the
Western Basin and west into the city of </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Laetoli</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.
They will ask for that stone, then when it arrives will ask you to
kill the five lions to their south. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Y</span><span style="font-style: normal;">our
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">leader</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
sh</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ould be able to deal with
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">them </span><span style="font-style: normal;">since
they don’t gang up on you, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">u</span><span style="font-style: normal;">nlike
the three prides of lions in the Western Basin. After this you can
immediately buy game and wood </span><span style="font-style: normal;">from
them</span><span style="font-style: normal;">, which you will sorely
need by this point. Their supply seems to regenerate fairly fast, so
you can keep buying until you save up enough gold </span><span style="font-style: normal;">to
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">build the 1500-gold Western
Basin outpost</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-style: normal;">To </span><span style="font-style: normal;">the</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
south </span><span style="font-style: normal;">of your original
territory</span><span style="font-style: normal;">, and west of that,
are two somewhat useful territories </span><span style="font-style: normal;">you
don’t need at first</span><span style="font-style: normal;">. South
has stone, and west of the stone is a fair bit of wood and more game.
Don’t head northwest from the stone, since you’ll encounter the
Eastern Basin </span><span style="font-style: normal;">and the
bandits</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-style: normal;">B</span><span style="font-style: normal;">uil</span><span style="font-style: normal;">d</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
a</span><span style="font-style: normal;">n</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
outpost in the Western Basin, then develop it with a beekeeper, grain
farm, cattle farm, and sheep farm. This required</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
troops to deal with the lions (3 archer groups and 3 swordsmen groups
sufficed, though all the swordsmen died). At this point you have
plenty of fertile territory for wheat and sheep, which will keep you
in clothing and food in perpetuity now that your original game supply
is </span><span style="font-style: normal;">likely </span><span style="font-style: normal;">gone.
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">If you </span><span style="font-style: normal;">gather</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
enough stone it is probably a good idea to upgrade your dirt roads to
stone ones, since the critical Western Basin is far from your
storehouse.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal;">Then, save up 1100 gold, briefly enter
the Eastern Basin to trigger the 100-gold tribute demand, pay it,
then build the 1000-gold outpost to claim the territory.</p>
<p><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Reflections</b></span><span style="font-style: normal;">:
I’m not sure what to say about the </span><span style="font-style: normal;">many
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">games-</span><span style="font-style: normal;">with-gotchas</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.
I am sure many people would prefer to find out by themselves the sort
of thing I’ve outlined here, and don’t mind the game reloads as
much as I do. So for the sake of </span><span style="font-style: normal;">that
subset of gamers,</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> you can’t
put </span><span style="font-style: normal;">spoilerific hints</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
in the games themselves. That’s why gamer communities who share
information with each other (such as t</span><span style="font-style: normal;">hose
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">available at <a class="western" href="https://heavengames.com/">HeavenGames</a>)
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">are</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
be a better solution: </span><i>If </i><span style="font-style: normal;">you
can find them. I wasn’t able to find one for Settlers 6, which is
why I created this walkthrough, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">and
perhaps others in the future</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal;"><br />
<br />
</p>David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-52876491404993518212021-01-08T08:36:00.000-05:002021-01-08T08:36:21.519-05:00Reflections on January 6, 2021<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"> As part of learning how to write, I have been reading Kate Wilhelm’s
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/890463.Storyteller"><i>Storyteller</i></a>,
her reflections on 27 years of the <a href="http://clarion.ucsd.edu/">Clarion
Writers’ Workshops</a>. One section talks about how she works “from
images, to scenes, to incidents, then situations and finally plot”
in contrast with either pantsing
or the usual kind
of plotting. The images often
arose from her subconscious, her “Silent Partner;” plotting is
essentially knitting together the scenes and incidents into a
coherent order, adding new material to connect the old. Diana
Gabaldon describes a somewhat similar process, and in a brief
conversation with Nalo Hopkinson on <a href="http://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2015/09/flying-to-florida.html">the</a>
<a href="http://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2015/09/were-on-boat.html">2015</a>
<a href="http://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2015/09/sunday-and-monday-of-writing-excuses.html">Writing</a>
<a href="http://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2015/09/critiquing-at-writing-excuses-retreat.html">Excuses</a>
<a href="http://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2015/10/excursions.html">Retreat</a>
<a href="http://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2015/10/dan-wells-on-7-point-structure.html">cruise</a>
she told me she writes this way, too.</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">All
of my NaNoWriMo novels started with images or very brief scenes. So
after the riots on January 6, my reactions crystalized around a small
number of images.</p><p>
</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">While
rioters were breaking into the Capitol, security staff told everyone
that the building had been breached, and Congress
had to evacuate to a secure location. I expect
that at that moment the level
of threat was perceived
to be very high. Four
congressional staffers, all women, had the presence of mind to gather
up the boxes containing the official Electoral College votes. Had the
rioters found and destroyed them, the counting of the votes that
verified Biden’s
win would have been postponed much
longer than actually happened,
and who knows what mayhem might have happened before they could be
regenerated from whatever raw data they were based on. Their presence
of mind and quiet courage went largely unreported; I found this image
in a single <a href="https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p526x296/135752205_10157975000941938_2942208455311942515_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=2&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=XsaE7-NSw3wAX-SK56f&_nc_ht=scontent-yyz1-1.xx&tp=6&oh=55502f80cea470a5d2c0bb10b1de2836&oe=601AD6DC">Facebook
post</a>. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQqjD63dqTIi5fayaaQ_SrBw1_H7_gVwoREfwFmbBUgWd_ky8Z83VG-_T544_C6IT5otSzbrQsXlt-FeALzr09hnqi0_dqPY3SLeIWNrhWAjQsQLJ3X7doiw27w8CeVDCWeNzrE4geO_Q/s526/Electoral+Ballots+Saved.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Image of congressional staffers, all women, carrying two Electoral College ballot boxes to safety." border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="526" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQqjD63dqTIi5fayaaQ_SrBw1_H7_gVwoREfwFmbBUgWd_ky8Z83VG-_T544_C6IT5otSzbrQsXlt-FeALzr09hnqi0_dqPY3SLeIWNrhWAjQsQLJ3X7doiw27w8CeVDCWeNzrE4geO_Q/w640-h640/Electoral+Ballots+Saved.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Congressional staffers rescuing ballot boxes</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>There
have been many images of people who invaded the Capitol doing
relatively nonviolent actions, leading some to insist they are
legitimate “protestors.” Unfortunately for this attempt at
whitewashing, there was an absolutely clearly violent action to break
into the building, and those quietly walking around afterwards were
at the absolute minimum committing tresspass. So the right term for
these people is at the very least “rioter” and, given the
political ideology and intent behind their actions, “insurgent”
or even “terrorist.” There are plenty of images to choose from,
but I found this one especially moving.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1cx9pG.img?h=533&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1144&y=229" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Man carrying large Confederate Flag inside U.S. Capitol." border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="799" height="427" src="https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1cx9pG.img?h=533&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1144&y=229" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Man holding confederate flag inside US Capitol<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
One
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1050830588751336&id=100014732144409&notif_id=1610023390379870&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif">Facebook
post</a> about it began
and ended with “Today the Confederate flag flew in the United
States Capitol.” That
phrase gave me feelings
of sadness and discouragement. That
flag is not just a piece of coloured cloth. It is a symbol of
rebellion against the United States by people who clearly stated, in
documents readily available today, that the core of their reason for
secession was preserving slavery in particular and white supremacy in
general. The entire history of the United States since then continues
to be tainted by oppression of African-Americans in particular and
people of colour in general, from voter suppression targeting
African-American districts to outright slavery in the for-profit
prison system. <span style="font-size: 10pt;">(Canada
has its own history of </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">appalling
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">racism;
in the words of the <a href="https://www.arrogantworms.com/">Arrogant
Worms</a>, “</span><a href="http://www.songlyrics.com/arrogant-worms/proud-to-be-canadian-live-lyrics/"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">We</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
won’t say </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">that</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
we’re better, it’s just that we’re less worse.</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;">”)</span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Much
has been written about the actions
and inaction of law enforcement during the riot. There are many
accusations of complicity, and the image of one of the Capitol Police
allowing a selfie with a protestor inside the building he was
supposed to protect has become iconic; this
version one is from <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/vision-emerges-of-police-moving-barricades-to-allow-rioters-into-us-capitol-taking-selfies/news-story/45a9be3adf9b447b53d23cf5536c5d02"><i>The
Independent</i></a>.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/ae29ce2225e11ea8f9b3065e55988dcc?width=650" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Image of Capitol Policeman in selfie with “protester”" border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="650" height="360" src="https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/ae29ce2225e11ea8f9b3065e55988dcc?width=650" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Officer allowing selfie with protestor</td></tr></tbody></table>I have seen repeated claims that
many American policing organizations have been infiltrated by white
supremacists, and even that many were founded as slave-catchers. <p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
There is room to hope it wasn’t
<i>all</i> of the police.
This image shows some at least <i>trying</i>
to hold back protestors, and I’ve heard that some of them continued
to do so until they were overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/a97a1e90b4af4795be943d80573bfc6c/2000.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="426" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/a97a1e90b4af4795be943d80573bfc6c/2000.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Police holding barriers in front of US Capitol</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">But it’s likely that I’m still
too naive about things white people like me would rather not think
about and have the privilege to ignore until they’re
thrust in our faces.</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">There
is vastly more that is worth saying about January 6, 2021; I expect a
Congressional Commission will investigate. My personal reflections
above are just one tiny window onto history. I think it’s
worthwhile for anyone reading this to record their own reactions to
this historic moment.</p><p>
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Some
of the above photos are from social media; others are from the
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-electoral-college-elections-de812995a8c7cbea5c1de56a3d1aa007">Associated
Press</a>. On the <a href="https://www.adfontesmedia.com/">Media Bias
Chart</a>, AP is at the very top of the “reports facts instead of
fabricated information” axis and almost at the centre of the
“left/balanced/right” axis. Its “AP Morning Wire” email is my
main source of major news.</span>
</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><br /></div><br />David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-55531920733393741332020-06-19T16:04:00.000-04:002020-06-19T16:04:25.537-04:00First Acts, Chapters, Pages, and Lines<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">At this point in my growth as a writer </span><span lang="en-CA">I’m
a </span><span lang="en-CA">plot-oriented</span><span lang="en-CA">
“plantser,” combining some planning with some discovery writing.
At the moment I’m working on </span><span lang="en-CA">improving my
</span><span lang="en-CA">plann</span><span lang="en-CA">ing</span><span lang="en-CA">
skills, </span><span lang="en-CA">preparing for a</span><span lang="en-CA">
rewrite </span><span lang="en-CA">of </span><span lang="en-CA">my
2018 NaNoWriMo science fiction mystery novelette, </span><span lang="en-CA">expand</span><span lang="en-CA">ing</span><span lang="en-CA">
it into a full novel</span><span lang="en-CA">. I’ve read advice
that mysteries <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/mystery-elements-in-novel.html">require</a>
<a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2020/02/more-on-writing-mysteries.html">more
planning</a> than some other genres. So I’m working on </span><span lang="en-CA">those</span><span lang="en-CA">
skills, and this year I’m primarily working on developing more
interesting characters. I’ve researched how to <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2020/05/writing-engaging-characters.html">develop
engaging characters</a>, including developing character arcs based on
the character’s <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2020/05/character-wounds-and-lies.html">negative
core belief</a> (“Lie” the character tells themselves). Based on
advice that it can take time to build up reader interest in a
character, I looked into how </span><span lang="en-CA">to</span><span lang="en-CA">
<a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2020/04/what-is-bridging-conflict.html">write
bridging conflicts</a> </span><span lang="en-CA">to maintain reader
interest while </span><span lang="en-CA">developing</span><span lang="en-CA">
the main plot</span><span lang="en-CA">. Now it’s time to start
rewriting the first chapter, </span><span lang="en-CA">and I didn’t
like my first attempt of a few weeks ago, </span><span lang="en-CA">s</span><span lang="en-CA">o
I did </span><span lang="en-CA">even </span><span lang="en-CA">more
research. Here are the results.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">As
usual, I’m writing brief summaries of ideas that the original
sources describe in more detail. </span><span lang="en-CA">They</span><span lang="en-CA">
often </span><span lang="en-CA">have</span><span lang="en-CA">
interesting commentary and examples, so if you want to dig deeper,
consult the links scattered throughout, and collected at the end.
</span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">There is a
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><i>lot</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
of advice out there, so this summary is quite long. If you’re
looking for quick advice, </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">see
Chuck Wendig’s <a class="western" href="http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/05/29/25-things-to-know-about-writing-the-first-chapter/">25
tips</a>, or </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">look
at the sources below and pick a </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">one
or two</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">with</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
a small</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">er</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
number. </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">You
might also want to <a class="western" href="https://writeitsideways.com/how-to-write-a-first-chapter-that-rocks/">read
some first chapters</a> as examples.</span></span></div>
<h3 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc7379_2868655934"></a>The
Big Picture</h3>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Many of the articles
started with similar advice: the first line, page, and chapter<span style="font-style: normal;">
grant you an “intellectual credit” so readers keep reading
because they trust you to continue to deliver something interesting</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.
Some readers stop if they’re not happy with the first line! Some
agents and editors reject based on the first page. And, apparently,
few </span><span style="font-style: normal;">people </span><span style="font-style: normal;">will
give you more than a chapter. So there is tremendous pressure to get
things right </span><span style="font-style: normal;">early in the
text, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">and lots of advice on
how to do that.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">However,
f</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ew </span><span style="font-style: normal;">sources
talk</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> about </span><i>when</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
to </span><span style="font-style: normal;">write the beginning</span><span style="font-style: normal;">,
and what approach is best for different types of writer. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Plantsers
sometimes need thousand</span><span style="font-style: normal;">s of</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
words to “write themselves into the novel” </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">(which
isn’t inherently a bad thing – planners sometimes do the same
thing with brainstorming and character sketches)</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">
and wind up throwing away the first few chapters; it’s a waste of
time trying to polish, under those circumstances. Moreover, some
subtler aspects depend on supporting the rest of the novel, and
pretty much </span><i>must</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> be
handled in revision after the first draft is complete. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Some
sources even suggested writing the first chapter last.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">A</span><span style="font-style: normal;">s
with any set of </span><span style="font-style: normal;">writing
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">rules, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">there
are</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> examples of successful
novels that break them. The advice I found was often guides for
beginners; we need to learn some widely-applicable good approaches
before we </span><span style="font-style: normal;">take</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
a different </span><span style="font-style: normal;">one</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></div>
<h3 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc9683_3595405951"></a><span style="font-style: normal;">T</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ypes
of Start</span></h3>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">There
are <a class="western" href="https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/4-approaches-for-the-first-chapter-of-your-novel">four
types of start</a>, </span><span lang="en-CA">the first </span><span lang="en-CA">three
of which are discouraged or even disparaged by almost all my sources,
</span><span lang="en-CA">despite the existence of very good stories
taking each of the other approaches</span><span lang="en-CA">:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A prologue, dealing with someone other than the main character, or
with the main character at an earlier time than the main story; I
deal with these later.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/in-medias-res.html"><span lang="en-CA"><i>In
media res</i></span></a><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">,
the opposite of a </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">prologue</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">,
which is about the main character in the midst of intense action,
followed by stepping back to a beginning that leads to that point
(perhaps </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">taking
several</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
chapters </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">to
do so</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">).
It may sacrifice some suspense at the beginning of the flashback,
since we know the character will survive for a while, but may ramp
up the tension when we catch up, since suddenly the character’s
immunity is gone.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A frame, where the main plot is a story-within-a-story, perhaps
returning to the frame at interludes. It can be less engaging if the
frame characters are out of danger, but may help the reader get into
the story as the frame characters get into it.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">The
most common approach, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">where
the startup combines character development with conflict.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">M</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">uch
of the following advice seems to me to apply to all four.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">A
classic misleading piece of advice is to “start with action,”
</span><span lang="en-CA">which seems to point to</span><span lang="en-CA"><i>
in media res</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">,</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><i>
</i></span><span lang="en-CA">but many sources point out that most
readers won’t care about even the most </span><span lang="en-CA">intense</span><span lang="en-CA">
action if they don’t care about the characters. So the core advice
is: start by showing an engaging character facing a problem they are
working to solve. That’s the core meaning of “conflict,” of
which </span><span lang="en-CA">thriller-style </span><span lang="en-CA">“action”
is a special case.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
This can be hard for
a plot-oriented writer to accept; looking back, most of my previous
efforts have characters that are slightly decorated cardboard. The
sources hammered the point over and over again: an overwhelming
percentage of readers these days, including agents and editors,
expect interesting characters, right from the start.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Many sources talked
about how much effort you have to put into the early pages, but a lot
of that <a class="western" href="https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/7-things-not-worry-first-draft/">doesn’t
have to happen in the first draft</a>.</div>
<h3 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc7381_2868655934"></a>Granularity</h3>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I surveyed advice
about first lines, first paragraphs, first pages, first chapters, and
first acts.</div>
<ul>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">The
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/secrets-of-story-structure-pt-3-first/">first
act</a> is roughly the first 20-</span><span lang="en-CA">30</span><span lang="en-CA">%,
</span><span lang="en-CA">roughly to the point where the character
is forced to act instead of react</span><span lang="en-CA">. It
needs to convey all the necessary components of the story to set up
the last 7</span><span lang="en-CA">0</span><span lang="en-CA">-80%.
</span><span lang="en-CA">D</span><span lang="en-CA">uring revisions
it can be useful to apply “Chekhov’s gun” in reverse and
</span><span lang="en-CA">revise</span><span lang="en-CA"> the first
act </span><span lang="en-CA">to include </span><span lang="en-CA">elements
used </span><span lang="en-CA">later</span><span lang="en-CA">.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Some sources
talk about first chapters, others about first scenes, but much of
the actual advice doesn’t depend on whether you’re a
scene-per-chapter person. Every scene has to matter.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
At all levels of
granularity, the <i>kinds</i> of things you have to get across were
roughly the same. To engage the reader and ground them in the story,
you have to convey a combination of:</div>
<ol>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">Who
the </span><span lang="en-CA"><i>protagonist</i></span><span lang="en-CA">
is; </span><span lang="en-CA">make them <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2020/05/writing-engaging-characters.html">engaging</a>,</span><span lang="en-CA">
including their personality, </span><span lang="en-CA">motivations
(needs and wants)</span><span lang="en-CA">, </span><span lang="en-CA">beliefs,
</span><span lang="en-CA">and </span><span lang="en-CA">flaws
</span><span lang="en-CA">(including the <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2020/05/character-wounds-and-lies.html">key
‘Lie’ they believe</a>).</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">Why
<a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2020/05/writing-engaging-characters.html">we
</a></span><a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2020/05/writing-engaging-characters.html"><span lang="en-CA"><i>care</i></span></a><span lang="en-CA"><a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2020/05/writing-engaging-characters.html">
about them</a>, and why they are the right person to focus on.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">The
</span><span lang="en-CA"><i>setting</i></span><span lang="en-CA"> –
where and when the story is taking place. </span><span lang="en-CA">At
the Act level, there should be enough </span><span lang="en-CA">worldbuilding
</span><span lang="en-CA">detail so there is no need to slow down
for it in the later acts, </span><span lang="en-CA">but be sparing
of it in the first pages</span><span lang="en-CA">. </span><span lang="en-CA">S</span><span lang="en-CA">how
the setting <a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/04/04/seeing-the-world-through-your-characters-eyes/">as
the character sees it</a>, </span><span lang="en-CA">using all five
senses</span><span lang="en-CA">; what kinds of details they notice
varies from character to character.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">The
</span><span lang="en-CA"><i>conflict</i></span><span lang="en-CA">
– what problem the protagonist is facing, and what’s the
opposition, such as an antagonist. </span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Conflict
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">advance</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">s</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
the plot, while revealing how the protagonist deals with </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">problems</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">.
</span></span><span lang="en-CA">T</span><span lang="en-CA">he first
scene </span><span lang="en-CA">doesn’t need to involve</span><span lang="en-CA">
the </span><span lang="en-CA"><i>core</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
conflict – it can <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2020/04/what-is-bridging-conflict.html">bridge
to one</a> – but should have some connection with the </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">rest
of the novel. </span></span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">T</span><span style="font-style: normal;">he
</span><i>stakes</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> of the
conflict: the consequences </span><i>to the protagonist</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
of </span><span style="font-style: normal;">success and </span><span style="font-style: normal;">failure.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">How
the character </span><i>feels</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
about what is going on.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Your
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">authorial</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span><a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/04/11/wheres-my-voice/"><span lang="en-CA"><i>voice</i></span></a><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
and that of the character</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">s</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">.
The main advice I found is to let it develop as you write </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">the
novel</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">,
and make it more consistent during revision. </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Writing
a </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><i>lot</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
will help, </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">as
will an editor.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The <a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/05/23/watch-your-tone/"><i>tone</i></a>
– humourous, gritty, foreboding, dramatic, ...; What emotions do
you intend to evoke in the reader? This is mostly about how you say
things, rather than what happens.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The <i>genre</i>
of the story – mystery, fantasy, science fiction, ...</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The <a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/01/18/yes-you-do-need-a-theme/"><i>theme</i></a>(s)
the story explores, “<a class="western" href="http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/05/29/25-things-to-know-about-writing-the-first-chapter/">the
argument the tale is making</a>.” Even if you’re initially
unaware of it, your story may convey a message the reader takes away
from the experience, perhaps the same thing that motivated you to
write the story. You can’t be heavy-handed about conveying it and
may not realize what it is until you complete a draft, or get
feedback.
</div>
</li>
</ol>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Different
granularities vary in how many of these elements to include, how
words you get to use, and how much detail you can convey.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">There
are additional considerations for the opening of each book of a
series, which I don’t plan to think about unless and until I </span><span lang="en-CA">start
to </span><span lang="en-CA">write</span><span lang="en-CA"> one.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">T</span><span lang="en-CA">he
following deals with granularity in decreasing order of size.</span></div>
<h3 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc16793_728009407"></a>First
Act, Chapter or Scene</h3>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">The
first act needs to set up the promises that will be fulfilled in the
rest of the story, establish the character arc, and fill in enough
details to avoid slowing down what follows. </span><span lang="en-CA">It
(and particularly t</span><span lang="en-CA">he first <a class="western" href="https://blog.nathanbransford.com/2018/04/why-writers-need-to-perfect-their-first-thirty-pages">thirty
pages</a></span><span lang="en-CA">)</span><span lang="en-CA">
</span><span lang="en-CA">definitely needs to develop all the
elements in the list. </span><span lang="en-CA">It</span><span lang="en-CA">
</span><span lang="en-CA">must be highly polished</span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">,
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">with
careful attention to <a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/critique-10-ways-to-write-a-better-first-chapter-with-specific-word-choices/">specific
word choices</a>; </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">the
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">early
pages</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
do a lot of the heavy lifting, and later chapters may be easier</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
They </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><i>don’t</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
need constant action, and </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><i>shouldn’t</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
include the best moments in the whole story; you need to hold
something back for the climax. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">The</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
f</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">irst
chapter </span></span><a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2019/06/what-setup-in-novel-actually-means.html"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">set</span></span></a><a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2019/06/what-setup-in-novel-actually-means.html"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">s</span></span></a><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2019/06/what-setup-in-novel-actually-means.html">
up</a> the rest of the novel. </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">It</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">need</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">s</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
to start <a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/beginning-your-story-too-soon/">close</a>
to where the “real story” starts; <a class="western" href="https://www.whimsydark.com/blog/2017/4/20/first-chapters-cheat-sheet">one
source</a> suggested figuring out the inciting incident, and make
that the </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><i>second</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
chapter, with the first leading up to it, </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">but
other sources allow for more time and yet others suggest the first
chapter</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">.
</span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Like
all chapters, </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">the
first</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
need</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">s</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
to follow</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/how-to-structure-scenes/">proper
scene structure</a>, </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">with
a beginning, a middle, and an end, </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">and
get the reader to keep reading</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">.
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">It</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
must:</span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">I</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ntroduce
the protagonist </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(about which
more later).</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Briefly</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
e</span><span style="font-style: normal;">stablish the character’s
normal </span><span style="font-style: normal;">life</span><span style="font-style: normal;">,
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">grounding the setting in a
particular place and time, possibly including the season and the
weather.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">I</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">ntroduce</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
a goal for the scene, which </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">foreshadow</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">s</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
the main conflict </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">and
is preferably the first “<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/story-hook/">domino</a>”
to fall. </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
goal is met by an obstacle, leading to consequences that set up the
next chapter, and indeed the whole book.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li value="1"><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">S</span><span style="font-style: normal;">how
the protagonist's reaction to what happens in the scene.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Introduce other important characters, though not too many, and
including at least one supporting character.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Raise two <a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/02/08/the-crucial-question-you-must-ask-in-your-opening-scene/">major
dramatic queries</a>: one for the plot (will they achieve the
visible, external goal) and one for the character (will they achieve
their inner needs and begin to heal their emotional wounds). The
major plot goal may fall into several <a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/01/25/plot-goals-seeing-is-believing/">categories</a>:
the need to win, stop something, deliver or retrieve something, or
escape.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">One
way to decide what must happen in the first chapter is to list what
must happen in the first act, and </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">include
just</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
the bare minimum. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
first draft of your first chapter or two may need to be thrown away,
either because </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">it</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
start</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">s</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
with too much backstory, infodumping, and description, or because
writing later chapters leads you to recognize </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">it</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
need</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">s</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
to set thing</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">s</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
up differently.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
If
there are multiple scenes in the chapter, subsequent ones need to
transition smoothly, grounding the reader again. Make it clear who is
involved in the scene, when it is relative to the previous scene,
where the scene takes place, and what is going on.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/introducing-characters/">Introducing</a>
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><i>any</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/introducing-characters/">significant
character</a></span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">must
get</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
the reader </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">interest</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">ed</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">in
their personality</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">via
description, action, and </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">dialogue</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">,
plus (when there are several) keep the reader oriented as to which
character they are via small clues; in particular, they need a name,
and you need to help readers visualize the scene by grounding them in
the setting. Each character should have a unique voice: what they
say, why they say it, what words they choose, their body language,
and what actions they take. Weave description into the story in small
pieces. </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">G</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">ive
their gender and a sense of their age and appearance. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">A
carefully-crafted “<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/multi-faceted-characteristic-moment/">character
moment</a>” can reveal many important characteristics; you can
construct one by listing their characteristics, picking several, and
revealing them via deliberately dramatized actions and via
impressions carried in subtext.</span></span></div>
<h3 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc16795_728009407"></a>First
Page and Paragraph</h3>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">The
</span><span lang="en-CA">ten</span><span lang="en-CA"> elements
listed above apply at every level of granularity, but <a class="western" href="https://thewritelife.com/first-page-of-your-novel/">according
to psychology</a>, three are </span><span lang="en-CA"><b>critical</b></span><span lang="en-CA">
for the first page: </span>
</div>
<ul>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">raise
a <a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/use-question-to-create-unforgettable/">question</a>
the reader wants answered, </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">make
the </span><span lang="en-CA">viewpoint </span><span lang="en-CA">character
compelling, and</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
show the
emotional effect of the story on them.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">The
reader must </span><span lang="en-CA"><i>feel</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">,
emotionally, what matters and what doesn’t. Decision-making
requires emotion, not just rational calculation.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.theadventurouswriter.com/blogwriting/5-steps-to-writing-a-killer-first-chapter-how-to-wow-readers/"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Some
sources</span></span></a><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
suggest other things besides, or in addition to, the ones in the main
list above:</span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">show
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">a
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><a class="western" href="https://diymfa.com/writing/exciting-first-chapter">disturbance</a>
in the status quo;</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">build
a lot of <a class="western" href="https://writeitsideways.com/how-to-write-a-first-chapter-that-rocks/">energy</a>
into the first paragraph;</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">consider
<a class="western" href="https://www.darcypattison.com/writing/start/opening-chapters/">other
ways</a> to grab reader attention, such a bit of unusual language.</span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Every
word counts; at each smaller granularity, the need for polished prose
increases.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<h3 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc7385_2868655934"></a>Hooks
and First Lines</h3>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">The
word “hook” gets used with several different meanings. In the
<a class="western" href="https://writingexcuses.com/2012/10/07/writing-excuses-7-41-seven-point-story-structure/">7-point
structure</a>, the hook is the initial conditions of the novel, which
might take several pages or even scenes to establish. Commonly, </span><span lang="en-CA">a</span><span lang="en-CA">
hook is </span><span lang="en-CA">a single line, particularly </span><span lang="en-CA">the
first </span><span lang="en-CA">in the novel</span><span lang="en-CA">.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">It
may be useful to think of hooks of all granularities as </span><a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2016/02/are-you-asking-right-story-questions.html"><span lang="en-CA"><i>story
questions</i></span></a><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">:
things the reader will wonder about and for which they’ll want to
find answers.</span></span></div>
<ol>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Big
questions relate to the core conflict and major turning points,
explored throughout the book </span><span style="text-transform: lowercase;"><span style="font-style: normal;">AND
AFFECTING JUST About everything</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">.
For a mystery this might be “whodunit.” This may be the meaning
of “hook” in the 7-point structure.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Important questions that dig deeper into the overall story,
exploring the character arc, subplots, and themes.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Plot-driven questions that connect scenes; these include the
single-sentence hooks mentioned above.</div>
</li>
</ol>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
definition I found most useful for short hooks, </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">the
third kind,</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
is “individual sentences that</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">pique</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
the reader’s interest, and pull the reader through the story.”</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Hooks
throughout the work can be funny lines, punchy phrases, pithy
comments, and intriguing remarks.</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
Sometimes they are set off in their own paragraphs to signal a
“<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2011/03/wait-for-it-hook-lines-and-dramatic.html">dramatic
pause</a>.” </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">A
regular stream of small hooks, adding details as you work up to
larger reveals, keeps <a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/drive-readers-wild-hints-story-hooks-without-frustrating/">convincing
readers that something interesting will happen</a> if they keep
reading.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
first line is a</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">n</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">e</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">special</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">ly
importan</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">t</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
hook; </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">most
sources say </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">it
needs to be your very best writing</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">.
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">It
can’t </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><i>just</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
grab attention </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">and
mustn’t mislead about the nature of the story. I</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">t
has to be connected to the story line, set up the action to follow,
and if possible pull double or triple duty, conveying information
about the character, the plot, the setting, and the theme. </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">It
can </span></span><a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/learn-write-smashing-first-last-lines/"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">reveal
the essence</span></span></a><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
of the “big” story question, focus, and themes via subtext. </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">It</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
can take advantage of the context established by the title.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">There
are both <a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2009/11/what-i-learned-at-world-fantasy-week_04.html">intellectual
and emotional hooks</a>. Intellectual ones relate to the plot and
interesting story questions; they bring out </span><span lang="en-CA">mystery.</span><span lang="en-CA">
Emotional ones relate to the character’s arc and inner conflict;
they deepen the reader’s connection to the character. Big turning
points should draw on both.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">One
of the most intense kinds of “</span><span lang="en-CA">big
question”</span><span lang="en-CA"> hook, sometimes used in the
climax, is having the protagonist face a dilemma, an <a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2017/11/the-impossible-choice-surefire-way-to.html">impossible
choice</a>, a challenge to their core beliefs, where there is no
clear answer, dire consequences for all the choices, and the character
cannot avoid choosing.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<h3 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc16797_728009407"></a>Caveats
and Mistakes</h3>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Repeatedly, my
sources said not to include extensive backstory and infodumping –
often <i>not anywhere</i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">,
but certainly not in the opening of the novel; </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">one
</span></span><a class="western" href="https://www.darcypattison.com/writing/start/opening-chapters/">source</a><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
suggested not until page 100</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">.
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Instead,
you sprinkle these things </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">strategically
</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">throughout
the story where they are relevant or intriguing; </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">the
small elements you do include in the opening must be truly essential
to get across that early. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">You
must include enough, though, to avoid confusion about what is
happening.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2016/02/5-common-problems-with-beginnings.html"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Other
problems</span></span></span></a><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
include</span></span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
starting too early (with too much daily routine) or too late (with
the character in dire straits before the reader cares about them);</div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
being unclear about which of several characters is the protagonist;</div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
a protagonist who just reacts or avoids decisions;</div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
an annoying voice, such as flowery prose, too much “telling”
instead of “showing,” or a cheesy hook.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">T</span></span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">here
are </span></span></span><a class="western" href="https://www.whimsydark.com/blog/2017/4/20/first-chapters-cheat-sheet"><span lang="en-CA">many</span></a><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
</span></span></span><a class="western" href="https://www.janefriedman.com/5-story-openings-to-avoid/"><span lang="en-CA">clich</span></a><a class="western" href="https://www.janefriedman.com/5-story-openings-to-avoid/"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">é</span></span></span></span></a><a class="western" href="https://www.janefriedman.com/5-story-openings-to-avoid/"><span lang="en-CA">d</span></a><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
</span></span></span></span><a class="western" href="https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/7-common-mistakes-to-avoid-in-your-first-chapter/"><span lang="en-CA">openings</span></a><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">and
other </span></span></span></span><a class="western" href="https://thewritelife.com/the-worst-ways-to-begin-your-novel-advice-from-literary-agents/"><span lang="en-CA">mistakes</span></a><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">that
may lead to automatic rejection: </span></span></span></span>
</div>
<ul>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">dream sequences;</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">the character waking up;</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">the
character starting a normal day</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">,
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">getting
ready for school or work, or moving from one place to another –
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><i><span style="text-decoration: none;">unless</span></i></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
their normal day is very different from what we would consider
normal</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">;</span></span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">the
character contemplating life, alone;</span></span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">someone
(possibly themselves with a mirror) </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">describing
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">or
otherwise introducing </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">the
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">character,
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">especially
if they are too physically perfect</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">;</span></span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">the
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">character’s
most</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
boring </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><i><span style="text-decoration: none;">or</span></i></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
most action-packed day ever;</span></span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">t</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">oo
much descriptive detail, infodumping, or backstory;</span></span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">premonitions or blatant
foreshadowing;</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">a false beginning
(bait-and-switch) such as killing off the initial viewpoint
character or taking a tone not continued throughout the story;</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">a genre-specific cliche, such
as:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">crime: a hung-over sleuth</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">fantasy: a battle before we
care about the characters, or a pastoral scene</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<br />
</div>
<h3 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc16799_728009407"></a>Prologues</h3>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A prologue is an
initial short “chapter’ that isn’t about the main character, or
isn’t about the main conflict. There are good examples of
successful prologues,<span style="font-style: normal;"> bu</span><span style="font-style: normal;">t</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
many readers will completely skip them. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">It
may be that to use one successfully, you need to have the audience’s
trust already, which means you may need to already have a sign</span><span style="font-style: normal;">i</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ficant
track record. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Also some
genres like thrillers and fantasy may be more accepting of prologues
than others, like literary fiction.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Prologues
may be appropriate if they convey information necessary to
understanding the future story, but which isn’t suited for a first
chapter. They might involve a different time or place or point of view.
Although killing off a viewpoint character in a prologue is often
seen as a “bait and switch,” it might be appropriate if you’re
showing a murder victim’s death.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In
any case it needs to set the right reader expectations, voice, and
writing style. It has to be interesting, but shouldn’t overpower
the first chapter, which still needs its own hook.</div>
<h3 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc7394_2868655934"></a>Final
Thoughts</h3>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I am grateful to
<a class="western" href="https://jessicaconoley.com/">Jessica
Conoley</a>, a professional developmental editor, for donating her
time to improve the first draft of this article.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I found all this
advice quite daunting, mitigated somewhat by the few places that said
to expect to revise the beginning a lot to achieve the expected level
of quality. Thus my plan is to write a credible first draft, based on
the NaNoWriMo novelette, and return to it later.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">Unless
I fall into Writing Avoidance Mode again, and dive down the rabbit
hole of further research about writing. </span><span lang="en-CA">I
found</span><span lang="en-CA"> all these interesting articles about
themes...</span></div>
<h3 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc7389_2868655934"></a>Sources</h3>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In 2012 C.S. Lakin
wrote a long sequence of blog posts; each gets across an idea that
can be abstracted into a few sentences, with a lot about <i>why</i>,
plus interesting examples. See her <a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/first-page-checklist.pdf" target="_blank">first-page
checklist</a>, and read the posts in publication order:</div>
<ul>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/01/04/beginnings/">The
Place Where All Stories Begin</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/01/11/hold-back-the-back-story/">Hold
Back the Back Story</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/01/18/yes-you-do-need-a-theme/">Yes,
You Do Need a Theme</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/01/25/plot-goals-seeing-is-believing/">Plot
Goals ~ Seeing Is Believing</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/02/01/visible-plot-goal-gets-a-twist/">Visible
Plot Goal Gets a Twist</a>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/02/08/the-crucial-question-you-must-ask-in-your-opening-scene/">The
Crucial Question You Must Ask in Your Opening Scene</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/02/15/the-number-one-objective-for-your-novel/">The
#1 Objective for Your Novel</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/02/22/489/">First
Paragraph, First Thoughts</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/03/07/three-things-you-must-have-in-your-novels-first-paragraph/">3
Things You Must Have in Your Novel’s First Paragraph</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/03/14/hook-em-on-the-first-cast/">Hook
‘Em on the First Cast</a>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/04/04/seeing-the-world-through-your-characters-eyes/">Seeing
the World through Your Character’s Eyes</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/04/11/wheres-my-voice/">Where’s
My Voice?</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/05/23/watch-your-tone/">Watch
Your Tone</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/05/30/five-months-on-the-first-scene/">Five
Months on the First Scene</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2020/01/13/the-crucial-first-page-of-your-novel/">The
Crucial First Page of Your Novel</a>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2020/01/20/considerations-for-the-first-page-of-your-novel/">Considerations
for the First Page of Your Novel</a></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
Main list:<br />
<ul>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/beginning-your-story-too-soon/">2
Ways to Tell You’re Beginning Your Story Too Soon</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/4-approaches-for-the-first-chapter-of-your-novel">4
Approaches for the First Chapter of Your Novel</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2018/07/4-signs-you-might-be-confusing-not.html">4
Signs You Might Be Confusing, Not Intriguing, in Your Opening Scene</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2019/06/4-steps-to-establish-beginning-of-your.html">4
Steps to Establish the Beginning of Your Novel</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2016/02/5-common-problems-with-beginnings.html">5
Common Problems With Beginnings</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.janefriedman.com/5-story-openings-to-avoid/">5
Common Story Openings to Avoid—If You Can Help It</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.theadventurouswriter.com/blogwriting/5-steps-to-writing-a-killer-first-chapter-how-to-wow-readers/">5
Steps to Writing a Killer First Chapter to WOW Readers</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2014/03/5-ways-to-hook-your-readers.html">5
Ways to Hook Your Readers</a>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2018/12/5-ways-to-write-stronger-opening-scenes.html">5
Ways to Write Stronger Opening Scenes</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/7-steps-hook-reader-narrative/">7
Clever Steps To Hook Your Reader Into Your Narrative</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/7-common-mistakes-to-avoid-in-your-first-chapter/">7
Common Mistakes To Avoid In Your First Chapter</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/7-key-elements-include-first-chapter/">7
Key Elements To Include In Your First Chapter</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://thewritepractice.com/first-line/">7
Keys To Write the Perfect First Line of a Novel</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/7-things-not-worry-first-draft/">7
Things NOT To Worry About During Your First Draft</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/learn-write-smashing-first-last-lines/">8
1/2 Tips for How to Write Opening and Closing Lines Readers Will
Love to Quote</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.writersdigest.com/improve-my-writing/8-ways-to-write-a-5-star-chapter-one">8
Ways to Write a 5-Star Chapter One</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8ZYSUEZV78">10
Tips for Writing The First Chapter of Your Book</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/05/29/25-things-to-know-about-writing-the-first-chapter/">25
Things To Know About Writing The First Chapter Of Your Novel</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2016/02/are-you-asking-right-story-questions.html">Are
You Asking the Right Story Questions?</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://writershelpingwriters.net/2018/12/beginnings-and-backstory/">Beginnings
and Backstory</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://writershelpingwriters.net/2018/05/creating-character-empathy/">Build
Character Empathy in Your First Few Pages</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/utilizing-character-in-beginnings/">Character:
The Most Important Part of Your Story’s Beginning</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/introducing-characters/">Critique:
6 Tips for Introducing Characters</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/critique-10-ways-to-write-a-better-first-chapter-with-specific-word-choices/">Critique:
10 Ways to Write a Better First Chapter Using Specific Word Choices</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.brandonsanderson.com/faq-friday-do-i-need-to-start-my-book-with-a-prologue/">Do
I need to start my book with a prologue?</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://twitter.com/dongwon/status/1258794561201152001">Dongwon
Song on starting a novel</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://www.writerstreasure.com/dos-and-donts-writing-opening-chapter/">Dos
and Don’ts of Writing a Compelling Opening Chapter</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2009/11/what-i-learned-at-world-fantasy-week_04.html">Double
Jeopardy: Hooking the Reader's Brains and Heart</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.whimsydark.com/blog/2017/4/20/first-chapters-cheat-sheet">First
Chapters Cheat Sheet</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://writersinthestormblog.com/2019/04/first-pages-and-character-emotion/">First
Pages and Character Emotion</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://mythcreants.com/blog/five-essentials-for-an-opening-scene/">Five
Essentials for an Opening Scene</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://diymfa.com/writing/five-promises-you-make-to-your-reader">Five
Promises You Make to Your Reader</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/multi-faceted-characteristic-moment/">Grab
Readers With a Multi-Faceted Characteristic Moment</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2015/10/hooking-your-reader-in-3-easy-steps.html">Hooking
Your Reader in 3 Easy Steps</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://writingexcuses.com/transcripts/10-14/">How
Much of the Beginning Needs to Come First?</a> (WX 10.14)</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/properly-structured-beginnings-endings-hold-book-together/">How
Properly Structured Beginnings and Endings Hold Your Book Together</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/drive-readers-wild-hints-story-hooks-without-frustrating/">How
to Drive Your Readers Wild With Hints and Story Hooks—Without
Frustrating Them</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/story-hook/">How
to Find Exactly the Right Story Hook</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://writershelpingwriters.net/2018/10/how-to-nail-the-first-three-pages/">How
to Nail the First Three Pages</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://kidlit.com/2010/08/04/grounding-the-reader/">How
to Start a Chapter: Ground the Reader</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/how-to-start-your-first-chapter.html">How
to start your first chapter</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://writeitsideways.com/how-to-write-a-first-chapter-that-rocks/">How
to Write a First Chapter that Rocks</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-9bPv3Ear0">How
to Write a Strong First Chapter</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://diymfa.com/writing/exciting-first-chapter">How
to Write an Exciting First Chapter</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://kidlit.com/2017/03/27/starting-novel-setting-description/">How
to Write the Beginning of a Novel Without Setting Description</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://penandthepad.com/write-first-chapter-novel-4679283.html">How
to Write the First Chapter of a Novel</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.dorrancepublishing.com/write-first-chapter-book/">How
to Write the First Chapter of Your Book</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.tckpublishing.com/how-to-write-the-first-chapter/">How
to Write the First Chapter of a Book: A Checklist for Novelists</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/in-medias-res.html"><i>In
Medias Res</i></a><a class="western" href="https://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/in-medias-res.html">:
An Ancient Secret for Beginning Your Novel</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.writingforward.com/news-announcements/guest-posts/nailing-novels-first-chapter">Nailing
Your Novel’s First Chapter</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pUJOtTAJHXk&list=PL1TLSKocOLTvdl54a6wgNdB8oSm-eZ7h6&index=11&t=0s">On
Writing: the first chapter</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.darcypattison.com/writing/start/opening-chapters/">Opening
Chapters</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://writingexcuses.com/transcripts/10-17/">Q&A
on Beginnings</a> (WX 10.17)</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://www.writerstreasure.com/writing-a-compelling-opening-chapter/">The
Best Way of Writing a Compelling Opening Chapter</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2015/07/the-difference-between-setup-and-setup.html">The
Difference Between Good Setup and Bad Setup</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2017/11/the-impossible-choice-surefire-way-to.html">The
Impossible Choice: A Surefire Way to Hook Your Readers</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/secrets-of-story-structure-pt-2-hook/">The
Secrets of Story Structure, Pt. 2: The Hook</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/secrets-of-story-structure-pt-3-first/">The
Secrets of Story Structure, Pt. 3: The First Act</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://thewritelife.com/the-worst-ways-to-begin-your-novel-advice-from-literary-agents/">The
Worst Ways to Begin Your Novel: Advice from Literary Agents</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/hook-for-your-books-beginning/">Think
You Wrote a Great Hook for Your Book’s Beginning? Find Out Why It
May Not Be Enough</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules-and-tips/tips-on-writing-the-first-chapter-and-beyond.html">Tips
on Writing the First Chapter and Beyond</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/use-question-to-create-unforgettable/">Use
a Question to Create an Unforgettable Opening Chapter</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2011/03/wait-for-it-hook-lines-and-dramatic.html">Wait
For It: Hook Lines and the Dramatic Pause</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://writingexcuses.com/transcripts/10-16/">What
Do I Do with All This Blank Space?</a> (WX 10.16)</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.standoutbooks.com/how-to-write-first-chapter/">What
Everybody Ought To Know About Writing A First Chapter</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://thewritelife.com/first-page-of-your-novel/">What
Psychology Says About the First Page of Your Novel</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2019/06/what-setup-in-novel-actually-means.html">What
“Setup” in a Novel Actually Means</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2019/01/what-writers-need-to-know-about-hooks.html">What
Writers Need to Know About Hooks</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/when-and-how-to-write-an-amazing-prologue/">When
and How to Write an Amazing Prologue</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.janefriedman.com/why-editors-focus-on-page-one/">Why
Editors Focus on Page One</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://blog.nathanbransford.com/2018/04/why-writers-need-to-perfect-their-first-thirty-pages">Why
writers need to perfect their first thirty pages</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://www.writerstreasure.com/why-you-should-write-a-compelling-opening-chapter/">Why
You Should Write a Compelling Opening Chapter</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://annerallen.com/2019/11/writing-that-first-chapter/">Writing
that First Chapter: 10 Do’s and Don’ts for Starting Your Novel</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/first-chapter-checklist-1/">Your
Ultimate First Chapter Checklist, Pt. 1: Hooking Readers</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/your-ultimate-first-chapter-checklist-pt-2-writing-the-first-scene/">Your
Ultimate First Chapter Checklist, Pt. 2: Writing the Opening Scene</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/your-ultimate-first-chapter-checklist-pt-3-introducing-the-story/">Your
Ultimate First Chapter Checklist, Pt. 3: Introducing the Story</a></div>
</li>
</ul>
<br />David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-36654065465404249032020-05-28T08:22:00.002-04:002020-06-01T07:14:13.547-04:00Character Wounds and Lies<br />
While
I was researching my post on “<a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2020/05/writing-engaging-characters.html">writing
engaging characters</a>” I happened to skim my old post on
“<a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/articulating-your-characters-greatest.html">articulating
your character’s greatest desire</a>” and found a mention of K.M.
Weiland’s post about the character’s “<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/character-arcs-2/">lie</a>”
as something critical to a character arc. I’m not entirely
convinced that character-above-all is the only approach, but my
specific learning objective in the current novel is to explore
character development. I decided that as I was working out my speculative fiction mystery’s main character, I needed to understand better what “lie”
meant in the context of character definitions – and fell down a
rabbit hole of several dozens of posts about the subject and the
related one of “wounds” or “<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/character-arcs-4/">ghosts</a>”
behind the “lies.” Here’s what I found.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
A “wound” is a significant emotionally traumatic experience in
a character’s history, usually in the backstory (but occasionally
in the novel, either as a prelude or as a flashback). The experience
is sufficiently damaging that the character needs to protect
themselves emotionally from anything close to a re-occurrence; the
trauma significantly impacts their behaviour and their personality.
Events can trigger wounds, sometimes easily, quickly, or
unconsciously. People go to great lengths to avoid reminders of their
wounds, avoiding anything that can make them feel the same pain
again. This can have significant effects on the character’s
reactions and choices, which affects the plot.<br />
<br />
A wound leads to a “lie” the character tells themselves –
what the psychologists call a “<a class="western" href="https://psychwriter.com.au/2017/08/27/the-psychology-of-the-character-wound-understanding-the-negative-core-belief/">negative
core belief</a>” – that undermines their ability to live their
best life. Such lies, and their consequences, are the core of what
many sources considered the best kind of character arc <span style="font-size: x-small;">(but
there are other perspectives; </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">see
the section below on final thoughts</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">)</span>.<br />
<br />
A character can have many different wounds, and tell themselves
many different lies, but the point of focusing on a single major
Wound (and consequent Lie) is to ground the character's fundamental
motivations so you can write them consistently, and resist having
them act out of character because the plot <span style="font-style: normal;">“needs”</span>
them to do something. You need to know the Wound, since it spawns the
character’s greatest fear (of being wounded again), changes what
they see as important (giving up goals in favour of “safer”
ones), alters their personality (changing positive and negative
traits to protect from a repetition), influences their behaviour,
taints their image of self and the world (via the main Lie and
perhaps lesser lies), alters their relationships, and impacts life on
every level.
<br />
<br />
At this point you could just go out and buy the book <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36407946-the-emotional-wound-thesaurus"><i>The Emotional Wounds Thesaurus</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">
or consult one <a class="western" href="https://writershelpingwriters.net/bookstore/">of</a>
<a class="western" href="https://writershelpingwriters.net/emotional-wounds-thesaurus/">the</a>
<a class="western" href="https://onestopforwriters.com/wounds">websites</a>
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">associated with</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
its authors, Angela Ackerman and Be</span><span style="font-style: normal;">cca</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
Puglisi, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">whom many of my
sources referenced directly or indirectly. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Their
appendices on <a class="western" href="https://writershelpingwriters.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/CHARACTER-ARC-PROGRESSION-TOOL_2019.pdf">character
arcs</a> and <a class="western" href="https://writershelpingwriters.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Backstory-Wound-Profile-PDF-_WHW_2019.pdf">wound
profiles</a> are available as free PDFs.</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
It is a valuable resource (which I wound up buying and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3352229627">reviewing on Goodreads</a>), but part of the
scholarly attitude is that considering a variety of sources is
valuable.</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<h2 class="western">
Wound Origins</h2>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
There are many
possible sources of wounds; common <a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/brainstorming-wound/">categories</a>
or <a class="western" href="https://writershelpingwriters.net/2014/02/help-character-wounds-list-common-themes/">themes</a>
include</div>
<ul>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
betrayal</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
disabilities or
disfigurements</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
injustice,
victimization, or hardship, leading to disillusionment with people,
groups, or institutions.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
isolation,
neglect, rejection</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
mistakes,
failures, and regrets</div>
</li>
</ul>
Many might be traced to childhood, where smaller traumas may cause
bigger wounds than they might in an adult. All have <a class="western" href="http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/2016/02/secrets-lies-mistakes-and-wounds-three.html#.XsK1QWhKhhE">some
aspects of PTSD</a>: their effects are persistent, cause great
emotional pain, and disrupt life in significant ways. They all <a class="western" href="https://diymfa.com/writing/flaws-emotional-trauma-the-characters-wound">centre
on </a><a class="western" href="https://diymfa.com/writing/flaws-emotional-trauma-the-characters-wound">opposing
</a><a class="western" href="https://diymfa.com/writing/flaws-emotional-trauma-the-characters-wound">a
human need</a> (based on <a class="western" href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html">Maslow’s
hierarchy</a>), such as<br />
<ul>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Securing a
biological or physical need</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Keeping oneself
or family safe</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Feeling
connected to others</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Gain esteem
from others and oneself</div>
</li>
<li>Realizing one’s full potential.<br />
</li>
</ul>
There can be many negative experiences, smaller wounds (such as a
long pattern of neglect), which together may suffice for a Wound, but
dramatically there is often<span style="font-style: normal;"> a
specific </span><span style="font-style: normal;">major </span><span style="font-style: normal;">wounding
event. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">A bigger </span><span style="font-style: normal;">such</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
“ghost” leads to a bigger Lie, which leads to a bigger character
arc.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h2 class="western">
Lies and Truths</h2>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
From the Wound
arises a Lie: a specific belief, describable in one sentence. There
are several categories of Lie; from a psychological perspective, they
are variants of “<a class="western" href="https://psychwriter.com.au/2017/08/27/the-psychology-of-the-character-wound-understanding-the-negative-core-belief/">I’m
not good enough</a>,” such as</div>
<ul>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I can’t do it</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I am unwanted /
defective / unlovable</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I’ll get it
wrong / be rejected / am at fault</div>
</li>
<li>I am unsafe / powerless.<br />
</li>
</ul>
Lies can also be false beliefs about the world. <a class="western" href="https://www.acfw.com/blog/tell-me-lies-a-character-building-tip/">Several</a>
<a class="western" href="https://www.well-storied.com/blog/how-to-build-epic-emotional-conflict-by-utilizing-your-characters-lie">sources</a>
list other specific Lies.
<br />
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.well-storied.com/blog/how-to-build-epic-emotional-conflict-by-utilizing-your-characters-lie">Other</a>
possible categorizations include
</div>
<ul>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Doubts about
their own abilities or someone’s trustworthiness</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Fears, leading
to inaction or less-than-optimal actions.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Flaws, yielding
struggles with negative personality traits</div>
</li>
<li>Regret and remorse, believing they are unworthy of happiness
because of past failures.<br />
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-style: normal;">A</span><span style="font-style: normal;">s
you might expect, you need to identify the Truth that opposes the
Lie; accepting the Truth is often the way to overcome the Lie.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
There are <a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/2-different-types-of-lie-your-character-believes/">two
major categories of lie</a>: inner (roughly, character-driven) and
outer (roughly, plot driven):</div>
<ul>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Inner lies are
<i>birthed</i>, arising from wounds, though the character may have
forgotten or repressed the event and perhaps even the wound. They
may be obviously negative, or appear to be positive but arise from
corrupted motives. Personal blind spots prevent recognizing the lie;
cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias protect the lie.
Overcoming the lie might provide the knowledge or change needed to
resolve external conflicts.
</div>
</li>
<li>Outer lies are <i>given</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
by beliefs and actions of others in the outer world. The lies may be
the best guess others have about the world, rather than deliberate
lies or misinformation, and may even be true for the giver of the
lie – someone whose life experiences are significantly different
from the character. They may arise in the backstory of the world,
rather than the character. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Overcoming
them may require transforming the “world” (which can </span><span style="font-style: normal;">be</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
of any size, from the universe down to an individual relationship),
leaving the normal world (perhaps returning changed), or leaving a
world that can’t support the </span><span style="font-style: normal;">t</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ruth.</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">Resolving the external
conflict may result in a change in the character.</span><br />
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-style: normal;">The Lie is critical because
e</span><span style="font-style: normal;">verything anyone processes
is <a class="western" href="https://psychwriter.com.au/2017/06/11/how-your-characters-beliefs-colour-their-perspective/">filtered
through their subjective worldview</a>, which is twisted by the Lie;
they will see what they </span><span style="font-style: normal;">expect
or want</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> to see, confirm</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ing</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
their beliefs. They ignore counter-evidence, via confirmation bias.</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">There are many <a class="western" href="https://psychwriter.com.au/2016/10/28/defense-mechanisms-which-one-does-your-character-use/">defence
mechanisms</a> </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(emotional
shielding or armour) </span><span style="font-style: normal;">when
challenged: denial, repression of memories, regression to a
child-like state, displacement of feelings onto someone else,
projection of thoughts onto someone else who lacks them, </span><i>reaction
formation</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (e.g. presenting
sweetness and light when feeling angry), sublimation (channelling
negative impulses into acceptable ones), intellectualization, and
rationalization.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h2 class="western">
Character Arcs</h2>
My sources considered character arcs to be fundamental, and almost
entirely ignored other kinds of <a class="western" href="https://writingexcuses.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MICE.png">MICE</a>
quotient arcs (Milieu, Inquiry, and Event), lumping them all under
“plot-oriented.” From this perspective, “plot” is all about a
character’s inner journey, whether or not that is evident on the
surface. A character needs to change, but resists change; resistance
leads to inner conflict, which leads to plot. There are positive arcs
(improvement, the most common), flat arcs (no change, typical of
“<a class="western" href="https://writingexcuses.com/2018/07/22/13-29-iconic-heroes/">iconic</a>”
heroes like Sherlock Holmes), and negative arcs (decline, typical of
tragedies and villain origin stories); both positive and negative
arcs are based on the Lie.<br />
<br />
From this view, a character starts off Wounded, and believes
(consciously or not) a consequent Lie. Initially the Lie may seem to
be working in the character’s favour – greed might make someone
rich, while distrust makes them self-reliant. But they are internally
incomplete, and this interferes with or entirely prevents them from
achieving their goals; a Wound or Lie might <a class="western" href="http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/2016/02/secrets-lies-mistakes-and-wounds-trick.html#.XsKsj2hKhhE">explain
why</a> the character misses obvious solutions, acts as their own
worst enemy, tells lies, keeps secrets, or misjudges others’
motives.
<br />
<br />
<a class="western" href="https://www.well-storied.com/blog/how-to-build-epic-emotional-conflict-by-utilizing-your-characters-lie">Once
source</a> contrasted plot-based with character-based arcs:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbhYYkNfOiWhUJ0eiSBeVoitSBYM9y8DkzZsbp2inGRzNeECPdntIMM8I1FBf2Jwnhyphenhyphenaec3fY9c_iK3vdqablKNa7ZA0T6iUZH2TDElNEJO09tURuW68l7BdsN3HT_valvPoLFkD6G7K0/s1600/LieTable.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="172" data-original-width="545" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbhYYkNfOiWhUJ0eiSBeVoitSBYM9y8DkzZsbp2inGRzNeECPdntIMM8I1FBf2Jwnhyphenhyphenaec3fY9c_iK3vdqablKNa7ZA0T6iUZH2TDElNEJO09tURuW68l7BdsN3HT_valvPoLFkD6G7K0/s640/LieTable.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Step 5 includes the <a class="western" href="https://www.talenawinters.com/writing-tips/2019/10/29/facing-the-lie-plotting-from-your-characters-defining-moment">black </a><a class="western" href="https://www.talenawinters.com/writing-tips/2019/10/29/facing-the-lie-plotting-from-your-characters-defining-moment">“all is lost” moment</a> that is part of several plot structures; overcoming the Lie involves accepting the Truth. From the MICE perspective both are character threads; perhaps the
Character column merely means stories where the outermost thread is
Character, and the nested one(s) are of other kinds.<br />
.<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Another source
recommends a <a class="western" href="https://www.talenawinters.com/plot-structure-freebie">5-point
structure</a> (which I compare to Elizabeth Boyle’s DREA(M), which
is discussed briefly in <a class="western" href="https://writingexcuses.com/2018/06/03/13-22-character-arcs/">Writing
Excuses 13.22</a>):</div>
<ol>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A setup phase
in the “normal world” that establishes the Lie and the
antagonist(s). This seems to correspond to the Denial phase of a
DREAM arc.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A “rising
tension” phase where it seems like the antagonist should be easy
to overcome, but the character is repeatedly challenged until they
recognize their difficulty. This corresponds to the Resistance phase
of DREAM.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A midpoint
climax where the lie is partly revealed, but the character still
hasn’t changed significantly. There is a partial victory, and the
character softens toward the possibility of change. They begin to
acquire the skills and knowledge needed to overcome the antagonist
(which, when this includes things that oppose the Lie, corresponds
to the Exploration phase of DREAM). This is critical to making the
character’s rejection of the Lie believable.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A point where
the character <i>thinks</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> they
are ready, leading to a false final battle they lose, leading to the
Black (all is lost) moment, which forces them to recognize the Lie
(the Acceptance phase of DREAM).</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The final
battle, where the Lie is confronted one more time, leading to
victory (the Manifestation phase). I’m not sure why the last
confrontation of the Lie is needed.</div>
</li>
</ol>
<span style="font-style: normal;">Another source outlined <a class="western" href="https://thescriptlab.com/features/screenwriting-101/10320-the-six-stages-of-character-development-in-screenplays/">six
stages of character development for screenplays</a>, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">which
refers to a character’s “essence” (which seems to me similar to
the idea of a Truth to oppose their Lie).</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">I</span><span style="font-style: normal;">n
all these </span><span style="font-style: normal;">models</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
there is a 2x2 </span><span style="font-style: normal;">matrix</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
of motivation and conflict, inner and outer. The character’s inner
motivation is to overcome the consequences of the Wound, but the Lie
holds the character back (inner conflict). They have tangible goals
(outer motivation) and external opposition to those goals, typically
caused by an antagonist (outer conflict). </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Resolving
the inner conflict is a key step in resolving the outer, but doesn’t
instantly heal the Wound; the character may still fear a recurrence,
but now has the inner strength to face future challenges.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">Secondary characters should have
their own Wounds and Lies, which would be part of their own arcs
(though, of course, minor characters typically don’t have arcs). </span><span style="font-style: normal;">It
is especially helpful to know the antagonist’s wound as part of
making sure they have a believable motivation, but that might not be
revealed if they lack a point of view.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
There are choices
about <a class="western" href="https://scriptmag.com/features/how-to-reveal-your-characters-backstory-wound">when</a>
and <a class="western" href="https://psychwriter.com.au/2018/02/18/7-key-ways-to-reveal-your-characters-wound/">how</a>
to reveal the character’s wound and/or lie. In <a class="western" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od6rM2X1TjE">movies</a>
one rarely sees the event that caused the wound, unless it is part of
a prologue. There are several choices: right at the start of the
story, then either move forward from there or jump back in time to
the actual start; via a flashback; <a class="western" href="https://www.writingforums.org/threads/wounds-and-the-inciting-incident.161962/">during
the inciting incident</a>; or never directly revealed but suggested
by the character’s <a class="western" href="https://www.janefriedman.com/using-dysfunctional-behavior-reveal-characters-emotional-wounds/">dysfunctional
choices and behaviours</a>:
</div>
<ul>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
acting out,
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
biased
perspectives,</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
compensation
(trying to prove weaknesses don’t exist).
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
denial that the
wound happened,
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
dissociation
from emotions and the world,
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
memory loss,
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
predictions
about what might go right or wrong,</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
projecting
one’s own negatives onto others,
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
rationalization
that it wasn’t so bad,
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
reactions to
triggers</div>
</li>
</ul>
You can use external behaviour, inner monologue, or have other
characters that contrast with or complement the main character’s
behaviour and attitudes.<br />
<br />
<h2 class="western">
Choosing Wounds and Lies</h2>
If you start off from a plot-centric perspective, as I did, you
should first look for a Lie implicit in the conflicts you already
have. Look for elements of your planned (or written) story that can
be <i>products</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> of a </span><span style="font-style: normal;">L</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ie;
fear, guilt, shame, extreme hurt, inability to forgive, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">horrible
secrets. You can also use </span><i>The Emotional Wound Thesaurus</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
to choose consequences that suit your plot </span><span style="font-style: normal;">and
work backwards to the </span><span style="font-style: normal;">wound. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">I found </span><a class="western" href="https://zoemmccarthy.com/writing/show-your-characters-wounds"><span style="font-style: normal;">some</span></a><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><a class="western" href="https://claeriekavanaughblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/18/character-development-emotional-wounds/"><span style="font-style: normal;">examples</span></a><span style="font-style: normal;">
of trying this approach.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">But most of the advice I found
starts from a character-centric perspective. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">You
can <a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2017/11/brainstorming-your-characters-emotional.html">brainstorm</a>
by considering your character’s past influencers (those close to
them: mentors, parents, lovers, friends, people in power); unpleasant
memories (hardships, moments they want to erase, mistakes, failures,
disappointments); personality flaws, fears, secrets, and
insecurities.</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">S</span><span style="font-style: normal;">everal
pieces of advice recurred frequently.</span></div>
<ul>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">What
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">L</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ie
does your character believe?</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
What are they
lacking, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually as a result?</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">What
are the </span><i>symptoms</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> of
the Lie? How do these lacks interfere with the character’s
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">confidence, relationships,
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">happiness, or </span><span style="font-style: normal;">ability
to</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> achiev</span><span style="font-style: normal;">e</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
goals? </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">What
do they </span><i>think</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> will
bring them happiness or success?</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">When
do the effects of the </span><span style="font-style: normal;">L</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ie
become apparent?</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Can the
antagonist use the character’s Lie against them?</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
What or who
forces them to confront their lie?</div>
</li>
<li><span style="font-style: normal;">How does confronting the lie
change them?</span><br />
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-style: normal;">You can’t just pick a Wound
arbitrarily; it has to connect with the character’s flaws, motivate
their actions.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h2 class="western">
Final Thoughts</h2>
I found a <a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2017/11/30/character-wounds-and-emotions-the-danger-of-digging-too-deep/">warning</a>
that digging too deep into character wounds can be triggering for the
writer; you may need considerable self-care and support from friends,
especially if you decide to “gift” your character with <a class="western" href="https://scriptmag.com/features/tap-core-wounds-bring-characters-life">your
own wounds</a>. On the other hand, <a class="western" href="https://thewritepractice.com/heal/">writing
can help us heal</a>.<br />
<br />
I (and some writer friends) aren’t entirely sure we buy into
this singular all-consuming Wound and singular overriding Lie. In its
favour, “<a class="western" href="https://psychwriter.com.au/2017/08/27/the-psychology-of-the-character-wound-understanding-the-negative-core-belief/">negative
core belief</a>” is definitely a thing in psychology. I can see it
as a guiding principle to make it <i>easier</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
to write a believable character. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">I’m
a computer geek; there is a fundamental principle of designing
software that “the only accurate model of the real world is the
real world itself.” You need some abstraction for the limited human
mind to understand things; you need some organizing principle that
helps you write a character that makes sense, with an appropriate
level of self-consistency. It’s worth experimenting with Wound/Lie
to see how well it works for me.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h2 class="western">
Sources</h2>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Many of the sources
on this list have their own interesting examples, which can enrich
your understanding of the concepts.</div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/2-different-types-of-lie-your-character-believes/">2
Different Types of the Lie Your Character Believes</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.la-screenwriter.com/2017/11/15/5-wounds-to-give-your-character/">5
Wounds to Give Your Character</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://psychwriter.com.au/2018/02/18/7-key-ways-to-reveal-your-characters-wound/">7
Key Ways to Reveal Your Character’s Wound</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.well-storied.com/blog/write-stronger-characters/">33
Ways to Write Stronger Characters</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/brainstorming-wound/">Brainstorming
the Wound in Your Character’s Backstory</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2017/11/brainstorming-your-characters-emotional.html">Brainstorming
Your Character's Emotional Wound</a>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://writesmarternotharder.com/character-arc-part-1-flaws-wounds-and-the-defining-traumatic-event/">Character
Arc, Part 1: Flaws, Wounds, and the Defining Traumatic Event</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://writesmarternotharder.com/character-arc-part-2-building-your-characters-internal-arc/">Character
Arc, Part 2: Building Your Character’s Internal Arc</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://claeriekavanaughblog.wordpress.com/2018/06/18/character-development-emotional-wounds/">Character
Development: Emotional Wounds</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://www.writeforapples.com/2014/03/character-wounds-guest-post-by-angela.html">Character
Wounds - Angela Ackerman</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2017/11/30/character-wounds-and-emotions-the-danger-of-digging-too-deep/">Character
Wounds and Emotions: The Danger of Digging Too Deep</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/character-arcs-2/">Creating
Stunning Character Arcs, Pt. 2: The Lie Your Character Believes</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/character-arcs-4/">Creating
Stunning Character Arcs, Pt. 4: Your Character’s Ghost</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://www.thewritersalleyblog.com/2012/05/creating-lie.html">Creating
The Lie</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://psychwriter.com.au/2016/10/28/defense-mechanisms-which-one-does-your-character-use/">Defence
Mechanisms: Which One Does Your Character Use?</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://novelrocket.com/2016/11/eight-lies-your-character-might-believe.html/">Eight
Lies Your Character Might Believe</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA">Emotional
Wound Thesaurus <a class="western" href="https://writershelpingwriters.net/bookstore/">author
bookstore</a> </span><span lang="en-CA">(</span><span lang="en-CA">with
</span><span lang="en-CA">links
to several formats);</span><span lang="en-CA">
</span><span lang="en-CA">I
used </span><span lang="en-CA"><a class="western" href="https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-emotional-wound-thesaurus-a-writer-s-guide-to-psychological-trauma">Kobo</a>.
</span><span lang="en-CA">Some
information is on websites:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><a class="western" href="https://writershelpingwriters.net/emotional-wounds-thesaurus/">Emotional
Wound Thesaurus</a> </span><span lang="en-CA">subset
</span><span lang="en-CA">by
</span><span lang="en-CA">the</span><span lang="en-CA">
authors, </span><span lang="en-CA">with
links to detailed descriptions</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><a class="western" href="https://onestopforwriters.com/wounds">Emotional
Wound Thesaurus</a> </span><span lang="en-CA">by
</span><span lang="en-CA">the
</span><span lang="en-CA">authors;
</span><span lang="en-CA">details
are behind a</span><span lang="en-CA">
paywall</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.talenawinters.com/writing-tips/2019/10/29/facing-the-lie-plotting-from-your-characters-defining-moment">Facing
the Lie: Plotting from your Character's Defining Moment</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://diymfa.com/writing/characters-emotional-wound">Five
Reasons You Need to Know Your Character’s Emotional Wound</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://diymfa.com/writing/flaws-emotional-trauma-the-characters-wound">Flaws,
Emotional Trauma & the Character’s Wound</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/08/08/820/">Getting
to the Core of Your Characters</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.well-storied.com/blog/how-to-build-epic-emotional-conflict-by-utilizing-your-characters-lie">How
to Build Epic Emotional Conflict by Utilizing Your Character's Lie</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://scriptmag.com/features/how-to-reveal-your-characters-backstory-wound">How
to Reveal Your Character’s Backstory Wound</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://thewritepractice.com/characters-with-scars/">How
to Use Scars to Deepen Characterization</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://blog.reedsy.com/character-arc/">How
to Write a Compelling Character Arc</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span lang="en-CA"><a class="western" href="https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2018/02/12/how-to-write-emotion-character-becca-puglisi/">How
To Write Emotion And Depth Of Character</a> </span><span lang="en-CA">(</span><span lang="en-CA">a</span><span lang="en-CA">
podcast </span><span lang="en-CA">by
Be</span><span lang="en-CA">cca</span><span lang="en-CA">
Puglisi that I haven’t yet </span><span lang="en-CA">summarized</span><span lang="en-CA">)</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://thewritepractice.com/heal/">How
Writing Helps Us Heal</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://psychwriter.com.au/2017/06/11/how-your-characters-beliefs-colour-their-perspective/">How
Your Character’s Beliefs Colour Their Perspective</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.writersdigest.com/improve-my-writing/learn-how-to-motivate-your-characters">Learn
How To Motivate Your Characters</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/2016/02/secrets-lies-mistakes-and-wounds-trick.html#.XsKsj2hKhhE">Secrets,
Lies, Mistakes, and Wounds: The Trick to Creating Engaging
Characters in Fiction (Part One)</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/2016/02/secrets-lies-mistakes-and-wounds-three.html#.XsK1QWhKhhE">Secrets,
Lies, Mistakes, and Wounds: Three Key Tips for Creating Real and
Relatable Characters (Part TWO)</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://zoemmccarthy.com/writing/show-your-characters-wounds">Show
Your Characters’ Wounds</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://wordessential.com/blog/swrt-029-emotional-wounds-character-arcs/">Story
Works Round Table 029 | Emotional Wounds & Character Arcs</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://thecharactercomma.com/writing-tips/swoons-and-wounds-character-motivations/">Swoons
& Wounds: Shaping Your Character’s Internal Motivations</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://scriptmag.com/features/tap-core-wounds-bring-characters-life">Tap
Into Your Core Wounds to Bring Your Characters to Life</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.acfw.com/blog/tell-me-lies-a-character-building-tip/">Tell
Me Lies: A Character Building Tip</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="http://www.thewritersalleyblog.com/2015/03/the-power-of-our-characters-wounds.html">The
Power of Our Character’s Wounds</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://psychwriter.com.au/2017/11/05/the-power-of-the-character-wound/">The
Power of the Character Wound</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://psychwriter.com.au/2017/08/27/the-psychology-of-the-character-wound-understanding-the-negative-core-belief/">The
Psychology of the Character Wound: Understanding the Negative Core
Belief</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://thescriptlab.com/features/screenwriting-101/10320-the-six-stages-of-character-development-in-screenplays/">The
Six Stages of Character Development in Screenplays</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/03/28/the-true-essence-of-character/">The
True Essence of Character</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://writershelpingwriters.net/2014/02/help-character-wounds-list-common-themes/">Understanding
Character Wounds: A List Of Common Themes</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.janefriedman.com/using-dysfunctional-behavior-reveal-characters-emotional-wounds/">Using
Dysfunctional Behavior to Reveal Characters’ Emotional Wounds</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od6rM2X1TjE">When
Does A Screenwriter Reveal A Character’s Core Wound In A
Screenplay?</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://www.writingforums.org/threads/wounds-and-the-inciting-incident.161962/">Wounds
and the Inciting Incident</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://writingpun.wordpress.com/2017/10/02/writing-character-arcs-the-lie-your-character-believes/">Writing
Character Arcs: The Lie Your Character Believes</a></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a class="western" href="https://writeonthefringes.blogspot.com/2012/07/writing-character-uncovering-wound.html">Writing
Character: Uncovering The Wound</a></div>
</li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-60097607848567031312020-05-10T12:12:00.000-04:002020-05-10T12:12:37.391-04:00Writing Engaging Characters<br />
<div class="first-line-indent">
Since mid-March I’ve been doing a lot of planning for rewriting my
2018 <a class="western" href="https://nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo</a>
speculative fiction mystery novelette; my <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/mystery-elements-in-novel.html">previous</a>
<a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2020/02/more-on-writing-mysteries.html">research</a>
suggested that mysteries required more planning than other kinds of
story. I had hoped to start writing for the April 2020 <a class="western" href="https://campnanowrimo.org/">Camp
NaNoWriMo</a>, but there was still a huge amount of planning to do.
About two and a half weeks in, I got frustrated about <i>not</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
writing and drafted the first scene – the start of a <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2020/04/what-is-bridging-conflict.html">bridging
conflict</a> – meant to introduce the characters and setting before
getting to the first plot point (the murder). I </span><span style="font-style: normal;">finished
a draft</span><span style="font-style: normal;">, about 1,000 words,
and realized I hadn’t done </span><span style="font-style: normal;">enough
of </span><span style="font-style: normal;">what such conflicts are
supposed to do: make the main character engaging. So like a good
little scholar I did a bunch of research on </span><span style="font-style: normal;">how
to do that</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;">S</span><span style="font-style: normal;">everal
sources listed things you should know about your character from the
start, a character profile, and I’ve made a consolidated list later
in the </span><span style="font-style: normal;">article</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.
But I wanted to organize the advice to be useful to pantsers as well
as plotters. So the main caveats about all that follows are:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Character
profiles are similar in some ways to worldbuilding bibles: not
everything the writer knows will appear </span><span style="font-style: normal;">directly</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
in the novel. You’re going to need to dole out this information to
the reader at appropriate points in the plot. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Even
so it can influence what you write, indirectly</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent" style="font-style: normal;">
Pantsers
can discovery-write as usual, and can then apply this summary to
yield judicious amounts of planning when they find they’re blocked
in some way, or in response to beta reader comments.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent" style="font-style: normal;">
I am
summarizing the sources I consulted, not speaking from personal
expertise in writing. You should consider reading the originals,
which I refer to throughout and collect at the end.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent" style="font-style: normal;">
I
limited myself to freely-available internet sources. There are many
great books out there on many of these topics, some by great
writers, but I’m aiming at people like me on limited budgets.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-top: 0.17in; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
Three Sliders</span></span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;">The
most critical thing I learned was, as usual, from <a class="western" href="https://writingexcuses.com/">Writing
Excuses</a>: an </span><i>engaging</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
character doesn’t have to be </span><i>likeable</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.
There are <a class="western" href="https://writingexcuses.com/transcripts/9-10/">three
“sliders” you can adjust</a>: </span><span style="font-style: normal;">likeability,
competence, and proactivity. Many</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
different combinations make for engaging characters.</span></div>
<ul>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><a class="western" href="https://wetranscripts.livejournal.com/89599.html">Likeability</a>,
arousing sympathy. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">You might
opt for low likeability if the other sliders are high, to make the
character less annoying, or you might start off low to give room for
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">growth.</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">Villains typically have very
low likeability but are high on the other two sliders. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">You
might also lower likeability to make another character more
sympathetic by comparison. You can reduce likeability via emotional
distance from the reader; getting into the character’s head raises
likeability. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Friendliness,
warmth, approachability, connectedness to others, empathy,
integrity, authenticity, and similarity to the reader all increase
likeability; making bad decisions and alienating others can reduce
it. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Humour</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">(jokes, gallows humour,
self-deprecation about weaknesses)</span><span style="font-style: normal;">,
and admirable characteristics (self-awareness, niceness, generosity,
selflessness) can raise sympathy, as can some kinds of weakness or
fatal flaw; so can having some other character like them.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><a class="western" href="https://wetranscripts.livejournal.com/89716.html">Competence</a>
or ability. An initially low-competence character might have an arc
where they increase competence, or they might have competence in
some area not related to the challenges of the story, which they
might be able to adapt to their unfamiliar circumstances. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">A</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
high-competence character might meet circumstances where their
competence doesn’t help; </span><span style="font-style: normal;">this
is especially appropriate in horror stories</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">A good antagonist can bring
out </span><span style="font-style: normal;">the protagonist’s</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
competence. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">T</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ry/fail
cycles can show that the problem is hard, and show the character
improving.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><a class="western" href="https://wetranscripts.livejournal.com/91225.html">Proactivity</a>,
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">taking action, having
agency; this slider is the most closely related to being a
protagonist</span><span style="font-style: normal;">. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Higher
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">personal </span><span style="font-style: normal;">stakes
in the plot, and choosing to stay when they could walk away, both
increase proactivity. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Less
action-oriented activities</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
are proactive, such as researching things that are, or become,
relevant to the plot.</span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;">The
<a class="western" href="https://writingexcuses.com/transcripts/13-2/">reluctant
hero</a> is the standard initially-low-proactivity character; the
inciting incident or first plot point starts to kick them into
higher gear. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Kurt Vonnegut
apparently said “every character should want something, even if
it’s only a glass of water.” </span><span style="font-style: normal;">I</span><span style="font-style: normal;">f
the character isn’t engaging with the main plot, it should be
because they’re engaged in something more important to them; </span><span style="font-style: normal;">those
plans might be disrupted or abandoned.</span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<i>Rarely</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
you can have a main character who isn’t the protagonist, such as
Watson; even rare</span><span style="font-style: normal;">r</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
is to separate the viewpoint (main), the protagonist, and the hero
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">(covered
in some WX season prior to 10.8, which I haven’t found yet)</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">.
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">When a reluctant hero
changes motivation, to be convincing they should go through a
character arc (see later)</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Somebody
high on </span><i>all</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> the
sliders might be hard to challenge, and thus boring, like the
pre-Kryptonite Superman.</span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><a class="western" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NCiuI6F5O0">Brandon
Sanderson</a> taught that there are three things you need for a
character to be engaging (but you needn’t use all three):</span></div>
<ul>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<i>Likeable</i><span style="font-style: normal;">:
relatable (similar to readers in some ways), nice (shown by “saving
the cat” or refuted by “kicking the dog”), or liked by other
characters.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<i>Motivated</i><span style="font-style: normal;">:
driven by something </span><span style="font-style: normal;">interesting</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
to us. What do they want, and why can’t they have it? Do they have
a personal connection to the plot?</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<i>Progress</i><span style="font-style: normal;">:
something about the character is changing. Will they become the
person we see they can become?</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-top: 0.17in; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Revealing
the Character</span></span></div>
At the beginning, you need to engage the reader quickly; advice
varies, but some go as far as to say by the end of the first page.
You need to quickly establish why readers like them, why readers want
them in the story (particularly, why the main character is the right
viewpoint from which to tell the story), the way they look at the
world (mindset), what they want to fix in their lives (their
motivation), and their feelings (mood, which is influenced by
mindset). You need to show the character engaged in <i>something</i><span style="font-style: normal;">,
so they are active, and establish competence, possibly including what
they are </span><i>not</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> good at.
But you have to balance plot with character engagement; scenes have
to do more than one thing. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Y</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ou
should show how the character reacts under the pressure of the plot
(such as cracking jokes), and what is important to them.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
Some <a class="western" href="https://ryanlanz.com/2015/11/12/writing-with-heart-creating-an-emotionally-engaging-character/">sources</a>
said it’s even more important to “show, not tell” when
revealing a character’s emotional side than it is for other parts
of the story. However you do it, you need to make the character’s
motivations clear, so their actions make sense to the reader.<br />
<br />
The character should have a distinctive voice, way of speaking,
turns of phrase; the ideal to aim for <span style="font-size: x-small;">(</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">currently
</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">extremely difficult for
me, personally)</span> is to be able to take something they say out
of context and still recognize who is speaking. Some sources said
it’s important to establish the character’s physical appearance
early, and that body language is also important.<br />
<br />
Important technical aspects include: Reveal information in a
piecemeal but organized way, so that the reader has time to
assimilate it; weave in personal descriptions and appearance
gradully; ground the reader by making clear where the character is in
the setting, especially when they enter a scene; use nicknames with
discretion, and don’t even name very minor characters. Use a new
paragraph when changing speakers or describing a different person’s
actions.<br />
<br />
A character doesn’t need to be completely consistent, but
inconsistencies have to be believable; in fact most people have both
“public” and “private” faces.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: normal;">E</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ven
alien characters must have human-comprehensible characteristics so
that readers can engage with them.</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-top: 0.17in; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Story
Progression</span></span></div>
You reveal character throughout the story; many sources go so far
as to say the plot <i>is</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> the
reaction of characters to circumstances, that character must drive
plot. This means you </span><span style="font-style: normal;">normally
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">have to have a strong
character arc; the character must change </span><span style="font-style: normal;">(though
not </span><i>too</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> fast – the
reader needs a consistent baseline first)</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">There are <a class="western" href="https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/create-compelling-characters-character-arcs/">four
types of arc</a>:</span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-style: normal;">Heroic arcs, where the
character completely transforms from ordinary person to hero; these
are common in speculative fiction, especially fantasy, and normally
reserved for protagonists.</span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-style: normal;">Growth arcs. The character
is essentially the same person at the end of the story, but has
learned something, overcome something about themselves, or changed
roles. This is common in literary fiction, and common for
well-developed secondary characters.</span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-style: normal;">Fall</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ing</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
arcs. This is typical when creating an authentic-feeling villain,
doomed by flaws and bad choices.</span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-style: normal;">Flat arcs -- </span><span style="font-style: normal;">“<a class="western" href="https://wetranscripts.dreamwidth.org/145622.html">iconic</a>”
characters like Sherlock Holmes or Nero Wolfe, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">common
in mysteries, adventures, and spy thrillers. W</span><span style="font-style: normal;">e
may learn more about them as the story or series progresses, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">but
they don’t change</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span><br />
</li>
</ol>
<span style="font-style: normal;">A character arc is the C in the
MICE quotient. A character starts of</span><span style="font-style: normal;">f</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
dissatisfied with some aspect of themselves, or becomes dissatisfied:
there is a disruption to their internal status quo. The arc </span><span style="font-style: normal;">aims
for</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> the </span><span style="font-style: normal;">establishment</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
of a new status quo, and challenges along the way </span><span style="font-style: normal;">are
obstacles to this. Mary Robinette Kowal recommends Elizabeth Boyle’s
D.R.E.A(M) approach: initially the character Denies there is a
problem, moves on to Resisting change, then Exploring the change, and
finally Accepting it; acceptance then Manifests in some way (that is,
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">they must </span><i>do</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
something, not just </span><i>realize</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
it</span><span style="font-style: normal;">). </span><span style="font-style: normal;">It
can be especially helpful to show the influence of other people in this progression, through conversations that get to the heart of what the character
cares about and why they are changing.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">A</span><span style="font-style: normal;">long
the arc, you should challenge the character frequently; thrust them
into difficult predicaments; remove supports and conveniences; bring
them into situations only a changed person can solve. Show their
vulnerabilities, concerns, and flaws. They should face frustrations;
their reactions to not getting what they want drive the plot. There
are <a class="western" href="https://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/creating-emotional-frustration-in-your-characters">many
possible specific reactions,</a> such as anger, blame, or even giving
up, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">and there may be a mix;
the secondary </span><span style="font-style: normal;">reactions</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
might also be useful in the plot. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Stress
and conflict may bring to the fore some inner character complexity or
contradiction.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">A </span><span style="font-style: normal;">particularly
intense form of conflict is to place the character in a <a class="western" href="https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/5-moral-dilemmas-that-make-characters-stories-better">moral
dilemma</a>: a choice between two highly undesirable choices. Force
them into a corner, where something important </span><span style="font-style: normal;">to
them personally </span><span style="font-style: normal;">is at stake,
there are no easy solutions, the character </span><i>must</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
act, and </span><span style="font-style: normal;">must </span><span style="font-style: normal;">live
with the consequences; </span><span style="font-style: normal;">then</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
the choice deepens tension and advances the story. You can face them
with two conflicting desires, face them with two bad things (such as
yielding to bribery or extortion versus violating a conviction), or
pick some genre-related dilemma, such as </span><span style="font-style: normal;">justice</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
versus injustice (crime), faithfulness versus betrayal (romance), </span><span style="font-style: normal;">or</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
consciousness, humanity, and morality (speculative fiction). Perhaps
have them escape the dilemma by finding a third way, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">and</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
make that </span><span style="font-style: normal;">way </span><span style="font-style: normal;">“unexpected
but inevitable.”</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
Avoid having the character driven by
the plot; give them a life outside of it. Don’t force actions
inconsistent with their personality or desires; watch out for
unconsciously assuming your m ovations are the character’s. Beta
readers can sometimes detect this better than the writer, since
writers can be blinded by the “need” for the action to go a
certain way.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-top: 0.17in; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Character
Profile Questions</span></span></div>
This is a combination of several lists I found of things to decide
or explore about your characters. Some sources suggest basing
characters on real people you’ve met, at least in part. <span style="font-style: normal;">One
<a class="western" href="https://writingcooperative.com/how-to-create-authentic-and-powerful-fictional-characters-59def46cf960">source</a>
lists 8 male and 8 female archetypes; they come with ready-made
characteristics that make answering these questions easier. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">For
characters significantly different from yourself, you will need
considerable research; </span><span style="font-style: normal;">I have
enjoyed lessons from <a class="western" href="https://writingtheother.com/">Writing
the Other</a></span><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
I’ve numbered these for possible future reference, and sorted
them into alphabetical order by one key word; I decided I wasn’t
experienced enough to prioritize them by importance. Bear in mind
that you won’t necessarily reveal all of this directly, just as you
don’t reveal all your worldbuilding detail; your novel shows the
tip of the iceberg.<br />
<br />
Also, for things like <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/learning-your-characters-greatest.html">greatest
strengths and weaknesses</a>, don’t get hung up on “greatest;”
a major one is good enough.<br />
<ol>
<li><i>Ability</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><span style="font-style: normal;">and</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
impairments</span><i>.</i><br />
</li>
<li><i>Age</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, including mental
age</span><i>.</i><br />
</li>
<li><i>Appearance</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">though
you don’t infodump everything right away: add details through
dialog and action. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Consider</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
distinguishing features such as scars, piercings, tattoos, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">and
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">physical imperfections.</span><br />
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
<i>Backstory</i>: what shaped
them. Family, childhood, career choices, traumas; best, worst, and
most embarrassing things that ever happened. Moments of fear,
courage, sorry, joy, failure, shame (undermining of self image),
guilt (violation of their moral code), redemptive forgiveness –
some of which are backstory and some of which might be part of the
story. Don’t go overboard; focus on what’s relevant to the
story. Steven King apparently said “The most important things to
remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and
(b) most of it isn’t very interesting.”</div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
<i>Class</i>, in the socioeconomic
sense<i>.</i></div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
<i>Desires</i> (especially their
<a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/articulating-your-characters-greatest.html">greatest</a>,
which might be obsessions), passions, ambitions, joys, pleasures,
and goals. This can suggest conflicts, since the world doesn’t
arrange itself to easily grant our desires. <a class="western" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NCiuI6F5O0">Brandon
Sanderson</a> characterizes<i> goals</i> as changeable, and
achievable within the constraints of the current story or scene;<i>
motivations</i> are longer term and more fundamental. Mary Robinette
Kowal uses <a class="western" href="https://wetranscripts.dreamwidth.org/142681.html"><i>objective</i></a><a class="western" href="https://wetranscripts.dreamwidth.org/142681.html">
and </a><a class="western" href="https://wetranscripts.dreamwidth.org/142681.html"><i>superobjective</i></a>
for the same distinction.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
Motivations can be conscious (and thus
more likely to drive the plot), and shown through thoughts, dialog,
and actions. They can be deliberate, a special case of conscious,
incorporated into the character’s plans. They can be unconscious,
which makes it harder to reveal, but you can show the character
reacting to situations related to their motivations and needs, or
have them think one way but act another.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
<i>Emotional triggers</i>,
particularly anger and <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2018/11/writing-your-characters-greatest-fear.html">fear</a>.</div>
</li>
<li><i>Ethnicity</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. race, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">and
nationality</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span><br />
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
<i>Flaws, </i> weaknesses, and
vulnerabilities, especially their <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/learning-your-characters-greatest.html">greatest</a>.
They should interfere with the character’s motives and suggest
plot elements. Brandon Sanderson distinguishes flaws (things the
character was able to fix before, but didn't), handicaps (something
to overcome, not within the character’s power to change, but
perhaps fixable within the story), and limitations (things that
generally don’t change, but that constrain how the character
behaves).</div>
</li>
<li><i>Inner/private life</i><span style="font-style: normal;">,
which may differ from outer/public. Things that keep them awake;
blind spots; secrets; embarrassments.</span><br />
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
<i>Gender identity</i> and
sexuality.</div>
</li>
<li><i>Name</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, which should be
ethnically appropriate.</span><br />
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
<i>Occupation</i> and income.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
<i>Personality type</i>, such as
<a class="western" href="https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/">Myers-Briggs</a>
category, <a class="western" href="https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions">Enneagram</a>
number, or <a class="western" href="https://geekandsundry.com/from-lawful-good-to-chaotic-evil-a-multi-fandom-character-alignment-chart/">Dungeons
and Dragons alignment</a>.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
<i>Relationships</i>, past and
present, and their effect. Siblings, friends (including best),
romantic partners, mentors or apprentices, political affiliations,
even treasured physical objects. Is the relationship functional or
dysfunctional? For people, even those who are close, are they for or
against the character’s goals? What sources of friction might
there be in the relationship.</div>
</li>
<li><i>Religio</i><i>sity</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">and</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
spirituality (including atheist).</span><br />
</li>
<li><i>Role</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> in the story.</span><br />
</li>
<li><i>Secrets</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><span style="font-style: normal;">that
if revealed would forever change the character’s relationships and
standing in the world.</span><br />
</li>
<li><i>Strengths</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">especially
their <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/learning-your-characters-greatest.html">greatest</a>,
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">some of which might evolve
to heroic levels.</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Skills
and talents.</span><br />
</li>
<li><i>Traits</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, such as
(dis)honesty, bravery/cowardice, generosity/miserliness, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">nobility</span><span style="font-style: normal;">;
these are usually moral or ethical, and intersect with flaws,
strengths, and weaknesses. One <a class="western" href="http://stavroshalvatzis.com/on-character/engaging-characters">source</a>
suggests 3-4 positive and 1 <a class="western" href="https://onestopforwriters.com/negative_traits">negative</a>,
the contrast being a source of conflict. An uplifting ending
accentuates positive traits and de-emphasizes negative ones; downer
endings do the opposite.</span><br />
</li>
<li><i>Voice</i> and accent, how they speak: vocabulary, turns of
phrase. Both inner and outer dialogue (which can contrast with each
other).<br />
</li>
</ol>
Once you develop several members of your cast, you should consider
the web of relationships among them, how they interact with each
other. Compare the protagonist and main antagonist; are they
competing for the same thing? how will they react to each other?
Compare with any other opponents – before comparing with allies,
since conflict is central. Compare opponents with allies. Clashes can
arise from opposition of personality traits: a positive trait of one
clashing with a different positive trait of the other, or two
negatives, or one negative and one positive. They can arise from
different moral codes or beliefs, different life experiences, and
different important goals. Clashes don’t need to be entirely
negative; one might challenge the other to grow, let go of
misbeliefs, or recognize their own values more clearly.<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-top: 0.17in; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Moving
Forward</span></span></div>
After doing all this research I’m both encouraged and
intimidated. I understand a lot more about making a character
engaging, and have a wide range of choices of what to include in the
opening scene that I want to polish. On the other hand, there is a
<i>lot</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> of work to do, much of it
new to me. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">A</span><span style="font-style: normal;">t
this stage of my writing, I know I have a lot to learn, and each time
I take on something new, I’m making progress.</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-top: 0.17in; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Sources
I Consulted</span></span></div>
The whole of <a class="western" href="https://sites.google.com/site/writingexcusesindex/home/season-13">Season
13 of Writing Excuses</a> was about character, but I only surveyed
those that seemed most directly related to making a character
engaging.<br />
<ul>
<li><a class="western" href="https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/4-tips-writing-round-characters/">4
Tips for Writing Round Characters</a><br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/5-creative-ways-to-get-to-know-your-characters/">5
Creative Ways to Get to Know Your Characters</a><br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/5-key-questions-to-ask-about-character-motivations/">5
Key Questions To Ask About Character Motivations</a><br />
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/5-moral-dilemmas-that-make-characters-stories-better">5
moral dilemmas that make characters and stories better</a></div>
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/5-quick-tips-crafting-believable-characters/">5
Quick Tips For Crafting Believable Characters</a><br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/introducing-characters/">6
Tips for Introducing Characters</a><br />
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/writing-villains-reasons-motives-evildoers-antagonists-antiheroes">8
journeys and motives behind evildoers, antiheroes, and antagonists</a>
</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://www.writersdigest.com/guest-columns/the-9-ingredients-of-character-development">9
ingredients of character development</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/novel-writing-10-questions-you-need-to-ask-your-characters">10
questions you need to ask your characters</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://wetranscripts.livejournal.com/89716.html">Adjusting
character competence</a> (WX 9.26)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://wetranscripts.livejournal.com/91225.html">Adjusting
Character Proactivity</a> (WX 9.32)</div>
</li>
<li value="1"><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://wetranscripts.livejournal.com/89599.html">Adjusting
Character Sympathy</a> (WX 9.25)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
Brandon Sanderson <a class="western" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NCiuI6F5O0">Lecture
#9: Characters</a> (1:12:13 video)</div>
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://writersinthestormblog.com/2020/01/does-your-characters-behavior-make-sense/">Cause
and Effect: Does Your Character's Behavior Make Sense?</a><br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/create-compelling-characters-character-arcs/">Create
Compelling Characters With These 3 Types of Character Arcs</a><br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://jamigold.com/2019/03/creating-characters-who-clash-guest-angela-ackerman/">Creating
Characters Who Clash</a><br />
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/creating-emotional-frustration-in-your-characters">Creating
emotional frustration in your characters</a>
</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://writingexcuses.com/transcripts/9-10/">Engaging
Characters</a> (WX 9.10)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://geekandsundry.com/from-lawful-good-to-chaotic-evil-a-multi-fandom-character-alignment-chart/">From
Lawful Good to Chaotic Evil: A Multi-Fandom Character Alignment
Chart</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/write-better-characters/how-a-strong-character-arc-can-make-readers-love-your-protagonist">How
a strong character arc can make readers love your protagonist</a></div>
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://writershelpingwriters.net/2020/02/how-to-build-powerful-character-relationships/">How
to Build Powerful Character Relationships</a><br />
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/write-first-chapter-get-started/hooked-on-a-feeling">How
to Craft Compelling Characters</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://www.wikihow.com/Create-an-Interesting-Character">How
to Create an Interesting Character</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://writingcooperative.com/how-to-create-authentic-and-powerful-fictional-characters-59def46cf960">How
to Create Authentic and Powerful Fictional Characters</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://www.profwritingacademy.com/engaging-fictional-characters">How
to develop engaging fictional characters</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://www.freelancewriting.com/creative-writing/extraordinary-characters/">How
to Engage Your Readers with Extraordinary Characters</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="http://stavroshalvatzis.com/on-character/engaging-characters">How
to Write Engaging Characters</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://pshoffman.com/2016/11/08/how-to-write-engaging-characters-who-feel-alive/">How
to write engaging characters who feel alive and pop off the page</a></div>
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://writerunboxed.com/2020/03/12/let-your-protagonists-light-shine/">Let
Your Protagonist’s Light Shine</a><br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://writersinthestormblog.com/2020/02/likable-and-relatable-why-and-how-do-they-matter/">"Likeable"
vs. "Relatable" Characters</a><br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://wetranscripts.dreamwidth.org/142681.html">Naturally
Revealing Character Motivation</a> (WX 13.18)<br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://onestopforwriters.com/negative_traits">Negative
Traits Thesaurus</a> (summary only; requires sign-up for details)<br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://twitter.com/RFaithEditorial/status/1">Plot
arising from characters</a> (Rebecca Faith Twitter thread)<br />
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://writingexcuses.com/transcripts/10-17/">Q&A
on Beginnings</a> (WX 10.17)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://writingexcuses.com/transcripts/10-8/">Q&A
on Character</a> (WX 10.8)</div>
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://twitter.com/Scott_Thought/status/1258001421988855808">Sympathetic
characters</a> (Scott Reintgen Twitter thread)<br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://mythcreants.com/blog/the-four-essentials-of-an-effective-character-arc/">The
Four Essentials of an Effective Character Arc</a><br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://www.janefriedman.com/the-3-ms-of-character-setup/">The
3 Ms of Character Setup</a><br />
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://writingexcuses.com/transcripts/9-13/">Three-Pronged
Character Development</a> (WX 9.13)</div>
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2012/03/whats-my-motivation-tips-on-showing.html">What's
My Motivation? Tips on Showing Character Motivations</a><br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://blog.nathanbransford.com/2020/01/why-protagonists-need-to-be-active">Why
protagonists need to be active</a><br />
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://writingexcuses.com/transcripts/13-2/">Writing
Active Characters</a> (WX 13.2)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://ryanlanz.com/2015/11/12/writing-with-heart-creating-an-emotionally-engaging-character/">Writing
With Heart: Creating an Emotionally Engaging Character</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://jerryjenkins.com/character-development/">Your
Ultimate Guide to Character Development: 9 Steps to Creating
Memorable Heroes</a></div>
</li>
</ul>
<br />David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-36242064265315353402020-04-21T11:28:00.000-04:002020-04-21T11:28:22.458-04:00What is a Bridging Conflict?<br />
<div class="first-line-indent">
For <a href="http://nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo</a> 2018 I wrote a murder mystery set on a starliner. With
all the freewriting and deleted words stripped away, it turned out to
be a little over 22k words, a novelette by <a class="western" href="https://nebulas.sfwa.org/about-the-nebulas/nebula-rules/">SFWA
standards</a>. Its main contribution to my development as a writer
was that it contained a complete albeit sketchy plot – my first
NaNo project I could consider finished in some reasonable sense. For
this month’s <a href="http://campnanowrimo.org/">Camp NaNoWriMo</a> I intended to start turning it into a
full novel, but I didn’t have enough prep time to do all the
planning my research on <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/mystery-elements-in-novel.html">writing</a>
<a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2020/02/more-on-writing-mysteries.html">mysteries</a>
showed was necessary. So I’ve been slogging through more research,
world-building, plot outlining, figuring out what the various
antagonists are doing – all of which is reasonably fun, but over
the weekend I got frustrated with not having actually started the
<i>story</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. So I drafted the first chapter.</span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent" style="font-style: normal;">
The story
just didn’t work.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent" style="font-style: normal;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;">I had
followed the advice usually given to beginning authors: readers have
no reason to trust that you will tell an engaging story, so you
must start with action. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">T</span><span style="font-style: normal;">he
first chapter was the sleuths being summoned to solve the murder,
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">which had already taken
place</span><span style="font-style: normal;">. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">The
major conflict started within the first few pages, which was
supposedly a good thing. But the chapter felt rushed, the characters
too flat, the setting too vague.</span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;">F</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ortunately,
somewhere in the mists of time, I had heard of the idea of a
“bridging conflict,” so in my usual academic manner decided to research it
and summarize what I found.</span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;">The
consensus definition of a “bridging conflict,” the one that
unifies all the sources I read, is</span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 0.28in;">
A smaller conflict, a problem the
protagonist must solve, that takes place during setup for, or transitions between, the parts of the main conflict.</div>
The most commonly-mentioned use was the setup for the inciting incident that kicks off the main conflict.<br />
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
The reasons for a bridging conflict at
the <i>start</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> of a story
clarified my uneasy feelings. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">E</span><span style="font-style: normal;">xcept
for special subgenres like cosy mysteries, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">l</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ong
slow buildups are boring for most readers. They want </span><i>something
</i><span style="font-style: normal;">to happen, some feeling of a
plot moving forward. The problem is that if you start right away with
the major </span><span style="font-style: normal;">intense</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">conflict, you’re raising
the stakes too fast, before reader</span><span style="font-style: normal;">s</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
ha</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ve</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
begun to immerse in the setting and identify with the protagonist.
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">T</span><span style="font-style: normal;">hey
have no reason to </span><i>care</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
about either.</span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;">S</span><span style="font-style: normal;">o,
for a good story opening, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">with</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
a bridging conflict, you need to;</span></div>
<ul>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Start
with the character of the protagonist. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Reveal
some aspect of the</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ir</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
intentions, perspectives, values, needs, and long-term goals.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Suggest
backstory showing that the protagonist enters the </span><span style="font-style: normal;">narrative</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
with relevant life experience.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Pick
a conflict that arises naturally from the context, that can be
resolved, or partly resolved, reasonably soon; set a goal relatively
easy to achieve. </span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
Show the immediate stakes, the consequences of failing to resolve the bridging conflict.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
Introduce
a complication:<i> yes</i><i> </i>the
protagonist succeeded at the immediate goal, <i>but</i>
another problem arose.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
Make
sure that, by the end of the incident, the reader cares about
the protagonist and their struggles.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;">This
unifies the two most-emphasized pieces of advice I’ve heard that
readers expect an interesting protagonist with a character arc, and
also expect the “action” to start quickly.</span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;">So,
instead of reworking the initial scene, my next task is to clarify my
image of the main sleuth.</span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
I consulted the following sources during
my research, taken from the first few pages of an internet search; it
is well worth reading them for the examples and additional details.</div>
<ul>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://writerunboxed.com/2019/05/09/6-tips-for-creating-good-bridging-conflict/">6
Tips for Creating Good Bridging Conflict</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://kidlit.com/2014/08/11/bridging-conflict/">Beginning
a Novel with Bridging Conflict</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="http://christy-luis.blogspot.com/2012/12/bridging-conflict.html">Bridging
Conflict</a>
</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/17810/can-bridging-conflict-work-when-the-answer-is-known">Can
Bridging Conflict Work When the Answer is Known?</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="https://bonnieswritingtips.blogspot.com/2007/08/lesson-22-bridging-conflict.html">Lesson
22: Bridging Conflict</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="http://blog.janicehardy.com/2014/08/writing-basics-inciting-event.html">Story
Structure: The Inciting Event</a>
</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a class="western" href="http://www.kaykenyon.com/tag/bridging-conflict/">Where
your plot begins</a></div>
</li>
</ul>
<br />David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-43179695874259760462020-02-27T21:16:00.001-05:002020-02-27T21:16:15.926-05:00More on writing mysteries<br />
<div class="first-line-indent">
My 2018 NaNoWriMo novel was a murder mystery set on a starliner. In
April 2019 I was contemplating revising it, so I wrote a <a href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/mystery-elements-in-novel.html">summary</a>
of some Internet research about writing mysteries, <span style="font-style: normal;">mostly
from </span><i>Writing Excuses</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">I wound up going a different
direction, but now </span><span style="font-style: normal;">I </span><span style="font-style: normal;">am
coming back to that novel. So I’ve read a wider variety of internet
sources, listed at the end of this post, and have synthesized what I
learned into a summary of my own. I strongly advise that you read the
original sources, too.</span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<span style="font-style: normal;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="first-line-indent" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One
<a href="https://thewritepractice.com/how-to-write-a-mystery-novel/">source</a>
lists three types of mystery</span></span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><div class="first-line-indent" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Coz</i><i>ies</i>
focus on characters and setting, not the crime; pacing is slow, and
violence is offstage, </span></span></span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Police
/ medical / legal </i><i>procedurals</i> require extensive special
knowledge; they are very detail-oriented, and focus on group
clue-gathering and analysis.</span></span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Private
</i><i>e</i><i>ye / </i><i>n</i><i>oir</i> stories involve an
interesting and believable main character, and realistic
interactions with police. These days the sleuth may need to be, or
have ready access to, a computer expert.</span></span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="first-line-indent" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I’m
not sure mine fits into any of these categories. I’m not sure what
other category to call it.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="first-line-indent" style="font-style: normal;">
<br />
</div>
<h3>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc2238_3303749598"></a>Preparation</h3>
<div class="first-line-indent">
Several sources advise certain kinds of
preparation before writing a mystery novel. Many writers I’ve met
have a strong preference for discovery writing, “pantsing.” I
started as maybe 10% plotter, 90% pantser, but am slowly shifting the
balance further towards plotting. I’ve become convinced by what
I’ve read that, compared to other kinds of novel, mysteries need
more up-front planning, though perhaps not as much as some sources
say is necessary.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
It’s critical to have an interesting
and sympathetic sleuth. Some sources insist they must go through a
character arc (though not all the comments about character
development necessarily fit with the <a href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-short-story-intensive-workshop.html">MICE</a>
description of what such an arc is). On the other hand, detectives
like Sherlock Holmes and Nero Wolfe seem more like “iconic heroes”
as described in a <a href="https://writingexcuses.com/2018/07/22/13-29-iconic-heroes/">Writing
Excuses podcast</a>: they solve mysteries, nuances of their character
or backstory may develop, but don’t themselves change in any
significant way.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
The sleuth needs to have a reason for
solving the mystery, but try to avoid revealing it through internal
monologue, dreams, or flashbacks. We also want engaging exploration
of characters: Henry James said “Plot is characters under stress.”
Characters should have unique triggers, desires, and internal
conflicts. Free-writing may help you get to know them. Know how they
dress, move, investigate, talk.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<a href="https://www.writersstore.com/taking-the-mystery-out-of-writing-mysteries/">One
source</a> says “mysteries of character” are the most memorable:
a crime is a disruption of social order; we think we want to know who
did it and why, but we want to see order restored by someone who is a
better version of ourselves (smarter, wittier, more determined).
</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
Define the world before writing –
though you’ll describe it only as needed. Such background provides
opportunities for misdirection.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
You also need to define the crime –
method, motive, and opportunity; all three have to be believable. It
needs to take place within the first 50 pages, the first three
chapters, though to me putting the crime on page 50 suggests a cozy
rather than a fast-paced story.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
For the plot, you need to know the
ending and create all the clues that lead to it, along with red
herrings, obstacles (that keep you on the same MICE thread), and
complications (that may switch threads). Some clues might reveal that
something is missing, like the dog doing nothing in the nighttime in
the Sherlock Holmes story <a href="https://sherlock-holm.es/stories/pdf/a4/1-sided/silv.pdf"><i>Silver
Blaze</i></a>. There are three kinds of clues:</div>
<ol>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
Genuine, which point to the killer</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
Fake (red herring) that point to
someone else. Possibilities include a character seeming more
suspicious than they actually are; a clue that seems significant but
isn’t; a secondary event that seems important; clues placed by the
villain to mislead.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
Pivotal, genuine clues that give
the final pieces of the puzzle.</div>
</li>
</ol>
Some things shown early might not be seen as clues, and become
significant later.<br />
<br />
<div class="first-line-indent">
Introduce the killer early; it’s
disappointing if they show up late. There need to be multiple
suspects (at least three or four), with clues that point to each of
them. Each should have a reason to want the victim dead; one should
be unusual. Each should lie, or seem like they are lying, though only
one lies about the crime (though it seems to me accomplices might
lie, too).</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
Outline every major scene and clue; this
may be hard for discovery writers, but the justification is that
mysteries have more “rules” than other genres because of reader
expectations. The order of discovery of clues may be especially
important.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
A <a href="https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Mystery-Story">couple</a>
of <a href="https://www.katekrake.com/forwriters/how-to-write-a-mystery-novel-a-five-act-structure/">sources</a>
suggest overall structures based on the Hero’s Journey, but it
seems likely to me that many other story structuring techniques could
work. Between deciding to solve the crime and the middle of the story
can be difficult. Introduce all the suspects and fill in details
later. The sleuth should identify the killer by mid-book and shift to
proving how and why – but the first solution should be wrong, and
the sleuth hits bottom (“all is lost”). After that, the sleuth is
better motivated, better prepared, and finds the right killer.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
You also need an outline of offstage
action, particularly what the villain is doing. Much of this will not
appear directly in the novel, but some will intersect with viewpoint
character actions and lead to discoveries.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<h3>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc2240_3303749598"></a>Writing</h3>
<div class="first-line-indent">
The first few pages need to introduce
the main character, identify the time period and setting, and (in
stories other than cozies) introduce the crime. The action should
start immediately with the first obstacle, which might actually be
the main problem. Don’t solve it immediately; it should be the
foundation for many other obstacles, which should increase in
difficulty over the whole novel.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
Add backstory and character descriptions
only as needed, in small dribbles, fitting naturally into their
scene, and only where they don’t stall the story. They should be
important to the reader, explaining character motivations and
actions. Avoid them in the first chapter.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
Use the setting dramatically, not just
as background. Switching locations suddenly can keep readers alert.
Balance suspense with humour. Use cliffhangers (judiciously),
especially at the end of scenes.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
Clues need to be in plain sight, but can
be buried in the middle of lists; people generally blip over clues
other than first 3 (or less) and last.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
Suspenseful dialogue can include lies
(contradicting what is known), bizarre or unexpected statements, or a
character withholding information.Use all five senses, but only a few
at a time. <a href="https://www.creative-writing-now.com/tips-for-writing-a-story.html">Descriptive
writing</a> is especially important to create suspense, but
descriptions need to be concise to keep up the pace.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
Well-structured chapters give rising
tension and shift what is known or unknown. Consider opening one in
the middle of an unknown setting, or a tense situation; the sleuth
might discover something thought to be true is actually false.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
Follow your own signature style.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
The ending should be “surprising but
inevitable.” It should follow from the clues, which get put
together in a surprising way. It should explain every major clue,
expose the killer, answer all the pending questions, reveal truths
about the false suspects, relate to the beginning (addressing goals,
motivations, needs, and changes from early in the novel), and leave
the reader wanting to read the next novel (“the first page sells
the book; the last sells the next,” <a href="https://www.brighthubeducation.com/help-with-writing/128019-creating-a-mystery-story-five-steps/">quoted</a>
from Mickey Spillane). It should come close after the final climax,
and be concise but proportional to the story length.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<h3>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc2242_3303749598"></a>Revising</h3>
<div class="first-line-indent">
You may need to clean up the plot
structure, make sure the major characters are engaging, that the pace
is neither too fast nor too slow. End scenes sooner than you first
think is appropriate, to keep up the pace. Go back and insert things,
such as false clues, where needed.</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
Use critique groups, but sequentially
(or with a few in parallel, followed by a different few, and so on).</div>
<div class="first-line-indent">
<br /></div>
<h3>
Sources</h3>
<div class="first-line-indent">
These are in roughly the order I read
them.</div>
<ul>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
WikiHow: <a href="https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Mystery-Story">How
to Write a Mystery Story</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
Susan Swann (guest on <a href="http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/10/15/25-things-you-need-to-know-about-writing-mysteries-by-susan-spann/">Terrible
Minds</a>)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a href="https://www.creative-writing-now.com/how-to-write-a-mystery.html">Creative
Writing Now</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
Writer’s Digest: <a href="https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/7-tips-writing-great-mystery-suspense-novels">Mystery
and Suspense</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
The Balance Careers: <a href="https://www.thebalancecareers.com/top-rules-for-mystery-writing-1277089">Top
Rules for Mystery Writing</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
Writer’s Store: <a href="https://www.writersstore.com/taking-the-mystery-out-of-writing-mysteries/">Taking
the Mystery out of How to Write A Mystery</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
Bright Hub Education: <a href="https://www.brighthubeducation.com/help-with-writing/128019-creating-a-mystery-story-five-steps/">5
Steps to Write a Mystery</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
The Write Practice: <a href="https://thewritepractice.com/how-to-write-a-mystery-novel/">How
to Write a Mystery Novel</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
NowNovel: <a href="https://www.nownovel.com/blog/writing-a-mystery-novel/">Writing
a mystery novel: 7 items your story needs</a></div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
Several posts on <a href="https://globalmysteriesblog.com/">Global
Mysteries Blog</a>, particularly <a href="https://globalmysteriesblog.com/2012/07/20/how-to-write-endings-for-mystery-novels/">How
to Write Endings</a>, <a href="https://globalmysteriesblog.com/2011/04/17/7-story-structure-weaknesses-that-will-collapse-your-mystery-novel/">7
Story Weaknesses that will Collapse your Mystery Novel</a>, <a href="https://globalmysteriesblog.com/2011/06/25/how-to-open-a-mystery-novel/">How
to Open a Mystery Novel</a>, <a href="https://globalmysteriesblog.com/2011/01/09/10-tips-for-writing-backstory-in-a-mystery-novel/">10
Tips for Writing Backstory</a>, <a href="https://globalmysteriesblog.com/2010/08/18/9-ways-to-create-tension-in-a-mystery-novel/">9
Ways to Create Tension</a>, <a href="https://globalmysteriesblog.com/2010/08/13/how-do-conflict-and-crisis-differ-in-a-mystery-novel/">Conflict
vs Crisis</a>, <a href="https://globalmysteriesblog.com/2010/08/09/how-to-create-minor-characters-in-your-mystery-novel/">Minor
Characters</a>, and <a href="https://globalmysteriesblog.com/2010/07/31/pacing-a-critical-element-in-the-mystery-novel/">Pacing</a>.
</div>
</li>
</ul>
Three book recommendations were:<br />
<ul>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<i>Writing The Modern Mystery</i>,
by Barbara Norville</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<a href="https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/how-to-write-a-damn-good-mystery"><i>How
To Write A Damn Good Mystery</i></a>, by James N. Frey (summarized
very briefly in Kate Krake’s <a href="https://www.katekrake.com/forwriters/how-to-write-a-mystery-novel-a-five-act-structure/">5-Act
Structure</a>)</div>
</li>
<li><div class="first-line-indent">
<i><a href="https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/writing-mysteries-4">Writing
Mysteries</a>: A Handbook by The Mystery Writers of America</i>,
edited by Sue Grafton</div>
</li>
</ul>
<br />David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-63551609706101026202019-09-17T21:39:00.000-04:002019-09-17T21:39:13.561-04:00Worldcon: Monday August 19<br />
On
this last day of Worldcon the sessions I attended were<br />
<ul>
<li><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/36/Bigotry%20is%20not%20allegorical:%20strategies%20for%20writing%20and%20reading">Bigotry
is not allegorical: strategies for writing and reading</a>
<br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/3024/Well-meaning%20vs%20%E2%80%98plain%20dealing%E2%80%99%20villains">Well-meaning
vs ‘plain dealing’ villains</a>
<br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/7734/Keeping%20the%20show%20on%20the%20road:%20low%20Earth%20orbit%20and%20beyond">Keeping
the show on the road: low Earth orbit and beyond</a>
<br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/9228/Martian%20landers">Martian
landers</a>
<br />
</li>
</ul>
Unfortunately I have no notes on the Martian landers talk, because
the lights were down for the presentation and it was so fascinating I
didn’t want to risk missing anything while note-taking.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
I am writing this almost a month after the talks, so my notes are
making even less sense to me than when I was writing up the Sunday
sessions.<br />
<br />
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc5915_701703752"></a><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/36/Bigotry%20is%20not%20allegorical:%20strategies%20for%20writing%20and%20reading">Bigotry
is not allegorical: strategies for writing and reading</a>
</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
Bigotry was defined as exclusion from humanness for arbitrary
reasons. The panel distinguished overt from implicit bias. Overt
bigotry is out in the open, and often illegal. Implicit bigotry is
hidden assumptions about a monolithic view of some group. We’re all
guilty of bias, but often sweep our biases under the rug. Combating
bigotry requires difficult conversations. For example a company might
require “good fit with company culture” but this can be code for
excluding some groups. There are Harvard surveys for exposing
implicit bias; only one was mentioned but <a class="western" href="https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html">the
site I found</a> has many.<br />
<br />
Historically SFF handled these issues badly. The classic story
involved whites colonizing or ‘civilizing’ a new world. The
influential editor John. W. Campbell was an outright racist (by his
own writings). The community is becoming more nuanced, especially
with regard to race, but is still not good for mental health or body
type. Dissociative personality disorder is portrayed as leading to
scary criminal behaviour, whereas people with mental health issues
are more likely to be victims than perpetrators.<br />
<br />
There have been some good representatons of mental health issues:
PTSD in the Punisher, Ash Tyler in Star Trek: Discovery, and Iron Man
3 were mentioned. <i>Avengers: Endgame</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
though presented as a joke one character putting on weight (while
suffering from grief).</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">Allegories for bigotry are too
subtle and ignore real-world examples. It is too easy to think of it
as ‘just a story;’ people dismiss it. Allegory also erases
intersectionality: there is only a single marginalization, such as
androids being seen as nonhuman, instead of individuals being part of
multiple marginalized groups. If there is a queer person often ‘there
can only be one.’ </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Prejudice
against blue skinned aliens can’t represent all of history.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">For the last 5-10 years
representation has been getting better, but norms (the dominant
paradigm) still exist, albeit being challenged. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">People
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">still </span><span style="font-style: normal;">use
the “but that’s the way it was” excuse, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">for
example,</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> to object to a black
character in the </span><i>Merlin</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
series (by which I think they meant the <a class="western" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1199099/">TV
series</a>), though there were blacks in Britain since at least Roman
times, and there weren’t dragons.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
It is important to distinguish the
authorial voice from the narrative, lest the books (and the author)
be seen to be endorsing bigotry; it’s often done badly. You need to
call out bigotry, and have significant characters openly challenge
it.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-style: normal;">Several examples were mentioned,
some good, some bad. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">I think
most of the following were good examples, but am not sure.</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-style: normal;">The </span><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36381037-cinder"><i>Cinder</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">
series, which deals with cyborg prejudice.</span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-style: normal;">The </span><i>Star Trek:
Deep Space 9</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> episode </span><a class="western" href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Far_Beyond_the_Stars_(episode)"><i>Far
Beyond the Stars</i></a><br />
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
Ben Aaronovich’s <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/51937-rivers-of-london"><i>Rivers
of London</i></a> series.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
The <i>Babylon 5</i> episode where
Sheridan was supposed to present some aspect of Earth religion, and
did so by introducing a very long line of people from different
religions.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-style: normal;">The main bad example was </span><i>Game
of Thrones</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">which
had</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> had blacks as savages and
slaves.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
There were several other aspects
mentioned briefly:</div>
<ul>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
The ‘magical healing’ trope
erases life experiences; trauma and its consequences disappear.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
Don’t make the bigot a
1-dimensional cartoon; this doesn’t reflect reality.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
If you’re writing about
marginalizations not your own, you need to do a lot of research and
also pay sensitivity readers.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="western">
<br /></h2>
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc5917_701703752"></a><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/3024/Well-meaning%20vs%20%E2%80%98plain%20dealing%E2%80%99%20villains">Well-meaning
vs ‘plain dealing’ villains</a>
</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
Not all antagonists are villains; a well-meaning one might be
redeemable and can have their mind changed. Magneto, for example, is
a well-meaning villain, who thinks what he is doing is right and
neccessary. Palpatine and the Joker, on the other hand, are
plain-dealing and know they are evil. Some well-meaning villains lack
self-awareness. Daenerys in <i><span style="text-decoration: none;">Game
of Thrones</span></i> starts of well-meaning, but steamrolls people
all along, never self-reflects, and is definitely a villain at the
end.<br />
<br />
Sometimes a redemption arc is a result of fan response to a
character, and is not always handled well. One good example is Harley
Quinn, whose arc involves escaping an abusive relationship, but some
panelists found disappointing the redemption of Regina in <i>Once
Upon a Time</i> and Mystique in the <i>X Men</i>. Redemption arcs,
such as Darth Vader’s, may be more justifiable in a series; it is
more plausible for the villain to humanize over time.<br />
<br />
There is a third category of ‘villain:’ the unknowable evil,
unaware of the destruction they are causing, such as a human stepping
on an unnoticed anthill (or perhaps the Elder Gods in cosmic horror).<br />
<br />
Female villains are treated differently. A male villain can be a
jerk, but not a female one. The standard Femme Fatale trope makes no
sense; she would have long-term goals, or scheme to achieve power.
Too many female villains fall in the ‘unknowable’ category;
<i>Battlestar Galactica</i>’s Number 6 was more a force of nature
than a person. The trope of ‘the one man who can redeem the evil
woman’ panders to the male gaze; there aren’t enough female
writers of female villains.<br />
<br />
Other points raised:<br />
<ul>
<li>The real villain of <i>Spiderman: Homecoming</i> is Tony
Stark, given the way he treats Peter Parker.<br />
</li>
<li>If the villain is likeable, what is the narrative rewarding?<br />
</li>
<li>The CEO with no life on the climb to power is overly
simplistic.<br />
</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="western">
<br /></h2>
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc5919_701703752"></a><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/7734/Keeping%20the%20show%20on%20the%20road:%20low%20Earth%20orbit%20and%20beyond">Keeping
the show on the road: low Earth orbit and beyond</a>
</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
The talk opened with discussion of how much time routine chores
took on Mir and still take on the International Space Station. The
Proton launch of Mir broke everything. Now things are more rugged,
but still need a lot of maintenance that takes up a huge amount of
time. There is not much time for exploration.
<br />
<br />
Things like fixing the Hubble Space Telescope were heavily
scripted, with Mission Control directing everything, but the
astronauts needed to be able to take over if they lost contact with
the ground. NASA tends to treat some very smart people as children,
and schedule everything. There is a move to automate some things; for
example, the Canadarm is run from the ground. When there are few
people on a mission everyone needs to be able to do everything; with
a larger complement, jobs can be more tailored to people’s
strengths and weaknesses.<br />
<br />
With regard to a Mars mission, prepositioning supplies has the
problem that dust gets into everything. Mars Direct presumes robots
going first to make fuel for the return trip, but those might break
down from the dust and need human repairs; it would be a very risky
mission. Robotic replacement of filters introduces significant
complexity. Radiation is a significant problem on a long trip; Scott
Kelly is having lots of non-life-threatening problems. A
never-resupplied colony would need at least 2000 people, and some
estimate 1 million would be needed for the kind of specialization
needed for a viable industrial society.<br />
<br />
We aren’t yet ready for a trip: we need a far better closed loop
ecosystem. We can recycle 90% of the water and 50% of the air; an
8-week mission without resupply might be feasible, but not the years
required for a return trip to Mars. We need to bring more of a biome
with us; where will we get gut bacteria, for example. The Artemis
moon mission expects to go 6 months without resupply.<br />
<br />
A rotating toroidal space station has significant engineering
challenges because of precession and the consequent need to have
counter-rotating rings, which would wear out fast. Centrifuges might
work. Effects of 1g and microgravity are known, but in-between are
not.<br />
<br />
There were lots of small points made:<br />
<ul>
<li>The sharp stickiness of lunar dust is like living in
asbestors.<br />
</li>
<li>Apollo astronauts had vision problems because the shape of
the eye changes in microgravity. They had a disproportionate share
of coronary bypass surgery, which killed Armstrong.<br />
</li>
<li>Seasonal Affective Disorder wouldn’t be worse on Mars;
there is still plenty of light, enough to run solar panels for
example.<br />
</li>
<li>Young people are used to timelagged communications (via
texting) so might manage lightspeed delays better than older people.<br />
</li>
<li>The ISS is wearing out and will eventually be de-orbited; it
is cheapter to replace it than refurbish and reuse. But there’s
Eric Choi’s story Fixer Upper.<br />
</li>
<li>There were originally plans to bring the Hubble back to
Earth, but only Columbia had a large enough cargo bay.<br />
</li>
<li>A space elevator would work on Mars, but not Earth; the
materials science is less complex, and there are fewer thermal
issues.<br />
</li>
</ul>
<br />David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-54537369695029209002019-09-08T15:57:00.004-04:002019-09-08T15:57:46.924-04:00Worldcon: Sunday August 18<br />
On
Sunday, as on Saturday, there were often several sessions I wanted to
attend scheduled at the same time; this hadn't happened as much on
Thursday and Friday. The ones I chose were<br />
<ul>
<li><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1356/The%20lack%20of%20technological%20progress%20in%20fantasy">The
lack of technological progress in fantasy</a>
<br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/6063/What%20writers%20need%20to%20know:%20physics%20and%20space%20travel">What
writers need to know: physics and space travel</a>
<br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1491/Gods,%20religion%20and%20atheism%20in%20the%20genre">Gods,
religion and atheism in the genre</a>
<br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/4137/Using%20science%20in%20fantasy%20writing">Using
science in fantasy writing</a>
<br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/4767/Ensembles%20in%20YA">Ensembles
in YA</a>
<br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/699/Invented%20mythologies%20in%20SF">Invented
mythologies in SF</a>
<br />
</li>
</ul>
With even further distance from the convention (I am writing this
on September 2-7) I am increasingly finding that some of my notes no
longer remind me of what was said, so these notes are less complete
than they might have been had I written them up earlier.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2 class="western">
<a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1356/The%20lack%20of%20technological%20progress%20in%20fantasy">The
lack of technological progress in fantasy</a>
</h2>
The panel started with several challenges to the notion of
progress, starting with questioning the conflating of technology with
progress. The dominant culture has seen history as the great deeds of
great white men, and see the current world as the pinnacle of
progress, and earlier cultures as inferior. But megalithic constructs
would be very difficult to build even with modern equipment. Ancient
China had sandpaper, and one ruler had a magnetic door that would
detect iron weapons (he was eventually killed by a lead-weighted
lute). The Roman era had the amazing <a class="western" href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/decoding-antikythera-mechanism-first-computer-180953979/">Antikythera
device</a>, a complex mechanical astronomical calculator.<br />
<br />
There have been instances of regression, such as Easter Island;
someone mentioned Jared Diamond’s work, which many geographers view
and reject as “environmental determinism.” There was also the
“Samurai freeze” where Japan rejected western technology for many
years. Societies with slave labour, or plentiful cheap labour, might
not need much technology.<br />
Fantasy becomes science fiction if there is too much technology,
but there are overlapping tropes. Exploration of what it means to be
human could contrast with androids, or with tree spirits. The Chosen
One trope is similar to the Two-Fisted Engineer.<br />
<br />
A few comments that didn’t lead to a lot of discussion:<br />
<ul>
<li>Acceleration of change is associated with rivalry, of which
war is a subset; these circumstances are the source of some
interesting stories.<br />
</li>
<li>There can be societal progress even while technology is
stable, and in fantasy there can be magical progress.<br />
</li>
<li>Stories leave out much; they can’t be as intricate as real
life. A story focuses on character and plot; the focus may be off of
progress.<br />
</li>
<li>Stability is legitimate; Tolkein rejected technological
change.<br />
</li>
</ul>
There were several recommended books, some embracing change.<br />
<ul>
<li>N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth series<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">,
starting with </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><i><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19161852-the-fifth-season">The
Fifth Season</a>.</i></span></span><br />
</li>
<li>Barbara Hambly’s <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40962797-the-silent-tower"><i>The
S</i></a><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40962797-the-silent-tower"><i>ilent
Tower</i></a>.<br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7705004.Fonda_Lee">Fonda
Lee</a>’s contemporary novels<br />
</li>
<li>Elizabeth Gaskell’s <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/156538.North_and_South"><i>North
and South</i></a>.<br />
</li>
<li>Robert Jackson Bennett’s <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37173847-foundryside"><i>Foundryside</i></a><br />
</li>
<li>Ian MacLeod’s <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/362021.The_Light_Ages"><i>The
Light Ages</i></a><br />
</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc5365_2105820869"></a><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/6063/What%20writers%20need%20to%20know:%20physics%20and%20space%20travel">What
writers need to know: physics and space travel</a>
</h2>
Joe Haldeman said that storytelling matters most; he may have been
the one to joke that the main thing to know is never open the door.
Later someone said you really don’t want to know too much if you
want to enjoy movies.<br />
<br />
The first thing to know is Newton’s laws of motion, and that
momentum is conserved. There were bad examples: using an assault
rifle on a pendulum, and curved trajectories (there is no drag in
space). Babylon 5 Star Furies got the physics right, with spinning on
their axis to attack enemies approaching from behind.<br />
<br />
Inventions don’t work right the first time or without funding.
The trope of the most recent invention being exactly what is needed
is also unrealistic. <i>Iron Man 1</i><span style="font-style: normal;">’s
debugging of the suit was good.</span><br />
Vacuum is an insulator. Things don’t freeze immediately, but via
slow radiation. If something goes wrong with heat management on a
spacecraft you may starve while freezing slowly, or have the ship
slowly turn into a sauna.<br />
<br />
Space is really big, “bigger than you can pay anyone to
imagine.” Mechanisms introduced to have stories happen faster are
unrealistic. Faster-than-light travel is equivalent to time travel.
At 75% of the speed of light there is significant friction from
individual atoms.<br />
<br />
With respect to learning more: Oxford University Press has many
short books introducing many topics. You can consult Wikipedia and
Stackoverflow on the internet, and also consult with experts (who you
should pay for any nontrivial interaction). Someone expressed
nostalgia for the “rubber bible” (the <a class="western" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRC_Handbook_of_Chemistry_and_Physics"><i>CRC
</i></a><a class="western" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRC_Handbook_of_Chemistry_and_Physics"><i>Handbook
of </i></a><a class="western" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRC_Handbook_of_Chemistry_and_Physics"><i>Chemistry
and Physics</i></a> originally from the Chemical Rubber Company), now
in its 100<sup>th</sup> edition).<br />
<br />
Short comments that didn’t lead to much discussion<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-style: normal;">Rick Cook’s </span><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/631233.Wizard_s_Bane"><i>Wizard’s
Bane</i></a> used programming ideas to manipulate magic.<br />
</li>
<li>Quantum engtanglement can be used for cryptography but not to
pass information faster than the speed of light.<br />
</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc5367_2105820869"></a><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1491/Gods,%20religion%20and%20atheism%20in%20the%20genre">Gods,
religion and atheism in the genre</a>
</h2>
Most SFF religions are based on real-world ones; Lois McMaster
Bujold’s Challion series is distinctly different. There are
Quintarians who believe in the five gods: father, mother, son,
daughter, and bastard, the latter of whom keeps the religion dynamic,
avoiding both chaos and stagnation. Quadrenes don’t believe in the
bastard. People might primarily worship a different god at different
stages of life.
<br />
<br />
Other examples of SFF religions included Battlestar Galactica
(which includes some Mormon ideas), and the Dragon Age games. In
<i>Dune</i>, religion is paramount, even though strongly influenced
by the Bene Gesserit’s manipulation.
<br />
<br />
Anime, which is primarily secular, sneaks in concepts from Shinto
and Buddhism. There is a bath house scene in one that reflects a
purification ritual. Pokemon Go uses what amounts to a Shinto ritual
involving kami. Kami are not gods, but rather forces of nature. Mt.
Fuji is a kami. Sailor Mars throws <a class="western" href="https://sailormoon.fandom.com/wiki/Ofuda">ofuda</a>;
Sailor Moon has the equivalent of sacred objects.<br />
<br />
The panel distinguished atheism from absence: in many stories
religion isn’t mentioned but might well be present in the
background. There was some discussion of which category Asimov’s
stories fell into; some thought absent, others anti. In a
nonreligious book, others may take on some formerly religious roles.<br />
<br />
Readers often don’t recognize religious references anymore, such
as Christian elements in the Narnia series; they are more like <a class="western" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg_(media)">Easter
eggs</a> for those who do get them. Not explaining religious elements
can be a risky choice.<br />
<br />
Fundamentally one must ask what are the religious elements in the
story; they usually relate to the immaterial world. Eastern religions
are quite different from the Abrahamic ones. Shinto for example has a
priesthood but not an organized one. Someone asked why is there often
a dark evil god, and where do the worshippers come from; someone else
pointed to Ada Hoffmann’s <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40947778-the-outside"><i>The
Outside</i></a> as a good example.<br />
<br />
Mistakes include viewing a religion as monolithic, failing to
integrate the religion with everyday life, and having a good religion
opposed by a bad one. Stories need nuance regarding questions and
doubt.<br />
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc5369_2105820869"></a><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/4137/Using%20science%20in%20fantasy%20writing">Using
science in fantasy writing</a>
</h2>
This session made many interesting points but my notes are fairly
disjointed; this tended to happen regularly with me as the days
progressed. So the following summary is an attempt to pull together
somewhat related things that were said at different points in the
session, not in the order they were said.<br />
<br />
There were several objections to using science in fantasy,
particularly that magic shouldn’t feel like science; it should feel
numinous. Fantasy breaks with scientific thinking, though things like
alchemy were partly scientific. History has examples of technology
being used while it wasn’t fully understood; magic could be like
that.<br />
<br />
Internal consistency is important; if magic obsoletes some
technology or vice versa, the better should win out. The example was
the heliograph, which is cool, but messenger birds were simpler and
better.<br />
There were several examples of amazing ancient technology, such as
crucible steel and the Yaz aqueduct system, which gave wells in the
middle of a desert. Roman concrete was forgotten for centuries and
only recently surpassed by modern concrete; the Romans were great at
civil engineering but not so good at individual-level technology.
After the fall of Rome, the Empire was seen as a lost golden age, but
not everything was lost: the books on medicine remained, but during
the Black Death there was 100% mortality among the “good” doctors
who interacted with patients, leaving just the “theory” doctors
who worked with books. The Mongol invasion ended the genuine golden
age of Arabic science.<br />
<br />
There has been science fiction with magical elements, such as the
spice in <i>Dune</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> and the
psionics in the Darkover series and the dragons in the Pern series.
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">Someone said “spaceships
make it science fiction, unless it has the holy grail.”</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">Someone as an aside mentioned
there aren’t many republics in fantasy, except with Terry
Pratchett’s Discworld series.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
There were several book recommendations, including again N.K.
Jemisin’s Broken Earth series.<br />
<ul>
<li>Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicle, starting with <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/186074.The_Name_of_the_Wind"><i>The
Name of the Wind</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span><br />
</li>
<li>John Christopher’s <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/204792.The_Prince_in_Waiting"><i>The
Prince in Waiting</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-style: normal;">Richard Garfinkle’s</span><i>
<a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1233406.Celestial_Matters">Celestial
Matters</a></i><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-style: normal;">The </span><i>Annals of
Everyday Life</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> series of
resource books, covering the 15</span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;">th</span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;">
-- 18</span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;">th</span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;">
centuries.</span><br />
</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc5371_2105820869"></a><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/4767/Ensembles%20in%20YA">Ensembles
in YA</a>
</h2>
Humans are “band creatures” – evolved to work in small bands
– so networks and relationships are natural. The reader needs to
get to know the characters quickly at the start, and know them well.
The writer needs to signpost whose point of view is in the forefront
when you’re switching among them, and stick with one PoV for each
section. It’s good to keep a capsule biography for each character
to keep them straight, including their key characteristics and
relationships. You meed to differentiate each character in thought,
speech, quirks, talents, actions, and reactions, and make them
different from you. Kate Elliot said she doesn’t plan all of this
in advance, but discovers it in the first draft.<br />
<br />
With a large group, introducing them requires multiple chapters;
initially we meet one or two, then add others that have a clear
relationship to what gets established earlier. For example, someone
already introduced might mention a city, and the next section
introduces a character from that city. It is OK to initially use some
trick to distinguish them while people are getting to know who they
are.<br />
<br />
It’s important to establish characters first before they start
to drive the plot, to help avoid a pigeonhole character whose sole
purpose is to advance the plot. If there is a “spear carrier”
background character, think a little about where they came from and
what their goals are; they could have their own story, even if brief,
and might become a fan favourite you want to write about in a later
tale. They shouldn’t just reflect the main character.<br />
<br />
Subvert genre tropes; roles can be an introductory shorthand, but
you should build on them and add nuance. Good examples of subgenres
for ensembles are heists and comedies, especially sitcoms.<br />
You need to make things do double duty to reduce total word count
(I gather they were implying this is even more important in ensemble
stories than in single-PoV ones). For example, if a character does
something as simple as blocking a door, that shows something about
them as well as advancing the plot. You can do a lot with a couple of
lines of dialog; it reads faster than other kinds of prose.<br />
<br />
Someone asked if you should focus different books on different
characters. It can happen organically, or you can plot it out in
advance (accepting that you may need to be flexible and adapt as you
write the successive stories); this led into a brief discussion of
pantsing versus plotting. A character might “go rogue” if they
are well developed (and thus ‘need’ to go in a different
direction than you thought when they weren’t so well developed);
this can be a good sign, but you may need to wrangle them a bit to
keep going with the original story. You need to figure out what works
for you, and may need to vary from project to project.<br />
<br />
A few isolated points, in response to various questions:<br />
<ul>
<li>A diverse cast isn’t a story in itself, but it shows you’re
reflecting reality. You shouldn’t just try to tick checkboxes;
make sure they are all real people with their own goals and depths.<br />
</li>
<li>There is a real effect of reader age: young people can keep
track of details in their heads more easily than older people.<br />
</li>
<li>We are wired to connect with other people, which should show
in an ensemble.<br />
</li>
</ul>
Some book recommendations:<br />
<ul>
<li>Leigh Bardugo’s <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23437156-six-of-crows"><i>Six
of Crows</i></a> (but those characters could be adults instead of
younger)<br />
</li>
<li>Michelle Segara’s <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/72808-the-queen-of-the-dead"><i>Queen
of the Dead</i></a> trilogy from DAW; <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15824168-touch"><i>Touch</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">
was mentioned specifically.</span><br />
</li>
<li>Ian Banks’ <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8935689-consider-phlebas"><i>Consider
Ph</i><i>l</i><i>eb</i><i>a</i><i>s</i></a><br />
</li>
<li>Becky Chambers’ <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22733729-the-long-way-to-a-small-angry-planet"><i>Long
Way to a Small Angry Planet</i></a><br />
</li>
<li>Maggie Stiefvater’s <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17675462-the-raven-boys"><i>Raven
Boys</i></a> series.<br />
</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc5373_2105820869"></a><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/699/Invented%20mythologies%20in%20SF">Invented
mythologies in SF</a>
</h2>
The panel distinguished three things<br />
<ul>
<li>Religion is practice, how people conduct their everyday
lives.<br />
</li>
<li>Cosmology is how the world works.<br />
</li>
<li>Mythology is a sacred narrative telling something about how
the world came to be.<br />
</li>
</ul>
Writing mythology is harder to do than it might first seem. Myth
is different from stories about the world. It isn’t an instruction
manual for how to defeat the Dark Lord – unless there was once such
a ‘manual’ that became fuzzier over time. Mythology is a giant
game of telephone. Dragon Age presented its mythos via a collection
of unreliable narrators, making it richer. An invented mythology has
to add dimension and context to the society as well as serve the
narrative.<br />
<br />
There is lots of argument among scholars about mythology versus
magic. There should be different ideas about how the magic people use
(cosmology?) came to be (mythology?). Myth isn’t static; it changes
across time and isn’t a literal history. People change different
parts of the story for different reasons. For example, Santa Claus
now conveys to some people that rich kids are better, because
presents are associated with being naughty or nice, and rich kids get
more. You need to ask who is invested in each version of the myth,
perhaps having two characters with opposing narratives.<br />
<br />
What happens to a myth when the people / society are under threat?
Underground versions can surface. Different versions can be mobilized
for different purposes, can drive conflict or help resolve it. There
can be disagreements and gaps. Pop culture can interpret myths, for
example via producing plays about them.<br />
<br />
Some points that didn’t have much discussion around them.<br />
<ul>
<li>Practice (religion?), such as holidays, can arise from myth.<br />
</li>
<li>You need to weave myth into your story; like all
worldbuilding, it needs to be relevant.<br />
</li>
<li>Idioms draw on myths.<br />
</li>
<li>Science fiction simplifies mythic narratives based on biases
(I wish there had been time to explore what the speaker meant by
this).<br />
</li>
<li>There can be generational change in myths (for example, tales
about the USA’s founding fathers have mythic elements that have
changed across time).<br />
</li>
<li>You should read lots of mythologies, especially non-European
ones.<br />
</li>
<li>You can drop references to parts of the mythos in places
where they’re not “load bearing” to, for example, reflect pop
culture. A single reference can create a world in the mind of the
reader.<br />
</li>
<li>It is problematic to exoticize an active religion; there
probably aren’t any practitioners of the ancient Sumerian religion
left.<br />
</li>
<li>People who buy into myths aren’t stupid; it is useful for
them to think with, and helps them on a daily basis.<br />
</li>
</ul>
Some examples:<br />
<ul>
<li>In Jacqueline Carey’s <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/40703-kushiel-s-legacy"><i>Kushiel’</i></a><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/40703-kushiel-s-legacy"><i>s
Legacy</i></a> series, different houses had different stories.<br />
</li>
<li>In the <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/40910-mistborn"><i>Mistborn</i></a>
series by Brandon Sanderson, the second series mythologized the
first.<br />
</li>
<li>In Mary Gentle’s <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/808670.Ash"><i>Ash</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">series </span><span style="font-style: normal;">an
archaeologist finds a site that contradicts the story he told at the
start.</span><br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26600564-the-secret-history-of-burgundy"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
</span></a><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26600564-the-secret-history-of-burgundy"><span style="font-style: normal;">Secret
History of Burgundy</span></a><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-style: normal;">The Bene Gesserit in </span><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44767458-dune"><i>Dune</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">
– they were engineers of mythology.</span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-style: normal;">Richard Garfinkl</span><span style="font-style: normal;">e</span><span style="font-style: normal;">’s
</span><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1233406.Celestial_Matters"><i>Celestial
Matters</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-style: normal;">Q in </span><i>Star Trek</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
is essentially a god but no one worships him; that world is
primarily atheist</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ic</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span><br />
</li>
</ul>
<br />David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-44521061198404483412019-09-01T11:04:00.000-04:002019-09-01T11:04:45.179-04:00Worldcon: Saturday August 17<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">By this point I had decided that
the best way to get into the panels I cared about most was to stay in
the conference centre, and skip the sessions right before the ones I
most cared about so I could queue early. Today’s panels were</span></div>
<ul>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1248/How%20astronomy%20might%20break%20physics"><span lang="en-CA">How
astronomy might break physics</span></a></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/2886/Invisible%20work:%20mothers%20and%20caregivers%20in%20SFF"><span lang="en-CA">Invisible
work: mothers and caregivers in SFF</span></a></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1701/Young%20adults%20versus%E2%80%A6%20the%20world!"><span lang="en-CA">Young
adults versus… the world!</span></a></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1971/Urban%20fantasy%20from%20the%20margins"><span lang="en-CA">Urban
fantasy from the margins</span></a></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1467/Send%20in%20the%20crones:%20older%20women%20in%20SFF"><span lang="en-CA">Send
in the crones: older women in SFF</span></a></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2 class="western">
<a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1248/How%20astronomy%20might%20break%20physics"><span lang="en-CA">How
astronomy might break physics</span></a></h2>
For the most part the panel might have been titled “how physics
evolves in response to astronomical discoveries.” The first example
was the history of neutrino observations. When a clever experiment to
capture solar neutrinos ran long enough for experimentalists to have
confidence in their results, they found that they could detect only
about 1/3 of the expected number of neutrinos. It turned out that there
were three flavours of neutrino, that solar neutrinos would shift
flavour, and that only one flavour was detectable by their instrument.<br />
<br />
They then talked about gravity waves, which to be detectable need
to be generated by collision of neutron stars or black holes. So far
there have been no deviations from Einstein’s theory of general
relativity. The panelist was concerned that black hole collisions
might not be enough to find such deviations. Scientists are hoping to
orbit a gravity wave interferometer which would have much greater
sensitivity.<br />
<br />
Someone asked about quantum black holes, and a panelist pointed
out that Hawking radiation means such tiny black holes have very
limited lifetimes before they “evaporate.” There are likely none
any more that occurred naturally.<br />
<br />
Scientists are also waiting for better measurements of the Cosmic
Microwave Background, to reveal eddies in the early universe that
could give information about curvature measurements and supercluster
formation.<br />
<br />
Someone asked a question about dark matter, which one panelist
explained as a gap in our understanding arising from observations of
the rotation rates of galaxies, which in current theories require
invisible mass to explain. Experiments have ruled out many possible
explanations (most of which break the Standard Model), but haven’t
revealed what dark matter is yet.<br />
<br />
There are three “standard candles” for calculating the Hubble
constant, all of which disagree despite narrow error bands on the
numbers. One measure is based on supernova observations, but is only
good out to 2 billion parsecs. Another is based on the Cosmic
Microwave Background. The third is based on the flare when red giant
stars begin burning helium. There are three assumptions behind
current models, at least one of which has to be discarded to explain
the anomaly: mediocrity (we are not in some position of observational
privilege), homogeneity (the universe is roughly the same
everywhere), and isotropy (the universe is the same in all
directions). One panelist thinks isotropy should go, but others think
we may be in a “low density bubble” (that is, mediocrity should be discarded).<br />
<br />
Several other topics were mentioned briefly<br />
<ul>
<li>There are plans (hopes?) for an X-ray interferometer for
imaging black hole accretion disks.<br />
</li>
<li>A look at Kuiper Belt objects might give a better handle on
the cosmological constant.<br />
</li>
<li>Exoplanets have challenged assumptions about solar system
formation; it is now believed gas giants form far from the star but
can migrate inward.<br />
</li>
<li>A “mystery fluid” might explain the curve in the Hubble
graph, which ought to be a straight line. It’s a “fluid”
because it shows up in the equations with fluid-like behaviour.<br />
</li>
<li>Some are hoping for “Dyson scale telescopes” by which I
think they meant interferometers with solar-system-scale distances
between detectors.<br />
</li>
<li>Dark energy is controversial like dark matter; standard
explanations also assume isotropy.<br />
</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc4515_2044428001"></a><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/2886/Invisible%20work:%20mothers%20and%20caregivers%20in%20SFF"><span lang="en-CA">Invisible
work: mothers and caregivers in SFF</span></a></h2>
With this panel for some reason I chose to sort my notes by
speaker instead of chronologically. Unfortunately I
failed to distinguish notes-to-myself from things the speakers
actually said, so I switched back to chronological for all the other
talks later. The main theme of the panel was that in speculative
fiction, parents and caregivers are often absent or dead, meaning
that the PoV characters lack an important influence that is much
commoner in real life than in some kinds of fiction.<br />
<br />
<span lang="en-CA"><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/participants/1010/bf21a9e8fbc5a3846fb05b4fa0859e0917b2202f/Sylvia+Spruck+Wrigley">Sylvia
Spruck Wrigley</a> talked about the common trope of an elder sibling
taking over as caregiver when a mother is absent or dead. The trouble
is that a 13-year-old orphan isn’t naturally able to take care of
younger siblings without a role model. Women in speculative fiction rarely
exhibit standard female/mother physiology such as lactation and
menstruation.</span><br />
<span lang="en-CA"><br /></span>
<span lang="en-CA"><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/participants/1227/bf21a9e8fbc5a3846fb05b4fa0859e0917b2202f/Rivers++Solomon">Rivers
Solomon</a> talked about the lack or oversimplification of the role
of mothers. For example, </span><span lang="en-CA"><i>God of War</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
has a classic father/son journey where they are alienated from each
other and need to bond. The “hero’s journey” eliminates “family
baggage;” </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">mothers
can’t run off and join a quest. This is related to the cult of the
individual, which sidelines many kinds of relationships but
especially mothers. Film (at least in North America) </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">over-emphasizes</span></span><span lang="en-CA">
beauty, such as having a woman wear perfect makeup while running from
a zombie (in my experience British TV is better); there is less
pressure for this in print. Common tropes include the “conniving
mother” and the mother who gives up everything for her child; for
all her badassery, Sarah Connor fit this trope in the </span><span lang="en-CA"><i>Terminator</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
movies, but she had no choice: she had to protect the “chosen one.”
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Girls
(such as Snow White) are usually delicate, “made of glass and
snow.” Authors should expand cargiving in stories but not erase the
role of women; in the Harry Potter series, Hagrid was more of a
mother figure than McGonagall.</span></span><br />
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/participants/368/bf21a9e8fbc5a3846fb05b4fa0859e0917b2202f/Aliette+de+Bodard">Aliette
de Bodard</a> reiterated that mothers are usually absent or dead. In
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><i>Black Panther</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">,
how might Eric Killmonger have fared if he had a mother after his
father died? The problem is that things coded as feminine are not
valued. Pulp adventurs for boys, and westerns, cut parents from
protagonists' lives, as if they would get in the way; this is not true
of literature from other cultures. A character may be seen as a
failure if they don’t succeed on their own; the only relationships
are romantic or those forged in battle; siblings are often elided as
well. Pregnancy is often body horror, or the woman is relegated to
being a vessel for a chosen one or the child of a supernatural
partner. It is possible to centralize a birth scene; that kind of
pain is just as important as battle wounds or torture when a novel
wants something to go wrong. </span></span><br />
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Some other comments where I neglected to
record context.</span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
No one can save a child from the
problems of war.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
Why can’t parents have
adventures?</div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
There are no toddlers in
speculative fiction.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/participants/1935/bf21a9e8fbc5a3846fb05b4fa0859e0917b2202f/Kate+Elliott">Kate
Elliot</a> has asked to be on the panel because years ago she had a
career realization: it is radical </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><i>not</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
to marginalize people. For example, in </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><i>Rogue
One</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
the mom is killed within three minutes and the protagonist goes down
a bad road; it would have been more interesting if she had had her
mom as a companion. </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Parents
and wives get erased or “fridged;” why is navigating this sort of
relationship considered hard when we all live in extended familiies?
She blames America for the cult of the individual; Norse sagas in
contrast were based on networks, especially kinship. There is more
rape than caregiving pregnancy, and mothers are often vessels. I
think she said she was once asked to take a scene about menstruation
out of a book; the editor considered it “gross.” Other points:</span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
When present at all, why can’t
women help brothers or other kin, not just husbands and sons?</div>
</li>
<li><span style="font-style: normal;">In the second </span><i>Alien</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
movie, the final confrontation was between two mother-figures,
Ripley and the alien queen. </span>
<br />
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
We need to expand caregiving
beyond mothers.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc4517_2044428001"></a><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1701/Young%20adults%20versus%E2%80%A6%20the%20world!"><span lang="en-CA">Young
adults versus… the world!</span></a></h2>
Since I’ve gone back to writing comments in order, there are
phrases that contradict each other whenever panelists had different
opinions.<br />
<br />
The Young Adult market is aimed at teenagers, who are often in
some sense “protected” but can also be exposed to bullying and
violence. Teens are reading material darker that what they live; they
are looking for answers to problems, with a pull between trying to be
adults and needing support. On the other hand teens are living in a
kind of dystopia, where their lives are planned out for them by
authority figures.<br />
<br />
As with the caregivers panel there was discussion of dead parents:
is this necessary for taking away safety and forcing the protagonists
to take action and become independent? It is a cliche from the days
of fairy tales. The trope might be subverted by having the parents be
antagonists. A common pattern is for adults to be unable to save the
day, but also to dismiss kids. “Found families,” moving from the
safety of kin to the uncertainty of friends, is what teens are living
through.<br />
<br />
Is saving the world from dystopia realistic? There is lots of
activism today; kids are involved in saving the world, raised on a
diet of dystopian novels that tell them they <i>can</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
do so. Everything feels unjust when you are young. Teens tend to be
optimistic and </span><i>want</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> to
save the world and overcome threats.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">It may be hard to get readers if
the kids fail, though that can happen in Book 2 of a trilogy without
losing too many. Some level of hope is needed. Romeo and Juliet is a
tragedy, likely not publishable today. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">However,
one can change what success means to the character by the end of the
story.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">Some protagonists might seem </span><i>too</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
competent, but the cliche of hyper-competence has happened in real
life; Charlotte Bronte was a prodigy at 13. But nobody is competent
at everything, and a story should find situations that challenge the
characters.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
One can have smaller stakes than
world-saving: the sickly younger sibling needs more attention and the
protagonist worried about being forever lonely. They may need to save
themselves instead of the world. World problems might still be there,
but in the background.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
<br /></div>
Some isolated comments:<br />
<ul>
<li>There is a thin line separating YA from adult fiction.<br />
</li>
<li>Middle grade tends to have lots of humour.<br />
</li>
<li>Portal fantasy is another way of removing kids from their
parents.<br />
</li>
<li>Writers should read a lot of YA to see what their colleagues
are doing.<br />
</li>
<li>The life experiences of a mature author are relevant; you
don’t need to be young to write YA.<br />
</li>
</ul>
There was a section at the end about writing styles (plotting
versus pantsing) that overlapped with other discussions in other
panels.<br />
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc4519_2044428001"></a><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1971/Urban%20fantasy%20from%20the%20margins"><span lang="en-CA">Urban
fantasy from the margins</span></a></h2>
<span lang="en-CA">The panel </span><span lang="en-CA">seemed to
me </span><span lang="en-CA"><i>initially</i></span><span lang="en-CA">
about the </span><span lang="en-CA">nature</span><span lang="en-CA">
of urban fantasy with, on the surface, less emphasis on authors and
characters from marginalized communities, </span><span lang="en-CA">but
partway in I realized</span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
the composition of the panel, the example stories they recommended,
and the take on what urban fantasy meant </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">all
made significant differences from other urban fantasy sessions I’d
seen</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">.
In particular, urban fantasy from the margins includes taking
standard tropes but applying a marginalized perspective. </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">It
appeals to anyone who doesn’t feel part of the dominant culture.
(Aside: </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">I
happened to recall an internet comment about some editors saying
“we’ve already seen this story” when in fact there were major
differences in perspectives even when similar tropes were used.</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">)</span></span><br />
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="en-CA">Urban fantasy is intimately tied up with the
specific characteristics of the setting: the ‘city’ becomes a
character. Cities act as ‘machinery’ or way of functioning for
its inhabitants, and </span><span lang="en-CA">stories involve</span><span lang="en-CA">
how people interact with place. It is almost always a magical modern
setting in the primary world, but doesn’t need to be an actual
city; Rebecca Roanhorse has set stories in an enclosed reservation
that acts like a city. An urban setting with fantasy elements may not
be enough; one panelist considered </span><span lang="en-CA"><i>Blade</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
to be a superhero story instead. Paranormal romance and paranormal
detectives are two popular subgenres. </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Urban
fantasy is more accessible than other kinds to people who don’t
usually read fantasy.</span></span><br />
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Slice-of-life
stories are a common Eastern mode of storytelling, </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">and
more fantasy should use fascinating nonwestern cities</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">.
Modern cities are often melting pots, with many cultures living
together. (Aside: a Canadian like me tends to think in terms of a
mosaic instead of a melting pot, where people retain much of their
original culture instead of assimilating; I think mosaic is what the
speaker meant, but melting pot is the conventional American phrase).</span></span><br />
<span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></span>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
Some recommendations:</div>
<ul>
<li><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Fonda
Lee’s secondary world, starting with </span></span><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43587154-jade-city"><span lang="en-CA"><i>Jade
City</i></span></a><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></span><br />
</li>
<li><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Daniel
Jos</span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">é</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
Older’s</span></span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
Bone Street Rhumba series, starting with </span></span><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22393174-half-resurrection-blues"><span lang="en-CA"><i>Half-Resurrection
Blues</i></span></a><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></span><br />
</li>
<li><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Ken Liu’s
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">short
story</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><i>Good Hunting</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">in
<a class="western" href="http://www.strangehorizons.com/fund_drives/2012/special-issue-hunting1-f.shtml">two</a>
<a class="western" href="http://www.strangehorizons.com/fund_drives/2012/special-issue-hunting2-f.shtml">parts</a>
in </span></span><span lang="en-CA"><i>Strange Horizons</i></span><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></span><br />
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
Anime, where angels and demons are
distinctly non-Christian.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc4521_2044428001"></a><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1467/Send%20in%20the%20crones:%20older%20women%20in%20SFF"><span lang="en-CA">Send
in the crones: older women in SFF</span></a></h2>
The panel described many situations where older women are absent
or undervalued. An “invisibility blanket” descends when you reach
40. Hollywood is especially bad; an older woman might be asked to
play the mother to the character of an actress not much younger. The
Charlie Sheen character in <i>Two and a Half Men</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
panicked when he found out the woman he was dating was over 50. There
are cliches they can play, such as the ‘wise woman.’ </span>
<br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
Editors are biased, and may say the
character is not ‘relatable.’ British publishing is problematic;
you need a private income to take a career as an editor, so
marginalized people are less likely to become editors.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
The ‘young orphan’ trope eliminates
mothers, but the absence of mothers is characteristic of western
literature. Chinese fantasy is more about cooperative endeavours and
avoids the ‘chosen one’ trope that sidelines parents and mothers
in particular. Elders are people with wisdom, and can be badass
secondary characters when there is a younger protagonist.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Modern
women are less likely to die in childbirth; they don’t fade when
their children are grown, and can blossom.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">There
were several recommendations:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Anything
with Nanny Ogg from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.</span></span></span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Nora
Jemisin’s Broken Earth series, starting with </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><i><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19161852-the-fifth-season">The
Fifth Season</a>.</i></span></span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><i>Star
Trek: Discovery</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">’s
Trina Cornwell, a 50ish admiral who makes tough decisions, and was
portrayed as desirable and having desire.</span></span></span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Alex
Marshall’s Crimson Empire series, starting with </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><i><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22875083-a-crown-for-cold-silver">A
Crown for Cold Silve</a>r</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">,
wherein former conqueror Cobalt Zosia comes out of retirement and
goes on a revenge tour. She is a terrible but complex human being.</span></span></span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
Diane Lockhart character from </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><i>The
Good Wife</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
and now </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><i>The
Good Fight</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">.
</span></span></span>
<br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Elizabeth
Hand’s </span></span></span><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102880.Generation_Loss"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><i>Generation
Loss</i></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">,
described as “Nordic noir.”</span></span></span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Jaime
Lee Moyer’s </span></span></span><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41946234-brightfall"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><i>Brightfall</i></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">,
about Marion after Robin Hood retires to a monastery.</span></span></span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Una
McCormack has written Dr. Who and Star Trek stories; a panelist
recommended </span></span></span><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23492678-the-baba-yaga"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><i>The
Baba Yaga</i></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
(in which the character is pregnant after 40 and </span></span></span><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29430521-the-star-of-the-sea"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><i>The
Star of the Sea</i></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">
in Eric Brown’s <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/85460-weird-space">Weird
Space</a> shared universe.</span></span></span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><span style="font-style: normal;">Robert
Jackson Bennett’s </span></span></span><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23909755-city-of-blades"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span lang="en-CA"><i>City
of Blades</i></span></span></a><br />
</li>
</ul>
<br />David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-27950032042786175562019-08-24T12:01:00.000-04:002019-08-24T12:01:48.143-04:00WorldCon: Thursday August 16<br />
On
this second day of regular sessions, the convention was better
organized about queue management in Conference Centre Dublin, but
there were still some glitches. Today I attended sessions on<br />
<ul>
<li><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/6018/Writing%20beyond%20king%20and%20colony">Writing
beyond king and colony</a>
<br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1776/Done%20to%20death:%20the%20art%20of%20killing%20characters">Done
to death: the art of killing characters</a>
<br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1503/Is%20epic%20fantasy%20conservative?">Is
epic fantasy conservative?</a>
<br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/6069/Unwritable%20stories">Unwritable
stories</a>
<br />
</li>
<li><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/6537/Craft%20is%20not%20a%20dirty%20word">Craft
is not a dirty word</a>
<br />
</li>
</ul>
Unlike yesterday I managed to get into all the sessions I wanted.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
There really isn’t
enough physical space in CCD for the lengths of queues needed for all
the simultaneous separate sessions, but the staff did what was
probably the best they could. Today there were masking tape labels on
the carpets indicating where the queues started and what room they
were for, but simple abbreviations like “WH1” for the relatively
large “Wicklow Hall 1” could easily be confused with “WM1”
for “Wicklow Meeting Room 1.” Fortunately those two were
separated (WM2 being next to WH1) but there was still some confusion.
The main problem is that the only way for there to be enough room for
WH1 next to WM2 was for WH1 to stretch across the space needed to
exit the adjacent WH2A and WH2B, which of course had their own entry
queues.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
I briefly started to think about what kind of conference facility
is needed for so many parallel sessions for 6000+ people; it seems
like a very hard architectural problem. On Saturday I managed to have
a brief conversation with one of the crowd management people employed
by CCD; she said this wasn’t the biggest recent convention, but I
didn’t record the numbers she told me.<br />
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc4260_3122238096"></a>Writing
beyond king and colony
</h2>
<a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/6018/Writing%20beyond%20king%20and%20colony">Writing
beyond king and colony</a> was advertised as What other paradigms can
writers bring to systems of government? But the essential message
was: stick with the tried and true. I was a little disappointed, but
the panellists made some good points that almost convinced me.<br />
<br />
The first point was that monarchy brings with it drama and lots of
significant points for conflict, which is necessary to have a story.
Monarchy isn’t the whole story, though, since money is power and
the rich will always have strong influence. Someone mentioned
merchant princes, and the influence one could wield by donating a
cathedral to influence the powers-that-be within the local religion.
Someone else mentioned that wealth-seeking is behind some conflicts,
when someone wants to go take resources when they need them; one
panellist suggested that in our time, communication satellites and
water are two particularly precious resources that might lead to
conflict.<br />
<br />
Other paradigms are near to monarchy, such as dictatorship (like
an absolute monarchy, but initially at least lacking the hereditary
part). A megalomaniacal wizard might be more likely to be the power
behind the throne than the visible ruler.<br />
<br />
Someone mentioned matriarchy briefly but someone else said that
“men wanting to get laid” is a root of many power struggles,
which aborted that particular discussion. Since I've been <a href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/drafting-novel-4-year-journey-so-far.html">writing a story</a> about a <a href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/gimbutas-on-stone-age-eastern-europe.html">near-matriarchy</a>, I was disappointed.<br />
<br />
There were two opposing perspectives on how much present-day
issues should influence a story. One said that a story too much like
the real world would be unfun; another said that stories ought to
hold up a mirror to current times, and that fiction can work through
the implications of many possible choices, where reality can only
pick one of them.<br />
<br />
I asked a question about whether <a href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/kingdoms-and-kinships.html">egalitarian systems</a> might be
possible in stories. The answer I got was that something more
pleasant and egalitarian has to fall apart or there is no story to
tell. The classic historical example, Athens, wasn’t a democracy in
the modern sense at all, since it was built on slavery and a disenfranchised peasantry. Radical egalitarianism is only possible for
a small community; someone mentioned the pacific islanders in Moana.
Someone mentioned a trilogy by Jo Walton, but the series and novel names went by too
fast for me to record.<br />
<br />
Peacefulness isn’t necessarily all it’s cracked up to be;
there was a reference to someone saying Switzerland had 500 years of
peace and produced the cuckoo clock, whereas Italy had 500 years of
chaos and produced a lot of great art. The mention of chaos led
someone to quote Orson Welles saying “civilization and anarchy are
seven meals apart.” The fall of a state, revealing the pitfalls in
the system, may be the “best bits” for a story. On the other hand
stories about collapsed societies are becoming boring and
predictable.<br />
<br />
There have been a lot of books about dystopian societies, which
“always seem to be brought down by teenagers fighting in arenas.”
A different session talked about why overcoming dystopias is common
in YA, so I’ll write more about that later, and someone said there
is a revival in dystopian literature because of the television series
based on Atwood’s <i>The Handmaid’s Tale</i>.<br />
<br />
At the start of the session the moderator proposed four
philosophers who wrote on the citizen and the state, and asked the
audience to write down which panellist matched what philosopher, with
the first person to get it right winning a book autographed by the
author. I would rather have had a few more minutes of discussion at
the end instead of the pulling of pieces of paper from a hat.<br />
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc4262_3122238096"></a>Done
to death: the art of killing characters
</h2>
The line for <a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1776/Done%20to%20death:%20the%20art%20of%20killing%20characters">Done
to death: the art of killing characters</a> was huge, perhaps because
popular author Patrick Rothfuss was on the panel. I saw CCD employees
counting people to figure out whether the room would fill.<br />
<br />
To get it out of the way quickly, the panel started by warning
against “<a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StuffedIntoTheFridge">fridging</a>:”
killing a character, particularly a girlfriend (and often one without
much depth or prior character arc), solely to motivate action or
growth on the part of the protagonist. There doesn’t seem to be a
similar outcry about killing parents, since the orphan Chosen One
plot is so common.
<br />
<br />
Patrick Rothfuss pointed out that there is a spectrum of deaths,
the most traumatic being about children since most people have a
biological drive to protect them; it’s a clich<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">é</span>d
way to show that someone is evil. Next most bad is stories about dead
parents or dead parent-figures, which are traumatic for small
children. He told about reading The Hobbit to his 4-year-old; when he
got to Thranduil’s death, the child said “I want this story
without this page.” A fundamental question is whether we want to
reflect reality or present a better world? Rothfuss’ child wanted a
story about the Big Good Wolf, with huffing and puffing but no
eating.<br />
<br />
Rothfuss went on to say you have to avoid “meaningless bullshit
deaths.” Someone mentioned <i>Avengers: Endgame</i> saying there
was one fridging and one meaningful death; death can be the
appropriate end of a character arc. Verinica Roth, while not saying
it was meaningless, regrets killing a particular character in
<a class="western" href="https://www.kobo.com/ie/en/ebook/insurgent-divergent-trilogy-book-2"><i>Insurgent</i></a>.<br />
<br />
Rothfuss again was very conscious of the harm one can do with
stories; he wondered how many people had died because of Tolkein’s
glamorization of smoking. There were <a class="western" href="https://metro.co.uk/2010/02/01/the-princess-and-the-frog-fans-fall-ill-after-copying-film-67331/">cases
of salmonella arising from frog-kissing</a> after Disney’s <i>The
Princess and the Frog</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> came out.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
Su J. Sokol prefers to kill characters
off-screen, for example starting with dead parents rather than
killing them on the page. She knows kids with dead parents, and their
stories are important too.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
There was a slight, but interesting,
tangent into balancing one’s personal goals and the needs of the
audience; Rothfuss puts into his books only those things that serve
the books, and writes essays about the “big stuff” and personal
experiences on his blog. Roth said writers might not know what
personal stuff they are dealing with internally, and it’s OK for
some of it to wind up on the page; Rothfuss eventually agreed. Ogden
said she can’t write about anything but climate change these days.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
Someone asked about deaths of villains,
and the panel said there can be some visceral satisfaction in killing
off a villain who “deserves it” but one shouldn’t deal with
such deaths in a simplistic way. They mentioned a time period when
villains had to die but the hero shouldn’t be the one to kill them,
such as the evil queen/witch in Snow White.</div>
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc4264_3122238096"></a>Is
epic fantasy conservative?
</h2>
The topic came from a <a class="western" href="https://twitter.com/gollancz/status/305019274219642880">tweet
in 2013</a> from the Gollancz publisher’s twitter account. The
first thing said at <a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1503/Is%20epic%20fantasy%20conservative?">Is
epic fantasy conservative?</a> is that we need to distinguish between
large-C Conservative, a political movement or party or agenda, and
small-c conservative, an attitude about life and culture.
Tolkein-derived fantasy is conservative; so is stories about
feudalistic repression. The idea of a golden age and the “return of the king” to restore it, is very attractive (stability after chaos) but also conservative.<br />
<br />
History is inherently political. Classic historical European
education was about the great deeds of great white men; the framework
is changing. For example, one panelist’s British school education
gave a very different picture than their Irish relatives' oral
history. One should interrogate one’s assumptions, and think about
who has power and who uses it; I was reminded of Daniel J. Older's <a href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2015/09/sunday-and-monday-of-writing-excuses.html">presentation at the 2015 Writing Excuses Retreat</a>. We are now getting really good stories
from the perspectives of colonized people, but booksellers are often
still often prominently displaying a narrow selection of white male
authors.<br />
<br />
The conversation wandered into a couple of interesting areas where
I don’t recall what the connection was:<br />
<ul>
<li><i><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/618177.Legend">Legend</a>
</i><span style="font-style: normal;">by David Gemmel started the
grimdark trend, which morphed into what Jo Walton called “moody
blokes in cloaks.” We may have reached “peak grimdark;” now
people want some hope in the darkness.</span><br />
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
One author found he had a harder
time writing interesting women characters in a non-patriarchal
setting; it was easier for him to write misogynistic backgrounds.</div>
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
Bestselling books tend to be
conservative.</div>
</li>
<li><span style="font-style: normal;">A lot of books trying to
imitate </span><i>Game of Thrones</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
are bad (presumably a special case of “derivative works are
usually worse than the original").</span><br />
</li>
<li><div style="font-style: normal;">
Chinese stories are usually
culturally conservative but very different from western ones.</div>
</li>
<li><i><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41716919-jade-war">Jade
War</a></i><span style="font-style: normal;"> by Fonda Lee (sequel to
</span><i><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43587154-jade-city">Jade
City</a></i><span style="font-style: normal;">) has a modern setting
but is a classic epic fantasy.</span><br />
</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc4266_3122238096"></a>Unwritable
stories
</h2>
The <a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/6069/Unwritable%20stories">Unwritable
stories</a> panel was in Stratocaster BC at Point Square, which
required a moment of inspiration to realize might be in the Gibson
Hotel adjacent to the Odeon theatres. It was a medium-sized venue
that remained nearly empty; I think part of the reason is people not
being able to find Stratocaster.<br />
<br />
The first statement someone made after the introductions was that
short fiction relates to the zeitgeist, so what is writable at one
time might become unwritable later, and that one might need to give
up if a story is taking “too long.” Someone else though
“unsalable” and “can’t write this story well enough” might
be more common than “unwritable.” It occurred to me that perhaps
what is unwritable at one time can become writable later. Later,
someone said that a story might become unwritable because the author
changes, or someone else writes something closely similar.<br />
<br />
Others followed up on the “can’t write well enough” to say
that one’s own standards might be higher than one can currently
achieve. Someone responded that authors should never criticize their
own fiction; that’s what other people are for. At least, one should
turn off one’s inner critic until finished with the first draft.<br />
<br />
People mentioned their writing processes, covering the standard
“plotter” versus “pantser” and even “plantser.” Some
people like to discover the characters and plot as they write; others
need to at least know the ending in advance and work towards it. They
agreed there is no wrong process; what matters is how the author
feels about it.<br />
<br />
There was a question about whether what is popular impacts one’s
writing. One should write what one enjoys, not what is popular.
However, public sensibilities are important. If something is
unpopular, is that for a good reason, such as rejection of the “lying
victim” trope? You should ask yourself why it is important to you
to write this. Like anyone, an author’s head may be filled with
garbage absorbed from the surrounding culture; one should examine
things and ask if it really matches one’s worldview. The process of
writing involves clarifying what one is writing. Someone commented
that Nabokov’s <i>Lolita</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> would
be unwritable today, but for the time, he did it brilliantly. But an
audience may cast you as approving the person in the story, unless
other characters challenge them within the narrative.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
A few other observations that didn’t lead to much discussion:<br />
<ul>
<li>One might write 30k words only to throw it away after one
realizes what the story is “really about.”<br />
</li>
<li>Some panellists keep dream diaries. Dreams may really be
about how you feel, or give you images, but don’t give plot.<br />
</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="western">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="__RefHeading___Toc4268_3122238096"></a>Craft
is not a dirty word
</h2>
This was my “time for something completely different panel;”
<a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/6537/Craft%20is%20not%20a%20dirty%20word">Craft
is not a dirty word</a> was about art versus craft mostly regarding
physical crafting such as sewing and knitting, the latter of which is
my wife Margaret`s main hobby. But occasionally a speaker would
comment on the relationship of the topic to writing.<br />
<br />
Whether something is a craft or an art may depend on intent, what
you are trying to communicate. Exploration and development of a skill
is craft; in writing, pastiches and fanfic could be seen as skills
development. The perception of crafts declined when “anyone can”
kits became available. Someone wondered if art versus craft was
similar to utilitarian versus meant-to-be-viewed; someone else
pointed out that medieval tapestries were art that was meant to keep
a room warm, so was both. Someone said if you’re willing to sell
it, it’s craft, and that it’s art if it is too personal or too
expensive to sell. Someone else pointed out that artists need to eat,
and it’s not “selling out” to sell one’s art.<br />
<br />
When someone said that taking what someone else did and
replicating is more craft than art, someone else made what seemed to
me to be a fundamental point: “art” versus “craft” ignores a
third element, design. Creating a pattern is design. “Creative
plagiarism” is design – taking what someone else did and
modifying it, such as adapting a knitting pattern. Everything builds
on the past, so everything creative has some element of copying and
some of adapting. Kids need to explore and adapt; having to do things
a specific way stifles them.<br />
<br />
I asked a question about the Maker movement. This tends to be
“industrial” by which I think they meant “uses mechanical
tools”. Some makers disparage traditional “women’s crafts”
but there are inclusive makers who don’t, and lots of women learn
how to use the tech tools and apply them in creative ways. But
someone said they’ve seen people disrupt sewing areas by making
phone calls, where this tends not to happen with the woodworking
areas.<br />
<br />
Some people who say “I’m not crafty” can do well when they
explore a craft with a guide. “I’m not really an artist” is
often imposter syndrome.<br />
<br />David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-25813960286245328122019-08-16T16:40:00.001-04:002019-08-16T16:40:51.563-04:00Worldcon: Thursday August 15
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><a class="western" href="https://dublin2019.com/">Worldcon
2019</a> was the reason for my being in Ireland this year. If you
don’t know about Worldcon, here is a teeny capsule summary: the
World Science Fiction Convention is a combination of panels on a wide
variety of topics of interest to fans and creators of science
fiction, fantasy, and horror (collectively known as speculative
fiction, or sometimes SFF to people who downplay the horror element),
plus events relevant to the hosting location, cosplay, and shopping
(largely books, which you can sometimes get a chance to have
autographed). Plus, the big item that’s relevant to fans who don’t
go: attendees and associate members vote on the Hugo awards, which are presented in a big
ceremony (on Sunday night this time).</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Today
I went to four panels:</span></div>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/795/Crime%20and%20punishment%20in%20the%20age%20of%20superheroes">Crime
and Punishment in the Age of Superheroes</a></span></div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1398/How%20to%20build%20an%20evil%20empire">How
to Build an Evil Empire</a></span></div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/6033/Creating%20wonderful%20new%20worlds">Creating
wonderful new worlds</a></span></div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/429/Making%20the%20asexual%20textual">Making
the asexual textual</a>.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">I
tried to get into <a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1857/Throwing%20Grandma%20out%20the%20airlock">Throwing
Grandma out the airlock</a>, but by the time I got to the end of the
queue an back, Odeon 5 had filled up. The following summaries are
based on very brief notes – I didn’t want to take so long writing
that I missed something interesting – and the passage of time is
fuzzing my memory, so by now this is primarily my own reinterpretation of what was said.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Because
of overwhelming interest, the Dublin team had to split events between
two venues 850 metres apart: the Conference Centre Dublin, and the
Point Square complex (primarily the 6 Odeon theatres, but also some
meeting rooms at the adjacent hotel). I have had trouble walking long
distances in the past couple of years; a kilometer once per day
seemed to be my recent limit. This led me to buy a 1-week Leap pass,
which might have been overkill unless I make time to travel around
the city during gaps where there aren’t events I want to attend.
Getting the Leap pass was an adventure in itself, which I <a class="western" href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=674301406404258&id=100014732144409">chronicled
on Facebook</a>. One of the side effects was showing me that I could,
indeed, probably walk back and forth between the two, but by then I’d
bought my pass.</span></div>
<h2 class="western">
Crime and Punishment in the Age of Superheroes</h2>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">My
first actual panel was <a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/795/Crime%20and%20punishment%20in%20the%20age%20of%20superheroes">Crime
and Punishment in the Age of Superheroes</a>. One of the first points
made was that comics completely ignore some natural reactions of the
population: in the age of doxxing, secret identities would be the
instant target of significant numbers of people, and some people
would try to hunt superheroes down. Aliette de Bodard pointed out
that in France, masks are illegal, and people must be prepared to
present ID at any time; later she mentioned that citizen’s arrest
isn’t a thing in France, so a French Batman couldn’t capture
miscreants and hand them over to the police.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Regular
police don’t like people trying to do their jobs, but there is no
specific crime in the US for vigilantism; people have to be charged
with something like assault, kidnapping, excessive use of force, and
so on; a defence lawyer said that “vigilante” is a label police
apply to people they don’t like. In Britain, one novel suggested a
bureaucracy would grow up around superheroism; you might need a
licence, plus training in evidence handling (which apparently is
sufficiently sloppy in so many stories that the villains would get
off on technicalities). On the subject of evidence, someone asked
what would happen if Spiderman refused to show up at a criminal
trial, unmask, and testify? Others suggested that usually with
Spiderman there is a big enough crowd that there would be other
witnesses, cellphone recordings, CCTV, and so on.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">There
was some discussion of inhumane treatment of captured villains, like
being consigned to Arkham Asylum, or imprisoned in the accelerator in
the TV version of the Flash. There are two issues: continuing to
treat criminals as human beings, versus finding ways to confine
villains with superpowers. Someone pointed out the imprisonment of
Magneto in a plastic cell as a humane way to keep locked up someone
who can manipulate the normal metal bars; he had comforts, visitors,
things that don’t happen in black sites (which is what the Flash’s
cells essentially were). They didn’t take quite enough precautions,
because he and his minions worked out something the jailors didn’t
think of, but I gather the panelist thought it was the right way to
treat Magneto anyway.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Someone
pointed out that having something like the Marvel Cinematic Universe’
<a class="western" href="https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Sokovia_Accords">Sokovia
Accords</a> is a really neccessary idea, but they got passed
unbelievably quickly. International treaty negotiations take a very
long time and involve “horsetrading” and, sometimes, dishonest
negotiations. Someone gave the example of the likelihood of some
countries refusing to admit they had superheroes, if those heroes
were part of a secret government program (which, for example, the
Captain America supersoldier initiative originally was).</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Someone
else suggested fighting crime might not be the best use of
superpowers; Thor could generate huge amounts of clean energy, as
could the Flash (by running in a giant hamster wheel). There was also
some discussion of how rehabilitation instead of imprisonment might
apply to various specific villains, but I didn’t record details.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">During
the questions I did That Thing You Aren’t Supposed To Do: making a
statement instead of posing a question. In my case I wanted to point
to the book <a class="western" href="https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-law-of-superheroes">The
Law of Superheroes</a>, which I misremembered as Superheroes and the
Law. It raises great questions like, if Commissioner Gordon summons
Batman with the Batsignal, does that make Batman a state actor
subject to restrictions like those on the police?</span></div>
<h2 class="western">
How to Build an Evil Empire</h2>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">To
get to the second panel, <a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/1398/How%20to%20build%20an%20evil%20empire">How
to Build an Evil Empire</a>, I took the Luas tram to Point Square,
where the panels are in a collection of movie theatres. Odeon 1 was
the largest, and didn’t quite fill up for this panel.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">A
recurring theme is Diane Duane’s statement (which I think was a
quote from someone else) that “I am blameless” is the default
existential self-view of almost everyone. I’ve heard something
similar about writing villains: “Everyone is the hero of their own
story.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Emperors
need minions, who might commit “bureaucratic excesses” since a
hypothetical good emperor can’t monitor everyone. Could an empire
just be “evil at the top?” One answer was that accepting evil
orders makes the minions evil – but someone else asked whether they
had a realistic choice; they might have been in the position of “do
this or face some nasty consequences.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Suggested
examples of evil overlords who know they are evil: the villain from
the old Worm Ourobouros novel; Duquesne from E.E. “Doc” Smith’s
stories; Voldemort (at which place someone pointed out it was dumb of
him not to monitor his horcruxes). Someone wanted to list successful
real-world evil empires, and the three main suggestions were North
Korea (which I’d call a regime rather than an empire), old Assyria,
and the British empire (which saw itself as good and justified, but
for which the colonized peoples have a different opinion). A
successful empire has to exploit resources effectively and be
ruthless.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Several
people’s other short observations where I didn’t record much
discussion.</span></div>
<ul>
<li>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">One
panelist asserted that “empire” is inherently evil since it must
have involved conquering someone. </span>
</div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">An
evil empire can’t abide a free press.</span></div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">A
Fascist regime needs an enemy to blame things on, so needs a
constant war; if it “wins” it has to find a new enemy.</span></div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">We
don’t usually see the propaganda that convinces a population to go
along with what the evil empire is doing.</span></div>
</li>
<li>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">An
evil technological empire needs enough education to maintain and use
the technology, but not the kind of education that leads to
self-awareness and reflection.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The
moderator recommended searching for the <a class="western" href="http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html">Evil
Overlord List</a>; I think the <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilOverlord">TV
Tropes page</a> is also valuable (though there’s no such thing as a
quick trip to that site; it’s a black hole that sucks down huge
amounts of time if you aren’t disciplined enough).</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<h2 class="western">
Creating wonderful new worlds</h2>
The panel on <span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/6033/Creating%20wonderful%20new%20worlds">Creating
wonderful new worlds</a> </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">was
a little less on track than some others, allowing a diversion at the
start into discussing Dr. Who, </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">and
a couple of other minor diversion later</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">,
but there were several interesting suggestions, </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">the
first of which was that all the worldbuilding is useless if the
reader doesn’t care about the characters.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">One</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">
idea was to take some real-world element and ask a “what if”
question. Asimov’s </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><i>Foundation</i></span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">
series was inspired by the fall of the Roman empire. Tolkein’s work
was inspired by celtic and anglo-saxon mythology and culture. It
matters a lot that the world be internally consistent, with
implications of the differences from our reality being well thought
through. Some of the panelists alluded to stories where they got part
way through and though “that can’t work, given this other thing
that happened.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Quite a bit of time was spent
on talking about how worldbuilding details make it into the story.
The iceberg analogy came up: the author may understand a huge amount
about the background, but only a small part of it should be revealed
to the reader: just what is important to the viewpoint character in
the moment. Infodumps almost always lose the reader; it’s very hard
to do well; </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">the same was
said about long passages of description</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">More than one panelist had
the experience of putting in some detail where they weren’t
initially sure of why it was important. Writers needs to trust their
subconscious, that they will eventually realize why the detail w</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">ill
matter</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Other points:</span><br />
<ul>
<li>
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">If
you discover that “the problem” is too easy for the character,
it’s better to change the problem than the story.</span></span><br />
</li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">In
a panel where some authors enthused over the value of maps in their
books, China Mieville asked “Have you considered what we lose by
having a map?”</span></span><br />
</li>
<li>
<a class="western" href="https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-windup-girl-4"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><i>The
Windup Girl</i></span></a><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"> was
highly recommended</span><br />
</li>
</ul>
<h2 class="western">
Making the asexual textual</h2>
By this point in the day (9pm local) I was getting tired so not
taking as many notes as I had with some previous panels which I’m
sad about because one of my ace friends especially wanted to know
what was said.<br />
<br />
The issue at the heart of <span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><a class="western" href="https://eu.grenadine.co/sites/dublin2019programme/en/dublin-2019/schedule/429/Making%20the%20asexual%20textual">Making
the asexual textual</a> </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">was
that an asexual and/or aromantic character often isn’t identified
as such because in many kinds of novels, sexual attraction and
romance aren’t issues that comes up for every character, so an </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">ace
or aro</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"> character isn’t
naturally labeled as such </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">if
they are</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"> just going on
with their life </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">or their
career</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">. </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">H</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">ow
much </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">w</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">ould
an asexual character even thi</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">nk
about their asexuality?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">One panelist writes secondary
world fantasy where queer identities were never medicalized (as
abnormal in some way), so the </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">cultures</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">
wouldn’t use the same terminology we do (asexual means “without
sexuality” which </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">suggests</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">
something is lacking). So she uses constructed language </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">(conlang),
or describes rather than labeling. Terminology might also be awkward
in fiction about futures that are better than our current society.
</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">One panelist pointed out
that asexual and aromantic are independent attributes; one can be
either or both or neither.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">I found the moderator Darcie
Little Badger especially fascinating because she is Apache, and in
her native language there is no word for romance. There is however
the concept of a “special other”.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">They listed some harmful
tropes: asexuality as inhuman; asexuals as ignorant of biology; the
idea that they’re “just waiting for the right person.” Someone
suggested that pressure to label might be tokenism, but it seemed to
me that clearly identifying a character as ace and/or aro is
important for readers who want to see themselves in the story.</span><br />
David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-60660437839139921752019-08-14T15:04:00.001-04:002019-08-14T15:04:37.657-04:00Vacation 2019: Derry to Dublin
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Tuesday
August 13 involved a lot of driving. We started in Derry, visited the
Giant’s Causeway in the far northeast, then the Titanic Museum in
Belfast, then returned to Dublin.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The
countryside in Derry and Antrim; I didn’t note when we crossed from
one county to the other.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM9343umXwuUa28_sLpJowyRc3woxHPuB2N8J7BDKLR-twbsDXSFWZe-VIfwLYpgRDsv-YsrI9g4EBro8o6L_KyzCG_xI2ZLTeiNAYLk9T6_fKeKmivRNf9tbSra1Gyz-zcc53bzYhf5E/s1600/Hills.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="918" data-original-width="1600" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM9343umXwuUa28_sLpJowyRc3woxHPuB2N8J7BDKLR-twbsDXSFWZe-VIfwLYpgRDsv-YsrI9g4EBro8o6L_KyzCG_xI2ZLTeiNAYLk9T6_fKeKmivRNf9tbSra1Gyz-zcc53bzYhf5E/s320/Hills.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGKlQG8XpxeRY6Mnl0umu-usCO3GP2AZIGpfjdeXooeHLDGNstPmKol1xDUks7hfBAVTV5mJuepYfcuG4ou1Hvz5BolRT3xB0IkPK8NnMlsa2eEJTrsCAqDCS1SEJsLT6pubBcVktaMss/s1600/Countryside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="888" data-original-width="1600" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGKlQG8XpxeRY6Mnl0umu-usCO3GP2AZIGpfjdeXooeHLDGNstPmKol1xDUks7hfBAVTV5mJuepYfcuG4ou1Hvz5BolRT3xB0IkPK8NnMlsa2eEJTrsCAqDCS1SEJsLT6pubBcVktaMss/s320/Countryside.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">We
passed a few wind farms during the trip. Our driver said that much of
Ireland’s power generation is still coal and oil.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBMiy4iMRUbw_VaNhoGJHztvX2yGArYCgLOl-E1JOLaAQdtl0kjL7Ta2_3OdOppopW5uTom5S09Be6wzi8YGbGRAHrGzPxgA8zEUHcN2yXCW1i2HjUyPo5H4BS0wwKzj541lAFG7GwZgU/s1600/Wind+Farm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="1600" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBMiy4iMRUbw_VaNhoGJHztvX2yGArYCgLOl-E1JOLaAQdtl0kjL7Ta2_3OdOppopW5uTom5S09Be6wzi8YGbGRAHrGzPxgA8zEUHcN2yXCW1i2HjUyPo5H4BS0wwKzj541lAFG7GwZgU/s320/Wind+Farm.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">We stopped briefly for pictures at Castle Dunluce; it was apparently used as Castle Greyjoy in Game of thrones, which I've no plans to watch.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFfjmEd8mLr2EC3PxROol4e3HsHUlOA0kH1R0YaikOOdzIMhzBQKpMEVShTmyPYl4dT8jNfbzk0gRHhZbNLlt03ZYt_blCeqxvBUQx9wYcJ-DLOhCl78dAA4gCXP0FcBiDLRv9vVpyk28/s1600/Dunluce+Castle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="823" data-original-width="1600" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFfjmEd8mLr2EC3PxROol4e3HsHUlOA0kH1R0YaikOOdzIMhzBQKpMEVShTmyPYl4dT8jNfbzk0gRHhZbNLlt03ZYt_blCeqxvBUQx9wYcJ-DLOhCl78dAA4gCXP0FcBiDLRv9vVpyk28/s320/Dunluce+Castle.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The
major landmark of the day was the <a class="western" href="http://www.giantscausewayofficialguide.com/">Giant’s
Causeway</a> in County Antrim, a world heritage site. According to
myth it was built by Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool), an Irish giant
who wanted to reach Scotland to fight Scottish giant Benandonner, who
turned out to be much larger. Finn ran away, pursued by his enemy,
but his quick-thinking wife disguised him as a baby. Benandonner
thought <i>if that`s the baby, how big must the daddy be?</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
and ran away himself.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">If
you check <a class="western" href="https://www.qub.ac.uk/geomaterials/weathering/causeway/locationMapBoxes.html">this
map of the whole site</a>, you can see Portnaboe, the Stooken, Port
Ganny, and Port Noffer; I walked from the visitors centre about
halfway round Port Noffer. Portnaboe:</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Zy9FA_xTDZsylcZTjDsVMvUJl1kNTiySQDSf-gNkPvHTIyqAR7fMUMW3_UFEHogDG70rYD_bd0mH8uMdLMiBuuMaeHr6a2KOIZ72Phy8VK4wbj0eap8MPP5baQQ1xzXieJA4biv8cVE/s1600/Giant+Portnaboe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="766" data-original-width="1600" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Zy9FA_xTDZsylcZTjDsVMvUJl1kNTiySQDSf-gNkPvHTIyqAR7fMUMW3_UFEHogDG70rYD_bd0mH8uMdLMiBuuMaeHr6a2KOIZ72Phy8VK4wbj0eap8MPP5baQQ1xzXieJA4biv8cVE/s320/Giant+Portnaboe.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The
Stooken:</span></div>
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<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The
Onion Skin rocks; weathering has been peeling off layers like an
onion, hence the name.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivByDo1dUVo-oxLCX6gXg9f28Sd3gfvaBnaAQlEgsVFajPkI3a_Gj_yS0a7rrBSN6xj_vS-2fs-hhUrduLW2SfL9fZsCzYUpLgQhIujgefkjs7LZ29nVljc0EVu3WqL91TdWFPm0IIN3o/s1600/Giant+Onion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1356" data-original-width="1600" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivByDo1dUVo-oxLCX6gXg9f28Sd3gfvaBnaAQlEgsVFajPkI3a_Gj_yS0a7rrBSN6xj_vS-2fs-hhUrduLW2SfL9fZsCzYUpLgQhIujgefkjs7LZ29nVljc0EVu3WqL91TdWFPm0IIN3o/s320/Giant+Onion.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The
start of the Causeway itself. I stayed on the path because after a
shattered elbow three and a half years ago I’m no longer willing to
risk a fall on slippery rocks.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwASygqV9u41Cz4R9AzFSOS8rWwi_CiLwcMABKS4QENMa8DhWELY99JltwVhqHdg1UrXtG2kOYluwPVhpriqklaeA18WG-aeojZqr4Zb3j-AXlXl4xmAPF-MF1a9hXVuwpj8iPl9T07u0/s1600/Giant+Causeway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="888" data-original-width="1600" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwASygqV9u41Cz4R9AzFSOS8rWwi_CiLwcMABKS4QENMa8DhWELY99JltwVhqHdg1UrXtG2kOYluwPVhpriqklaeA18WG-aeojZqr4Zb3j-AXlXl4xmAPF-MF1a9hXVuwpj8iPl9T07u0/s320/Giant+Causeway.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2iVrbmmo1n2tdhHFqImfFMgBQ5ribzdk58JJGdIthtDwTj1pPFmtKC73ISxw-mhf24He7_Dues1nY-HdLUM9SjRR5wUmEbkZZ0lsiaiAdlaSu9gOsd03YVjNyzSTA4bcuTZXSPnLKT_k/s1600/Giant+Stones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1025" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2iVrbmmo1n2tdhHFqImfFMgBQ5ribzdk58JJGdIthtDwTj1pPFmtKC73ISxw-mhf24He7_Dues1nY-HdLUM9SjRR5wUmEbkZZ0lsiaiAdlaSu9gOsd03YVjNyzSTA4bcuTZXSPnLKT_k/s320/Giant+Stones.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The
Giant’s Organ.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqxIqUMPoXtu0PkJd89kBNov0ogaX4xnAidL5p_wAdVLqsJ5uZVVJhGazlDAuYkTkaTQA4fsPYZLlWz4cxLJHxF2-MPheZnfw_DYS3A5sBsWs8zktRaYHOt4t6hxzARTmTklH965FICmQ/s1600/Giant+Organ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1084" data-original-width="1600" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqxIqUMPoXtu0PkJd89kBNov0ogaX4xnAidL5p_wAdVLqsJ5uZVVJhGazlDAuYkTkaTQA4fsPYZLlWz4cxLJHxF2-MPheZnfw_DYS3A5sBsWs8zktRaYHOt4t6hxzARTmTklH965FICmQ/s320/Giant+Organ.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The
Giant’s Boot, which Fionn lost while running away. It would be a
size 93, indicating Fionn was over 50 feet tall, five stories. Which means the Scottish giant was even bigger!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfzfHXHZP8021EVKwsrDzcp_1BvGpyBDi7Z3sKBVknLQ1a1vnR9SRk6e8adt0UJEsE-HJfMpV7wk6GvJsEcbWrskyyiLKsl8DDc630buABw_APdiNerqK9kNCpxHe-QNlEeQkiqZdSO_o/s1600/Giant+Boot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1230" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfzfHXHZP8021EVKwsrDzcp_1BvGpyBDi7Z3sKBVknLQ1a1vnR9SRk6e8adt0UJEsE-HJfMpV7wk6GvJsEcbWrskyyiLKsl8DDc630buABw_APdiNerqK9kNCpxHe-QNlEeQkiqZdSO_o/s320/Giant+Boot.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The
end of my walk. Continuing involved a steep climb, which I had
neither the time nor the energy for. You may just be able to make out the path heading up the side of the cliff.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1v3BfPdA6TWkF56_ddp3ai7rV3FobgbvFSGwHmKcB_g-ljf8vU1GPnq8qgArM3YFEARdM-y94H76jo_294suOWcx_sipVPTkPVldq6Vnw2oiugR8QMx64kGWQh9TMQ2lYBaQxNl6DEBE/s1600/Giant+Continue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="1600" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1v3BfPdA6TWkF56_ddp3ai7rV3FobgbvFSGwHmKcB_g-ljf8vU1GPnq8qgArM3YFEARdM-y94H76jo_294suOWcx_sipVPTkPVldq6Vnw2oiugR8QMx64kGWQh9TMQ2lYBaQxNl6DEBE/s320/Giant+Continue.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Afterwards
we drive south through County </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Antrim</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
and County Armagh </span><span style="font-style: normal;">to Belfast.
On the way as we went through a roundabout we found our exit blocked;
we had to go back in the general direction of the Causeway for many
miles before the diversion took us back onto the main motorway to
Belfast.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The
main attraction in Belfast was the Titanic museum, sited where the
ship and its sisters Oceanic and Brittanic were built. This view from
the top floor shows where the Titanic was built, on the left, and
where the other two were built, on the right. The rusted beams show
the outline of the huge gantry used to move the gigantic beams and
plates that comprised the ships.</span></div>
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<br />
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<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">We
had dinner at a seaside restaurant about forty minutes north of
Dublin. The tide was out, and the slope so gentle that the sea was
barely visible across the flats.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrQDNMxgynLhuwmQU6DEhMEQvyFR6reu9HcfB1HGBEv5GxNDNYrHigGXBzoo2LNAZLw7Omws2fHArH-4nFZJEgWcCao6GK-c0yCWehRDdYSTRqTfG4WGd-g8ob_X7TADW-WldwP4dQRN8/s1600/Tida+l+Flat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="775" data-original-width="1600" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrQDNMxgynLhuwmQU6DEhMEQvyFR6reu9HcfB1HGBEv5GxNDNYrHigGXBzoo2LNAZLw7Omws2fHArH-4nFZJEgWcCao6GK-c0yCWehRDdYSTRqTfG4WGd-g8ob_X7TADW-WldwP4dQRN8/s320/Tida+l+Flat.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Finally
we reached our last tour hotel. Today (Wednesday) I moved to
the Spencer hotel near the Conference Centre Dublin for Worldcon.</span></div>
David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-27341124681305682382019-08-13T17:47:00.000-04:002019-08-13T17:47:42.991-04:00Vacation 2019: Galway to Derry
Monday August 12 took in Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal,
and Derry. We visited a holy site in Knock, a sheep farm in northern
Sligo, and took a tour of a small part of Derry.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
At the start of the day our driver/guide talked about the Republic
of Ireland and “the North of Ireland” as he called what I’d
learned to name “Northern Ireland.” He said when we crossed the
border we would see three things different: the road signs would be
in English only (no Irish), the speed limits would change from
kilometres per hour to miles per hour, and the name Derry would
change to Londonderry. He didn’t say a lot about the Troubles –
he left that to our guide in Londonderry – but he did talk a little
about history. He described the penal laws that suppressed the Irish
for 700 years: they couldn’t own land, vote, practice their
religion, or speak their language. At independence in the 1920s, six
of the thirty-two counties stayed under British rule. After the peace
treaty, Queen Elizabeth visited Ireland, the first English monarch in
over 100 years to do so, and laid wreaths at the memorials to those
who fought and died for independence, which greatly endeared her to
many Irish. But then at her first state dinner she stood up and the
first words she spoke were in Irish, which had an incredible
emotional a lot of Irish, including our driver, who said that
endeared her to the Irish forever. But they’re worried about
Brexit, since most of Ireland’s trade is with Great Britain.<br />
<br />
In County Mayo we stopped at the <a class="western" href="https://www.knockshrine.ie/">shrine
in Knock</a> (Cnoc Mhuire, “Hill of Mary”), celebrating the
apparition of St. Mary, St. Joseph, and St. John the Baptist in 1879.
<br />
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Protestants like me have a little trouble with veneration of the
saints, but I can appreciate it as a beautiful site. Behind this
display it had reliefs of the stations of the cross, with titles in
Irish.<br />
There are five churches on the site, including the parish church<br />
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and the basilica.<br />
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Pope John Paul II celebrated mass on this site.<br />
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We then drove to the northern part of County Sligo to a sheep
farm. At one point I realized we were on a somewhat smoother version
of the narrow roads we’d been on previously – two narrow lanes,
one each way – but that the speed limit was 100km/hr. In Canada
I’ve never seen anything over 90 that wasn’t a divided highway,
and I think always two lanes each way. One lane was closed for
construction; instead of flagmen, there was a temporary traffic
light. The road slowed for villages, and the occasional roundabout.<br />
<br />
A farmer named Martin Feeny demonstrated how his border collie,
Joe, herded sheep. He told us that the basic movements of
sheep-herding are instinctive to border collies, and that what you
train them on is commands to do specific things: move (or rather, run
at top speed) left or right, slow down, move the sheep, return to the
shepherd, and “turn” which means look around to see if the dog
has missed a few sheep. Moving the sheep involved a low-to-the-ground
stalking walk, staring at the sheep; Martin said the stalk and the
dog’s stare are what cause the sheep to move away from the dog.
When Joe was herding the sheep directly towards us, it came to me
that a dog would be a menacing presence to sheep in that pose.
<br />
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For long distances Martin uses a whistle, which the dog can hear
from up to two miles away. Each dog is trained to a different set of
commands, so one farmer can direct two or more for a larger herd. The
nearby <a class="western" href="https://sligotourism.ie/listing/benbulben/">Benbulben</a>,
Ireland’s only flat-topped mountain, is grazing land.
<br />
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It can take a full day to bring the sheep down, which is why
“turn” is so important; it tells the dog to see if other sheep
are nearby and pick them up too, so the farmer doesn’t need to send
the dog back up the mountain.<br />
<br />
The natural behaviour of the dog is to herd the sheep towards the
farmer, if it doesn’t get any commands for a while, but it’s not
choosy about <i>which</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> sheep.
Each farm has its own mark it paints on the sheep, in a particular
colour; a red F on the left flank was the mark for the Feeny farm.
When young, Martin used a metal F his grandfather made, dipped in
paint; now he uses spray paint.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="font-style: normal;">
A dog herds sheep from a young age, but
one day decided to stop. Martin had one dog retire at 5, another
still working at 11. He joked that the active dogs are the only
workaholics in Ireland.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-style: normal;">There is little market for wool
any more, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">since people don’t
buy wool clothing much anymore.</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
Martin’s farm breeds sheep for other farms, which raise them for
meat. He showed us several breeds of endangered sheep, once bred for
various purposes such as surviving on steep slopes. He demonstrated
very clearly why black sheep were a bad thing: black wool pulls apart
easily, where white is so strongly held together that Martin,
couldn’t pull out a handful from a fleece he showed us. The
chemistry of black wool is completely different from that of white,
and spreads to adjacent wool, so a small bit of black in a shipment
can ruin the whole load.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="font-style: normal;">
Martin also told us a lot about the
history of the area. Four years ago cannonballs started washing up on
shore; three Spanish ships had sunk there in the time of the Armada,
and with recent fierce storms the wrecks have been stirred up. Storms
used to come from the Atlantic, west and north, but in the last few
years fiercer storms have come off the land, from the south and east.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
We then drove through County Leitrim,
which has a very short coastline, into Dhun na nGall (Donegal) for
lunch, and then across the unmarked, unguarded border into County
Derry in Northern Ireland. In Londonderry we took on a local guide
who showed us some key sites from the Troubles. He told us that in
those times we couldn’t take a bus through the area he showed us;
any large vehicle would have been hijacked and burned. Here is a view
of the Bogside district, where much of the violence in Derry took
place, from the top of the ancient wall of the city. The colourful
wall mural in the lower right is a peace dove on an oak leaf, after
Doire, the Irish name of Derry, which means “oak.”</div>
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<div style="font-style: normal;">
We stayed overnight in Derry, resting
up for our last long day back to Dublin.</div>
David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-47626083958093438522019-08-12T13:08:00.000-04:002019-08-12T13:08:22.834-04:00Vacation 2019: Clare and Galway
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Sunday
August 11: we set off from Killarney, north across County Kerry, and
took a ferry to County Clare – avoding the long drive around County
Limmerick. The three main items of the day were the Cliffs of Moher,
the Burren, and the medieval part of the city of Galway. The day
started off moderately rainy, but cleared up for us as the day
progressed.</span></div>
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</div>
<a name='more'></a>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">I’ve
become fascinated with the Irish place names, which on all the
highway signage are posted in slanted mixed-case font above the
all-caps English names. So we passed Lios Tuathail (Listowel),
Tairbeart (Tarbert), Cill Rios (Killrush)</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">,
</span></span><span lang="ga-IE"><span style="font-style: normal;">Lios
Ceannúir</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span>(Liscannor,
famous for its particular kind of stone), and Gaillimh (Galway). Much
of our route today was on the Sli an Atlantaigh Fh<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">á</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">in
</span>(Wild Atlantic Way).</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We reached the ferry
just before it set off, the last vehicle on board. I always admire
people with skills I don’t have, so was impressed when the ferrymen
managed to get our bus onto the ferry, and raise the ramp into place,
by getting us to park at an angle across two lanes.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The first major stop
was Aillte an Mhoth<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">á</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">ir,
the <a class="western" href="http://www.cliffs-moher.com/index.html">Cliffs
of Moher</a>, which my wife googled as having appeared in a couple of
movies, including The Princess Bride (the ‘<a class="western" href="https://www.irishcentral.com/travel/facts-cliffs-moher-clare-book-tour">Cliffs
of Insanity</a>’). The cliffside is a protected habitat, and the
cliffs occasionally crumble into the Atlantic, so there’s more than
just avoiding falls for staying on the right side of the slate
barrier stones. </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The
visitor’s centre was controversial; proposal after proposal was
rejected as ruining the landscape, until one at last proposed digging
it into the hillside.</span></div>
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</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">I
had a quick lunch and went out to explore. From the low point near
the visitor’s centre the paths went up moderate slopes both north
and south. I went north first, which gave me views of the south
cliffs, which to me were the more spectacular. </span>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqVmoz2pdytqYUaxTpwABlXjBfhENsepvld3SLYEcRMK3oEH8xc9mxi1_LuVDDSf2A5xKrVtAQgcBb-XGQ7Qc5TAOFrv8q1iPbVxaBtu4k7wTN7H_su8ZT4bDNIVBsV8ePwDuJVlBjjYc/s1600/South+Cliff+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1135" data-original-width="1600" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqVmoz2pdytqYUaxTpwABlXjBfhENsepvld3SLYEcRMK3oEH8xc9mxi1_LuVDDSf2A5xKrVtAQgcBb-XGQ7Qc5TAOFrv8q1iPbVxaBtu4k7wTN7H_su8ZT4bDNIVBsV8ePwDuJVlBjjYc/s320/South+Cliff+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-dDrbjq7454jNkQoTmFgBnvDHDdnVMcpD3xMWdEyFzORlgxH8p8rKqNZdzocnrbbQGh8PlH7_WIYE5IQVRyd9X9D1qeldKTOTyeuiv9SoNjAzgj3Iuob-0-i6I5XmpjPZZNl2mHR8RCw/s1600/South+Cliff+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-dDrbjq7454jNkQoTmFgBnvDHDdnVMcpD3xMWdEyFzORlgxH8p8rKqNZdzocnrbbQGh8PlH7_WIYE5IQVRyd9X9D1qeldKTOTyeuiv9SoNjAzgj3Iuob-0-i6I5XmpjPZZNl2mHR8RCw/s320/South+Cliff+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_R-zVh7Fpg4XQldibX5KA8fF1CkjXTaUyuQp4dHwQ0n-y8NZLaMPLsPI4VgP4m2MfRNWkdn9nXw07kkMJZMut7hp0ISPHOXIg4y1r00lTVgS_-HbLTSqf7HFLsigBfeRvxC9Rgncp9H0/s1600/South+Cliff+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_R-zVh7Fpg4XQldibX5KA8fF1CkjXTaUyuQp4dHwQ0n-y8NZLaMPLsPI4VgP4m2MfRNWkdn9nXw07kkMJZMut7hp0ISPHOXIg4y1r00lTVgS_-HbLTSqf7HFLsigBfeRvxC9Rgncp9H0/s320/South+Cliff+3.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">I
made it to the top of the north cliff, and considered reversing back
to the south, but I met a couple of travelling companions who said
they had taken nearly an hour and a half to make it to the far end of
the south cliffs and back. So I just went far enough to get a picture
of the north cliffs.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYYXvCWc6olNHQ-aVpdUgvYULh9AgtY2elNz87RGHhKMaQKPxttRu-om3sriS1psQhZquUXZGvwPZdZIOEhQ5GrI5lDdVmj53_SU-s_xsygPVSCywm43rl9j2x3wAvrhDtvAHrpustc0/s1600/North+Cliff+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYYXvCWc6olNHQ-aVpdUgvYULh9AgtY2elNz87RGHhKMaQKPxttRu-om3sriS1psQhZquUXZGvwPZdZIOEhQ5GrI5lDdVmj53_SU-s_xsygPVSCywm43rl9j2x3wAvrhDtvAHrpustc0/s320/North+Cliff+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xUgkTZ4GIYTXZ7__hnORiT3ujkpDGV7WC4uR62JolUj3KPtoK7W1XnLtPJjMdYrN72oRgiF7K5Uxr6oXR1uTOLx1ExF5twj04KpDxH0GgDKJoX76nadQtk57ckVxPm98yQLgGO-ThBQ/s1600/North+Cliff+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xUgkTZ4GIYTXZ7__hnORiT3ujkpDGV7WC4uR62JolUj3KPtoK7W1XnLtPJjMdYrN72oRgiF7K5Uxr6oXR1uTOLx1ExF5twj04KpDxH0GgDKJoX76nadQtk57ckVxPm98yQLgGO-ThBQ/s320/North+Cliff+2.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">We
then took the ‘scenic route’ to the city of Galway. This included
the very rocky region of the Burren (Barren), scraped nearly clean of
soil by glaciers in the last Ice Age. It is also a protected area.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijjt4VGY2ganKdgOPd5J6BBBt_feeoCOO6mv02DdIz5KxW3F8arW73czYgO3GOBUhBINBbO873j0msw8fwa41k1WU3eVILAhc2xKgZc0qa9rzdQBpSfgYculzFdakKiWkIjNggcz7gGUg/s1600/Burren+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijjt4VGY2ganKdgOPd5J6BBBt_feeoCOO6mv02DdIz5KxW3F8arW73czYgO3GOBUhBINBbO873j0msw8fwa41k1WU3eVILAhc2xKgZc0qa9rzdQBpSfgYculzFdakKiWkIjNggcz7gGUg/s320/Burren+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW5UpUvjU8nR3cmKz4fjjOu8eyEHbKafG_PqDnby-fVJYX29ndV2P-7iuIDLe56azt_RAJMdl3_KND1d2wPfQ728GsLWQ5fV8Vtn7YhBepGcX_M9cw0sMNg6eoidH_NwOdTRwwFhJEaqg/s1600/Burren+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1137" data-original-width="1600" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW5UpUvjU8nR3cmKz4fjjOu8eyEHbKafG_PqDnby-fVJYX29ndV2P-7iuIDLe56azt_RAJMdl3_KND1d2wPfQ728GsLWQ5fV8Vtn7YhBepGcX_M9cw0sMNg6eoidH_NwOdTRwwFhJEaqg/s320/Burren+3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_-88dOcUZizAcU0jy8phaUA1ldm-P2tktTlAY_1mD0VqNCICFirY_DkASFAukCzskFM0IpnrsX5U-DMsv4YwjoyeAouI8hH6hksS8640G3IEVl9XP1bzOEwMqahV1J9nOgaTvzTIjdCY/s1600/Burren+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="1600" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_-88dOcUZizAcU0jy8phaUA1ldm-P2tktTlAY_1mD0VqNCICFirY_DkASFAukCzskFM0IpnrsX5U-DMsv4YwjoyeAouI8hH6hksS8640G3IEVl9XP1bzOEwMqahV1J9nOgaTvzTIjdCY/s320/Burren+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">We
passed a regatta of Galway hookers, a kind of fishing vessel with red
sails that inspired a song about red sails in the sunset.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioUqY0D07ksxxYbzewqZuGAPaoyXsGQOnwbsZaIlVy6xZxW4CtbfdZfF_6X0HQYVutG2R5xyCiSRnycEL4JxgSJPgevEj_Igo4qh1TuvxICqkEZ72EHI0If6UD_p1QeDQMquF34S4amAo/s1600/Galway+Hookers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="805" data-original-width="1600" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioUqY0D07ksxxYbzewqZuGAPaoyXsGQOnwbsZaIlVy6xZxW4CtbfdZfF_6X0HQYVutG2R5xyCiSRnycEL4JxgSJPgevEj_Igo4qh1TuvxICqkEZ72EHI0If6UD_p1QeDQMquF34S4amAo/s320/Galway+Hookers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">We
also passed <a class="western" href="https://www.dunguairecastle.com/">Dunguaire
Castle</a>, which serves medieval banquets.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBHqGPnAbJMcSGU6VbWPUCzGTtGjUjidgHGyZTmYmYuUnI9HENXnyb7k7G2Hx7Xb_K8tI7eptqqirYEvk9yZ9xUOeDKVx768wQS_NGDclZAYKuBbmhtNmWsAyxf3vkNJGq-R_NVAyvpPY/s1600/Castle+Dunguaire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="922" data-original-width="1600" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBHqGPnAbJMcSGU6VbWPUCzGTtGjUjidgHGyZTmYmYuUnI9HENXnyb7k7G2Hx7Xb_K8tI7eptqqirYEvk9yZ9xUOeDKVx768wQS_NGDclZAYKuBbmhtNmWsAyxf3vkNJGq-R_NVAyvpPY/s320/Castle+Dunguaire.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">In
Galway we took a brief walking tour of the oldest part of the city. The
<a class="western" href="http://stnicholas.ie/">Collegiate Church of
St. Nicholas</a> was built in 1320. As with many Christian churches
in Europe, it was apparently built on a pagan site, where a pair of
ley lines are said to intersect.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3TjtBZT8ao6Jks52Ts4UUcoJNILgKgW42p7qKWlScqtkFyH5aV0oHKlaOHVLQaWYqBEE8QZ-S2iYX7A1FbJSiiIyHLQ1eHm49AfNtO1q8RYehpt_6cSPY7CInPbwfFKFugoKpaMWOPZM/s1600/St+Nicholas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3TjtBZT8ao6Jks52Ts4UUcoJNILgKgW42p7qKWlScqtkFyH5aV0oHKlaOHVLQaWYqBEE8QZ-S2iYX7A1FbJSiiIyHLQ1eHm49AfNtO1q8RYehpt_6cSPY7CInPbwfFKFugoKpaMWOPZM/s320/St+Nicholas.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">We
stayed overnight in Galway.</span></div>
David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-73682755799013145022019-08-11T13:31:00.000-04:002019-08-11T13:31:44.815-04:00Vacation 2019: The Ring of Kerry
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Our
Saturday Aug 10 tour was the Ring of Kerry (An Mhór Chuaird), a loop
around the high hills of County Kerry. It was a somewhat shorter
touring day than most of the others, leaving Killarney at 8am and
returning close to 4pm. </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">We
found out that busses are required to circle counterclockwise around
the loop, lest two of them meet going in opposite directions. The
roads in Ireland are very narrow by North American standards and
typically have no shoulders, with hedgerows of 3-4 metre high
“hedges” (more like trees!) growing right at the edge. At least
in most of the country; we later found that western Ireland has
drystone walls instead. </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Occasionally
there is a 1-lane bridge. Even if driving weren’t on the unfamiliar
left, I don’t think I could manage.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The
tour seems to believe most people need “retail therapy” every
day, so our first stop was Moriarty’s Gift Shop outside Killarney.
They sell Irish crafts, in a variety of price ranges: hats, jackets,
shirts, ... I took a look at the </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">jewellery</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">
first, </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">our</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">
guide having describe</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">d</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">
their gold Skellig Michael pendants.</span> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO6WnZQQATq-FwKT1qWHlDt35ZahxnlMoGqagiEOeDsA2zGzfalzyKVmZ8Lp5qeqrS66QrCyyTFsO-GCrJ91pf6H5DclK8aWVGeejvllvww4en5C_kMAUmopFQJMyZXvBWgpoVvH17zlI/s1600/Pendant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1176" data-original-width="1600" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO6WnZQQATq-FwKT1qWHlDt35ZahxnlMoGqagiEOeDsA2zGzfalzyKVmZ8Lp5qeqrS66QrCyyTFsO-GCrJ91pf6H5DclK8aWVGeejvllvww4en5C_kMAUmopFQJMyZXvBWgpoVvH17zlI/s320/Pendant.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">At
2000 euros, it was quite a bit out of my price range, but it was
beautiful.</span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The
reason for my interest was <a class="western" href="http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/south-west/skelligmichael/">Skellig
Michael</a> itself. It was a remote Christian monastery about 12
</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">kilometres</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">
out into the Atlantic to the west of Kerry. It was founded, according
to our guide, around 500 AD – but the Wikipedia article doubts
this. It remained continuously occupied until the early 13th century.
</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Over</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">
what must have been hundreds of years the monks built a series of
steps up the steep rocks, over 600 over them, leading to a small
collection of igloo-like rock dwellings. The island recently became
more famous because it was used as the site of the Jedi ruins at the
end of Star Wars VII and much of Star Wars VIII.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">We
passed several pieces of interesting Irish culture on the way. Here
is an ogham stone – one of the earliest forms of writing in Europe.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLrGMKEGJ7ULtKBxCu-Nu4e4xXTfvV1mhRfICA5QaP7p1mdJmos0mX5mdjHnNd9qlUu6NHWFKexcBiVVugT0II055fGD6SckJdRnWEFA78h8HT_bhiVsiDaSYSwoxNCRQM8nRyILnVNjI/s1600/Ogham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="565" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLrGMKEGJ7ULtKBxCu-Nu4e4xXTfvV1mhRfICA5QaP7p1mdJmos0mX5mdjHnNd9qlUu6NHWFKexcBiVVugT0II055fGD6SckJdRnWEFA78h8HT_bhiVsiDaSYSwoxNCRQM8nRyILnVNjI/s320/Ogham.jpg" width="113" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">There
are “tidy village competitions” every year; citizens and city
councils go to a lot of effort to keep their towns clean.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The
town of Cill Orglain has a “<a class="western" href="https://puckfair.ie/">Puck
goat fair</a>” every year at this time. It celebrates a legend that
when Oliver Cromwell invaded, a goat came running down the main
street, which alerted the villagers of his arrival so they could
escape to the countryside and avoid the typical Commonwealth
slaughter of the native population. So each year they raise a 30’
high pedestal, put a local goat on it, and raise a toast to Puck.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Every
so often you’ll come across a tree left alone in the middle of an
otherwise actively-used field. They’re called “fairy trees”
from the belief in the mischievous and occasionally malign Fair Folk.
The claim is that animals won’t go near one, and cutting one down
is very bad luck. I regret how blurry this photograph is; it’s
mainly here to serve as a very rough indication of what a field with
one looks like.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzQJ-nCSeO8DufaG34R93vgx9WMIWf1EKiVwR4V9gm10xEP-INzmmHZBeI62uqiMEEYuiXlW_DONw-uE3Qjs6VzODQ4qqHEzofKvYTuF2x0Hm5moTdUt8y7tpTzdX3sPlG-7zDOUg2Hl8/s1600/Fairy+Tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="879" data-original-width="1600" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzQJ-nCSeO8DufaG34R93vgx9WMIWf1EKiVwR4V9gm10xEP-INzmmHZBeI62uqiMEEYuiXlW_DONw-uE3Qjs6VzODQ4qqHEzofKvYTuF2x0Hm5moTdUt8y7tpTzdX3sPlG-7zDOUg2Hl8/s320/Fairy+Tree.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">There
are also fairy forts.</span>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEphmeSeCx0OCq0sp5bWv2ORYwva46ZCv7xHLDy2P82H_I46kLWaa18fTr_8xIl4WWpNZs-dLfz9NWakAUcmO2DchSEJ1c0dsA87EJ0Fvt4Or_EfYN2rPx04_gpnoUV19XnxiIdw5kk3I/s1600/Fairy+Fort.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1027" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEphmeSeCx0OCq0sp5bWv2ORYwva46ZCv7xHLDy2P82H_I46kLWaa18fTr_8xIl4WWpNZs-dLfz9NWakAUcmO2DchSEJ1c0dsA87EJ0Fvt4Or_EfYN2rPx04_gpnoUV19XnxiIdw5kk3I/s320/Fairy+Fort.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">We
stopped at a Skellig Michael visitor’s centre on Valentia (the
island where the first transatlantic cable started) for lunch, and
watched an audio-visual about the island’s history. Taking a trip
to the island itself is a full day’s journey, involving taking an
hour’s ride in a small boat out into the potentially stormy
Atlantic, plus climbing those 600-odd steep steps (very slippery when
wet), with sheer drops, no handrails, occasional very narrow
passages, and six hours with no bathrooms. I’m sure that on my best
day I couldn’t manage it, given both the physical exertion and the
acrophobia triggers. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">We caught a glimpse of the island, far off in the mists, behind a headland while driving away on the bus. It is the slightly darker lump just above the strip of coastline.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbF35F-O4HwCJj079BVLZnIfUlZGPOKGb6H64iiU3BE1lLeCEXjktzLXsyRr4jzJIHPKmMA9zHf8trSk_irUQ_UTy6z-0vnb_HOAMM17tb3AsDMbtbQLdj5mWj36TOK7i6lvrR72j5u1c/s1600/Skellig+Michael.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="986" data-original-width="1600" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbF35F-O4HwCJj079BVLZnIfUlZGPOKGb6H64iiU3BE1lLeCEXjktzLXsyRr4jzJIHPKmMA9zHf8trSk_irUQ_UTy6z-0vnb_HOAMM17tb3AsDMbtbQLdj5mWj36TOK7i6lvrR72j5u1c/s320/Skellig+Michael.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"> </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
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<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">I
took a lot of countryside photographs, some from the bus, some on
foot. </span>
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2sbs9nrFRk035vEEgPcH4JIyG8N5mt5cl9ktSzVptj0_XNYLrwVBkSpZjzziGtIllgVmFNPNnTdKipjtsPbf8QrKi919b7VLpa_LvKTPiq5qHUN6C4gLlVSPBtx_5I5bH0TPh0keqqdI/s1600/Countryside+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="552" data-original-width="1600" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2sbs9nrFRk035vEEgPcH4JIyG8N5mt5cl9ktSzVptj0_XNYLrwVBkSpZjzziGtIllgVmFNPNnTdKipjtsPbf8QrKi919b7VLpa_LvKTPiq5qHUN6C4gLlVSPBtx_5I5bH0TPh0keqqdI/s320/Countryside+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibm05nRYoLUSjEyj5X1piWpAokee1QGeEjFtx5N0WSGTKrv88OfWf4x3w_h3Zkyro0_d0A3H5XXQ7Exzx5NJVLx8rqMY1g6frO6eXpe6IDGJH2xrFKARRa2NuKSQ1sqzg180xescr02nM/s1600/Countryside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="1600" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibm05nRYoLUSjEyj5X1piWpAokee1QGeEjFtx5N0WSGTKrv88OfWf4x3w_h3Zkyro0_d0A3H5XXQ7Exzx5NJVLx8rqMY1g6frO6eXpe6IDGJH2xrFKARRa2NuKSQ1sqzg180xescr02nM/s320/Countryside.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The
region is quite hilly – or perhaps small-mountainy.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Some
hills are naturally terraced; this one is on the edge of Dingle Bay.</span>
</div>
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<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Others
are very rocky.</span>
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<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">A
peat bog. Some people apparently still burn peat for heating and
electricity. There was a reconstructed peat bog village at one of our
rest stops, but I didn’t pay to go in.</span>
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<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A fair part of the ring is coastal.</div>
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<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">As
we neared Killarney we entered the National Park, which includes
Muckross House (Teach Mhucrois) where Queen Victoria stayed. And it
was in the park that our guide explained about busses going
counterclockwise to avoid each other “but sometimes you’ll get a
camper coming the other way.” And so we did, about ten minutes
later, and at about the worst possible place, where the camper had
only a couple of feet of clearance at the start of the encounter
(barely enough for the passenger to get out and guide the driver),
and less clearance as it progressed.</span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">We
returned to our hotel in Killarney and had the evening to ourselves;
there were plenty of restaurants nearby. I wrote the blog entry I
posted yesterday, and went to bed early. I usually sleep poorly the
first night in a new place – which makes a bus tour especially
difficult – but this was the second night, and I slept fairly well.</span></div>
David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-34178279263252228172019-08-11T00:33:00.000-04:002019-08-11T00:33:35.358-04:00Vacation 2019: Cork
Friday August 9 we left Waterford and entered County Cork,
visiting the towns of Cobh (pronounced “cove”) and An Bhlarna
(Blarney). Road signage in Ireland has both the Irish and English
place names. We learned several town name prefixes: An (the), Baile
(village of), Cill (church), Dun (fort), and Glen (valley).<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
On the way we passed more road art. There was a sequence of four
or five pillars, a memorial to the Choktaw nation’s sending relief
during the Famine.<br />
<br />
Cobh is a small town on an island in Cork harbour; it was the
last stop the Titanic made on its only voyage. It was the embarkation
point for a lot of crossings, particularly emigrations. Cork Harbour
is one of the largest natural harbours in the world, and was used by
the British Navy before independence.<br />
<br />
Cobh waterfront buildings, with a view of the cathedral.<br />
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Memorial to the sinking of the Lusitania, with an angel
representing the desire for peace and exhausted figures representing
the local fisherman who rescued several hundred people from a ship
that sank in minutes.
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Our guide, <a class="western" href="https://titanic.ie/">Dr.
Michael Martin</a>, told us that the Lusitania is now known to have
been carrying munitions and thus was a legitimate military target
which the shippers surrounded with human shields (something that is
now considered a war crime). It also was never mentioned in the
American debates over whether to join the Great War, so the legend
that it brought the USA into the war is false.<br />
<br />
Dr. Martin also told us about the Titanic. At the time number of
lifeboats was set by ship tonnage, not number of passengers on board.
The ship indeed had too few lifeboats, by a factor of about two, but
that was the law of the time. As with the Lusitania, there are false
legends, in this case “women and children first.” There were
plenty of spaces for all the women on board, but classism kept people
from steerage off the lifeboats entirely until the 8<sup>th</sup> or
10<sup>th</sup> (my memory fails me). This building was where people
would have embarked – the upper classes being allowed to wait
inside, while the lower classes had to stay outside.<br />
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After Cobh we went to the village of An Bhlarna just outside the
city of Cork and visited Blarney Castle. On the way to the castle
there are beautiful grounds, and there are gardens on site, but it
was quite rainy that day so I didn’t see much of them.<br />
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The castle itself is a single large blocky tower.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4wu7EYrJ1y2l3UVXpk0JQYR_tiPbkhd2EtiFZWdq8WTnBpBj6mUKqSggfBvRsyomQ1STKUHNiKZkP9m5ICJoVUCIMqxxSiBPA86hoSN1fViE_1GV0usg2ICj0NsZ673DK0ctDAKlV0p8/s1600/Blarney+Castle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1584" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4wu7EYrJ1y2l3UVXpk0JQYR_tiPbkhd2EtiFZWdq8WTnBpBj6mUKqSggfBvRsyomQ1STKUHNiKZkP9m5ICJoVUCIMqxxSiBPA86hoSN1fViE_1GV0usg2ICj0NsZ673DK0ctDAKlV0p8/s320/Blarney+Castle.jpg" width="316" /></a></div>
The Blarney Stone is at the top, up a claustrophobia- and
acrophobia-inducing circular stone staircase, slippery wherever
exposed to the elements -- and it was raining moderately heavily. To kiss the stone (to get the “gift of gab”)
you need to lie on your back with your upper body hanging across a
half-metre or so gap, and bend over backwards to reach the specific
stone in the wall. In that position you can’t wear glasses or
having anything loose in your pockets. I couldn’t face the
challenge, but my writer friend Bill Tracy did.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://scontent-dub4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/67813795_10156937745666028_3507706276043816960_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&_nc_oc=AQmqxFAFZszx8YfcRqJ7q2KPz5pi0aiRelVx5YIyAe6VK6mvhX62tHmOwkyJelzNJY4&_nc_ht=scontent-dub4-1.xx&oh=657a9695b7656cff4b5379a80743c171&oe=5DCDB09A" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://scontent-dub4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/67813795_10156937745666028_3507706276043816960_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&_nc_oc=AQmqxFAFZszx8YfcRqJ7q2KPz5pi0aiRelVx5YIyAe6VK6mvhX62tHmOwkyJelzNJY4&_nc_ht=scontent-dub4-1.xx&oh=657a9695b7656cff4b5379a80743c171&oe=5DCDB09A" width="320" /></a></div>
The stone is behind his head, low down near the bottom of the
wall. Note the drop over his right shoulder.<br /><br />
Afterwards, we drove to County Kerry and the city of Cill Airne
(Killarney), where we had dinner and spent the night.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-61346779433303154732019-08-10T12:44:00.000-04:002019-08-10T12:44:49.141-04:00Vacation 2019: Wicklow and WaterfordThursday August 8: Our tour is proceeding clockwise around the coast of Ireland. We
started this morning in Dublin, County Dublin, and headed south into County
Wicklow and later County Waterford.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The morning routine for our bus tour of Ireland is:<br />
<ul>
<li>
Get up early enough to repack the suitcase and set it
outside your door by 6:45 am, so the staff can load it onto the bus
while we have breakfast.<br />
</li>
<li>
Breakfast starts at 7:00 am<br />
</li>
<li>
Bus leaves at 8:00 am<br />
</li>
</ul>
Last night the driver / guide emphasized that when he quotes a
time, it’s when the bus will leave, not when we should start
thinking about making our way to the bus. At every stop he’d tell
us a time when we needed to be sitting in our seats, ready to depart.<br />
<br />
Our first stop was <a class="western" href="https://www.wicklowmountainsnationalpark.ie/history/monastic-sites/">Gleann
d<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">á</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">
Loch</span></a><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">, “Valley
between two lakes,” a national park siting an ancient abbey
community. </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The visitor’s
centre had a model of what the community looked like at its height,
with inner and outer enclosure walls, farmland, and orchards, but I
didn’t think to take a picture. Here is the gateway to the
settlement, which, if I recall correctly, was built much later than
the settlement itself.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8pWz8ZBoZKj9_850zBWdhdtp0lM_1eoi00nkTvXpShJzPz6XuSSLBrQsVtD-Q6GAo-0uO55E2vDuiB4wdLmw0lA6aoBVKue0ofFe1dyfsCIBh-X-E1cKKF9k9Xc0w5Jx6_cHto7zKeCI/s1600/GlennDaLoch+entrance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1355" data-original-width="1600" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8pWz8ZBoZKj9_850zBWdhdtp0lM_1eoi00nkTvXpShJzPz6XuSSLBrQsVtD-Q6GAo-0uO55E2vDuiB4wdLmw0lA6aoBVKue0ofFe1dyfsCIBh-X-E1cKKF9k9Xc0w5Jx6_cHto7zKeCI/s320/GlennDaLoch+entrance.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">The </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Round
Tower, a former bell tower, used to have six floors, each reached by
ladder from the lower. The main entrance was about three metres up,
reached originally by a rope ladder that could be pulled up in the
event of attack.</span>
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<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">St. Kevin’s Church is
intact, unlike the cathedral, of which I didn’t get a good </span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">picture.</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">
</span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwnzjKlNgjdKMQ2Zm9rZhMws0lnoUzTlaWhkZ89VJX21ZF4bJirV-PoFH4CUVEpJn2ZTCJSMumtkxzv_rGhBQqr_Z0COqMfwvp9OxTAAoZCcqZsDSfhKpmVBM2hezac-liKyGjzwEuywg/s1600/St+Kevin+Church.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="947" data-original-width="1600" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwnzjKlNgjdKMQ2Zm9rZhMws0lnoUzTlaWhkZ89VJX21ZF4bJirV-PoFH4CUVEpJn2ZTCJSMumtkxzv_rGhBQqr_Z0COqMfwvp9OxTAAoZCcqZsDSfhKpmVBM2hezac-liKyGjzwEuywg/s320/St+Kevin+Church.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">One of many Celtic crosses we
saw. We were told it combined the Christian cross with the earlier
pagan sun symbol.</span>
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<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Inside the ruined cathedral
were some headstones, probably brought inside to protect them from
the elements. One had dates that claimed the deceased was over 100
years old, but the guide said that most likely a son who had the same
name (which wasn’t unusual) took on his father’s birth date to
keep the land in the family; at that time, on the death of the
landowner, the land would revert to the British. It was a way for the
Irish to preserve their property for a while – until, I suspect,
the British caught on that some Irishmen seemed to be living much
longer than the average 35 years.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">A view of St. Kevin’s
Church and the Round Tower from the exit.</span>
<br />
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<br />
We had lunch in the small town of Clonroche. We then continued
south into Waterford County and the town of Waterford, which was
originally a viking settlement called Vadrarfjordr: “Weather
harbour” The ancient city was built where two rivers joined, and
surrounded by a wall.<br />
<br />
Waterfront scenes<br />
<br />
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The Medieval Museum, behind a medieval wall. <br />
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We toured the Waterford Crystal factory – a
recent building, much smaller than the original huge factory that we
passed on the way out of town.
<br />
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<br />They showed us the four main crafts, each of which takes eight
years to master; people usually learn only one, but there was one
whose name I neglected to write down who was a master at all four. We
saw people actively working at glassblowing and cutting, and at the
end were shown the “spares” of several one-off pieces used for
commemorations and trophies.<br />
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<br />
<br />
We noticed or were told about several other things along the way.
<br />
<ul>
<li>
There are a lot of roundabouts (traffic circles) at highway
intersections; in County Wexford we traversed a pair that could only
have been a few dozen metres apart.<br />
</li>
<li>
There is apparently a tax on vehicles whose proceeds go to
supporting “road art. One of the ones we passed was the statue of
a stag.
<br />
</li>
<li>
We saw speed radar that in addition to your actual speed
(in red or green, depending on whether you were over or under the
limit), also displayed “thank you” in green when you were under
the limit, and a frowny face in red when you were over.<br />
</li>
<li>
We passed a Traveller encampment. The driver said the
government has been building permanent homes, with the deal that if
you live in one, your children have to go to school.<br />
</li>
</ul>
We spent the night in Waterford and had dinner at the hotel.<br />
David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-52057229906183600422019-08-09T12:54:00.000-04:002019-08-09T12:54:26.815-04:00Vacation 2019: To DublinThe next few blog posts are about my 2019 vacation. Two years ago I went to Worldcon, the World Science Fiction Convention, when it was in Helsinki. I skipped last year in San Jose, and decided to go this year when it is in Dublin, Ireland. A friend from the WXR cruises organized a bus tour of Ireland the week before. I had no chance to write about anything for the first few days, but now I'm sitting in a comfortable hotel in Cill Airne, othewise known as Killarney, with an hour to go before dinner, so I'm going to start catching up on my reporting.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>On Tuesday the 6th I took VIA rail from Kingston to Montreal (Dorval, actually) and the shuttle to nearby Trudeau Airport. When flying east I prefer Montreal's YUL because it is easier to get to than Pearson YYZ in Toronto. VIA was on time -- unlike my wife's train to Toronto the next day, and the one home the day after that, both of which were about an hour late. I then had to wait three and a half hours before boarding, but that's the way the train connections worked out. I had checked in the day before via the Internet, so just had to deposit my suitcase -- but I arrived at the baggage dropoff machine 4:15 before my plane's departure, so had to wait 15 minutes for the machine to accept it.<br />
<br />
Clearing Security went quickly, but would have been quicker if I'd remembered to take off my belt with the metal buckle. I found a cafe and bought a late lunch / early dinner, and since it wasn't busy, felt free to occupy a table and an electrical outlet to use my laptop for an hour or so. Boarding went quickly, the Airbus A330 was comfortable (I actually had room for my legs, which isn't true on some flights), and the flight was smooth. I got maybe 1/2 hour of sleep after they turned the lights off; the one problem with the flight was that the entertainment system didn't work, but I find there is enough going on inside my head that I rarely get bored.<br />
<br />
I was far back in the line at Immigration, which took at least a half hour for me to get to the front, but the agent was very quick once I got there. Picking up my bag was a bit of a wait also, but nothing I didn't expect. The plane landed around 8:30 am local time on Wednesday, and was out by around 10.<br />
<br />
The problem was that I had thought I'd be met at the exit by someone from the tour company, but I hadn't read the fine print that said I had to change terminals. Fortunately I met someone on the same tour who called the company and found out where we were supposed to go. The company's shuttle had a list of who we were and what hotels we would go to -- three different ones, involving a long drive around Dublin. For some reason they went past my hotel to a different one before coming back to drop us off; I'd have appreciated the extra time to rest before the 2pm pickup for a brief tour of Dublin.<br />
<br />
The two highlights of the tour for me were St. Patrick's Cathedral and Trinity College.<br />
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Unfortunately I didn't have time to take notes about the history of the cathedral, and jetlag wiped most of what I was told from my memory.<br />
<br />
I did remember a little more about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College_Dublin">Trinity College</a>, which is the sole college of the University of Dublin. It makes more sense when you know that the University is the sister of Oxford and Cambridge and uses the same collegiate system, though there has only ever been one college within it. Odds and ends I do recall are<br />
<ul>
<li>The University had a history of not paying its architects.</li>
<li>About 800 students live on campus, out of the 16,000 or so who attend.</li>
<li>The library is a legal deposit library for both Ireland and Great Britain, so is entitled to a copy of every book published in either country.</li>
<li>The books are organized by size, with the largest ones on the bottom shelves and the smallest on the top. </li>
</ul>
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But the most touristy thing about it is that it houses the <a href="https://www.tcd.ie/visitors/book-of-kells/">Book of Kells</a>, a fantastically illuminated manuscript written around 800AD, consisting of the four Gospels. It was once a single book but has been divided into four, roughly corresponding to the books of the Bible; two are on display at any one time, and they turn the pages about once every two months. Rumour says daily, but that would be too much wear and tear on a 1300-year-old treasure.<br />
<br />
We were on our own for dinner, but the driver had told us about a nearby side street with several restaurants, so I joined some friends from the 2017 Writing Excuses cruise, had dinner, looked at some swans, and returned to the hotel to basically crash after having been up for about 36 hours.David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-17276810816472803342019-04-29T13:07:00.000-04:002019-04-29T13:07:17.512-04:00Victory Conditions<br />
When
you play a game, there are normally rules for how somebody is judged
to have “won.” In my favourite genre of <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2013/04/cities-civilizations-and-combat.html">city-builder
games</a>, this is typically some combination of achieve a certain
population and treasury, produce so many of some particular
resources, rule some number of of other cities, and build certain
monuments. Some games let you create your own “scenarios” where
you set your own victory conditions, which you can make as hard or as
easy as you like. When I download scenarios from the web, they’re
usually aimed at the most experienced players, who want the most
possible challenge. But it’s also perfectly OK to want less
difficulty: to combine some degree of accomplishment with a level of
concentration and stress that’s suited to your temperament rather
than the high-end of your abilities.<br />
<br />
That principle applies to a lot of other kinds of goals in normal
life, too.<br />
<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(A-Z challenge V logo)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Consider this A-Z challenge: write one blog post each day in April
except Sundays, with titles for each letter of the alphabet, in
order. At the highest level of difficulty, I lost as soon as I missed
a day, which since I didn’t remember about the challenge until I
saw another friend’s post about it, meant I started off with the
game already lost. So I adopted my own lesser goal: blog more than
the only other time I tried, back in <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2013/04/">2013</a>.
But in the back of my mind I couldn’t help thinking “I really
<i>have</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> to write 26 blog
entries.” That attitude added some stress to what should have been
a fun hobby task. Now that I’m on the second-last day with this
entry and four more to go, I seriously doubt I’m going to make that
goal.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">Is that a failure? I think
there’s another lesson to be learned, this time from how
<a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/">Kickstarter</a> works. Someone wants to raise money for some creative
endeavour; they post a goal, people pledge, and if that amount of
money gets pledged by some deadline, the project gets funded. It
doesn’t if the total doesn’t equal or exceed the goal. So there’s
a minimal winning condition: get the project funded. But most
projects have “stretch goals:” if we raise this much extra money,
we’ll add the following additional thing to the project. Often
there are several stretch goals; I think I’ve seen projects with 5
or 6 of them.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">So a healthy attitude is to adopt
some goal that seems achievable with the effort and stress you feel
warranted (whether that’s easy for you or a significant challenge),
then set some stretch goals: if I have time and energy left after the
main goal, I’ll add this one.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">I’m declaring V for Victory on
this month’s challenge. Last time I got five posts; this time 22,
so it’s a substantial improvement. Each additional letter </span><span style="font-style: normal;">beyond
V </span><span style="font-style: normal;">is a stretch goal; </span><span style="font-style: normal;">if
I think of a W in the next couple of hours, I might manage that one
today too.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">The idea can carry over into life
goals as well. I’ve <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/failure-is-mandatory.html">posted
about</a> how I haven’t achieved what young me thought I would, but
I’ve done plenty of worthwhile things and am considering retirement
goals such as improving my fiction writing. The point is to set your
own goals, not the ones other people expect of you.</span><br />
<br />David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-57679099889489372942019-04-27T11:35:00.000-04:002019-04-27T11:35:04.700-04:00Unknown Unknowns and the Dunning-Kreuger Effect<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
One of the goals of University education is developing the ability to
introspect about the state of one’s own knowledge. This can involve
very narrow technical issues about “unknowability,” such as the
mathematical theorem that it is impossible, in general, for any
computational engine to be able to always predict whether an
arbitrary computer program will run to completion. But more
importantly it involves being able to judge “I know thus-and-so; I
know such-and-such exists but I don’t know much about it; I know
there are things I don’t even know are out there.” In the <a class="western" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns">famous
words of Dick Cheney</a> (actually first stated by others), these are
known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
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<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(A-Z challenge U logo)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Cheney’s actual
quote was</div>
<div style="margin-left: 0.49in;">
Reports that say that something hasn't
happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are
known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there
are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we
do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't
know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our
country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend
to be the difficult ones.</div>
I recall him being ridiculed for it at the time, but it’s
actually a fundamentally important idea. There are scientific <a class="western" href="https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/characterizing-unknown-unknowns-6077">papers</a>
on the subject.<br />
<br />
Known unknowns can sometimes be dealt with. If you don’t know
much about some aspect of writing, such as how to think through your
<a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/articulating-your-characters-greatest.html">character’s
greatest desire</a>, you can take classes or look up resources in a
library or on the internet. In computer programming, you know that
some design decisions you make will change, but may not know exactly
how they will change; you can mitigate risks through a technique
called “<a class="western" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_hiding">information
hiding</a>” so that only one small portion of your program needs to
change if you’re forced to revise that decision.<br />
<br />
What’s especially troubling are things you don’ even know
exist. Until a few years ago I had no idea that there is a community
of autistic people who <span style="font-style: normal;">identify as
autistic, accept</span> the downsides of our condition and don’t
want to change. I’d have been a lot happier if I’d known that
earlier. I’ve heard a lot of people express tremendous relief when
they discovered on the internet whole communities of people just like
them.<br />
<br />
One of the aspects of unknown unknowns I find especially is the
<a class="western" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect">Dunning-Krueger
effect</a>, wherein people less competent in some subject are more
confident of their expertise than people who are more competent: the
less competent have the illusion of superiority. Dunning has
<a class="western" href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/1/31/18200497/dunning-kruger-effect-explained-trump">apparently
said</a> “The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t
know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” I first
encountered this at Carnegie-Mellon concerning grades on Ph.D.
qualifying exams: those who predicted they had done well tended to
have lower grades than those who predicted they had done poorly. I
thought of this as “the more you know, the more you’re aware of
what you don’t know.”<br />
<br />
My cynical side opines that the Dunning-Krueger effect applies
especially to some politicians, who make policy in ignorance of the
reality they’re governing. It can also apply to well-intentioned
people; I’ve read occasional reports on third-world countries
unhappy with Western non-governmental organizations coming in to
“help” in total ignorance of local conditions, trying to apply
solutions that work in the West but are less- or non-effective
locally.<br />
<br />
As an educator, I’m inclined to think that the solution to the
problem of the Dunning-Kreuger effect is to enact a policy on
policies: requiring decision-makers to consult experts on the
subject. I’m a believer in <a class="western" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence-based_policy">evidence</a>-<a class="western" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC524535/">based</a>
<a class="western" href="https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/3683.pdf">policy</a>
<a class="western" href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2014/11/evidencebasedpolicymakingaguideforeffectivegovernment.pdf">making</a>.
But it appears many of our leaders aren’t.<br />
<br />David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-83311285341294890202019-04-26T15:53:00.002-04:002019-04-26T15:53:57.519-04:00Tropes and Story Planning<br />
In a
<a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/nerdliness-on-managing-timeline.html">recent
blog post</a> I apologized for linking to “the black hole that is
<a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/">TV tropes</a>.”
It’s a highly interlinked site with summaries of hundreds upon
hundreds of elements that appear repeatedly in fiction of various
kinds, and even sometimes in the real world. Once you follow one
link, you’re likely to follow many more, until you notice that far
too much time has passed and you’ve <strike>wasted</strike> spent
half the afternoon reading from it.<br />
<br />
I’ve heard that some people consider tropes bad, to be avoided, but to me it seems they’re confusing trope with stereotype or cliche. Tropes are cultural elements that have endured for a long time; they’re the background “collective unconscious” from which we can legitimately draw to inspire us. I’m not sure avoiding tropes is the least bit possible, let alone desirable. So in this post I’m going to talk about a few tropes I’ve recognized in my <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/drafting-novel-4-year-journey-so-far.html">work in progress</a>, and what I’m trying to do that’s at least mildly original.<br />
<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(A-Z Challenge T logo)</span></div>
<br />
It seems to me that a good way to use <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/">the
TV tropes site</a> is to look up key ideas in your story, read the
entry and some nearby related ones, then think about how your version
of the story will have enough differences to attract readers who want
to see something at least a little different. You might find that the
differences you want are themselves tropes, but you need to keep in
mind that you’re a unique individual who will wind up writing your
own story even if it shares elements with well-known cultural
patterns.<br />
<br />
The mental image that started this story was a <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CoolOldGuy">middle-aged</a>
female <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GentlemanAndAScholar">scholar</a>
(not a <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IntelligenceEqualsIsolation">conventional
socially awkward genius</a>) accompanying an adventurer. I eventually
realized I wanted her to be <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoodParents">reluctant
to leave her grown children and grandchildren</a>. It was critical to
the plot that she be <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CunningLinguist">fluent
in many languages</a>, including some dead ones; I’ve long been
unhappy with the “one language to rule them all” convention in
much fantasy.<br />
<br />
Any story needs a reason for the protagonist to get off their butt
and start engaging with the plot. I had a way for each of the three
main characters to do that, but am now rethinking each to align them
better with their core personalities as I’ve come to understand
them. So sometime in the near future I have to dive into the black
hole of links from the <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CallToAdventure">Call
to Adventure</a> page. I plan to read the first few sentences of <i>all</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
the linked articles, keeping a list of the links that are worth
considering in more depth, then returning to those and reading more
thoroughly (and following yet more links). </span><span style="font-style: normal;">I
have already decided that a <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheProphecy">prophecy</a>
is involved, and perhaps a <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheChosenOne">Chosen
One</a>. I am going to have to deal with those two tropes very
carefully, because to me it seems it’s far too easy to fall into
clich</span><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">é</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">s
with them. I’ve had writer friends express exasperation with both
of them.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
I <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/overlord-motivations.html">previously
mentioned</a> that my story has an <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilOverlord">Evil
Overlord</a> that I needed to motivate. I definitely didn’t think
<a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TakeOverTheWorld">ruling
the entire world</a> was a relatable <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ObsessionTropes">obsession</a>;
ruling some part of it for some specific purpose, meaningful to the
villain, felt a lot better. I <i>did</i> need it to be something
justifying invading the protagonist’s homeland. I’m not sure I
want to have <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VillainEpisode">scenes
featuring the villain</a>, though I do need some way to reveal some
of his motivations. I waffled about the classic <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilTowerOfOminousness">Dark
Lord’s fortress</a>; any sensible Evil Overlord would want to
protect themselves, but the <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Mordor">classic
wasteland</a> didn’t make sense to me; the <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilMinions">minions</a>
would need someplace habitable.<br />
<br />
I wound up picking a nonhuman but humanoid species as the
minions / <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AlienInvasion">invaders</a>,
which I called <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AllTrollsAreDifferent">trolls</a>
to indicate they’re nonhuman. In the long term I expect to make them moderately sympathetic so they <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurOrcsAreDifferent">aren’t
mere orcs</a>. They need a leader, either the Evil Overlord or some
lesser <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheEmperor">ruler</a>.<br />
<br />
The Evil Overlord entry leads almost immediately to <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HighFantasy">High
Fantasy</a>, whose description of the archetypal adventuring party
left me cold. So did the related <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MedievalEuropeanFantasy">Medieval
European Fantasy</a> (of which I’d had enough from playing classic
fantasy <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TabletopRPG">tabletop
role-playing games</a> such as <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons">Dungeons
and Dragons</a>). I was unhappy with classic power structures such as
<a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RoyalBlood">hereditary
monarchs</a> and a <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlueBlood">noble
class</a>, though I realized that some sort of class structure is
common in most societies. I wound up picking a <a class="western" href="https://davidalexlamb.blogspot.com/2019/04/gimbutas-on-stone-age-eastern-europe.html">somewhat
egalitarian</a> late Stone Age / early Bronze-Age society.<br />
<br />
Eventually I realized what I felt most comfortable with was sort
of <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HighFantasy">High
Fantasy</a> but a bit nearer to <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeroicFantasy">Heroic
Fantasy</a>. There are major <a class="western" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SavingTheWorld">stakes
for <i>part</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> of the world</span></a><span style="font-style: normal;">,
which is a classic High Fantasy trope, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">but
some of the main characters are pursuing personal goals</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">There is a major villain,
but not godlike evil. There</span> is magic, but it’s not huge and
flashy.<br />
<br />
TV Tropes can suck down huge amounts of time, but if you approach
it with a clear purpose, it’s easier to resist the pull of the
black hole.<br />
<br />David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1261334277743987209.post-4910572805844211812019-04-24T17:24:00.000-04:002019-04-24T17:24:49.816-04:00Science and Sapience<br />
I ran
across a <a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/8917145-knowledge-is-knowing-that-frankenstein-is-not-the-monster-wisdom">quote</a>
recently, which I’ll paraphrase: “Knowledge is recognizing that
Frankenstein is <i>not</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> the
monster. Wisdom is realizing that Frankenstein </span><i>is</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
the monster.” This is a post reflecting on science, “knowledge,”
and sapience, “wisdom.”</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXeHr8cHAlaMeZkJaFWdtDnTiH8V63W6_MfOVL7v7MVSN5ivc-ywXxSBMx9j7KdtL2L-t-xG-22l6NFps9MVm1Se4wONTDvLCbEnMcAu5tavRulwLrqkvdwZ4gBL4dL3hH-DeTgc_MHRY/s320/AtoZ2019S.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXeHr8cHAlaMeZkJaFWdtDnTiH8V63W6_MfOVL7v7MVSN5ivc-ywXxSBMx9j7KdtL2L-t-xG-22l6NFps9MVm1Se4wONTDvLCbEnMcAu5tavRulwLrqkvdwZ4gBL4dL3hH-DeTgc_MHRY/s320/AtoZ2019S.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(A-Z challenge S logo)</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-style: normal;">The seeming contradiction can be
resolved by seeing a subtle difference in the two uses of “monster”:
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">in the first, it’s a simple
description of Frankenstein’s creation, who is never named in the
Mary Shelley novel (but called Adam, like the Biblical first man, in
one of the many movie adaptations). In the second, it’s a
metaphorical description of “mad scientist” Victor Frankenstein,
who rejects his creation, the first of many rejections that sets the
creature on a downward spiral. Victor had the knowledge to create
life, but not the wisdom to </span><span style="font-style: normal;">bring
it to acceptance</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> in society.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">One of the definitions I’ve
heard for wisdom is “the capacity for making good decisions.”
Knowledge is the information you have; wisdom is choosing what to do
with it.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">Another aphorism about the
difference is Ian Malcolm’s quote from </span><i>Jurassic Park</i><span style="font-style: normal;">:
“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they </span><i>could</i><span style="font-style: normal;">,
they didn't stop to think if they </span><i>should</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.”
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">In most of Michael Crichton’s
novels, technologists in general are high on the scale </span><span style="font-style: normal;">for
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">knowledge but low on the one
for wisdom.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">I’m stepping closer than I like
to the swamp of whether there are “things people were never meant
to know;” there’s some charm to the notion that if we don’t
learn something, someone else will, and possibly to our detriment.
Instead I’d like to focus on something else: the capacity for
seeing alternatives. If you’re going to make good decisions, you
need to be able to see the choices.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-style: normal;">When I was a teenager I read
</span><a class="western" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1150390.Empire_Star"><i>Empire
Star</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;"> by Samuel R. Delaney,
where he described people’s </span><span style="font-style: normal;">differing
ability to</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> deal with multipl</span><span style="font-style: normal;">e</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
possibilities. The following is the understanding of th</span><span style="font-style: normal;">e
concepts he presented</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> that I
developed over the years </span><span style="font-style: normal;">since
then</span><span style="font-style: normal;">; it may not be the same
as what Delaney actually meant.</span><br />
<ul>
<li><i>Simplex</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> minds see only one possibility, either rejecting others without thought, or
not even recognizing them in the first place. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">I
put a lot of anti-science groups in this category, at least with
respect to their hot-button issues.</span><br />
</li>
<li><i>Complex</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> minds can see more than one point of view, perhaps even a
spectrum of possibilities between them, but only one “axis” of
variation. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">The classic
left/right division in politics is like this, at least when people
accept that someone in a different point on the scale isn’t
deluded or evil.</span><br />
</li>
<li><i>Mutliplex</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> minds see
that there are many axes, many semi-independent ways of looking at
something, multiple ways to compare the possibilities.</span><br />
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-style: normal;">Part of my teaching philosophy is
that, while universities need to convey knowledge, they also need to
nourish the capacity for considering multiplicities, to develop
multiplex minds. In my narrow technical field of software design,
this amounts to considering multiple solutions to a problem, deciding
on what criteria (axes) to use to compare them, and coming up with a
recommendation and rationale for which to pick. Something bad by one
criterion might be good on several others; even if it winds up being
rejected, it might suggest possible improvements to the other
choices.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>
Other people have the challenge of instilling professional ethics
in our students. When a customer asks for a piece of software, the
common technological focus of many software people simply deals with
how to do it, not whether it should be done at all. Professions are
supposed to have both a body of knowledge and a set of ethics:
guidelines for how to make good choices, usually having to to with
protecting the public from harm. In our curriculum, like many others,
the subject is crammed into a single course. Maybe that’s too
narrow a place to try to instill wisdom.<br />
<br />David Alex Lambhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17505261100015309637noreply@blogger.com0