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Everyone Wants to Go to Heaven, But Nobody Wants to Die

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Jim Hines talks about killing characters in books, especially beloved characters and protagonists. You can see the discussion on his main website or follow a much larger conversation (by a factor of ten or more) on his LiveJournal.

I posted a comment there (my LJ handle is burger_eater, for those not reading this post there) but wanted to expand a little: When it comes to killing characters in violent stories–and many fantasies rely on fighting for their conflict–there’s a wide spectrum between the slasher flicks at one end (where everyone dies) and the A-Team (where a whole armory-worth of bullets are fired but no one is ever hit).

Where readers fall on or within those extremes depends on the type of book they’re reading, their mood at the moment, or whether the wind is southerly. That’s natural. But I was astonished by the number of people who said they felt “betrayed” by the death of a major character.

Personal (and spoiler-free) story: When [Major Character] was killed in the first book of A Song Of Ice And Fire, I was startled and grateful. It was a real Joe Bob Briggs moment*, thank you muchly, and it showed me just how much danger these characters were in.

Contrast that with the end of that Tad Williams tree-killer epic, where ten or twelve characters rush into a headlong fight with Big Evil but only one minor character loses his life.

If the reader is ready for it–if they’re willing to go along–it’s powerful and fun. If the reader is not ready for it, either because a book has too much killing or not enough, they feel manipulated.

Of course, no one story will satisfy everyone, but I sure would like to work out the fat spot on the bell curve.

* Joe Bob Briggs number one rule for a great horror movie: “Anybody can die at any moment.”

Woo-hoo! Child of Fire Makes Another “Best of 2009” List!

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This time the list is at PopSyndicate.com. Here’s the link.

The author added an “e” to my last name, but hell, everyone does that; at least she’s done it in an unusual way. Here’s a quote:

“This one has some delicious creep factor to it, and Lilly is a protagonist that you find fascinating.”

Did you hear that, universe? You find him fascinating!

Hee. I’ll write a grownup post sometime soon. :)

Randomness for 1/6

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1) A cult I might join, and a manifesto that would do me good.

2) This is an article I’ve been waiting a few days for: What if the Christmas bomb had exploded? Did the Nigerian terrorist have enough explosive to bring down the plane? The answer seems to be “Maybe, but probably not.”

3) Lunch Lady Paper Dolls! Not your average lunch lady, either–it’s the crime fighting lunch lady from the popular comics.

4) Pride and Prejudice, told through emoticons. This is awesome.

5) The Venn Diagram of Cookie Status.

6) The difficult, difficult work of plotting AVATAR.

7) Screenwriters are trained to fail the Bechdel Test. “Ego and laziness – the intrepid supervillain team!” via Jim Hines.

It’s not “selling children”. It’s “selling parenting rights.”

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The (supposed) moral implications of selling children according to libertarians.

Having said that much, I’m sure you know exactly what you’ll find at the other end of that link.

Reviews for Child of Fire, part 9

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This time I have some interesting ones, but they’re still… Behind the cut! Continue reading

Quote of the day

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This is a long one, from an interview with Terry Rossio, one of the highest-paid screenwriters working today, and the man who runs the Wordplay site, which is full of writerly advice. I learned a lot on the Wordplay message boards, and in the columns, and I learned a lot from this interview (even though I’m supposed to be MAN BITES WORLD.

Anyway, this is about screenwriting, naturally, not writing books, but I think it’s pertinent:

JRM (interviewer): How did you break in, and how did you come to be where you are now?

Terry Rossio: I’m going to try to not give the usual boilerplate answers in this interview, and that means not going along with false presumptions, no matter how seemingly benign. The question about breaking in seems perfectly legit, but really it’s not. A writer must create compelling work, and then try to sell it. Once sold, the writer has to do the same thing again. It’s really not true that the writer ‘breaks in’—that’s an artifact of the belief that the person is being judged, not the work, and also of the belief that there is an inside and an outside, which I don’t think exists. There are too many screenwriters out there with only a single credit for there to be an inside, and too many writers on the outside making sales, to too many markets which are either new, changing, or undefined.

In truth buyers are just not that organized, your buyer is not my buyer, or in some cases, you can become your own buyer. Courtney Hunt was nominated for an Academy Award this year for best screenplay for Frozen River, and she’s never sold a screenplay. Is she on the inside or the outside? In truth, anyone, at any time, can come up with South Park or Superman or Sandman, and that’s all that matters.

And I can’t resist adding this one:

Screenwriters are the Charlie Browns of Hollywood, and everyone else holds the football.

I recommend reading the whole interview. Yeah, it’s a little long, but the stuff on constructing a story is wonderful

Randomness for 12/29

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1) Tape measure superpowers. via sinboy

2) Blue Thundercats are only the most obvious uses for cgi. It’s also useful for turning sets into locations.

3) Romeo and Juliet by people who slept through English class. Hilarious. The text is fun, but listen to the audio news report, if you can. It’s not only wonderful, but it goes a little deeper than you might expect.

4) I’m supposed to be on a holiday media fast, but some things can’t be ignored: Is this Iran’s Second Revolution?

5) First link from James Nicoll: Most unsympathetic protagonist of 2009? The list is limited to protagonists who are supposed to be sympathetic, and Thomas Covenant has been awarded a lifetime achievement award and is no longer eligible.

6) Second link to James Nicoll: Rail travel in the U.S. Personally, I’d love to see more reliable, faster rail service in this country.

7) Sixth Pacific NW police officer dies of gunshot wounds in two months. First we had an office in Seattle shot to death on Halloween night. Then there were the four Lakewood officers. Now this. Law enforcement deaths are down from last year, nationally, but shooting deaths are up (most law enforcement deaths are auto-related). Condolences to his family and his fellow officers.

How good the world is now

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Years and years ago, I saw an animated version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL that impressed the hell out of me. The ghosts looked like ghosts and some care was taken at the start of the show to establish that this was a haunted story.

Plus, it had the scariest Jacob Marley ever.

Of course, this was back in the pre-information days, when I’d have no idea which “A Christmas Carol” it was, or when it would air again. There were several years when I spent the weeks before the holiday studying the TV Guide, searching for half-hour versions of the show in case I could fine The One.

I did, once. It aired on The Family Channel (the only time I ever watched that channel) and there was Jacob Marley, speaking out of his gaping, unmoving mouth. There was the ever-shifting Ghost of Christmas Past. There was Ignorance and Want, depicted as though they were already dead.

Then I couldn’t find it again.

Of course, now we’re living in the information age, and an obscure supernatural cartoon is content. Can the internet resist content? I think not:

Facebook users click this link.

Chuck Jones produced it. Alistair Sim is the voice of Scrooge, and he plays him differently than most actors do–less gruff and hostile, more weak and aggrieved. And of course there are the ghosts.

Hey, I realize the holiday is pretty much over, and being Christmas most of you are probably sick of it. But if you like really well done ghosts, check this one out.

Randomness for Christmas Eve!

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Let’s go with a theme today:

1) Christmas gift warning! HP Computers: Racist? via mightygodking, who called this a FAIL, and I have to agree.

2) Give yourself a gift! The writer’s bible for Batman: The Animated Series. And here’s some analysis by Chris Sims.

3) Have some glad tidings! How Earth 2 Will Save Publishing.

4) Why does “A Christmas Carol” have to play every year? “Evocriticism” or Evolutionary literary criticism–an evolutionary explanation for the appearance of art.

5) More gifts! And prOn! It’s book pr0n. via James Macdonald on the Absolute Write forums.

6) Norad Santa Tracker. ‘Nuff said.

Child of Fire Reviews, Part 8

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Even more reviews! Behind the cut, ‘natch. Continue reading