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World History, Part II
See World History, Part I for the genesis of this. I’m finally getting around to writing the actual history of my world.
I don’t start with the total sweep of history. I start with characters and their drama. …
World History, Part I
In my post on Randomness and Inspiration, I mentioned the 156 Great Mages generated by a tool I wrote using a model of transitions of power. (I’m a serious software hack. Multiple non-fiction books under a different name.)
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Inspired By
When we look at something as big as a #SFF tetralogy, a “single’ inspiration isn’t sensible. It’s hard to write 4×150,000 words about something in the singular sense of one inspiration.
We can, perhaps, digest a pattern of events into something that has a unifying theme, but isn't properly solitary.
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What’s at Stake?
See this thread
John's had too much coffee, so let's talk about stakes, realism, and melodrama in fiction, particularly fiction for kids and teens. #amwriting #amquerying #kidlit
— John Cusick (@johnmcusick) February 27, 2018
This was empowering advice. Further down the thread is this:
For these sorts of writers, what feels melodramatic while we're writing is going to be compelling and moving to the reader reading. If you're worried your scenes or characters are melodramatic, chances are you NEED to push them farther than you think you should.
— John Cusick (@johnmcusick) February 27, 2018
Wow. Melodrama isn’t a bad thing. More fundamentally, what appears as melodramatic to me — the author — may not appear quite so over-the-top to the reader.
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