Spring?

[ksmith]

Saw my first robin of the year a few days ago. Saw an entire flock today, gathered in a bare tree. They were a welcome sight...just wish they'd brought some dry weather with them, not to mention some *warmth*. Sunshine. The basics.

Another busy week at the day job. No clue where the year is going. Judging by the sense of passing time, it feels like we're still in January. No such luck.

I did have my annual review this week, and wonder of wonders, they still like me and want to keep paying me and all that. Things have improved with my new manager, who I really like. We're discussing adding some different responsibilities to the job that will allow me a break from the things I've been doing for the past--*yikes*--7 years or so. I hope we're able to work this out, because they are things I'd like to learn. They're also portable skills that could come in handy after I retire, so take my desire to learn them and multiply it by lots.

Still having fun with iTunes. Kept the buying to a single song, "Boom, Like That" by Mark Knopfler, but got a kick out of putting in one of my own CDs and having the track list show up in the display.

Yes, I am easily entertained--why do you ask?

Wrestling with the latest ENDGAME chapter. We are rapidly approaching a part I don't want to write, but it needs to get written. So...

Comments

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the possibility of shifting job responsibilities.


Without giving away plot specifics, can you discuss what it is about the part that you don't want to write? I sometimes hit scenes that I don't want to write, although there can be a couple of different reasons for that, and I'm curious to see if other people run into some of the same obstacles, issues, reluctances, and etc.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Without giving away plot specifics, can you discuss what it is about the part that you don't want to write? I sometimes hit scenes that I don't want to write, although there can be a couple of different reasons for that, and I'm curious to see if other people run into some of the same obstacles, issues, reluctances, and etc.

I think in part it's the emotional turmoil to be faced. Not a happy time for any of the major characters. especially my protagonist. Some devolution coming up. The loss of things that my protag fought for, and her realization that she's willing to give up these things in order to do something she feels she must do.

As I've heard repeatedly, my protag isn't wholly likable. Some of the things she'll be doing, well, she should know better by this point, but she does them anyway. She's a certain type of person, and as of late she's been living a life that runs counter to her inclinations. Then comes the stressor, and the carefully-tended facade cracks.

To some extent, I'm writing about the types of personalities who bring about revolutions, and these are not always the personalities best suited to ending them. They're not the most admirable of souls, and I like to have people like my characters. But they have to do what they have to do. So, damn the torpedoes.

There's also the fact that in this as in past books, there's a paralleling (I don't think that's a word) with certain things I've experienced that tends to make the writing difficult. Sometimes I see it coming, hence the reluctance. Sometimes I'm blindsided, and that's no fun either.

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I found that fascinating.

I do find that certain emotional complexes and turmoil are difficult to write into.

Some time in your copious free moments, I'd love to hear you post more on this whole business of likeable characters versus characters who do what they have to do regardless of likeability.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Some time in your copious free moments, I'd love to hear you post more on this whole business of likeable characters versus characters who do what they have to do regardless of likeability.

Maybe this morning, after pancakes...

Ritual disclaimer here--the following is personal opinion based on observation and bias. It's a complex issue imo, and I'm not the most patient of essayists, so points will be misstated/garbled.

At the risk of stating the obvious, I think it's pretty well accepted that different genres have different expectations regarding protagonist behavior. FWIW, I've read that the expectation slops over into mainstream as well, at least as far as bestsellers go. Expectations, as I've seen discussed, are that a genre protag will be likeable in an Everyman sort of way, while at the same time possessing a streak of heroism/larger-than-lifeishness that sets them apart from the average. They will always try to do the right thing, and if they are forced by circumstance to do the wrong thing, they will despise themselves, berate themselves, and if they are able, do what they can to make it right in the end.

The only genres in which I've seen venal/dishonest/unrepentant criminal behavior accepted in a protagonist are mystery and cyber, both of which have noir subsets in which that sort of behavior is part of the landscape--the characters who don't behave that way die early in the book.

Maybe the operational phrase here is "characters who do what they *think* they have to" instead of "what they have to." Because the heroic choice is always there, but a certain type of protag may be incapable of making it, even if they understand on a certain level that it's what they should do. Their compulsion lies in another direction. They can't fight what they are, and they will solve a problem in the way they feel they have to even if they hurt the ones they love, or ruin some aspect of their lives in the process. And I think that to some/many/most readers would prefer to not see them make those types of bad choices because they're not nice/heroic/what a good person should do. I don't think it's simply a matter of refusing to work toward the HEA ending--I think a reader can accept some angst if the protag made what they consider the right sort of decision that resulted in the angsty conclusion (did that make sense?)

If as a reader, your inclination is toward the grey protag, it may prove to be the sort of protag you prefer to write. And if you decide to take this path, you are making a conscious decision to follow your compulsion/inclination even though you may realize that you could adversely impact the acceptability of your story in the process. Yes, I'm talking sales here. The business side of things is never far from my mind these days.

I'm sure that exceptions exist. If anyone mentions Thomas Covenant, I will respond 'male character/male author' and I don't think I'm being whiny feminista when I say that I believe the gender of said grey protag makes a difference in how well they are accepted.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

There's also the fact that in this as in past books, there's a paralleling (I don't think that's a word) with certain things I've experienced that tends to make the writing difficult. Sometimes I see it coming, hence the reluctance. Sometimes I'm blindsided, and that's no fun either.

Been there, done that. I stopped writing on a work for an entire summer when I was reading a non-fiction work that I didn't think related to the behavior of a character in a continuing novel--but turned out to mirror the character entirely. This was right before I became sick and stopped writing, so I haven't gone back to the work.

But it was the proverbial 2x4 in the back of the head.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

But it was the proverbial 2x4 in the back of the head.

In ENDGAME, Jani is battling some of the same issues I'm grappling with now. And there's not a damned thing either of us can do about it.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

In ENDGAME, Jani is battling some of the same issues I'm grappling with now.

Urk. Hang in there. Maybe you will both find resolution.