Fictional Character Discourse Would Be More Fun If We All Internalized The Fact That Characters Are Narrative

fictional character discourse would be more fun if we all internalized the fact that characters are narrative tools, not people. once we have that basic fact down, we can start talking about what story the author is trying to tell using these characters, whether they’re successful, whether the story itself is successful and by what means we are measuring success—which are all really fun and interesting things to discuss! but we simply cannot get to that point unless we first accept that fictional characters simply do not have thoughts, feelings, opinions, or any agency on their own. a fictional character has more in common with the fictional chair theyre sitting on than with a real person

It's so hard to hear about famous authors who got bad reviews. Like if they had to hear that I can't imagine how I would get ripped apart. I don't know what my question is but I thought maybe you'd have an answer 💙

32 years later, more and more people know and love Good Omens all around the world, and I'm happily making more of it, so as reviews go, it makes me wonder how badly the poor reviewer hated the English, and whether it might have been possible for the NYT to have found a reviewer who liked funny English books to review a funny English book, but it doesn't rip me apart. It just makes me happy that my reaction to most bad reviews over the years has been to shrug and to write the next thing.

Having said that, we took a quote from this review -- from the bit that goes ''Good Omens'' is a direct descendant of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,'' a vastly overpraised book or radio program or industry or something that became quite popular in Britain a decade ago when it became apparent that Margaret Thatcher would be in office for some time and that laughs were going to be hard to come by.

Just as Douglas Adams worked his joke to death by juxtaposing the tedious lives of ordinary people with events of cosmic significance, so Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, two former journalists, go on and on for 354 pages with their schoolboy wisecracks about Good, Evil, the Meaning of Life and people who drink Perrier.

and put "A direct descendant of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,'" The New York Times on the front of the paperback and undoubtedly sold a lot of copies.

So, yes. bad reviews happen. That's because different people like different things. That's not actually a problem, it's what allows us all to have books and shows we love without having to love them all, and it's what allows creative people to make a living. The important thing is to keep on creating.

"Because... because I do not want to go into the Labyrinth of Drakes without you. Never mind the practicalities of it; that is what we have al-Jelidah and Haidar for. I do not want to see that place without you at my side. I want you to show me the ruins that inspired you, and I want you present for any discoveries I might make. Now, and always."

- Isabella Camherst, Memoirs of Lady Trent: In the Labyrinth of Drakes

I've said this ten thousand times in the past but, when it comes to planning/writing a novel, DON'T TRUST YOUR MEMORY.

Got a cool idea? ✍️ Write it down!

Thought of a cool line of dialogue? ✍️ Write it down!!

Came up with a twist for book 3? ✍️ WRITE. IT. DOWN.

hitch your heart to one small thing