(Working through an idea. The working through was useful and maybe there are useful things in here as a result. Ironically I don't think the idea of attractor states was one of them.) When I write fiction, I sometimes end up writing myself into boring situations. For example:
Endings are hard. It's hard for a story to live up to the promises it's made and the themes it's built up. But some stories manage it. An example using a scene from Terry Pratchett's Reaper Man (spoilers, obviously): Death sat on
An interesting thing about fiction/story structure is that it sometimes makes good sense to write scenes that have no causal consequences. There's a bit from The Lifecycle of Software Objects that I often think of when I think about structure or what belongs in a story. The
I am too lazy tonight to say much about this passage from Guards! Guards! other than it's another good one: "She's all right, is Lady Sybil. A real lady." The other two guards turned and stared at him. This was Nobby talking. "You
I sometimes write fiction, and that fiction has problems. One problem is that I find my protagonists boring. Why? What could I do to make them more interesting? I think one reason I find them boring is that in the way that I write them, they never (get a chance