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Thursday, December 14, 2006Fictional Darwinism
... or 'Darwining' for short. Defined as:
Letting a minor character get bigger and bigger till he or she takes over the narrative - figuring, 'Stuff it, survival of the fittest' and going with it. Always good? Always bad?
Comments:
I wouldn't say 'always good' or 'always bad', but in general definitely worth a shot.
The counterpoint, I suppose, would be fictional 'Intelligent Design', wherein a character is given traits that are functional in terms of the plot, yet somehow fail to add up to plausible-seeming person. I suppose that both design and evolution play a part in the development of most fictional characters.
Maybe you could work it into the drafts and all. Often character function ends up being determined by the course of the story, and I hear a lot of other writers say, "Oh, I started with this main character, but then this other one ended up being what the story was about." So if a character ends up becoming more the focus than originally intended, one can always go back and revise the beginning to keep it consistent.
www.jrvogt.com
If that's Darwining, then JK Rowling has a serious case of genetic engineering. Hermione is forever stealing the show. Me, I would have made Hermione the protagonist, but Harry hangs in there, book after book.
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I'm a strong believer in writing the book you want to write, but then I'm also unpublished, and I can't actually prove there's no connection between the two :D. If the lesser character becomes the more interesting one, let them have their way. Why not? Try and force the book where it doesn't want to go and it'll be miserable, you'll be miserable, and your first reader will tell you, "wow, it shows how much you hated writing this book". Meh. << Home ArchivesJuly 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 January 2010 February 2010 March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 |
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