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+How not to use your character as a mouthpiece
+#############################################
+
+:date: 2021-02-11T09:27:17
+:category: faith
+:tags: harryPotter, blogComment
+
+(my contribution on the thread “`Using your character as a mouth
+piece`_” by Snoo)
+
+If you are interested in the theory of writing, then I have to
+suggest to you two very obscure and old books (yes, old books are
+quite often better than the new ones): “`The Mind of the Maker`_”
+by Dorothy L. Sayers (yes, the author of detective stories with
+Lord Peter Wimsey, so she knew one or two things about writing)
+and “`How Not to Write a Play`_” by Walter Kerr (he was the chief
+theatre critic of The New York Times long time ago). The first
+one is probably very hard to digest for some (it uses the analogy
+with the Trinitarian Theology), so let me summarize what I mean:
+
+Every story should be about `how the hero got from A to B`_: how
+a young abused orphaned boy found his way to find peaceful and
+loving life while defeating the worst wizard of his times; how
+the young Danish prince found the courage to revenge the murder
+of his own father; how a boy and a girl from two families which
+hated each other found love and finally were killed by that
+hatred. There are some requirements for the good story
+I described in the linked blog post (using the Kerr’s theory;
+namely, it shouldn’t skip the story itself as many fanfics do),
+but there is also more: the hero has to get there on his/her own,
+the author cannot pull him there against his will and powers.
+That’s the clear sign of problems with writing, when suddenly
+`characters start to behave like an idiots just to keep the plot
+together`_: all characters have to get from A to B because of
+their own decision, ruled by their own decisions, not because the
+author needs to make them these decisions.
+
+Subset of this problem is when not only heroes of a story behave
+out of their character, but even worse when their behaviour is
+driven by the author’s opinions more than by their intrinsic
+decisions. Juliet is not in love with Romeo because she would be
+in love with him, but because she needs to show how it is bad to
+marry as a teenager (and thus making bad decisions, as teenagers
+do); Hamlet doesn’t struggle with his path to kill the ruling
+king, because of moral problems, but because he wants to preach
+to us how his mother is just a tool in the misogynistic world.
+And yes, somebody mentioned “`Atlas Shrugged`_” by Ayn Rand,
+which is an horrible example of the sermon on extreme
+individualism pretending to be a novel. Or even worse, when in
+every other Indy!Harry story, a reader suspects his not behaving
+out of his own heart, but because the author wants him to preach
+the author’s relational problems with his father (while shouting
+at Dumbledore).
+
+And yes, every books has a message, but see for example
+“`Fahrenheit 451`_” by Ray Bradbury (one of the best short novels
+of all times, I believe). It has a message as well, but first it
+is rather complicated to say what the message really is and to be
+honest to the story. More importantly though, heroes of the story
+never shout out the message to us (actually, the main hero of the
+story works most of the time professionally against the message),
+you are just lead to find it on your own.
+
+.. _`Using your character as a mouth piece`:
+    https://www.reddit.com/r/HPfanfiction/comments/lha0ag/using_your_character_as_a_mouth_piece/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
+
+.. _`The Mind of the Maker`:
+    https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20140909
+
+.. _`How Not to Write a Play`:
+    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Not_to_Write_a_Play
+
+.. _`how the hero got from A to B`:
+   https://matej.ceplovi.cz/blog/whats-wrong-with-ginny.html
+
+.. _`characters start to behave like an idiots just to keep the plot together`:
+    https://matej.ceplovi.cz/blog/augurey-or-loosing-of-sanity.html
+
+.. _`Atlas Shrugged`:
+    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged
+
+.. _`Fahrenheit 451`:
+    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451
+