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diff --git a/faith/preaching_the_message.rst b/faith/preaching_the_message.rst deleted file mode 100644 index b292c25..0000000 --- a/faith/preaching_the_message.rst +++ /dev/null @@ -1,84 +0,0 @@ -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`: - {filename}what-wrong-with-Ginny.rst - -.. _`characters start to behave like an idiots just to keep the plot together`: - {filename}augurey.rst - -.. _`Atlas Shrugged`: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged - -.. _`Fahrenheit 451`: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451 - |