Re: Motivations, Principles, and Personality Traits

In article
<ee8ff377-c147-4146-8bcb-1f38bf1bcabc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Nicky <nicky.matthews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

This whole thing is utterly alien to me.I learn about the characters I
write about much as I learn about real people by what they say and do.
Sometimes I know what they think, but only sometimes and they always
justify themselves to themselves and I don't always agree. I don't
have any lists. I don't make a decision about whether they are good or
evil ;mostly they are a bit of both. I can't write a person through
lists of characteristics. I wouldn't know where to start or how to
convey it. Nine and sixty...

Roughly my view of the matter as well. The character in _Salamander_ who
was supposed to be one of the two antagonists turned into one of the two
protagonists. The other protagonist is the daughter of the person who
was supposed to be the protagonist, and is now an important secondary
character.

I like to describe Anne in _Harald_ as my stealth heroine, because she
was supposed to be a minor character.

--
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/ http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/
Author of _Harald_, a fantasy without magic.
Published by Baen, in bookstores now
.

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