Romeo wrote:I read the book on the writing process by Stephen King. Very informative, even if you don't particularly like his writing or his opinions. I liked his description of how a story comes into being. He compares it to excavating a dinosaur fossil. You have a lot of tools to bring to the job - some big and rough, some tiny to make sure the intricate work doesn't get messed up. A story is uncovered in the same way - you focus on one part, dig it out, dust it off, see what it's connected to, etc. And many times (most?) it ends up surprising the author in one way or another.
Along these lines, this is from the Foreword to Le Guin's
Tales from Earthsea:
At the end of the fourth book of Earthsea, Tehanu, the story had arrived at what I felt to be now. And, just as in the now of the so-called real world, I didn't know what would happen next. I could guess, fortell, fear,hope, but I didn't know.
Unable to continue Tehanu's story (because it hadn't happened yet ) and foolishly assuming that the story of Ged and Tenar had reached its happily-ever-after, I gave the book a subtitle: "The Last Book of Earthsea."
O foolish writer. Now moves. Even in storytime, dreamtime, once-upon-a time, now isn't then.
Seven or eight years after Tehanu was published, I was asked to write a story set in Earthsea. A mere glimpse at the place told me that things had been happening there while I wasn't looking. It was high time to go back and find out what was going on now.
Regarding Linden... (:lol:) The biggest problem is that, as it turns out, she has not grown since we first met her. Covenant went back to the Land in the 2nd Chrons, and he was
cool. He didn't know what was up, but he was ready to face it. He had knowledge; he understood his power; he was strong. But now, Linden is just as screwed up as in the 2nd. Maybe not because of the same issues (mom & dad), but she's still a mess. She's not confident. She doesn't trust anybody, so she's always witholding vital information. She's sure everything she does is gonna be a disaster. I've said before that we don't need the Final Chrons to be about the growth and strengthening of a character. We saw it with Covenant in the 1st, and Linden in the 2nd. Now's the time for powerful people fighting powerful foes, understanding what's going on; understanding it will be difficult; unhappy that there
will be losses, but that you don't walk away from this kind of evil without losses. And if he
had to show us someone going through this angst junk again, I wish he coulda made it someone else. She was annoying in the beginning of the 2nd, just as Covenant was in the beginning of the 1st. But she grew into a hero. Now she's just a loser again.