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On Hurtful Things
Nov. 7th, 2012 09:54 pmMy writing teacher just told me that I have too many characters and need to cut out about half of them.
BullSHIT.
A couple of my classmates at least had the decency to point out the number of characters I have is a standard for the genre I'm writing in. Which is Epic Fantasy. So, yes, I goddamn well do need them all. Every single character in the book is there for a reason.
Try reading LotR with only half the Fellowship. Or Game of Thrones, but take out House Stark. To cut down on character count, because, you know, we have to treat the readers like idiots since they can't keep track of more than half a dozen characters. Not that I'm anywhere near as good a writer as Tolkein or Martin. Yet.
This is the closest I've ever come to quitting this class. But as it's 95% of my feedback, I can't afford to.
Me and my copy of The Hobbit are going to bed, because otherwise crying may be involved.
BullSHIT.
A couple of my classmates at least had the decency to point out the number of characters I have is a standard for the genre I'm writing in. Which is Epic Fantasy. So, yes, I goddamn well do need them all. Every single character in the book is there for a reason.
Try reading LotR with only half the Fellowship. Or Game of Thrones, but take out House Stark. To cut down on character count, because, you know, we have to treat the readers like idiots since they can't keep track of more than half a dozen characters. Not that I'm anywhere near as good a writer as Tolkein or Martin. Yet.
This is the closest I've ever come to quitting this class. But as it's 95% of my feedback, I can't afford to.
Me and my copy of The Hobbit are going to bed, because otherwise crying may be involved.
