Stuff Costs

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

There's some tension in the air. It’s taking us longer and longer to get started in the critique circle. Plus I think Nancy’s getting a bit frustrated with people who aren’t turning anything in this week. I don’t blame her. Maybe some have hit a wall (figuratively or literally). Or maybe we're hitting the Week Four slump one week early.

The words for today were two: Stuff costs. Your protagonist must tread a tough path and might just suffer – a little or a lot. Something has to be at stake. Somebody has to pay.

I got “Uncle Snuffy on Doomsday” critiqued today. Nancy said that the rules are different for a comedy, which this is. The critiques were generally good. Most people wanted the dog to play a bigger part in the end, and I think I’ll do that with the re-write.

In our conference, Nancy and I talked about character arc quite a bit. I think I have a better idea of what to do with my characters now, also incorporating “stuff costs” in my stories more. She asked me where I want to go in my writing and I told her that I really want to read and learn more, that I feel really behind. Asked her about taking courses or going back to school. She said forget it, you can learn just as much (if not more) by reading and self-study. Sounds good to me.