Drawing from the Well
Queries Sent: 2
Total Queries: 11
Scenes Arranged: 0
Total Scenes: 216
Still stuck on 216 scenes, but work seems to finally be calming down so I can breathe. That means less working at night which means scene arrangement at night. This is good. I did trade that off with sending more queries, though, so that’s good too.
Filling the Well
Elegy: Page 48 of 89
Got a couple pages read, which is good considering how long it takes to read them. Also downloaded the audiobook for The Devouring Gray this morning. Can’t wait to dive into that today…and maybe Iron Fist.
Polishing the Well
We dyed Easter eggs last night. It’s always a fun process. Each year we try something different. Two years ago it was wax pencils, last year it was dying with colored whipped cream. This year: GLITTER! It was great fun and even the “ugly” eggs turned out pretty because those were the ones that got glitter-blasted.
Well Chat
Villainous Self-Destruction
I thought on Good Friday it would be appropriate to discuss martyrs and their effect on society and how you can use that in your writing.
I KNOW this is a divisive subject. I’m a Christian. The importance of Good Friday is not lost on me. This discussion is not meant to be insensitive, it is meant to show the breadth of inspiration in our world as well as explore a common trope. If your feelings are already hurt, feel free to ramble on.
The trope itself has to do with one character having an opportunity to kill another (typically a villain-type character to a hero-type character) and pausing before doing it because it would likely turn the dead character into a martyr. This would make them a rallying post for those resisting the killing character at which point they would rise up and defeat them.
When I say this is common, I mean it. One of the most well-known movies with this trope is Braveheart. **SPOILERS** William Wallace becomes the martyr Scotland needs to rise up and gain independence. He spends the entire movie growing into their leader but is later killed. It is only at THAT point that Scotland is galvanized into a hammer against their oppression. William Wallace even has a conversation with someone earlier in the film about NOT wanting to be a martyr. Now, the villain may not have had this conversation, but the trope is there.
So how do you use this in your writing? Well, first off, only where appropriate. This does not fit into every story, despite its widespread applicability. This works best if you have characters working for the enemy who are unsure they’re on the right side. That gives them the opening to point out that the villain is sealing their own doom in accomplishing their goal.
Happy Good Friday, everybody. Have a great weekend!
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG