![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I did a post a few months back for Stephanie Osborn's Comet Tales blog, and today it is reprinted over at Book View Cafe. If you missed it, we'll be talking about what makes a riveting character. And yes, this is a question for both readers and writers!
If you are writing character and plot-driven fiction, “what happens” should be important. This is not “if I don’t get the soufflé to rise, dinner is ruined” plotting. This is “If dinner doesn’t gel, the Venusian Ambassador may eat his attaché, thus an interstellar incident erupts in my home” territory. And the ambassador eating his attaché should be only the beginning. When the ambassador later gives birth to a spanking new baby Venusian born with the memories of the eaten attaché, and people start plotting to place that infant in a position of power, you’ll know you’re not in Kansas anymore.
If you are writing character and plot-driven fiction, “what happens” should be important. This is not “if I don’t get the soufflé to rise, dinner is ruined” plotting. This is “If dinner doesn’t gel, the Venusian Ambassador may eat his attaché, thus an interstellar incident erupts in my home” territory. And the ambassador eating his attaché should be only the beginning. When the ambassador later gives birth to a spanking new baby Venusian born with the memories of the eaten attaché, and people start plotting to place that infant in a position of power, you’ll know you’re not in Kansas anymore.
