tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post4925407723783640006..comments2024-03-28T09:11:30.629-04:00Comments on alien romances: WINDOWS TO THE SOULRowena Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11839386556697211986noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post-91318596090424301942009-01-09T15:25:00.000-05:002009-01-09T15:25:00.000-05:00Linnea,Thanks for a great post. Nice to know ther...Linnea,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for a great post. Nice to know there is a real reason for some of the things that I'm doing. :-) I really appreciate that you and the others here at AR are willing to give of your time and knowledge to help the rest of us become better writers.<BR/><BR/>Frances Drake<BR/> <BR/>Writing Science Fiction Romance<BR/>Real Love in a Real Future<BR/>http://frances-writes.blogspot.com/Franceshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08340332869249455215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post-19969447366161473392009-01-05T17:57:00.000-05:002009-01-05T17:57:00.000-05:00Nice explanation, Linnea! The Window Character, a...Nice explanation, Linnea! <BR/><BR/>The Window Character, as defined here and demonstrated nicely in DOWNHOME is what screenwriters call the B-Story. <BR/><BR/>And Joe, yes, it has to be a MINOR character who is always minor in THIS book. <BR/><BR/>The whole point to the Window Character is that they aren't in the story -- or aren't in the plot -- are OUTSIDE what's happening and it's importance. <BR/><BR/>However, which character is the Protag or Main Character, or Hero, is a matter of what mathmatics calls the "co-ordinate system".<BR/><BR/>The Main Character is the one at 0,0 of your coordinate system. <BR/><BR/>That point - the origin - can move among all the characters. <BR/><BR/>The Villain is the Hero of his own story. <BR/><BR/>However readers get horribly confused if you try to tell more than one story at a time. And that's an emotional confusion not an intellectual one. They lose interest if you change stories mid-book. <BR/><BR/>Yes, a printed volume can have more than one "book" -- or section, and that is an effective way to make your Window Character into the Main Character of his/her own story. <BR/><BR/>The best strategy is to practice until you can write 100,000 words of one story straight through using the Window Character to tease out the backstory before trying to interweave other main stories. <BR/><BR/>But you can always use the Window Character as the Main Character in the SEQUEL! <BR/><BR/>I do love sequels. I bet you never guessed that. <BR/><BR/>Jacqueline Lichtenberg<BR/>http://www.simegen.com/jl/Jacqueline Lichtenberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01613040740264804278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post-57334960491598944372009-01-05T14:50:00.000-05:002009-01-05T14:50:00.000-05:00Thanks for the food for thought.Question: Why does...Thanks for the food for thought.<BR/><BR/>Question: Why does it have to be a minor character to perform this function? Say the antagonist and the protagonist start out as friends and then become estranged; couldn't the antagonist then perform this same function before their split, or even after?José Iriartehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03653811568201804995noreply@blogger.com