From: A_Tina_Hall@kruemel.org   
      
     wrote:   
      
   > 1. To write in sentences and paragraphs except when it is necessarily   
   > otherwise for the personality of the characters and useful to the   
   > story. You can learn this, but some are born with this ability.   
      
   That goes in line with so-called 'rules' (that are better ignored) of   
   what (not) to do.   
      
   If a sentence reads better, a paragraph flows better, and a sequence of   
   paragraphs joins up better with Grammar that would send some people run   
   screaming (or waving torches), then that's the way to do them.   
      
   For me it's a feeling. (I can feel when something's off, but I don't   
   always know how to fix it.) Also, a break in between reading might   
   highlight something. Time of day/tiredness can also influence this.   
      
   > 2. To write with a beginning, middle, and end. You can learn this.   
      
   I disagree. I don't see where they are supposed to be in other stories,   
   and don't write with any frame of what's to go where in mind.   
      
   Such a frame would be an obstacle to me, if anything.   
      
   > 3. A sense of the music of words.   
      
   I don't really know what you mean by that. Can you rephrase it?   
      
   > 4. To know where to start the story, and to know when to end the   
   > story.   
      
   I agree, as long as you don't mean you have to know that from the start.   
   (Not everyone writes that way.)   
      
   > You also need certain things NOT happening to you.   
      
   > 1. You need to have an TOTALLY honest relationship with some primary   
   > role model.   
      
   What?   
      
   > Otherwise, your role models will teach you to be blind to   
   > their own shortcomings. Almost everybody develops "blind spots" where   
   > they learn "not to see" whatever their parents want to keep hidden.   
   > (Almost all children develop blind spots.)   
      
   You lost me.   
      
   Only thing I can think of is the character behaviour (including   
   thoughts) that annoys me in stories, which is why I stopped buying books   
   and write my own. Most people think such behaviour is ok and normal. I   
   so disagree.   
      
   > Character-driven stories come from observation of people. Plot-driven   
   > stories come from observations of complex systems.   
      
   Don't know. In my observation, plot makes characters act stupid. And   
   character-driven sounds like something other than just following the   
   characters around (which is what I do). I like spending time with   
   pleasant characters. The bad is just an excuse to show them, or part of   
   the setting, until it got rolling and things get difficult all on its   
   own. Without the characters being stupid! (It's a bit like a tree that   
   grows. Or weaving a carpet. If you're doing the latter you don't   
   immediately see how the bits on each line will connect on the whole   
   picture. I keep being amazed by that.)   
      
   Doing that carpet deliberately would so not work for me.   
      
   --   
   "Just because I'm a thief doesn't mean I steal money from people."   
                              -- Dayta, Magic Earth II: Without Heart   
   Excerpts at:    
      
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)