QUOTE: Originally posted by mrevelle

Sometimes the death of a character is necessary. In The Green Mile, ultimately turned into a movie with Tom Hanks and Michael Duncan, I cried my eyes out at the end when one of the main characters was executed.

I wonder how much power The Green Mile would have lost if that main character wasn't executed? The entire novel led up to that moment - if Stephen King had wimped out at the last minute and written in a stay of execution or a pardon, it would have been a heart-lifting story, but it would have had all the substance and lasting power of a Tootsie roll. I sobbed, granted, but I felt so transported, and so ready to take on the world's injustices, and most importantly, that it could be done.

QUOTE: Not into Clay, sorry. Marsters, now there's a possibilty there!

Mmmm, James..... Makes you want to write a character he could play, get Hollywood to turn it into a movie, and have him hired.... But I digress.

QUOTE: On writing about people with disorders, I can't stand to read (or even watch) something that mentions that a character has a disease or disorder, then never displays it during the book (or movie or program). I feel that portrays people with those disorders/diseases as never having problems with it.

Some authors seem to throw that in just to create what they think is a well-rounded character with an interesting background and/or a twist. They have no idea what it's like to actually live with a disease, and so they're never able to show the impact, or it's inconvenient for them because that limits the character in some way, so they ignore the limitation. That's another thing that burns me, especially since I have one friend who's in a wheelchair and another who has cerebal palsy, and see the impact from those things every day. Authors have to face facts, here: if you're throwing in a disease or disability as a gimmick, don't. It cheapens the reality and does no justice to the character or the author's writing ability. They have to remember that a disease/disability places limitations and creates new problems and opportunities, no matter how much we might want to show the disabled and sick as "Just like us". If they're "just like us", why bother to give them the problem in the first place?

QUOTE: Originally posted by hrystya

I wrote my nvel primarely as an assignment for senior project. One of the rules was that we had to do research on our topic to use in our project. I mentioned alot of the effects (both physical and emotional) of Muscular Distrophy, so I hope it seems real.


Real enough for publication, and real enough to upset some people! [:D] Sounds like you've done it right. And the beauty is, you didn't ignore anything: some people focus on the physical, some on the emotional, but it's rare to see them both handled at once. Good on you!

And thanks for not stapling anything to Propernoun's head. [:p]

For anyone else who wants to complain about your spelling, etc., I just suggest they look at the stories you've posted for critiquing and note that when it matters, you do just fine in those departments.

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en tequila es verdad