Writing Forum

Love this kind of conversation. Keep it going- tell me if I'm wrong. By the way, thanks/You're welcome. I hope that somebody finds my philosophizing useful. Sounds like it might not have been exactly responsive, though. To whit:

I wouldn't be daunted by the lengths to which readers go in analyzing. If they even bother, you've pretty much already succeeded. Sure, there might be a few that spot logic errors and dump you, but usually they hash and reanalyze because they care. So, if it happens to you you should 'cry all the way' to where you store the champagne for a celebration, is my advice.

I had a few other thoughts. You weren't just talking about intelligence- though that one's probably trickier. Other laudable traits are mentioned, too. I don't recommend going too far beyond your readers reach. By breaking down the achievement, you can go a lot farther and still be relatable and believable.

One stunning thing I noticed - let me know if any of you have recognized anything like it. When I first found myself watching Babylon 5, I found myself awed by the courage and professionalism etc. of Susan Ivanova. A decade later I re-watch it, and I'm thinking, "What happened? She's changed so much."

Of course she hadn't; I had. It got me to thinking. The difference was, the second time I saw how she did it. She didn't start out much different from anybody else. She just did what needed to be done, best she could. Although most people would probably not be as lucky as she, anybody could be just as heroic.

I'd say that's how to make larger-than-life characters. Show them deciding to grow, taking on things larger than they are and picking themselves up time and again. We don't think House (Of House, M.D. TV Show) is stupid because he's so often wrong. We think he's brilliant because he won't settle for being stumped. That's why we believe he's so smart, because he figures things out no matter what. Do that often enough, and your brain would (probably) start to grow. At least, we'd like to think that. Doesn't matter that the science actually supposedly bears this out, (allegedly it does) because if we want to believe it, it's good enough for fiction!

What do you think?