Authors Electric

Characters are the soul of fiction. They are the first movers of story. Imagine any story you've ever read, then take out the characters. What you have left is essentially a lunatic's National Geographic article: a description of a fantastic landscape or a discussion of a particular group or species daily habits. Without characters, The Hobbit , for instance, would read something like this: Chapter 1: Hobbits live relatively peaceful lives, reside in modestly decorated holes in hills, and like to eat. Like a lot. They have seven meals a day, and do not like to be surpised by unexpected visitors. Chapter 2: Trolls will eat anything and turn to stone in the sunlight. Chapter 3: Elves are wise, and kind of pompous assholes. Chapter 4: Goblins are just assholes. Chapter 5: Caves are dark and scary, and sometimes people lose jewelry there. Chapter 6: Wolves and Goblins are friends and often team up to terrorize villages, but giant eagles will sometimes put a sto...