Huh.

[naodrith]

So, I was talking with Pyrae in my last entry, and she has apparently decided that she does not like PTerry's books because of their lack of plot and resolution. (No, 'rae, I'm not bitter. That was a simple statement. I mean it.)

And then it occured to me that I really couldn't care less about the plot in my story. Because, if you look at TSPB/Perfect Imperfection, it started as the typical save-the-world, apocalyptic, utopia/dystopia SF story. But by the end, I just didn't care. I didn't care if the world got saved. I didn't care if the bomb went off. I didn't care about who my main character ended up with, or indeed if she ended up with anyone at all.

I cared, by then, about one thing only: Joseph, Zacharias, and their relationship. Okay, that's three things.

I knew from the moment they met that there was something there. Something different, something worth dying for, something worth living for. And they didn't let me down. (I say that because I'm well aware that it's not me doing the writing, it's them, using my fingers.) Because Joseph wanted to die when he thought Zacharias was dead. Because the first time Zacharias cried on the page was when he was weeping for the loss of Joseph's innocence/sanity. Because they were completely and totally in love, in a platonic way, and they never realized it.

I cared about them. To hell with the MC, she was only a plot device anyway. The plot, which was contrived anyway, was just there because Joseph and Zac needed something to do. The resolution - the original one, anyway - was less about Lasa learning to live without Zac than about Joseph learning to live with him. And I haven't finished the rewrite, but I'm sure it's going to end up being even more about Joe and Zac than the first draft was.

In short, I don't care about plot or resolution. I only care about characters. That might be a failing, in an author, but I don't care. They're my precious little darlings and plot is overrated, anyway.

Comments

[shati.livejournal.com]

Hi. Er, hope you don't mind me commenting, but I am overflowing with the Pratchett lurve tonight. (I'm also overflowing with incoherency. Sigh.)

"Plot" is kind of an annoying word. I like "story" better. That way the characters are at least as important as the events, and it has less, well, "contrived" connotations.

Anyway, I was going to say that I'm amused, because when I first found Terry Pratchett I did read the Discworld books for the stories (plots + characters, that is). Books like Lord and Ladies, Hogfather, The Fifth Elephant, and Night Watch especially. Now I read him for the funny and the footnotes and the stories, and the commentary on Everything, but I do think he's great with characters. Granny Weatherwax! Death! Vimes!

Also, thanks for posting those quotes. /relurks

[pyrae.livejournal.com]

Story is a better word, yes. I steal your word now.

I suppose I just got the impression, from the books Nae recommended to [i.e. forced on] me, that Pratchett was too busy being witty and satirical to actually tell the story. I like witty and satirical, just not when I want a story, and lately I've wanted story.

You say there is story in Night Watch? Perhaps I try that one, then.

Forgive me, it is late.

[naodrith.livejournal.com]

See, the problem with NW is that it's the sixth book in a mini-series, definitely not for someone who knows nothing about the Watch beforehand. Otherwise I would have handed it over last December when I got it. But, yes, much story.