Monday, February 15, 2010
Focus on elements
For me, I don't focus on one particular element in a story all of the time. Generally for a short story I don't focus much on the characters, or setting; I focus more on the theme and plot. For novels I will focus on ... well all of them except mood. Theme I also often don't pay much attention to until the second time I read something. An exception to this is the Lord of the Rings books. I am more aware of the plot and mood than anything else. Tolkien does not describe his scenes very well in this series and his characters, I feel, lack something.
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Interesting comment on LOTR; how did you see the characters to be lacking?
ReplyDeleteI see the characters as intentionally mythic, and so somewhat less than fully human and genuine, except for the hobbits: who are, in my opinion, completely realized and very true-to-life. One of the strengths of the book for me is the way that these genuine little people save the day when all of the mighty and powerful and beautiful hero-types cannot; I like the contrast Tolkien creates in it.