Comments on: Whose Story is It Anyway?

By: Tesh

Tesh — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 16:46:43 +0000

Wholly agreed on Harry Potter. I still like the secondary characters best, though. The Harry/Voldie duet just got tired… mostly because Harry was annoying and Voldie was too… simple. The character progression of Neville was much more satisfying, and Luna stole darn near every scene she was in, and even wound up the heart of a chapter in the seventh book where all we read about is her room.

I almost can’t reread the books any more. I’m to the point where I skim read the Harry parts and get to the other stuff that I like more.
.-= Tesh´s last blog ..Faceplant From Orbit =-.

By: Void

Void — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 16:36:58 +0000

Great post Beej! I was wondering if you have any other examples of stories that fall into this same category? I always thought it was interesting that the Star Wars prequel trilogy changes the way the audience perceives Darth Vader. When you see someone’s downfall it is hard not to sympathize.

Anyway, do you have any other examples of stories where the story isn’t about the main character?
.-= Void´s last blog ..How Do I Get My Girlfriend to Play Video Games? =-.

By: BarryR22

BarryR22 — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 04:29:42 +0000

The true beauty of Buffy (and don’t get me wrong, I like Giles too) is the fact that all this power and the fate of the entire world rests on the shoulders of a blonde cheerleader. Whedon did a wonderful job with the concept. I mean it is really an accurate portrayal of high school and the subsequent years…searching for a place to fit into the world. It is also intriguing because if you really analyze it, you have a little teenage girl who takes the end of the world and getting dumped by her boyfriend as equally terrible things. It’s a wonderful show…I love Joss Whedon.

By: Professor Beej

Professor Beej — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:48:28 +0000

It depends entirely on what you’re going for, Gordon. Are you making a literary, character-driven story? Or are you going for flash and spectacle? Understanding the magic ingredients is hard, if not impossible. While I’m no expert, one thing I have learned in the past few months of tossing my novel around in my head and thinking about what the best way of approaching it is this: all the planning in the world doesn’t help if you second guess yourself at every juncture; just write the story and it will fall together somehow. That’s what God made revision for.

By: Stefanie

Stefanie — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:45:22 +0000

The producers of Lost have already said that not everything on the show will be answered, and I think Walt’s “specialness” is one of them. That storyline’s been gone for a while now. It’s not coming back.
.-= Stefanie´s last blog ..Yes, gamers DO have social lives! =-.

By: Professor Beej

Professor Beej — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:40:53 +0000

*spoilers for Lost*

I’m going to be disappointed if Jack ends up replacing Jacob as the Island’s protector. It’s so obvious and trite. Yeah, he’s the “hero,” but he’s not a really sympathetic character to me. He’s too stock. He’s too predictable.

I do hope they explain the bird thing with Walt at some point this season. I know they didn’t have a lot of direction to begin with, but it was so emphasized for a while, a mention during these final hours would be nice.

By: We Fly Spitfires

We Fly Spitfires — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 10:30:31 +0000

I was thinking about this exact same thing not so long ago as I’m outling a short story I want to write in April. I know what it’s going to be about, what the general flow of the story is, but I have no idea how to make it “good”. It’s all about characters but how do I make them interesting as deep and emotional? I know it when I see it but trying to understand those magic ingredients is almost impossible.
.-= We Fly Spitfires´s last blog ..How Do I Make Money In EVE Online? =-.

By: Stefanie

Stefanie — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 16:37:30 +0000

Although it doesn’t seem like it now, I’m willing to bet that at the end of Lost it will be Jack’s story. He’s been the “hero” of the show all along, even if he was originally supposed to die in the pilot.

Right now, also, Sawyer is a pretty big character on the show, as is John Locke/MiB. It’s so hard to tell which way Lost will go!

A few seasons ago, I thought that maybe Lost would be Desmond’s story. They made such a big deal about him at the time! But in the last two seasons, he’s been pretty nonexistent, which is disappointing. With only seven (?) episodes left, I feel poor Desmond’s storyline might go the way of Walt. We’ll never find out why he was so special.
.-= Stefanie´s last blog ..Catching up =-.

By: Professor Beej

Professor Beej — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 06:17:35 +0000

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Jacob/MiB turned out to be a behind-the-scenes frame for the entire series. I can very easily see (especially after a rewatch) how Jacob’s hand has been in everything. He even came in very early into the series, in references. What makes that incredibly interesting to be is that if Jacob really is the focus of the series, he would have been first seen in the penultimate season’s finale for the first time and died in the same episode. For some reason, that’s a device that just makes me happy.

By: prenden2

prenden2 — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:06:42 +0000

****There be spoilers (and rampant speculation) here.****

“And by giving him that push, his story was set in motion. Harry is manipulated by Voldemort his entire life, and it is not until Deathly Hallows when they finally part ways.”

Using this rationale, couldn’t you argue that Jacob (or possibly MiB) is the focus of Lost? It seems to me that the alternate universe is what would have happened had Jacob and MiB not been a 2,000 year old Odd-Couple. Sure we haven’t seen much of Jacob (as far as we know) but MiB’s different apparitions have driven the plot forward hugely.

As Voldemort imbued Harry with some of his powers — among other things — Jacob’s meddling with the Candidate’s lives seems to have fundamentally altered the lives of thousands of people, not just the (360-odd???) Candidates, but the innocents slaughtered in the process of attracting his successors e.g. Nadia being knocked down to sever Sayid’s ties with the world-at-large, the Black Rock’s crew being shipwrecked and killed in order to get Jacob a right-hand-man etc.

The conflict between Jacob and MiB seems crucial to Lost, even to the point where people in the blogosphere and beyond are starting to believe that the main characters, the Candidates, are just pawns in a much larger game between two millenia-old adversaries.