Question for you...
It's hard for me to believe, but in less than two months I'll graduate with my MFA in Fiction. The past two years have whizzed by, mostly, but as much as I've loved school I'm ready to be deadline free for a while. One of the final things I have to do is prep for an hour-long lecture I'll have to give at the November residency. I've been thinking about what I'd like to talk about, and am drawn to an idea I read about in Thomas Moore's "The ReEnchantment of Everyday Life" - the idea that the writer has to be a Master of Everyday Arts. This is just a fancy way of saying that a character can't have a rich, soulfull life if the writer is unlearned or uninterested in the world around her.
I'd like to put together a handout with some examples of characters who point to a learned author, or an author who did enough research to sound credible, at least. Which brings me to my question. What characters in fiction can you think of who are "experts" in their field? They can be artists or scientists or philosophers or gardeners or full of handed-down information, or just great thinkers.
I'd like to put together a handout with some examples of characters who point to a learned author, or an author who did enough research to sound credible, at least. Which brings me to my question. What characters in fiction can you think of who are "experts" in their field? They can be artists or scientists or philosophers or gardeners or full of handed-down information, or just great thinkers.