A Random Blog Post

[aldersprig]

So, I tried this, and wrote to the first suggestion I got!

Write about a teacher.Okay, first, a real teacher. Or a series of them. I don't remember much about my school teachers, but certain moments stick out. Mr. Lynd, who taught Global Studies, Really Liked Japan. A lot. My 5th grade Social Studies teacher Really Liked Hawaii. A lot. It led

Comments

[cluudle]

Funny, because I think a lot of your readers focused heavily on the administration, and it never quite worked.

In a certain way, making weighty immortal/old characters is harder than weighty young characters, because there's a lot of detail to plot and it's tempting to make them basically the same person at 20 that they are at 200, even though people change more than that, really.

[aldersprig]

Yeah, people change from 20 to 30 to 40 O-o. Much less to 200.

I think to really do them properly, I'd have to draw an arc of words, showing them progressing through life.

[cluudle]

*nod* When I'm really doing immortal characters properly, I do a timeline with five year spacing. So, 55-60, first grandchild, personality changes, major events. 60-65, first grandchild died, personality changes, major events.

[aldersprig]

I could do that for all of them! It might be fun. I mean, Mike & Luke & 'Gene's first kids really colored all of them, of course.

[aldersprig]

Also, yeah, I noticed readers focusing on the administration. But they were so Peanuts-adult-wanh-wanh to my life in school that it colored everything.

[cluudle]

*nod* All three of the protagonists have their reasons to not connect to the administration, but it would be cool if some of the side characters were administration-positive, like student council, teacher's pet kind of thing.

[aldersprig]

I could def. do that. Especially as a few members of the 5th Cohort are going to be, ah, replaced, anyway.

[cluudle]

One thing I'd like to know is if the teachers are single or dating or if they currently have kids at home - there's this sense that they only exist in relationship to the students and maybe affairs, but adults generally have adult relationships. I know some of the teachers have affairs, but maybe they had their reasons for avoiding emotional entanglements during their stay at the school?

[aldersprig]

Hrrm. Well, Mike is in love with Luca, and is fairly stupid about it, but I could easily write home scenes of the rest of them.