The simplest advice for writing unsympathetic characters is to think of the traits that make it hard for you to sympathize with real people.
Nicomachean Ethics Review
After reading philosophers’ ideas of morality and ethics from Plato up to Camus, I remain convinced that Aristotle’s core idea – virtue is the mean between two vices – is the most insightful, and the most useful, standard of ethical behavior we as humanity have.
Languages in Fiction
Language is a funny thing, and for all authors should be preoccupied with it, we sometimes seem to forget to reflect linguistic variety in our fiction.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms Review
Sometimes likened to a Chinese Odyssey, the story is epic in a literal sense, at some eight hundred thousand words over one hundred twenty chapters, and its structure has more in common with modern storytelling than you might expect.
Plot Timing
If you want to tell the story of, say, the rise and fall of a civilization, or even an institution, in a way to fully capture it, you are often left to tell the story of a snapshot of that institution and use it as a lens by which to examine the rest.
Atlas of Medieval Europe Review
Organized by both timeframe and subject, the collection presents the clearest maps I’ve ever found in a history book, which usually attempt to cram far too much information into a single, static map. With Atlas of Medieval Europe, you can instead experience a kind of stop-motion animation as you watch Europe evolve over the course of a few centuries.
Aligning Climaxes
Is there a market for stories that break the expected structure, where the climaxes don’t quite align, and are instead more reflective of the timing we might expect in the “real world?” Perhaps.
Optimal Illusions Review
As the saying goes, “when you have a hammer, everything’s a nail.” In Krumme’s Optimal Illusions, we contemplate what happens when the hammer decides it is no longer content being a hammer, and would prefer to be a rock, instead.
Artificial Intelligence in Storytelling
The paper examines the comparative creativity of stories written by people who did not use AI, or who had access to AI.
The Dragon Reborn Review
It gives us immense character growth from viewpoint and side characters, massively raises the stakes and complexity of the plot, and sets the stage for the broadening war against the Dark One coming in the subsequent installments.
IGC Publishing 