, I am not ignorant of the dangers that accompany the use of sarcasm on the internet, and since I feel that explicitly stating which parts of the following ramblings are meant to be sarcastic would completely ruin the desired effect, I will simply inform you in advance thatWriting a Character With Self Control · 2:22pm Apr 22nd, 2013
Good day everyone. I have spent a great deal of time attempting to write the next chapter of The Student And the Sun, but I have not yet managed to get beyond the first 500 words without discarding it as utter rubbish. I saved the first 14 iterations before giving up on archiving it, and have since been scrapping approximately two different introductions daily for almost two weeks now. The reason why I haven't been able to come up with anything satisfactory is, of course, multi-faceted. Writer's block can be affected by a great many factors according to wikipedia, including stress and other external factors which I will admit have contributed to the problems I've been having, but I also noticed something about what I was trying to do.
The thing that I have noticed is that it is, for me anyway, to write for a character who doesn't actively express emotions. I should clarify in that, while I can write them, per se, it usually devolves into long mental monologues a la Lonely at the Top. Basically, and I hope that you will forgive me if I am a little late to the party on this, show don't tell breaks down when there is a character disciplined enough to not show anything. So far in the story, Celestia has been around ponies with whom she feels she can be at least somewhat candid, so this hasn't really been a problem from a narrative standpoint(how well I pulled it off is another matter entirely). But here, Celestia is in public and her regal facade is securely in place. Essentially, I found myself writing, "Celestia smiled warmly at..." over and over again, since that is what the public expects, and there are only so many synonyms for "warmly" that I can substitute in before it becomes apparent that I am reading a thesaurus out of desperation.
I will confess that the idea of actually going with a chapter like that has a sort of allegorical appeal, in that it would demonstrate just how cut off and isolated Celestia could be in public. A kind of, 'never more alone than among a crowd,' message, that would be demonstrated both through narrative style and content. As appealing as this idea is, however, I think I am going to try switching to Twilight's POV, since she, at least, can react in nuanced ways that will allow some expression without direct explanations. I am, as always, interested in any commentary, observations, advice, or even general words of wisdom. Thanks for reading.
So she's out in public. Have you considered using a sort of literary jumpcut? Instead of digressing into a deep internal monologue, try emphasizing the shallowness of the interactions by moving quickly between them.
I haven't been keeping up with the story. I really should fix that...
I'm disappointed that there haven't been more comments to this blog post. I'm going to leave another comment in the hopes of inspiring more.
Have you considered describing the ways her facade isn't perfect? Maybe no one else can tell, but Celestia would. Describe the act of self control.