Imagine you're on a gameshow. You're in this warehouse, and there are a bunch of suitcases suspended from the ceiling. One of those suitcases has $1,000,000 in it; the rest are all full of worthless paper. Ready, set, go! ...This isn't a very interesting game, is it? After all, what's stopping you from just walking leisurely from suitcase to suitcase, opening each case in turn, and eventually finding the right one? There's no tension, no stakes!

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Hey, everypony! I've got another idea for one of these. Let's talk about Goals some more!

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I've wanted to do this post for a while--a dig into Steadfast Characters and what makes them different from Changing Characters. However, I didn't quite know how to do it in a way that would feel different from all of my previous posts that have brushed against the concept. While I'd pushed this concept towards the back of the sock drawer that is my brain, another project came to me, which just so happened to tether nicely to the idea of explaining Steadfast Characters like I'd wanted. But

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WARNING: You might have to experiment a bit at the target link to get the image shown large enough to easily read. It might even take a right click or two.

http://www.lit-hum.org/2012/04/emily-dickinson-attends-writing.html

Somehow, a friend thought I might find this both amusing and relevant.

Please note, though, that not all of the negative feedback I've ever received on a story was of this type. Not by far!

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