Is a good idea enough?

I'm sitting here, still feeling a little blah (taco Bell ruined my stomach last night, thats what I get for eating there) but I want to keep posting. I think the more I force myself to maintain as close to a post a day, the better.

I started wondering about whether or not just having the idea was enough. I'm not talking about the obvious stuff like writing and marketing the idea though. I think part of it is the willingness to realise the idea is itself malleable. So many people I've met ask for ideas and shoot them down nearly immediately, because deep down, they don't think the idea needs to be changed; to them, the idea is already perfect.

That's probably why you'll always see me mentioning my sources, or talking about whether or not I think a new idea is particularly cliche. I perhaps overthink my ideas sometimes, but I rarely assume the idea is itself perfect and indestructible. I doubt any story was (with the exception of Colridge's Kubla Khan, if you can believe the stories of its creation) and every author has had to retool, rewrite, rework what they've already done. I have no doubt that every author has, at some point wiped out dozens of pages simply because those pages no longer worked.

I'm definitely rambling, as I'm quite tired. But I suppose what I am shooting at is this: I think the willingness to change my own creation reflects a dilligence to simply create the best story, regardless of the time it takes. I could be sugar coating it for myself, who knows, but its certainly how I think for now.

Altan Barr Revisited

just a a quick apology for hte lateness, I had a serious case of indigestion last night, groaning and bitching like a baby.

The biggest thing I wanted to say about Altan, and it perhaps trumps a lot of things I've said about him in the past is that he is something of a three layer cake. Anger, frustration, revenge on either side of a very compassionate man. For all his goodness, he is driven by his hatred of Zayn, and the more he learns about Zayn, the greater that hatred grows. This isn't some light side/dark side thing, he won't necessarily have a redemptive moment. It might not even go down that cliched path where someone just like him sets it straight and he gives up the hate.

Maybe, just maybe, that hate needs to play out. It fuels him, and perhaps this hate ensures he'll never be the sort of man who lives in Boondis after the war, he'll still follow his path for his patriotism. I'm still not sure entirely.

I just wanted to make it really clear that this character is definitely angry.