And courtesans, harlots, streetwalkers, ladies of negotiable virtue, and other various hangers-on.

( Here we go )

I think fantasy could use more whore characters—with their own voices, thanks.

This is meant to apply as broadly as possible—to normal animals, telcoms (telepathic companions), shapeshifters, and author-created fantasy animals. Some of it does assume that you’re writing from the animal’s point-of-view, but it could also be useful for describing them from the outside.

( So here we go )

As threatened promised hinted at.

( Sure, sometimes it’s cool, but the problem is the frequency )

The next one might be on oppression, though the Invisible Pink Unicorn knows it’s a rant I’m wary of writing.

A few people have asked for a rant on mentors, so here it is.

( How to keep your teacher from becoming a pale imitation of Gandalf )

No idea what will be next, yet.

Huh. Well, okay, this is one of those rants, like the “ten alternatives” ones, where each item is short because each is obvious and I don’t have much to say about it.

( Here’s hoping it’s still of use )

Yeah, I admit that if I tried to write an author who was exactly like me, she would be suspicious of authors who put bits of themselves into their characters with laser-like precision. That’s just the way it is.

This one is on friendships.

( Whee! )

Well, would you look at that. The rant about things I think are really cool is next.

This one does require some defining of terms, because “minor character” means different things to different people. To me, they are the third level of characters, two steps away from “protagonist” (who usually gets the most development, is often the person whose mind we share, and usually the person we’re supposed to cheer for) and one step away from “secondary character” (who receives at least some development, usually has an importance—such as sidekick or love interest—to the protagonist, and is supposed to occasion our sorrow if he or she dies). Minor characters are the ones who show up for at least a few scenes, have, if not a name, some recognizable features, and are necessary for the plot. Just because they’re so often functional, however, is no reason not to make them distinctive.

( I almost feel like apologizing; so much of this is common sense )

I have not moved an inch in Lord of Snow and Shadows, in part because each minor character is a stereotype. There is no one for me to sympathize with in that book, and I’m thinking of giving it up altogether.

Ah, here we are.

Lucky me, as I happen to be reading a fantasy novel with three Designated Love Interests at the moment, so I have examples staring me right in the face.

( Here complaineth the Limyaael )

That was invigorating. Now I can go back to reading the book with the three Designated Love Interests, on which there will certainly be a review, and on which in my head there is already much snarking.

( Warning: This one gets rather long )

I am quite pleased with myself at the moment.

The title of this rant could be a little confusing, so I’ll just clarify: I meant children who were not the protagonist, as opposed to books about a child or teenager who tries to win back the throne/save the world/destroy the One Ring Golden Treasure of Hwortnoth. They might be children along for the quest, encountered in the villages on the way, or kidnapped by the villains.

( And so here we go… )

Rant on greed is next.

Because, you know what?

( Bullies are human, too. Or dragon, or elven, or werewolf… )

This rant is hardly going to stop authors from using stock minor villains, but I wish they would stop for the same reason I wish they would stop creating stock major villains: it denies those people any humanity. Slipping inside the skin of every character in your world makes for the best writing, I think. And if that means moving past their own teenage angst issues, so be it.

May seem like a weird subject to rant about, but I prefer to think of it as a “very specific to fantasy” subject. Or maybe those weird dynastic romance novels that marry half a dozen sisters off.

( Making genealogy work for you )

Genealogy is a pain, but leaving it up to chance will enslave you to that pure chance more quickly than almost any other aspect of a fantasy story.

"Telcom" is the cutesy abbreviation for "telepathic companion," those animals who follow the heroes around.

( And are they ever cutesy )

I recently bought a book that looked interesting, and only after I bought it did I realize that the book talked about the heroine bonding with a special hawk who "needs" her. I'm now scared to start it.

I've done dialogue, I've done secondary characters, but I've read so many books lately that irritated me with the smaller things that I think these parts are still to be said.

Random Superstition/Belief: People who saw elves in the woods were once warned not to accept gifts of gold from them. Any gold they gave would turn to fallen leaves by morning.

( Introduction and interaction )

Maybe more on this tomorrow. I just have to think of more things that annoy me.

Guess who finished her 20-page paper on Jane Austen and her writing for today and can now write a rant on secondary characters in fantasy?

Yep. Me.

(Not that either was much of a chore. I'm pretty pleased with how the Austen paper turned out, and it isn't going to be THAT great a chore to go back in and add the page references for the quotes I pulled conveniently off the Internet. And Queen At Any Moment is past the 50,000-word mark now and growing nicely. But finishing what I planned for the day- and beyond- always feels good).

( Irritating things in amateur fantasy: Secondary characters )

It's weird, in a way. The first thing I do when reading a fantasy story is try to bond with the main character, and if done well, that person inevitably becomes my favorite character. It works that way with Seyonne, the first-person narrator of Carol Berg's Rai-kirah trilogy, and with Caius Crispus, the mosaicist hero of Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantine Duology. But there are other books where it doesn't work, and I grow more interested in the secondary characters. If the author doesn't do a good job of building them up, or demonizes them, I am one unhappy reader.