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That guy at the bus stop who told me my fantasy world was too safe
I was waiting for the 42 bus in downtown Austin last fall when this older dude just looked at my notebook and said 'your dragon problem gets solved too easy - where's the gut-punch consequence?' It stuck with me because he was right, I'd been writing these soft conflicts that always wrapped up neat.
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joseph_green1310d ago
The famine twist is brutal - did the bus stop guy also tell you where to find the consequences or just make you realize they were missing?
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finleym3711d ago
Buddy of mine rewrote his whole story after a random guy at a laundromat said his villain was too nice.
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lisab3210d ago
Yeah, that line about "where's the gut-punch consequence" really hits hard. It's like the difference between a story that keeps you thinking and one you forget by the time you put the book down. Especially with dragons, right? Like if your hero slays the dragon but the dragon's death causes a famine because it was keeping some natural balance, or sets loose an even worse monster that was chained up nearby. That's the kind of thing that makes you squirm a little because it feels real.
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