: Re: Problem: Scenes that are unavoidable, but boring More specifically: Two of my book series' main characters are (temporarily) diplomats. It's unavoidable to the progress of the plot. But diplomacy

If you want examples of successful diplomacy, try CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series, which I think is up to 15 books so far. The main character, Bren, is a diplomat between humans and the non-human species who are native to the planet where the humans crash-landed. Positively fascinating. Hard going at times, but I was never bored.

And diplomacy is not inherently boring if the stakes are sufficiently high. If the failure of diplomacy is war, genocide, invasion, name your armageddon, then jeez, the reader is going pay attention.

Also, don't make everyone invested in the outcome.

What if your diplomat is a "cowboy" who's overly impressed with
himself? Or she's a stickler for the rulebook no matter what? (You
can find both of those in Star Trek, I think.)
It's been quipped about a certain political stalemate in our own time
that one party "never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity."
What if one of your diplomats is an idiot, or an obstructionist, or a religious nutcase? (Martin Sheen's president in the movie of The Dead Zone.)
What if your diplomat is a sentient AI come to test your species
before annihilating it? (Battlestar Galatica, the Ron Moore
version, the miniseries.)
What if your diplomat doesn't speak the language, or the translator
disappears? (Also Trek, "Loud as a Whisper.")

Load Full (0)

: Scrivener: marking multiple (non-adjacent) phrases in a manuscript with same footnote How can I mark multiple different non-adjacent words and/or phrases with the same endnote marker and the same

@Debbie451

Load Full 1 Comments

: How do you make a character witty? How can a character be made to appear witty, or funny? That is, the character amuses other characters, not the reader, who should ideally be impressed with

@Debbie451

Load Full 6 Comments

: When do I explain my created world scenario in a prologue vs. letting it unfold in the story? Let's say I'm creating a unique world for my book. New planet, maybe new species, complex society

@Debbie451

Load Full 3 Comments

: My sense (as a reader, not someone who's published a YA novel) is that you kind of want to liken it to a PG-13 movie. If it's too graphic for a 13-year-old to be watching in a movie

: Re: Problem: Scenes that are unavoidable, but boring More specifically: Two of my book series' main characters are (temporarily) diplomats. It's unavoidable to the progress of the plot. But diplomacy

More posts by @Debbie451

: Scrivener: marking multiple (non-adjacent) phrases in a manuscript with same footnote How can I mark multiple different non-adjacent words and/or phrases with the same endnote marker and the same

: How do you make a character witty? How can a character be made to appear witty, or funny? That is, the character amuses other characters, not the reader, who should ideally be impressed with

: When do I explain my created world scenario in a prologue vs. letting it unfold in the story? Let's say I'm creating a unique world for my book. New planet, maybe new species, complex society

: My sense (as a reader, not someone who's published a YA novel) is that you kind of want to liken it to a PG-13 movie. If it's too graphic for a 13-year-old to be watching in a movie

Login to post a comment!

0 Comments

Back to top