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Lacedaemonian · 24th July 2007, 12:29 AM

Thanks for reading this piece, I know it is quite long for the critiques section. I wrote half on Friday lunch break and half on Mondays lunch break. I manage a home for young adults with learning disabilities and thought that it would be interesting to write them a fantastical hero. They deserve one. Hopefully Duke (or Drake) will deliver.

I have also been reading Harry Potter (like most people), and though I love the series I cant help but feel Harry is not damaged enough. I have flirted with this concept before of having a completely ruined character. Somebody who is inflicted with a lifetime of severe abuse.

The character I am building in this story has only known abuse. He is basically raped nearly every night of his life. Shocking I know, but he has known no different. So it is not abuse to him in many senses, it is merely a vile empty existence.

To expand on the concept of absolute abuse, I drew heavily from the movie Bad Boy Bubby. This is a brilliant film. Bubby is a 34 year old man who has lived with his incestuous abusive mother for all of his life. He has never been out of the house and has no knowledge of the outside world. The film follows his first experiences of the outside world. Although the film is highly comical there is a very strong underlying tragic theme. Bubby is the perfect innocent.

I wanted to encapsulate this innocence in my hero, Stone. Which hopefully I will do. You have to realise he killed the first warden on impulse. There was no motive. The other wardens are killed as a chain reaction to his first crime. Stone and Duke are all about survival.

I do not want Stone to resemble the sheer negativity of Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever. As much as this was a brilliant character, I feel he weighs you down with his negativity. Gene Wolfe's hero in Book of the New Sun, Severian is the perfect character for me. I think all of my heroes will have a trace of Severian in them. He too goes out into the world as an innocent. Albeit as a master torturer.

The location was inspired heavily on the Elite Hunting building in the movie Hostel. For those who have seen this film, I am sure you share my experience of absolute horror. The Cellar offers similar services.

I have no concept of the outside world as yet.

24th July 2007, 12:29 AM	#5 (permalink)
Lacedaemonian A Plume of Smoke Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 3,373	Re: Something Dark........... Thanks for reading this piece, I know it is quite long for the critiques section. I wrote half on Friday lunch break and half on Mondays lunch break. I manage a home for young adults with learning disabilities and thought that it would be interesting to write them a fantastical hero. They deserve one. Hopefully Duke (or Drake) will deliver. I have also been reading Harry Potter (like most people), and though I love the series I cant help but feel Harry is not damaged enough. I have flirted with this concept before of having a completely ruined character. Somebody who is inflicted with a lifetime of severe abuse. The character I am building in this story has only known abuse. He is basically raped nearly every night of his life. Shocking I know, but he has known no different. So it is not abuse to him in many senses, it is merely a vile empty existence. To expand on the concept of absolute abuse, I drew heavily from the movie Bad Boy Bubby. This is a brilliant film. Bubby is a 34 year old man who has lived with his incestuous abusive mother for all of his life. He has never been out of the house and has no knowledge of the outside world. The film follows his first experiences of the outside world. Although the film is highly comical there is a very strong underlying tragic theme. Bubby is the perfect innocent. I wanted to encapsulate this innocence in my hero, Stone. Which hopefully I will do. You have to realise he killed the first warden on impulse. There was no motive. The other wardens are killed as a chain reaction to his first crime. Stone and Duke are all about survival. I do not want Stone to resemble the sheer negativity of Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever. As much as this was a brilliant character, I feel he weighs you down with his negativity. Gene Wolfe's hero in Book of the New Sun, Severian is the perfect character for me. I think all of my heroes will have a trace of Severian in them. He too goes out into the world as an innocent. Albeit as a master torturer. The location was inspired heavily on the Elite Hunting building in the movie Hostel. For those who have seen this film, I am sure you share my experience of absolute horror. The Cellar offers similar services. I have no concept of the outside world as yet.