Damn.

I'm sort of annoyed at myself. Usually I'm very good at keeping expectations low so if I don't get something I want I've already convinced myself it's a good thing not to get it. I tried out for this new book series. They had an author but I guess they wanted to make sure there wasn't anybody better before they really gave it to the other person. My writing partner and I really didn't think we'd get it because it was girl series and we're much more suited to boys. But we figured since there was no hope we'd just have fun with it and hopefully impress them enough that they might want to use us for something else. We had a very short time to do it.

But then we ended up being ridiculously pleased with the samples we did and the ideas we came up with for how to do the series. Somewhere along the way I must have really decided deep down that against all odds we'd get it because we're just so great or something. They called yesterday and...we didn't get it. On the bright side, that they called to tell us this instead of just e-mailing us that the position was filled showed that they want to keep in touch. They were actually really really complimentary about what we did according to Pam (my partner who talked to them). She said she thought they were on the verge of saying they liked us better but the other person was further along with it so it just made more sense not to switch since they needed it fast. Okay, maybe that's wishful thinking. But they did mention they might use us for the series later on. Unfortunately by then we'd be writing to someone else's format instead of setting the tone of the series as well.

::sigh:: In the sceme of things I have nothing to complain about. Last year nobody was giving us books at all and we're actually working now. But I was surprisingly depressed at not getting it.

Oh, and in real good news I got a haircut today and Diego just did a fabulous job!

Thoughts on character development

More than once I've heard characters in both HP and LOTR described as not being developed, as being archetypes, and it always offends somebody. Lack of character development to many people seems to mean badly written. But I think this is a misunderstanding. I would totally agree that HP and LOTR really are peopled mostly by archetypes and that character development is a low priority. But this doesn't mean they are inferior to other books. In fact, its this very thing that draws me to the characters. I love the Brothers Karamazov and The Sound and the Fury. I love some of the characters in those stories. But they don't resonate with me the way Frodo Baggins does. They can't, in fact, because they are developed in the modern sense. They are individuals who can't be anything other than themselves. I might understand Quentin Compson on many things, but I never feel like I "am" him even when I feel closest to him.

( For that I need archetypes. )