'I have this thing for generating character-oriented plots, where you look at a character and say 'What's the worst thing I could do to this guy?' I've found that extremely fruitful.' Unverified quote; similar to 'I have a catch-phrase to describe my plot-generation technique -- 'What's the worst possible thing I can do to these people?'' which is found in the FAQ of Bujold's official Web site.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Fictional plots are generated by asking what worst-case scenario can happen to a character.
- In plain terms
- I make plots by figuring out the worst thing I could do to a character.
- What can you take from it?
- Test characters by putting them in worst possible scenarios.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What makes a story interesting?
- How do you challenge characters?
Another view
It reduces storytelling to a single formulaic question.
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