( continued from part I )
I should clarify, pursuant to an observation (about this post) that I saw elsewhere: yes, these are the comments of someone with practical application, trying to explain where authors so frequently go wrong in their romance with street life. This is, granted, my personal opinion and based on my personal experience, and in the finer details your mileage, as always, may vary. This is not a post on how to characterize, any more than it's a lengthy diatribe about the kinds of people who become street kids, junkies, criminals, deadheads or skinheads or even Vespa-riding mods. I'd be lying if I said I could tell you "these are the people who'll head to the fringe, and these people will not", because society throws away all kinds.
This, also, is not a post about how to characterize someone from the street. I can only point out the realities, as I saw/learned them*, and hope that from these details you can draw a clearer, more accurate picture as you build your own story.
*YMMV, of course, but that doesn't make me a dilettante.
( 10. No one gets out of here alive. On the street, some leave sooner than others. )
( 11. Even a con can get conned. Savvy in one way doesn't mean savvy in another. )
( 12. A replacement family: get it clear what that means. )
( 13. Fighting skills may look cool, but sometimes running is a much smarter option. )
( 14. The character has a caste, and the twain don't meet too often. )
( 15. Why you arrive, why you leave, why you return: the reasons often boil down to where you're welcomed. )
It may be an alien notion to your readers that anyone would embrace such a dangerous, uneasy, difficult life over that of family and home and stability. But if you're going to play the street-life card, if you're going to tout your character as going through the doctoral degree of hard knocks, the least you could do is not trivialize the experience.
all the parts ▪ dear [not just urban fantasy] author part I ▪ dear [not just urban fantasy] author part II ▪ dear [not just urban fantasy] author part III ▪ permanent record, pt I: edginess, and street fighting ▪ permanent record, pt II: guns, knives, and making it hurt
continue to part III
I should clarify, pursuant to an observation (about this post) that I saw elsewhere: yes, these are the comments of someone with practical application, trying to explain where authors so frequently go wrong in their romance with street life. This is, granted, my personal opinion and based on my personal experience, and in the finer details your mileage, as always, may vary. This is not a post on how to characterize, any more than it's a lengthy diatribe about the kinds of people who become street kids, junkies, criminals, deadheads or skinheads or even Vespa-riding mods. I'd be lying if I said I could tell you "these are the people who'll head to the fringe, and these people will not", because society throws away all kinds.
This, also, is not a post about how to characterize someone from the street. I can only point out the realities, as I saw/learned them*, and hope that from these details you can draw a clearer, more accurate picture as you build your own story.
*YMMV, of course, but that doesn't make me a dilettante.
( 10. No one gets out of here alive. On the street, some leave sooner than others. )
( 11. Even a con can get conned. Savvy in one way doesn't mean savvy in another. )
( 12. A replacement family: get it clear what that means. )
( 13. Fighting skills may look cool, but sometimes running is a much smarter option. )
( 14. The character has a caste, and the twain don't meet too often. )
( 15. Why you arrive, why you leave, why you return: the reasons often boil down to where you're welcomed. )
It may be an alien notion to your readers that anyone would embrace such a dangerous, uneasy, difficult life over that of family and home and stability. But if you're going to play the street-life card, if you're going to tout your character as going through the doctoral degree of hard knocks, the least you could do is not trivialize the experience.
all the parts ▪ dear [not just urban fantasy] author part I ▪ dear [not just urban fantasy] author part II ▪ dear [not just urban fantasy] author part III ▪ permanent record, pt I: edginess, and street fighting ▪ permanent record, pt II: guns, knives, and making it hurt
continue to part III