naomikritzer: (0)
naomikritzer ([personal profile] naomikritzer) wrote in [personal profile] rachelmanija 2016-02-07 05:44 am (UTC)

My very first pro sale was a short story that got 1000% better when I realized (after critique) that the problem was that the character failed in his task because of his weakness, and it would be a much more interesting story if he failed because of his strengths.

Hamilton is first saved, then destroyed, by his courage and his writing. (I mean, okay, you could argue that he was destroyed by his impulsivity and bad judgment in sleeping with Mrs. Reynolds in the first place, or that he was destroyed by his weakness in succombing to blackmail instead of confessing to Eliza at the time. But it's really the Reynolds Pamphlet that sets the final tragedies in motion.)

He's an absolutely amazing tragic hero. And so is Burr, for that matter.

(The other big writer anthem: Non-Stop. I love Burr's mix of admiration and disgust. That's the song I played for Molly when I was thinking that she'd really like Hamilton, and she's now obsessed.)

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