Sick

I've got a nasty flu/fever thing. Had it for the past week and it isn't showing any signs of letting up soon. But there's a sprinkling of good in every situation- I've gotten some GREAT inspiration while lying in bed, with a cough racking my entire body (literally) and a hammer pounding at my temples (NOT literally) and a fever teasing me with the old "hot... no cold! hot... no cold!" gig. And I've got a question for all those other authors out there- how come characters never just get COMMON colds? Are MCs somehow IMMUNE to the common cold? Or a sore throat? Or a bad bruise? You name it... it seems the only time an MC ever gets hurt/sick, it's big. Which is fine, but I propose we make our characters HUMAN- they can get a bad cold for a reason other than falling into an icy river. They can have a fever from a cause other than devious poisoning.

And now I'm back to bed... to analyze my condition and try to burn it into my memory.

Oh... and sickness isn't always only good for tormictioning. I just had one of the best torreadist while trying to fall asleep last night. *evil grin* Be afraid. Be very afraid. Fever does strange things to an already strange mind...

A Glare for Ms. Grant (A Tormictionist's Dilemma)

*sigh* It's a fact of life- a character gets too beat up or captured under the wrong circumstances and they're... well... dead. It's a fact of life. It's a limit on tormictioning. I've done it, and I've helped Tahlia do it. Big deal. However... it IS a little hard when you find yourself LIKING a character who you KNOW is doomed to die. Mixed feelings- I'm eager to plot his death with as much torreadisitc value as possible, and yet I want the character to live and prosper and finally be free from mine and Tahli's tormictioning when (and, sadly, IF) he makes it to the end. *dramatic sigh* So I feel I must send a glare to Ms. Grant. (even though I'm winking at her with the other eye... *evil grin*)

Close Relative

No... this is not going to be the post about the uncle-slash-adopted-father-figure who is killed when the hero's farm is raided by the horribly evil bad guys after his guts. *shudders and turns up nose in disgust* No. If you want to know about that, go talk to Christopher Paolini. I'm going to be talking about a close relative TO tormiction.

Torreadism.
(torreadtion; torreadists; etc)
1. To torture, torment, and/or play with the reader in such a way that both advances the story and keeps them captive to the story.

my oh my... anyone who thinks tormictioning is fun hasn't seen NOTHING yet. Torreadism is superior in a few ways:
a. it is often a bigger challenge, for those of you/us who LIKE tackling constructive challenges
b. it is often much more plot advancing, even though it is just as enjoyable as tormiction
c. there is a wider variety of ways to accomplish torreadtion- you can do it by tormictionizing, by leaving off chapters at suspenseful parts, the possiblilties are about as endless as your imagination and skill at The Craft (aka, writing)

*resignedly* Of course... it's not half as theraputic as tormictioning... *evil grin*