Aidan is trapped in a prison cell, but with his power to inhabit other animals he can still experience a modicum of freedom... As long as his jailers don't find out.
I'm writing an article on "why people read," and "what makes a good story." In it, I'm more or less collecting 1-2 paragraph quotes by various authors, then linking to a site of their choosing. Would you like to have a snippet?
I'm not sure if the below is rambly or what you're looking for, but I thought I'd try and answer!
Why people read...I think there's a huge range of reasons why people seek out stories: comfort, escapism, arousal, novelty, the potential to be challenged, the chance to experience something that is otherwise inaccessible, to see things from another point of view, and so on.
For me, what makes reading different from other mediums (TV, games, podcasts) is that it feels so much more personal. The images and ideas that a book conjures in my mind mingles with who I am as a person and my experiences. I bring myself to the story, as I am not automatically being fed all the sense-data (visuals and audio) you get from other mediums. I also think the ability to get inside a character's head is unparalleled. On TV someone's internal self can be relayed by a narrator (often clunky), or to some extent by their actions when they are alone. In written stories, the internal thoughts of a character feels utterly natural to read, even if their thoughts are utterly unlike my own.
What makes a good story... That's a far more difficult question. Some people like fast-paced thrillers, others like slow, lyrical pieces with focus on characters over plot. I'm all over the place with my taste. It's much easier to say what makes a story bad: wildly inconsistent pacing, deus ex machina, or a plot where the main characters' choices or actions are irrelevant. Even then, plenty of stories are well regarded despite falling under those categories.
What I often treasure is a plot or style that is uniquely suited to the written word. Pale Fire by Nabokov, for example: a 999 line poem by a fictional poet, alongside a foreword and commentary by his colleague. It would be impossible to translate into a film.
Besides that, I would perhaps cheekily suggest that the best stories are the ones the writer truly wants to tell - stories that don't let themselves be confined to what is currently in fashion, or is edited down to be most palatable to a certain demographic.
I don't think it is necessary information - it would lead the reason to focus on his crime rather than the fact of his imprisonment. I have a genuinely fear that in the future it will be possible to stop prisoners from dreaming and that right-wing politicians will be seen as being tough on crime by calling for its wide-scale implementation.
I'm writing an article on "why people read," and "what makes a good story." In it, I'm more or less collecting 1-2 paragraph quotes by various authors, then linking to a site of their choosing. Would you like to have a snippet?
As in, what do I think makes a good story?
Yeah
I'm not sure if the below is rambly or what you're looking for, but I thought I'd try and answer!
Why people read...I think there's a huge range of reasons why people seek out stories: comfort, escapism, arousal, novelty, the potential to be challenged, the chance to experience something that is otherwise inaccessible, to see things from another point of view, and so on.
For me, what makes reading different from other mediums (TV, games, podcasts) is that it feels so much more personal. The images and ideas that a book conjures in my mind mingles with who I am as a person and my experiences. I bring myself to the story, as I am not automatically being fed all the sense-data (visuals and audio) you get from other mediums. I also think the ability to get inside a character's head is unparalleled. On TV someone's internal self can be relayed by a narrator (often clunky), or to some extent by their actions when they are alone. In written stories, the internal thoughts of a character feels utterly natural to read, even if their thoughts are utterly unlike my own.
What makes a good story... That's a far more difficult question. Some people like fast-paced thrillers, others like slow, lyrical pieces with focus on characters over plot. I'm all over the place with my taste. It's much easier to say what makes a story bad: wildly inconsistent pacing, deus ex machina, or a plot where the main characters' choices or actions are irrelevant. Even then, plenty of stories are well regarded despite falling under those categories.
What I often treasure is a plot or style that is uniquely suited to the written word. Pale Fire by Nabokov, for example: a 999 line poem by a fictional poet, alongside a foreword and commentary by his colleague. It would be impossible to translate into a film.
Besides that, I would perhaps cheekily suggest that the best stories are the ones the writer truly wants to tell - stories that don't let themselves be confined to what is currently in fashion, or is edited down to be most palatable to a certain demographic.
I don't think it is necessary information - it would lead the reason to focus on his crime rather than the fact of his imprisonment. I have a genuinely fear that in the future it will be possible to stop prisoners from dreaming and that right-wing politicians will be seen as being tough on crime by calling for its wide-scale implementation.
Tabloids: "EVERY NIGHT CRIMINALS ACROSS THE COUNTRY LEAVE THEIR CELLS AND GO ON EXPENSIVE HOLIDAYS... IN THEIR DREAMS!!!"
Was it you who got fixated on this years ago? https://www.businessinsider.com/prisoners-could-serve-1000-year-sentence-in-85-hours-in-the-future-2014-3
*Chief O'Brien has entered the chat*
AHHhhhhh yes. It's totally goes to happen.