Fortunately my writing slump only lasted a day. I tend to get over these things quickly. Some would call me blessed, I call myself compulsive.

I went to an actual dinner party last night, with chargers under the plates and more than one fork and everything. I saw a fellow writer friend, there--she's a journalist. She just rolled her eyes when we talked about the influence of the WV Tech killings on writing--fiction and non-fic. Give the editors some time to forget, she said. Wise advice. After all, we forget about the war all the time, except when CNN shoves it down our gullets with a spoonful of sugared democratic party politics.

Anyone who's not watching Robin Hood on BBC America is missing out. The actor who plays Robin, Jonas Armstrong, is one of those guys who obviously just switches to ON in front of the camera. He's at his best when he's moping, but he's got the dramatic depth and verbal volume of a stage actor. He carries the other actors well, especially the chick who plays Marion (not a big fan of her, actually. I don't think she holds up.) Jonas also employs the endearing Princess Diana trick of looking up at people through his bangs. But truly, whenever Keith Allen, who plays the Sheriff, appears onscreen, the other actors simply disappear. He's one of those muttering Englishmen who say "hm?" a lot and I always have to turn up the volume so as not to miss a single word. The other baddie, Sir Guy, is such a brooding, brutish fool that he's actually garnering sympathy.

They're all what George RR Martin calls "grey characters", with heavily flawed motivations despite clear goals, and what's most remarkable is that they're all changing. The episode "The Assassin" was truly one of the finest shows I've ever seen on television. Even the husband hung on every word. It was a bit of a turning point for Robin, his past battling his present, and even though I knew he wouldn't succumb to the horrors of his past, a part of me just wasn't quite sure. He became a hateful, uncontrollable revenge machine, which is a battle my Sean fought for 500 pages. Very fun to see onscreen.

I'm always interested in examining these types of characters because these are the ones I write. I'll have to think on this sort of characterization for the screenplay. Funny how that greyness also relates to my non-fic project as well. Hmm...

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