I love what the stable diffusion algorithms do with this character. They do a great job of representing all of my characters, but I love the representations of Exocetia - who is also my favourite character - the most.
I love the character construction of great authors like Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, and Neil Gaiman. Gaiman's American Gods is epic magical realism, and the television series was superb. If I hope to match or even outdo them one day. That's a withering challenge to myself.
Out of reach for me completely, I suspect, are the conflicted heroines and anti-heroines of Atwood and Le Guinn. Even Beatie Bow and Abigail Kirk are out of my range. Yet, like a fool I keep trying.
(And Atwood penned Oryx and Crake, which is character construction with Clarkean-magical ramjets strapped on. It's as if someone said "The weirder the better" and Atwood saw it as some kind of competition and then won hands-down.)
There's a richness about female heroines and anti-heroines that outstrips the one-dimensionality of the comic strip superhero, the man about town, the death-dealing male super spy, and the infinitely re-templated apparently-sloshed gumshoe. Even the well-worn femme fatale - originally an insult to women - has the added depth that comes from the perennial and ancient struggle of women everywhere just to be seen as equal even when they're very often more than a mental match for all comers.
I find that quirky, off-template women anti-heroines with punch are instantly deeply mysterious and inspiring. Of all of my characters to date, Exocetia and her aunt Pum are almost certainly my favourites. With such friends one would be constantly inspired and never bored.
Perhaps I don't have a right, but I can't stop myself. They're wonderful to behold.
"I always thought that giving readers a look at one's creative processes and some early drafts would stimulate reader interest and appreciation. Apparently the way to reader's hearts is more nuanced, difficult, and demanding - probably like the lives of readers are. However, I am proud to have created some reliably deep - and deeply weird - characters who live in convincingly weird settings, because such non-beings allow the average reader to escape the hurricane of different hells that their lives can be.
I use my expertise as a professional philosopher with an advanced degree in psychology to give readers the best possible chance at healthy, temporary life-escapology. I guess these are ambitious goals, and others have done more with less, but I want my enjoyment to be shared. Otherwise, what is my art for and what good am I?" - Bruce R Long
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