On Tue, 5 Apr 2005, Steve Brust wrote: > On Tue, 2005-04-05 at 16:26 -0400, Sethra wrote: > > > > > The scene is from _Taltos_, end of either chp 2 or 3, now I can't > > remember, when Vlad calls Morollan a "bastard" while they are going up > > the winding stair case during Vlad's first time at Dzur Mountain. > > > > Oh, cool. I like that scene. If memory serves, it was originally part > of another work that I canibalized into Yendi and Taltos. Note that "cannibalization" is the term Raymond Chandler used to describe his method of writing many of his novels. > Among other things, it's the first time I had the experience of > characters getting away from me. I remember writing that and thinking, > "Oh, good going, Steve; you've just killed off your protagonist." Then > I just kept going to see what would happen. I've always been partial to > that scene. There's a profile of Edward Albee in the newstand New Yorker in which the playwright emphasizes the importance of independent characters.