Michael Offutt's Blog, page 19

We are less than one month out from Mel Brooks' History of the World Part 2.

When I was a kid, my parents let me watch (and they watched with me) Mel Brooks' History of the World, Part One. I remember the both of them laughing out loud. And my dad explained jokes to me that I didn't quite get. But overall, I remember the experience fondly. It was funny, but I never really understood until I was much older why there was no follow-up that promised "Hitler on Ice," among other things. If you don't know, the original title is a call out of sorts to History of the World Volume 1 by Sir Walter Raleigh, which was planned as 5 volumes, but only the first was ever completed.

In time, I forgot about this show until I was reminded earlier this week of its existence, because the long awaited sequel is coming to Hulu. Of course, I had to click on the commercial and watch it. I'm so happy that this thing is happening and that so many comedic geniuses of the modern era are involved. From Jack Black to Taika Waititi to Wanda Sykes, this thing looks awesome.

If you too are excited, the first two episodes premiere on March 6, 2023, followed then by two new episodes daily through March 9, 2023. Here's a list of the cast (it may not be a full list):

Mel Brooks, Wanda Sykes, Nick Kroll, Ike Barinholtz, Pamela Adlon, Tim Baltz, Zazie Beetz, Jillian Bell, Jack Black, Quinta Brunson, Dove Cameron, D’Arcy Carden, Ronny Chieng, Rob Corddry, Danny DeVito, David Duchovny, Hannah Einbinder, Jay Ellis, Josh Gad, Kimiko Glenn, Brandon Kyle Goodman, Jake Johnson, Richard Kind, Johnny Knoxville, Lauren Lapkus, Jenifer Lewis, Poppy Liu, Joe Lo Truglio, Jason Mantzoukas, Ken Marino, Jack McBrayer, Zahn McClarnon, Charles Melton, Kumail Nanjiani and Brock O’Hurn, Andrew Rannells, Emily Ratajkowski, Sam Richardson, Nick Robinson, Seth Rogen, Sarah Silverman, Timothy Simons, J.B. Smoove, David Wain, Taika Waititi, Reggie Watts and Tyler James Williams.

It looks to me like the producers yelled, "96-year-old Mel Brooks is making History of the World Part 2, so who wants in?" And then a giant ball of comedy people rolled on in, which is how it should be. I'm wondering if Trump will figure into it at all, but maybe that's too current. Checkout the trailer below if you haven't seen it yet.

Here are a dozen things I've observed that show the world of my experiences is getting weirder.

The world I know and live in is getting really weird. I don't think it resembles anything of what I thought I'd see when I was much younger. Here are my latest observations:

1) My professor friend who teaches a class at the University of Utah says that his third-year students no longer have the ability to use punctuation correctly in the construction of English sentences. And these are people who are born in the United States, for the most part white, and who are pursuing bachelor's degrees and taking his class as an elective.

2) There are a ton of people dumping animals at animal shelters. They literally cannot take anymore and there are feral cats and dogs roaming the streets. It's rare to see a dog owner who actually leashes their dog. Most of them keep them unleashed and the dogs harass people walking or even attack them, and the owner doesn't care. I had to help my neighbor who was attacked and bleeding from one such incident (she was screaming in the street for help).

3) Everything is expensive. A lot of the time the things you want are no longer in stock.

4) Road rage is everywhere. In Utah alone there were 6,300 people driving over 100 mph on our roads in 2022. This is double just a few years before that. What the f*ck?

5) There are shootings every night. 

6) Today's young people are fragile as hell. I'd say up to about age 36, I'm finding people who just crumble and cannot cope with anything. They are still living at home, they don't want to go out, and they cancel social engagements with others.

7) People suing other people is flooding the courts. I was actually advised to raise my liability insurance on my car to half a million because if I let a friend borrow my car and they get in an accident, I will need the extra insurance to protect myself against desperate people who want to make money from a lawsuit. Like seriously...this is becoming that common.

8) People are more obsessed with youth than ever before. Madonna (for example) was unrecognizable at the Grammy's. Shania Twain doesn't even look like Shania anymore. And it isn't just celebrities. I have friends who have undergone a hundred thousand dollars or more in plastic surgery and who are extremely lonely because gatekeeping behaviors and ageism is so rampant. I have another friend who is my age who can't bring himself to watch Picard because he doesn't want to watch a "feeble old man." It's weird to watch sixty-year-old men try to chat up teens and twenty somethings by expressing how much they like Taylor Swift. I don't even know what's going on there. I also read about some guy who is obsessed with staying 18 forever. What's wrong with aging?

9) Poor people are using Doordash and Grubhub like crazy. I have a friend/acquaintance who is going to be homeless in less than a month. After telling me her sob story, she used Doordash to order sushi for herself and her son (who is trans) and the bill came to seventy dollars. I didn't say anything, but I was stunned.

10) People with a net worth of over a million dollars are telling me that they feel poor, and they are depressed. I can't understand this mentality, but it feels very strange to listen to a millionaire complain about their money woes.

11) Billionaires who fly to Switzerland on private jets to meet about climate change are eating steak and want the rest of us to cut back on our emissions and learn to eat insects. Like...what the hell?

12) There are homeless people everywhere. I've never seen so many. And the only kind of apartment that seems to be getting built are the luxury ones. And these so-called luxury units are made with cheap materials, and they have cheap appliances in them.

Anyone have any idea what is happening? Anyone else notice how weird things are getting?

Having fascinating characters is the most important thing in any story whether it's fiction or nonfiction.

These are two very interesting characters.
In watching the trailers for The Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, a simple truth emerged that seems obvious. But it took me writing it down before I absorbed it. It reminds me of a story I heard about naming things. Sure, the color "blue" existed before it was named. But somehow adding a name to the color gave it new dimension and allowed our brains to comprehend it in a way that was useful. So, what was this simple truth? A story, and I mean any story, is nothing without good characters.

I don't know when this became true. History is replete with narratives that don't have good characters. And of all of those that I've read without good characters, they are all boring. Few people like to read historical accounts if they don't have colorful characters. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales wouldn't have struck a tone in the people of its age if the characters within it didn't have splashes of interest to them. A story about dinosaurs is nothing if you don't have good characters that exist in and around the dinosaurs to give them interest. A galaxy far far away is uninteresting until you give us the characters from far far away who behave like spoiled and dramatic teens and who do horrible things to other people until they are redeemed by an estranged son.

 The Japanese anime Gundam would be unwatchable without main characters like Amuro and Char Aznable. The same is true for the Marvel stories. The characters are everything. So as storytellers, when writers like you and me sit down to create our tales, we should be spending a ton of time on the characters. World-building (yes) is important, but it's not the most important thing. Characters first and foremost make a thing fun. They make a thing interesting, and it's the hook that brings audiences back. It's what we like to see. It's why I keep going to Marvel movies to see Paul Rudd as Ant-Man and Jonathan Majors in the role of Kang. It's why I keep going to see Thor movies. I find Chris Hemsworth to be extremely funny and entertaining in that role, and I'll keep opening my wallet to get more of that.

It's taken me half a lifetime to understand this simple concept. My friend Brad said it to me in fewer words many years ago in a conversation about his night time activities. He said in response to me asking why he liked population density so much, "Mike, people make everything fun." As a person that frequently has bad interactions with people, I didn't truly comprehend what he was saying. But between then and now, I've had quite a few positive interactions with people and my mind kind of opened. I would reframe his words today. Rather than saying that people make everything fun, I'd probably say that lots of people can make a thing fun. But it can also go the other way, and it frequently does. But if you're going to have any chance at this elusive phenomenon called fun, you're going to have to do the activity with more than just yourself. And that's because characters (at the end of the day) are the only thing that makes anything interesting for us humans.

A few years ago, I thought that Disney had (maybe) reached peak comic book with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. But they haven't. The reason? Characters. It's always been about characters. What made Avengers: Endgame so good were the characters we were all invested in. And the villain, Thanos, was a fantastic character who was on this disturbing mission to wipe out half of all life so that the rest could flourish. Well, they don't actually need to "outdo" that. They don't need to go bigger. The key to telling good stories is always "good characters" and something tells me that this is the direction that they are building toward in Phase 4. We'll definitely know more in a week or so when the next Ant-Man movie drops, but I suspect the characters, the villains, and everyone's motivations is the vehicle that will propel us into a spectacular Avengers movie where all of the characters once again get to shine, because they are just so damned interesting.

For my IWSG post I'm answering a question about how I manage to get any book covers I may need.

On Wednesday, Alex wrote a comment on the blog saying (more or less), "Did Insecure Writer's Support Group sneak up on you?" Yes, yes it did. I had a lot on my mind this week. Most of it is the colonoscopy I had on Thursday. But with that behind me (pun intended), and getting an all clear from the doctor, my stress level is going back down to normal. I don't like doctors, medical procedures, etc., and this is/was my first colonoscopy, so it was taking up a lot of brain space. My co-workers told me, "Think of it as a spa day..." But...I never could get there mentally. It was a miserable experience.

Anyway, as such, I missed my IWSG Wednesday post. So, I'm posting on Friday instead. This way it will stay up all weekend. But before I get around to answering the question, here is a little bit about the IWSG from the sign-up page, which you can join HERE.

What is the purpose of the IWSG?: It is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds.

When does the IWSG post:? The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments.

The Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and the hashtag everyone uses is #IWSG.

The awesome co-hosts for the February 1 posting of the IWSG are Jacqui Murray, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Pat Garcia, and Gwen Gardner!

Every month, the IWSG announces a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

Remember, the question is optional!

February 1 question - If you are an Indie author, do you make your own covers or purchase them? If you publish traditionally, how much input do you have about what goes on your cover?
So, I'm an independent author. And I'd rather make my own cover than I would in paying for another person to make it for me. Additionally, I'm pretty solid at photoshop, which has allowed me to make some really great illustrations as of late. When combined with what A.I. art is doing these days, I think I could make an entirely original art piece that fit exactly what I needed without too much trouble. And that's essentially what I will do in the future if I get around to publishing anything. It's a weird time to be alive, because doing things creatively has never been easier.
Thanks for visiting my blog and have a good weekend.

I am astonished by the Last of Us.

There are spoilers for The Last of Us, but they will be "light." I just need to talk about this thing.

So, as most of you who read my blog may know, I've been watching The Last of Us on HBO. We are only three episodes into this thing, and yet I'm astonished at how good this show is. Episode 3 titled Long Long Time took me on a journey that I was not expecting. Of course, Joel and Ellie were there (they are the main protagonists in this story), but only for about fifteen minutes in the very beginning. Then the whole thing switched to two new characters named Bill and Frank, and it spent an hour with them recounting their lives in this "zombie apocalypse," and their love story which (quite frankly) had me in tears. These were not tears of horror. Rather, they were tears shed over something so beautiful that it took me off guard.

In a way, when watching these zombie apocalypse shows, we are kind of taught to expect that all of the survivors will be terrible people. This seems perfectly natural given that outside of an apocalypse, we witness people being awful to other people every single day. However, this isn't the story of Bill and Frank. These two people chose to save each other during the end of the world, against all odds and all the things that were flying against them on this journey. Bill was a survivalist, and he created a safe world where the both of them could live and where their love could flourish. And perhaps in the most telling part of this thing, Frank's illness that eventually forced his hand was not caused by anything related to this apocalypse. It was simply a thing that had always existed and plagued humans and to which there was no cure. And the way Bill chose his own path by loving Frank in the way that he wanted to be loved, and then saying, "I am old, and I am fulfilled," was the most heartbreaking and romantic thing I've seen in a very long time.

Oh boy, just writing those words brings all the feels rushing back about this episode. I can't believe I'm still thinking about it like two days after it aired. I think the most incredible thing in this whole narrative of mine is that the actor that created Bill was none other than Nick Offerman. I've followed his career for years. Sure, he was a decent actor who was an incredible wood worker and who has good comedic timing. He certainly fits the stereotype of what I'd expect an end-of-the-world survivalist to be like. But I had no idea that his performance could haunt me so. Like...what the hell? I now have levels of respect for Nick Offerman that I never thought I would have. He's seriously one of the greatest actors alive...like on Meryl Streep's level.

Never before could I have imagined that a "Don't tread on me!" type person (such as Bill), who strikes me as the kind of person I would have hastily avoided and lived in fear from in real life, was capable of the levels of compassion and caring that he showed. I am so grateful that I got to see this episode. It not only surprised me on multiple levels, but it made me invested in this world in a way that few television shows can. And I guess, if anything, its because of beauty like this that the world of The Last of Us needs to be saved. I hope it does, because the fight is worth it no matter what it takes to make that happen in the war against the cordyceps fungus. The showrunners of this thing have created a masterpiece, whether or not that was what they intended. And again, I can't believe I'm writing this especially since I know that the source material is a video game. 

The Pale Blue Eye on Netflix was a solid murder mystery with good use of the macabre.

I have no idea if The Pale Blue Eye, a movie on Netflix that premiered about a month ago, is a true story. I do like Christian Bale, who plays the primary protagonist in the movie. But the thing that kind of grabbed me was that he is assisted by another--a young man by the name of Edgar Allen Poe--who is a bullied cadet at WestPoint Military Academy. This movie unravels slowly, with a crime scene of another young man, and then some gruesome details thrown in to match something you'd expect to be a Poe story, let alone have the actual young "would be" writer starring in it as himself.

Things that immediately struck me as unique to the period piece was how dark it was at night. Of course, this would be the case as everything was lit by oil lamps. So the night scenes were darker than I'd expect from living in a city. Yet, it still was surprising. The choice to show all that darkness lent a pretty menacing feel to the show considering that there was an unidentified murderer about on the academy grounds doing whatever he liked to whomever he desired.

I don't think this is a spoiler (at least not too much of one), but on the morning of the murder that sets off the investigation, Poe awoke and began reciting the opening lines of a poem which spoke of a woman in unspeakable distress. To make this situation even more chilling, Poe claims that his long-dead mother dictated it to him. This is the kind of atmospheric stuff that fills this show, and the kinds of details which serve to draw you into the macabre tale that the movie carefully moves into place in front of you. Edgar Allen Poe is the author of one of my favorite poems, The Raven, which (no matter where most people stand with regard to his body of work) is unconditionally a masterpiece. I don't really like most of Poe's stories myself, but I never get tired of revisiting The Raven and its extremely unique way of telling its story.

If you haven't watched it, there is a twist to the movie. You might not like it, but I really did. And the actor who plays Poe inserts a kind of charm into the role, lending to the historical figure a kind of vivacity for life as his character hardly takes an opportunity to shut up in every scene he is in. By contrast, Bale is a dark and brooding soul, whose talents at investigating murder scenes have called him here to solve a mystery that might be among the most memorable of his career.

Because of this movie, I think I now want a string of movies with Christian Bale as a detective in the 1800's. Maybe the next one could be him playing a detective in Victorian London trying to solve the Jack the Ripper murders.

Has anyone else watched it? If so, what did you think?

I'm two episodes into The Last of Us on HBO and I really like the cordyceps explanation for zombies.

A cordyceps infected ant. This served as inspiration for The Last of Us. 
In this post there are some spoilers for HBO's The Last of Us. You have been warned :).

I've been watching The Last of Us on HBO. I haven't played the game, but a long time ago (I can't remember how many years it was) I first heard of the cordyceps fungus which takes control of ants and turns them essentially into the walking dead. This is when I thought to myself, "someone should turn that into a story." That's basically what someone did, and it turned out it was a good idea. I'm not saying that I was the first one to have this idea, and that I missed out on anything. I know I wasn't (obviously). And I've never ever had any desire to write a zombie story. I seriously just thought (in the moment) that it would make a good show or story, and I'm glad that someone who I've never met had the ability to make it happen to entertain me in 2023.

In the HBO show, they've done a really good job in making this fungus pretty darn terrifying. They've had at least two scientists in two episodes weigh in that, "There is no antidote for fungus." In other words, there is no vaccine. Those words coming from subject matter experts is actually terrifying. To anchor the phenomenon and its disastrous effects on humanity even further, the show explained that the cordyceps fungus (ordinarily) couldn't survive in humans. The reason is that our bodies run too hot.

And then they explained further that global climate change and a hotter planet had made this fungus evolve into something that could survive in humans. I was like..."yeah...that's good stuff right there," because it is so believable. And the rest has been just pretty great and enjoyable to watch. The fungus zombies are suitably gross, and they're scary because they're all connected through the fibers of the fungus. So, it has strands that go underground and if you step on one of these strands, it can instantly communicate with a huge host of infected beings and send them running your way.

I also appreciate that this particular adaptation of a popular video game seems to not have the feel of a video game. I think that this is a silent acknowledgement that to get emotionally invested in characters, you have to forgo the gameplay perspective of fighting zombies, and the showrunners know this. Don't get me wrong...there is some fighting of zombies in some tense situations. But the impact of living in the zombie world is the most important thing in the story of The Last of Us, and I'm kinda diggin' it thus far. I'm only two episodes in, and I'm invested in this apocalyptic world.

Anyone else watching this show? If so, what do you think?

Netflix's Cyberpunk Edgerunners is filled with static frames and recycled backgrounds.

I recently watched Netflix's Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, and I just want to say that the word on the internet for this show was really (and strangely) overhyped. For example, I had friends who (once they learned I was watching Gundam and its backlog of hundreds of episodes) tried to give me another recommendation in Edgerunners. They'd say things like, "I really enjoyed this," and "I recommend you give it a watch." So...I did. And even though the story was "decent," the animation in it was really really bad.

Most of it is just single art panels being slid from left to right or slowly turning. When you see a person talk, it's obvious that the studio saved a bunch of money by just looping one piece of animation. In several scenes, there was just no animation at all for like 14 seconds as you just stared at a still scene with no movement. I was like..."Why did anyone think that this is good?" When I get critical about the animation, some people like to jump to its defense. "Well, Mike, this is just a style of animation, and you're obviously not a fan." And then I retort, "No, this isn't a 'style,' it's the utter lack of animation except for the fact that the camera movies or they're sliding a frame on top of another frame to make it look like something is happening.

Really, the only animation you get that's decent is when there's combat. So 80% of the show is just static frames, recycled backgrounds, or wideshots with only the lip flaps moving. About the only thing I can say that is positive regarding this show is that the art is great. 

Anyway, that's just my two cents on this thing. Anyone else watch the show and notice the same thing? I kinda wish that Netflix had spent a little more money on Edgerunners, because as it stands, it looks like a cheap piece of garbage.

Thank you Stephen Colbert for pushing forward George R.R. Martin's wish for a Chronicles of Amber adaptation.

I learned this week from the fantasy and science fiction news cycle that George R.R. Martin and Stephen Colbert have joined forces to bring Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber to the small screen. I can't tell you how excited and happy I am to hear this, and I do realize they could royally screw up the story. But even with those caveats in plain sight, the fact that someone with the kind of clout like these two are urging an adaptation of this incredible story gave me that tingling feeling I get when I'm dangerously close to wanting to overhype something. So, going forward, I'll try to keep my enthusiasm in check. However, I'm definitely doing happy dances.

If you haven't read the Chronicles of Amber I do recommend them. However, they are classic fantasy. I read a lot, and the fantasy of today is a far cry from the classic stuff of Zelazny's era. Zelazny's original story did not have a whole lot of diversity. It was filled with white characters and there was little to no queer representation at all. Everything was clearly straight and the women were for the most part serving the parts classically reserved for women: deceptive backstabbers or manipulators or love interests for men. This is in huge contrast to (for example) The House of Always by Jenn Lyons, which is the fourth book in her fantasy series. The fact that I'm four books deep into this thing should just answer the question: do you like it? Yes, I very much do. But it isn't for everyone. It is SOOO queer that I think a lot of people might have trouble understanding how weird Lyons' story actually gets (and boy does it depart from what might be considered "classically normal"). However, the story is not as good as Chronicles of Amber. The Chronicles of Amber have a story that still kind of blows my mind, even with all of the different magic systems that are invented by creative geniuses like Sanderson. Zelazny simply had a mind that soared.

Another thing that I love about The Chronicles of Amber is that Zelazny was a master of using every word. His books are short things: a couple hundred pages a piece, and plot and story is really the only thing that matters. This is in contrast to the gargantuan fantasies written today which are typically at lengths that make holding the books in your lap a difficult proposition. We're talking 600-pages to a thousand pages of words and words and words. Just being honest, I think that all of those words haven't done much to make a story better. All they do is serve as vehicles for personal character development (which does have its own merits).

In Jenn Lyons' story, she uses all of those pages to explain the extremely complicated sexualities of every character in the story, their belief systems, and their motivations and memories. She goes even further to circle back on these things by examining each and every character from a different point of view, head hopping back and forth between characters as new chapters unfold to go over the complex feelings they have for their various paramours in what amounts to an immortal polyamory scenario. So think hundreds of pages of feelings interspersed with occasional fantasy elements, monsters, and sorcery. But...I've come to discover that I kinda like all those pages of feelings. It serves to invest me in the character's growth, and growth is an attractive thing in a character. But I also know its not for everyone.

There are also elements of Zelazny's story which will inevitably draw comparisons to The Matrix, even though Zelazny's story is a lot older than that film. It is the fact that The Matrix was so good though that makes me think that Zelazny's story just might be the next biggest thing to hit in the fantasy genre when it finally shows up on the small screen. I do know they will have to update characters, and cast minorities. But I hope the bones will be there. I can definitely accept that even though my brain will crave a faithful adaptation. I'll totally be okay with an Idris Elba or similar casting for the main character Corwyn of Amber (or if they cast a black woman and still keep the name "Corwyn" and just say it is unisex I won't mind too much), and I won't ask any questions if Corwyn's brother, Random, is still weirdly a white dude even though their parents are the same. These things need to be done, and I get it. I'm still excited knowing all that. I just hope it gets a budget and treatment similar to Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. If it does, I predict that younger audiences will really accept it, which is what needs to happen in order to get an adaptation of all five books.

Anyway, I guess we'll see what happens with it in the near future.

Locke & Key had a really original magic system that I liked.

Quite recently, I finished watching the third and final season of Locke & Key, which was a young adult series on Netflix that came from the mind of Joe Hill (Stephen King's son). I know that my friend Patrick has said in last week's comments that he didn't watch any of the episodes. But I'd say that they'd be worth a look if you have a Netflix subscription that's active. For one, the story had a pretty solid bad guy (who was completely evil) that had enough modern humor to make them fun. I think the actress had a great time just reveling in all of her badness. It's always fun when you feel an actor really enjoys their casting, so I kind of enjoyed that. However, the thing that I thought was brilliant about the show was the magical keys. This was a good idea, and it was well executed.

Most of the time when you see magic in young adult things, you get stuff that is similar to Harry Potter stories and standard wizardry 101. This is where people are casting spells or using some kind of witchcraft. With Locke & Key, the magic system that was set up was really entertaining. There was (for example) an "Anywhere Key," which when you used it to unlock a door, it could open unto any place that you wanted it to open up to. Then you could just walk through the doorway.

There was also a "Head Key," which I thought was kind of ingenious. You could unlock someone's brain, and then walk into it and see all of their memories and even (it turns out) get trapped inside there. The visuals of each person's head was pretty fascinating. One person's "head" was a giant mall. Another was an antique shop filled with all kinds of objects. A third person's head was a toy chest while a fourth's was a cosmetic counter selling all kinds of high-end things. Another aspect of the head key that I liked was you could toss a book into it, and instantly know the contents of the book. Imagine how wonderful that would be.

Then there was a flame key that started fires, a key that took control of a person's body, essentially turning them into a puppet, a key that allowed a person to travel through time, a key that granted the strength of Hercules, and a key that made you sprout wings and fly. Another key unlocked a cabinet that could repair anything placed inside. There were so many keys, and each of them played a small part in the storytelling. A lot of the fun was watching the characters hunt for the keys inside a huge mansion, and then figure out what any new keys they found could do. The keys came off as an original enough idea that it reminded me of a talk that Brandon Sanderson used to give (maybe he still does) on the importance of inventing magic systems for your fiction.

Sanderson has written that, "a good magic system is essential to a good fantasy novel." He does go on to say that characters are what makes a novel truly powerful. I didn't use to think that magic and how it worked was all that important. But maybe Sanderson is onto something, and I just finally understood it. That is one reason among many why Sanderson is either the most powerful person in publishing or close to it (he's at least in the group photo if one exists). Anyway, if you haven't watched Locke & Key, and you are interested in magic systems, you should give it a try. It doesn't disappoint in that aspect alone.