Writing was almost second nature to him now, and the idea that it was permissible to alter someone else’s story was a revelation. Instead of passively accepting an outcome, he discovered it was within his power—was, in fact, his duty—to create it. The assignment changed more than the book’s ending. Reworking William Golding’s ideas forced Jim to place himself at the heart of the story, to understand character and plot more deeply and recognize his own importance in the creative process. The exercise was the catalyst to view his own art in a new way, to admit that it was no longer a solitary
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