Question 1:
Think about the last story you enjoyed:
- Were the plot or the characters more important?
(Please read on for answers)
Welcome back – at long last – to our nineteenth session. Apologies for what has been the longest break yet, much longer than I intended, or ever imagined I would take when I first started this project. Explaining all the reasons would take this entire session, so the short version is that I have begun not just a new job, but a new career, very different from any day job I have had before, and this has necessitated me not just moving to a new city, but beginning a whole new life. Falling behind so badly, though, is my only regret. I am now living in a place where I can do something new literally every weekend, and I have numerous new opportunities to pursue that I have never had before. I have also not been wasting my writing time and have completed two novels and multiple short stories since our last session, but it is only recently that I have finally found the time to get back here. Barring any disasters, I will be resuming our monthly sessions from now on, so thank you all for your patience.
In this session, we are returning to the fundamentals of storytelling to look at an ancient debate among students and theorists of fiction, that still worries many beginning writers. Our new stop on our tour of psychology is in the Middle East, in the early centuries of the Islamic empire, where we will meet the author of one of the earliest medical self-help guides. Please dust off the couch, remove the cobwebs and put this brick under the corner with the missing leg, and we will begin.
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The Psychiatrist's Couch 