Story on the Brain

I've been thinking so much about ensemble casts and what that means, versus I suppose a book or show that's about one or two main characters with the rest as supporting or less prominent characters. I'm not really sure I understand the difference, especially in a novel. But I can talk about the one I just wrote, which had three truly main characters and a lot of important but secondary characters, plus a bunch of tertiary characters without whom it would have seemed like an empty environment.  The Esker Road has Becca, Zeke, and Owen as main characters. Shea is more of an inciting incident of a person and someone who knows secrets. He's sort of a bonehead and not really interesting to me or anyone else. He plays a role, an important role, but he's not someone whose head we get inside. So he's not 1 or 2 but more 1.5. Secondary characters go on for days. Erica, the roommate. Aaron. Pax or Paz. (Must decide.) Eleanor though she's so underdeveloped. Harriet and...

Ahhhhhh! I watched the whole first season Thursday. The episodes were short and not episodic, so it was one big thing cut up into episodes instead, really. The casting was brilliant, even for this face-blind person, such that it was immediately obvious who everyone was and it was very easy to keep them all straight. If you don't have face blindness, well, it's very hard to tell unfamiliar people apart or figure out who's who when they have similar looks. These actors were visually distinctive and wore distinctively different clothing. Is this what it feels like when something is translated into sign language for you, or there are captions on photos? Because that felt like such a kind and generous thing to do. I really appreciated it. It would have been so easy to put them all into uniforms. Things I loved about the adaptation: The cast. They were all lovely actors and all did a wonderful job with the story. Visually distinctive casting aside, they were a pleasure to spend t...