Best Character Writer of the Week: Lord Durham

[Enewald]

razsch!

[Lord E]

Nice choice. Congratulations phargle

[General_BT]

Congratulations phargle!

[Le Jones]

Congratulations Phargle!

[Qorten]

Congrats phargle!

[aldriq]

Congratulations!

[King_Richard_XI]

Congrats Phargle!

[Alfred Packer]

That's a great choice...Solomon of Itil is a fantastically developed character.

Congrats phargle!

[Iain Wilson]

Congrats matey!

[Woody Man]

Great choice Congratulations!

[Hardraade]

Congratulations, phargle!

[Milites]

Congratulations to the only man I've ever known to compare the very soul of French elan, the great banners, with something as nautical as fish heads

[RGB]

Congratulations!

There's been few time when this award's been as well-deserved.

[Kommunaut]

All hail the glorious Phargle!

[The_Guiscard]

Wow, what a fantastic choice! Fondest congratulations!

I've long said that Solomon of Itil stands head and shoulders over everything else I know in AARland, and exactly because of the fantastic characterisation of Solomon! I'm very happy that it's finally getting some "official" recognition.

And, TemplarComander -- I totally envy you that it was you and not I who could pass this award to phargle! And belated congrats also to you, btw; sorry for missing you last week.

[phargle]

Thank you for the kind words. It is a surprise to receive this award, and nice to hear so many nice things said about the story. I am grateful to TemplarComander for the recognition, and surprised that my story got his attention. The interconnections of AARland continue to delight me. I don't have a speech ready, so I apologize if this is awkward.

Solomon of Itil is hard to write. It's a story about one character due to the format of the story, but in many ways has two characters because of the role played by Miraglia as seen through Solomon's eyes. I will write the story for a few updates and then lose steam. To keep the mood consistent, I go back and re-read the entire AAR each time I return to the story. I know I've done something right with the writing because some of the updates feel alien, like someone else - someone who writes well - did them. They trigger an emotional response when I read them. That's a nice feeling. The story is fundamentally depressing, and writing it puts me in an artificial funk each time I post an update. It's also fundamentally a love story (a rare thing in these parts, I've noticed). As you can imagine, there's a bit of an emotional rollercoaster involved in putting myself into Solomon's head. I am not an emotional or depressed person (nor is Solomon, despite the story being both), so it's an unfamiliar place to be.

I like to tell myself that the story is a secret shared between me and my readers. It's a joke about the AAR having an active readership of a couple of readers and a few lurkers. I know it's a specialty AAR, and I treasure the readers the insights they bring. This may be why it feels weird to have any attention shed on the story. Part of the pathos of writing Solomon is from the knowledge that only a few people read what he has to say. The writing is all the more lonely as a result. I hope that loneliness has been apparent in the writing.

I had an obvious and glaring choice on who to select as my successor to this award. I also wanted to be fair and give other AARs a chance, to spread the award out, as it were, so I charitably decided to go with my number two choice. . . which has already won this award three times in the last several months. It turns out charity is the mother of dumb decisions. My number one choice is it.

It is fitting that this award be given to this character as the curtain falls on his life. Once again, the Best Character Writer of the Week award shall go to The_Guiscard for Serlo de Hauteville. Serlo is a great character, a hero, and as close a peer to Solomon as a Christian Norman may claim to be.

[Iain Wilson]

Congratulations The_Guiscard - well deserved!

[King_Richard_XI]

Congrats!

[Eams]

A belated congratulations to phargle, and congrats to The Guis!

[Enewald]

But SERLO IS DEEEEAAAD!

Anyways, gratz!