Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth taught me how to create a culture in a fictional world, create tension between characters, and take daily struggles and implement them in work. Carve the Mark centers around two races that cohabitate a planet. For years, there had been conflict between the two cultures--the two main characters, Akos and Cyra are from each race and have to work together to defeat Cyra’s evil brother, but have to get over their differences first. Roth gives an in depth background and backstory of the cultures and their conflicts that spans a few pages, but in a way that isn’t strictly exposition. Roth sets up the scene as one of the elders telling them the story over a fire, which shows the reader the origins of the races, as well as how their culture works through storytelling. The elder also explains some of their language as well, as he picks apart Akos’ name and contrasts the hard syllables of one race to the soft sounds of the other. This may just be because I enjoy worldbuilding, but I thought Roth’s way of creating new fictional races and their cultures was interesting, and I learned that doing this in a less expositionally driven way is better for the reader. The next thing I took from Carve the Mark is the tension between the two characters. As readers, we know they eventually must work together or face the consequences, but since they come from different cultures, they have conflicts--but they do get closer. ‘“I didn’t choose the blood that runs in my veins,” I replied. “Any more than you chose your fate. You and I, we’ve become what we were made to become.”’ I want to be able to incorporate problems between characters who are close (ex Axel and Haven--piece 2) to invest the readers in the story as well as in their relationship. Finally, Veronica Roth uses her experience with chronic pain and alternates it to what makes the characters special. I took away that incorporating personal struggles into fictional characters adds another layer to them and can speak about the issue to the readers. “Pain had a way of breaking time down. I thought about the next minute, the next hour. There wasn't enough space in my mind to put all those pieces together, to find words to summarize the whole of it. But the "keep going" part, I knew the words for. "Find another reason to go on," I said. "It doesn't have to be a good one, or a noble one. It just has to be a reason.”’ Cyra has the currentgift--which is constantly painful, but also gives her power to defeat her brother. The currentgift makes her different, as chronic pain does, but she lives through it and has become a better person through perseverance. I took away how Roth translated her struggle to her character, which not only pushes the plot and deepen’s Cyra’s character, but is also an outlet for readers with chronic pain.
Carve the Mark centers around two races that cohabitate a planet. For years, there had been conflict between the two cultures--the two main characters, Akos and Cyra are from each race and have to work together to defeat Cyra’s evil brother, but have to get over their differences first. Roth gives an in depth background and backstory of the cultures and their conflicts that spans a few pages, but in a way that isn’t strictly exposition. Roth sets up the scene as one of the elders telling them the story over a fire, which shows the reader the origins of the races, as well as how their culture works through storytelling. The elder also explains some of their language as well, as he picks apart Akos’ name and contrasts the hard syllables of one race to the soft sounds of the other. This may just be because I enjoy worldbuilding, but I thought Roth’s way of creating new fictional races and their cultures was interesting, and I learned that doing this in a less expositionally driven way is better for the reader.
The next thing I took from Carve the Mark is the tension between the two characters. As readers, we know they eventually must work together or face the consequences, but since they come from different cultures, they have conflicts--but they do get closer. ‘“I didn’t choose the blood that runs in my veins,” I replied. “Any more than you chose your fate. You and I, we’ve become what we were made to become.”’ I want to be able to incorporate problems between characters who are close (ex Axel and Haven--piece 2) to invest the readers in the story as well as in their relationship.
Finally, Veronica Roth uses her experience with chronic pain and alternates it to what makes the characters special. I took away that incorporating personal struggles into fictional characters adds another layer to them and can speak about the issue to the readers.
“Pain had a way of breaking time down. I thought about the next minute, the next hour. There wasn't enough space in my mind to put all those pieces together, to find words to summarize the whole of it. But the "keep going" part, I knew the words for.
"Find another reason to go on," I said. "It doesn't have to be a good one, or a noble one. It just has to be a reason.”’
Cyra has the currentgift--which is constantly painful, but also gives her power to defeat her brother. The currentgift makes her different, as chronic pain does, but she lives through it and has become a better person through perseverance. I took away how Roth translated her struggle to her character, which not only pushes the plot and deepen’s Cyra’s character, but is also an outlet for readers with chronic pain.