This month... Well, it's been a hell of a month. Not far into it, I had to have my appendix removed. It didn't burst, and I came out okay, but it wasn't fun. And it derailed all of my NaNo planning. Not that it was going well to begin with...
Before this month, I was working on [APOSTLE and PRINCESS}, that one project that I always want to finish, but never seem to find the motivation for. I got it up to 40k words and then my inspiration just dried up. Or ran away. Either way, that kind of killed my plans for NaNo. I was thinking about doubling what I had, so I would end up doing 100k, but would only be 50k new words. With my inspiration (or was it motivation?) having fled that project, I was stuck. Last year, I did a lot of work on [Universe 333], which was fun. However, that project is suffering from setbacks and I'm not in the mood for it. Before my body decided to pull a fast one on me, I was looking at old projects, coming up with some new ideas, and just kind of stuck on what to do. After having to deal with surgery and the ER, my motivation, inspiration, and everything else is pretty much shot. But, I did sign up for NaNo this year and I'm not one to duck out on obligations. When I say I'm going to do something, I do my best to follow through. So, what am I going to do? Blog articles: Not only do I have this (sorely neglected) blog that has tons of articles I need to edit, but I also have a tabletop gaming blog that I've had for several years but isn't much better off than this one. Since I'm starting a new D&D campaign (which I also agreed to before I had three holes poked into my abdomen), I figured I'd start with that and go from there. Transcribing: I have notebooks full of ideas and things that I haven't gotten around to typing up. Because I can't use my computer at work, I have to write things down on paper and then put it on computer. I think it works better for me to brainstorm on paper than on screen. I'm weird like that. Since I need to get my word count up for NaNo, I'll probably be digging out the old stuff and get it on this laptop of mine. I also have tons of gaming ideas that I haven't finished, so I'll get those done, too. Short stories: I'll be honest, this year has been one of my worst for writing in recent memory. I don't know the exact cause, even if I do have some theories, but it is what it is. I do have some short stories saved on my computer that are nothing but titles. I also have tons scribbled down in the notebooks I mentioned above. So, I'll give some a shot. Hopefully, NaNo will get me past this "creative constipation" and I'll have a more productive year from here on out. Or not. We'll find out, won't we?
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”…All you need to do is sit at a typewriter and open up a vein.”
I read this quote today and it hit me. That’s what writing is. It’s opening yourself up and letting your lifeblood out on pages. (Please do not actually do that.) But, this quote has got me thinking about about publishing and actually Getting Shit Done. It’s funny because last night, I wrote for the first time in months. Hurting your back does not help creativity. Back to the point. Assuming there is one. When I think about writing, I do not care about publishing. I write to write. When it comes to editing, then I start wondering about the possibility of making money. Which is odd to me. Writing has always been about art. Sadly, it seems like the more popular authors aren’t about art, they’re about profit or self-insertion fantasies. I point you to Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler. And Twilight. And Fifty Shades. And several others. But, point, there is one being made here… I think. One thing that depresses me is how so many great ideas get destroyed by committee. Think of any book turned in to a movie. How great ideas get absolutely gutted by the “Hollywood Hacks”. While this is mostly what happens to things in a visual medium, it can still happen when writing. Notes from editors can be extremely helpful. But, then there are ones that aren’t so helpful. ”Why is this character black? The story would sell better if he/she was white.” ”Is there any way you can drop this (very critical subplot that deals with touchy subject matter)? We’re worried it will hurt sales.” And so on. I know it happens. It’s depressing because there are all sorts of books and all sorts of writers. And I think I lost the point I was trying to make. My mind is very much on the “Oscars So White” thing. It really irritates me. This, coming from a white guy. I’m the target audience and I’M not happy with the lack of diversity. That says something… I suppose, if I try to salvage some sort of thought to unite this, that the issue is that there should always be passion in writing and art. And there’s a lot of it to be found. And, I think it should be pointed out, that it’s not just angry white guys that feel such passion. I’ve been talking with someone about writing and stories and stuff. They mentioned how they have a lot of stories that just petered out, and it got me to thinking about my own writing. I’d been meaning to write this for a while, so it was the perfect chance to get it done. When I was younger, I read a lot of epic books. I don’t mean that it the new, stupid way (saying something is amazing or cool), but in the traditional way in that these were long, complicated stories that spanned several books or one really long one. Things like The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the Dark Elf trilogy, The Stand, and others I can’t remember. There’s also series like Game of Thrones and Wheel of Time, but the concept of the epic isn’t exclusive to the fantasy genre, it’s just more common in the genre. There’s also epic movies and TV shows, things that made several sequels or told long, complicated stories. Things like Star Wars, Star Trek, even Buffy the vampire slayer. Oh, and Stargate: SG-1. Even Avatar: The Last Airbender was an epic story. But you know what? It doesn’t always have to be that way. When I was younger, I read epics and didn’t read short stories. As I grew older, I started reading more and more short stories. And you know what? Those short stories can be just as amazing or “epic” as a book over a thousand pages. Sometimes, even more so. Because they can give you an amazing story, but it a short amount of space. Stephen King writes some fantastic short stories. Richard Matheson is a great short story author. And it shows in his episodes of The Twilight Zone. He also did I Am Legend, which is not much over 100 pages. Even William Gibson creates good short stories. One of the things I’ve learned about writing, and reading, is that short stories are a good way to learn how to craft a story. The shorter the story, the more you have to compress your words. You can’t spend twenty pages on exposition because the whole story should be no more than twenty pages. You have to learn how to get your point across in a clear and concise manner. It’s a lot harder than you’d think. Trust me. When I first started “writing”, about twenty years ago now, I wanted to make epic, long, complicated stories. I would get disappointed by short stories because I always wondered what happened next. (Yes, I’m aware that some of you say the same thing about my stuff, it gives me a chuckle. Then again, it’s a sign I did a good job.) Anyway, back to the point. I wanted to tell these amazing stories with twists and turns… And they would take forever and never get finished. Eventually, I picked up how to outline a story, and while my stories got shorter, I was always fighting with them. If it wasn’t on the outline, it didn’t get included. Which isn’t always good. Sometimes, you come up with a scene or a character that changes things for the better. Sure, you’ll have to do some editing but there’s always room for more in the first draft. And I wouldn’t allow that. So, I got frustrated and would give up. It also feels like I've already “told” the story, so why bother with actually writing it? After picking up and dropping writing several times, I’ve given up on outlines. I rarely write them down. I’ll write down a quick idea of the story, but never an outline. Unless I’m working with someone else. After I picked up writing again a few years back, I somehow learned how to write short stories. I learned how to express just what I wanted to say. How to capture the emotion inside me. I don’t know who I did it, but in that time, I started reading a lot of collections of short stories. In addition to the collections by Matheson, King, and Gibson I mentioned above, I also picked up things like Wastelands and The Living Dead. I keep my eye out for collections at the Goodwill. It’s always good to have things around to give you examples. I know I learn from example, so many that’s it. But, I’ve also noticed an interesting thing. A lot of big, published, famous authors have short story collections. Clearly, they’re a success, so they must be doing something right. Or selling their souls to the devil. I’ll go with doing something right… And that has to be making the story short and sweet. Or short and dark and disturbing. Whatever floats your boat. Now, there’s something else I want you think about. I mentioned The Twilight Zone earlier, correct? Well, think about that show. It’s a show without a sequential plot. Each episode is a different story. So was The Outer Limits. These days, there’s nothing like that. Even American Horror Story has a different plot each season. The X Files had a Monster of the Week stuff. If you want to understand the short story, watch the old Twilight Zone. You can also watch the old and revival Outer Limits. Both of these shows did a great job of giving you a short, concise, and entertaining story without a meta plot. These vignettes do a great job and you can learn a lot of them. These shows are visual short story collections. That’s what’s missing from TV these days. Which is a shame. So, that’s about all I’ve got to say. Short stories are a good way to get a story finished. Don’t try to write The Next Great American Novel. Just focus on finishing your next story. Finishing a story is the first step. If you don’t do that, you can’t take the next one. (Which is editing, and I’m currently fighting myself to get that done…) I've just completed my second year of NaNoWriMo. I didn't finish last year (my total was just over 18,000 words) and I didn't win this year (my total was 41,081 words). But, I've learned from doing it and I'll continue to do it.
Number 1: I’m a writer, not a novelist I’ve tried a lot of times to write a novel [APOSTLE and PRINCESS] is probably the one people remember best (or at least Julie). It’s still not done. And it probably never will be. Or not for years. I’m just not a novelist. But, I’m a fair hand at short stories. I don’t know exactly why this is, but I think it has something to do with the fact that I get bored with the story. Or the characters. Or I’m just not writing fast enough. So, I drop the ideas. I might be able to change this, but I enjoy writing short stories. And I think I’m pretty good at it. So, I’m not going to try and be something I’m not. I have some ideas for this, but I need to generate more content. Number 2: I can’t write every day Writing every day feels like a chore. When I write every day, I actually write less per hour. It just can’t do it. So, I don’t. I can write fairly quickly, usually 1k an hour, when I’m on a roll. When I really get into it, I can write several thousand words an hour. But, if I write everyday, I’ll write 500 words in an hour, just write for an hour, and walk away. So, I’m not going to try anymore. I write when I can, when I can’t do anything else, and be much more productive in the long run. Number 3: I have to feel strongly about what I’m working on Last year, 2016, I didn’t feel like trying one of my ideas I’d already come up with. The whole point of NaNoWriMo is to write a brand new novel, right? Well, it didn’t work for me. Over the course of a whole month, I wrote less than 19k words. Mind you, there were a lot of other factors that held me back, but having an idea I hadn’t fully fleshed out certainly didn’t help things. So, I’m going to pick old projects for the various NaNoWriMo things. And I’m not even going to feel bad about it. Number 4: Friendly competition is good By nature, I’m a very competitive person. I can be really bad about it. Like, almost violently so. So, I avoid it. Really, what I hate is losing. Really hate it. Because I lose a lot. But, this year, I challenged my friend Lindsey to a friendly competition. And I think it helped both of us. Because we both needed it. I’ve also been informally competing against my writing group. And it’s really been driving me to write as much as I can. I’ll probably fail NaNoWriMo every year, but at least I’m getting words down. And that’s the real victory. It's been a long journey, but I have just released my first work, Dark Places. I promise you, there's more articles coming here and more works to be published. If you have requests or questions, let me know.
I create characters in a number of ways. Sometimes, I want to write a story that conveys an emotion or I just have something I want to say. Other times, I just have an idea for a character and then come up with a story to fit them in. Rarely, a character enters my mind fully-formed and ready to be put in a story that comes with them. It's all very weird and varies from character to character.
When I do have to create a character, I usually base them around an aspect of myself. For example, the Crimson Knight is a personification of my adolescent rage. He was created as part of some fan fiction I dabbled with almost 15 years ago. He's been re-invented many times, has gone through many name changes and his details have changed a lot as well. But, the very core of the character is rage and anger. Unlike his previous incarnations, the [Universe 333] version has much more anger in him and is much less likely to have a happy life. As he has evolved and changed, he has taken on many aspects that aren't a part of me. One thing I haven't mentioned is his love of country music. Why does he love country music? Partly because I don't really like it so it provides some distance from me, but he's also from Arizona where I imagine country music is a little more popular. I also his 'theme song' as it were, is Johnny Cash's "I walk the line" as Micheal is walking a very fine line between damnation and heroism. While he is a dark hero, he is still a hero. He fights the bad guys and is actively trying to bring more good into the world. Part of the evolution of the character also revolved around his weapon. Originally, it was just a magic weapon that allowed him to focus his anger into a weapon. But, as he changed to a super hero universe, I had to really think about his weapon. The previous idea I had was for a group of weapons based on emotions but I accidentally copied the colors and emotions from the various Lantern Corps from DC. Going back to the drawing board, I looked at Micheal and his weapon and what kind of character he was. As he was based on rage, why not make the weapons based on the Seven Deadly Sins? Thus, Micheal was reborn again, along with his weapon and what you see today is the extrapolation from the original idea. To continue our analysis of the Crimson Knight, we also need to look at what kind of characters he is surrounded by. This is also an important part of creating a character, looking at the other characters in the world and those that are part of his/her world and life. In the 'relationship' section in the profile, his current lover is a woman named 'The Countess.' She's another character I've been working on and when I came up with her, I saw her as a good fit with Micheal. While I haven't written in out yet, I have a story about who she is and how she comes to meet Micheal. The story revolves around betrayal and heart-break, a good match for Micheal's character. You see, the Countess was originally 'The Countess of Crime' and was a 'mastermind' villainess. She was raised by a hero named Captain Astroman, but was in fact the biological daughter of his arch-nemesis, the Count of Crime. Long story short, Captain Astroman's wife was seduced by the Count (without knowing it was him, of course) and got pregnant with his child. This was the Count's ultimate revenge on Astroman, knowing he couldn't conceive children of his own and would have to raise the child of the arch-enemy as his own flesh and blood. This is a good, dramatic back story that doesn't involve rape (which I'll have to talk about soon) and gives the character of the Countess a good reason to be the way she is. She's raised by a super hero but doesn't have any powers of her own (except a very high intelligence she's been careful to keep hidden) and when she's a teenager, that most vulnerable time in everyone's life, she comes to find out her father isn't her father at all. That pulls the rug out from under her life. She changes deep inside but remains the same on the outside, plotting and planning. Eventually, she claims the title of her biological father and starts up a massive criminal empire. During this time, she has figured out who Micheal really is and tricks him into a relationship (striking at the right time, when he is emotionally vulnerable) and uses him to gain access to the Vigilance Committee's massive computer on crime and heroes and all kinds of stuff. In the first story I wrote about these two, The Countess reveals who she is the the Crimson Knight and that she plans to teleport him to a deserted island. This being costume hero stuff, she's betrayed by an underling and gets teleported to the island with Micheal. This is the start of her transformation between villain and hero. That is dramatic and (hopefully) realistic. How Micheal and this woman continue to have a relationship helps them develop as characters. I'm using it help Micheal find forgiveness and let him grow beyond his original concept. The Countess also offers a good counter-point to his character. Micheal is a weapon. That's all his is and it's all he wants to be. He knows that's what the Vigilance Committee is using him for, to destroy things that need to be removed. He doesn't want to think about the moral implications of what he does and what he has become. Now, we have a character that is able to break him out of that cycle and let him grow. He will still be angry and violent, but now he has someone to hold him back when he needs to be controlled. The Countess is also the brains to his brawn. The contrast between them creates conflict for them but also allows each character to shine in their own way. No character exists in a vacuum. They inhabit a world filled with other people. And not all of them will agree with them and the villains they face aren't all despicable monsters. To talk about [APOSTLE and PRINCESS], where I'm at right now is the manhunt for the main characters. I've created a government agent who is leading the hunt for them and have gotten into his head. I've shown that he doesn't care about the moral implications of hunting Alts, as it is his job. He lets others figure that out while he does what he does best. Sure, he wants to advance in government service, but it isn't his job to go beyond that. To give a spoiler, right before he dies, he thinks of his wife. That makes him human. He isn't a monster, he's a human being who has hopes, dreams and etc. Good villains are good characters. Now, let's talk about the details of a character. Because the devil is in the details, as they say. In the Crimson Knight's profile, I figured out where he was born but I haven't set when his birthday is yet. With the All-American Girl, I gave her birth date. That's because astrology is mildly important for me when I create a character, but since [Universe 333] is suppose to be an internally consistent universe, I wanted to have characters get old and retire. In the Marvel universe, time is flexible and characters who should be in their 70's are maybe pushing 40 these days. That's wrong to me. These old character should retire and new characters should be invented to breathe new life into our stories. Also, they should have to deal with more responsibility. In the X-Men I guess Professor X is dead (again) and now Scott Summers (aka Cyclops) is now running the Xaiver Institute. I think. I don't know, I haven't really been reading comics regularly for several years.(Note: Yes, I'm aware that there's the new Marvel Now and this is years out of date, I don't care.) But, back to the point. The point I'm trying to make is that your characters are going to get old. They're going to have birthdays. You should set them so you can figure when to celebrate them and if your character even wants to celebrate them. By setting these details, I find the character becomes more and more human to me. Now, let's talk about tragedy and horrible experiences in a character's past. One thing that has become common in comics and other things is a trope known as 'rape as a backstory.' I shit you not, this has become so common in writing that it has its own TVTropes page. The gist of it is people try to create dramatic, tragic, hurt characters by having them raped at some point in their lives. While I do agree that rape is horrific and can create drama, it should be used sparingly, at most. It really fucks people up and while it will consume a person's life in so many ways, it should be handled extremely carefully. In the Crimson Knight's history, he spent time in the Child Welfare system. How many of you thought he was molested and/or raped while he was in there? Well, all of you are wrong. First and foremost, I avoid any mention of it as I didn't think it find the character and I didn't want to deal with the issues that it would cause with readers. Also, look at Micheal: does he sound like a predator would pick for a victim? No, he shouldn't because he isn't. Micheal is angry at the world because it took his parents and then failed him afterward. He's also angry at his sister because she found a place in the world. One without him. I made no mention of him looking for his sister. Given the resources he's had at his disposal, he could easily find her. There's a few reasons for this: as I mentioned, he's angry at her for getting out of the system and imagines she's had a pretty good life (I won't say if she did or not, but I have figured it out). He's also angry with her for not trying to find him once he turned 18 (again, I know but I'm not telling, you'll find out in about 20 years). His anger won't let him find her. He would rather be angry at her from a distance rather than have to deal with any apologies she would try to make. He also fears that she could make him jealous and perhaps violent if she did in fact have a good, happy life. When it comes to tragedy, I try not to go over-board with it, except when the character needs it. Look at [APOSTLE and PRINCESS]; Peter and Anna had fairly normal lives. Except for the death of Anna's brother, she's had a really good life. Of course, that death and how her family reacted to it is very much a reason why she is the way she is, but it's something that happens in the world. As Anna develops and grows older, she finds that she wants to change the world so no more brothers die. She wants to be that hero that comes at the nick of time to save the innocents in peril. I've written her desires for being a hero already, but as I go forward in the story, you're going to see that desire come to the fore. She's going to be a hero, she's going to save people, but she's also going to learn that you can't save everyone. This will be a counterpoint to Peter who already knows that. He knows the difference between reality and comic books, and while he has changed and now has his own power, he isn't as excited about using it for some greater good. I have a thing planned for him in the future where he explains to another character why he doesn't change the world. Imagine you could invent free, cheap, unlimited power for every country in the world. How long do you think it would take until the Americans and the Russians and terrorists (not to mention every other country in the world) would try to make a weapon out of it? This is a defining part of Peter's character: he doesn't want to make waves and/or create problems, but he will fight for what he believes in. He will help people on a small scale because he feels that making a smaller ripple in society does the greater good. All of this comes from me figuring out their earlier lives and the things that happened there. It also has to do with birth order. Peter is an older brother and is more of a protective person because he has a younger sister, who his parents made him keep an eye on as they thought it was the 'right thing' as parents. As an aside, that's the way those characters feel, it is not necessarily how I feel about it. On the other hand, you have Anna, who's a younger child and a girl. Her childhood was filled with some very dramatic events. She moved from Russia to the US at a young age, which can be upsetting for a child. She also lost her older brother, who while he was kind of a jerk to her (like only older brothers can be), he was still her brother. Losing him in an accident (car accident to be specific) deeply affected her and her parents. Suddenly, her father becomes over-protective and she feels like he's stifling her. Her mother, who loved her son a faction more than her daughter, goes through a deep depression. While she is able to function, she doesn't smile for over a year after the death of her son. This affects Anna as a child and makes her part of who she is now. This is how I create characters: I live with them. I grow with them. I look at who I want to write about now and ask myself "How did they get to be this way?" I find that if I know who they are and who they were, I can keep them in character and write them better. They become living, breathing people, not words on a page. I'm about out of steam. If you want me to explain more, let me know. Next time I get around to writing about writing, I'm going to talk about naming characters and how it's important. Note: I noticed that some of the stuff I talk about in here makes female characters look really bad. I just want to say that wasn't what I was trying to do, this entry just deals with a lot of women that have some issues and a few that have had moments of weakness. I promise you, I like to write strong female characters and want to see more out there in fiction. I even have an entry about "Strong Female Leads" that I've been meaning to write. Please don't think I'm some kind of misogynist jerk. Some time ago, I was on a set of forums and someone posed the question about why the people in the community weren't writing. Several of the responses boiled down to "My writing sucks," while there were a few others talking about they just couldn't get started because they couldn't get a good opening line. Another group mentioned that they would writing an opening, get disgusted with it after reading it, and then delete it.
What I would want to tell every writer is one thing: Just Do It. Who cares if your opening is weak? Just roll with it until you finish the whole piece then go back and edit it. For myself, I know my openings suck. But I can't let that hold me back anymore. I know that as I write the story, I'll improve and get my voice going. Once I finish, I can always edit it later. You shouldn't delete what you've written because you can always re-visit the project. When I look over them, I take old ideas and breathe new life in to them after taking a break that might be a few weeks or even years. Sometimes, a story just doesn't work and I feel like a failure. But, then I'll read something or see something or something will just pop up in my head and suddenly, that terrible story I did a year ago? It suddenly works because of this new thing. That's how things work. Many a famous writer has lost a whole novel and had to re-write it, and while re-writing it, they've found a whole new story. A better story, sometimes. An example is Dan Abnett, author of the Gaunt's Ghosts series of Warhammer 40,000. He lost a whole novel and as he was doing it again, he found a character that ended up being a driving force in later novels. Of course, this being Gaunt's Ghosts, the character kills one of your favorite characters. Because Mr. Abnett rolls like that. The bastard. However, don't do that to yourself. If you didn't like how things went, don't delete, re-write it. Once you lose that piece, you lose it forever. If you want to be a better writer, you need to write. Get off your ass and just get started. You can't improve your writing if you don't write. This is one of the many pieces of advice popular writers give to those just starting out. Write. I can look over my older stuff and see where I've improved. I know I've improved my voice and my pacing because I know what my older stuff was like. I don't always write, but I'm always thinking. I look back at the decade I wasted on writing fan fiction or not writing at all and I get angry with myself. I could have spent that time a little better. But, I also know that even if I did nothing but write fan fiction, I was at least writing. I was learning, bit by bit, about characters and dialogue. I'd like to think I'm decent at dialogue, and that comes from writing stuff. I always think about who is talking and why they say the things they say in the way they say them. I learned that from writing fan fiction because I wanted to make sure the things people were saying could really be coming from that character. It's much easier when it's a character you've created because you should be inside their head. They should also 'talk' to you. If you 'listen' to them, they'll show you how they want to communicate. But, if you don't write, you'll never be able to hear them. You have to write. Developing the character is just one part of the puzzle (which I will talk about soon). Once you get the character beyond a rough idea, you have to let them interact with the world and others. They'll show you who they are and what they want. Just do it. To use an example from one of my current projects, [APOSTLE and PRINCESS], look at how Anastasia (Anna) talks. She's very profane, especially when she's upset. Peter, by contrast, doesn't swear nearly as much and isn't as causal about it. These were things I had thought about, but I didn't really know how different they were until I started writing it out. Anna's use of profanity is very much a part of her and something she almost revels in. Why is she like that? I hope that I can show people exactly why that is. If I haven't, then I'll have to make sure I include it in the re-write. And, you can't re-write if you haven't written it in the first place. If you think your writing sucks, look at people who have been published. Stephaine Meyer and E. L. James aren't great authors. Their works will be forgotten in time. But, they were able to get published and both of them have had movies made from their works. No matter how bad you think your story is, someone out there wants to read it. If you never write it, they'll never see it. Write it, let others read it, get good feedback from them and then re-write it. Share it again, get more feedback and tackle another re-write. You can do it. Even if you have to re-write it a dozen times, you can do it. Have faith in yourself and faith in your story. The world is waiting to hear what you have to say. How long will you make them wait? |
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