Building a World: Week 1

Top down worldbuilding starts with little details but fills in later.

After a successful year of reviewing movies, I’ve decided to take my blog in a slightly different direction. The original intent of this blog had been to be a writer’s blog. At the start of the year, I managed to cover a lot of content on writing. As time progressed, that lost focus while I maintained my regular posts on movie reviews though those were sometimes late.

For 2013, I plan instead to devote every Tuesday to a post dedicated to work building one of my worlds. I will be using this blog to discuss the process and I’ll be sharing pieces of my world, how I’m developing the world, and various resources I’ve encountered in the process.
For those of you who don’t know, I have a Twitch account. I use the account to stream myself playing a variety of games. Though I promise no schedule for streaming, I will be using my Twitch account while I write these blog entries. And, to meet Twitch’s guidelines for gaming streams, I’ll have a special game running at the time as well as discuss on stream how this can be applied to gaming.

Building a World: Week 1

There are several ways to approach worldbuilding. In this blog series, I will not be focusing so much on how to worldbuild, but rather discuss my process of worldbuilding. Part of my goal here is to not only build up my world, but start to finalize and compile the details of my world. I have a massive binder filled with notes and pieces of my world. I have computer documents scattered all over the place with details I’ve come up with. I have approximately eight manuscripts worth of writing with details of my world that I can skim through. I also have an assortment of short stories. There is a lot of information to work with, many of it is contradictory.

With worldbuilding, there are two main approaches. I’m gloriously “stealing” this information from wikipedia

• Top-Down Worldbuilding: Starting with the larger aspects of a world such as continents and countries and creating the details within those aspects. (1)
• Bottom-Up Worldbuilding: Taking a detailed section of your world, such as a single city, and building the world around that city. (1)

For the most part with my blog, I will be doing top-down. There are, however, parts of my world that are finely crafted and I will need to better fit them into the world around it. For those areas, I will focus on a bottom-up approach.

My world is a fantasy world with three distinct magical systems and three major races. There are other races and the magic system has a unified rule that allows some manipulation to imitate different forms of magic. However, these are merely the exceptions to the rules.

This is why the first rule with worldbuilding is to have core rules, rules that cannot be broken. Today, I want to talk about the nature of death and life in my world. Much of my world revolves around what happens when someone dies. In The Rose and the Crown, the story gets into what the humans believe happens when you die and what the fae believe happen when you die. Are they the same? No. Does it matter to the reader what really happens? No. Does it matter to me, the writer, when I am working on a story? Yes.

It is important that when I tell the story, I’m being consistent. If I have one story in which a character dies and the ritual is followed one way, and in another story, it is different, the reader will pick up on this and wonder if I am doing things right. You never want to break the trust in your readers. So, it is important to know the story behind your world even if the reader never encounters it.

So, in my Aldaric world. This is a place where all souls go when they die. This area is timeless and is inhabited by the keeper of the dead. She is a special soul who sacrificed her ability to move between worlds in order to guide souls to the next point in their life.

This allows me the possibility to have souls reborn and allows me to have souls move to a place in which they remain for the rest of eternity. However, it also means that souls cannot be destroyed in my world. No matter what I do in my universe, this rule cannot be broken. From this, I can then extract different cultures and work from there.

• The fae believe that the soul moves on to a new world.
• Humans believe that the soul can move on, but requires a specific ritual must be followed to prevent the soul from lingering in the current world.
• Aquians, my third race, believe that souls are reborn in the form of a new life.

It is important to begin starting your process by creating a list of hard rules that you cannot break in your universe. By creating this list, you have a handy reference anytime you need to add something new to the world around you. Never break these rules, even if you are sure that the reader will never realize they were broken.

Next Week
I will dive into the Fae Kingdom, my most developed culture, to reflect a little bit on bottom-up worldbuilding and explore how to blend real world cultures and folklore in a fictional setting.

Reinventing Myself

The mirror in my room

Disclaimer

You are reading this for one of three reasons. You stumbled upon this blog by accident. You were referred to this blog. Or you follow this blog. There is a very good chance you may know a bit more about the background behind this post. With all events in life, there are always two or more sides. I made the decision to not discuss certain aspects publicly. While I'd love very much for comments, I will delete anything identifying parties involved and I will delete information that goes against this respect. If you are looking for my perspective on past events, you will mostly be disappointed. That said, I cannot post what I want to post without making reference to certain events that took place. That's the closest I'm going to get.

The reason why I'm doing this, publicly, for the first time, is because I'm ready. I've not been ready for a very long time. This goes beyond the time I climbed into my car and took off to Kentucky. This goes back for at least a year, possibly longer. I've not had the ability or the strength to stand up and say what I needed to say. I couldn't say it to myself, let alone to others. There is power in speaking out loud, even if no one is listening. So, this is my voice, giving what I have been thinking strength.

The Things You Leave Behind

In September of this year, I packed up the most important possessions I had the room to pack, climbed into my car, and drove from New York to Kentucky. I left behind my wife, two cats that I will never see again, and so many possessions that I simply didn't have the room to take. The items I left behind had financial value or, more importantly, nostalgic value. Those items, I'm to understand, have been tossed into a dumpster and are gone. For me, I'm very visually based with nostalgia. As I have no sense of smell, I often need to see something to spark a memory. And so many of these memories are gone forever from my life. I left behind people that were good friends or I thought they were good friends. Some of them, decided to terminate their friendship for my departure, others did not. I can still reach out to them. I can still talk to them. But they live a good distance away.

I called my departure, “Pulling an AJ” after a friend of mine who has done this before. Starting over is not an easy process. In fact, the entire event has been hell on earth. One of my friends, one of the few in a circle of friends that disconnected entirely from me pointed out that I'd left one “helluva mess” behind me. And be that what it may, there is absolutely no one living on this planet that knows what kind of a mess I've been dealing with but me. Because, at the end of the day, when everyone is in bed, or everyone has gone home, there is only one person left. That is me. I am the only thing that I cannot truly leave behind.

There are a few people who understand the full scope of the “helluva mess” that I have been in and I still am standing in the middle of. But, again, only I can see the full picture and carry the burden of that full picture on my shoulders. You might see that the sneakers I wear are worn, but you would not know that they are over three years old and the only pair of sneakers to my name. You wouldn't feel the lack of padding in them. Nor would you be aware that I am now down to five pairs of socks without holes in them. Only my roommates are aware of the fact that I moved with no jackets and that the only jacket I have now was a gift of charity. You would not know that my source of income has dropped by a third and that even though I asked my dad for help with gas money, I have not seen a full tank in my vehicle since the day I arrived here. That I have a maxed out credit card on the verge of defaulting and one credit card that is in default. Nor would anyone have the slightest idea the battles I have had to fight in my own head. I have been in utter hell, and I cannot begin to believe that anyone would understand what I have gone through.

Thanksgiving Day was a tipping point for me. Though I had a wonderful observed Thanksgiving Day earlier in the week and a plate of food waiting for me after work, the day was destroyed for me. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It is the one day of the year in which you and loved ones can observe the many things to be thankful for. And while I have many things to be thankful for, it was the first time in thirty-three years that I could not celebrate it. I was alone. I will not break that down and explain how I was alone, because that would take too much time in an already very lengthy blog post. I had people available to reach out to, yes, but I was alone. And, I think I'm glad, because I finally got past that barrier I needed to get past and embrace my new self. And since that day, the demons in my head are almost entirely gone.

I Am My Own Worst Enemy

For the longest time in my life, I thought that I needed to be wanted. What I actually wanted was to be needed. Now, neither are true. Loneliness was my greatest fear and yet I lived in that feeling. I've been lonely for a very, very long time. I would go out of my way to do things that would bring me attention. Not all of them were good things. My behavior was self-destructive. And worst, it fostered a co-dependence that was destroying who I was.

I've never learned what it's like to be alone. You can alone and be just fine. I'm not fully there, but I'm in that general area. Trust me when I say, lately has been very hard to not feel alone. I live with two very wonderful people, but they have lives. They get sick. They go to work. They can't be there for me all the time when I need it. The same is true with all of my friends. There are times when it is just me and only me. And I need to be happy with that level of company. And, yes, I am now able to be happy with that company.

There is a limit though, to being alone. And finding this limit is part of my next barrier for my other part of myself, the one I cannot seem to move past, is my sin, Pride. I've started to move past my pride, but this is not an easy task. I've got a very long road ahead of me too. Pride has not only been getting me into trouble, but it has also been doing myself mental, and in some cases, physical harm. The issue is that having gone from a state of pure co-dependence to a state of independence, I cannot find the boundary. And so my pride has been that filter. I live in a house where it is okay to be angry and expression emotions. Yet, I stifle it. There are matters that have come up and have hurt me, or are hurting me, that I have not raised. And I cannot tell clearly if it is the demons I'm fighting, my pride, or if I'm just being independent. I don't want to be angsty. I want to be strong!

Pride is a tricky little bugger to work on. I know that I have to work on acknowledging and identifying my needs so that I can work on expressing them. And, as I'll discuss later, I've come a long way on that front. But, I still need to work on certain aspects. I need physical contact. It is an emotional need that makes me feel alive. It makes me feel wanted. It gives me strength. I was at a group recently and after it ended, everyone was doing their goodbyes and hugging. Me, I shrank away and pulled back. It was all because of my pride in trying to be strong on my own. And worse than that, I've been told that in my very home, is someone who gives the best hugs in the world. I have not asked him for one. Nor have I had ANY physical contact with him since day 1. And yet, I truly love him. And yes, he will likely read this and even knowing that, I cannot bring myself to ask him to hug me.

So yes, I have overcome much, and I still have much more to overcome. And yet, looking at what I have to overcome, I can see that the enemy I'm facing, myself, is not as fearsome as it once was. I have learned to face my loneliness, so tackling my pride can't be too difficult. And, as you'll see, this is the road ahead.

Wants and Needs

Shortly after I came here, I was told that I should focus on what I want and need. It took me a long time to get started on that. Wants are dangerous. There are things I want, that I will never have. There are things I want that I will likely never have. And there are things that I think I want, but probably really don't. Needs are simpler, but can often be confused for wants.

About three weeks into my move, I had noticed on my roommate's computer a sticky note with ten things to remind himself. He didn't hide it, it was on his desktop. I knew that I needed something along those lines for myself. I expanded upon the idea and have a list of core wants, a list of material wants, and recently added in a list of things I want to do.

The material wants range from silly things, to certain types of clothing, to specific things I've stumbled upon and can't afford to get yet. The range from super expensive (a $3000 professional mermaid tail) to an inexpensive craft project (a glowing jar lamp). This helps me keep focused on my financial directions with the little money I have for myself. If I have the things I want written down, when I have money to spare, I can apply it the things I truly want. To support myself, I've also started a project for creating a focus board. This board sections off for space on my current writing project (this is part of my core wants), one active crafting project, the current saving goal, and one miscellaneous project at a time. Visually, I can identify my goals and keep myself focused on them.

My core wants are a bit more personal and a bit more abstract. They outline things I want out of life. #1 is “to be me”. Others reflect upon the pride discussion above where #5 identifies, “The ability to experience all emotions, good or bad, and not be ashamed of them.” The core wants sort of serve as a daily affirmation. I read them from time to time and remind myself why I'm doing this. It is helping, much like when you say a goal out loud.

The latest addition of “Things I Want to Do” are basically things that I'm planning on doing or want to figure out how to do, but are extensive. Not quite a resolution, but not a material want either. The top of this list should come as no surprise to people who know me. I want to go to Finland. The list is relatively short so far, as I just started it.

I should note that this list is not private. However, I'm not going to sit and advertise it online.

A Bit About Who I Am Today

So here I am, giving the entire internet a status update about myself. Maybe this will be read by one person. Maybe by none. Maybe it will get a million hits. In all of this talk, I've talked about finding myself and identifying who I am. Merging a bit of Core Want #4 and Core Want #6, I'm going to talk a little bit about how I am. Not everything, because damn, a guy needs SOME privacy.

I'm a thirty-three year old bigender male that lives in Kentucky. I work a crappy seasonal job to keep my health up and to give me something to blow of steam while I heal. I have two wonderful families. One lives in Maine and the other in Kentucky. I have two best friends that have an entire core rule dedicated to them, even if it is unrequited at this time. I'm intentionally cryptic, to which someone will surely tell me is not cryptic, just me being obtuse. I love to write. I love fairies and fairy tales. I'm into the EGL style of clothing to a level that would scare you if you had any idea what I was talking about. And, if I could turn into a mermaid at will, I'd be in heaven.

My current writing project is Dissolution. My current craft project is making the vision board thingy. My current savings project is split 50/50 between getting an SR9 and a gaming computer. My miscellaneous project is a secondary writing project I keep slipping back into working on.

Conclusion:

I've said a lot, much of it has been unclear. I've spent all night mentally composing this and an hour-and-a-half writing it up. I'm not going to proof read this until after I've slept. This and the previous line will disappear once I've edited it. The point to all of this, I've reached a stepping stone in my life. My past self is starting to look grey and fuzzy. My future self is looking more clear on the horizon.

If you read this, I love you. If you read it all, I thank you. Comments are not only welcome, but greatly encouraged. I need a hug (and maybe even a kiss). Good night.

And most importantly:

I look forward to starting the next leg of my journey.

Day Z: Day 0

Author's Note:  The following is a work of fiction.  These events are based on my gameplay of the Arma II mod: Day Z.  Day Z is a game in alpha development where you must survive against infinite zombies and players who will shoot you for a can of beans.  I'm writing these for writing practice as well as free entertainment for anyone interested in reading my story.

Survivor Viljo - Day 0

It was a miracle that I survived long enough to make it to Chernarus. The outbreak on the USS Stockdale happened fast. Most of the crew knew of the zed rumors.  No one expected an outbreak on the ship. The ship was overrun in under an hour.  Those of us with any sense of survival knew that the only escape required we leave the ship.

Forty of us made it onto an LCAC.  The USS Stockdale was too far out at sea for the LCAC to make it to the shore.  Our mission objective at this point was to get us as close as possible and drift the rest of the way.  The plan went smooth initially.  Land could be seen from our location.  What our scope also revealed was the zed.  Adrift, the survivors of the USS Stockdale discussed our next step.

Fate intervened.  A fishing boat approached us from Skalisty Island.  A few of the crew tried to wave them down for aid, but many of us were skeptical.  We had little firepower on our vessel due to the nature of our retreat.  If they were hostile, we were in trouble.

They were.

The open fired, mowing down several of our crew.  Planning was out of the window as survival became our only option.  In order to survive, we had to brave the watery depths.  Those of us still alive, scattered after shots were fired.  I have no idea how survived.

I washed up on the shore not far from Drakon. The glint of steel from Elekrozavodsk, Electro as I took to calling it, could be seen from my beach location. I had little gear and if I was going to survive, I needed to find something fast. I could have followed the coast to the east, but decided the closer city was my better choice. There’d be more, but more loot to find.

I’d like to say I did well at first heading into Elekro. It didn’t take too much running around to figure out what it took to shake of the zed. It wasn’t a perfect system, but I avoided getting eaten alive. I hadn’t been in the city for long before I got very lucky. I found myself an AK47 off of a dead Russian solider. He only had a few clips, not much, but enough to make me feel comfortable.

I huddled until dark in a corner of an abandoned building before setting out in the dark to find more supplies. I was hungry and badly in need of food. I found a few scraps here and there as well as some medical supplies and some emergency flares. I really wanted to light them up, but I did not want to attract zed.

In the end, I was glad I went out at night for supplies. It didn’t work out the best in the world for me. I hit a residence and a hotel. Saw a local survivor run by, never got a good look at him. Kept my AK47 ready in case he came after me. No one appeared. After a long wait, I ventured back out, found some more supplies in a church and then made a run for a nearby firehouse.

This time, my luck failed me. I was noticed by a couple of zombies. I ducked past the gate, ducked inside the firehouse and turned. My AK47 served me better than its previous owner and downed my pursuers. Unfortunately, this alerted the attention of a few more nearby zombies. I had expended more ammo that I had wanted, but I was alive.

I closed up the firehouse and began scavenging for supplies. I had a good stock of bandages now, lots of flares, and quite a few drinks. What I really needed was food, and I wasn’t finding any of that inside. It was getting late, and between my swim and my run, I needed a place to hide out for the night. I was overtaxed and had a lapse of judgment. I climbed my way up a tower in the firehouse to look at the city of Elektro for a place to retreat to for the night.

As I peered out a window to get a glimpse of the surrounding area, a sniper shot me.

Gameplay Note:  My first character lasted about thirty minutes.  I ran to a town, triggered some zombies, ran away and managed to lose them.  From that point forward, I knew this first character was dead.  I played conservatively at first to learn how to avoid zombies and then experimented to see what does and doesn't alert zombies.  One of my experiments failed.  As I do my play through, I will note all character deaths as they happen.  The above is my second character.

Complications of the Bechdel Test in Writing

Courtesy publicdomainpictures.net

The Bechdel Test can best be described as a litmus test that is applied to movies to evaluate the role or presence of women in the film.  To pass the test, the movie must have two female, named characters, that speak to each other during the film about any subject other than men.  It is a striking simple test, and yet a vast majority of films fail to meet it.

In literature, you don't have screen time and the rules should be somewhat different.  In theory, with writing, it should be easier to have the Bechdel Test requirements met.  Yet, I've found that depending on the factors behind your story, this can be surprisingly difficult to pass, despite the fact that the number and significance of the female characters in the story exceed the number of males.

In Extrication, the story is told first person through the eyes of a thirteen year old boy.  He has several female characters that he interacts with, three of which are a significant part of his life.  He has his mother, the neighbor, Gail Rosenberg, and his long distance friend, Claire.  Also, being a thirteen year old boy, he is attending school during the day with countless kids his age of both genders.  So, with all of these female characters, it should be easy to have the Bechdel Test passed, right?  Wrong.

One of the problems with writing, is that every scene should carry with it a purpose.  Having an abundance of female characters in the story makes it possible to have two of them interact.  But, they need to interact in such a way to advance the story.  In the case of Extrication, the story is about a young boy finding that he has an extraordinary power.  This greatly limits the options available for two female characters talking to advance the story.

Fortunately, in my bag of tricks, I was able to find a way to work this out.  Part of telling a story is setting the scene of the world.  One way to learn about the world is with conversations between characters.  If the piece of information is important to the reader, but not something your character would necessarily talk about, you have a perfect opportunity.  You can have your character overhear two characters discuss this in front of your protagonist.

If you have a piece of writing that does not meet the Bechdel test, you should look closely and ask yourself why doesn't it.  Adding in a scene where two students talk about an important piece of world news isn't a major change.  You can also look at your existing scenes where a group of characters are holding a conversation and see if you can switch around who's talking to whom to make the story pass the Bechdel test.  This small bit of effort takes nothing away from the story and makes the book just that much more accessible in a world where Bechdel tests are needed.

The Extended Break

I took a break from blogging.  For a while now, I felt that my blog posts were short, forced, and lacking useful content.  I not only want to be a published author, I want to make myself a resource for the writing world.  For this reason, it is important that I focus on making my blogs meaningful and thought provoking.

I hadn't forgotten about this blog.  I'm only two behind my King of the Hill movie challenge.  After catching Hunger Games, I basically stopped watching movies.  A friend was able to convince me to finally sit down and watch Titanic and I'll be doing an in depth discussion of that movie later.  I also recently watched A Little Princess.  But, beyond this, I needed time off.  It also doesn't help that my grandmother passed away and I got a promotion at work.

Breaks are important, even in writing.  One of the best times to take a break is after completing a novel.  My good friend, fellow SWAG member, and author of Uncross Your Heart, Taryn Elliott, had to remind me of this rule.  I finished writing the first draft of Extrication last week.  During the writing process, something happened with Scrivener and I lost an entire chapter.  While I promised not to go back immediately into the story, I felt like I hadn't completed the novel without that lost chapter.  I attempted to redo the chapter and got a harsh reminder why you need to step away.

Stories are a journey.  You have a character who starts at Point A and travels down the path of the story until they reach the end of the story at Point Z.  With writing, you get into the head of a character and put him through this journey.  If you are doing things right, the problem should be obvious.  After finishing a novel, you are in the head of a character at Point Z.  A Point Z character is not going to be the same person as the one a Point A or even a Point W.  Character growth leads you with a completely different person.

This was what happened when I tried to fill that missing chapter.  Peter Smith, in my head, is a Point Z character.  For me to go back and write this scene, I need to wait, let the character have some time off and go back to the story after that break.  When I return, I'll have to start from Point A and work my way through to the missing chapter.  Then, with the proper character in my mind, I can write the scene.

Just so that we are clear, I'm not talking about plot.  I know exactly what happens in the chapter that I lost.  After all, I wrote it once before.  The issue is that I need to be in the character's state of mind.  That's not that easy of a shift to make.  So, for now, I'm focusing on other things while I wait for another week to pass when I'll try this again.  After all, Tara Elliot said that the minimum time limit is two weeks. I'll trust her judgement; she writes good shit.

Go buy her book.

World Building: Cultures

This is another cross-post with mywife. We are both talking about the same subject from different angles. You can see her post over here.

Cultural would building is my favorite part of world building. It is also the most difficult part of world building. It is also a necessity to make a good story great. Without culture, a fictional society begins to crumble and look poorly constructed and unbelievable. On the other hand, like all world building, too much cultural development can detract from a story. The important thing to do with cultural development in your world is to build enough to make it look interesting and not go any further beyond that.

There are two factors that lead to developing culture. The geography and the history of the region that you are developing. It is important to reflect upon both when you get into developing the culture. I personally find that the geographic aspect of cultural building is easier to do where as historical impact on culture is harder. Geography generally doesn't change. History, on the other hand is fluid and subject to change and development over time, but also subject to rewrites by the author. If you build a piece of culture around a war and later remove the war from the history, the culture is going to change.

Geographic Cultural Development

To design culture based on geography, you have to take a close look at the geography in question. Look at the aspects of the geography that make it interesting and unique. Is it extremely cold? Is there some sort unique geological feature. Cultures tend to develop based around the unique geographical features. A village on a large river is going to be influenced by that river. Dry, arid regions will have cultures that cherish the rare summer rainstorms and may even develop a rain festival.

Historical Cultural Development

This is where the flexibility comes in. In order for you to develop this culture, you need to look at the significant historical events for the region. Has the region been plagued by repeated wars? This might develop a society of hardened, stern people. A society that had a deadly plague sweep through their land might develop a supernatural belief based on a precipitating event.

Putting the Two Together

The best cultures are going to use a mix of the two together. It's really easy. Just look at how a historical event was shaped by that primary geological feature. Suddenly, you have new cultures develop. The arid village might have had the plague start at the time of major storm, prompting the society to develop a connection between rain and death.

In my epic fantasy, I have a race of aquatic creatures. For them, the chief geographic feature is the fact that the cities are on the bottom of the ocean. This has a couple of immediate effects on the culture. I'm not going to explain all of them, only one of them. Being that the society exists underwater, the only weapons that would work effectively are jabbing weapons. Any other type would have too much resistance to movement in the water. This leaves spears and tridents as potential weapons. Historically, there is an event, I won't describe it in this post, that forced the people of this world to fight. Single spears didn't work. Only tridents were effective. Additionally, fighting alone or in pairs was not enough to deal with this threat. Success only came when there were three, or more involved. As a result of this event, the number three developed as being significant in this culture. Almost all aspects of the society develop around the number three. This covers everything from three-prong tipped tridents to guard formations in groups of three, to floors in the coral towers housing three families.

Saying a Lot with Few Words (Part 1)

Today, my wife and I are doing a cross-post on the same subject just like we did back when we discussed descriptions from different perspectives.

When writing, you need to be able to say a lot with as few words as possible. This applies at the macro level and the micro level. My current work in progress is a Young Adult story. Depending on who you ask, the target word count for a YA is between 40,000 and 80,000 words. I'm personally aiming for 80,000 words or less. Lengthy scenes can be nice, but they add up quickly. There are two ways to cut down on length. You can cut scenes and you can learn to cut down on scene length by saying a lot in few words. Today, I'm going to talk about some of the macro tricks behind this. My wife will be talking about this from her perspective over on her blog today as well, so be sure to check out what she hasto say on the subject.

First of all, I should explain what I mean by saying a lot in as few words as possible.  On the macro level, what I'll be talking about today, this is making a scene as short as possible without cutting into the story.  On the micro level, this is stating something to the reader without needless exposition.  The best authors are experts at both of these tricks.  They can avoid the exposition or unnecessary dialogue and can keep scenes short, and to the point.

Photo Courtesy: http://www.normandie-wine.com/  

 In my current novel, my protagonist, Peter, is a fourteen year old who can teleport. For various reasons, he is trying to track down and catch an arsonist. In the story, he ends up in France where he meets a girl named Claire. Claire becomes the second person to discover his ability. In the scene when Claire and Peter meet and talk, there are several ways that I've cut the length of what I've needed to say to keep this event to part of a single chapter instead of two or three.  In order to achieve this, I replaced what would have been an entire chapter with a single, critical piece of dialogue between the two characters. I cut descriptions of the scene, leaving the less important descriptions for the reader to fill in. The scene involved Claire's angry father; he was minimized. I also used the ever important trick of not rehashing what the reader already knows. You'd be surprised how effective it is to write: “Peter told Claire what he knew about the fires.”

For a more specific example, I'll examine my choice not to spend much time describing Claire. I prescribe to the formula of cutting down descriptions of characters to a minimum and letting the reader fill in the rest of the details. I focus on what the character notices first, the details that stand out the most, and the unusual details. This might be long flowing black hair, bright green eyes, freckles, or, in the case of Claire, her unusual style of dress. I never spend time describing every last detail of the character and even when I'm describing something unusual, I keep it simple and focused on Peter's story.

Writing about tricks on how to say a lot in a little words isn't quite the same as showing the process. At this point in time, I'm describing a scene that takes place a few weeks after the chapter mentioned above. Peter is at home when his mother calls him out of his bedroom. Peter has just received a package from Claire and his mother is trying to find out what's going on.

NOTE: This is draft writing. I don't like sharing draft writing and it is all subject to change. Don't judge.

This was the last line I wrote:

“Why are you getting packages from England?”

To proceed, I need to figure out what needs to be covered in this scene. First off, Peter is entering the scene confused. I like to torture my characters and it's important that Peter find himself thrust, repeatedly into scenes where he needs to adapt quickly. He doesn't know what this package is, who it is from, or why he's getting it. So the first thing I need to have to do in this scene is have Peter go through the process of figuring out what is going on. The second element needed is to have Peter lie to his mother and feel guilty for having done so. Finally, I need to maintain a bit of dramatic tension. Peter's pursuit of the arsonist is getting intense.

I could respond to this question with extensive dialogue between Peter and his mom.  However, this adds a lot of information of the course of several paragraphs when I can handle this quickly, maintain Peter's character, and hit all three of the requirements I'm looking for above.

I froze. The arsonist had seen me at my father's work. He might know where I live. This could be the very means he used to start fires. My mom's life could be in danger. I bit my lip and walked over to where my mom stood with the package. I couldn't get a clear view of the package, but I did get a glimpse of the label. The writing on the front was too flowery to have been from someone trying to burn down homes. This had to have been from Claire. I had forgotten she had said something about attending a private school in England. She had asked for my addressed when we last spoke, but I hadn't expected her to mail me a package.

“It must be from my pen pal,” I lied. I felt a jab of pain in my heart, lying to my mom again like that. “I write to her as part of my make-up work for school. I don't know why she sent me a package from England.”

My mother looked at me with dubious eyes, but finally a smile appeared on her face. “You never told me you had a pen pal.”

She handed me her package and left the room with the rest of the mail in her hand, leaving me alone to find out what Claire had sent me.

This scene is 232 words in length and covers what could take over a thousand words to explain. Even still, it is longer than I'd like and will likely get shortened later when I go through and make further edits. It covers all three areas I wanted to touch upon, and leaves me satisfied.  I'd like to note that the main area I cut a lot was with his mom's reaction.  She could have probed to find out more.  She could have lingered to find out what was in the package.  Instead, she adds a bit of guilt by not responding immediately with believing Peter before wandering off.  It easily saved a thousand words.

The Fire Ants of Doom!

It saddens me to announce that my Grandmother has lung cancer.  I have a lot of fond memories and stories involving my Nana, including the story posted last month about the dinner with Stephen King.  Eastport is a place I spent a lot of summers.  My grandparents loved to watch me, my parents loved to get rid of me for a week, and I could entertain myself for hours.  There used to be an old fashioned store where you could buy Root Beer floats and used books.  There is no question that my writing interest was development from my summers in Eastport.

Eastport has tons of stories, and I may eventually getting around to writing about them all.  One story, the one I'll tell today, is about the fire ants and the anthill of doom.  In Maine, fireworks are illegal.  And my dad, being the progressive that he is, provided me with half-a-brick of firecrackers on a regular basis.  Fireworks are nice, and watching them explode is fun, but I've always been the kind of person who likes to take something fun and do something productive with it.  Legos were mansions and fireworks were the instruments of revenge.

Eastport is an international shipping port.  It isn't a major port, but it has had lots of imports from around the world.  Well, somewhere along the line, one of the ships managed to get some sort of fire ants in a shipping container.  I've never seen these ants before and attempts to research them online have led me again and again to ants that aren't native in the US.  So yeah, these ants were unique.  And they had a home just outside of my grandparent's house.

The bite is most notable.  The bite hurts like hell.  They have absolutely no problems biting anything they come across.  If you walk through a field with a nearby ant hill, they will be all over your leg and do a lot of damage.  I hated these suckers.  So, when I had those firecrackers, I got revenge.  I used to throw them down on the ant hill and blow them up, only the issue was that the main hive was built into a piece of stone bedrock (not sure the actual type of stone and it's gone today).

Somewhere along the line, I learned that the ants loved watermelon.  I would shove firecrackers into the watermelon, wire it up like a master, 12 year-old demolitions expert, and set it down by the hive.  I'd go inside and read for an hour or so.  Then I'd return to watermelon swarming with ants.  One light of a match and it was time for fun.

Of course, the first time taught me an important lesson of physics.  Twelve firecrackers going off will send ants skyward.  What goes up, must come back down.  And they did... onto me.  I learned the hard way that if I was going to do this, I needed to run faster.  I experimented a lot with fuse settings, but honestly, the best way to destroy those suckers was to light the fuse and run.  And I got really skilled at running fast.

The ironic end to the story is that the ants no longer exist.  Eastport needed to do some infrastructure work about eight years ago.  When the city encountered the bedrock housing those ants, they had to remove it.  They did so with TNT.  I still can't think of that without a smile creeping across my face.  It couldn't have happened to a worse species on the planet.

Difference in Perception

Today's blog is a strange one.  My wife asked me to write two paragraphs of description on our bedroom.  In her post, she talks about how the same approach is taken to describing a scene for the same characters.  It is an understandable peeve.  Multiple perspectives will bring about multiple areas of focus.  Anyway, because I'm shoehorning this entry to make the two paragraphs relevant for her blog and mine, I'm going to talk about perspectives.

Take a moment to think back to a time when you did something.  This something might have been a haircut, cleaning a room, or your normal work at your job.  When you looked at what you had accomplished, you saw it one way.  Now, think of that something and think of the reactions that others had to this thing.  I bet you can identify times when a loved one or friend didn't notice the haircut.  I bet you can identify a time the room cleaning was either not recognized or seen as not significant.  I'm willing to bet that you can identify a time that your hard work at your job was met with negative feedback.

Different people have different perspectives.  When I clean the desk here, I put a lot of time into it.  There is a lot of little clutter and finding a home for that clutter can be time consuming.  So when I announce I cleaned, for me, I see the effort I put into cleaning.  Alice, however, sees that the mess on the floor is still there, the floor hasn't been vacuumed, and that my shoes are next to the television stand.

When writing a scene, remember who your perspective character is.  A character that is a bit paranoid, alert, and on the look out for danger isn't going to notice that the books are arranged flush to the shelves.  He is going to notice that the arrangement of the bookshelves provide possible dark corners.  He won't notice the details, only the possible dangers.  So, when you approach a scene, remind yourself who your character is and what his mindset is at the time of describing the scene.  This will give you two, very different descriptions.

As promised, here is my description of the bedroom.  If you want to read Alice's blog post with her perception of the room, you can click on here.

The room is both spacious and cramped.  My dresser is small and barely fits the clothing I own.  I can't buy new clothes without having to get rid of the something else first.  The pile growing on top, the one that obstructs my clock from all angles but in bed, is a result of my resistance to find sacrifices.  The closet, if I opened it, would assault me with clutter that fills the bottom.  I find the space impractical, and yet I have freedom of movement.  I can make my way around the bed if I choose and access my side without that cramped feeling.  Yet, I'd love to have a dresser just a bit wider, deeper, and taller.  I'd love to get the clothes put away.

The window has the curtains drawn and shades down when it is in use and is opened when the room is empty.  Not that this makes a bit of difference, the view of the water tower outside is hardly scenic.  The only true scenery offered by the bedroom are the numerous photos, posters, and art depicting different places.  The art represents everything from Boston to Machias to Asheville.  Perhaps it is these gateways that open up the room to give it that spacious feel, or maybe it is simply knowing that our king-sized, wire-frame bed fits in this room that makes me feel like it offers everything I could want.  That is, so long as the closet door remains shut.

On Motivation

You may have noticed a lack of updates lately.  I certainly noticed.  I'd love to say that there was some epic reason for this.  The reasons for me not posting are, problems with motivation and problems with ergonomics.  Today I'll talk about both, focusing mostly on motivation as it applies to writing.

Motivation is a tricky word to nail down, in my opinion.  I find that the definition from various online dictionary sites sucks.  As a rule, I hate any definition of a word that refers to the word's root.  These definitions are almost as annoying as self-referencing words (for a perfect example, check out the definition of “the”).  Here is my attempt to define motivation.

Motivation is the state of being focused or driven to complete a task.  

How does motivation apply to the writing world?  In order to stay writing, you need to be motivated to do the writing.  That motivation is going to differ from person to person and from day to day.  Some days, I have little motivation.  Others, like today, I have bucket loads.  In addition to finding the main motivation to writer, there are obstacles that create barriers.  In some circles, you will here reference to “writer's block”.  I personally do not prescribe to this idea.  I've never had “writer's block”.  I've had “I'd rather play Skyrim block”, “this character needs to be shot in the head block”, and “my wrists are killing me and I wish I'd die block.”

Motivation is exactly what you put into it.  This is the hardest thing that you could probably hear, but this is true.  You cannot get motivated if you don't have a solid motive to do the writing.  (Damn, self-referenced the word!)  For me, writing is about sharing the story and becoming a better communicator.  Writing is also about proving to the world that I can do this.  I write because it creates a personal joy to know that I made my own world or universe on my own.  If it sounds like a bit of a god complex, it is.  Creative arts are the act of making something out of nothing.  If that isn't the biggest motivation right there, I don't know what is.

Unfortunately, we have to watch out for things in the world that take away from our motivation.  This can be difficult.  I could play Skyrim and run around and make iron daggers to up my Smith skill.  Or I could sit down and write 3000 words on my latest novel, Extrication.  One has immediate satisfaction with a short-term reward.  The other has a delayed satisfaction with a long-term reward.  Focusing on this long-term reward has been what I've personally needed to do to get the writing done.

Take a few minutes and create a list of what motivates you to write.  Post the list near your computer and maybe, seeing that list will be a good reminder of why you write.

At the start of the blog, I mentioned that my motivation was influenced by ergonomics.  I'll explain.  I have canal tunnel syndrome in my left arm.  Canal tunnel is like carpal tunnel only it involves the ulna nerve.  The nerve is located in your elbow where there is a lack of decent padding to protect it.  Due to my job, I'm typing around 15,000 words a day.  My ergonomic situation hasn't been great.  This is something I'm in the process of resolving.  As a result of my ergonomic situation, I've transferred the pressure from my ulna nerve to my wrists.

Today, I made some adjustments at home that seem to be making a difference.  It still hurts to write, but the writing is easier.  I'm hoping that between this change and the changes I'm making at work, I'll be able to maintain higher levels of writing without putting unnecessary strain on my wrists.  Only time will tell.

Upcoming blog posts:
Writing a scene – I've been requested to writing a short narrative.  I'll be doing so and discussing how scene writing is influenced by perspective. (Tentatively tomorrow)

Whatever Wednesday – I have something special planned for Wednesday.  I'm going to attempt to do some fundraising and I'll need help getting the word out.

The Stephen King post – I've been requested to do a blog post on my family story on Stephen King.  You'll like this one, I promise. (Thursday, if not, next Monday or Tuesday)

Context in Stories

You may have noticed that I've been quiet. I even missed the last Whatever Wednesday.  My writing group, Social Writers Assistance Group, is doing a major writing event that is keeping me busy.  We are doign what we call SWAGNoWriMo. It is a variation of NaNoWriMo with two major differences. First, the month of February is picked because of the lack of major holidays involving family. It also is in the middle of winter when there are less events going on. The other difference is the goal system. SWAG unanimously agrees that the concept of completing a novel in a month is not appropriate goal settings. Each of us are setting our own personal goals based on our own expectations.

I will still be blogging. I have three movies to report so far, for February. I won't be getting to those until tomorrow at the earliest. I also need to stay on track of writing Whatever Wednesday posts.  These posts, while important, are not part of the point to this blog.  This blog is a place to discuss the craft of writing. Today, I'm going to talk about context of a scene.

Context is important. Take this photo of Risu. She is sitting on the floor, looking straight ahead towards the camera. Her expression is a strange one. The photo is provided with no context. Take a moment and think about this photo before reading on. What do you think is happening here? A photo without context is like a story without context. You can look at at it and analyze it, but you don't have a full understanding without the context.

With writing, a lack of context has some benefits to it, but only to a certain point. Many books open with the characters in the middle of the action. These stories start you without context. You may have a character running from something.  You don't know what this character is running from or why. As the story progresses, this event is put into context as more details are provided. This use of context helps build tension and captivate the reader.  Another technique with context is to only apply a part of the context to emphasize something specific.  In the movie Cloverfield, a giant monster is attacking the city. The creature is only partially exposed to the viewer and never, in the course of the film, do you learn why it is attacking, nor do you learn what this monster is. In the case of this story, the context of the monster is left mysterious so that the viewer focuses on the the real story, the characters trying to survive this horrific and mysterious event.

So, what is the context of the photo with Risu? I decided to lie down on the kitchen floor with the camera. Risu came over to me.  She was trying to figure out what I was doing on the floor when I snapped the photo. Now go back to that photo and take a look at it. Doesn't this make much more sense?  That is the importance of context.

How To Write An Unsolicited Query Letter

On Friday, I submitted my first novel to an agent. While this act does not make me an author, it does bring me a step closer to that goal. I've reached the the longest of the six requirements outlined in my Writing Is Hard entry. I must wait. I have no idea how long to expect for a response. If this were a normal case of an unsolicited query letter, I'd expect five to six months, possibly a year. In this case, the agent had indicated she was out of unsolicited queries and was requesting more. Hopefully, this puts me near the top of the pile and will give me only a couple of months of waiting.

Sending a query letter was a process. I've never done one before, and I can't be completely certain I did this correctly. What I can tell you is that the internet is full of conflicting advice. I used several different resources on the internet to piecemeal together my final query letter.

What is an Unsolicited Query Letter?

A query letter is a letter outlining your interest in publishing your novel and information about the novel you'd like to see published. Most query letters will be unsolicited; that is to say, query letters that were not directly requested by the agent or editor. In my case, I was made aware of an agent looking for submissions. This was still an unsolicited query letter. She asked for submissions, but did not ask ME for submissions.

Step 1. Outline Your Story

This step is listed first because it can be completed long before you should be hunting down an agent or writing a query letter. If you write your stories by outline, this step should have been completed long ago. If you are a pantster, I recommend doing this during a read through of your novel. Break the story down into chapters and outline the major events of each chapter. This will be a reference later. You can skip this step, but I recommend against it. I got this tip from Writing World.

Step 2. Determine the Agent/Editor's Submission Guidelines

Every editor and agent is going to be different. Be certain you check what they prefer before you send an unsolicited query letter. These guidelines are your first in. You are being told exactly what they want for information. Figure it out. Find what they want. Search around. Ask. Trust me when I say that this is for the better. I couldn't find two articles online that agreed on how you should do a query letter otherwise.

Step 3. Write the Components

The best I can figure out, there are three parts to most query letters. You have your initial query, the story synopsis, and your writing excerpt.

Step 3, Part 1: Hook, Mini-Synopsis, and Biography

My research in query letters led me to a site that defines them as being three paragraphs long and a single page. This page does contain information that should be included in any submission. You need to have information on your hook, you need to have a mini-synopsis, and you should include a biography. I recommend going with the advice I linked earlier in the paragraph. However, for the hook, you do have a bit more flexibility (or at least, so I've been told). The hook doesn't have to be a one-sentence summary of your story. It can be a statement as to why you think your story should be published. In the case of my query, I pointed out that fairy tales are in and that the story will do well in the current market.

Step 3, Part 2: The Synopsis

If the agent or editor you are submitting to wants a synopsis, now is the time to write it. Do not use the outline you wrote in Step 1. You will instead be using that outline to aid you in writing your synopsis. The agent I submitted to was looking for two pages double spaced. That left me little room to work with. I had to condense it and still allow the story carry through. My first draft of my synopsis was two and a half pages long. I rewrote the synopsis twice. In the end, I felt my synopsis hit the important elements.

One trick that I found useful during the two page synopsis was eliminating minor characters. It takes a sentence to explain how the minor character interacted with my main character and I spent another sentence explaining why it was connected to the plot. By eliminating as many minor characters as I could, I was able to put down a more concise synopsis.

Step 3, Part 3: The Excerpt

Find the excerpt you are using for you query. Copy and paste it into a new document. Have a friend or a loved one read it over. Read it over again. Read it out loud. Make sure it is free of any grammatical issues. Make sure it is captivating. Read it once more to be absolutely certain. The first two parts of your query are where you sell your skills at plotting and making a book that an editor/agent wants. This third part is where you have to sell your skills at writing.

Step 4: Put Together the Email

Never send attachments. If you refuse to not send an attachment, save your document in a Microsoft Word format unless they specify otherwise. Even if you send an attachment, be sure to include the text in the body of your email. I used hyphen breaks to make it easier to find each section of the email. Make sure you include a greeting in the front and to thank them at the end.

Step 5 – 999998: Build Up the Courage to Click Send

I'm not going to lie here. I had a very hard time clicking send. I closed my eyes, listened to the music that was playing. Ironically, it was my favorite song, Army of Love by Kerli. When I had convinced myself that this was the next logical step for me, I clicked send. My eyes were still closed at the time.

Step 999999: Click Send.

Click Send. Reward yourself with something. You've earned it.

Step +1

Tweet.

Writing is Hard

“When I retire, I'm going to perform brain surgery.”

This is a joke shared by some of us in our writing circle. Outside of writing circles, there is this perception that writing a book is as simple as sitting down in front of a computer and pounding away at the keyboard. It isn't. It's never easy. If anyone tells you it is easy, they are lying or have a misconception about the writing process.

From my personal understanding and experience, there are six requirements to write:

• You have to know the writing craft.
• You have to commit to writing and actually write.
• You have to be able to look at your story and make changes.
• You have to be willing to send your story to other people.
• You have to be able to wait for long periods of time.
• You have to be willing to make changes that other people tell/suggest you to make.

You have to know the writing craft.

In order to be a writer, you have to know how to write. This might sound simple. It isn't. I've wanted to be a writer since I was thirteen. I've devoted almost my entire life to creating stories, developing them, and writing. Despite all of this, I am still learning. I make obvious mistakes. I'm willing to bet that my wife will find at least one grammatical error in this blog post. I know the rules, but I let them slip. And this is just the grammatical rules. You need to know how to work with dramatic tension, the structure of a story, character development, and a hundred other elements of a story. Fortunately, you don't need to be a master of these rules, you just need to know them and continually strive to improve at them.

You have to commit to writing and actually write.

Anyone who has actually written can tell you that it is easy to claim you are going to write, but the act of getting yourself to do so is surprisingly difficult. There is a world of distractions just beyond the range of your word processor. You have the vast internet. There are shows on television that you are trying to keep up with or, perhaps, catch up on. You might have a pile of books on your night stand that you need to read. The dogs might need walking. The dishes might need doing. You might decide that now is the time to get to that pile of mail, currently sitting on your desk in such a massive pile that it has toppled over, covering a remote control that shouldn't be there in the first place and the whole pile needs to be picked up this second. The only way to write, is to stop making excuses and make the time to write.

What a writer's desk MIGHT look like.

You have to be able to look at your story and make changes.

Completing a story is difficult and congratulations are in order to anyone who gets the story down on paper. The feeling of accomplishment is powerful and I find it very difficult to draw a comparison to anything else I have done before. While completing a story leaves you feeling accomplished, it isn't enough. The story is going to need revisions. It won't just be a single revision, it is often going to be several revisions. In the case of my novel, The Rose and the Crown, I just finished my fifth draft a few days ago. That makes a grand total of five times I've gone through the entire novel from start to finish. Is it done? No. There are changes that still need to be made, but the changes that remain aren't as serious as previous drafts. You will have to cut scenes. You will have to remove characters. You will have to correct continuity errors. And you will have to repeat this process all over again to fix the scenes that no longer fit the changes of your previous draft. I have never heard of an author doing it right the first time. It is simply unheard of.

You have to be willing to send your story to other people.

This is another one of those steps that sounds easy in theory, but is difficult in practice. Feedback is both necessary and difficult. Eventually someone is going to have to look at your manuscript. They are going to have to read it. And, eventually, someone is going to have to tell you what they thought of it. Will they judge you? Will they hate it? Will they compare it Twilight, forcing you into a fit of justified homicide? These are thoughts that go through the writer's head before they hand it out. It can take a bit of willpower to get over this obstacle.

You have to be able to wait for long periods of time.

In an alternative reality, there is a world where authors write a story, click “send”, and after a few minutes, they check their bank account and find that the balance has gone up a hundred thousand dollars. In reality, the book publishing process is slow (and pays much less). You will have to write your story, edit your story, and muster the willpower to send the story to someone. Then you must wait. And, let me tell you that waiting is a very difficult thing to do. It's like Christmas, only you have no idea when Santa is coming and you have no idea if he's leaving you the present you wanted or a lump of coal.

I currently have a short story I'm waiting to hear back on. I sent it out over four months ago. Every single time I check the mail, I'm hoping the letter will be there. At this point, I don't care if it's a rejection. I just want to hear something back.

This isn't the only time you have to wait. If you've been accepted for publication, you still have to turn in the manuscript and wait for the editor to give you changes to make. And, if you have turned in your final manuscript, you have to wait once again for the book to go to print and hit the shelves. All told, you may spend as much time waiting as you spent writing.

You have to be willing to make changes that other people tell/suggest you to make.

This can be a very, very hard thing to have to deal with depending completely on the suggestion. Yet, it is something you must be able to face in order to progress forward as writer. At some point in time, you are going to get a credible suggestion for a change to make to your story. This will not be a change you initially want to make. This may come from someone in your writing group with a very good point or from five beta readers saying the exact same thing. This very well might come from an editor who knows the craft well. Sooner or later, you are going to have to change something that you do not want to change.

This can be one of the hardest decisions you ever make. It is impossible to know what form this will take, until it transpires. It might be a scene that needs to be deleted. It might even be removing a character. Whatever the change is, it will be for something that you think is important or necessary for the narrative. Part of the writing process is, unfortunately, being able to recognize that something needs to change or go.

So yes, writing is hard. Still, I love every second of it (no I don't). And when I retire, I'm going to perform brain surgery.

Dialogue and Motivation

Let me start by saying I promise to never post a blog without first rereading it.  My last blog post was written while I was tired.  I posted it without so much as giving it a second's glance.  I had promised to edit it the following day, but only managed to get to it yesterday.  I was embarrassed by what I read.

When it comes to dialogue, I'm not an expert.  Dialogue is an area I frequently find myself struggling with.  My wife is the local expert.  One of her pieces of advice is to pay attention to conversations in television, real life, and literature.  It is most definitely a useful trick.

I'm going to compare two opposites: Alf and Dark Shadows.  The two television shows differ in every way, but one (two if you count the fact that both have a character named Willie).  The dialogue for both shows is terrible.  I've been watching through Dark Shadows slowly over the last several months.  Last night we reached the 111th episode available.  I also recently watched the pilot of the 80's sitcom, Alf.  One show is a soap opera drama with the supernatural.  The other is an episodic sitcom about an extraterrestrial.

Dialogue should be simple.  It is the choice of words characters use when speaking to each other.  We are exposed to dialogue every time we have a conversation.  Yet, with so much exposure, you'd think that writers would be able to piece together believable conversations onto a page.  Unfortunately, this doesn't happen.  There are a few reasons for this, but I think one of the most blatant sources for this poor writing is motivation.  This is part of the reason I find that Dark Shadow's dialogue is scores better than the dialogue used in Alf.

Everyone has motivation.  When we speak, we aren't just blurting something out at random.  We have our reasons for saying what we say.  This is just as important in writing as it is in the real world.  When writers forget this, the purpose of the dialogue becomes muddied.  Often times, writers will forget the overall character in exchange for the momentary motivation.  In the pilot of Alf, Willie has this wonderful line:

Willie:  "Alright, alright.  Just give me one day, okay.  If I can't get Alf going, we'll tell someone.  Just one day."

The dialogue makes me weep inside.  Not just because of how terrible it reads, but because of Willie's motivation.  This is the type of concern one would have with in-laws that won't leave.  However, Willie is talking about an alien from another planet.  After an earlier piece of dialogue, it is established the military would probably do experiments on Alf if they had him.  So, his argument is for a single day before they tell someone.  It's as if Willie completely forgotten about what will happen to Alf should the military find him.  This is a momentary motivation convenient for the single scene.  A more fitting piece of dialogue would have been, "Just give me one day.  If I can't get Alf going, we'll figure out something."  In the alternative piece of dialogue, it leaves a sense of uncertainty with Willie.  It might be tell someone, or it might be getting Alf to find somewhere else to go.

Meanwhile, over in Dark Shadows land, the characters have their motivations, they just have dialogue that isn't well written.  In Episode 321, Sam Evans, at the decision of Maggie Evans, has set a trap for Maggie's attacker.  A rumor has been spread to summon her attacker to the home where the sheriff's men are waiting.  This plan has been building for a couple of episodes now.  In one scene, Maggie is in her room when Sam comes in.

Sam:  "There are men all over the place.  Now if you hear anything, you just give a yell and they'll come running."

The motivation of Sam is present.  He is trying to comfort his daughter, Maggie.  The line doesn't even read that poorly out of context.  In context, this is clearly exposition.  They could have shown the men, or let the reader assume the Maggie knows.  Instead, we hear Sam say something to Maggie that the audience needs to know.  It is irritating (especially if you've watched all available 111 episodes up until this point), but it is within Sam's character.

The moral of the story is to make dialogue better, always make sure you know the motivation behind the speaker.

Cultivating Ideas Through Research

I won't be talking about the fact I finished my fifth draft of The Rose and the Crown today. I'll talk about that in a future blog.

Instead, I'm going to talk about the importance of writing research and reading. I have several stories that I'm working on in one phase or another. Regardless of what project I'm working on, I'm always looking for ideas that can help develop my stories. I look for ideas everywhere. I've had ideas for improving stories come while running, while on my morning commute, and even from conversations overheard at a doctor's office. However, the best ideas I've come up with have come from conducting research or reading lots of books.

To provide you with an example, I'm reading The Kalevala. The Kalevala is the national epic poet of Finland as collected and written down by Elias Lönnrot. I'm not very far into the epic and I've already gotten a few great ideas for my “paranormal romance” project.

The story I'm still peculating in my head will involve a great deal of the supernatural, including numerous animal mythologies, alchemy, and magical enchantments. I've done a lot of research so far towards this world, many pieces I may never use. However, last night while reading The Kalevala, I came across this gem:

Who then took a bough

took eternal happiness

and who then broke off the top

broke off eternal magic;

who cut off a leafy twig

he cut off eternal love.

A few lines later we also have this:

She saw a sliver floating

gathered it into her bag

in the bag carried it home

in the long-strapped to the yard

to make her witch's arrows

her weapon of enchantment.

Both passages are talking about the destruction of a particular oak tree. These two passages, each six lines in length, give me a few ideas to file away. I have a bough that grants happiness, a top of this tree that grants eternal magic, a twig that grants eternal love, and slivers that can be used as enchantments for arrows. This gives me for potential plot items I could bring into the story. I might use all of them, or none of them. What matters is that in my arsenal of ideas, I now have Arrows of Kalevala that could be fired at my protagonist.

Options are an important part of the writing process. You need to be able to look at your story and determine what works best for the situation. It might not be the oak tree, but the oak tree is there for consideration. It logically follows that you need to spend time reading and researching to give yourself more options. A few hours at your local library in the reference section can give you hundreds of new ideas. I've done this a dozen times, just flipping through, reading and learning the names and stories of mythological creatures I've never been able to find online.

I know I talk about cliches a lot, but I wanted to point this out. Proper research can give you a way to avoid commonly used cliches. If I wanted my protagonist to be magically forced into falling in love with the antagonist, I could use the common cliche of a love potion. Alternatively, because of my research, I can have my antagonist walk up to the protagonist and whack him in the head with an oak twig. It adds a bit of comedy and takes at least one cliche out of the story.

No, I will not be having my protagonist forced into love with anyone else. That was just a hypothetical. You'll have to wait and read to see what evil plans I have in store with him.

The Second Cliche

For my second blog post, I'm going to take about cliches and the developed character. I won't go so far as to say well-developed characters; that would require a much more in-depth analysis. Cliches work better when the characters are developed. When a show or a piece of fiction has two-dimensional or underdeveloped characters, the cliches will stand out.

Before I can get into the interaction of a cliche with a developed character, I need to talk about what a cliche is. A cliche is a basic story concept that has been used so frequently that my eyes have started bleeding. It's easy to think of examples with little or no effort. Looking around my apartment, I can find lots of examples. Eureka, while a great show, uses the "smart geeky boy who can't talk to girls", the "protagonist in a land where everyone gets the world around him but him", and "father can't talk to his child" cliche. The DVD boxset of Jeeves & Wooster has the "the butler is smarter than who he works for" cliche. To demonstrate the common place of cliches, look at Terra Nova. The show is rife with examples of the same, "father can't talk to his child" cliche that is found in Eureka.

Side Note: If you want the official terms for these cliches, you are welcome to head over to TV Tropes. I must confess I don't browse the site very much.

The difference between the good use of a cliche and a bad can be attributed to many factors. For me, the biggest difference is character. A well-written character is going to pull the reader or viewer to the character's reaction and away from the formula being used. Sheriff Jack Carter and his daughter Zoe conflict with each other on a regular basis in Eureka. This, at the most basic level, is no different than Jim Shannon's conflict with his son Joshua on Terra Nova.

Zoe is a troublemaker with no direction. She's taken up a life of petty crime and her father has just hunted her down at the start of the show. Her issues stem from the parental situations in which her dad, a US Marshal, and her mom are divorced. Carter is embarrassed that, as a law enforcement agent, he's transporting his own daughter as a fugitive. In Terrible Nova, Jim and his family have violated a world's law limiting families to four. His family has five. Jim punches out an enforcement agent and is sent to jail for breaking the family count act. For some reason, this puts Josh at odds with his dad. This rationale is never explained well. In later episodes, Terrible Nova plays out the relationship between Josh and Jim. It makes things better, but the detachment from the show from the initial, obvious cliche use never fully healed.

Take my story from the last blog post. It wasn't particularly good. The characters were flat. In order to soften the effect that the cliches have on the story, I need to develop the characters more. I broke out Rory's Story Cubes and rolled the dice. I'm not making a full story this time, so cherry picked five dice to create a some ideas for character development. Here is the new draft of the story.

There was once a happy couple that lived in a house. Thomas had decided to do something special for Kelly to show his appreciation. After counting his pennies, he realized he didn't have enough to buy the set of dolls that Kelly had loved. Frustrated, he went out looking for a way to earn some extra money. He spoke with a neighbor and was able to make the rest of the money he needed by working in the neighbor's garden.

He gave Kelly the present that night. After spending a moment to ponder the package, Kelly unwrapped a pair of dolls. The night was suddenly interrupted by a dragon from out of town. It landed on the guard's tower and setup camp in the parapet. The appearance of the dragon created a bit of drama for the family. After a heated conversation with his wife, Thomas decided to go to investigate. From the top of the tower, he saw the dragon hanging out on a parapet below. Thomas took a giant ball and tried to drop it on the dragon's head. In retrospect, the act was a bit of a reach. The ball missed. He decided it had been a case of bad judgement to try and slay the dragon. He was upset, but after dancing a jig at home, he felt much better.

The story still has the same cliches. They are still obvious to the casual reader. Only now, Thomas is better developed. You can almost see why he might want to go out and defeat this dragon. He was, after all, having a special night at home when the dragon appeared. This development and motivation could make some readers see his character and focus more on him and his desire to show Kelly his appreciation. Unfortunately, this development is limited to one section of the text. It will take many rolls of the dice to fix this story up.

The First Cliche

I don't have the humor of the Bloggess. I don't have the artistic talent of Allie Brosch over on Hyperbole and a Half. I don't have the near-perfect grasp of the English language like my wife does over on Tales of an Intrepid Pantster. I'm not sure I have a claim to fame, but if I did, it is the ability to piece together unique stories either devoid of cliches or using them in a mostly harmless way.

I hate cliches. And while I might enjoy a story that takes a cliche and spins it in a different direction, the use of the cliche never leaves me completely satisfied. Overuse of cliches will result in a wall thumper at worst and my weekly mockery at best (I'm looking at you Terra Nova!). On the other hand, good cliche use gets my attention and works devoid of cliches get my praise.

I haven't decided the full direction of this blog. I know that I'll talk about writing, television, books, movies, my cats, my wife, Upstate New York, and subjects I probably shouldn't mention. I will regularly be deconstructing and constructing story elements. If you are a writer, I'm sure you'll get at least two pieces of advice for every piece of dredge I offer. If you like reading blogs, this is a blog. If you don't want to see your favorite shows ripped apart and insulted, you need to find new shows to watch. I'll definitely talk about cliches. Someone needs to declare war on the suckers.

I'm going to try and write an entry once a week. That's the closest thing you will get a promise. I'll also try and include random writing in each post. For day, I'm going to create a story using some dice I got for Christmas. It's from the game, Rory's Story Cubes. I have two sets. You roll the dice and put together a story based on the pictures you have. In future posts, I'll use these dice to talk about how I construct stories and work to avoid cliches. For now, I'm being lazy and just creating a random story and pointing out the cliches.

There was once a happy family living in a house. The night had been a peaceful so far. Thomas had just given Kelly a gift to open. After spending a moment to ponder the package, Kelly unwrapped a pair of dolls. The night was suddenly interrupted by a dragon from out of town. It landed on the guard's tower and setup camp in the parapet. The appearance of the dragon created a bit of drama for the family. After a heated conversation with his wife, Thomas decided to go to investigate. From the top of the tower, he saw the dragon hanging out on a parapet below. Thomas took a giant ball and tried to drop it on the dragon's head. In retrospect, the act was a bit of a reach. The ball missed. He decided it had been a case of bad judgement to try and slay the dragon. He was upset, but after dancing a jig at home, he felt much better.

The story, at its core is pretty dull and ripe full of cliches. Peaceful life is disrupted by an outside force that is given a monstrous appearance. Male decided to take his approach against the wishes of the female and tries to defeat the beast. Male makes an attempt to stop the beast and fails. I'm willing to bet you can take this plot summary and apply it to thousands of popular stories. I took a brief look at my bookshelf and only had to scan as far as my collection of Andrew Lang. That's the start for a large chunk of fairy tales.

The first step to dealing with cliches is to recognize them. The worse the writing, the more they stand out. Better writers paint the cliches in pretty colors to hide them. It is possible to water a cliche down until it is unrecognizable. However, if you don't know it's there, you can't water it down.

If you're curious, the story took approximately two minutes to write.