Giving It Away

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Counterpunch

Character knowledge versus reader knowledge, what is the proper balance?

The title of this post references the idea of giving away your “catch” in a story. How does the author do this? When is the right time for the author to drop knowledge? When one character is in possession of more information than others, how long can the author strike a balance between giving away the major plot points and keeping a reader interested?

Complicating the matter further, at the beginning of a complex narrative, how does the author establish a basic understanding with the reader for the book to move forward?

These were all easy questions for me to answer when writing Master of the House. That book being heavily character based allowed me to pair up the reader with Julian from the beginning. As the reader developed questions, so did Julian. There was parity there. To keep things interesting for the reader, to keep them feeling intelligent and as if they were in a superior position, Dori would reveal other information in scenes apart from the main cast. Turnbill also served this purpose but in a contrasting way and after the crux of the conflict was revealed, Envy participates in this dialog with the reader as well. From a writing standpoint, the questions at the beginning of this post were never an issue.

Now, my follow up work, tentatively titled Children of the New Potential, faces a far more challenging method for delivering information and foreshadowing.

In this new book, I have the challenge of informing the reader of a vast and sweeping plot/concept and at the same time, I have characters who are learning the same things as the characters. The difficulty comes in how to deliver plot information and still have it be believable. This applies both to the reader and characters as well.

I am working within a fantasy realm here and the crux of any issue has to be…well, fantastic. Trying to preserve character motivation and rationality in this environment is difficult. If one character reveals critical information but does it such that it is presented flatly as an explanation, it sounds crazy. I don’t mean “crazy” to the reader, they are reading a fantasy novel and have already suspended their disbelief. I mean that a character is just as likely to say, “Right, right, end of the world…dragons, wizards, threat to all mankind… Piss off you crazy kook” as they are to say, “Let me go get my sword”.

So, to move a complicated plot forward, information has to be presented in a sane manner to the characters so that the reader can understand their motivation in context of the situation. Think about Star Wars. Even with Luke’s desire to leave his home planet, Obi Wan’s initial offer to travel away for adventure is rejected as “impossible”. Only when it is shown that Luke has nothing to stay around for because his family has been killed does he make the decision to leave. That example carries through this whole discussion despite Luke’s final choice being so obvious. (Removing ALL other choices is a somewhat blunt way to show motivation but it works)

For plot driven stories, the author must strike a balance between showing and telling. Too much telling and you give away not only the plot but all the suspense that builds up to the conclusion. Too much showing robs your characters of an ability to mold the events in their own perception. Go back to the above example of Star Wars. Obi Wan tells Luke a whole lot in the scene after rescuing Luke but he tells the events from his perspective. There’s clearly more to what’s going on than the viewer knows and there’s more going on than Luke knows but the plot has moved more into focus. We know that this character Darth Vader is not only bad but is tied to Luke’s history from what we have seen and now heard.

Children of the New Potential has a character named Laylani in it. She is an Elf of Deep Shadow much the same as Rozalin and LeShaitan from Master of the House. Her role in the story is that of messenger. She knows far more than any of the other core characters in the book. The adventure that Laylani will lead them on is based on this knowledge. To advance the plot, Laylani has to act on what she knows.

Laylani becomes my voice as the author amongst the group where plot is concerned. She understands the threats they are facing and knows enough to explain the immediate problems that they are facing. Just like Obi Wan from earlier, the information she reveals is colored by her own perception of things. In her case, she thinks that she knows more than she really does.

This becomes for me, what I started to question at the beginning of this post, how to strike a balance. Laylani reveals what she knows to the other characters and to the reader. However, the reality of the world and the threats they face become the “showing” that keeps the plot from being revealed too early or too easily. The “showing” also reveals that Laylani may not have as tight a grip on things as she first thought.

A far reaching and plot-centered as Children of the New Potential is, my main method for delivering information to the reader and other characters is preserved from merely being a plot device by her own vulnerability of not having the story as correct as she thinks she does. Slowly, she will come to find that the clear lines she has established in her head to go about her tasks, are not so clear. The understanding of it all that she shares with the readers becomes a point of sympathy for her when the reality of the situation is shown to differ from the reality in her mind.

Tough subject matter to be sure and writing about it without the source material being available for review at this point is even more difficult. I apologize for that. Much of what appears here and what will appear in this blog is a way for me to organize thoughts as I write and look back on it to explain my thought process as it moves forward.

The Point of No Return

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Counterpunch

The point at which it is further to go back than it is to continue forward. ^_^

My “second” book, such as it is for the moment (dependent on whether or not Master of the House is broken into two books at some point) is now over 50% complete.

I’d be lying if I said that this was easier or even as easy as Master of the House was to draft. Working within the confines of a planned length and moving through knowing that a full revision would be required have been very trying on my creative style.

I often have to accept the fact that my page count per day is around half of what it normally is due to this, but the grind continues. The biggest challenge really has been the structuring of chapters. Previously, I would write chapters under a theme that would run clearly through. This time around, chapters are presented more in a scene format with shifting to another location or into another obstacle as the call for beginning or ending another chapter.

If I wasn’t in the middle of it all, I would think that smaller bites and more concise sections would make for easier writing. Working towards creating something that is “market ready” has proven to be anything but.

That being said, sometime in June this work should be complete and I will be in the midst of editing (and more regular site updates).

Villains

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Counterpunch

Most stories live and die by the worth of their villains. They are in one way of looking, the reason for telling stories. There are rare exceptions. Stories of self exploration and mastery, biographies, etc can all circumvent the need for an outside actor to move the plot along. When it comes to fantasy fiction the need for an evil, an obstacle, or person of ill intent is key to the genre.

I think it can be very easy to slip into the trope of the mustache twisting black hat villain in fantasy fiction. To avoid this, I think that rooting your story in the antagonist motivation is critical. When I began conceptualizing the Legacy of Shadow series, I honestly did not have a set direction for it. The world came first and presented me with problems that really bothered me and somewhat ruined the rationale for such a place.

I knew that I wanted some omnipresent force to oppose the heroes. I knew that I wanted this force to be something that did not have to confront them directly, but that could corrupt their very reasons for stepping into the field of conflict. My first attempt at the character who would become my ultimate villain for this series was known only by title: “The White Witch”. Please bear in mind that at the time, I had absolutely no knowledge of The Chronicals of Narnia. Seriously. I didn’t.

This character was aloof and distant and somehow responsible for the trials and tribulations of the world I created in the Legacy of Shadow series. She was generic and…boring.

So, I began to ask myself questions about her. What had she done to be responsible for the undead curse placed upon the land? Stepping back, I had to ask, what is she to begin with? ”Elf” was the answer. More specifically, a “Light” elf when compared to the thus far heroic “Dark” elves that this world and its characters encountered. Then came the inversion, the typically heroic by nature good-guy forest elves would somehow be responsible for…what? Or should it even be all of them? Why not just one? What if one member of this otherwise pristine race of creatures did something so terrible, that…

That what? What could one character do that would be so condemning to vilify that character for all time? The answer was: she is responsible for the death of her entire race. Already there were no light elves in the story but there were uncountable undead creatures. So, this character became responsible for the death of her entire race and that genocide resulted in a world ravaged by undead hordes of elves.

Now we were getting somewhere. It wasn’t very far down the road but the wheels were spinning.

What would make a character commit genocide on their own race? Would it be purposeful? Or would it be accidental? Well, one thing that was certain in my mind was that this villain would be something that a reader could understand however, sympathy was not something I wanted to extend to her. Accidental was right out. Purposeful? This was a more difficult thing to accomplish.

I was stuck. I needed something beyond petty vengeance, something grand something…that was eluding me. That’s when Jimi Hendrix happened to me. That’s when I turned up the music in my car and happened to turn my ear at the right moment to hear the lyrics that unlocked the remainder of my story.

“Anger he smiles, towering in shiny metallic purple armor. Queen jealousy, envy waits behind him. Her fiery green gown sneers at the grassy ground…”

It wasn’t much but the idea of sins personified struck me just the right way. It’s been done countless times, sure. This time though I felt I had found a unique hook. This “White Witch” became Envy in my mind, the personification of a unique and deadly power. (Her color happily changed in my mind as well.)

What would the personification of Envy possibly find herself jealous of? What would a creature with immense power and a hatred of anything more powerful than it turn its attention towards? God. That personified sin would turn its rage towards the one thing that truly held dominion over it, in this case God. Now the genocide of a entire race could make sense within the context of one powerful entity looking to dethrone another.

Thus my Deadly Sin Envy, the Queen of Jealousy was born.

The reasons that surround her actions and the way in which she achieves her goals are all details that play out in the book but the important thing here is that the villain’s motivations are genuine and even though a reader would not agree with her actions, they can understand those motivations never the less.

I began this by commenting that a villain’s actions are the driving force for most plots. While this is true for Envy’s actions as the story moves forward, she is still a somewhat distant, a force that can not be engaged for most of the tale. Her motivations and the way by which she seeks to achieve those goals create a dread and even outright fear in other characters lending credence to their own actions. This does not even speak to the ways when Envy does reach out into the moral realm, how characters who are directly touched by her actions take on a villainy all of their own.

Creating a complex villain on an epic scale has allowed me to tie characters, places, and most importantly a plot of epic scope into a story that has its roots in a concept that everyone can identify with “Too much is never enough”.

Status Update

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Counterpunch

As of today, my second planned work has surpassed the 30% mark for completion. I have a tentative title for this book: Children of the New Potential. That title may have to change because there’s a real chance it’s too long. I don’t mind. One thing that will not be too long is the actual length of this book. After the initial difficulty I found in getting Master of the House to market, I have carefully plotted the length of my follow up work to ensure it is what those in the industry refer to as a “marketable length”.

I really only quote that because it seems to apply only to first time authors.

Soon enough I’m going to have to open up some new space on this site and begin outlining this new book in the same way that Master of the House is cross referenced. Tomorrow will mark 21 days since I started working on this second book. 40,000 words in three weeks has left me very tired if I’m honest. I did not even notice that my pace was moving along this quickly until my buddy told me not to burn myself out. (Hi Rob)

Gotta keep moving while I have the time to do so…

I will be posting a preview section of the new book tomorrow.

Your Worst Reviewer

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Counterpunch

I’m almost convinced that I am unable to judge the strength or weakness of my own stories. Not because I don’t have a good mind for storytelling, but because I either doubt what I write too often or on the other side I think too highly of something I have not transferred from my mind to paper properly.

Very frequently I find I have difficulty when coming to critical points in a narrative. The difficulty presents itself in the form of hesitation. I don’t want to move forward in writing because I hesitate about going one way or another. It leaves me second guessing the route I went after the fact. I imagine this is something every writer deals with.

Oddly enough, when I send story chapters out for review, it is frequently the ones I have the most doubt about that come back with the strongest positive reviews.

There could be any number of reasons for this. Those chapters are often the ones that get edited an extra time or two before going out. Or perhaps the deliberative process in creating them really hammers out the inconsistencies that I see while writing. Never the less, I’m happy to be wrong in these instances and its a great relief when something you’ve gone over again and again comes back with positive reviews.

Of course, the other side of the coin is when something you felt really strongly about misses the mark entirely. There are rare occasions when I think I’ve nailed a chapter and idea only to find that there were key things in my mind that did not translate to words. At least then the solution is somewhat easy to incorporate, after all, your reviewers are able to tell you exactly what it is you were unable to see the first time through.

What’s in a Name Part 2

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Counterpunch

Yesterday I began explaining the origin of sever character names and the reasons how those names came to be. Let’s continue where we left off…

Turnbill - I needed a gangster of shadowy power, someone distant with a name that meant trouble. It was a tough one to figure out honestly. When I get in that trap, I often scan old fantasy stuff and look for something small to go off of. My MtG cards had a character from the Legends series called “Riven Turnbull”, note the last name is different. I took the idea and swapped the ‘U’ for an ‘I’ because my initial idea was for him to be a powerful bureaucrat gone bad. In essence, he turned bills that resulted in death and dishonor. Dumb, but it stuck and it sounded sinister like I needed.
Honest – Honest may be my favorite character in the book. She’s my instigator. Her name was meant to be a strict matter of fact. I think sometimes using a name as a means of explaining a character is quite effective. It plays out well as she evolves in the book as well. Her name may be one of the most effective because a reader must constantly wonder when or if she will break from form.
Skylar – I really just thought up the name of the worst person I had any dealings with in high school. This was the name of a boy so callus and selfish that he left a friend of mine in ruin for several years. Also, I think it sounds really douchy.
Abiel - Another real life name brought to fiction. This is the full name of one of my friends who goes by the shorter version of “Abe”. Since this character is for all intents and purposes a religious nut, expanding his name to its original use carries a nice bit of odd religious weight to it.

On another note, I resolved my issue from yesterday. It was in the lamest way possible too. I simply reverted to the original name I assigned to the main character in my initial draft. I was over complicating the issue. Several of the potential names I was looking at were too long or too…much. In the end, this character will be named Eric Sturgg. ”Eric” has connotations of leadership behind it. There’s an old Swedish King named Eric the Saint who worked to bring Sweden back to the old ways, which has a small thread of connection to this character.

Fear and Loathing in the Digital Landscape

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Counterpunch

Criticism is kindness in disguise.

The creative process is something new for me. Getting into a line of thought that keeps me generating content is difficult and unpredictable. It’s not something that is easy to explain, especially if attempting to explain it to someone who does not engage in something similar in their own life.

The best way I can find to relate the entire process of creating and the uncertainty behind it is to ask you to imagine you are made of glass. Everything you make or create is made of similar glass yet the world you exist in remains the same as always. Everywhere you go and everything you do allows those around you to see through you. It’s a sense of hollowness that I imagine is difficult to avoid. There’s a sensation that the smallest wrong move will shatter you, that the wrong kind of criticism will break you. It’s a feeling of being insubstantial but entirely breakable at the same time.

The things you create are subject to the same forces. Having been the one to create something, you know how to look through it. You know where the flaws in the glass are. The sensation that anyone or anything could ruin your work with a careless flick of the wrist or a loud noise is ever present. The only way to make the things you have created worthwhile at all is to subject them to this very destructive element of life.

I can understand how paralyzing feelings like these might be for someone. In a world where everything is easily broken, including yourself, it becomes very easy to tip-toe around.

The truth about glass is that there are many different kinds of all colors and varieties. These seemingly fragile worlds that we build up around us, both personally and in our work…they just aren’t as prone to breakage as we might think. The rewards are distant and perhaps they will never be attainable, but the creative spark is a gift.

(As an aside, it occurs to me now that I don’t know if I’m reassuring myself or just stating what has always been in the back of my mind in regard to this kind of thing.)

How often have you heard “I wish I was as creative as you…” or “I never would have thought to…”? The world is full of people who administrate, keep on task, and facilitate. There is great worth in that kind of thing but there is also great worth in the act of creating something. If you can create, you more than likely should do it.

It’s always a battle against self-image. Success outside the creative process is easy to quantify. There are measurable goals, obvious failures, titles, and achievement. Whether you’re writing a book, working on a series of paintings, or building a website, the measurable goals are no where near as easy to identify. That leads to an almost inevitable feeling of failing and God forbid you compare your work to something with measurable goals. Like I said at the beginning, it’s akin to walking around the world while made of glass.

Finding self-satisfaction is the ultimate guard against this line of thinking. It is a task that is immensely difficult to achieve on a personal level much less in regard to your work. What other options are there though? The other way of thinking leaves us afraid of shadows, thinking that everyone and everything is against us. The first step in getting others to value what you do is to value it yourself. The next step is to put your work out there. Your work may be constructed of glass. The fear of having that work shattered before you may be nearly debilitating. However, only by letting light of criticism and review hit your work can you stop worrying about it breaking and begin enjoying the ways in which it shines.

Afterword: I used to gouge my eyes out reading stuff like this. I may in fact hate myself for writing/owning up to it.

Character Evolution Part 2

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Counterpunch

Yesterday I began my discussion of character evolution from conception to written reality. From my work Master of House both Dori and Hawthorne were covered. Today I’m going to look at Katrina and Face.

Now for me personally, I find it easier to write and flesh out female characters. There’s something about being a guy that lets you plug in little endearing things into female characters that make them likable. Well, that’s how it is for me, your mileage may vary. The thing about Katrina is that she probably kept more of the unlikable qualities that the cast originated with than anyone. Sure, she’s good at what she does (really good in fact) but she is a belligerent drunk for the first third of the book.

The negative qualities got to stay in place for her because out of the cast, Katrina is the redemption story. The only way for that kind of literary device to work is to bring the character pretty low. The drinking, the careless disregard for her life, the dismissal of her past…all of these things leave the reader wondering what has happened to this woman. Her position as a former Paladin carries weight even in a distant land. Notice the ways in which both Skylar and Turnbill recognize the latent potential in Katrina that is being squandered on Julian‘s gang.

So, all these things were somewhat planned from the start. Her attitude was reigned in a little because I am not certain that anyone would have tolerated her violent outbursts in my original plan for her regardless of her skills. What evolved in Katrina as I wrote her was her ability to relate to other people (particularly Face) and the reason behind her exile from New Raj.

Here I am, prepared to discuss the meaningful ways in which a character evolves through the writing process but alas I find myself up against the danger of spoiling one of the key plot points for this character. If you care to continue, highlight the portion below other wise just scroll past:

-Big time spoilers-

I wanted Katrina’s reason for leaving to be intensely personal, something that would make her question her faith and everything she know. So when she accepts The Church’s philosophy that love is a universal quality and accepts the fact that she is in love with another female in the Order, there are consequences she can not begin to calculate. It had to go beyond the idea of “Surprise Lesbian!”, rather Katrina as a person has decided to open herself up to love in any form it may take. If I ever have to be blunt about it, if anyone ever goes around questioning her actual orientation should I ever get this work into print, Katrina is Bi.

-End big time spoilers-

Face, as discussed on his character page, went through the largest revision over all. He was originally a mean spirited brute who was only looking out for himself. One early idea for the book followed a plot of betrayal where Face made several bargains with forces outside Julian‘s notice. These would come back to trouble the gang and when the others are eventually redeemed by Dori, it would be Face who would choose another path. The first draft idea had Face becoming a terrible villain who would haunt characters in later planned books.

When I sat down to write Master of the House it was immediately clear that line of plot simply would not work. The very beginning of the book and the way in which Julian gets drawn into Envy’s plot works on the frienship dynamic of Julian and Face. If Face plays the part of a scheming plotter, it becomes much more difficult to get the story into motion. For that matter I could never imagine Katrina allowing herself to work with a selfish or villainous version of Face. She would gut him…

Face became my bootstrap hero. He pulls himself up and out of the strife around him and is better for it. Perhaps he did not so much evolve as a character but rather became something else entirely. His core characterization is still there. He’s still a brawler. He still has a bit of over eagerness. He still punches first and asks questions way, way later. Face does these things at the right times though. He never takes the easy path and I think his growth in the story plays out quite genuinely. I worked to pair that growth so that by the time Katrina starts to see potential in Face, the reader is seeing it as well. In this regard, I hope that his character evolution has taken him from something that may have been easy and lacking in complexity towards something daring and fun for the reader.

Character Evolution Part 1

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Counterpunch

Too much either way...

When I came up with the idea for Master of the House, I think the initial cast was a lot less likable. The book starts with a group of people who are…crooks. They are willing to do what they have to in order to get by. My first draft as it existed in my head had them more cast as criminals. In a way, that limited their growth potential. I know I’m mincing words there, but the cast is more accessible if they start off as morally ambiguous rather than prime-time evil doers.

I think as you plan as story out and as your characters become further interwoven into that story, you have to allow them to evolve and grow. There are just things you can not plan for, ideas that grow out of your writing, that are too good to ignore. Take it too far and the characters become unbelievable, but with subtle and well thought out patterns of growth, you can evolve the story and characters as you progress. Let’s look at the core cast of Master of the House and see how this went for me.

Dori may be the best example I can use. Dori’s initial purpose was to serve as my voice in the narrative. She leads the reader by dropping hints, she leads the characters by placing them in odd situations, and she’s a walking bundle of foreshadowing. I even had one of my initial readers question me about 1/4th of the way through asking me if she’d be the eventual villain. With so much riding on her, there was a very real concern in my mind that she would be a Mary Sue (please read that link if you are unfamiliar with the trope). So…I made her insane and kind of untrustworthy. Problem solved…kind of. Truth was, Dori was a character I liked. I did not want her to be a throw away or a tool. Her failings, the weight of her burden, and her later uncertainty were all evolutions of her initial concept that made her real, despite the fantastic things she was born to do. I think that a reader seeing Dori in action within Chapters 3 and 4 will find her somewhat…annoying or difficult and that’s perfect. They should be annoyed by her because the characters are still somewhat annoyed with her by that point in the story. As she evolves in the book, I hope to see the reader’s attitude towards her evolve as well. I think she provides one of if not the most powerful emotional response for her eventual evolution.

Hawthorne was another character I had to be careful with. Conceptually…he’s a murder machine. Not only does he use a weapon that is illegal but he is above and beyond anyone in Seaside in terms of skill. One of the early questions I had for myself in dealing with Hawthorne was “Why not just have him snipe all the other gang leaders?”. He’s that good. But that question led to other questions, “Why isn’t Hawthorne in a better place in life with that exceptional skill?” The answer was staring me in the face. He’s a self defeating kind of person. He lacks a certain ambition and drive. He will shoot anyone Julian points him at but he’s not going to go out of his way to do so.

Also, I imagine that in the context of this world, if Hawthorne were to shoot one of the other gang leaders in an underhanded way, Julian‘s operation would be dismantled by the other factions pretty quickly.

But back to Hawthorne, his evolution is forced upon him. He’s one of those “Greatness is thrust upon him” types. What makes it work for me as an author is that Hawthorne is also my dispassionate voice of humor in the book. He always kind of gets it, even when he thinks he doesn’t. He’s wry and a little bit detached, so as things start happening to him, he can almost sense the world having its way with him. I think a reader can sympathize with that feeling and despite Hawthorne’s uncanny abilities, he’s a sympathetic character.

Seeing now that this post is longer than I intended, I’m going to break off and cover two more characters tomorrow.

Legacy of Shadow

Building a world, one story at a time…

Category Archives: The Writing Process