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The Dying of the Light

14 Thursday Nov 2024

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“First they came for the socialist, and I did not speak out…because I was not a socialist.     

 Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out…because I was

not a trade unionist.

 Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out…because I was not a Jew.

 Then they came for me…and there was no one left to speak for me.”

 Martin Niemoller

I’ve been thinking of this quote for some time now, and I wanted to share it with you.  

Niemoller was a German pastor who supported Nazism, but after finding out what they were doing had a change of heart and spoke out against them.  His quote, which is part of the Holocaust Museum, is meant to shine a light on apathy, and how apathy makes one complicit in the persecution of others.

Some of you will understand why this quote has been on my mind lately.  Some of you may not.  The point of the quote still stands.  We can not be apathetic to the needs and safety of others, and expect others to care about our needs and suffering.  

The quote is a call to action.

For those of you looking to do something right now, you can search for mutual aid services in your city/town.  Specifically, direct aid mutual services.  This may not be for everyone, especially those with limited time due to family, school, or just life.

What is for everyone is caring.  When you see injustice, do as the quote says and say something.  The way to fight injustice is to shine a light on it.  Just like any fearful thing, it thrives in the dark.

It may not seem like it right now, but love is stronger than hate.  Hate, by its very nature, will self-destruct.  Hate consumes all.  Love accepts all.

Until next time: Be yourself, be well.  Speak yourself, speak well.

Of Course I’m Right.  I’m the Good Guy

08 Wednesday May 2024

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“Nobody thinks they’re evil or bad, they think they are doing the right thing”.  Andrew McCarthy, 1962. 

This is a famous quote for writing and storytelling.  It’s been paraphrased and repeated by lots of people, even villains in stories.  I’ve also seen people take lots of exceptions with this quote.  People have gotten very angry with this sentiment.  

It’s a great conversation piece.  Philosophically, it gets the brain juices flowing about the nature of good and evil.  What is the mindset of someone who does evil things, or even what an “evil” thing may be.  I, and really anybody, could go on about this at length.  As philosophically, sociologically, and psychologically speaking this has so many meanings and implications it’s literally still a hot topic for debate.

What I want to talk about today in regards to writing is the antagonist of your story.  What might this mean?  Does this mean that your antagonist is the hero of their story?  That is possible, but it’s only relevant if you’re telling the story from the antagonist’s perspective.  Of course, then the antagonist would be the protagonist, wouldn’t they?

Oops!  Looks like things have gotten muddled, doesn’t it?

Okay.  Enough of the philosophical gymnastics.  Let us, you and I, get down to the brass tacks of the matter.

I’ll try to make this as simple as possible.  When it comes to crafting a story, what I believe the quote means is that the antagonist has their own motivation.  Also, you, as the storyteller, have to know the role the antagonist plays in the story.  When you know the role of your antagonist it can help you find their motivation.  Let’s go over a few examples.

First, let’s look at Stephen King’s It.  Obviously, Pennywise is the antagonist.  What can we define his role as?  I think It can easily fit into the ‘monster’ role.  Okay.  So, what does that mean for its motivations?  Monster’s are forces of nature, they act on instinct, with one desire overwriting everything else.  Most of the time, this amounts to killing and eating indiscriminately.   Grendel from Beowulf is another example of a monster.  

Next, let’s look at Professor James Moriarte from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  What is his role (other than being a Dark Mirror for Sherlock)?  He would be a ‘mastermind’.  He’s smart, thinking one, two, three, and even four steps, sometimes ten steps, ahead of those around him.  He has no compunctions about hurting people, directly or indirectly.  What are his motivations?  Usually, masterminds are worried about making as much money as possible (sometimes it’s to prove they are smarter than everyone else), because they are the antagonists of the story, the means by which they do this is usually through underhanded, immoral, and illegal means.  Unlike the monster, who will strike, stalk, kill, and hunt anything in its path bringing it into conflict with the protagonist(s); the meeting between a mastermind antagonist and a protagonist is usually, at least for the first time, completely coincidental.  The protagonist might not even know they’ve met the mastermind antagonist.  The reason the two of them have come into conflict is because of the difference in morals.  The antagonist wants to be rich/outsmart people and is willing to break the laws of man and nature to do so.  The protagonist, meanwhile, is an upholder of said laws.  Thus, the conflict is inevitable.  For more examples of masterminds check out almost any of the James Bond villains.

Lastly, I’d like to talk about Moff Gideon from the show The Mandolorian.  If we look at his behavior throughout the series, one thing becomes readily apparent, he is in the role of dominator.  A dominator is the type of person that wants to, as the name suggests, control things.  The dominator will lie, cheat, double-deal, and kill to get their way.  They are all about their way.  They want to control a group (like a gang, cult, or similar organization), a town/city/nation/galaxy usually outside of whatever actual government is in charge.  The dominator wants control because they are the only way the group will prosper, or order maintained, or only they have the correct vision of the future, and they don’t care how many rules/laws they have to break or how many people have to die for that prosperity/order/vision of the future.  For another example of a dominator, look at Magneto from the X-Men franchise.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I’m not here to give you an exhaustive list.  The point of the post, and the quote it started with, is that your antagonists aren’t just villains, they should be just as much people as your protagonist(s).  

Until next time, be yourself, be well, write yourself, write well.

Life is for the Living   

22 Wednesday Nov 2023

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Let me forgive myself for the stories that are not perfect,

for the scenes rushed through and the plot points fumbled,

and the language less than it ought to be,

and the phrases that make me wince,

even though no one notices but me.

Let me forgive myself for the stories I didn’t write,

didn’t finish, or didn’t let anyone see-

because I was living my life, or saving my life,

because I was falling in love, or falling out of love,

because I had run out of words, or room, or time,

let me forgive myself for all those stories

that live inside me

and not on the page.

Let me forgive myself for my failures, but also

for all those times when I tallied my shortcomings

instead of celebrating each small success.

Let me celebrate now:

not the life that I dreamed of, but the life that I have,

not the stories that I dreamed of, but the stories that I’ve made,

not the writer I imagined I’d one day be, but the writer that I am.

And then let me keep working

                                                      – Terri Windling

Someone I respect posted this a while ago, and I’ve wanted to include it here for some time.  I’ve read it dozens of times since seeing it.  I look at it as a sort of Serenity Prayer for writers.

Writing is largely a solitary endeavor, and as such it is far too easy to be penned in (pun intended) by our own minds.  We are our harshest critics after all, and that means not only of our work, but of ourselves.  Seeing the promotions and the successes of others in our chosen profession can make us jealous, envious, mad, and depressed if we let it.  

In The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, Mark Manson mentions that we’re constantly bombard in today’s wired world of success stories, of once in a lifetime winners, of instant stardom, of perfect bodies and perfect lives.  Because of this, we can feel like we’re behind, not on schedule, and failures.  He also points out that this is a false narrative.  There are plenty of people failing or just “getting by” every day that we’re not hearing about.  So, it’s pointless to compare ourselves to other people.

Instead, I would like us to take a moment to re-read Terri Windling’s advice.  Go ahead.  I’ll do it with you.

There are going to be times, because of want or wane, that we will not be able to write.  That the stories on the page must stop so that the story of us can reach the end of a chapter, or the beginning of a new one.  And that’s okay.  Really.  Honest.  The story of the suffering, or starving, artist sounds romantic, until it’s you who’s suffering or starving.  

I’m not telling you to quit.  I would never do that.  But if there are times when you can’t, well, that’s how life goes sometimes.  And, again, that’s okay.  It may be a day, a week, a month, a year, maybe even a couple years, but take the time to live, take the time to take care of yourself.  I promise the words, the characters, the stories will all be waiting for you when you come back.  You might even find you’ve become a better writer too.

Take care of yourself, and be well.  

Constraints of Medium

29 Saturday Jul 2023

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I’d like to think that this isn’t just a writing advice blog, but a storytelling advice blog.  In that vein, I want to talk about a movie called, Slayers from 2022.  

If you watch the trailer for the movie, and/or read the synopsis for the movie, it sounds pretty rad.  A bunch of popular social influencers get invited to a pharmaceutical company’s owner’s house to talk about a branding deal.  Unfortunately for the influencers, the owners are vampires that want to turn the influencers, and use their platforms to promote their agenda. Unfortunately for the vampires, a grizzled, experienced vampire slayer is on their trail and is planning on taking them out.  

Doesn’t that sound like a pretty good action movie?  It’s not the stuff of legends, but it’s a fun movie for a Friday night with friends and popcorn.  

They’ve got a good cast.  Thomas Jane plays the vampire slayer, walking the line of paranoid conspiracy theorist and war veteran to a tee.  Abigail Breslin brings her own snarkiness to the lines of the vapid influencer she plays.  And Malin Akerman brings her brand of sexy to the role of vampire matriarch.  

If you decide to watch the movie, there’s a lot of fun stuff to admire.  Flashbacks on Thomas Jane’s character show the fall of a good man, and help to flesh things out.  Cut away scenes of animated sepia toned photographs gives us a quick look into vampire history.  Interjections by Jane’s character narrating the poor decisions of the influencers and nods to video game high score screens, all add together to give the film some pop.  

Sounds like a good movie, you might be saying to yourself.  

Unfortunately for movie-goers, it is pretty bad.  If you ask my wife, and I have to agree with her, I like some pretty bad movies.  I wanted to like this movie, but I just couldn’t bring myself to.  Many others agree, and are pretty vocal about it.  

I would like to point out that this is not a movie review, but a storytelling review.  So, what makes the storytelling so bad?  It’s the plain and simple fact that they are trying to do too much.  There are a few other things, like inconsistency, but the main problem is, they’re trying to shove too much into the medium they’re using.  

Since this is a storytelling review, let’s use more traditional storytelling terms.  For the purposes of this review, we’re going to look at Slayers as a short story.  Movies, like short stories, are meant to be consumed in one sitting, and are shorter (relatively), than the novel equivalent, a season of a television show.  

Like short stories, movies have to have a solid idea of what they want to accomplish.  Clearly, the writers and director wanted to make a fun movie, something reminiscent of the old 1980’s classics.  However, they also tried to pack in new lore for vampires as well, and they also added too many flashbacks, which take away from the present action, not only taking away the tension of the current situation, but bloating the story with excessive information.

Let me explain what I mean about how the tension is cut and the story becomes bloated.  As I mentioned, we get several flashbacks on Thomas Jane’s character’s background.  We get about a five minute long one that shows his daughter dying, and a clean shaven pre-slayer Slayer not being able to save her.  We also get a two to three minute flashback that’s the opening to a crime documentary show that Jane’s character hosted, a man with a beard and steely determination to find his daughter’s killer, and we see the shades of the grizzled, unkempt slayer peeking through.  This sounds cool, and it looks cool in the movie, mainly due to Jane’s commitment to the role.  However, in a later scene, where Slayer is talking to one of the influencers that got away, he explains how his daughter died, and about working on a crime show to find her killers that was ultimately being paid for by the vampires that killed her.  The line is given clearly and with feeling, and explains Slayer’s motivation in about two seconds.  

If the writers were going to have several scenes where Slayer maps things out with the influencers, and the audience, about himself and the vampire conspiracy they’re wrapped up in, then why have the flashbacks?  I mean, more stellar acting from Thomas Jane is always awesome, but the flashbacks are unneeded.  For one thing, Slayer’s clearly unkempt appearance, abrasive social skills, and cluttered RV, are all, mostly visual, shorthand for character expansion for Slayer.  The line with his motivation, given to illustrate how twisted this “family” of vampires is, is enough to nail down the character firmly in the film.  

Let’s be honest with ourselves, there’s only two reasons someone lives off the grid hunting monsters; one, they’re batshit insane, or two, they have a tragic backstory involving said monsters.  As people who are watching this type of movie, as fans of this type of movie, we know this.  There’s no reason to bloat the movie with unnecessary flashbacks to shove the fact down our throat.

Which brings us to the second thing that led to information bloat, the vampires.  There are numerous reasons horror movies are so easy to churn out.  One of the reasons is the permanent place monsters inhabit in the public psyche.  If you go up to someone who isn’t a horror fan and ask them what a vampire is and how you kill it; they could answer you.  That’s why you pick vampires, or werewolves, or a ghost, or a slasher.  As soon as you say that word your audience will know what’s happening and what’s going on.  However, the writers of Slayers decided to bring in lore about how only a vampire’s spirit is immortal and has to transfer to another body to survive.  Also, master vampires, older, more powerful vampires, have to be killed by someone in their bloodline.  All of this is explained by cutting away from the tension of the house and the obvious trap the influencers are in, to the grimy RV with Slayer and one of the influencers.  It also takes up precious time that could have focused on killing more vampires, or vampires toying with the influencers.  

Watching the film, it’s clear that the writers and director had a cool idea and a cool vision for a film.  Had they stuck making a fun, bloody vampire movie, it would have worked a lot better.  However, at some point they decided they wanted to put a spin on vampires, their own mark on the lore.  Which made the movie stumble, and threw off the timing.  Adding this to the flashbacks that, while good (not just the acting, but the cinematography is spot on), only serve to take time away from the current situation, the current danger, the current tragedy, and make the movie feel that much more choppy and cut-up, and the thrilling narrative of the story begins to unravel.  

Here’s the takeaway, know the constraints of the medium you’re using.  For short stories, make sure you know what you want to accomplish and stay focused.  

Be yourself, be well.  Write yourself, write well. 

The Werewolf Problem

08 Monday May 2023

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I recently read a tweet entitled: The Werewolf Problem, and I’d like to share what it was about and some of my thoughts on it.

This is a tweet about someone’s writing class and a lesson the teacher was trying to nail home.  The professor asked the class: How do you kill a werewolf?  The tweeter goes on to say that the answers were what you would expect (and I’m sure some of you have come up with yourself); silver bullets, silver weapons in general, decapitation.  All the classics were represented.

The point of the tweet, and of the lesson the professor was trying to get across, is: It. Doesn’t. Fucking. Matter.  Werewolves do not exist.  They are a fictional construct.  As a fictional construct, you can make up anything you want about them.  However you establish werewolves are killed in your story, then that is how they are killed.  

Sticking with werewolves as an example, I read a novel some years ago, and yes I can’t remember what it was called or who wrote it.  The novel started during World War II and the Nazis had discovered a werewolf.  In order to get “super soldiers” Nazis soldiers were intentionally bitten, but the allies show up and put an end to their little experience.  Then the story flashes forward to the “present”, where an old allied soldier runs into one of the Nazis officers that was turned into a werewolf, who looks the same as he did decades before.  So, in this story being a werewolf means you don’t age, or do so really slowly, also these Nazis-wolves have developed a sonic device which triggers their change into a werewolf outside of the full moon.  To follow a couple more werewolf examples, in the movie An American Werewolf in Paris, someone develops a drug that causes the werewolf change outside of the full moon.  In the book with the Nazis-wolves, silver could harm the werewolves, and even kill them but so did beheading, in the Werewolf in Paris, as in An American Werewolf in London, lots of physical damage could kill the werewolf, but it had to be fatal, otherwise the werewolf would just heal.  In the television show Supernatural, werewolves had to be shot in the heart with silver to be killed, otherwise it was just a big annoyance for them.  And let us not forget that “werewolf” meant something different in all three of these examples.  In the book, werewolves were humanoid in shape, covered in fur with a wolf’s head.  In the movie, werewolves were just really big, really aggressive forms of wolves.  And in the television show, werewolves barely changed at all, having yellow eyes, sharp teeth, and little more than a bad attitude. 

I’m sure if we looked, and feel free to do so on your own time, there are even more types of werewolves with even more ways to kill them out there.  And really, that’s the point.  When you’re writing a story, it’s your story.  If you like the “traditional” descriptions and weaknesses of a werewolf (insert whatever other monster you prefer), then use them, but don’t let tradition and what a “real werewolf” is like hinder your story.  Basing your story on myths and legends is wonderful, especially if you’re having a hard time starting, but you should always strive to make your story your own.

So…If you want your werewolves to turn into actual wolves and only be stopped by chrysanthemums, go for it.  If you want your vampires to be sparkly and have superpowers, why not?  If your fairies are all cannibals and that’s why they steal children, well…actually I think that one is real.  

Until next time: Be yourself, be well.  Write yourself, write well.

Character, to Thine Own Self be True

28 Monday Aug 2017

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Confession time: I’m a big nerd

No, it’s not true.

I know, I know, it’s hard to believe, but this cool writer persona is nothing but a façade.

I’m bringing this up because what I want to talk about comes through one of my hobbies, roleplaying games. I was hooked on roleplaying games in high school with Advanced Dungeons and Dragons second edition, and I continue to game today (I’ve recently fell in love with Fate Core). It might come to no surprise to you that I’m, like 98% of the time, the Game Master of these games (the one who makes the story the players play in). As a result, I’m the one that knows/understands all the rules and I’m the one that helps everyone make their characters (the personas/people they’re going to be in the game).

It’s the character creation aspect of gaming that I want to talk about today. (This might sound like an intro to roleplaying games, but stick with it and I’ll bring it back around to writing. Promise.) So, creating a character can be as serious or as whimsical as you’d like it to be. For instance, in the current game I’m running, one of my friends got the idea to be an eighties’ business man that got turned into a vampire, but is inexplicably stuck in eighties. Another one of my friends ended up being a mermaid stripper. As you can see, things can get pretty out there if you let them.

What’s this got to do with writing? You might be saying. Give me a minute, I haven’t got there quite yet.

That’s two of my friends (the vampire and the mermaid), but I have to talk to you about my third friend (for privacy sake we’ll call him Dudley). Dudley came in, all serious like, and had a pretty solid idea for his character, came up with a good backstory for him, but as play began quickly became frustrated with things. Why wasn’t his character working the way he thought it should? Why was he having such a hard time doing what he wanted? His character is awesome, why is everything so difficult?

Let’s jump back to my vampire and mermaid friends. When we all sat down to make characters, my two friends were instantly struck with the ideas for a vampire and a mermaid. They were equally struck with the ideas that the vampire should be mentally stuck in the time period he loved the best—the eighties—and that the mermaid was fascinated by humans and ashamed of her mermaid heritage. Everyone thought this was funny, or a good reason to have a mermaid on land, and so they went with the ideas. As the game progressed they jumped into their characters’ traits and fun was had by all.

Now let’s talk about Dudley. Dudley made a character backstory that came out to make him a doofus. First, he learned about the magical in the world by being attacked by a magical being. Then he gave himself an “evil imaginary self,” which is a dual personality disorder (indicating that the trauma of the attack was too much for his weak mind to bear). Then it turns out that because he survived the initial attack by the magical thing, the magical thing has taken a liking to him and keeps coming back to play with him. On top of that, the vampire character has taken advantage of him twice in the backstory, one time causing a magical backlash onto Dudley’s character giving him a “false aura of power.”

All this adds up to, doofus.

However, as that fateful first gaming session commenced, and I, as an attentive and mischievous game master, began poking at Dudley’s character he got increasingly frustrated. Again, his character is awesome, why is everything so hard. Needless to say, Dudley went home a bit miffed about the whole thing (not the intended outcome of playing a game with your friends).

Everything’s okay now. We talked about his character, I told him my take on things, and he’d already thought about it and agreed that he should embrace the doofiness of his character. (To be fair, I did offer to help him make a new badass character).

Yeah, whatever. This still isn’t about writing.

Okay, okay. I promised to bring it back to writing, and we’re here now.

What happened with Dudley and his roleplaying character is a common problem that writers have. They have a cool character concept, but when it comes to putting the character on paper they struggle. This isn’t so much a ‘how do they fit into the story’ in a grand sense, but in a much smaller sense. In a scene by scene sense, a ‘why is this character in this scene’ sense. It’s a meshing of your concept for the character concept and their role in the story.

To bring Dudley’s character back up: His concept for the character was a badass wizard, when the execution of his character creation made him the comic relief of the group.

It is very important for you, as a writer, to line up character concepts with character motivation and character roles in your story. If you don’t it can be a shoe horning effort to find a place for your character in your story.

Alright, let me give you a literary example of what I’m talking about, just so you don’t think I’m talking out my ass. What am I going to use to prove this? Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.

Stop the eye rolling! I can hear you rolling your eyes, you know. The Internet is a magical place, it allows me to do that.

Are you done?

I’ll wait.

Okay. Bear with me, and I’ll walk you through the steps here.

So, we’re going to be comparing Twilight to Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Let’s get the perfunctory disclaimers out of the way first. I love Dracula, the movie with Gary Oldman and Wynona Ryder. If you haven’t seen it and you like vampire movies I highly recommend it. I also acknowledge that Bram Stoker’s work is a classic and pivotal to the Gothic tradition. This is not me telling you that it’s not an important part of literature, or that you shouldn’t like it. This is me holding it up as an example of shoe horning.

So, we’re going to comparing Twilight to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. We’re doing this because they are basically the same story: immortal creature of darkness finds his one true love and struggles to be with her because of his dark, immortal nature. They also have the same character concept in Edward and Dracula, immortal, strong, fast, predatory.

What we’re going to do is start with a scene and walk backwards through the story to find how the character fits into the story.

Let’s start with Dracula first. Remember: Dracula=immortal creature of darkness.

Here’s the scene: Dracula has found Mina in London and has just bitten her to turn her into an immortal creature of darkness to they can be immortal creatures of darkness together. Bwahahahahaha!

So…we know Mina is in London because she lives there. Dracula, though, why’s he there? Better yet, how’d he find Mina in London, I hear it’s a fairly large city and fairly congested. And Dracula has been chilling in Transylvania for the past six, seven, eight centuries. Well, it helps that, 1) one of the people from London, like the second person, Dracula knows is insane, and just so happens to be in an insane asylum run by the doctor, that’s courting one of Mina’s friends, who, coincidently, Dracula has fed upon and turned into a vampire earlier in the book. Because London only has about fifteen people in it, according to Bram Stoker’s viewpoint. Oh, and 2) the other person Dracula knows in London is a reality lawyer who just so happens to be Mina’s fiancé and had a picture with him so Dracula could see it. Going back to the first question, why is Dracula in London? Why, diversification of course. I’m immortal, and the sole ruler of an entire country, with all of Europe at my fingertips, but I want to own half a dozen rundown houses in London.

Have you spotted the shoe horning yet? It would seem Bram Stoker had a great character concept, immortal creature of darkness, was once a man who lost the love of his life, and damned himself to find her. And he does find her! I just feel like it took a lot of shoe horning him into the story Mr. Stoker wanted.

Now let’s look at Twilight. Remember: Edward=immortal creature of darkness.

Here’s the scene: A car has just lost control in a high school parking lot. Edward jumps between Bella, the love of his life now, and the truck, stopping it with his immortal creature of darkness strength.

So…why is Edward there? Edward, is in Forks because it has horrendous cloud cover that allows him and his family of vampires to walk around in the day (quiet you! I know the reason why and we’re not here to talk about that!). Yes, okay, but why is Edward in high school, being that he’s 150 years old? Well, even though he’s 150 years old, he still looks seventeen, in order to keep up appearances and lead semi-normal lives, he and his “siblings” attend high school. They’re still the creepy kids in the school, but it’s better than being the creepy kids that live in that house waaay out in woods and never come into town except when they want to show off how cool they are.

See how easily Edward fits into the scene? There’s no magical coincidences about Edward knowing half of Bella’s family before he even meets her.

Character concept meets character role seamlessly. Say what you will about the actual writing or the story, but Mrs. Meyer’s planning of the story is spot on.

So, if you’re having trouble finding a reason your character is in a scene or the story at all, maybe you re-evaluate the concept you have of the character and the role they’re playing in the story.

Until next time: Be yourself, be well. Write yourself, write well.

PS: this is the last update before I post A Dinner for Crows. It’s finished. Yay! I just need to edit it a bit and then I’ll be putting it up. I know it’s been a long time coming. It’s almost as if it’s hard to write a novel that’s any good.

The One With All the Updates

24 Wednesday May 2017

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Hey All!

Just thought I’d drop a line on what’s happening with everything.

So I’m currently working on three projects. The first is A Dinner for Crows, the story I was posting for National Novel Writing Month. Yes, I’m still working on it!! Things got a bit hectic here, and writing became a back burner thing for a couple (few) weeks, but things have been ironed out, and I’m back in the swing of things. I’m hoping to be done with Crows by the end of June. When it’s done I’ll be putting it up on the website for everyone’s enjoyment. 😀

The second project is actually an older project I recently found while rummaging around my computer. It’s called Phallacy: A Little Shop of Porn Mystery. I originally wrote the story to be a graphic novel. I met a very talented artist when I was going to conventions named AJ Sabino–you can find a link to his artist page on the sidebar–and his brother Rocko. I talked a lot to the two of them at my first convention. I just couldn’t get over their names; saying they sounded like an adult version of the Hardy Boys. With that statement, my mind went off on its own and came back with this story. I talked to AJ about him illustrating it, but life happens (on both our ends), and I ended up forgetting all about it. Well, I recently found it. Talked to AJ, asking if he minded if I just published it on my own as a story, and he said he’s cool with it. So, Phallacy should show up (I’m hoping) by the end of May or beginning of June. It’ll be up on Amazon, and due to the mature themes, it’ll probably be a bit more than my other novellas up there (to discourage all the youngsters reading my stuff). True to its name, it is a mystery story, but I was watching a lot of Venture Bros. at the time so all the humor is influenced by that.

The third thing I’m working on is a novel in short stories. Inspired by the world of Derek Landy’s Skulduggery Pleasant, I’ve been writing about a sorcerer by the name of Troublesome Knock. Troublesome Knock is the character’s taken name. This follows the rules of magic that state everyone has three names: 1) your True Name (which no one knows, not even you); 2) your Given Name (the name your parents give you when you’re born), if people know your Given Name they can control you, and you have no defense against their magic; 3) your Taken Name (by taking a name, you seal your Given Name, thus cancelling the power people have over you, unless they learn your True Name). So, the novel, which is four novellas following the same overall arc, follows Troublesome Knock who’s quit the magical world, but slowly gets pulled back into it. I’m having a lot of fun writing it. One of the things I’ve done, is have everyone’s magic manifest differently, so while each person can do the same spell the magic looks different. Troublesome’s magic manifests as shadows. Other manifestations in the stories include wind, light, smoke, and butterflies. I’m in the middle of editing the third story. I have extensive notes on the fourth. And when it’s all finished, I’m going to try throwing it in the ring of publishing. If someone picks it up, then who knows when it’ll see the light of day. If enough people pass on it (or I get frustrated with all the rejection), of course I’ll put it up on Amazon. In that case, it’d be next summer or fall for its release.

For those of you who are fans of Amsterdam and the Murder Twins, Reiner Rotterdam, and my Zodiac story, I haven’t forgotten about them. I’m hoping once I get the current projects in the finishing stages I can turn my attention back to those stories.

So that’s where I’m at right now. The writing is keeping me busy. Just the way I like it.

Until next time: Be yourself, be well. Write yourself, write well.

Oh, What A Wonderful Corner I’ve Written Myself Into

18 Tuesday Oct 2016

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Hey, all!

So, you’ve written yourself into a corner. There are three things (well, four, but I don’t think living in the corner for the rest of your characters’ lives is a real option) for you to do. The first involves (what I’m going to call) “going up the wall.” The second is the Uncle Karl Fix (-ish). The last is rolling with it.

Let’s go over “going up the wall.” I want to state here and now that “going up the wall” is the least preferred of the methods of getting yourself out of the corner (by me anyway, others can/will/should have their own opinions). What I mean by “going up the wall” is this: essentially you break the rules of the story, the rules you established for the world you’re writing in. I, personally, don’t like this because it can feel like you’re pulling one over on your readers. You’ve taken the time to make believable characters, to get them to like the characters. You’ve put them into a world of wonder that they’ve gone into willingly. They trust you, and you pull the rug out from under them by having something they thought was impossible happen. Now they don’t know what to think. They’re entire world has been turned on its head. It’s the easiest way to get yourself out of a corner, but it costs you more in the long run (I think).

DISCLAIMER: Breaking the rules of your world can be done, and has been done, in a controlled and planned manner to add tension to your story. What I’m talking about here is breaking the rules to fix something—essentially it’s like telling someone they were never able to walk, because they’ve fallen and broken their leg.

The second method is the Uncle Karl Fix. Those of you who are long time readers know what that is. It’s a lot to explain, so if you’re new you should probably go read the two other blogposts about it. Now the Uncle Karl Fix is waaaaay more work than “going up the wall.” It means looking at your whole story again (seriously, go read the other two posts). In the long run, though, I think this is a much better approach. The Uncle Karl Fix lets you keep the integrity of the story, of the characters, and as a writer. And, let’s be honest, if the story didn’t need an Uncle Karl Fix, then you probably (PROBABLY) wouldn’t be in a corner right now.

The third method: rolling with it. This solution might not be as much work as the Uncle Karl Fix, but it can be more exciting. Think of rolling with it as knocking down the wall to get out the corner, or to be more precise, writing your way out of the corner. Basically, you keep writing until what put you in the corner becomes true, the corner becomes a door.

As always, here’s an example from my writing group. So, this colleague of mine wrote a story with characters with magic powers. One of those characters had precognition—they could see the future. The character was introduced to the story by saving the main character from an attack that hadn’t happened yet. Which I thought was cool. Eventually, though, relying on the character’s precognition, they make a decision and get ambushed. At this point the story, thus far, ended, the colleague was stuck. I never saw the story again; though the writer brought other stories to be workshopped, and since then we’ve both left the writers’ group. So I don’t know how she reconciled the ambush with the rest of the story.

For some fun let’s look at how using each method of getting out of the corner can resolve this.

Going up the wall: The most obvious “going up the wall” is that the ambushers found a way of blocking the precognition, or of sending the character a false vision. This isn’t so much a breaking of the rules, but it does bend them quite a bit. It can raise questions like: if the bad guys—who they’ve been fighting for years—can block the precognition of the good guys why don’t they do that all the time? What good is precognition then? Why is that character even there? Of course, you can keep writing, adding scenes to explain this, but it can interrupt the story (in the case of this story, it was pretty time sensitive, end of the world type stuff). It can cause more problems than it solved.

The Uncle Karl Fix: Okay, so you’ve looked back at the story, you’ve looked at what the character has accomplished in the story. Here are a few ways to Uncle Karl this: 1) the character sends them a message about the attack, but is a coward and is in hiding so they aren’t with them to make the decision that puts them in the ambush’s path. It’s quick and we lose the character for the rest of the story, but it accomplishes the exact same thing without making the problem later on. 2) Have one of the existing characters get the vision, then stay behind to ensure the main character’s escape. This is a classic, and would put more tension and emotion into the story. 3) Don’t have the character with precognition. This does two things, one it gets rid of the character, and two the story gets a massive battle scene (because no one warned them it was coming). This was the path I advocated in group. I’m sure there are other Uncle Karl Fixes, but these are the ones that come to mind.

Rolling with it (writing until the corner becomes a door): There are a few ways to write yourself out of this particular corner. 1) Of course the precog character saw the ambush, but they had to get ambushed for the next part to happen, and the “next part” is what’s important. 2) The precog character didn’t see the ambush because they saw something that happened after the ambush (like the first one, but slightly different. The first solution makes the person less sympathetic, but more guide/one-with-everything-y. While the second one keeps the character sympathetic but makes the power useful but unpredictable/unreliable.) 3) Of course the precog character saw the ambush, but they’re a traitor. Oh no! World rocked! But, in this case, in a good way. This third choice is another one I advocated for in group.

As you can see, writing yourself into a corner isn’t a death sentence for a story. There are multiple ways to make a corner into something else. You just have to be willing to do the work, and look at your story from different angles.

SECONDARY DISCLAIMER: I would like to mention that this specific example had multiple ways of “rolling with it.” Not all corner problems will be able to be written out of. Some—I’m going to go with most—you will either have to “go up the wall” , or do an Uncle Karl Fix.

Until next time: remember that a corner is only a corner if you stay there, and: Be you, be well. Write you, write well.

So Little to do and so Much Time to do it in…Wait…Reverse That

12 Monday Sep 2016

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Alright, so we live in a golden age. We have access to media that makes sure we are never bored. We have movies, television (more television than anyone is watching), video games, we have movies about video games, we have “let’s plays” where we can watch people play video games (a guilty pleasure of mine), we have computers and phones where can watch T.V., play video games, or watch video of people playing video games, we have social media, reality television, podcasts…

…

…

…wipes drool from face…

Okay, where was I? Yeah, so we’ve got a lot, A LOT, of things to keep us occupied. Lots of things to get our attention, distract us. Lots of things to be a fan of, to enjoy and love. At times I think we have too many things to find, and fall in love with, and share with our friends so they can love it too, and then we can love it together.

Here’s what I’m trying to get at, don’t let all the things overwhelm you.

A couple years ago, I was watching a show—I forget what it was now—and I just stopped in the middle of the episode, and never went back to it. In fact, I completely stopped watching several shows that I’d been obsessed with at the time.

Why would I do that, you may be asking yourself.

Well, for one, it was just too much. I was keeping track of…let’s call it…an embarrassing amount of shows. My brain felt heavy keeping all the storylines and characters straight. The second reason was it was keeping me from writing.

There’s only so much time in the day, in a week, in a month. What with kids, jobs, and sustaining human contact, and then loving things like shows, and games, and podcasts, everything eats away at that time. So if you want to write, you’re going to have to draw lines, cut out the things that you absolutely can do without. Some people might decide it’s the kids and human contact that have to go, but I’m talking about the shows and games.

Does that mean you’re going to miss some things?

Yeah, probably.

If it’s any consolation, you’re creating something for people to discover and love. And isn’t that a nice thought?

Until next time: Be yourself, be well. Writer yourself, write well.

Honestly Serious. Seriously Honest.

04 Thursday Aug 2016

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Oh, it’s going to be one of those posts. I’m going to drop a chest nut on you.

I’ve brought this up before on the blog: “Write what you know.” It’s a mainstay of writing advice. What isn’t a mainstay of that advice is the reason behind the advice(I’ve never seen presented).

So that’s what we’ve got today. The reason behind the “write what you know” advice.

Okay. Now that you’ve stopped hyperventilating from excitement, keep reading.

So the reasoning behind the advice is simple, we’re trying to fill the page with honesty. That honest moment; being alone in a crowded coffee shop, or that moment when two people connect and form an unbreakable friendship. That honest feeling; the realization that the universe is too big for you, or how excited your pet is to see you when you come home from work lets all the shit from the day fall off your shoulders. Whatever you honestly know and have experienced coating the page so readers can connect with your story.

I’m going to pull back the curtain so you can see backstage of my writing. SPOILER ALERT: If you’re a fan of my other writing, and don’t want the whole thing dissected then skip to the salutation. For those of you that remain here’s some honesty for you: For a good chunk of my life, and I’m talking a solid 25 years, I’ve felt alone, like I didn’t belong, it’s something that I struggle with even now. I joke, but it really is true, that I was raised to be an outsider by a family of outsiders. So if you look at my writing it’s all, and I mean every story I’ve written, is about being alone, feeling isolated, struggling to find a place to fit. That’s the emotion I know the most, and that’s the emotional truth I put onto the page.

Now, that write what you know advice doesn’t have to consume the entirety of your stories like mine does. In the examples above I mention that pet whose enthusiasm to see you makes life easier to bear. That is an emotional truth itself, and you can use it in your writing. I would like to express the emotional truth is not the same as actual truth, so you can apply the knowledge of that moment and relationship to a married/dating couple. It’s still fiction writing after all. You see just because you haven’t experienced a specific thing, let’s say divorce, doesn’t mean you haven’t felt alone, or betrayed, and can apply it to the character in your story that is getting divorced.

The important thing to remember is the honest emotions you’ve experienced and apply those to your writing. The problems arise when you try to write about an emotion you haven’t experienced. Don’t be discouraged, every day you get to run through, roughly, 16 hours of emotions, eventually you’ll have enough for a whole saga of novels.

Until next time: Be yourself, be well. Write yourself, write well.