“I meant to write about death, only life came breaking in as usual”
― Virginia Woolf

Killing Characters

Français : Abbaye de Saint-Hilaire, Aude (11), Sarcophage de Saint-Sernin face avant (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I remember the first time I killed a character. I cried for a day and then resurrected him. I've since gotten better at killing them. One of my writer friends once said “I kill people for a living”. I don't know if she was quoting someone else, but her words stuck with me. She meant to be funny, but characters die, sometimes through old age but often violently. Even certain sub-genres of romance are not immune to this – paranormal and romantic suspense come leaping to mind. And writers are responsible. But good writers are responsible killers, they don't do this for no reason. A writer kills a character only for a good reason... or several reasons.

• Mortality: There is nothing like seeing a dead person or animal to remind the reader that the protagonist, too, is mortal and can die. The reader will worry for the character even though the reader knows (almost knows) that the main character will survive in the end.
• Stakes: There are higher stakes than personal survival but the main character can't face them if he or she is dead! The death of a character may raise the stakes because the protagonist can feel his or her own death approaching. Or the death means that one of those higher goals has been threatened temporarily defeated.
• Isolation: The death of a character close to the protagonist weakens or destroys the protagonist's support system. Maybe the other supporting characters are afraid of dying but more often the main character is afraid of placing them in danger and so pulls away. In this way, the protagonist is temporarily weakened (but can become stronger as a result), has something new to worry about, and must rely on him/herself to take on the bad guy. Killing a character close to the protagonist can be crucial to enabling that one-on-one final stand-off.
• Character: It says a lot about a character (and the author) when he comes face-to-face with death. The initial reaction, the coping strategies, the conflict, and the resolution all reveal character and can be a catalyst for character change.
• Reality: Any genre examines life. Death is an inescapable part of living so the inclusion of death in some form will make your WIP more complete, more faceted, more resonant with readers. Also, consider what you character is up against. If her life is on the line, a death or two along the way reminds the reader of this.
• Dimensions: I realize it sounds like I am only talking about physical death here, but remember there are many types of death (physical, professional, psychological. Choose your deaths according to your genre, theme, stakes, and character fears.

Related articles

• Death and the Writer (laurashepperson.wordpress.com)
• When blood-soaked hands are a good thing... (coffee2words.wordpress.com)

5 Ways to Free Your Writing

Dancers at the annual Cinco de Mayo Festival in Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cinco de Mayo is (in part) a day that celebrates freedom. As a writer, fight for freedom from cliches, stagnation, and writer block! Just as the Mexicans turned back an invading force, you can fight against these enemies of writers everywhere and everywhen.

• Brainstorm: Avoid cliches by listing multiple scenarios. I find that my best ideas come after the brainstorming becomes difficult because I'm really stretching myself. Another benefit of brainstorming is that you can combine ideas, adding complexity – even if you go with your original plan.
• Want: Write what you want, not what you think you should write. You are writing for people who like what you like. So write for yourself and you will be writing for them. Also, when you write what you want you will be more enthusiastic, creative, and persistent.
• Carry: Keep a voice recorder, a notebook, or note cards to record ideas as they come. Then they'll be available when you want them. As an added benefit, the act of recording them can generate additional ideas.
• Ask: Other people love to share ideas for characters or settings. This gives them a chance to be part of the process and gives you a new perspective.
• Rewrite: When a scene doesn't work, rewrite it regardless of your time constraints. Better to do it now rather than later. A bad scene or line – or one that just doesn't “fit” – can mean the difference between acceptance and rejection during the submission process.

Revealing Information: The Reader and the Main Character

Balance (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As I see it, there are several ways this can fall out. Usually the reader learns something at the same time as the main character (MC). This makes sense because the MC is most often the point of view character. Also, the MC need to learn that something to move the story forward. And if you hold back too much from readers, they will become frustrated or bored and BAM! The book closes never to be opened again. But there are benefits to disturbing the status quo...

• POV superior knowledge: when the POV character – especially an antagonist! – knows something that the reader doesn't know (and the reader knows this), the reader will want to learn the secret and will read on for a while. How long depends in part on the genre and how often you have pulled this trick in the past and with how many other POV characters. This technique does not work well for close POV.
• Temporary reader superior knowledge: the reader can learn something the MC is unaware of if you introduce the information during a different POV scene or an omnipotent passage (but those are tricky). Most times this technique is used to heighten tension and suspense because the MC is in more danger than he or she knows. This lets the MC be blindsided without sacrificing the logical flow of events. It is okay for an event to seem a bolt-from-the-blue to the MC so long as the reader knows the logic and cause of the event.
• Long-term reader superior knowledge: Other times the MC never finds out everything the reader learns. If the MC doesn't need to know, then why bore readers by repeating what they already know? This can be a useful way to tie-up loose ends that no longer affect the MC. And it can give the reader a sense of superiority.

5 Ways to Create Fantastical Beasts and Peoples!: Role Playing Games

Gary Gygax (Photo credit: fd)

In Role Playing Games (RPGs), the player controls a character who lives in a fantasy world. The character acts out a role and usually follows a plot of some kind. Some of these games can be used according to the “Popular Culture” guidelines. What is really useful for writers is the degree to which some of these games let you customize your character. In extreme examples, you can create your character from scratch. I did some research of RPG board game monster guides and found that Pathfinders Role Playing Game provides templates for beasts and intelligent races. I do not have room to post those templates here and that would be plagerism anyway, so you'll just have to check them out at your local bookstore. I'll include their citations at the end of the blog. In this blog, you will see common elements that appeared in at least some of the four RPG monster guides that I checked out. You will see that RPGs incorporate elements from each of the earlier blogs, even though these creatures are designed for combat. One failing of intelligent races in RPGs is that they are almost all humanoid. I've noticed the same failing in books. For the sake of variety, you may want to break with this tradition.

• Nonhuman: what makes this race different from humans? (mentally, physically, mindset)
• Language: do they have their own language? Multiple languages (if so, why?)? A secret language unknown to outsiders or to only a small subgroup?
• Physical: What is their adult size (based on gender)? Their reach? How fast are they? How strong? How nimble?
• Mental: How intelligent are they? How clever? What is their typical mindset? How do they see the world and other people? What special skills do they have?
• Target Stats: (since RPG races and creatures are designed for combat) amount of damage the creature can take; armor class; attack power; attack moves; spell/spell-like abilities
• Concept: What is their role in the world? How do they fight (weapons and tactics)? Where do they live and why?; What physical adaptions to the environment?
• Culture: What is their history (creation myth, pivotal events)? Their relations with other races (competitors, enemies, foes)?

Role Playing Games may center around combat, but they can be thorough in their construction of fantastical beasts and people. As such, they make an excellent source for someone who wants to build a detailed race. Other topics touched on in some books included culture-building but I touched on that in more depth with “Cultural Anthropology”.

Pathfinders Role Playing Game Bestiary. Paizo Publishing: Redmond, WA. 2010.
Pathfinders Role Playing Game Advanced Races. Paizo Publishing: Redmond, WA. 2000.

5 Ways to Create Fantastical Beasts and Peoples!: Cultural Anthropology

TajMahal from Agra Uttar Pradesh, INDIA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cultural anthropology is just one of four branches of anthropology. Cultural anthropology only studies humans because in the real world, only humans appear to have “culture”. Every intelligent race you create will naturally have their own culture. I assume that the race you create 1) is intelligent and 2) interact sometimes (they have to reproduce somehow, right?). If these two elements are in place, the rest will follow...

• Religion: who is the god(s) of this race? Is the religion(s) organized? How are teachings passed down? Is there an afterlife? Are there religious laws, rules, or customs? Religious observances? Special people?
• History and Mythology: where did the race come from? Do they have their own country or countries? What are the significant racial events?
• Government: what type? How controlling is it? How do people feel about it? How long has it been in place? What type of government preceded it? What factions are there? How does it get the resources to run? Where does it get the power to govern?
• Social structures: What are the social classes and how do they look and act differently? What do the different social classes think about one another? How mobile is social class or caste? What jobs belong to which social class?
• Family: What are family dynamics (father to child, mother to mother-in-law)?, What is the structure (core, extended)? Is it traced from the father or mother's side? Do they form clans? What is required to become member (adoption, marriage, tests)? What is expected of different family roles (children, wife, husband, unmarried aunt)?
• Tradition: What does everyone believe or expect (from Outlanders, children, elderly, gods, etc)? What are customary clothing styles, salutations, activities, roles? How would someone break from tradition?
• Economy: How do people get things they can't make (barter, currency, communal, theft)? Who enforces trade standards? How do they trade with other races or countries? How does this differ from trade among themselves? What products are they known for?

As a brief reminder, just like humans your race may have multiple cultures and even cultures-within-cultures. I've listed some of the basics from cultural anthropology but you can find more if the idea excites you. The subjects that anthropology studies are human (or in our case, nonhuman) origins, development, and biology.

5 Ways to Create Fantastical Beasts and Peoples!: Biology

Crab spider Xysticus spec. in Dresden, Saxony, Germany (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Another way to create magical races is to take inspiration from nature. And not just animals! Where did Tolken get the Tree Ents, after all? Probably from different types of trees. A hidden benefit here is that most intelligent races are humanoid. If you are willing to stretch yourself, you can avoid this convention. Or you can bend to convention and have a humanoid tarantula or canary. Or merge the two animals for something incredible! Biology mainly studies non-sapient animals so the focus is on how the species and individual shape (and are shaped by) their surroundings. Some factors to consider for realistic magical creatures are...

• Structure: what it looks like; how it adapts to its surroundings; how males, females, and children differ and are similar; how it communicates
• Function: what role it plays in the environment (hunter, producer, herbivore, scavenger); species with similar roles, its predators
• Growth: time spent as a fetus, baby, child, adult, how likely it is to reach old age; the mental, emotional, and physical traits at each stage
• Evolution and Taxonomy: is your griffon a cat or a bird? What did your pheonix evolve from? What races are closely related to your dragon?
• Distribution: consider making your race into several sub-races or sub-species that vary by region. After all, as terrain changes, so do the plants, animals, and peoples.
• Energy consumption: meat, veggies, sunlight, magic, emotions, blood, life force, an element, something else? Consider a blend so the race has more basic needs/motivations that can bring them into conflict with other races.
• Requires from the environment: other than food, there are two tiers in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs that address biological factors and may or may not apply to your race: Physiological (breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis) and Safety (security of body, resources, family, health, territory).

Fantasy creatures brought to life!

Fantasy creatures brought to life!

Entry #540948

Thought today I would touch on another part of creating a Fantasy world for my fellow fantasy writers out there. One of the more fun, entertaining, and sometimes scary elements to a fantasy, mithilogical, or sci-fi world are fantastic creatures. These can be anything from a huge fire breathing Dragon, to a new and rare breed of horse, or little fairies that fly around the camp fire.          I have always found, that when reading a fantasy or sci-fi tale, that I like the creatures in it to be well defined, well reasoned, and believable on some level of thought. When you place a fantasy animal, or mythical being into a story, weather it is one that you have barrowed from folklore or mythology, or one you created yourself, you need to describe it so that your reader can see, hear it, and even smell it if appropriate. When using an 'existing' creture some of that detail can be implied to rather than directly stated, that is if you are using the 'standard' look for that type of creature. Take a Minotaur from Greek Mythology for instance. When we hear this term, our minds automatically conjour the image of man shaped form, with the head and legs of a bull, and perhaps with thick hair over the rest of its body as well, waiting deep in the center of a labyrinth. We probably see him as being large, strong, and agressive. If we are using this as 'our' type of Minotaur, then we know that the reader already has at least a basic idea of what we are talking about. But lets say we want to make our Minotaur's a race, that needs to be referenced in some way, either by another character, or perhaps by seeing more than one of them, perhaps parents with a young one. Also we may want this Minotaur to have different reactions and character than the one in Greek Mythology, therefore we have to make surewe tell the reader that in some way, either through dialogue, or perhaps through the creatures actions, say maybe our Minotaur gets obviously squimish when he sees blood, or perhaps he has spectacles balanced on his snout because he is scholarly.          Of course, something that I think is fun, is to create a new type of creature or animal, something that sparks the imagination and can give the reader the impression that this world is wide and complex, and not tied to completely to our everyday reality. With these types of creatures though, it's important to be descriptive about their appearance, their attitudes(again maybe just through their actions), their habits, perhaps even the feelings of others about them. Remember, when you create a whole new creature, or race, the reader has nothing to pull from to picture what you are talking about, therefore you are challenging yourself as a writer to place the picture that is in your head into theirs. So, before you start writing about that Skarlog, or Wererat, have a picture in your head of what they look like. Decide upon what kind of creature they are. Are they sentient? Are they animal-like? Do they speak to humans? Are people afraid of them, and do they have reason to be? Remember, this creature is the child of your imagination, and therefore you need to shape and mold them, give them flesh and blood so to speak, explore their personality, delve into their mind and see what 'makes them tick', both as individuals, and(if applicable) as a race.          So fantasy/sci-fi writers out there, what kind of creatures/monsters/etc, do you use in your stories? Until later, Happy Writing! RD Williams http://www.authorsden.com/robertdwilliams1

(to visit the source, click below)
writing.com

5 Ways to Create Fantastical Beasts and Peoples!: Popular Culture

See what others have to say and look for ways to make creatures unique. One way is to do an Image search on you favorite search engine. You will likely come up with pictures, clothes, costumes, figurines, toys, and even jewelry. You many also find references to movies, television shows, and literature.

• Books: Very popular now (and so difficult to publish new books) are werewolves and vampires, and to a lesser extent – dragons and zombies. On the other end of the spectrum, fantasy author Mercedes Lackey takes horses and cats and gives them magical abilities and histories while leaving their appearance mostly unchanged (she writes about griffons too). There are also poems (“Lamia” by Keats) and short stories, although this media has long been in decline.
• Comics and Manga: Don't be shy to browse your local bookstore. Strange creatures for the main characters to fight and befriend. And there are lots of pictures and dialogue.
• Movies and Television: Both kiddie cartoons and more adult fantasy shows (especially anime) are rife with strange creatures to be rescued or run away from or become allies.
• Games: fantasty games and RPGs are full of monsters to fight. And every game has to present the monsters a little differently. Sometimes a non-human is part of the fighting group. These characters are especially useful when they act differently from regular humans. They give ideas about the different roles your nonhuman characters could play – sometimes unexpected ones.
• Toys and Figurines: a strange but effective source for ideas are dog chew toys (see photo) and baby toys. That aside, any common fantasy creature will have toys and figurines modeled after them. Maybe you'll find one that fits your image or gives you inspiration. I found a figurine of dragons in flight that worked perfectly for a book I was writing. I keep it on my desk.

5 Ways to Create Fantastical Beasts and Peoples!: Mythology

English: Stone carvings at St Mary's church (16) Two more fantastical creatures, perhaps a dragon and a cat(?) standing on its back legs. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Myths are found in every culture from Ancient Greece to Pre-Columbian Cuba. Myths are stories of important events and people from the past. Most times these stories have fantastical elements that can be mined by the savvy writer. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) folklore tends either to be vague about non-humans. Most our knowledge of fantastical creatures comes from the pool of stories about those animals and races. This can be good since it allows more modern people to play. When you look to mythology for inspiration, look for

• The Uncommon: creatures and characters that are not typically seen in today's fantasy, paranormal, and poetic worlds; Examples: the Leshii and Meingu
• The Common: patterns that show up over and over again; Examples: magic, elemental creatures, predators of humans, tricksters
• The Very Common: universal themes and preoccupations that storytellers could not stop talking about; Examples: love, war, gods, revenge, quests

All can offer ideas for the behavior, appearance, and motives of your creations. Tomorrow we'll jump forward in time and look at finding inspiration from popular culture.

5 Ways to Create Fantastical Beasts and Peoples!: Introduction

Flickr Chinese Dragon Year Statue (Photo credit: epSos.de)

In the next six days, I share several ways to create “complete” non-human races. If you hope to create fantastical beasts and characters that have depth and complexity, then you need them to come from a race that has those same traits. If you write fantasy, science fiction, or paranormal, you will need believable creatures to inhabit your world(s). “Formula” seems to be a common complaint about planned writing so I am deliberately taking an opposite approach. We will look at...

• mythology: look for unusual ideas, common themes, and perpetual preoccupations
• popular culture: see what others have to say and look for ways to make creatures unique
• biology: considers how the group (and individual) shapes and is shaped by surroundings
• anthropology: the study cultures (and subcultures) rather than species
• Role Playing Games: emphasis on combat

10 Steps to Creating Realistic Fantasy Animals

By Ashley Lange

10 STEPS TO CREATING REALISTIC FANTASY ANIMALS

by Ashley Lange

Why do writers write? Because it isn't there.

- Thomas Berger

Arguably, the two most challenging aspects for fantasy/science fiction writers to conquer are originality and believability. In this article, I'll use the study of Ecology and animals (don't worry; it won't be a science lecture! You can actually use this stuff! I promise!) to help your fantasy creatures to be believable, original, and about the common mistakes of making up creatures and matching them to places.

Okay, so why use animals?

The attraction to fantasy animals is obvious. Whether it is the magnificent griffon, the fierce dragon, or the magical unicorn, the “endless” possibilities of imagination can combine to create a lovely masterpiece of a story. Few excellent fantasy stories just feature humans, and their interactions with creatures can vary from the main conflict point of stories to just an aside to make the reader wonder. If you want to harvest this unlimited field, you have two choices: choose mythical animals or make up your own. Of course, every mythical creature has its stereotypes and it can be near impossible to avoid these situations. Read on, and hopefully you'll be able to creature realistic fictional animals as well!

(click on the link to read the rest at the source)

from Elfwood

Use Avoidance to Heighten Conflict

As I rewrite an early chapter, it would be convenient to have the main character prefer to avoid conflict. My first reaction was: no way I can do that. It will reduce my chances for conflict. But then I started thinking…

1. The stakes in any given chapter or scene won’t let her avoid conflict. So she will have an inner conflict (the wish to avoid conflict warring with the need to reach her scene goal) as well as an external conflict.
2. If the main character was argumentative by nature, any conflict with another person would mean less because she’d be following her nature rather than fighting it. More tension there.
3. When I change POV and the scene goal pits two other characters against one another, it will be natural for her to play peace-maker. Which makes for three-way tension because the strength of the scene goal and opposition won’t let them make peace without first resolving the dispute.
4. If she avoids conflict when the stakes don’t matter, then she isn’t communicating truthfully and it can lead to misunderstandings and isolation from other characters. This presents problems she will be reluctant to address – much less solve.

Three guesses as to what I decided. Come on, surely you can come up with at least three possible paths forward…

5 Ways to Raise Your Word Count Rates

Scrabble, Word Games (Photo credit: windygig)

The point of these techniques is to get the words flowing faster and freer and temporarily shut down the inner critic that can slow your flow of words.

1. Prompts. You can start with ones written by someone else but I recommend eventually making your own. When you write your own prompts, the topic is more likely to be in line with your writing subject, situation, and style.
2. Outlines. Sorry pansters, but plotters get points here. An outline can be made as general or as specific as necessary. And if you know where you are going, it is a lot easier to get going. And once going, get gone.
3. Time limits. Some people perform better under pressure but some people perform worse. Either way, a time limit can force you to temporarily circumvent your inner critic long enough to get something down to edit later – so long as you don’t let fear stop you.
4. Word goals. This, of course, forces you to put a certain number of words on the page, no matter what. Words, even bad words, have to come from somewhere and a large word goal will force you to delve deep into that well (or whatever) of your creativity.
5. Practice. It is a habit and a skill to be learned. As you continue to put words on the page, the words will start to come faster. Even your slow days will be faster than your “old” slow days.

In Sickness and In Health

is "when swine flu" really the past tense of "when pigs fly" (Photo credit: Graela)

So sorry for not posting yesterday. I had a nasty bug and barely made my word count.
It bothers me a bit when I’m sick and people say, “I hope you get better,” as though not getting better is a real option. It seems a morbid reassurance. How much better to wish someone “I hope you get better SOON”!
More importantly, even when I’m puking up my guts, I’ve still got to write. I take writing as seriously — or maybe more seriously — as any other profession. And this book is an impatient one, punishing me if I take time off.

April Fool's - 10 Things "To Do" with Your Story

Some WONDERFUL ideas for your book. (some exceptions apply)

1. Don’t know what to write? Just cut and paste from your favorite book.
2. Bored with your main character? Change his name half-way through the book.
3. Hate your bad guy’s guts? Kill him off in the second scene.
4. Word count too short? Add random scenes to flesh it out.
5. Word count too long? No one cares how the book ends. Cut it out.
6. Don’t feel like meeting that deadline? Then don’t write!
7. Not enough sizzle in a genre romance? Make it a harem.
8. Too little suspense in that thriller? Give the detective a Tahiti vacation.
9. Bored with fantasy worlds? Make it an all-human cast with identical sociopolitical values and views.
10. Need more back story? Just do an “As you know, Bob…” info dump.

Add your favorite ideas here…

Bringing Subplots Back to Life

English: The Thinker (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Even though I have spent my whole month doing just that, I’m having trouble articulating the steps I used. I’m going to pull up Scrivener, look at my notes, and try to reverse the process by listing 5 of the strategies that I used.

• Plan, plan, plan (if you’re a plotster) the subplot’s progress so it never reaches a point of stasis. Create set-backs in the long-term goal that lead the character inevitably towards Points of No Return.
• Try changing the POV (and thus who has the greatest stakes) in an already written scene to that of your subplot character. (This can also help tie the subplot back into the main plot.)
• Introduce an inner conflict that starts off static – until the central conflict knocks it (the inner balance) off kilter. He didn’t like it but accepted it until…
• Show character’s unmet needs. At least one of these probably motivates his/her main goal, even if he/she isn’t aware of it. Have the character take risks to achieve these needs. Consider having the motivations change in response to changes in self-awareness. I’m protecting her for her own good —> I need to be needed but am driving her away. —> I have to change/ make her understand/ make her more dependent on me.
• When writing, don’t take the easy road. Brainstorm and choose a less obvious reaction. Person A: “I hate you.” Person B: “Took you long enough.”

This list quickly got long (20 or so) so I’ll save some for later.