One for the good guys
I love watching old movies. The good guys all wear white or at least tan and other pale colours and manage to keep their hair in perfect formation (maybe one strand will blow across their face) and they save the day with minimal loss and pain. Perfect feel good moment. I hate reading stories like this though.
Maybe it is because I look for different things from the movies I watch to the books I read. Movies can have a terrible story, bad acting, awful effects, it doesn’t matter as long as I’m being entertained. Yes, I prefer movies that actually have a story and good actors, the effects can go either way, but entertainment is all that is required. From books, I expect far more. I expect an intelligent and intriguing story and characters with depth that draw me in. I expect that the good guy won’t just be good because he’s (she’s) written that way but that they are actually given some sort of purpose and motivation.
My favourite protagonists when I read, have flaws. Massive and horrible character flaws usually. While I love reading David Eddings stories (the Elenium Trilogy is amazing) there is only one David Eddings character that ever made my list of favourite characters and that was Althalus. All of his other heroes are good because they are good and work together because it is the right thing to do. Althalus on the other hand was a thief and was coerced by a goddess disguised as a cat into saving the world. That appealed to me on a number of levels.
People in real life are never all good or all bad. And they aren’t the same in every situation and around different groups of people. I think characters in stories should reflect that to an extent.
That said, just going entirely the opposite direction and having an anti-hero can feel a bit old as well.
Who is your favourite good guy and why?
The Fantasy Novelist’s Exam
I recently cam across this website (The Fantasy Novelist’s Exam) and had a lot of fun reading some of these questions. The exam is supposedly set up to determine whether or not your fantasy novel is actually original and the instructions say that if you answer yes to any one question then you should abandon the novel immediately. Now when question four is:
Is your story about a young character who comes of age, gains great power, and defeats the supreme badguy?
This doesn’t leave a lot of room for the vast majority of fantasy stories and so while the quiz does reveal some of the more cliche parts of the genre I don’t think anyone should be taking the instructions overly seriously. We all know that there are very few ‘new’ ideas out there. That said I think most of us can agree that if you answer yes to the following maybe you are going to have to work really hard to make it sound fresh:
Is the evil supreme badguy secretly the father of your main character?
How about “a wise, mystical sage who refuses to give away plot details for his own personal, mysterious reasons”?
Does your story involve a number of different races, each of which has exactly one country, one ruler, and one religion?
What I found really fun was trying to think of at least five books I have read that the question would apply to. It actually was a lot of fun though there are a few cheap shots taken at Robert Jordon throughout as well as RPG’s which aren’t necessarily a bad thing though probably shouldn’t be used to plan the plots of novels.
So here’s the challenge for the fantasy lovers out there. Pick a question, any question from the list, and see if you can think of at least five novels that it applies to.
September Blog Tour
It is official. I am going to be doing a blog tour in September. I’d like to thank all of those people who have already offered to host me during the month however I still have empty spaces in my schedule that I am trying to fill.
To that end I am reaching out and asking for blog owners who wouldn’t mind hosting me to let me know in the comments here so I can contact you. Or you can email me (cassandra dot jade dot author at gmail dot com).
While I am doing this blog tour I am looking for people who would like to guest blog on Cassandra Jade in the Realm. So if you are a writer, reader, reviewer, whatever, and are interested in writing a guest post for this blog during September, please let me know.
The Problem of the External Muse
I’ve talked a bit about inspiration previously and where ideas come from but I usually avoid talking about my muse (I’m not saying I don’t use this turn of phrase but it isn’t my favourite way to put things). The reason for this is that by calling it a muse and personifying the idea of inspiration it makes it sound like it is something external to the writer and not part of them.
I don’t usually like this idea.
For me inspiration is definitely an internal process and the ideas from within. Certainly my mind draws in things it has seen and heard and smelled and used these in combination to form what might become a story idea but that process definitely takes place within. No mythic being bestows the ideas upon me, fully formed or otherwise. And because it is an internal and slow process of bits and pieces being slotted together, the ideas become very much apart of the writer. You’ve raised the idea from just a tiny spark or notion to a fully fleshed out plot line that might eventually get written down.
Maybe the problem is that by externalising the idea it feels like it is cheapening the process. That somehow writers just get ideas. That nothing goes on, they sit around with empty heads and wait for a magic muse to hit them with some fairy dust.
Then again, at other times it does feel like something else is happening. The ideas move seemingly overnight (which probably means my subconscious is at work) but suddenly something that seemed unworkable has fallen into place. A line of dialogue that isn’t working can suddenly be heard clearly. That little voice in the back of your mind nudges you in just the right direction at just the right moment.
If my muse exists she’s probably going to clobber me after writing this. And yes, she would be female.
I think that if it is about the muse then we shouldn’t be waiting for her, we should definitely be out there hunting her down and demanding information right now. Hopefully with more success than Elmer Fudd ever had hunting rabbits.
What do the other writers think? Muses or not. Cheapening the process or giving writers a way to talk about something they sometimes don’t fully understand – their creative processes?
Twitter me this
Okay – so the links are coming thick and fast, but probably because there are so many brilliant bloggers out there sharing their stuff. Here are the links I’ve found and posted on twitter over the last week.
My picks for the week – and there is a few of them because everyone has been writing awesome posts this week:
Talli Roland on blogging: http://talliroland.blogspot.com/2010/07/ten-for-tuesday-of-blogs-and-bloggery.html
Elspeth Antonelli – 10 lessons for writers: http://elspeth-itsamystery.blogspot.com/2010/07/10-lessons-for-writers.html
Words of advice from fantasy authors: http://io9.com/5579212/words-to-live-by-advice-from-34-science-fictionfantasy-authors
Just Jemi – printing out the MS: http://jemifraser.blogspot.com/2010/07/printing-epiphany.html
Lua shares her writing story: http://likeabowloforanges.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/getting-aligned-or-the-dilemma-of-being/
Check out Sybil’s collection of book trailers – yes, mine’s been added:
Trailer for Death’s Daughter been added to Sybil’s collection of book trailers: http://www.sybilnelson.com/
Other great links this week:
My top 5 songs to get me ready to write – what are yours? https://cassandrajade.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/top-5-writing-songs/
Miss Rosemary’s scattered thoughts on writing: http://disgruntledwriterscircle.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/scattered-thoughts/
Yona Wiseman – Rave rejections: http://daylightprocrastinator.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/rave-rejections/
Hema P – The writing bug: http://hemapen.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/the-writing-bug/
Cheryl Angst – Twitter chats for writers: http://cherylangst.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/twitter-chats/
To Conquer a Mountain – Creating a universe: http://shoutitfromamountain.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/creating-a-universe-and-a-reality/
Casey Lybrand – time management for writers: http://blog.caseylybrand.com/2010/07/19/writing-time-management-and-blogging/
Holly Ruggiero – Playing with Words: http://scribblessplashes.blogspot.com/2010/07/playing-with-words.html
New blog post – Bringing fantasy to life: https://cassandrajade.wordpress.com/2010/07/21/bringing-fantasy-to-life/
Talli Roland – chick lit is dead: http://talliroland.blogspot.com/2010/07/chick-lit-is-dead-long-live-er-womens.html
Elizabeth Spann Craig – About being a writer: http://midnightwriters.blogspot.com/2010/07/8-things-no-one-told-me-about-being.html
Jemi Fraser looks at getting an e-reader: http://jemifraser.blogspot.com/2010/07/e-reader-help.html
Carol Kilgore – using your sixth sense as a writer: http://underthetikihut.blogspot.com/2010/07/that-tickle-on-back-of-your-neck.html
New blog post – My writing goals: https://cassandrajade.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/writing-goal/
Mason Canyon reviews Nowhere to Hide: http://masoncanyon.blogspot.com/2010/07/nowhere-to-hide-by-terry-odell.html
RT @bubblecow A Four Parargraph Approach To Cover Letters http://bit.ly/b17YA0
Cat Woods – Seven deadly sins for writers: Pride – http://catwoods.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/seven-writing-sins-pride/
Terry Odell guest posts on Mystery Writing Is Murder: http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/2010/07/homework-time-by-terry-odell.html
Criminal Brief – why writers need an editor: http://criminalbrief.com/
Margot Kinberg – Straight Shooters http://margotkinberg.blogspot.com/2010/07/straight-shooters.html
Terry Spear – The closet muse: http://casablancaauthors.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-closet-muse.html
Stephen Tremp – the 30 second blurb: http://stephentremp.blogspot.com/2010/07/30-second-elevator-blurb.html
New blog post – Query Letter: https://cassandrajade.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/query/
Novel Journey – on dialogue: http://www.noveljourney.blogspot.com/
Dated
Reading over some of my favourite childhood stories I realised that a lot of them have dated themselves terribly. I also note this when watching Buffy or other television shows that I loved in highschool. Just every now and then a line comes out and you just wince – wow! That’s dated.
I didn’t need to worry about this so much when writing Death’s Daughter because I set it in an entirely fantasy world that doesn’t directly link to any of Earth’s time periods. There were no references to current events or trends or anything else that would make it feel old within a few years and that was one less thing for me to worry about. Not so much with my current WIP.
Once again I’ve set it entirely in a fantasy world but this time there is a cross over element and one of my characters does come from modern Earth. How modern? Well, he is insisting on carrying his phone everywhere even though he hasn’t a chance at getting reception because the thought of leaving his phone behind is all but paralysing. What is this going to do for the story in terms of it getting dated?
Given the story and the fact that none of the other characters have current Earth knowledge I’m not throwing one-liners in referencing current events although he does occasionally reference television shows and notable characters. I’m resisting the urge to label his phone as any particular type because that would certainly date the story fairly quickly. His clothes are pretty basic and would fit most of the last twenty – thirty years and hopefully fashion isn’t going to completely change in the next ten.
What I’ve realised is that having any connection to the real world is adding a whole other set of problems to writing that I didn’t have to deal with previously and I’m walking a fine line between leaving it fairly non-specific as to when he was living on Earth in order to prevent the story being dated and just not giving the reader enough details to hold on to the story.
So I am seeking advice from those of you who have considered this previously. Do you worry about your stories getting dated and how do you deal with this?
Moving the Plot
You hear the advice all the time. If something isn’t moving your plot forward it shouldn’t be in your story. Given the current goal oriented generation where anything that isn’t immediate becomes dull, this is pretty good advice. Your description of that sunset may be absolutely flawless but if your reader can’t see the point of it (because just being a beautiful piece of writing is insufficient) then it has to go.
I’m in two minds about this. On the one hand, I hate wading through endless reams of description of settings that in the end don’t make the tiniest bit of difference to the story. Even a fight sequence that has gone on too long begins to irk me and I just want to cut to the chase. So who won and what happens next? I am very much a product of the modern world in that I like there to be a point. At the same time, sometimes I really enjoy just well written work. That witty dialogue or really interesting aside. It may have nothing to do with the main plot and only be very thinly related to character development but if it is written just right, it can suck me right into the story.
That said, how do we move the plot forward?
Plot generally involves a character (or group or characters) getting from point A to point B while X, Y and Z try to stop them. That would be the motivation for the characters and the conflict they will face. If the plot becomes too direct you would have a story in about five lines and it would be incredibly boring.
Farm boy loses family.
Farm boy trains to fight.
Farm boy faces bad guy and loses.
Farm boy takes time out to learn some valuable lesson.
Farm boy defeats bad guy.
The End.
This would be the basic plot of both Star Wars and Eragon and probably many other fantasy – space opera kind of things. Don’t get me wrong, this plot works very effectively (or can), but when you boil the story down this much it gets a bit dull.
I guess the question you have to ask yourself is why does line A (farm boy losing family) lead to line B. Lots of people lose family members without suddenly enlisting to learn some ancient fighting method and going on a quest for revenge and to other throw an evil empire. What about your character makes them take that step and how do they reach that decision? How do you help your reader believe it?
The plot moves forward when you know where you are and where you want to go and you know why your characters are taking those steps. I’ve had many would be stories stagnate because I didn’t know clearly where I was planning to go next and I wasn’t really sure why my characters were doing something anyway. Once you can answer these questions the plot should move forward though it is adding all the small details and weaving those interesting sub-plots that will make it interesting.
Your thoughts on moving a plot forward?
Top 5 Writing Songs
There are times when I want to write, have the time to write, and I just can’t get into it. At these times there are a whole bunch of things I do to try to focus on writing but one of the most effective is music. Here are my top 5 songs to get me into a writing mood.
1. Flying Without Wings: Westlife
Why does this song work? It begins with one of the best lines ever – even if the song itself is not that great. “Everybody’s looking for that something. One thing that makes it all complete.” With just that opening I suddenly think about what my characters are looking for and how to get them to where they want to be and instantly I feel the need to write. This makes it one of my favourite writing prompts.
2. The Fear: Lily Allen
Firstly, I just love this song. It is so boppy and lyrical and yet listening to the lyrics there is quite a bit of depth to this song and the issues it raises are quite serious. This song reminds me to look into the inner parts of my characters and to find their true motivation.
3. Words: Kate Miller-Hiedke
This song moves really quite quickly and helps me pick up my pace. It jolts me to action. At the same time it makes me think about the transitions we go through and how our characters can change and development over time. It also reminds me about the highs and lows.
4. Grace Kelly: Mika
Asks the question really of how face will a character go to reach their desire and is it worth it in the end? Plus this song always makes me smile.
5. The Rose: Not sure who sings the version I like
Sad and sweet and hopeful and yet slightly lost. I find this song puts me in a very thoughtful frame of mind and that always helps get me writing.
I guess for a song to be good for my writing it has to inspire some emotion and usually it leaves me with a question. It can’t be too loud or boisterous because that makes me not want to sit still so tragically Prisoner of Society misses the list here because while it is an amazing song it doesn’t make me want to write. It also helps if I don’t associate the song with a particular movie because that then distracts me and makes me want to watch the movie.
What are your favourite songs for writing?
Cassandra Jade in the Realm 