Settings With Meaning by James Wymore

Where a story is set can carry a great deal of significance. We've all heard of stories where the setting can change with little difference to outcome. For these stories, the setting only offers a flavor. It’s just a palette for the characters and plot to be splashed across. For other stories, the setting is vital to the entire construction and theme of the story. Those are the settings with meaning.

People differ on their opinions of what makes a good book. Somebody interested only in entertainment tends to find a preferred genre and stick with it, venturing out only occasionally to read something else just long enough to confirm they really like their favorite genre. However, other readers want meaning in the books they read. They want a different perspective or commentary on life. Those readers will tend toward literary fiction and books with higher meaning. That isn’t to say genre fiction has no meaning at all, just to say books come with different levels of meaning to suit all readers.

For me, meaning is inherent to the fabric of a book’s construction. The themes I want to deal with and the situations I want the characters to face are integral to my stories. In fact, the setting of my books are dictated by the ideas in it. Consequently my first book is futuristic Sci-fi, my next book is Urban Paranormal, and the one after that is Medieval Fantasy. In each case, the ideas and themes of the story dictated the setting needed to best express them.

For me, it feels the art of meaningful setting is integral to the art of writing. Tolkien’s Middle Earth existed to make possible the powerful message of the one ring. The masters always craft settings which drive the characters and stories to the greatest depths. These stories stand out in stark contrast to those written just to be a part of a given genre.

In Theocracide, people wear computer glasses, which scan the world and then overlay images right over the top of what they see. It literally allows them to see the world any way they want. Consequently, people have become so addicted to the virtual realities they live in that they don’t even care about “real” life. They all wear gray sweats. Many never leave their homes at all if they have a choice. The buildings are in disrepair. So many of them were in accidents for distracted driving that cars are all on rails now and driven by computers. This setting not only conveys meaning of its own, but it provides a unique background for a story, which could not be told in any other world.

About James Wymore:
Born just south of Alcatraz in the heat of an unpopular foreign war, James Wymore spent his formative years moving around like a gypsy on the run. His family settled in Utah before it was hip. James wrote two books in high school, but those books have been sealed in a secret facility for the protection of readers everywhere. Although he adopted the name Shin Min-kyu during his two years in Korea, his exceptional height and blond hair made it impossible to blend in.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in chaos, James Wymore became a teacher, because he loves animals. He spent the decade after college co-building a dream world with a close friend and fellow writer. Tethered to the real world by his amazing family, he eventually realized these stories needed to be written, returned to the aspiration of his youth, and began writing seriously. He has several short stories available in print now, and even won a few awards for one. His first book, Theocracide, is available now. His next book, Exacting Essence, will be out in 2013!

Somewhere along the line he realized how funny death is. A few art classes shy of real illustrating skill, he nevertheless began drawing a line of comics called parting shots. Now they are in featured in a print magazine and online.

A voracious gamer, James loves Video games, board games, miniature war games, collectible card games; you name it, he loves playing it. He has a vast collection of miniatures he painted which he features from time to time on his blog. Since he first used sheet rock to draw circles in the road and throw frisbees at his friends and family like they were on the grid, he has always enjoyed creating games. Now he has a few he made available free on his website. Find him in person and he’ll give you an exclusive signature card to make your game even better.

Author Blog: http://jameswymore.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JamesWymore
Theocracide on Amazon and other formats here

August is Awesome Because of Sarah Allen

I've been a follower of Sarah's blog now for quite some time.  (Of course, "quite some time" is in relation to how long I've been blogging.)  Still, hers is a blog worth following.

I've found this awesome individual interesting, complex, insightful and easy to relate with.  She often approaches things from a unique perspective and sees that which others seldom consider.

Her post today is no exception.  Just read below to find out what she learned from a television character!

So now, with all appropriate fanfare, I introduce to you the awesome Sarah Allen!

3 Writing Lessons from Dr. House

by Sarah Allen

He’s cranky. He’s manipulative. He’s a mean, bitingly sarcastic drug-addict with no discernible moral code.

So why do we love him so much? And what can our fascination with characters like Gregory House teach us about writing? Given the recent (and brilliant) show finale, I thought it would be fun to take a look. Even if you’re not as big a fan-girl as I am, Dr. Gregory House still has a lot to teach us.

1. The Super-Human factor: House is smarter than everyone around him. Sure he knows it and is frankly a jerk about it, but that doesn’t discount his incredible intelligence and wit that intrigues and fascinates us as much as his other characteristics might repel. He knows things and says things and does things that make us wish we were like him a little bit, that put us in awe.

Our characters don’t have to be jerks, but we do well to make them unique. Make them above the rest or different in some way. We want to know what it’s like to be in that position. It thrills us when characters do and say things that we would never dare do in real life.

2. The Humanness of the Super-Human factor: Yes House is a genius. He is also incredibly, incredibly human and vulnerable. He has a painful limp. He has a nearly inescapable addiction. He has an incredible affection and loyalty for his best friend. He has growing feelings for the beautiful boss that he doesn’t quite know what to do with. All these things make him relatable and shockingly and adorably vulnerable. My favorite moments in the show are when, despite House’s best efforts, these vulnerabilities show through the rough, scruffy exterior.

We love super-human characters, characters that do things we would never do. But we also want to know that they are like us and deal with the same painful things we deal with. When people as strong as these characters show this raw place, its cathartic and makes us feel like its okay for us to have the problems that we do. Though they are a bit super-human, these vulnerabilities make them seem even more human than the rest of us.

3. The Internal and External factor: One thing I love about the show House is that it tells both an external and internal story. We have the external story each episode with each patient and whether or not they are going to survive. Literally life and death stakes. Then we have the internal story, the team’s relationships with each other, House’s pain and addiction, his inability to maintain a close relationship with anyone. Emotional life and death stakes.

I honestly think that emotional life and death stakes are more important than literal ones. There should be an outside story, moving the characters through the plot, driving them towards an end goal. But what makes us actually care about this story and the characters is the internal, emotional story. We care about House because of his mix of super-human intelligence and incredibly human vulnerability, and we care about the outer medical story in-so-far as it relates to and changes Houses inner story. At least that’s how it is for me.

Anyway, I hope this gives you something to think about as you keep writing. If nothing else I got to picture Hugh Laurie’s face, and that’s good enough for me.

About Sarah Allen:

Sarah is a 23 year old uber-dork working on drafting her second novel and querying her first. She is a Jane Austen groupie, Peach Fresca addict and lover of jazz and post-grunge rock.

You can find out more at her blog:
From Sarah With Joy

Connect with Sarah on:

Facebook and

Twitter

August is Awesome Because of Liesel Hill

Today's awesome guest is so awesome she maintains two active blogs and manages to provide quality content on each.  It's been fun following her thoughts on villains recently.  And she has one book due to be released later this year and another one come fall of next year.

I love the insight Liesel has on a variety of topics, how she engages her blogs' readers and how actively she interacts with them.

Her post today poses questions regarding how much information about a character is too much.  She has an interesting perspective and viewpoint.  Be sure to leave her a comment and let her know your thoughts.

So, without further delay, I give to you the awesome Liesel Hill!

Characters: Is It All Relevant?

by

Liesel Hill

Some weeks ago, a member of my writer’s group said something important to me. (If you’re not a believer, writers groups: invaluable. Trust me! But that’s another post.) She was reading a chapter of the second installment of my Interchron series and she said to me (I’m paraphrasing), “There is a lot of tension in these scenes, but it seems to me that ALL the characters are pacing their nervousness off. Maybe have a few of them do something else. They wouldn’t all have the same nervous tick, would they?”

I grumbled a bit at first, but she was right. The argument could be made that people do tend to mimic one another, especially when they spend a good deal of time together (don’t try to argue; we all know it’s true!) but for fiction, we must make our characters unique. They must stand out from one another. (As in: Characterization 101!)

This led to me thinking a lot about my characters and if I was differentiating them from one another enough. Let’s talk about character charts. These are the worksheets that have (sometimes hundreds) of questions about your character. The idea is that if you can answer all these questions, you’ll know your character well enough to write them.

I know I’ll probably take some heat for saying this, but I’m not a fan of character charts. Of course I am all about knowing your characters, so I understand the concept, but to be honest, I just get bored with them. I mean come on! Is it direly important that we know that Luke Skywalker favored the color blue over brown? A fun factoid, maybe, but it’s not going to change his destiny, our emotions about the story, or the way he approaches his father. Will it make a huge difference if we understand that Harry Potter favors vanilla ice cream over chocolate? Again, it may be important if you ever go on a date with aforementioned boy wizard, but since most of us won’t...

Don’t get me wrong: I understand that mundane details can make our characters human, and I’m all for that. I’m just not a writer who goes into a lot of detail about the color shirt my hero is wearing or what kind of food my heroine prefers.

So what’s my point? In my opinion, the questions we should be asking are the deeper ones. Who is this character? Who or what made him that way? If someone stuck a gun in his face, how would he react? If he saw a large person beating up on a smaller person, would he do anything about it? If given the chance to cheat or in some way be dishonest to benefit himself, would he do it? How does he feel about the religious, political, and social climates of his world? If he could have one thing, what would it be?

These are the questions that will tell us who our characters really are.

Even JK Rowling had to answer these questions. We see the bigger issues in how Harry feels about the pure blood vs. mud-blood feud; in how unfairly house elves are treated; in how he deals with his best friend’s family being poor; and in what he saw in the mirror of Erised.

Of course every story is different. Using the same example, JK Rowling also used a lot of fun, mundane details in her narrative because they made for a colorful world, which is appropriate for the audience she was writing for.

If you’re writing YA, then high school popularity, how the character feels about school subjects, and who their first kiss was may be appropriate to the story. If, on the other hand, you’re writing adult crime drama, your readers don’t necessarily need to know these details about the tough-as-nails detective who’s trying to solve the case.

My point is that any and all characterization details you include in your story need to be relevant.

And what about describing them? Per my writer’s group critique, I’ve taken to describing my character’s reactions to every major emotion. For example, I was recently putting together a character sketch for a new high fantasy project. I wrote about two pages of stuff about one of my main characters, whose name is Wenlyn. For his major emotional reactions, I have this:

• When angry, he clenches his teeth and growls.
• When worried/scared, his eyes get wide and he stands perfectly still.
• When happy, he smiles; when excessively happy, he jumps around in a stationary circle.
• When sad, he clamps his eyes shut and turns away.
• When feeling vulnerable/lonely/abandoned, he clutches people. (This is important because Wenlyn is an orphan with no past, no history, and no family to speak of.)
• When jealous, he presses his lips together and gets color in his cheeks.

These were the major emotions I came up with that Wenlyn may have to deal with in his story. Now I’ll be able to describe his reactions in a distinctive way that sets him apart from his fellow characters.

I have found that describing reactions to specific emotions and asking the deep, hard questions are the best way to have full, round, effective characterizations. These characters will ring true to your readers and jump off the page into reality.

Thanks for reading! :D

About Liesel Hill:

Liesel K Hill is a novelist that writes across three different genres: fantasy, historical fiction, and crime drama. Her debut novel, a futuristic dystopian fantasy entitled Persistence of Vision, will be out later this year (release date pending). The first installment of her historical fiction trilogy, Kremlins, is slated for release fall 2013.

Check out her Musings on Fantasia  blog.
Follow her on Twitter @lkhillbooks and Facebook.

August is Awesome Because of Terry W Ervin II

The last three weeks of August has been awesome, but the awesomeness continues with Terry.  One thing is for certain: Terry has an awesome supply of patience.  (You'll have to visit his website to find out why.)

Terry started his Up Around the Corner blog back in June of 2009 and has been going strong ever since.

There's depth to Terry's reservoir of insight when it comes to the craft of writing.  The post he so kindly provided today is a perfect example.  

Please give Terry an awesomely enthusiastic welcome!

Trust the Reader

One concern I have with writers who are working on their first novel is their lack of willingness to trust the reader. In my experience this mistrust manifests in three ways: Introductory prologues, controlling descriptions, and too many point of view characters.

My first point isn't that prologues are bad and should be avoided. Like every other literary technique or device, prologues have a proper use and place. However, when a writer justifies his historical prologue saying, "The readers need the cultural background and history to contextually understand what will happen later in the novel, and why," I am concerned. Or when a writer says, "If I don't introduce the readers to this event that's outside the main storyline, they won't understand what drives the characters, especially when they do ________," I think the writer is misjudging the cognitive ability of his readers.

If a writer isn't going to trust readers to pick up on clues provided through setting, plot events, character dialogue and actions all the way until something pivotal that happens on page 237, why would that same writer trust those same readers to remember a historical reference made on page 2 and apply it to an event on page 237?

The trick is to provide what readers need to know as the story progresses, and trust those readers to piece things together. Will every reader get it? Maybe not. But isn't it worth that, "Ahha" moment (or moments) when a reader pieces it together on his own? I believe the readers will think so.

My second concern is a writer that's too controlling of the reader in their descriptions. What I mean is a writer who describes a character all the way down to the number of gray whiskers in his stubbly beard. The writer wants the readers to see the characters exactly as the writer imagines them. Another example is a writer trying to describe a gruesome murder scene down to the exact angle or degree the rickety-handled, eight-inch, chipped, stainless steel, made in China meat cleaver hacks into the victim's shoulder as she (...) to how far, to the nearest quarter of an inch, the nineteen globular droplets of blood fly and land, and in what splatter pattern, after the cleaver is yanked out.

Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit--but not by much.

Trust the readers' imaginations. The writer should give his readers just enough description to stimulate their imagination. For example: As a female protagonist enters the classroom, she might note her assigned lab partner's piercing green eyes, a strong jaw, shoulders of a linebacker and his ratty, garage sale-rejected tweed jacket. Let the mind's eye of each reader fill in the rest. When they do, they'll better remember and relate to the characters. With the murder scene, the readers' imagination--what frightens them and how they envision it--will go farther than any series of words a writer might provide. Each reader will see, in their mind's eye, the cleaver and the blood splattering, if given enough to go on. Will each reader imagine the exact same thing? No. But it allows each reader to have some ownership of the story.

It's a delicate balance. How to get it right? A writer should read and study passages from his or her favorite authors. See how they did it, and why it worked. Then, modify what's learned to the individual writer's writing style and apply it to the current writing project.

My final concern is inserting too many POV characters into a novel. Sometimes multiple POV characters are necessary. But, if the reasons are so that readers can understand what's happening from a host of perspectives to get a well-rounded view, and readers needs to know the thoughts and motivations of every character important to the plot to understand actions taken, then the writer might consider rethinking his reasoning.

Trust the readers to pick up on character motivations and how that character views events compared to another character in the novel, without having to be explicitly shown. Consider that every reader--every human being--exists in a first person POV world. Most become adept at interpreting the thoughts and motivations of others, and looking at something from another's perspective without benefit of knowing their exact thoughts. So authors can count on readers to bring that ability to the table when reading a novel.

Yes, there are plenty of valid reasons to use omniscient POV or multiple third person limited POVs. I've read novels where there are a dozen or more POV characters. Harry Turtledove's World War Series would be an example. The reason to add POVs should not be a failure to reasonably trust that readers can figure out things like character motivation.

In the end, readers:

• Actively engaged in a story, forming the characters, world and action in their mind's eye
• Following characters and events, guessing and forming theories about why someone did something and what the other fellow might do next in response (and put it all together)...

will be satisfied readers.

Or, as a writer, that's how I see it.

About Terry W Ervin II:

Terry W. Ervin II is awesome!

Terry W. Ervin II is an English and science teacher who enjoys writing science fiction and fantasy. He is an editor for the speculative fiction magazine MindFlights and a guest contributor to Fiction Factor, an ezine for writers.

While Fiction Factor has published the majority of Terry's articles on writing, his short stories have appeared in over a dozen anthologies, magazines and ezines. The genres of his stories have ranged from science fiction and fantasy to horror and inspirational.

In late 2009 Gryphonwood Press published Terry's debut fantasy novel FLANK HAWK and recently released the second in the First Civilization's Legacy series, BLOOD SWORD.

To learn more about his writing endeavors or contact Terry, visit his:
Website: http://www.ervin-author.com/
Blog: Up Around the Corner
Unofficial Facebook Fan Page for the First Civilization's Legacy Series, Flankers

Flank Hawk Main Page, Book Trailer and Audiobook

Flank Hawk Sales Outlets:
AmazonUSA
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble
Audible.com
iTunes
Smashwords

Blood Sword Sales Outlets:
AmazonUSA
Amazon UK
Barnesand Noble
Smashwords
Kobo

August is Awesome Because of Adam Gaylord

There are times that I read something and simply stop and marvel at what I just read.  Adam made me do just that in a piece he wrote (which I linked to in a Sunday Surfing post a while back.)  In the space of a few short paragraphs he had transported me to another time and place.  

Adam is frequently linked by inkPageant for his thought-provoking articles on subjects that many writers often fail to consider.  Adam's contribution to this awesome August series is no different.

If you're a writer, you owe it to yourself to consider well his suggestions.  If you're a reader, you owe it to yourself to devour anything he's written.  My pleasure today is to introduce to you the awesomeness that is Adam Gaylord!

Animals Make a Story

By

Adam Gaylord

Animals make us Human.

- Temple Grandin

I want to start things off with a little story.

Around 1918 there was an accomplished leather engraver by the name of Harry Wailing living in New York. Harry had a good life. He had a successful business, a nice home, a wife, a couple kids, and a beloved hound-dog. By all accounts he was well liked and well respected. But there was trouble brewing at home for Harry; his wife had taken another lover. Over time this lover became so brazen that he would visit the lady of the house while Harry was at home. After one such occasion, the man strolled out of the lady's room and, on the way to the door, kicked Harry's beloved hound-dog. Harry calmly retrieved his pistol and shot the man in the face.

After that Harry fled New York and moved to Florida, settling on a little island on the Gulf Coast called Mariposa Key where he lived out the rest of his days selling trinkets to fishermen. Ninety-years later a friend and I spearheaded a project to restore the island to its natural habitat (which is how I came to know about this true story).

The thing I love about this tale of woe is what it took to finally push Harry over the edge. He kept his head when he found out his wife was cheating. He restrained himself when the interloper invaded his home. He even managed to contain his rage when these visits happened right under his nose.

But kick his dog and he’ll shoot you in the face.

Without this tidbit Harry’s story is kinda mundane. Turn on the local news in the evening and you’ll probably hear about a jealous husband who’s shot his wife’s lover. It happens all the time. The addition of the dog to this story does a couple things to set it apart.

1. It makes Harry relatable - Everyone loves their pet. I love my dog. I’ve never been in a fight but if someone kicked by dog, they had better do it on the run ‘cause if I can catch ‘em, I’m gonna kick their ass.

2. It defines the bad guy - David Powers King did a great blog post a while back about the "Kick the Dog" trope. Put simply, good guys don’t kick dogs. No matter what the backstory was (maybe Harry was a jerk to his wife), nothing excuses walking up to an old hound-dog and kicking him. That makes you the bad guy.

The thing is, this isn’t an animal story. This isn’t "Old Yeller", "Hidalgo", "Seabiscuit", or any of the other wonderful stories where the animal is a primary character. This is Harry’s story; the dog is a secondary character. If there wasn’t a dog there would still be a story, it just wouldn’t be as good.

And that’s my point: Animals make stories better.

Let me give you a couple other examples (super spoiler alert).

Have you seen the western "Open Range"? If not, as soon as you’re done leaving a comment about how awesome this post is you need to watch it. I love westerns and it’s my absolute favorite. For those of you that have seen it you know it’s a story about warring groups of cowboys (good guy free rangers vs. bad guy ranchers). It’s definitely not an animal movie but there are a couple very important animals in it. Kevin Costner’s character is a troubled man with a dark past...but he loves his dog. His connection to this animal gives his character humanity and lets the audience know that deep in that silent rugged exterior there’s a good man. And when the dog is killed by the bad guys, the audience knows that shit just got real. Conflict was coming anyway, no doubt about it. But with the dog dead you know there will be no prisoners.

One last example.

I KNOW all of you have seen the post-apocalyptic classic "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior" (sequel to "Mad Max"). Freaking great movie. And I’m sure you’ll all agree that one of the best secondary characters in the whole film is the dog. He’s a badass. His interactions with the reluctant hero and pilot Gyro are hilarious. And when one of the bad guys shoots him with a crossbow...heartbreaking.

Both of these movies would still be great without their respective animals, just not as great. Animals make the audience care. They give characters humanity. They define good guys and bad guys. They provide comic relief and break hearts. Animals make stories better.

So does your story have an animal or two?

About Adam Gaylord:

Adam Gaylord is a graduate student studying wildlife at Oregon State University. He lives in Corvallis with his beautiful wife and slightly funny looking dog. When he’s not chasing elk and deer or buried in data, you can usually find him knee deep in one of his many writing projects.

Adam blogs at Adam's Daily Apple

The Little Things

I've come to realize that in writing, it's often the little things that bring a character to life more than anything else.  It's the little things that make our characters interesting, enjoyable, and sometimes frustrating.  Just like with us, they often tell people more about who we are than anything else.

Like when your crayon-wielding son gives you the illegible, hand-drawn Father's Day card--the one with the picture where you look more like a giraffe than a human and you search the entire house looking for a magnet that will hold it to the refrigerator.  Or when your daughter gives you the broken limb from a dogwood tree that you're expected to plant and keep alive until she's married because it has pretty flowers on it.

Those are wonderful snapshot moments in time.  But what if those moments occurred years ago?  Do they reveal only who we were as opposed to who we are?  Do they give our characters history?

Consider: In a few years that young father will age and become like me.  Upper-middle-aged.  A laundry list of new character-revealing traits emerge.  Like when said upper-middle-aged man ponders how it's even possible that a single eyebrow hair can grow to a full inch in length.  Overnight.  And how he must be careful when trimming that lone rogue with battery-powered hair trimmers using the one upper-middle-aged eye that can see around hands and clippers.

The aging father remembers how he prayed for hair to cover his smooth chest because all the other young fathers had hair and he had none.  And waking one morning to find that hair had indeed grown, but on top of his shoulders, down his back, out of his ears, and his chest was still bare.  How he made the mental note to be more specific in subsequent prayers and wondered if Gabriel and Michael peered down from Heaven pointing and giggling at God's latest prank.

I wrote in a previous post about how it's easy to capture the mundane, but where one detail can bore the reader with unnecessary information another detail can bring a character to life and do as much--if not more--than the primary plot can ever accomplish.

Maybe it's more important to see what Mom does while making breakfast than it is to know what she's serving.  Perhaps it's not little Johnny's refusal to eat his cabbage that fascinates us, but rather seeing the face he makes when Mom sets it on the table.  Suzie's math test may have received a bad grade, but watching her evade Dad when she brings it home tells us more about Suzie than the simple fact that she finds mathematics challenging.

Life is filled with these little moments of thought and behavior that when properly revealed to readers enables them to identify with our characters.  To love them or hate them or feel for them like we want.


What are the little things about your characters that will tell me who they truly are?

Those Pesky Characters

They spend so much time fussing with me. It's just not fair. Do I not think for them? Feel for them? Motivate them? So what, pray tell, is their problem?

I give them depth. I place them in believable situations. I fill their mouths with realistic dialog. I endow them with characteristics uniquely their own. And yet they rebel with frightening regularity. Again, why?

Yes, I know I toss one problem after another at them, bar their way with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, dangle their dreams mere inches from their grasp, all to satisfy readers they'll never know. But hey, it's all for the greater good, no? The tale must be told!

Elanna screams, “That's not me!” Tobin says, “I'd never say something like that.” “I'm not a helpless damsel in distress!” Abby rails. “I'm not evil,” Nomed keeps insisting, “I'm holy. Really!”

Chapter after chapter they complain, resist, and often downright refuse. Is it too much to ask of them that they simply comply? Well, yes! And I think I know why.

I crafted this beautiful character, gave her purpose, humanized her, allowed her to grow and develop and evolve. Is she obstinate because she doesn't like the life I've written for her? Is she upset that I made her hair blonde and not auburn? Is her stubborn resistance just her way of going on strike?

I've come to the conclusion that the answer to those questions is a definitive no. Instead, I've learned to accept the possibility that this wonderfully stubborn character has matured to the point that she now knows herself better than I know her. And this is her way of making sure I acknowledge it.

So, in the chapters that follow I shall move my ear a little closer to the page while I write. And listen. I can only imagine what marvelous revelations she has in store for me if I simply let her be who she has become.