"If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act."
--Billy Wilder
I said in my last entry that I'd talk about sequel planning in this one, and I almost didn't, because things were going so badly. I had this idea of where the next book would go; I even had a good title. I rewrote the ending and added an epilogue to properly lead into the next book, to wrap up everything with a few more things going bad for Our Heroes, both completing the tale and setting things up for the next one.
Then, whenever I sat down to work on the next book's plot, it was like throwing myself against a brick wall. Granted, I don't think I've actually run into a brick wall since elementary school, but at least I know it's a valid metaphor. And as the quote above says, the problem was in the first act: no matter how much I wanted it to be otherwise, for the third act to happen, the entire first act of the book had to be one big training montage. And that just plain doesn't work.
At least, not unless you can find a way to make the book play cheesy yet inspiring 80s music, and that would get old after a few chapters.
So last night, after yet another session of staring at WordPerfect and grumbling, I decided to scrap it all and come up with something different. This is something I've been doing more and more with my recent plotting - I'll decide to do a different take on a work in progress, or I'll get frustrated and try to come at it from a different direction. And so far, what comes second has always been much, much better.
I'm only a day into this new plot, only have a page of notes and plans, just some things to establish the setting and some new characters. The story happens in a place in this world that I didn't know existed until today, yet it makes perfect sense for this place to exist. It allows me to expand on all kinds of things from the first book and to keep a part of the story going that my pre-readers seem to think was over. (Bwa ha ha.) And most importantly, it'll lead to some absolutely awesome scenes that I can't wait to write.
It kind of amazes me that I almost didn't write this, that I almost kept running into that wall. But now I have a new tower to build. And it can still lead perfectly into a third book.
...yes, of course I'm plotting a trilogy. It's fantasy, what did you expect? :P
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Too Much Anti-, Not Enough Hero
So! I was reading during my recent vacation (as one does when stuck at and between airports), and I'd heard a lot of good things about this book. Very much dark fantasy, not a friendly world, that sort of thing. I was looking forward to a good anti-hero tale, something where I clearly wasn't reading about the good guy but could root for him anyway.
While the main character was no good guy, there was nothing about him worth rooting for.
Don't get me wrong, I love anti-heroes. I like characters who work outside the lines. I like characters who not only do things I wish I could do but can't because I'm not willing to spend the rest of my life in jail, but also get away with them. I like reading about the wrong person trying to do the right thing.
However, part of what makes an anti-hero is that there's good in them somewhere. It might be the warm heart behind their gruff exterior. It might be the tiny spark of light in the darkness inside them. But it has to be there. There has to be something to separate an anti-hero from the villains they fight.
This book had none of that.
The protagonist, as he was no hero of any kind, had no redeeming qualities I could see. Flashbacks show where his life changed, and this isn't someone who edged down the slippery slope toward villainy, or someone who tripped. This is someone who saw it as a cliff and leaped off. And yet, it seemed like the reader was supposed to empathize with him because of his tragic past, that he truly was supposed to be an anti-hero.
I don't think so. Without that core of good, we're left with a protagonist who sees no trouble with torture, murder, and rape. We have a character who would be the antagonist in most other stories. And being driven by revenge is fine until he just sort of drops that because it doesn't suit him anymore.
I didn't read the whole story; I got bored with it and was utterly disappointed. It's possible things could have gotten better, but after 100 pages, I just didn't care enough to find out. So I wouldn't call this a review, but I wanted to really get into why the character didn't work for me at all.
So, now I'm curious: what do you think makes an anti-hero? Have you seen characters like this, who shoot for that and miss? And how would you write an anti-hero to make sure they truly were one?
Next entry: sequel talk. @_@
While the main character was no good guy, there was nothing about him worth rooting for.
Don't get me wrong, I love anti-heroes. I like characters who work outside the lines. I like characters who not only do things I wish I could do but can't because I'm not willing to spend the rest of my life in jail, but also get away with them. I like reading about the wrong person trying to do the right thing.
However, part of what makes an anti-hero is that there's good in them somewhere. It might be the warm heart behind their gruff exterior. It might be the tiny spark of light in the darkness inside them. But it has to be there. There has to be something to separate an anti-hero from the villains they fight.
This book had none of that.
The protagonist, as he was no hero of any kind, had no redeeming qualities I could see. Flashbacks show where his life changed, and this isn't someone who edged down the slippery slope toward villainy, or someone who tripped. This is someone who saw it as a cliff and leaped off. And yet, it seemed like the reader was supposed to empathize with him because of his tragic past, that he truly was supposed to be an anti-hero.
I don't think so. Without that core of good, we're left with a protagonist who sees no trouble with torture, murder, and rape. We have a character who would be the antagonist in most other stories. And being driven by revenge is fine until he just sort of drops that because it doesn't suit him anymore.
I didn't read the whole story; I got bored with it and was utterly disappointed. It's possible things could have gotten better, but after 100 pages, I just didn't care enough to find out. So I wouldn't call this a review, but I wanted to really get into why the character didn't work for me at all.
So, now I'm curious: what do you think makes an anti-hero? Have you seen characters like this, who shoot for that and miss? And how would you write an anti-hero to make sure they truly were one?
Next entry: sequel talk. @_@
Monday, November 4, 2013
Name That Flaw
Quick entry tonight, as this just occurred to me as I was editing. What's your flaw? What do you always catch yourself doing as you write, what can't you stop yourself from doing no matter how hard you try? And would you stop if you could?
For me, it's overwriting. I cut a lot of words while editing, and that's because I tend to write a half-dozen words when two would do. It's like, if there's a casual way and a formal way to put something, I'll use the formal way, even if it's ridiculously inappropriate. In TAW, I think some of that is character voice, but still. Even when I was writing college students, I overwrote, and ended up shortening their dialogue and descriptions a great deal.
On the plus side, I know to look out for this while editing, and I'm used to it. So I know what I think is a wonderful turn of phrase while writing, I'll roll my eyes at while editing, and cut it out without a second thought. If nothing else, I'm used to murdering my darlings, because there's so damned many of them. @_@ Sometimes I write something and think, "Yeah, I'll have to fix that later," and sometimes I try to fix it right away. But most of the time I just keep writing. And later, I wince, and cross that passage out.
I also use the word 'all' way too much, though that might be just this book.
Now, I'm not asking for any self-pity parties here. If insecurities were winning lottery tickets, writers would be the richest people in the world. I'm just curious - what do you do that you know you'll have to fix later? Are you okay with this? Do you even try to stop yourself? And, best of all, have you ever written something you knew you shouldn't have and kept it anyway, because it actually worked out well?
Next entry: no idea! I'm off to Blizzcon this weekend, and it's a wonder I can think of anything else right now. Bwa ha ha!
For me, it's overwriting. I cut a lot of words while editing, and that's because I tend to write a half-dozen words when two would do. It's like, if there's a casual way and a formal way to put something, I'll use the formal way, even if it's ridiculously inappropriate. In TAW, I think some of that is character voice, but still. Even when I was writing college students, I overwrote, and ended up shortening their dialogue and descriptions a great deal.
On the plus side, I know to look out for this while editing, and I'm used to it. So I know what I think is a wonderful turn of phrase while writing, I'll roll my eyes at while editing, and cut it out without a second thought. If nothing else, I'm used to murdering my darlings, because there's so damned many of them. @_@ Sometimes I write something and think, "Yeah, I'll have to fix that later," and sometimes I try to fix it right away. But most of the time I just keep writing. And later, I wince, and cross that passage out.
I also use the word 'all' way too much, though that might be just this book.
Now, I'm not asking for any self-pity parties here. If insecurities were winning lottery tickets, writers would be the richest people in the world. I'm just curious - what do you do that you know you'll have to fix later? Are you okay with this? Do you even try to stop yourself? And, best of all, have you ever written something you knew you shouldn't have and kept it anyway, because it actually worked out well?
Next entry: no idea! I'm off to Blizzcon this weekend, and it's a wonder I can think of anything else right now. Bwa ha ha!
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Do You See What I See?
No? Good. Because you don't have to.
This entry comes from a recent Twitter conversation I had with Teri Harman and F.J.R. Titchenell. Take a look; it's brief because, hey, it's on Twitter. ^_^ But it brought up something I didn't realize I'd done until I thought about it.
In The Accidental Warlock, I don't describe the two heroines' body types. I say that Shiloh has blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin; likewise, I say that Alexi has copper-brown skin, dark eyes, and black hair with a purple sheen to it, as well as a red mark on her forehead. (A desert deity claims Alexi's people as her own, hence her hair and the mark.) And Shiloh describes Alexi as being a few inches taller than her. But that's about it.
When I started, I didn't know how to have Shiloh describe Alexi's figure, and Shiloh describing herself felt strange to me. So I skipped it, figured I'd add it in later. But I gave it some thought and realized it was better that way.
Modern culture has some ridiculous image issues when it comes to women. I'm a guy, so I'm subjected to this less, but... seriously. It seems that any woman who's in the spotlight in any way will have her appearance picked apart at every opportunity, and two different women will be criticized for opposite things. I see and hear this everywhere - someone is too tall, too short, too thin, too heavy, too dark, too light, wearing too much makeup, not wearing enough makeup, dressed too sexy, not dressed sexy enough...
Just typing all that up makes my head hurt. And I decided not to subject my characters to that.
Fictional characters aren't free from all this; I've seen the same barbed comments directed at women across multiple fandoms. So I decided to not describe my heroines' body types, and let the readers picture them however they want. This wasn't easy for me - I do a lot of description because I want my readers to see what I see in my head. But I read something once, where a reader said that they were overweight, so they tended to imagine the characters they read about as overweight. I gave it some thought and decided I was fine with that.
For the record, I picture Shiloh as skinny, and Alexi as athletic with some curves. But if someone, for example, wants to picture Shiloh as chubby and Alexi as tall and willowy, that's okay. It's a little weird to me to give something like that up to the reader, but if it means my characters won't get saddled with other issues just because of how I describe them, I'm fine with leaving that out. And it won't affect how I picture them, or how I write them.
Next entry: probably something about rewriting an ending, because that's what I have to look forward to this week. Grr. Arg.
This entry comes from a recent Twitter conversation I had with Teri Harman and F.J.R. Titchenell. Take a look; it's brief because, hey, it's on Twitter. ^_^ But it brought up something I didn't realize I'd done until I thought about it.
In The Accidental Warlock, I don't describe the two heroines' body types. I say that Shiloh has blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin; likewise, I say that Alexi has copper-brown skin, dark eyes, and black hair with a purple sheen to it, as well as a red mark on her forehead. (A desert deity claims Alexi's people as her own, hence her hair and the mark.) And Shiloh describes Alexi as being a few inches taller than her. But that's about it.
When I started, I didn't know how to have Shiloh describe Alexi's figure, and Shiloh describing herself felt strange to me. So I skipped it, figured I'd add it in later. But I gave it some thought and realized it was better that way.
Modern culture has some ridiculous image issues when it comes to women. I'm a guy, so I'm subjected to this less, but... seriously. It seems that any woman who's in the spotlight in any way will have her appearance picked apart at every opportunity, and two different women will be criticized for opposite things. I see and hear this everywhere - someone is too tall, too short, too thin, too heavy, too dark, too light, wearing too much makeup, not wearing enough makeup, dressed too sexy, not dressed sexy enough...
Just typing all that up makes my head hurt. And I decided not to subject my characters to that.
Fictional characters aren't free from all this; I've seen the same barbed comments directed at women across multiple fandoms. So I decided to not describe my heroines' body types, and let the readers picture them however they want. This wasn't easy for me - I do a lot of description because I want my readers to see what I see in my head. But I read something once, where a reader said that they were overweight, so they tended to imagine the characters they read about as overweight. I gave it some thought and decided I was fine with that.
For the record, I picture Shiloh as skinny, and Alexi as athletic with some curves. But if someone, for example, wants to picture Shiloh as chubby and Alexi as tall and willowy, that's okay. It's a little weird to me to give something like that up to the reader, but if it means my characters won't get saddled with other issues just because of how I describe them, I'm fine with leaving that out. And it won't affect how I picture them, or how I write them.
Next entry: probably something about rewriting an ending, because that's what I have to look forward to this week. Grr. Arg.
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Plot Squeezings
I get to write an entire blog entry about something working right. I'm very pleased. ^_^
As I said at the end of my last entry, I planned to take some time to figure out a plot for one of my half-dozen clusters of gathered ideas. It's really hard for me to work on more than one story at a time (something that needs to change, but that's yet another blog entry), so I took a few days off of editing TAW to hammer this out. Editing on TAW is going well, by the way; I cleared one of the major hurdles tonight, and there's only two more huge changes to make before I have to rewrite most of the last chapter. So that's good too.
But, about the plot-in-progress: it didn't crash and burn while I tried to figure it out. And that alone is reason for celebration. A small celebration, but still.
A writer whose work I really enjoy - Brian K. Vaughan, who's done mostly comic books and whose stuff you really should read - has been quoted as saying he always knows how a story will end before he starts writing it. I wholly support this, and I haven't written anything good when I've gone against it. So when I sat down to plot, I hammered out a few crucial plot details from beginning to end, and started filling things in, finding all the little things that had to happen in between.
And I just kept filling.
It was one of those bizarre moments I think a lot of writers hope for, like the story was already there, I was just digging it out of the blank page. It's kind of like being an archaeologist, chipping away to find an entire damn dinosaur skeleton buried somewhere in my head. And the more I wrote, the more I knew, of the plot and the characters and the setting, so I just kept going. There's always something awesome about realizing a story as I go along, when figuring things out becomes almost effortless.
Of course, the real effort is yet to come. I still haven't figured out everything; the plot still has some significant holes in it and needs a lot of fleshing out to determine character actions and motivations, and to make sure it works as a whole. And I have to write the thing, which is always the hardest part, until it's time to edit. @_@ But for the first time in quite a while, I've got a good feeling about what's there so far, and I'm really eager to keep digging it up.
Especially since this isn't doesn't actually involve a dinosaur skeleton, but a dragon skeleton.
Next entry: inspired by some tweets from earlier this week, a discussion of body image, character, and things we give up to our readers.
As I said at the end of my last entry, I planned to take some time to figure out a plot for one of my half-dozen clusters of gathered ideas. It's really hard for me to work on more than one story at a time (something that needs to change, but that's yet another blog entry), so I took a few days off of editing TAW to hammer this out. Editing on TAW is going well, by the way; I cleared one of the major hurdles tonight, and there's only two more huge changes to make before I have to rewrite most of the last chapter. So that's good too.
But, about the plot-in-progress: it didn't crash and burn while I tried to figure it out. And that alone is reason for celebration. A small celebration, but still.
A writer whose work I really enjoy - Brian K. Vaughan, who's done mostly comic books and whose stuff you really should read - has been quoted as saying he always knows how a story will end before he starts writing it. I wholly support this, and I haven't written anything good when I've gone against it. So when I sat down to plot, I hammered out a few crucial plot details from beginning to end, and started filling things in, finding all the little things that had to happen in between.
And I just kept filling.
It was one of those bizarre moments I think a lot of writers hope for, like the story was already there, I was just digging it out of the blank page. It's kind of like being an archaeologist, chipping away to find an entire damn dinosaur skeleton buried somewhere in my head. And the more I wrote, the more I knew, of the plot and the characters and the setting, so I just kept going. There's always something awesome about realizing a story as I go along, when figuring things out becomes almost effortless.
Of course, the real effort is yet to come. I still haven't figured out everything; the plot still has some significant holes in it and needs a lot of fleshing out to determine character actions and motivations, and to make sure it works as a whole. And I have to write the thing, which is always the hardest part, until it's time to edit. @_@ But for the first time in quite a while, I've got a good feeling about what's there so far, and I'm really eager to keep digging it up.
Especially since this isn't doesn't actually involve a dinosaur skeleton, but a dragon skeleton.
Next entry: inspired by some tweets from earlier this week, a discussion of body image, character, and things we give up to our readers.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
The Accidental Warlock: What it's All About
Shiloh Donovan dreams of a book only she can see. When she finds the book, she wonders if the gods sent those dreams, until a disembodied demon bursts forth from the book and attacks her. The demon speaks an incantation that forcibly changes Shiloh's vision - she sees magic as raw power that she can manipulate. Shiloh uses this new power to close the book and banish the demon, but when she contacts her parents and they're concerned but not surprised at the turn of events, she realizes they know something.
To make matters more complicated, on that same day, Alexi RiLeon arrives. She's there to settle a business deal with Shiloh's family, a deal that involves Alexi's marriage to Shiloh's older brother. Shiloh takes Alexi to Donovan Manor, where Shiloh's parents reveal the truth:
Shiloh is adopted, and her birth parents were part of a demonic cult that prepared her before birth to be a new body for the demon Ak'tagth.
Dealings with demons are forbidden in her homeland, so Shiloh agrees to hide at the family's safehouse. Alexi asks to delay the business dealings, and goes with Shiloh. But the portal to the safehouse instead sends them to a seaside city hundreds of miles away. Shiloh and Alexi realize what this means - the demon's people are working inside Shiloh's home, and altered the portal to send her elsewhere.
Now, far from home with cultists and demons coming after them, Shiloh and Alexi must find a way back. The changes Ak'tagth wrought within Shiloh grow harder to ignore, yet that altered view of magic may be the only way she and Alexi survive the journey.
And on top of all that, Shiloh is falling hard and fast for Alexi.
Kind of reads like a query letter, now that I look at it. @_@ Don't worry, I won't use it for that; I'll study Query Shark again before heading down that road, and I'll call myself lucky if I'm ready to query this book before the year's end.
But! There you go, the basic characters and plot of The Accidental Warlock. There's a ton more to it, as that covers only the first chapter and a half; most of the book is Shiloh and Alexi's journey as they try to get back to Shiloh's home city. A lot changes for them along the way, and even more has changed by the time they get back.
Speaking of changes, it's editing time again. Oi. Hope you all enjoyed this.
Between now and the next blog entry, I'll make a valiant attempt at squeezing a plot out of one of the half-dozen different stories I have somewhere in the planning stages, and I'll blog about the results. It might get ugly.
To make matters more complicated, on that same day, Alexi RiLeon arrives. She's there to settle a business deal with Shiloh's family, a deal that involves Alexi's marriage to Shiloh's older brother. Shiloh takes Alexi to Donovan Manor, where Shiloh's parents reveal the truth:
Shiloh is adopted, and her birth parents were part of a demonic cult that prepared her before birth to be a new body for the demon Ak'tagth.
Dealings with demons are forbidden in her homeland, so Shiloh agrees to hide at the family's safehouse. Alexi asks to delay the business dealings, and goes with Shiloh. But the portal to the safehouse instead sends them to a seaside city hundreds of miles away. Shiloh and Alexi realize what this means - the demon's people are working inside Shiloh's home, and altered the portal to send her elsewhere.
Now, far from home with cultists and demons coming after them, Shiloh and Alexi must find a way back. The changes Ak'tagth wrought within Shiloh grow harder to ignore, yet that altered view of magic may be the only way she and Alexi survive the journey.
And on top of all that, Shiloh is falling hard and fast for Alexi.
Kind of reads like a query letter, now that I look at it. @_@ Don't worry, I won't use it for that; I'll study Query Shark again before heading down that road, and I'll call myself lucky if I'm ready to query this book before the year's end.
But! There you go, the basic characters and plot of The Accidental Warlock. There's a ton more to it, as that covers only the first chapter and a half; most of the book is Shiloh and Alexi's journey as they try to get back to Shiloh's home city. A lot changes for them along the way, and even more has changed by the time they get back.
Speaking of changes, it's editing time again. Oi. Hope you all enjoyed this.
Between now and the next blog entry, I'll make a valiant attempt at squeezing a plot out of one of the half-dozen different stories I have somewhere in the planning stages, and I'll blog about the results. It might get ugly.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
How Happy an Ending?
As of a few minutes ago, I'm nearly done with the by-hand edits on The Accidental Warlock. There are two chapters left, the final conflict and the wrap-up. It's weird how long this has taken, and even weirder how much I've seen in editing it like this that I missed when reading it on my computer screen. It's been so long since I did this, I'd forgotten what it was like, and I know now that this is an essential step of the editing process.
But most importantly, I'm almost to the end.
After I reach the end, I'll have a lot of changes to make. I've already rewritten the first half of the first chapter. I also have entire chunks of the story to pull out and put in new places, paragraphs to delete, sections to rewrite with a different mood, and the occasional note that just says "FIX THIS". And as a result of all this, there are major changes to the ending.
Not a single one of those changes is a good thing for the two main characters.
I now understand why some fans think writers hate their own characters - hell, a few times, I've asked myself if having things go so badly is really necessary. And the answer is always 'yes'. As I've said before, TAW already has more of a downer ending than any other book I've written. But I gave some serious thought to the consequences of the characters' actions and realized I hadn't taken things as far as I should have.
There's not a lot I can say here without ruining the ending, but I know things have gotten a lot worse. Not as bad as they could be, of course; I could have killed off the entire cast and had the main antagonist win, but that would leave me without these characters for a sequel. ^_^ But I think the new ending works better overall, and puts everyone in a different place for whatever comes next. This also means I have to figure out whatever comes next, as this new ending renders most of my plans for the sequel invalid.
It is, in part, still a happy ending. Though it's one the main characters well and truly had to earn. And I think the whole book will be better for it.
Next entry: now that I've talked about the ending (without really talking about the ending), and now that I might have a few new readers here, I think it's a good time to take more than a few sentences to actually say what The Accidental Warlock is all about.
But most importantly, I'm almost to the end.
After I reach the end, I'll have a lot of changes to make. I've already rewritten the first half of the first chapter. I also have entire chunks of the story to pull out and put in new places, paragraphs to delete, sections to rewrite with a different mood, and the occasional note that just says "FIX THIS". And as a result of all this, there are major changes to the ending.
Not a single one of those changes is a good thing for the two main characters.
I now understand why some fans think writers hate their own characters - hell, a few times, I've asked myself if having things go so badly is really necessary. And the answer is always 'yes'. As I've said before, TAW already has more of a downer ending than any other book I've written. But I gave some serious thought to the consequences of the characters' actions and realized I hadn't taken things as far as I should have.
There's not a lot I can say here without ruining the ending, but I know things have gotten a lot worse. Not as bad as they could be, of course; I could have killed off the entire cast and had the main antagonist win, but that would leave me without these characters for a sequel. ^_^ But I think the new ending works better overall, and puts everyone in a different place for whatever comes next. This also means I have to figure out whatever comes next, as this new ending renders most of my plans for the sequel invalid.
It is, in part, still a happy ending. Though it's one the main characters well and truly had to earn. And I think the whole book will be better for it.
Next entry: now that I've talked about the ending (without really talking about the ending), and now that I might have a few new readers here, I think it's a good time to take more than a few sentences to actually say what The Accidental Warlock is all about.
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