Breaking the Fictive Dream

Breaking the Fictive Dream

Ideally, readers are so engrossed in your story that it, temporarily, becomes more real to them than actual reality. I remember once being so absorbed in a book that I missed the final bell ringing to tell us school was over, and I came out blinking, wondering where all my classmates went. This is good! This is exactly what we want as writers!

But sometimes, we sabotage ourselves. The fictive dream is as fragile as a bubble. It doesn’t necessarily take much to throw readers out of it. So, here’s a few cautions. Things to avoid.

Bad Information: If you give the reader something they know isn’t true, that can be enough to throw them off. I remember reading about an author talking about their work with a group of vampires who had been turned by somehow getting the silver given to Judas for betraying Jesus. They had a myth that if they could restore the fifty pieces of silver, maybe they could be cured. Honestly, that’s kind of an interesting mythology. So what’s wrong with it? Why did it throw me out of the story? Because Judas was given thirty pieces of silver.

Heard a sermon recently where the pastor mentioned that Joseph was the youngest son of Jacob. Except, he wasn’t. Benjamin was. Joseph was the second youngest. Or, if you want to look at it that way, he was the oldest son of the preferred wife.

He also mentioned that Potipher’s wife said something that in the text, the narrator told us, Joseph told us, but she didn’t. It’s still a possible interpretations, but both my brother and I were struck by, ‘that’s wrong.’

Did that make the sermon bad? Not particularly, but it did affect my ability to concentrate on it.

So, make sure you know your facts. Some people will know the details even if you don’t. Others may not. So if you really need to change something, do what you have to do, but be prepared to hear someone tell you did it wrong.

Inconsistency: Movies have people who have the job of going through the movie and making sure that scenes are consistent through the whole scene. And they still get things wrong sometimes. I remember one movie where two characters are talking about several things, including a third character. The scene includes shots of them intercut with shots of what they are talking about. One character is eating during this scene. But what he is eating changes during the cuts. He goes back and forth between two different food items. Someone should have caught that.

When you are writing, there could well be a month or more since the last time you read page twenty and when you are writing page two hundred thirty-seven. It’s really easy to forget tiny details. Hair color and eye color are some of the more infamous mistakes an author makes, but there are plenty of other possibilities.

Your character who was an only child in chapter two visits their brother in chapter fifteen. The character who idly sings while doing chores suddenly hates singing. That cat mentioned in chapter three never shows up again.

Part of the way you can fix that is with your Writer’s Bible. All those details, especially looks, family background, and pets, should be in your character bio. This is also why second readers and editors are so important. They are more likely to catch these mistakes than you are. You know what you mean. They only know what you said.

Bad spelling and grammar: The reader is sailing along in your story. Everything is smooth sailing. And then suddenly character ‘finches’. Well, unless your character suddenly became a small bird, you probably meant ‘flinches’. Some readers won’t notice. Others will notice, but be able to put it aside. Others will be thrown.

What if you have a more serious mistake? Like leaving out a word in your sentence? Or a worse misspelling? Or you have more than one? Well, again, you get readers thrown out of the dream. This is why it is so important to make sure you get a good editor.

Trying to be too clever: I know, I know, you are a genius at wordplay, a virtuoso of the written word, and the world deserves to see your brilliance. Except that every time the reader has to stop and think, ‘wait, what did they say?’, they are torn from the dream. I’m not saying you can’t use some wordplay and cleverness, but consider that there is a reason that there are more recognized ‘masters’ of the craft that are known fore their plain or minimalist writing than are known for their elaborate and clever writing. At least, that seems to be the current trend.

Worse yet, maybe you aren’t quite as clever as you think you are. That will pull readers out in a hurry. Using the wrong words, coming up with bizarre comparisons or analogies, or being incomprehensible is a good way to come across as silly or pretentious. Make sure you know what you are doing.

Ever hear of lucid dreaming? It’s the ability to recognize you are dreaming and controlling the dream without waking up. I’ve done it a few times. But it isn’t easy. For one, the instant I realize I’m dreaming, I’m closer to waking up. It’s hared to stay there once I’m aware of the dream. Still managed it once or twice. Another time or two, realizing I’m dreaming woke me up.

Don’t let your reader become aware they are reading. Do whatever you cant to keep them in the dream.

When have you found yourself ripped from the fictive dream?

Worldbuilding: Too Much or Too Little

Worldbuilding: Too Much or Too Little?

How do you know when you’ve got too much worldbuilding? Or too little for that matter? How do you get the goldilocks zone where it’s just right?

Well, for better or worse, the perfect amount is different for everyone, so you’re always going to have a few people who say it’s too much, a few who say it’s too little, and others who say it’s perfect. Which means you’re always making some people happy.

But even though you can’t make everyone happy, which you never can, no matter what, you can do your best to please as many as possible. So what do you do?

Well, to some extent, you can go with your own tastes. Do you like a lot of worldbuilding? Do you like deep dives into the differences between life in a story and life that your readers experience? This works great in certain stories. Usually longer stories where there are large differences between the story and reality. Which makes sense, because these stories will require more explanations. If you are writing a story about a peasant in a fantasy version of China during the Mongol invasion or a second generation colonist on Io, their lives are going to be very different from what your readers experience. So many of the very basics of existence are going to be different. 

On the other hand, if your story is set in modern New York City but their is a secret cabal of vampires running the art museums, you probably don’t need quite as much worldbuilding. Oh, you need some. What are the rules of vampires in this world? Why are they interested in art? What are their goals? But you could also pencil in the answers to those in a few broad strokes. Or you could go deeper. You could go into why they consider art such an important cultural touchstone that they protect, and how they have cultivated certain artists and art movements. It’s up to you.

So, when is it too much? It can be hard to tell, but chances are that you don’t really need to spend five pages on the family dynasty of the vampire clan that got wiped out a century ago. Or even the main vampire clan that your story is about. Sure, Victor Hugo got away with over a hundred pages of story before the main character was introduced. You can’t. Readers don’t have the attention span for that and editors won’t touch it. I’m not saying that you can’t include a single detail that isn’t crucial to the plot. Some embroidering can work to make the world feel richer and lived in. There can be room for running gags, themes, and scenes that are emotional but quieter. 

This does depend a bit on the type of story you are telling. Stories that are thrillers, for example, tend to be leaner, faster paced, and won’t have enough room for a lot of deep worldbuilding. 

When is it too little? Again, it can be hard to tell. But if your reader is confused about what is going on and why, then you may not have dug deep enough. Your reader can’t read your mind. If you decided that your vampires actually feed on creative energy instead of blood, and that’s why they sponsor art museums, that could actually work. But you definitely need to tell your readers that. Because otherwise, they are going to assume that your vampires need blood, and won’t understand why they get full by teaching art classes. A little explanation on why they need that instead of the standard blood might not go amiss either. Like maybe there are different kinds of vampires, and the standard blood drinkers do also exist, or at least did once upon a time, but this particular group either always did feed differently or found a way to make do with this. Or maybe they or someone else spread rumors about the blood drinking type, who never did exist, for one reason or another. Do I know why? I do not, but I’m sure you can come up with an interesting explanation.

So, how do you judge it? Ideally, get other readers. It’s so super hard to judge your own writing, so you need to get other people to give you their opinions. Do they find it confusing? Does it drag? Does it seem to have missing pieces?

The closer the world is to ours, the less explanation necessary. The further it is, the more you’ll need. If your world has always had dragons, then show how it has adapted around them. If they suddenly showed up, why? Where were they and what brought them back?

Now, that’s all for how much worldbuilding should be in your story. How much do you need to know? After all, that five pages of dynasty information might prove extremely handy for your series bible! Or it could be a distraction that keeps you from writing. I can’t tell you what the answer is there, but I suggest remembering your priorities. If you are a hobbyist, or your job is to build a deep and layered world, by all means, go to town worldbuilding. If you are a professional writer or wish to be, then your priority is going to have to be the writing part. Worldbuilding is fun and helpful, but don’t let it replace your writing time. 

Have fun!

How much time do you typically spend worldbuilding a story?

Worldbuilding 202: Religion

Worldbuilding 202: Religion

So, as long time readers of this blog may have noticed, I have written posts on many various and sundry topics related to worldbuilding. These were all labeled ‘Worldbuilding 101’ as they were pretty introductory. Well, it’s time to give a deeper dive into some of these topics. The more advanced class, if you will.

So, we’ve been over the basics. The different categories of religion, what every religion needs, is this religion true in the universe of your story.

Let’s look into a few other possibilities.

For starters, while religion is definitely the study or belief of gods or lack thereof, another very important part of religion is how do you treat other people? Does the character’s religion have rules for how they are to treat fellow members of the religion? How about people who aren’t members? Is trying to convert others considered a tenet of the the religion or is this something that only certain people can be included in? Are you born into it, or can you join as an adult? Is this more like a philosophy or is following the requirements the ‘only’ way to achieve the good afterlife?

What happens when two groups with two different religions meet? Well, in the real world, you often end up with some degree of one religion becoming more dominant. Some elements of syncretism are very likely. This is when elements of one religion takes on elements of another religion. For example, there is a reason why there are so many similarities between Greek and Roman mythology. That reason is because the Romans basically took the gods of the places they conquered, gave them Roman names, and included them in their pantheon. There’s a reason that Christmas is celebrated on December 25th. It’s not because Jesus was really born that day. Or at least, probably not. It’s because there was an extremely popular feast that day, coinciding with the winter solstice in the Roman calendar, that the early church knew they couldn’t get rid of without people rebelling, so they made it part of the Christmas celebration.

In the Soviet Union, under Communism, there was a push to stamp out all religious ties. Problem is that Christmas is a big, popular holiday. Outlawing it is a problem. So they didn’t. They moved it. New Year’s is the major gift giving holiday. There are New Year’s trees. Grandfather Frost, with his granddaughter, the snow maiden, gives New Year’s presents. Christmas does still exist, but it’s celebrated January 7th, and is purely a religious holiday.

So how does syncretism work? Well, the most common ways are to either repurpose the holidays, like I previously mentioned, or repurpose and/or rename the religious figures. Some claim that the reason there are so many saints in Catholicism is because they are to replace the gods of the native people when Catholicism took over various areas. Do I know that for a fact? Absolutely not. But I could see that happening to some extent. Some people even worship gods from multiple religions.

Religious beliefs can also strongly affect how characters treat people of other groups. Okay, everyone believes they are right. If we didn’t believe we were right, we would change our beliefs. But some people believe that it’s impossible to live in peace with people of a different religion, either in general or one in specific. Other people believe that there is room for different beliefs. 

If your character is a worshiper of the god Alrys, who is in eternal enmity with the god Bortis, then what happens when they travel to a village that venerates Bortis? Are the villages at war? Or is it only a few of the most devout who care whereas the general population feels that the gods can fight their own battles and they have enough to worry about without it?

Do minority religions have the freedom to practice openly or do they have to hide? Or perhaps they have the right to practice as long as they also subscribe to the state religion. For example, the Roman empire was usually pretty good at letting conquered people practice their native religions as long as they also worshiped the emperor. Which was a problem for the early Christians. Their religion forbid the worship of any human, and once they were no longer considered a Jewish sect, who had exemption to that particular rule, they were in conflict with the empire. 

None of these are necessarily the wrong approach. It really depends on what is the need of your story. It can add some conflict and tension if that’s what you want. Or it can be a background matter. But it can be worth considering.

Remember, research is your friend. Try not to give all your characters the morals and values of early twenty-first century people, unless your story is taking place in the early twenty-first century. And not everyone is going to be equally devout or equally irreverent.

Have fun!

Are there any particular posts you would like to see me dive deeper into?

The Perils of Publishing

The Perils of Publishing

So, I talked a little bit about this a very long time ago but let’s dig a little deeper. We’re writers. We dream big dreams and we want to share them with people! We also want to be paid for our work.

Be honest about it. Most writers want to be able to make money from their work. Which is completely fair! Writing takes a lot of work, life takes money to live, therefore, ideally, we should make enough money to live off of our work. Granted, most writers don’t actually manage to make enough to live exclusively off writing, but we still dream about it.

And some people take advantage of that.

Remember, money should flow towards the writer. Services that offer to get you published or to publish you themselves in exchange for a fee should be regarded with great skepticism if not avoided entirely. Same for agents that demand upfront fees.

But some are sneakier.

Do you know the difference between self publishing and vanity publishing? I’ll give you a hint, no one calls themselves a vanity press.

So, for self publishing, the writer makes most if not all the decisions. Some self publishing companies do offer some editorial services or cover design or marketing for a fee, but those are optional and everything is clearly laid out price-wise. The author can also choose to skip those services and find their own alternatives that will probably be pricier but better quality and possibly more to the author’s desire than whatever the self publishing company offers, which will be limited. The author also has much more control on things such as how many copies are printed and the cost per book.

A vanity press is, as far as I’m concerned, combines the worst of traditional publishing and self publishing. It takes control from the author like traditional publishing. They will probably decide on covers, if there is any editing, it will be minimal. They will also decide how many copies get printed and guess who is responsible for the costs? I’ll give you a hint, it’s not the publisher.

Vanity presses make their money from authors. They don’t care how many, if any, of the books get sold, because they already made their money. Quality is also typically subpar. I personally recommend going with a good print on demand company, but there are some self publishing companies that are good for batch printing if that’s what you need.

But there’s something else you need to watch out for. Bad or dangerous contracts. Ever seen one of those ads for apps that supposedly have thousands of books to read? You ever wonder about those? I mean, surely they need writers, don’t they?

Yeah, they need writers. But they definitely don’t treat them well. Most of these pay writers ridiculously small amounts while demanding an extravagant amount of words. I’ve seen ads looking for ten to fifteen thousand words a week, paying pennies per word, possibly less. Sometimes there are even tricks into how they are paid. Like only if it’s part of a premium tier.

Some companies also demand full control. GoodNovel, in particular is notorious for demanding control of everything the writer creates in the future that is even tangentially related to a work they have control of, and I believe they want first refusal for anything the writer writes in the future. They aren’t the only company to do this, either.

So, how do you avoid being taken advantage of?

Research! (I swear, I should just make tee shirts). First, you need to know your rights, what are standard rights of a contract with a publisher, etc. If you are working with an agent, do you know what is a standard deal for an agent? For an editor? Do you know which rights you are selling or leasing and which you still have?

Okay, you aren’t a lawyer and maybe you can’t afford one either. You know what you can do? Read reviews. Have their been a lot of complaints? Do a lot of people say this company is a scam? Do reputable companies support or condemn it? Does it just feel off to you? And if you know a particular company is good or bad, feel free to pass it on. Not venting, that can give you a bad reputation. But be honest and fair.

Some mistakes can be costly. Be careful with your writing. But don’t let fear hold you back. Dreams can still come true, you just need to be careful not to trip while you have your head in the clouds.

Anyone want to share a warning?

Point of View: First vs. Third

Point of View: First vs. Third

So, when you decide to write a story, one of the considerations you have to make is how you tell the story. Do you use limited or omniscient? First person or third?

While I’m sure you already know this, as a quick reminder, for first person the protagonist is ‘I, me, my’. It is actually possible, and has been done, to spend the whole story without knowing the name of the protagonist. Sometimes it is done as a twist when the name is given at the end and changes the reader’s perspective. Other times, the name is just skipped. In third person, the protagonist is typically named and usually described as ‘he’ or ‘she’ though other pronouns are possible.

Second person point of view does exist, but is definitely not recommended. The protagonist is referred to as ‘you’. This was most common in the Choose Your Own Adventure novels, though there have been a couple novels that succeeded using this. The problem with second person point of view is that it’s essentially a gimmick and not one that’s strong enough to sustain a novel. It’s jarring to the reader’s mind until they reach the point where they give up or it no longer registers. Professional editors and agents are definitely not fond of it, so unless you story absolutely requires it (it probably doesn’t), you’re likely better off not using it. That said, it might work in a short story, depending on the genre and tone. Even then, it’s not likely to be your best option. 

So, first or third. Which do you go with? Are there any advantages to one over the other?

Yes, as it happens, there are.

First person adds immediacy. Readers are more likely to feel immersed in the story, often putting themselves in the place of the protagonist. This also allows the author to go deep into the view point character in a way that might be a little more challenging in third person. If your story is epistolary or supposedly autobiographical, first person is essentially required. First person can also feel more natural and informal, like someone telling a story to their neighbor. This is particularly common in modern Young Adult books, romance, and mystery, sometimes thriller.

Drawbacks to first person is that it is easy to let your viewpoint become too obvious. If every other sentence starts with ‘I’, then you may need to ease back a touch. You are also limited to what your protagonist knows and experiences. It doesn’t matter how important a scene might be, if your protagonist isn’t there, you can only have it explained to them. And while it is possible to have different sections of the book written by different first person points of view, that’s pretty uncommon.

Third person is the more traditional way to write novels. If you look up classics, probably most of them are third person. Third person point of view is also generally preferred by editors and publishers. While there is a little more distance, or at least there can be, third person also allows for more than one point of view. If you want a story told by several people or covering different places and perspectives, third person is probably the way to go. It’s also possible to go quite limited. For example, in The Maltese Falcon, the reader is never once shown exactly what Sam Spade is thinking. This is the go to for anything on an epic scale ore when readers need to know different perspectives. Sometimes a publisher will even insist a writer switch a story from first into third. The reverse seldom happens.

Drawbacks to third person is that your readers may not get quite as immersed in the story or go as deep in the characters. Also, and this is a new one, I read a recent article that said some readers, particularly those who read romantasy (romantic fantasy, generally on the erotic side) or romances, now refuse to read third person point of view. It’s viewed as harder to read and get into. This is an important consideration, especially when you consider that this demographic are often among the most prolific readers in the United States.

So, which should you use?

Well, what kind of story are you writing? If you are following one person as the view point character, than you can choose. If you need to have multiple viewpoints or wish to cover more than one lifetime, then you should almost certainly use third person. 

The best thing you can do is read a lot of books similar to yours. The more recently published, the better. If you are writing a YA fantasy book and find that eight of ten of the books most like yours are written in first person, then I would recommend you think very carefully before trying to write your book third person. If you find that space operas like yours are almost exclusively written in third person, then that’s probably your best bet.

So, let’s say you’re trying to write a book in a genre that’s pretty evenly divided between first and third person, and you don’t have an overwhelming reason you need to use one or the other. What do you do?

Try both. 

Write a page or two in first person, then try to write the same scene in third person. Or the other way around. The order doesn’t matter. What matters is which works better. 

Some of it will be your own preference. Personally, I typically prefer third person, both reading and writing. I don’t think I’ve ever rejected a book because it was written in first person, but there have been times I was mildly turned off before I got into the story. That doesn’t mean I haven’t written in first person. My Hyde Chronicles is primarily written in first person. Which is a pain in the neck right now, because for book four, Rooked, my point of view character simply isn’t where the action is happening. In fact, things are happening in enough different places that no one is where all the action is. After several attempts to figure out how to deal with that, I start and end with Violet’s point of view, with the middle being third person point of view, in order to show all that is happening.

For my cozy mysteries, I’m writing in third person, even though I’ve stuck exclusively to one view point character. Maybe later I can add other characters. But when I started these, I just started writing in third person and that’s what I stuck with. Fortunately, that’s a genre that’s more evenly distributed. Though it might not be a bad idea for me to check out more cozies. Just to double check. 

So, go forth and read! Experiment and try different techniques. Go with what your audience and story demands. Have fun!

Which tense to you prefer?

Character Development: Stress and Stress Relief

Character Development: Stress and Stress Relief

So, if there is one thing people know about these days, it’s stress, right? Life is uncertain. Bad things happen. Good things can take time. Nobody gets enough sleep. We’re stressed!

And okay, so science says that a certain amount of stress is actually necessary for healthy mental development, just like trees need the resistance of wind to grow strong. And even good things can provide some stress, especially if they are changes from our normal routine, like birthdays or holidays. 

But personally, I don’t know too many people who are at risk for not getting enough stress. Most people are closer to up to their eyeballs in it.

Your characters are also going to be stressed. If for no other reason, then because they are characters in a book where things and conflicts happen, right? So let’s take a look at that.

What stresses them out? After all, while some things are stressful to everyone (i.e. a move, death in the family, illness, etc.), not everyone is going to be stressed out the same amount. Other things may stress out one person, but not another. Me? I love spending family time together, but I also love having quality time to myself and peace and quiet to read. People who are more at odds with their family would probably appreciate more time away, while some people hate being alone or having too much quiet. I can’t stand white noise and hate having the TV on if I’m not watching. Some people never turn theirs off. Neither is wrong, but what’s comfortable for one of us would be stressful to the other.

For the big things, you probably know what is stressing your character out. If they are on a quest to find the Blade of First Light that they must find before the armies of darkness find it… that’s competition, a time limit, danger, etc. Yeah, I’d be stressed too. But what about the smaller things? Are they shy about talking to people? Or maybe they are fine about asking questions for the quest, but can’t handle small talk. Or maybe they are fine in the cities, but walking about in the wilderness is giving them hives. Or vice versa.

How do they react to stress? There are some common symptoms, but people do exhibit stress in slightly different ways. Common signs are irritability, poor sleep, headaches, muscle tension, sometimes skin breakouts, etc. Do they tend to get snappish? Do they overcompensate by pretending to be constantly cheerful? Are they aware enough of their own stress to take methods to relieve things?

How do they work to relieve their stress? Some people prefer time to themselves, others prefer time with people they are close to. Some people find physical activity a great stress reliever, like taking a walk or playing a sport. Some people deal with stress by cleaning. Some prefer quieter activities like making a cup of tea and reading a book. Sometimes interacting with animals like a cat or a dog can help. 

Personally, I deal with most of my emotions by reading. I also feel better when I pet cats. I have two indoor cats, and two local strays that know me enough that they will come to me for pets if I quietly hold my hand out for them. They’re  cats. Attention has to be on their terms. 

Your characters are going to have different stressors, different ways of reacting to stressors, and different methods of relieving stress depending on their personality, their circumstances, and the world around them. Things like age, physical fitness level, how safe they are or feel they are, and many other factors will work to change how they react. Take a little while to play with your options and dig deep into what seems right for your characters. 

What stresses out your characters?

Worldbuilding 101: Tools

Worldbuilding 101: Tools

My mom has been having car trouble lately. Apparently, when the check engine light starts flashing, it’s really serious. Like stop driving the car and get it towed to the garage serious. Neither of us knew that. One week later, she’s got the car back, and it certainly could have been worse, but then her car stops starting unless you jump the battery. Started Saturday night when she went to pick up my sister. 

Fortunately, both she and I have portable car battery jumpers. They were a gift from my other sister. Mine has gotten me through many, many times. Mom was less familiar but having now used it three of four times, she’s now pretty practiced with one. And she got a new battery after an auto place checked and told her that her battery was just plain no good anymore. 

So, why am I telling you about our car woes? You may have already guessed, from the title. Tools. 

The garage used tools to fix Mom’s car. We used tools to jump it. The auto place used a tool to read Mom’s battery. The battery itself is a tool, as is the car, if you want to think about it that way.

People use tools. So do a few animals, though theirs tend to be more along the lines of sticks and rocks. Though I read a fascinating bit of information where scientists were studying crows and set up a test where they could get some food with a curved wire. Then released two crows who had the options of a straight wire or a curved wire. The scientists expected the crows to fight over the curved wire. Instead, both crows flew directly to the straight wire and worked together to curve it. Pretty neat, huh?

Anyway, humans and intelligent animals use tools to make their lives easier, better, longer, etc. And that’s great! It really is. I don’t want to imagine how difficult my life would be without some of the tools I take for granted.

But we’re writing speculative fiction. When you add magic or advanced technology to the mix, what kind of options have you got?

First thing to keep in mind is that tools are generally created to fit a need. If your characters have the same exact needs as your readers, then the tools they use will probably be pretty similar to ones in use today except perhaps a little more efficient or easier to use. Maybe a car that never needs to be refueled and doesn’t break down. Maybe a laptop that is always at full charge and can always connect to the internet. Maybe a phone that can’t be lost or stolen. Maybe clothes that can collect energy from the wearer’s movements.

Take a moment to stop and think what it might be really nice to have in your daily life. Is that something that could work in the confines of your story? Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. But it’s certainly worth a thought.

Or maybe your characters have different needs. I don’t have to fight off zombie hoards, which I am very grateful for, or ride dragons, which I am considerably less grateful for. I don’t live in a colony on Mars or on a space station. Each of those could lead to me needing different tools to fulfill certain needs. 

Fighting zombies? Well, armor and weapons would probably be very useful. I’ve read one source that suggested that a bicycle would also be extremely helpful. You’d probably be faster than the zombies, and much quieter getting about than a car. I’m sure it wouldn’t take long for people to figure out things that were especially effective against the zombies either. Depending on how much of the world is zombie infected, perhaps people are still manufacturing tools to help. Or your characters scavenge and invent their own.

Riding dragons? Okay, going to need a nice secure harness, maybe a saddle. Things to keep the character firmly attached to the dragon. Going to need the right clothing too. For all that heat rises, it gets colder at high elevations. Binoculars or a spy glass might be helpful too, as well as some kind of satchel to put things in that isn’t going to let things fall out. Depending on why your characters are riding dragons, they may need a lot more. Maybe flares or a way to communicate with other dragon riders.

Colony on Mars? Man, the number of tools that would be necessary on a space colony! How’s the terraforming going? Or are they primarily using things like hydroponics for food? Does everyone live under a dome? Do they ever go out on the unprotected surface? How big is the colony? Is it small and bare bones or have they gone and developed a city? What kinds of technology have they developed that lets them do this?

A space station? Okay, even pretending they’ve solved the gravity issue, and that’s been done so often, you more or less get a free pass as long as you throw something out there as an explanation, there are so many possibilities. Especially if you have a space station that includes multiple alien races.

It’s not even an uncommon thing in fiction. Doctor Who has a sonic screwdriver that does more or less whatever he needed. Lord of the Rings had the palantir that allowed long distance communication in an instant. Star Trek had the replicators. Star Wars had light sabers. 

For the most part, viewers are likely to care less about why and how a tool works and more about what it means in the story. By which I mean, give them the rules on how it works, keep consistent with them, and most people won’t care about why universal translator works on every language or the key that opens every lock actually does open every lock.

Do maintain consistency though. If you promise the key opens every lock, then you can’t just have it not work because you need your characters locked in a room in chapter twenty-three. Maybe they lost the key or it was stolen, maybe they can’t physically reach the lock, maybe this lock was created after the key, specifically to foil such things.

Have fun with your tools, no matter how real or imagined. 

What tools have you invented for your stories?

Spotlight on: Post-apocalyptic

Spotlight on: Post-apocalyptic

Let’s take a moment and talk, not about the end of the world, but over what happens after that.

What is post-apocalyptic genre? 

So, the end of the world, or at least the world as we know it, has come and gone. Maybe it was fifteen minutes before your story started, maybe it’s been years. Probably the world population is just a fraction of what it is currently is. But not everyone died. And survivors have started to rebuild. Or work on destroying each other. Or likely both.

Where do I start? 

My suggestion? Figure out how the world as we know it ended. Was it a result of some kind of natural cataclysm? Maybe an asteroid hit the earth and triggered a new ice age. Maybe there was the earthquake to end all earthquakes, possibly triggering volcanoes and flooding. It could be a killer virus that had a high mortality rate. Was the disaster a little more man made? Nuclear war, the AI dictatorship, bio-terrorism, etc. An outside source? Zombies, aliens, the dragons returned. 

While your story is one of the aftermath, not the disaster itself, it matters because the issues and recovery are going to be different depending on what went wrong in the first place. A world where there is no clean drinking water is going to have different needs and solutions than a world where water and food are fine, but women can’t get pregnant anymore, and both are different from a world that is trying to fight off the the invading dragons. Sure, there will be some similarities, because people are still people, but the needs and desperation are different. 

Is this a world with lots of resources but few people? Many people but few resources? Few people and few resources? Many people and many resources, at least for now? Is this a world where technology is still accessible or is that gone? Worth noting that losing electricity not just makes it darker and denies your characters phones and the internet, is going to cause a lot of less obvious problems. Food storage is harder. Some medicines need to be kept at certain temperatures. Heating and especially cooling will be harder. Long term power loss would probably lead to failures of plumbing. Things like that. It would also make it more difficult if your characters are cyborgs, or possibly even just reliant on tech like hearing aids. Depending on why electricity was lost, that could affect pace makers. 

Take a few moments to think about logical extensions of your ideas. Okay, the world governments have all fallen, and the alien overlords are demanding complete obedience. So, how do they do that? Are humans required to wear trackers? What happens if they don’t? How are people getting around it? Is it working? Or maybe they just use cell phone data. Have cell phones been rendered too dangerous to use for the rebellion? If that’s the case, if a person doesn’t have a cell phone, are the considered non-complaint? Okay, what happens if they are? Or maybe cell phones are useless, because the alien overlords destroyed all cell phone towers and communications satellites. Now what? Have some fun with that.

My second solution is based on my favorite part of post-apocalyptic stories. For me, they are about hope and rebuilding. Okay, sure, you could have things still be awful and a disaster, but please remember that there is a limit to how long people can stick with a book that doesn’t offer hope. So, remember not to stick to despair all the time. Sure, things can’t and shouldn’t be perfect, which is true of any story. And this is probably going to be even worse. But it’s hard to keep caring when things are endlessly depressing.

That said, a lot of dystopian works are also post-apocalyptic. So, you can absolutely keep things dark and tense. Or you can do what is called a ‘cozy catastrophe’. Sure, most of the population is gone, and life will absolutely never be the same, but your characters seem to be doing fine. Maybe ever better than they were before the change. 

Where do I learn more?

There are far too many examples for me to come up with even a sampling list. I’m sure you can come up with half a dozen examples just off the top of your head. The Mad Max movies became essentially the standard setting for post-apocalyptic stories, though traveling through ruined cities is also common. Waterworld went in a completely different direction. Sometimes a government of sorts survives, like in The Hunger Games or The Handmaid’s Tale. Other times, you just have roving bands, like The Road.

Here’s a few TV Tropes lists:

After The End (That’s the general page. The one for literature is here. For examples in real life, go here.)

Cozy Catastrophe

Apocalyptic Index 

You know the drill, research! Read some books, watch some movies or TV shows. There’s something out there for everyone regardless of their comfort level or what they enjoy. Have Fun!

What is your favorite part of the genre?

Story Structure: The Fourteen Signposts

Story Structure: The Fourteen Signposts

So, we’re going to look into another way to structure or outline your novel. This one is based off the Signpost methods suggested by James Scott Bell. I mentioned watching an online writing course by him. This is how he recommends planning out your story. As I go through this, you may notice a lot of similarities to the Save the Cat Beat Sheet. That’s because there are a lot of similarities. Several differences too. Remember, they are tools. If it works for you, great! If not, there are other options. Also, you can find templates for both those methods, and several other outlining strategies at storyplanner.com. 

Act One (1-20% of the story)

1. The Disturbance: Something has happened to disrupt your character’s comfortable life. This can be related to the main plot of the story, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be. It just has to be a source of conflict or irritation. Something that shows the reader that something is amiss.

2. The Care Package: This one is optional but recommended. Show the main character caring for someone or something else. Someone they knew before the story started. This doesn’t have to be a person, it could be an animal. It could be as simple as your character decides to share part of the meat from their sandwich with a stray dog or as complex as your character raising a young child or a younger sibling.

This is not a required beat, because your story can get by without it. But James Scott Bell recommends including it, and I can see why. Watching someone care for something or someone else makes readers sympathize with them a little more. Who wants to read a novel about someone who is selfish and cruel? Sure, there can be the hope they’ll turn their lives around, like Ebenezer Scrooge, but it’s easier if you give hints that they have that potential already. Even Scrooge had people in his life that he could, and eventually did care for such as his clerk and his nephew. When I was writing Those Who Go Do Not Return, I knew my one character started out as somewhat unlikable, so one way I tried to soften him was to give him a fondness for pigeons and some concern for his assistant.

3. The Argument Against Transformation: Stories are about change. Typically your character is not the same when a story is finished as they were when it began. But change is uncomfortable and scary. Your character probably doesn’t want to change! Odds are good that they thought their life was pretty good before the story started. Even if they were miserable, it was a familiar misery. So, while your character may be dragged kicking in and screaming into who they are going to become, first they have to argue against it. If there is a ‘Refusal of the Call’, that’s where it will be.

4. Trouble Brewing: Yeah, things are starting to get worse. Things are going to get worse still, so don’t show your hand too early, but your character is starting to get hints that there is danger in the wind. Maybe the danger hasn’t quite come yet, but there are hints and foreshadowing that trouble is on the way.

5. The First Doorway of No Return: Something has happened, either to your character or because of something they have done, that changes everything. Even if the story ended right here, their life would never be the same. This is Dorothy landing in Oz. This is Harry being told he’s a wizard. But the story isn’t even close to over. Your character now has to overcome the troubles they are faced with or they will die, maybe physically, maybe psychologically, maybe professionally.

According to James Scott Bell, every good story should be a character against death stakes of some kind or another. Physical death is, of course, life vs. death. Psychological death is where a character risks losing who they are inside. Professional death is where a character risks losing their career.

Act Two (20-80%)

6. A Kick in the Shins: Things are getting worse. The stakes are raised, and the character gets their first test against death and danger. There’s still plenty of room for things to get worse, but your character is struggling a bit here. 

7. The Mirror Moment: James Scott Bell is a big believer of the mirror moment. According to him, the best stories have a point, about exactly in the middle, where a character comes to one of two possible points. One is an absolute certainty that they are going to die. The other is to wonder what they are becoming. Mental reflections done in front of a mirror (physical reflection) is not necessary but common. I admit, I’m not as convinced on this point, and the one time I tried to throw it in, because of the way the book expanded, it was no longer in the middle.

8. Pet the Dog: Yes, your character is probably in the worst trouble they have ever been in their life. Yes, they are up against what looks like insurmountable forces. But for one moment, your character stops worrying about their trouble and helps someone who is weaker or in worse shape than they are. 

Unlike the care package, the one they are helping may be a stranger. It could be something simple, but it should involve at least a little risk or sacrifice on the character’s part. Or at least, it’s more meaningful that way. Don’t make them an idiot about it, a character who is running for their life from armed gunmen isn’t going to be able to stop to get a kitten out of a tree. Probably not, anyway. But once they manage to find someplace to hide and a chance to catch their breath, maybe they find a kitten with a sore paw and take a moment to bandage it up. Or share a little water.

9. The Second Doorway of No Return: Like the first doorway, things are irrevocably changed. The most common ways to do this, as recommended by James Scott Bell are, a major setback or crisis, or a major clue or discovery. Especially if doing a clue or discovery, this absolutely should be found through your character’s actions, not a coincidence. Maybe they weren’t trying to find that exactly, but they were trying to do something. 

Act Three (80-100%)

10. Mounting Forces: The powers against your character have gotten stronger. Maybe separate groups are working together. The antagonist has allies. Your character may be trying to gather their allies too. This may or may not be successful. It’s not uncommon for one or more allies to split off here. Maybe they die, maybe they leave. Sure, they might come back, but that’s for later.

11.  Lights Out: This is basically the same as the long night of the soul. It looks like everything is hopeless. Your character cannot possibly hope to win. Their allies are probably scattered or gone, whatever they had put their hopes in has failed. They want to give up. Maybe they even do for a little while.

12. The Q Factor: Again, optional, but recommended. This is named for Q in James Bond stories and movies. If your character finds themselves needing to get away from hungry lions in act three and they suddenly pull out a previously unseen laser pointer pen and use that to distract them long enough to get away, the reader is going to roll their eyes at the way the author pulled out a deus ex machina. But if the reader see the character given a free laser pointer pen while they were touring the marketplace and put it in their pocket back in act one, the reader is now praising the author for their cleverness. Or at least accepts that it’s possible. 

In James Bond stories, especially the movies, James Bond typically has ridiculous gadgets that turn out to be exactly what he needs to get out of the jams he gets in during the story. If they came out of nowhere, it would probably irritate the audience. But since we see Q walk Bond through all the gadgets in the beginning, we absolutely accept them as a solution later on.

This doesn’t have to be a gadget either. It could be a revelation or an upswing of hope, possibly inspired by a physical object that serves as some kind of reminder. Didn’t think about what you would need as a Q Factor when writing Act One? That’s fine. Just put in what you need in Act three and then in the next draft, plant the seeds earlier. James Scott Bell particularly recommends linking this to the care package when possible. If you can, it’s pretty thematic, but if that doesn’t work for your story, I recommend not stressing over it.

13. Final Battle: Fairly self-explanatory. Your story probably has a major conflict and if you don’t have some kind of climatic battle, then readers are disappointed. Please note that this doesn’t have to be a physical fight. A story about a lawyer may have the final battle be an important court case. A romance may have the final battle be against whatever threatens to keep the couple apart. Someone trying to buy a house from the bank may have the final battle be where they are trying to get approved for the mortgage. In any case, your character is facing whatever death threatens them and fighting back. 

(Please note: It’s not required that they win, at least in most genres, but happy endings typically sell better than sad endings, and it’s hard to write a sequel when you kill off the main character. That said, if the story requires it, go for it.)

14. Transformation: Your character is different now. Of course they are. No one could go through everything they did and be the same, right? (Okay, that depends on the genre and the stakes). Show us how they are different. Tie up your loose ends. James Scott Bell recommends tying this into the mirror moment. Like I said, he’s big on that. 

He’s also big on what he calls ‘Resonance’. It’s like the last note of a song, the last feeling that the reader feels when they close the book. This is what they will carry with them, and what will hopefully convince them to buy and read more of your books. So think carefully how you want to leave the readers.

That’s the signpost method. As you can see, it shares some points with Save the Cat andthe Hero’s Journey. Like them, use what helps. I personally don’t feel that trying to write to a template is necessarily the best option, but each to their own. Good luck!

Have you ever used the Signpost method for a novel?

The Importance of Second Readers

The importance of second readers

So, I’ve certainly talked about this topic before, but I, to the best of my memory, have not covered this in a blog post before. 

Writing is generally a pretty solitary process. Unless working with a partner, most writers sit alone, writing their projects. And that’s fine as it goes. But at some point, you need to move away from the visions in your head and see how well your writing works with others. 

Because you are the writer, you know everything in the story. You know the hidden background, you know why people are doing what they are doing, and why they react the way they do. But sometimes, because you know all that, you may have not realized that you didn’t put it on the page. Or you may have forgotten to put in details that are so clear to you, but not necessarily to your reader. 

So what’s the solution?

Get someone else to read your work. 

A second set of eyes can aid with a multitude of issues. Spotting typos or missed words that your eyes glaze over because you know what is supposed to be there. Pointing out that there really doesn’t seem to be a logical reason your main character insisted on going to the tea shop across town at three in the morning. 

It can be tempting at times to force your characters to follow certain paths because that is the plot you envisioned. And the plot may be great! But if your reader is asking themselves why the characters did what they did, they have lost immersion and some of the enjoyment of reading. And you risk losing a fan.

Maybe not. Readers read for many reasons. Sometimes even because something is bad. But I suspect that most of you, like me, would rather that readers read because they found the work brilliant and enjoyable. 

How do you find a second reader?

Well, what are you looking for at this time? 

Are you looking for someone who catches the spelling and grammar mistakes? Then you want someone with a fine grasp of the language and meticulous attention to detail. 

Are you looking for someone to catch inconsistencies and continuity errors? Someone who will notice that somehow your hero is a brown-eyed brunette on page twelve but a blue-eyed blonde on page one hundred thirty-four, even though your character has no shapeshifting abilities, never dyed her hair, doesn’t wear contacts, and never had the surgery that turns brown eyes to blue? If your character has one or more of those, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Anyway, in this case, you need someone who can read quickly but again, has meticulous attention to detail.

Are you looking for someone to point out that certain things really don’t make sense? That you maybe had just a little too much fun with the story, but didn’t put in a firm enough foundation? In that case, you are better having someone who you haven’t discussed the story with, so they can come in fresh. This is also not a great job for your best friend, who probably knows how your mind works and may have a similar sense of humor or think similarly to you. Actually, ideally, you want several different opinions. 

Where do you find these people? Lots of ways. Starting out by having a friend or family member reading your work is something. Joining a writing group or a critiquing group is good, especially for larger issues. They may or may not catch the nitty-gritty like improper semicolon use, but they can definitely let you know when your dialog is flat, your hero is coming off as unsympathetic, or your villain is a sock puppet. 

You can also hire an editor. This comes in different forms, so know what kind you are looking for. Some are line editors. Like a proofreader, their job is to catch the technical details. Mis-spelled words, bad grammar, the wrong name in place, stuff like that. Others are developmental editors. They are the one who tell you about problems in your story arc, issues with your character development, etc. Don’t expect them to cross jobs, and recognize that a trained editor can be very expensive. Especially if you want to self-publish, you must have an editor. Even if you decided to go with traditional publishing, if you want a publisher to take your book seriously, you need to have it as close to publishable quality as you can before you submit. Editors and agents are busy people who have more work to get done than is possible to manage. As much as they want to find a great new book, they are also desperately looking for ways to get their slush pile to something approaching manageable. An entry with typos, lousy grammar, or characters that are cookie cutter or inconsistent? That’s not usually the mark of a great writer. Most editors and agents won’t hesitate to set that work aside.

So, remember, while your writing is definitely your baby, and should be, it takes a village raise a child or write a book.

Have fun!

How many people look at your stories before the general public?