Free Fiction Tuesday! A Fine Line: Part 7

Thank you to everyone who has continued to come back to read the ongoing adventure.  I hope you are enjoying the tale.  Please remember to feel free to comment and let me know what you think.  Are the chapters too short?  Too long?  Let me know so I can make the future chapters more enjoyable.

That said, here’s the next chapter in the story of Herrick and Price.  You can imagine where Price is going to turn to for help, but what kind of reception is he going to get from Herrick after what the Order did?  Let’s find out.

Enjoy!

Free Fiction Tuesday! A Fine Line: Part 6

It’s amazing how many hits you get on your website when you mention someone like JOSS WHEDON in your intro paragraph.  I wonder what other keywords I can use to get new readers in.  AMERICAN IDOL?  P DIDDY DIRTY MONEY?  JUSTIN BIEBER?

Okay, so maybe I pulled those from Twitter trending topics.  Which, by the way, if you want to know what I’m “tweeting” about, I have a feed on the left hand side of the blog that links to my profile.  Feel free to friend me if you’re human, feel free to not if you’re a spam-bot.  I feed the spam-bots to my mythological dragon that’s in an upcoming book.  It keeps his wings shiny and metallic-like.

Tonight’s chapter is part one of two with the fallout from the incident at the Open Trough.  It also has one of the main characters running against a moral wall that will change his life forever.  So please, enjoy, and feel free to comment and let me know what you think so far.

Thanks for stopping in and see you next week!

Free Fiction Tuesday! A Fine Line: Part 5

As any fan of Joss Whedon will know, when there is a couple in love, someone’s gotta die.  Guess who I’m a fan of?  Oh wait, was that a spoiler alert rule I broke?  Can the author actually break the spoiler rule?

So here we are, over a month into Free Fiction Tuesdays and now that you know all the main players, it’s time for the action to start.  There’s a good chance that the people you thought you knew may not be as good or bad as you thought they were.  And as I said before, someone’s gotta die.

Enjoy!

Free Fiction Tuesday! A Fine Line: Part 4

This chapter is going to be the last of the exhibition chapters before the action starts to pick up.  There are also a lot of details in this chapter that will come back into play for the rest of the story.  Make sure you pay attention and refer back here often.

Oh, and that thing you’ve been waiting for since the end of chapter one?  It’s going to happen.

Enjoy!

Free Fiction Tuesday! A Fine Line: Part 3

I’m blaming daylight savings time for the Thursday posting of this chapter.  They stole an hour from me that took me two extra days to recover from.  But I have not forgotten and come not only bearing the next chapter, but to present the fabulous cover art that was created for this story.

The cover art was designed by the wonderful Merel Newton, an up and coming graphic design artist from just south of England.  Please take a moment to visit her website and her deviant art page.  I think you will really enjoy what you see.

I also need to thank Bethany Kesler for acting as an editor for me on this chapter.  Remember that sometimes a second pair of eyes will help you in those spots that you stare at the page and go “something’s wrong… what is it though?!”

And now, onto the chapter!  You’ve been introduced to the main characters now, so it’s time for a little fun before the drama starts.  Enjoy!

Free Fiction Tuesday! A Fine Line: Part 2

So last week you were introduced to Herrick.  Not your average run of the mill hero, right?  But just wait.  He’ll come around… eventually.

This week, however, you’re about to meet the other main character of this story – Price.  I’m not going to tell you much more as not to spoil the story.  So enjoy – and feel free to leave comments and let me know how you are enjoying the story so far.  I really appreciate it.

Free Fiction Tuesday – A Fine Line: Part 1

You heard it right. Free. Fiction. And it just so happens to be posted for people to read on Tuesdays.

I’ve decided to start off this event in my blog using a novella that I’m currently rewriting. I started it back in college as a gift for three guys who were like brothers to me – Paschal Frisina, Josh Bradley, and Robb Zahm. We were also gamers and enjoyed a late night game of D&D with a bag full of Hostess goodies (there was a outlet near campus) and a jug of “dwarven spirits” – aka pink lemonade – that got stronger as the hours went on to sunrise.

Instead of recycling one of the adventures we went on, instead I took each of them and created a character that was their representation in this new world. It was to serve as a reminder for years to come of the fun we had, and the creativity that we all sparked in each other for those four years.

And now I get to share this novella with you. Every week I will post a new section of the story, and keep a master link of all the sections in the Free Fiction Tuesday tab. Once the story is completed, it will remain up as a complete work for another two weeks before it is taken down and the next story is started.

This novella is called A FINE LINE. Enjoy!

The Construction of Character 2: The “Minor” Main Character

In Chapter 8 of the Elements of Writing Fiction: Characters & Viewpoint, Orson Scott Card breaks down the three types of characters and their importance in a novel. Here is the excerpt:

1. Walk-ons and placeholders. You won’t develop these characters at all: they’re just people in the background, meant to lend realism or perform a simple function and then disappear, forgotten.

2. Minor Characters. These characters may make a difference in the plot, but we aren’t supposed to get emotionally involved with them, either negatively or positively. We don’t expect them to keep showing up in the story. Their desires and actions might cause a twist in the story, but play no role in shaping its ongoing flow. In fact, rule of thumb is that a minor character does one or two things in the story and then disappears.

3. Major Characters. This group includes the people we care about; we love them or hate them, fear them or hope they succeed. They show up again and again in the story. The story is, to one degree or another, about them, and we expect to find out what happens to them by the end. Their desired and actions drive the story forward and carry it through all it’s twists and turns.

This definition was published in 1988, and from the way I see books and television going, minor characters have gone from being in the background to being more involved in their stories. For instance, look at the television show CHUCK. The series revolves around a nerd, Chuck, who ends up with a military super computer inside of his head, and there is an CIA and NSA agent (Casey and Sarah) assigned to protect him and go on missions. That’s the major plot of the series, and if that element goes missing, you lose the essence of the story.

However, you also have the stories of Elle and Devon – Chuck’s sister and her “awesome” fiance – as well as Morgan, Lester, Jeff and the rest of the staff at the Buy More. The actions that happen within these two groups sometimes effect the story, or sometimes happen completely separate from the story.

Card’s definition would make Casey, Sarah and Chuck the major characters. His definition would also state that we should not get emotionally involved with anyone else. But what is Chuck without these other characters then, even if they are not involved with the story, nor are they even seen every week consistently? They have no effect most of the time at all on the “missions” that Chuck goes on, but yet they get a good amount of screen time for their own subplots.

Are they major characters though? No. You can remove their element from the episodes and the stories will still continue on. But do they fall into the Card’s definition of minor characters? No.

From my experience, there is a group of characters that falls between the two definitions – the “Minor” Main Character. People who slip in and out of the story, but appear in stories or episodes that capture the attention of an audience that moves them beyond the rank of a minor character. The audience gets attached to them. They want to see more of these characters. They cry when these characters are killed off.

And in some instances, fans of certain shows have such strong attachments to minor characters that they can even change the writer’s minds on killing off a character and expanding them into even a major character – I.E. Spike in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series was only supposed to last for a few episodes and DIE at the end of the season he premiered in. Instead he lived on, became a major character through the rest of the series, and even was pulled into the series Angel because the fans did not want to see him go.

Another example is Wedge Antilles in the Star Wars empire. Wedge was the X-Wing pilot in A New Hope who pulled out of the trench before Biggs was shot (for those who don’t know). To date now, Wedge has been immortalized in no less than a dozen Star Wars novels – 9 of which as a main character – as well as a successful comic series by Dark Horse comics and written by Michael Stackpole. Not bad for a guy that had 3 lines and maybe 2 minutes combined of screen time in A New Hope, and about another 6 or 7 lines in the sequels with about 3 more minutes of screen time.

When you are writing, look at your minor characters and see how you use them. Are they just there to deliver dialogue and walk off, or are they an important part of your Main Character’s lives. Do they show a personality that you want to explore more? If so, let them be a bit louder – but not too loud as to shift the story plot away or disrupt the hierarchy of who the main people really are. Let them have their five minutes of read time. Rein them back if they start to get out of control. Perhaps they hold clues for you when the story seems to come to a standstill. Maybe they are actually main characters you didn’t realize you needed.

And who knows, they may end up being the gateway to another series for you when you think the story is done. Which means more work, more stories and more fun in a world you’ve already spent so much time creating, but through a new set of eyes.

Inspirations – “The Christmas Cottage”

An artist – whether they write, draw, dance, or act – have something that gave them the inspiration to take up their art. As they go through their career, new inspirations pick up where the old ones have faded to memories. My personal inspirations change as I look at different genres to dabble in, yet sometimes I need a moment to remember why I write.

Last Christmas, I came upon a movie that touched my soul deeply, and it has become on of my favorite movies to share with friends. The movie is also the story of Thomas Kinkade and his mentor, Glen Wesman, during a hard December in 1977. The movie is called Christmas Cottage. (And I will admit two things – before watching the movie I didn’t really care for Kinkade’s work [which changed dramatically after the 103 minute movie] and that the only reason I even picked the movie up was because Jared Padalecki is in it [and he does a damn good job in it too])

During the movie, you see the evolution of Kinkade from his fancy art student life back to a dedicated son in a small town, and finding himself and his art while dealing with the problems and the people around him. It pulls at your heartstrings while making you laugh gently at the antics of a small town where everyone really does know one another. Each time I watch it, I find more and more drawn into the nuances that are sprinkled throughout that bring more and more understanding to what it means to find your inspiration and celebrate those who are a part of it.

One of the lines that gets to me is “You told me you weren’t going to teach me how to draw, but why to draw” and that is a thing I believe every artist needs to know before they can truly understand themselves and their art. If you don’t know why you are doing the craft, then you will be lost in it and never be able to fully show yourself and your talents in the work.

Another moment is where Tom is staring at the sky, looking at the stars and notices that even on the darkest night, even a little bit of light shines through, and then telling his realization to his mentor. To me, I see that no matter how crazy life it, how lost I feel in the world, if I can find the focus and why I’m here and what I’m doing when I sit down at my computer, then I can still find that “light” in my own work.

So, dear readers, I ask you… why do you write?

For me, the answer is still forming. I write because there are characters in my head who have stories that want to be told. Those characters are ones who are thrown into depressing situations that no one should have to endure, and then show the path they take to find their own strength to overcome it. I write to show hope for readers who think that they can never pull themselves out of the basements of their lives. I want them to know that like the characters, they can be “saved” if only they take control and find their own paths and faith in themselves.

Is it me trying to find my own faith in myself in my own life? Perhaps. But I look at it as building character, and strengthening souls. They are fictional… but perhaps one day they will provide inspiration for someone who finds themselves on their own broken road, and gives them the faith to save themselves.

At least, that’s what I hope for.

“It’s the light, Tom, that’s what lasts. The leaves are transient. They grow, turn green, turn red, and die… but behind them, the light lasts forever.”
Glen Wesman – The Christmas Cottage

The Construction of Character 1: Lovable Villains

There’s always a bad guy in every story.  Someone has to give your hero a problem that your story works through to resolve, after all.  They automatically appear, and its up to you to show just why they are the threat your hero sees them as.

But there’s a big different between a bad guy and a true villain, and most of that has to do with their development.  Your villain needs to be designed not only to truly be that threat, but also that lets you see that yes, he too is human just as much as your hero is.  And you know what… it’s okay to actually like them too.

Let’s look at a few of the more successful villains in popular media:

Sylar from HEROES: The young man who wanted to be special. In the first season you are introduced to Gabriel and his fall from grace into Sylar. He’s killed, tortured, and been given so many chances to redeem himself and always takes the wrong path. Sure, he tries to save himself sometimes, but the lust of his powers always brings him back.

Everyone knows what it feels like to be different and wanting to be special. This is the reason why so Marvel Comics is still in business with more mutant superheroes than a wiki can keep track of. As humans, we related to that need, sometimes much more than a cheerleader who likes to cut off her own finger to watch it grow back.

Sylar is us. He’s what we could become if we don’t watch our need for power, and what happens if we are willing to do anything for it. And we watch him and want to see if the next time he tries to take the good path, that he will do it. Because we want to think that if we were in that spot, we could too. We love him because we want to know if that was us, we could still be loved and saved too.

The writer’s achieved this in a very simple way – they showed it. You get to see in flashbacks the path that Gabriel took and the manipulations that happened to make him start on the path. They also show that deep inside, he’s just a scared man who just wants to make his mother proud; wants to be accepted by a group for who he is, and allowed to grow into maturity.

And of course Zachary Quinto then takes the writer’s words and is able to translate it onto the screen, using his vocal inflections, acting intentions and facial expressions to expand beyond the dialogue to round out the way Sylar is shown and in return embraced by the fans. And the fact that Quinto is attractive to boot doesn’t hinder him at all.

The Joker from the Batman Comics:

The crazy, maniacal, car wielding clown from the Batman empire wouldn’t be as well loved of a villain as he is today – Wizard magazine named him the Greatest Villain of All Time. His background differs depending on which form of media you look at him in – comic, cartoon, live tv series, or the movie portrayals by Jack Nicholson and of course, the Academy Award winning performance by the late Heath Ledger. But what keeps people coming back to wanting to see this character again and fear the way they might approach him in the new way?

Part of it is history – the Joker appeared in Batman #1 in 1940. He was the first villain, and has yet to be able to stay behind closed doors in Arkham. He’s hurt a LOT of people in his almost 70 years of mischief and mayhem, including the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin, as well as the paralysis of Barbara Gordon. He’s caused a lot of pain to the main hero, and so he’s earned the respect of the audience as a force to be reckoned with.

And then there is the fact that the Joker is a MURDERING CLOWN!!! He’s crazy, unpredictable, a genius and goes into his crime sprees with a painted smile on his face and putting them on all his victims too. The character sees and plans in so many circles and layers that if he wasn’t insane he would be in politics.

It’s the “what’s he going to do now?” factor that keeps the Joker going 70 years in popularity with his audience. He has never disappointed in entertaining, always gives his best performance when the writers bring him out for a job, and we have the knowledge that Batman will tuck him back into the little padded cell with his name engraved over the door at the end of the story. But unlike most villains who have a signature style every time they appear, the Joker consistently changes things up and the tricks will just keep coming until Batman figures out the endgame.

There’s no relation that can be drawn between the reader and the joker, however. The Batman series pulls it’s reader relationship in through its heroes. But you are able to respect and even love the Joker because of the feelings that your heroes go through while dealing with him, and knowing that his insanity brings depth and perspective to the heroes that lesser villains would not be able to accomplish. Its a symbiotic relationship – to love one means you must love the other.

Darth Vader from the Star Wars Saga:

Let’s face it – when Vader first appeared, he was a flunkie to the Emperor with an old school religion and awesome powers to choke people just by holding out his hands. But he wasn’t interesting then. With just the first movie out, the story was the three main characters – Han, Luke and Leia. Vader had no established history shown on screen or in the novelizations to make anyone give a care to him.

It was when Empire Strikes Back did Vader become interesting. You could tell that in writing the second story, George Lucas was starting to plot out the origin story. Yoda had the secret that Obi-Wan hadn’t told Luke about, or that Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru died protecting Luke from. Was it that Lucas didn’t know he would make Vader into Luke’s daddy dearest until then…

That doesn’t matter when you look at it on screen. Empire is where you have the climactic moment. “Luke, I am your Father.” That is the moment right there where suddenly Vader’s character changes, and you’re forced to watch everything again to reanalyze the villain and see him for more.

Why? Because now he’s human. He’s a father. He’s not trying to manipulate Luke – he’s doing what he thinks will save his son. He’s trying in some really unsuccessful fashion to even bond with him. Father and son taking over the universe? Sure, why not Dad!

When you rewatch, you then start to see the hints of humanity that you might have missed. The little things that Lucas put in that shows that this was once a man who lived and loved and wasn’t completely evil. And it sets up the expectation that now this is a man who can be saved.

Luke is already the hero of this movies, and now he sees his goal. We already know Luke can win space battles – but can he save his father’s soul? It’s that arc in the Return of the Jedi that keeps you on the edge of your seat in that final lightsaber battle, and when Luke is then on the ground screaming in pain for his father.

The prequels, no matter your opinion on them, are then trying to then take you back and show that origin story. Some of the reason why it failed is because Lucas had such a high expectation line from the fans that he would truly never be able to meet it. Everyone knew the story without it needing to be shown on screen.

It was that lack of a complete background story that had given the fans had twenty years of their own creativity to make up the missing pieces, pulling things from their own lives and putting them into Anakin Skywalker to make him someone they could all sympathize with.

In conclusion – You need to look at your villains as if they are the most important character in the novel, along with your hero. They are symbiotic, have had some kind of fall from grace, and there has to be either some hope for redemption or else showing that they are completely irredeemable in order to have them be believable. Then you need to make them human so that your readers can look at them and understand how they work – or think they can try in the cases like the Joker.

Know their background, even if you don’t plan to reveal it. Know the path that brought them to where they are at the beginning of your book. Write your origins story for them, and keep that in your pile of research. You already know your hero is going to win, but make it so that your readers may not believe that until you want them to.

And don’t be surprised if they get upset when they lose, and if you kill them off?… I would avoid any fan mail with black envelopes and pictures of bloody knives on them. But take comfort in knowing that if you got this response – you did it right.