Picking the Right Name

As I was fumbling about on the web the other day it occurred to me that Shakespeare was wrong.

Now, this isn't something I generally say about the Bard, but he said "The play's the thing." I think that, perhaps, the name may be the thing.

Eddie Izzard happens to be one of my favorite comedians. He has a bit on the album Dressed to Kill where he discusses the 1950's rocker Arnold George Dorsey, better known by the name of the German composer he adopted: Englebert Humperdinck. His bit includes a "discussion" between Dorsey and his manager:

"But I like being Gerry Dorsey. It's a good name!"
"But you need a better one. How about Hinkleburt Slapdiback?"
"What? NO!"
"Satliborg Fistibuns?"
"NOO!"

And so on. It's a remarkably funny bit that also, like much of Eddie's comedy, tends to have two levels, including a level where it's no longer a parody and is actually quite true.

As writers, we need to seek out names that have some kind of connection to us, and to our characters. Names can demonstrate ethnicity, such as Jaime Tavala, the unfortunate soldier in the prologue to Counterattack.

Names can indicate power and strength, or be a source of amusement. Depending on what you're writing, you can place emphasis on either aspect. Terry Pratchett is a master of this. His characters include:

Sergeant Colon
Samuel Vimes
Captain Carrot
(Of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch.)

Esmeralda "Grannie" Weatherwax
Gytha "Nanny" Ogg
(Of the Lancre Coven)

and of course:

Moist Von Lipwig. (Yes, his first name is "Moist." Is it there any doubt why he grew up to be a con man who changes names and identities like underwear?)

Names change based on time periods as well as ethnicity and location. Consider Larry Niven's excellent work, A World Out of Time. The basic premise is a man dying of cancer in 1970 has himself frozen until he can be safely revived and cured. Two hundred years later he is "revived" by the State and his personality is "injected" into the body of a mindwiped criminal. He is then sent on a lengthy star mission to expiate his debt to the State that brought him back to life.

The main representative of the State is a man who introduces himself to the main character as "Pierce, for the State." Later in the book, when the main character steals the spaceship and decides to chart his own course through the stars, we discover that over two hundred years the name "Pierce" has changed somewhat to "Peerssa."

I'm sure it takes only a few moments to consider which genres each of the following names should be placed into:

Tynust
Vace Berakon
Ted Philson

If I were writing a fantasy fiction story, Tynust would be a good name for an aging smith. It seems to have a gravitas associated with it, like that of a master craftsman, with scarred and strong hands that are curiously gentle.

Vace Berakon almost has to be a hotshot starfighter pilot, probably too young to really comprehend the dangers of ship to ship combat in a vacuum, and convinced that he's immortal.

Ted Philson would make a good detective. Slightly corrupt, but only because he needs to be to get the job done, Ted's not above using "dropsy evidence" to gain a conviction when he knows the perp is guilty and he just can't prove it.

Each of these names were generated randomly from the following sites:

Tynust - http://www.rinkworks.com/namegen/fnames.cgi?d=checked&f=3 (Reload the site to generate new names.)

Vace Berakon - http://donjon.bin.sh/scifi/name/ (This site also features a fantasy name generator, as well as some Star Wars and Star Trek name generation as well, if you're interested in writing fan fiction.)

Ted Philson - http://www.kleimo.com/random/name.cfm (This site uses census data to generate random names, and allows you to set an "obscurity level" to determine how uncommon the name you generate is. At last! A use for census data that doesn't involve seeking excuses to give our tax money away!)

I'd like you to take a moment and continue to work on your character development. Use the random name generators to generate one name from each genre: SciFi, Fantasy, and Modern, and write a brief description of the character you think the name describes.

I'll bet you end up using one or more of them down the road.

Write On!

*****
Christopher Rivan

Virgins Slain, Dragons Rescued.
Reasonable rates for all budgets!

http://chrisrivan.blogspot.com/

Chris.Rivan@Yahoo.com

Essay: What can you learn from a webcomic?

I've been reading a lot of webcomics lately. You'll find links to some of my favorites to the right. I particularly recommend Sluggy Freelance by Pete Abrams. Since 1997 this webcomic has updated five times per week and featured several volumes worth of storylines and character development.

Incidentally, it also has the honor (such as it is) of affecting my life in a deeply personal manner. In 2008 I began reading Sluggy over the Christmas Break, knowing that in a few short weeks one of the most stressful times in a young teacher's life was going to crop up. I'm speaking, of course, of the monumental waste of time that is student teaching. (The only thing that consoles me about how much time and money I wasted on my student teaching is that it was slightly more worthwhile than the two years of theoretical study and pointless essay writing that preceded it.)

At the same time I was trying to cajole 33 sixth graders to study Ancient Rome and learn fractions, I was unwinding at night by reading the antics of Torg, Riff, and Bun-bun, a homicidal mini-lop rabbit. (Where does a mini-lop keep a switchblade and a Glock-19?)

I'm leaving one character out. Kiki, one of the most adorable anthropomorphic characters in comic history, literally changed my life when I became so interested in ferrets that I finally adopted a starving little girl rescued from the wild. Ankhesenamun (or "Mun" as I call her for short) is just about everything that Kiki is: sweet, naive, difficult to potty train (well, only in one spot, really), and the only thing that really keeps me sane most of the time.

If I could just stop the little weasel from raiding my paranormal investigation kit for toys, I'd be much happier.

Lest this blog degenerate into a Livejournal-ish diary and my blatherings drift towards similar styling to that of a 14-year-old emo chick, I'll stop talking about my personal life now. I'll say only that ferrets are wonderful pets. There are far too many of them in animal shelters that need good homes. They are nothing like dogs and cats and take a lot more work than both, and if you are even remotely interested in one as a pet then you need to read Ferrets for Dummies. I also strongly recommend that you volunteer at a local ferret shelter for at least two months before you adopt one. Not only will that give you a chance to get to know them and meet your soulmate, but it'll also help that shelter out. Most ferret shelters are run by private individuals who receive no assistance from local government-- no funds and no equipment. They exist by private donation and volunteer support.

All right, enough! I promise...

Back to webcomics. There are hundreds of webcomics out there. Most are free, some are dropped after only a few days or weeks, and some of them go on for years. Some, like Something Positive, cover themes ranging from homosexuality to suicide and grief (and yet still manage to make me laugh out loud when they aren't bringing tears to my eyes. Read S*P and see if you can keep your eyes from clouding when Davan's father is trying to tell his beloved wife that he has Alzheimer's.)

Some comics, like Penny Arcade, are devoted to video games. (BTW: that link will take you to the blog. Each comic has a blog post attached to it, and their home page points to it for some reason. Look to the upper left hand side for a link to the comic.) While Penny Arcade is ofttimes insanely violent and strangely tangential to the world of gaming, it also happens to be utterly hysterical (one of the few examples of any medium that has made me laugh out loud hard enough to not be able to stop).

For those gifted with a sense of altruism, Penny Arcade is also the source for "Child's Play." This wonderful charity raises money to buy gaming systems for kids in hospitals. If you ever spent any time in a hospital as a child, like I did with an utterly destroyed knee at age six, you can appreciate a charity so devoted to easing the pain of children in that situation with a diversion like a Nintendo DS. Read a few of the letters on the Child's Play website. If your eyes don't well up then you're a stronger man than I.

This post isn't just a bunch of commentary about how great webcomics are when you've worked a 16 hour day that includes four hours of lesson planning, spending $250 of your own money on teaching materials, and a two hour meeting with an administrator that hasn't been in a classroom as a regular teacher in six years who wants to shred your teaching methodology. There's a lot more here than that.

Webcomics can also give you insights into character and plot development. On the right hand side of this blog you'll find a list of links to my favorite webcomics. (Except for some NSFW ones.) On this list is Ctrl-Alt-Del, another gaming webcomic. One of the reasons I like this comic, other than the strangely twisted humor, is Ethan's growing maturity throughout its run. Beginning as a gamehead with no concept of responsibility, who spends his rent money on new game releases, Ethan grows up, loses a child, accidentally ends up as the owner of a game store and business owner, gets married, and develops. As you read the comic, you'll see him grow into something new, something different... possibly even something wonderful.

Going back to Sluggy Freelance, Torg begins the comic run in 1997 as a rather naively innocent goofball, more interested in beer and chicks (if he could find one) than in personal responsibility. However, as time marches on he becomes wiser, more focused, and in the That Which Redeems storyline he steps into the role of action hero in a manner that touched my heart. Let's just say that I have an enormous soft spot in my heart for anyone with the cojones to leap off a mountain of bones into the teeth of a demon lord carrying nothing but a sword and a heart full of furious rage. (By the way, that last panel is my all-time favorite comic artwork E-V-E-R!)

If you're looking for further sweeping storylines, check out another comic on the list to the right, Order of the Stick. Rich Burlew was a writer for Wizards of the Coast (the company that screwed up Advanced Dungeons and Dragons when they bought out TSR several years ago.) Not only does Burlew break the fourth wall more or less continuously to make references to gameplay mechanics, but he's managed to create character depth where at first glance there is nothing but stock fantasy.

Don't be fooled by what appears to be simplistic artwork, either. I defy you to find another comic artist, online or otherwise, that could show a battle every bit as broad in scope as the battle of Helm's Deep from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy-- using stick figures.

Because I am most interested in fantasy and science fiction, I am deeply impressed with Burlew's ability to develop complex and far-reaching "quests" for his characters. His MacGuffins are not merely magical plot devices used to get characters moving. He develops a real resonating purpose for each character's focus on the plot goals. (One caveat of this webcomic: I recommend staying out of the online forums. The rabid users there are every bit as pig-ignorant as the commentators on Yahoo News, and have no problems flaming to a crisp anyone that doesn't agree with their point of view. Moderation is usually done after the fact and makes no attempt to be fair or even reasonable. I was very disappointed in my brief sojourn there, and have not returned since October of 2008.)

Of course, the next question I can hear you thinking is, "Why a webcomic, Chris? Why not just read a book to get examples of characterization, plot development, and action sequences?"

Of course you can do that. I don't discount that much of my writing comes from influences like Chris Bunch, David Eddings, Simon Green, and Terry Pratchett. I'm all for reading as much and as widely as possible in your chosen genre and trying to absorb as much as you can from it. This is just one more example of that in action.

There was a time when webcomics were laughed at. United Artists-- the same company that forced Bill Watterson to stop making Calvin and Hobbes because they insisted on licensing his merchandise against his will, openly laughed at webcomics in the early 1990s, claiming that the medium was not only not profitable, but it was only effective for comic writers who couldn't get published any other way.

By the way, this is the same miserable bullshit argument that professional editors and publishers use to to defame self-publishing. They were the ones to call it "Vanity Press," and they still insist that self-publication means that you weren't good enough to make it in the "real" world of publication. Rich Burlew (Order of the Stick), Tim Buckley (Ctrl-Alt-Del), Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik (Penny Arcade), and Dave Kellet (Sheldon) may disagree that the medium isn't successful, since they make their livings off of it. (In fact, you can simply go HERE and check out a list of comics that pay handsomely enough to keep their writers solvent.)

My point here is a simple one: as an author, you should probably be seeking out examples of good writing wherever they may lurk. Just because it's bound to a simplistic form and also uses pictures to convey meaning rather than expository description doesn't mean that comics aren't also a source of good writing. Since most webcomics are freely available, including archives that go back more than a decade in some cases (like Sluggy), you can read them as you choose, unlike buying a $2.99 comic book every month, or shelling out $9.99 for a novel. (Not that I am trying to discourage either of those purchases, but free is always good.)

In addition to some laugh out loud humor and some incredible artwork, you might find something else as well...

... you might come home with a new family member.

Write On!

*****
Christopher Rivan

Virgins Slain, Dragons Rescued.
Reasonable rates for all budgets!

http://chrisrivan.blogspot.com/

Chris.Rivan@Yahoo.com

Essay: How Twitter Helps You Write Better

Thomas Jefferson, one of our Founding Fathers, and a man who would definitely be ashamed of the current administration and their power-grabbing and excessive taxation, once wrote a letter to his friend John Adams.

At the conclusion of the letter, Jefferson wrote, "I must apologize for the length of this letter. I had not the time to edit for brevity."

In The Dragherian Chronocles, fantasy author Stephen Brust has a character declaim, "Brevity! Oh, but I could write for pages and pages on the need to curb the excesses of language and contain the wit such as to present the thoughts clearly, remarkably, and in such straightforward manner as to make obvious the need for brevity in speech."

In less tongue-in-cheek manner, William Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, "Brevity is the soul of wit."

If I have a fault other than my amazing good looks and blistering charm, it's that I never seem to be able to say in one sentence what I could just as easily say in a paragraph-- or six. Not forgetting that my first published work was a 423-page behemoth of non-fiction, I'm just one wordy sumbitch.

I'd like to introduce you, if you're not already familiar with it, to a site called Twitter. Twitter is a social networking site developed to take advantage of SMS; otherwise known as text messaging. For each post, called a "tweet," you are limited to just 140 characters, and you can mini-blog to your account from your cell phone. (Although it's difficult to follow the message stream and the "conversations" using that device.)

I've met some great people on Twitter. Julie Duck, an editor-turned-author. Kimberly VanderHorst, lovely and brilliant. Eric Krouse, expert at the short story. JM Strother, who brought us the idea of the FridayFlash. These are all people I met on Twitter and interact with every day. They've offered comments, criticism, and encouragement to my writing. (Guys, thank you so much. I really appreciate it!)

Believe me, there are others, but if I were to take the time to individually mention every wicked cool person on Twitter I'd have no time to complete this post.

Another thing that Twitter does is hashtags. By sticking a pound sign (#) in front of a tag, you can make it stand out and be easily searched. This allows you to create discussions. For example, the Young Adult Literature Chat hashtag is #yalitchat. At certain times of the week a dozen or more young adult fiction authors will congregate to discuss the problems and methods of that genre.

For a writer, this is free professional development, and I encourage you to drop in. I tend to follow anyone who follows me, so if you think I might have something worth saying now and then, you can check out my twitter posts by clicking on the link to the upper right of this blog window.

When I first got a text message capable phone I made a couple of promises to myself. The first was that I would never, ever, E-V-E-R, use text message abbreviations. I will never "C U L8TR! QT!" I may, "See you in a few, you sexy beast." I do not ever replace the words "to" or "too" with the number 2, and as much as possible I will stick to standard literary conventions with regard to when to type out numbers. (Anything under the number twenty-five should be typed and hyphenated, if memory serves, so that's what I do.)

As much as possible, I even try to stick to sentences that contain subject, predicate, and punctuation and only standard abbreviations like "lbs" and "Dr". This makes writing concisely something of a challenge.

Applying this to Twitter, I've noticed that some aspects of my writing are improving because of the way I approach the social networking scene. I'm more concise and more focused in my delivery. I rely more on impact statements, including a judicious use of the fragment. (Think of Hemingway: "He died. In the rain." The second, incomplete sentence is an impact fragment.)

I am coming to believe that using sites like Twitter not only connects you to other authors and even editors and agents while simultaneously allowing you to attract people to your blogs/pages/writing and increase interest, but it also helps you to improve your writing itself.

I even ran across one author who spent an entire Saturday writing the ultimate in flash fiction: 140 character stories. Could you condense your writing down far enough to tell an entire story in just 140 characters?

Yeah. Me neither.

Let's see if I can condense this blog into a Twitter post:

"Twitter is a social networking engine that allows you to network with other authors and improve the brevity of your own writing. Try it!" -136 characters.

Write on!

*****
Christopher Rivan

Virgins Slain, Dragons Rescued.
Reasonable rates for all budgets!

http://chrisrivan.blogspot.com/

Chris.Rivan@Yahoo.com

What Can You Do In Six Minutes?

I want to shout out about a friend from Twitter who has a neat writing site called "Six Minute Story." I haven't used it fully yet, since at the time I went there I actually didn't have six minutes, but I'm gearing up to use it every day next week while I'm drilling.

Here's the premise: when you decide to write, you click on where it says "write" and a box opens up that offers you a hero, a villain, and a goal. A timer starts and you have six minutes to write the story. At the end, you can save it to the site and publish it, or keep it private.

This is a neat idea. One of the main problems with writing, as I see it, is that I am more or less constantly writing non-fiction. Sometimes I sit down to work on fiction and I'm stuck-- and then I start thinking about why I'm stuck and the next thing you know I've kicked out another damn blog about writing-- but no actual writing.

The only way to get good at writing fiction is to write it. Write it as often as you can. Ingest it wherever you can find it, stories, webcomics, novels, historical perspectives (which are mostly made up out of whole cloth by people who think they know what happened). Assimilate all these methods and means of fiction and then hork out some of your own.

Here's the best advice I can give: don't get attached to it. I've written stuff I thought was great and had people say it was flat, boring, and tasteless, sort of like Diet Coke. I've also written stuff I thought was dead dogshit and had people offer me publication and money for it.

The more you write, the less attached you get to your individual words, and the more practice you get at fixing/adjusting/altering when things aren't quite the way you want them to be. It also helps you take critiques more easily. People are going to criticize your work. David Eddings is one of my favorite authors and I have ripped him to shreds for everything he published from 2003 to his death last year. Chris Bunch is another one I love, but there are a few of his series that flat out stink. David Drake is probably the nicest man I've ever met, but I can't get through all of his writing. Some shines like a star, and some glitters like talcum powder.

And that's okay!

None of those writers were writing for me, personally. I'm glad that some of their books resonate within me and take me to places I'd never see on my own, but not everyone is going to do that.

You're going to be criticized. Get used to it. Don't hide your stuff away. Get it out there where people can see it and comment on it and make it more gooder.

Six Minute Story can help with all of that. It'll get you actively writing, and it'll get you a place where your writing can be read and commented on. Ask for criticism. Beg for criticism. Every time someone tells me, "I couldn't connect with that character." or "You spend too much time telling without showing us," my writing gets better.

Write on!

*****
Christopher Rivan

Virgins Slain, Dragons Rescued.
Reasonable rates for all budgets!

http://chrisrivan.blogspot.com/

Chris.Rivan@Yahoo.com

Essay: On Punctuation

Katie Weiland, who is fast becoming one of my favorite people (if for no other reason than because she actually seems to understand my warped sense of humor) has a fantastic video blog about the use of emphasis in your writing.

There are three reasons you should rundon'twalk to check it out. First, Katie knows her craft, with some six or eight published novels in a broad spectrum of fiction. Second, grammar, spelling, and punctuation are the tools we need to master to make our writing better, and c) Katie is a very pretty girl, and if you won't take two minutes to look at a pretty girl who wants to make you a better writer then I question your sexuality. (Gender is irrelevant in this case... because I'm being a wise ass.)

In the comments Katie and I had a little discussion about what a professor I had in college called "Alphabetic Kudzu." Kudzu is a plant that grows around trees and stifles them, sometimes growing so thick that it chokes out all the nutrients in the soil.

Here's an example. You tell me which passage is more powerful.

"With a snap of his fingers, Rincewind released a spell that arced across the field and detonated on the wall."

"With a snap of his fingers, Rincewind released a spell!!!" It arced across the field and detonated on the wall!!!"

Although the two phrases are virtually identical, one carries a lot more weight to the reader because it is easier to get through on a visual level. An exclamation point has no meaning in and of itself. It must be placed in context to achieve meaning. Multiple exclamation points do not increase this meaning they detract from it.

Another technique that sometimes gets away from people is the use of the comma splice. A comma splice occurs when you have two sentences that should be separated by a period (or semi colon) but are instead separated by a comma.

Here's an example from the above passage: An exclamation point has no meaning in and of itself, it must be placed in context to achieve meaning.

I specifically mentioned that passage because I have a tendency to use comma splices. I catch one or two on every read through of every thing I write. Pisses me off, but apparently that's the way my internal monologue speaks.

Remember that the purpose to grammar, punctuation, and spelling is to be invisible to the reader. Just as the camera is not visible when you're watching a movie (unless you look closely and see it reflected in C3PO's metal skin-- Lucas, I love you but you're a dumbass), the mechanics of writing should also be hidden from the reader.

Punctuation and spelling mistakes, in particular, jar the reader out of the smooth flow of information from page to brain. They make the reader pause and think, "Huh?" When that happens, generally there is a second or two-- which usually equates to a paragraph or more for faster readers-- that the reader is thinking of something other than the story.

There are times when this rule is not always applicable. For example, in Dune Frank Herbert uses phrases like this: "Paul rolled to his feet, raised the crysknife."

Grammatically, this is not correct. The subjunctive clause "raised the crysknife" needs another subject and should be its own sentence. At the very least, there should be a grammatical conjunction between the sentences to make a single compound sentence.

So why do it that way, and why did editors allow it?

Simple. As you can tell from that simple sentence, Herbert was writing an action scene. While I'm a dedicated anal-retentive when it comes to punctuation and spelling, I intentionally misuse grammar to make a point all the time. I use that exact technique in fight sequences more or less consistently as a device to demonstrate how people think while they are in a life and death situation.

Most people don't realize how thoughts flow in combat. Sometimes there are periods of "no-mind." These are scary, because you're usually just reacting by instinct with no reason whatsoever.

When you are capable of thought, it's usually twisted, shadowdark humor that would make a normal person cringe, or it's flashes of sentences and concepts. By eliminating conjunctions and other "kudzu" from the action words, we can get right to the essence: "I threw myself flat, sword whipping away, fireball flashburning my hair."

This is a bit longer post than usual on a Friday, but I didn't blog yesterday because I was super-hella-mega busy.

Now that you've read this, I want you to take a look at a book written by a friend of mine. Niki Morock is the author of The Perfect Circle, a book about paranormal experiences. The book is fiction, but the experiences have actually happened to her. Next month she will be at a book signing on April 8th. (I'll post more information as we get closer.)

Niki is a great person and a wonderful writer, so please check out her book by clicking on the picture below:

Write on!

*****
Christopher Rivan

Virgins Slain, Dragons Rescued.
Reasonable rates for all budgets!

http://chrisrivan.blogspot.com/

Chris.Rivan@Yahoo.com

Essay: Keepin' it real

When we think of fantasy fiction, we usually think of action sequences combined with long-range quests... lots of horseback and camping and seeking the MacGuffin or the bad guys or running like hell from evil or something.

Unfortunately, I have to admit some private astonishment that many action scenes are... boring. There is a rhythm and a rhyme to writing good action. I've been fortunate in that my action sequences, particularly fight scenes, usually receive highly positive comments and reviews.

I think part of this is due to my background in competitive martial arts and athletics. All you mommies that want to take sports away from your kids might consider that each experience you deprive him of is one less experience that he will eventually be able to describe.

One thing I've commented on before is that most authors honestly don't have any idea what it's like to be punched, kicked, or hit with something. In Battlefield Earth Johnny is struck in the head by a piece of metal thrown by a psychlo warrior. The object is thrown with enough force to leave fragments of superdense metal embedded in the interior of his skull.

Yet Johnny manages to pull himself to his feet, fight back, and accomplish his mission. I'm sure that I'm not the only concussion survivor to read that scene and think, "Horse Pucky!"

Part of the problem is that author L. Ron Hubbard was much better at creating asinine false religions than he was at understanding the workings of the human body (Really. Alien ghosts make us feel bad, Mr. Cruise. Are you sure it's not your lame-ass movies?)

Human joints only bend in certain directions. This is the secret behind joint manipulation martial arts like Aikido and Jujitsu. No one resists nikyo any more than they expect the Spanish Inquisition.

A human being can only absorb so much damage before experiencing what Dungeons and Dragons referred to as "System shock." This is basically a trauma so massive that it causes the brain to black out in response.

In 1992 I broke my arm. Three months later, two days after getting the cast off, I was in a biking accident and broke it again. The second break did so much damage that I blacked out. In D&D terminology I failed my system shock roll. (Yes, I'm a nerd. Get used to it now because if I could find a damn gaming group here in North Carolina I'd still be playing D&D. If you have a group, send me an email. I'm in Raleigh/Durham.)

These little bits are important to understand when we construct a fight scene. Yes, our heroes are larger than life. Johnny was able to force himself to remain awake and fight back (although somewhat improbably) because he is "da man." He is literally the reason the story was written, and it's possible for us to believe that if the damage he incurred had severed one more brain cell, or if he'd lost three more ounces of blood...

However, we need to consider the alternative view as well. When I read Earth I was less than pleased because it was obvious to me that Hubbard had no idea what he was talking about when it came to massive brain trauma. This is the number one killer of Americans in vehicle and biking accidents and falls. Fractured skulls generally kill you within minutes.

To continue putting this in perspective, I'd like you to realize that three years ago I was substitute teaching in an 8th grade class that was assigned to watch the movie Clash of the Titans. I made an error in timing and shut down the DVD player about ten minutes early. While I was waiting for it to boot up again I fell back on my Bloom's Taxonomy and asked a couple of redirection questions of the class to keep them focused. The second question I asked was, "What have we learned here?"

A very bright young lady in the third row said, "Anyone can be a hero if the gods give you a magic shield, magic sword, magic helmet, flying horse, and a robot owl that knows everything."

Um.

I'd like you to keep this in mind when you think about your own fiction. After all, it's very easy to make your heroes superhuman. It's very attractive to load them down with advantages that we don't have. Think about Superman. Nice guy though he is, where's the drama and the suspense in one of his comics? I certainly don't see any. Superman can walk slowly into a jewelry store holdup, ignoring the effects of automatic weapons fire directed at him, grab the bad guys by the neck, and wander just as slowly back outside to the assembled police cars.

In fact, the only thing that stops him is chunks of what must have been the biggest damn planet in the universe, considering that the bad guys manage to find a piece of it in every frickin' episode.

Now think about Daredevil, the "Man Without Fear." Double D (not to be confused with my high school girlfriend), was flippin' blind. Yes, he could hear heartbeats, but the man couldn't see!

In this case, the authors gave a pretty serious handicap to our hero, for all that they compensated him with some other gifts.

In Crossed Swords the heroes are given powers and gifts "as of a native of this world." What they are not given is immortality, invulnerability, or even any idea what the hell is in store for them. While Steve can cast spells that turn enemies to stone, and Dave can literally sneak up on sleeping horses and examine their hooves for injury without waking them, every action, even the slightest one, risks injury and even death. David ends up with broken ribs. Steve ends up with a concussion. They each run in absolute mortal terror from the same things that would scare the fur off of us (Like a fifty-foot lizard horking a fireball in your direction.)

The best stories are about people in conflict, fighting to overcome the odds. There is a scene I will never forget from the mini-series V. A lone woman, on crutches in fact, stands with nothing more than a pistol against an alien fighter on a strafing run. Around her are dead and dying. She's a doctor, who refuses to fight, but she picks up the gun and, holding it inexpertly, stands firm while the fighter locks in on her and blaster fire creeps closer.

The tears on her cheeks are not of fear or even sadness, but of anger, and as each round snapcracks out of the gun the recoil seems to set her teeth even further in determination.

I was ten when I saw that mini series, and I have never forgotten that dramatic act of bravery. I hope like hell that if aliens ever invade my planet I'll have the cojones to stand there and empty a magazine at them. One woman, against an interplanetary attack craft piloted by an advanced civilization?

A less obscure example is the end of Star Wars: Episode 1 A New Hope. As Luke begins his final run into the Death Star trench, Wedge (We've talked about Wedge before.) is hit in the forward stabilizer and starts to lose control of his X-Wing. He pulls out, leaving Luke and Biggs Darklighter (Luke's friend from Tattooine, who is barely mentioned in the original movie, but actually has a considerable backstory.) by themselves.

A few seconds later, Vader takes out Biggs and then hits R2D2 on the back of Luke's fighter, leaving him completely alone.

This is drama. This is "man against the world." Luke Skywalker is attacking a space station the size of a small moon, in a tactically poor position (with three enemy fighters on his six) by himself!

His only advantage is a dead guy he knew for about a day and a half telling him to use some wacky-ass mystical power he's never tried to channel.

My favorite author, Terry Pratchett, says, "Million to one chances succeed nine times out of ten." I think, for real action and suspense, you look to your action scene to be something like a ten-sided die. (I told you I play D&D.)

If you roll that die 100 times, in 90% of the rolls your main characters should fail-- and fail badly, with real consequences like death, maiming, or serious loss (of battle, freedom, loved one, etc.) Your action scene is about that one time out of ten when they beat the odds.

By the way, today's blog was written using Dr. Wicked's online "Write or Die." 1402 words in 35 minutes, not too shabby. Check it out!

Write on!

*****

Christopher Rivan

Virgins Slain, Dragons Rescued.
Reasonable rates for all budgets!

http://chrisrivan.blogspot.com/

Chris.Rivan@Yahoo.com

Link: Basic Plots

Sorry the blog is so late today, gentles. My middle school girls won a soccer game 5-1 and then I was a chaperon for their dance this evening. Interestingly enough, my responsibility as a chaperon is to prevent the identical behavior that I myself was desperately trying to engage in when I was their age.

I'm also still trying to balance out the blog here on some kind of regular schedule. My plan is to provide fiction examples on at least two days a week, Tuesdays will be a response to whatever the twittered writing prompt was on Monday, and later in the week will be an excerpt from Crossed Swords.

Fridays I think I'm going to link to other writing information I've discovered throughout the week.

Over at the IPL (Internet Public Library) there's a list of basic plots at which you might want to take a look. The link is HERE.

What I like the most about this particular link is that, with a little thought, we can use the plots in all manner of ways. Consider Simon Green's epic space opera Deathstalker. At least six of the "20 Plots" list are used in that book. (With 1.5 million words in the series, I'm surprised he didn't hit all of them!)

What if you took three basic plots and wove them together? Would that enrich your current project?

To me, the question then becomes, "Can I pull this off without making it so complex that the reader needs a Valium and an aspirin to get through?" If the answer is yes, then there's a good chance it might add a nifty little twist in there.

Another idea, from the character development standpoint, is to use two different plots for two different characters at the same time. Consider the Harry Potter series. While Harry had a specific plotline in each book, as well as an overarching plot that encompassed the series, Snape had another plot that he was following. If we were to use the examples from the list, Harry would be following the "Quest" or "Crime Pursued by Vengeance," but Snape (without giving it away if you haven't read the final book) may be considered as following the "Self-sacrificing for an ideal (love)" or "All Sacrificed for Passion" or even "Obstacles to Love."

To further understand character motivations I have sometimes written the same scene from the point of view of two or even more characters. The easiest way to do this is in first person, but third person works just as well if you're more comfortable with that. By doing this scene rewrite and explicitly following a different plot line with the second character, some surprising developments come to light.

This was supposed to be a simple link and somehow turned into a mini-essay, so I'll break it off here, but take a moment and see if some of your secondary characters (and the antagonist is usually one of them) could benefit with the addition of a plot line that specifically provides them a focus and raison d'etre.

Write on!

*****

Christopher Rivan

Virgins Slain, Dragons Rescued.
Reasonable rates for all budgets!

http://chrisrivan.blogspot.com/

Chris.Rivan@Yahoo.com