Of Course I’m Right. I’m the Good Guy

08 Wednesday May 2024

Posted by Faust S. Amazing in Uncategorized, writing

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antagonist, editing, hemlock notations, how do I write, how to edit, how to write, storytelling, the editing process, the writing process, Villains, writing, writing advice, Writing Tips

“Nobody thinks they’re evil or bad, they think they are doing the right thing”. Andrew McCarthy, 1962.

This is a famous quote for writing and storytelling. It’s been paraphrased and repeated by lots of people, even villains in stories. I’ve also seen people take lots of exceptions with this quote. People have gotten very angry with this sentiment.

It’s a great conversation piece. Philosophically, it gets the brain juices flowing about the nature of good and evil. What is the mindset of someone who does evil things, or even what an “evil” thing may be. I, and really anybody, could go on about this at length. As philosophically, sociologically, and psychologically speaking this has so many meanings and implications it’s literally still a hot topic for debate.

What I want to talk about today in regards to writing is the antagonist of your story. What might this mean? Does this mean that your antagonist is the hero of their story? That is possible, but it’s only relevant if you’re telling the story from the antagonist’s perspective. Of course, then the antagonist would be the protagonist, wouldn’t they?

Oops! Looks like things have gotten muddled, doesn’t it?

Okay. Enough of the philosophical gymnastics. Let us, you and I, get down to the brass tacks of the matter.

I’ll try to make this as simple as possible. When it comes to crafting a story, what I believe the quote means is that the antagonist has their own motivation. Also, you, as the storyteller, have to know the role the antagonist plays in the story. When you know the role of your antagonist it can help you find their motivation. Let’s go over a few examples.

First, let’s look at Stephen King’s It. Obviously, Pennywise is the antagonist. What can we define his role as? I think It can easily fit into the ‘monster’ role. Okay. So, what does that mean for its motivations? Monster’s are forces of nature, they act on instinct, with one desire overwriting everything else. Most of the time, this amounts to killing and eating indiscriminately. Grendel from Beowulf is another example of a monster.

Next, let’s look at Professor James Moriarte from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. What is his role (other than being a Dark Mirror for Sherlock)? He would be a ‘mastermind’. He’s smart, thinking one, two, three, and even four steps, sometimes ten steps, ahead of those around him. He has no compunctions about hurting people, directly or indirectly. What are his motivations? Usually, masterminds are worried about making as much money as possible (sometimes it’s to prove they are smarter than everyone else), because they are the antagonists of the story, the means by which they do this is usually through underhanded, immoral, and illegal means. Unlike the monster, who will strike, stalk, kill, and hunt anything in its path bringing it into conflict with the protagonist(s); the meeting between a mastermind antagonist and a protagonist is usually, at least for the first time, completely coincidental. The protagonist might not even know they’ve met the mastermind antagonist. The reason the two of them have come into conflict is because of the difference in morals. The antagonist wants to be rich/outsmart people and is willing to break the laws of man and nature to do so. The protagonist, meanwhile, is an upholder of said laws. Thus, the conflict is inevitable. For more examples of masterminds check out almost any of the James Bond villains.

Lastly, I’d like to talk about Moff Gideon from the show The Mandolorian. If we look at his behavior throughout the series, one thing becomes readily apparent, he is in the role of dominator. A dominator is the type of person that wants to, as the name suggests, control things. The dominator will lie, cheat, double-deal, and kill to get their way. They are all about their way. They want to control a group (like a gang, cult, or similar organization), a town/city/nation/galaxy usually outside of whatever actual government is in charge. The dominator wants control because they are the only way the group will prosper, or order maintained, or only they have the correct vision of the future, and they don’t care how many rules/laws they have to break or how many people have to die for that prosperity/order/vision of the future. For another example of a dominator, look at Magneto from the X-Men franchise.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I’m not here to give you an exhaustive list. The point of the post, and the quote it started with, is that your antagonists aren’t just villains, they should be just as much people as your protagonist(s).

Until next time, be yourself, be well, write yourself, write well.

Life is for the Living

22 Wednesday Nov 2023

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editing, hemlock notations, how do I write, how to edit, how to write, the editing process, the writing process, writing, writing advice

Let me forgive myself for the stories that are not perfect,

for the scenes rushed through and the plot points fumbled,

and the language less than it ought to be,

and the phrases that make me wince,

even though no one notices but me.

Let me forgive myself for the stories I didn’t write,

didn’t finish, or didn’t let anyone see-

because I was living my life, or saving my life,

because I was falling in love, or falling out of love,

because I had run out of words, or room, or time,

let me forgive myself for all those stories

that live inside me

and not on the page.

Let me forgive myself for my failures, but also

for all those times when I tallied my shortcomings

instead of celebrating each small success.

Let me celebrate now:

not the life that I dreamed of, but the life that I have,

not the stories that I dreamed of, but the stories that I’ve made,

not the writer I imagined I’d one day be, but the writer that I am.

And then let me keep working

– Terri Windling

Someone I respect posted this a while ago, and I’ve wanted to include it here for some time. I’ve read it dozens of times since seeing it. I look at it as a sort of Serenity Prayer for writers.

Writing is largely a solitary endeavor, and as such it is far too easy to be penned in (pun intended) by our own minds. We are our harshest critics after all, and that means not only of our work, but of ourselves. Seeing the promotions and the successes of others in our chosen profession can make us jealous, envious, mad, and depressed if we let it.

In The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, Mark Manson mentions that we’re constantly bombard in today’s wired world of success stories, of once in a lifetime winners, of instant stardom, of perfect bodies and perfect lives. Because of this, we can feel like we’re behind, not on schedule, and failures. He also points out that this is a false narrative. There are plenty of people failing or just “getting by” every day that we’re not hearing about. So, it’s pointless to compare ourselves to other people.

Instead, I would like us to take a moment to re-read Terri Windling’s advice. Go ahead. I’ll do it with you.

There are going to be times, because of want or wane, that we will not be able to write. That the stories on the page must stop so that the story of us can reach the end of a chapter, or the beginning of a new one. And that’s okay. Really. Honest. The story of the suffering, or starving, artist sounds romantic, until it’s you who’s suffering or starving.

I’m not telling you to quit. I would never do that. But if there are times when you can’t, well, that’s how life goes sometimes. And, again, that’s okay. It may be a day, a week, a month, a year, maybe even a couple years, but take the time to live, take the time to take care of yourself. I promise the words, the characters, the stories will all be waiting for you when you come back. You might even find you’ve become a better writer too.

Take care of yourself, and be well.

Constraints of Medium

29 Saturday Jul 2023

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I’d like to think that this isn’t just a writing advice blog, but a storytelling advice blog. In that vein, I want to talk about a movie called, Slayers from 2022.

If you watch the trailer for the movie, and/or read the synopsis for the movie, it sounds pretty rad. A bunch of popular social influencers get invited to a pharmaceutical company’s owner’s house to talk about a branding deal. Unfortunately for the influencers, the owners are vampires that want to turn the influencers, and use their platforms to promote their agenda. Unfortunately for the vampires, a grizzled, experienced vampire slayer is on their trail and is planning on taking them out.

Doesn’t that sound like a pretty good action movie? It’s not the stuff of legends, but it’s a fun movie for a Friday night with friends and popcorn.

They’ve got a good cast. Thomas Jane plays the vampire slayer, walking the line of paranoid conspiracy theorist and war veteran to a tee. Abigail Breslin brings her own snarkiness to the lines of the vapid influencer she plays. And Malin Akerman brings her brand of sexy to the role of vampire matriarch.

If you decide to watch the movie, there’s a lot of fun stuff to admire. Flashbacks on Thomas Jane’s character show the fall of a good man, and help to flesh things out. Cut away scenes of animated sepia toned photographs gives us a quick look into vampire history. Interjections by Jane’s character narrating the poor decisions of the influencers and nods to video game high score screens, all add together to give the film some pop.

Sounds like a good movie, you might be saying to yourself.

Unfortunately for movie-goers, it is pretty bad. If you ask my wife, and I have to agree with her, I like some pretty bad movies. I wanted to like this movie, but I just couldn’t bring myself to. Many others agree, and are pretty vocal about it.

I would like to point out that this is not a movie review, but a storytelling review. So, what makes the storytelling so bad? It’s the plain and simple fact that they are trying to do too much. There are a few other things, like inconsistency, but the main problem is, they’re trying to shove too much into the medium they’re using.

Since this is a storytelling review, let’s use more traditional storytelling terms. For the purposes of this review, we’re going to look at Slayers as a short story. Movies, like short stories, are meant to be consumed in one sitting, and are shorter (relatively), than the novel equivalent, a season of a television show.

Like short stories, movies have to have a solid idea of what they want to accomplish. Clearly, the writers and director wanted to make a fun movie, something reminiscent of the old 1980’s classics. However, they also tried to pack in new lore for vampires as well, and they also added too many flashbacks, which take away from the present action, not only taking away the tension of the current situation, but bloating the story with excessive information.

Let me explain what I mean about how the tension is cut and the story becomes bloated. As I mentioned, we get several flashbacks on Thomas Jane’s character’s background. We get about a five minute long one that shows his daughter dying, and a clean shaven pre-slayer Slayer not being able to save her. We also get a two to three minute flashback that’s the opening to a crime documentary show that Jane’s character hosted, a man with a beard and steely determination to find his daughter’s killer, and we see the shades of the grizzled, unkempt slayer peeking through. This sounds cool, and it looks cool in the movie, mainly due to Jane’s commitment to the role. However, in a later scene, where Slayer is talking to one of the influencers that got away, he explains how his daughter died, and about working on a crime show to find her killers that was ultimately being paid for by the vampires that killed her. The line is given clearly and with feeling, and explains Slayer’s motivation in about two seconds.

If the writers were going to have several scenes where Slayer maps things out with the influencers, and the audience, about himself and the vampire conspiracy they’re wrapped up in, then why have the flashbacks? I mean, more stellar acting from Thomas Jane is always awesome, but the flashbacks are unneeded. For one thing, Slayer’s clearly unkempt appearance, abrasive social skills, and cluttered RV, are all, mostly visual, shorthand for character expansion for Slayer. The line with his motivation, given to illustrate how twisted this “family” of vampires is, is enough to nail down the character firmly in the film.

Let’s be honest with ourselves, there’s only two reasons someone lives off the grid hunting monsters; one, they’re batshit insane, or two, they have a tragic backstory involving said monsters. As people who are watching this type of movie, as fans of this type of movie, we know this. There’s no reason to bloat the movie with unnecessary flashbacks to shove the fact down our throat.

Which brings us to the second thing that led to information bloat, the vampires. There are numerous reasons horror movies are so easy to churn out. One of the reasons is the permanent place monsters inhabit in the public psyche. If you go up to someone who isn’t a horror fan and ask them what a vampire is and how you kill it; they could answer you. That’s why you pick vampires, or werewolves, or a ghost, or a slasher. As soon as you say that word your audience will know what’s happening and what’s going on. However, the writers of Slayers decided to bring in lore about how only a vampire’s spirit is immortal and has to transfer to another body to survive. Also, master vampires, older, more powerful vampires, have to be killed by someone in their bloodline. All of this is explained by cutting away from the tension of the house and the obvious trap the influencers are in, to the grimy RV with Slayer and one of the influencers. It also takes up precious time that could have focused on killing more vampires, or vampires toying with the influencers.

Watching the film, it’s clear that the writers and director had a cool idea and a cool vision for a film. Had they stuck making a fun, bloody vampire movie, it would have worked a lot better. However, at some point they decided they wanted to put a spin on vampires, their own mark on the lore. Which made the movie stumble, and threw off the timing. Adding this to the flashbacks that, while good (not just the acting, but the cinematography is spot on), only serve to take time away from the current situation, the current danger, the current tragedy, and make the movie feel that much more choppy and cut-up, and the thrilling narrative of the story begins to unravel.

Here’s the takeaway, know the constraints of the medium you’re using. For short stories, make sure you know what you want to accomplish and stay focused.

Be yourself, be well. Write yourself, write well.

The Werewolf Problem

08 Monday May 2023

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editing, how do I write, how to write, the editing process, the writing process, writing, writing advice

I recently read a tweet entitled: The Werewolf Problem, and I’d like to share what it was about and some of my thoughts on it.

This is a tweet about someone’s writing class and a lesson the teacher was trying to nail home. The professor asked the class: How do you kill a werewolf? The tweeter goes on to say that the answers were what you would expect (and I’m sure some of you have come up with yourself); silver bullets, silver weapons in general, decapitation. All the classics were represented.

The point of the tweet, and of the lesson the professor was trying to get across, is: It. Doesn’t. Fucking. Matter. Werewolves do not exist. They are a fictional construct. As a fictional construct, you can make up anything you want about them. However you establish werewolves are killed in your story, then that is how they are killed.

Sticking with werewolves as an example, I read a novel some years ago, and yes I can’t remember what it was called or who wrote it. The novel started during World War II and the Nazis had discovered a werewolf. In order to get “super soldiers” Nazis soldiers were intentionally bitten, but the allies show up and put an end to their little experience. Then the story flashes forward to the “present”, where an old allied soldier runs into one of the Nazis officers that was turned into a werewolf, who looks the same as he did decades before. So, in this story being a werewolf means you don’t age, or do so really slowly, also these Nazis-wolves have developed a sonic device which triggers their change into a werewolf outside of the full moon. To follow a couple more werewolf examples, in the movie An American Werewolf in Paris, someone develops a drug that causes the werewolf change outside of the full moon. In the book with the Nazis-wolves, silver could harm the werewolves, and even kill them but so did beheading, in the Werewolf in Paris, as in An American Werewolf in London, lots of physical damage could kill the werewolf, but it had to be fatal, otherwise the werewolf would just heal. In the television show Supernatural, werewolves had to be shot in the heart with silver to be killed, otherwise it was just a big annoyance for them. And let us not forget that “werewolf” meant something different in all three of these examples. In the book, werewolves were humanoid in shape, covered in fur with a wolf’s head. In the movie, werewolves were just really big, really aggressive forms of wolves. And in the television show, werewolves barely changed at all, having yellow eyes, sharp teeth, and little more than a bad attitude.

I’m sure if we looked, and feel free to do so on your own time, there are even more types of werewolves with even more ways to kill them out there. And really, that’s the point. When you’re writing a story, it’s your story. If you like the “traditional” descriptions and weaknesses of a werewolf (insert whatever other monster you prefer), then use them, but don’t let tradition and what a “real werewolf” is like hinder your story. Basing your story on myths and legends is wonderful, especially if you’re having a hard time starting, but you should always strive to make your story your own.

So…If you want your werewolves to turn into actual wolves and only be stopped by chrysanthemums, go for it. If you want your vampires to be sparkly and have superpowers, why not? If your fairies are all cannibals and that’s why they steal children, well…actually I think that one is real.

Until next time: Be yourself, be well. Write yourself, write well.

The 10,000th Hour

13 Wednesday Apr 2022

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The Hemlock Notations, writing advice

Malcom Gladwell is often misquoted that, ‘You need 10,000 hours to become an expert in a field.’ It’s not what he said. What he said is, ‘You need 10,000 hours to become a phenom in your field.’ An outlier, whose very name is synonymous with what you do.

Misquoted or not, the point of Dr. Gladwell’s statement rings true: The key to mastering a skill is practice. It makes sense, if you want to be good at something, you have to do it, and do it again, and do it one more time, and when you think you’re done, do it one more time just to make sure. A version of the quote comes from the show Cheer: ‘Do it until you get it right, and then do it until you can’t get it wrong.’

Writing and writing well is a skill. Like any skill, if you do it on a regular basis you get better at it. Talent is wonderful, and if you have it, I congratulate you, but talent will only get you so far. If you don’t have the drive to practice, to keep yourself sharp, to keep your talent growing, then eventually talent will be overtaken by someone who’s put in the time.

The first thing I ever wrote was shit. I mean, it was probably okay for my age, and my enthusiasm, but compared to where my writing is now, it was a steaming pile. The point is, I’ve been putting in the time since I was an adolescent. It doesn’t matter how you put in the time. Some people go to university and get a degree, and if you can do this, grand. However, it’s not the only way to get better. One of my writing professors, and I’ll never forget this because it was mildly insulting, said, in a discussion about becoming a better writer, ‘you can lock yourself in a room and write for three years, and at the end your writing will be better.’ So, really, it’s up to you how you get better. If you don’t have the time or money to go to university, that’s not stopping you from writing, and if you’re writing you’re getting better at writing.

And so, I ask you: What are you becoming an expert at? Binging internet series? Video games? Procrastinating? Or are you working your way to being an expert in the thing you say you love?

Until next time: Be yourself, be well. Write yourself, write well.

A Year in Review

04 Tuesday Jan 2022

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editing advice, faust amazing, Finishing a Story, how to edit, how to write, the editing process, The Hemlock Notations, the writing process, writing advice

Well, here we are. Another year behind us. Another NaNoWriMo in the history books. We’ve all had some times these past three hundred and sixty-five days. We’ve lost some people, some things, some beliefs, some ideas.

Firstly, I hope everyone got through things relatively unscathed, and if you didn’t…Let’s just say, good thoughts and wishes to you.

I do want to use the last couple of years to illustrate my point this new year. We got through it. We made it to the end. We finished.

There is an underrated significance in finishing in the writing community, I feel. There is no trainer pushing us to write every day as in sports. There is no cheering crowd to push us along the path, handing out encouragement and drinks as we reach the halfway point. There isn’t even a finishing line to cross when we complete a novel, though there is a finishing line. If we’re lucky we have that special someone in our lives that congratulates us when we’re done, and if we don’t, well, there’s even less fanfare.

And even then, the process of writing isn’t “finished”, what with the editing and re-writing, and the trying to get published, and then the editing and re-writing. Of course, there’s the strategy of having more than one project going at a time, which can make it difficult to focus on one, or feel like you’re done with anything, hard.

But there is a significance in finishing. In knowing that you’ve come to an end. I want you to know that that half-finished novel, the barely started short story, that “completed” one hundred and fifty pages of NaNoWriMo, I want you to finish it. I want to know how it ends. I’m cheering you on.

Ours is a solitary job, calling, journey, and ending, so I’ve found it’s fun to have a ritual for the ending of a story. Like James Cann’s character in the movie version of Misery, who has a cigarette at the end of a novel. Sometimes I’ll buy myself a book, sometimes a new pen or notebook, most of the time I just have a soda and sit in silence for however long it takes me to drink it. It doesn’t have to be a big thing. I would balk to even call it a celebration. What I would call it is an acknowledgement of being done, of finishing.

All things, good, bad, indifferent, come to an end. Shouldn’t your stories be one of them?

Until next time: Write yourself, write well. Be yourself, be well.

Hello World! Part III

22 Wednesday Sep 2021

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Hello World! Part III

Here we are, the last way to introduce your world to your readers. It is not so much a technique as it is a writing style. The third-person omniscient narrator.

You will find plenty examples of this type of writing in epic fantasy novels (J.R.R. Tolkien, and Sarah Douglass are good examples) and space operas in the science fiction genres (forgive me for not naming names, but I’m not familiar with this type of sci-fi enough to recommend). The techniques for introducing the world to the readers are rather straight forward, but bear mentioning because that’s what this is all about.

The first technique is sweeping, extravagant description. I would like to point out that description is a big part of writing, and appears in every story no matter what the point of view. In first-person point of view and third person limited point of view, the descriptions are confined to what the main character can see and what they would notice, adding to the characterization of the character. For instance, the hardnosed detective is going to notice quite different things than the college student who just discovered magic is real. With third person omniscient narration a good place to start thinking about descriptions is the bird’s eye view, the long-distance view. This p.o.v. isn’t anchored to one, singular spot or person, but sees everything. It is also not anchored to one spot in time either, so these sweeping, extravagant descriptions, can start with how something might have looked in the past, or how it will look in the future before settling on the present and coming down to what the characters in the story are doing. In looking at the world from above, from different times (past and present), a writer can freely introduce a reader to the world.

Another technique of the third-person omniscient narrator is switching to different characters. Being everywhere and all-knowing, the narrator can focus in on several different characters to show how different pieces of the story fit together or operator in synch (or at least tandem) with other parts. Again, this opens up the world of the story for the reader. If one of the characters you follow is upper class, and another is poor, it shows two different versions of the world in which the story is taking place. Every new character that a third person omniscient narrator follows shows off another facet of the world of the story.

I would like to state that each of these narration styles that I’ve mentioned in the past three posts have their strengths and weaknesses. The obvious weakness for the first-person point of view and third person limited is the fact that if the main character isn’t there then they can’t know about something that happened, but then that can be strength in the adding-suspense-part of the story. Where as third person omniscient narration can seem detached from the story, and authors run the risk of inserting their own voice and opinions into the voice of the narrator.

Ultimately, you should pick the type of narration that works for you and your story. Play around with each, experiment, and it’s okay if the choice changes throughout your writing life, or even from story to story.

Be yourself, be well. Write yourself, write well.

Hello World! Part II

19 Thursday Aug 2021

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editing advice, hemlock notations, how to write, Perspective, Point of View, World Building, writing advice, Writing Tips

The next perspective I want to talk about in introducing readers to your world is, the grizzled veteran. This character can be a veteran cop, or soldier, or knight, or private detective, or wizard, or private detective/wizard. It doesn’t really matter what their profession is, what matters is they have lived and worked in the world of your story for some time, enough time to be an old hand at everything that’s going to happen.

As with the S/I/O technique, this technique is best from the first person and third person limited point-of-view. The Harry Dresden books, and the Hunger Games series are good examples of the grizzled veteran P.O.V. Pay attention to the Hunger Games suggestion, because it illustrates that “grizzled veteran” is just a turn of phrase, as Katniss Everdeen is a teenage girl, not “old” in any sense other than in the context of her story, but she has lived in the world of the story for some time and knows about everything in it—which makes her a “veteran” of the world.

DISCLAIMER: This P.O.V. can be exceedingly fun to write in the first person, but you have to be careful with it. The grizzled veteran, first person P.O.V. is the stuff of noir and neo-noir detective novels and movies, and as such can come off as campy or parody very easily if you don’t have a strong grasp of character voice for it, and a plot that can sustain it.

Moving on! Unlike with the S/I/O, the veteran introduces us to the world not by having it explained/taught to them, but how they react to it. If, while on a case/mission/walk through the neighborhood, they encounter a hellhound and they are accepting of it (note: they can be surprised to see it but still accepting), then this tells the readers that hellhounds, and associated other demonic beings, are a part of this world. During the course of the encounter, the veteran struggles to x, y, and z to banish/kill the hellhound, then the readers now know that x, y, and z can kill/banish a hellhound and that similar things can be done to banish/kill other demonic beings. I would like to point out that it must be clear what the veteran’s reaction is and what they do to resolve the situation; it must be clear because those are the things defining your world. If either one of those things is vague or confusing then your world is vague and confusing.

Sometimes, to ease the burden of this character being the sole thing defining your world authors will provide them with a partner. When I say “provide”, I mean the author put in the partner, but story-wise there could be any number of reasons this person has latched onto the main character. In the Harry Dresden example, he is a consultant for the police, and has to have a police detective with him at all times. The presence of the partner is a release valve for the author, allowing them to explain to the partner certain bits of the world taking some of the weight off the back of the veteran and the storytelling. Be careful with this however, because too much explaining to the partner can lead to a flipping of the perspective, giving us an inverted student/initiate/outsider story. The partner should be competent individual in their own right, able to take care of themselves, if lacking in certain knowledge to do that effectively. To bring back the hellhound example, and saying the partner is a police detective, they can shoot the hound, staggering, but not stopping it, slowing it, but not killing it, and fending it off long enough for the veteran to find x, y, and z to deal with it permanently.

One of the ways to ramp up tension in this story is also the scenes of separation, (1) the unintentional split-up, and (2) the proving myself scene. Many of these stories have the plot device of partner/client/chosen one/loved one that need some form of protection (even the partner in this case). The unintentional split-up is usually a trap in order to separate the veteran from the thing they need to protect, but can also come as a twist of fate, or as part of a desperate last stand where the veteran and the thing must be separate for “safety”. The proving-myself-scene can be any of several things, but usually comes from a “I-work-better-alone” attitude, or “they’d-know-you-were-a-cop-from-a-mile-away” setup. Whatever the reason the veteran is taking a risk by going somewhere by themselves. Which can lead to one of two things or both; (1) it’s a trap for the veteran, (2) it’s a lure for the veteran so the “villain” can take a shot at the thing the veteran needed to protect, (3) both of these.

Of course, you don’t need a partner/client/chosen one/loved one to protect to ramp up tension in the story with the veteran. Another way to do that is, the “something new” approach. With this approach, the grizzled veteran who’s seen it all runs into something they’ve never seen before. The reason for this can be as varied as the story your telling, the threat could be ancient, or so rare as to be thought of as a myth, or could just be so gruesome or inventively sadistic that they can’t seem to wrap their mind around it. Let’s look at the show Supernatural, the premise being, there are monsters (werewolves, ghosts, and the like) in the world, and humans, called hunters, that hunt them down and kill them. Sam and Dean, the main characters, were raised to be hunters by their hunter father, and they are good at it, but every once and a while they ran into something they never fought before and would have to research it. In this story they are two grizzled veterans, and partners, and brothers (loved ones).

One of the most interesting ways to make a story with a grizzled veteran interesting, and to ramp up the stakes to eleven, is to have the antagonist another grizzled veteran. This is a person that is just as smart/tough/world weary as the protagonist, and thus can out think them. A story with a grizzled veteran antagonist is multi-layered, with the protagonist unraveling one plot only to find out that it’s there to obscure a much darker one. Probably one of the most famous G.V. vs. G. V. relationships in media is Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty. Two men, one a master detective, the other a master criminal, both geniuses, dark reflections of the other. The beauty of a Sherlock Holmes mystery was the, “how is he going to solve this one” pull of the character, but…If he solved a case, only to find more threads underneath, the reader knew Moriarty was afoot, and then the pull of the story was if he solved it.

Be yourself, be well. Write yourself, write well.

Hello World! Part I

23 Friday Jul 2021

Posted by Faust S. Amazing in Uncategorized

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editing, writing

You’ve decided who your main character is, and whether or not this is going to be in first person or third point of view, you’ve done all the research. All the brainstorming! ALL the outlining! ALL THE PREPARING! All that’s left to do is the writing.

Today, I want to talk about worldbuilding. That is, how you introduce your world to the readers. There are several techniques for this, but today I want to talk about, probably, one of the easiest ones. The technique of the student/initiate/outsider.

The S/I/O technique is common with the first person point of view and third person limited point of view, where you’re following just one character. Even though I’m calling the student/initiate/outsider technique they don’t literally have to be these things. Though, in the case of Harry Potter, he is a student, in the case of Shadow and Bone, is an initiate, and in the case of The Dark Elf Trilogy, he is an outsider.

Let’s be honest here, “outsider” is a pretty broad term anyway.

The point is, the character that the story follows is introduced to your world at the same time the reader is, they are learning as the reader learns. This sets up a clear path of information: 1) something happens to the character that they can’t explain; 2) someone explains it to them; 3) the character and the reader now know more about the world they’re in. It takes the pressure off having to dump all the information on the reader from the start.

This technique is also great for ramping up tension in the story. For instance, when “something new” happens to the main character there’s no way for them to know how to deal with it, allowing you to show how brutal or forgiving you’re going to be. When the dog’s shadow tears itself off the wall to attack your character will they end up in a fight, left bleeding and for dead in the middle of the street, or after a harrowing game of cat and mouse does your character escape. Both scenes add tension and show how (un)forgiving your story is.

Another great tension starter is the scene of separation; which happens after the character happens upon their mentor(s). Two of these scenes stand out for me: 1) the unintentional split-up, and the 2) proving myself moment. The unintentional split-up happens when the character does what they’re told, but somehow gets separated from the group. Suddenly, they are stuck in a situation without a safety net or backup, through no fault of their own, but still they’re suffering due to the unpredictable nature of the world they’re in. The proving myself moment is much more pro-active on the part of the character. Being flush with new found knowledge/power/confidence, the character sneaks away to kick the ass of the (thing that must not be named), only to find out it’s laid a trap, or what they thought it was is wrong and it’s something they aren’t prepared to fight. Again, both scenes add a sense of tension, but also highlight just how much the characters need to learn.

Another benefit of the controlled aspect of information is the tension of mystery. If there’s no one around to tell the character what’s happening the mystery of it, the tension of the unknown, can drive the story. The fumbling through the world, the hands-on learning, can be the fuel for the story. The need to acquire knowledge to survive the overarching plot.

Be careful with this technique though, because it can backfire so easily. You have to make sure you’re providing enough information to keep the reader interested in learning more, and you have to time the chunks of information to maintain the interest and deepen the understanding to keep a reader wanting to be in your world.

Be yourself, be well. Write yourself, write well.

PS: It is time I admit to my hypocrisy. I have felt uncomfortable for some time in following my own advice that being ‘being myself.’ For years I have written under a pseudonym, that of “Samuel Eden”. From this point on, though, I wish to write as myself, and thus shall be continuing under my true name: Faust Samhain Amazing.

Thoughts in the Key of ‘qwerty’

13 Saturday Mar 2021

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editing process, hemlock notations, How to be a Writer, how to write, Samuel Eden, writing advice, Writing Process

This is the title to my memoir. I called it! You can’t have it.

I recently read a piece of writing advice that inspired this post. I’ll give you the piece of advice so we all have some context for things. The advice is: Have more than one project to work on; that way while you’re waiting for edits and notes from your agent/publisher/partner/reading group you have something to keep you busy, to keep your mind ready and writing.

First, I love this advice! I have this blog (where I try to share helpful thoughts and lessons I have/learned in my lifelong journey writing). I also love to pen and paper roleplay (I know, big surprise), and I’m usually the Game/Dungeon Master so I’m the one coming up with the scenarios. Even my hobby is writing, because I just can’t enough.

I’m not crazy! You’re crazy!

Anyway, if you look at the archives there is a post about over preparing, and this one is going to be in the same vein as that.

My wife has a work associate with which we’ve spent some time. She works part-time and considers herself a writer. To be fair to her, she does write. She’s participated in NaNoWriMo a few years in a row, and has several partial novels from that, as well as a couple novels between 50 and 100 and some pages that she just felt inspired to start.

Can anyone see where this is going?

As far as I know, as of this writing, she hasn’t finished one project I’ve ever heard her talk about. While it’s great she has so many ideas-SHE HAS TO FINISH THEM! Seriously, just like in the “preparing post”, this lack of finishing even one project speaks to a fear of failure. We’ve all been there, half way through a story and the thoughts creep in…

What if it isn’t good?

What if it doesn’t make sense?

What if no one wants to read it?

What if I can’t get published?

What if…

What if it’s fucking good?!

What if it’s the next great novel of our generation?!

What if it inspires someone else to follow their dreams and they become a doctor and cure ignorance?

The point is, you, we, us will never know any of that if you don’t FINISH.

Which, I guess, if you’re continuously not finishing the stories you start that’s what you want. You’re scared that people won’t like your story, that people won’t like you, that you’ll fail, but if you never finish a story you never have to share it, share yourself. I can understand that. My survival instinct, the way I approach every situation even now, is to not make a big deal out of things, to not make a big deal out of me. I fade into the background, keep my head down, and live and let live. At the end of the day though, I yearn to have a voice, to be heard, and so, I write.

Failure can be scary, but I have to let you know: Failure isn’t not making it; failure is to stop trying.

So, finish. Finish your story before someone else does. I want to hear as many voices as I can. More! I want to drown in a sea of voices sharing their stories, sharing themselves.

Write yourself, write well. Be yourself, be well.