Writtenwyrdd

McKoala Challenge for February: reporting in

Report:  4 Points.  3 for outline (over 9,000 words) and 1 for additional words added to story.  I'm only counting it as half of 8k, as much of them are the words from the outline.

Well, I set aside Magus of Athlinar for February and worked on an outline for Blood Shot, which is now officially a novel.  (Yeah, like I needed another novel started.)  But I've been liking this one since I got the first 30k written a while ago with the intention of making it a novella. 

Thing was, Blood Shot had all sorts of subplot, and I opted to expand it rather than cut that stuff out...because I see that this particular story has potential to be a series start.  (One can hope!)  I have been using yWriter to plot it out, and that (free!) software has the advantage of giving a view of all chapter scenes and the ability to tag scenes with characters and "items" (which I use for tracking subplots).  It's helping me to get an interwoven series of subplots tied together.  

In March I hope to finish the outline, then I'll work on plotting out Magus of Athlinar, which should be easy as it's a short story.  I have an anthology market I want to try and submit the story to, if I can get it completed in time.

I've discovered something about my writing style, too:  Though I am a pantser by preference, I tend to write myself into stuck-in-the-middle without a plan.  So even if I don't stick to the outline, I'll have a better framework and will be able to adjust my ideas as they occur to me in a way that will allow me to keep moving forward.

Because if you don't know where you are going, your 'inspired ideas' can often derail the story.  That doesn't mean to me that you should never just let the characters gallop off doing whatever comes to their minds; but it means that if you allow them their heads, you know when to get control of the reins back before you waste time on something you'll be deleting later!

The clock is ticking!

Vacation starts tomorrow.  I'm out of town for my NYC then Egypt adventure in a few days, and it should be a blast.  I'll likely be off the web after the 8th, as I doubt I'll have internet on the cruise ship (although I might in the Cairo hotels.)  But the spare laptop is going with me, and I'll do the occasional post if I am able.  If not, I'll give an update upon my return.  With pictures.

I've been working on plotting Blood Shot this week (still) and I'm going to keep plugging away at it today.  The outline is over 9k long at this point, but I'm trying to wrap my head around juggling three or four interweaving plot lines so that, essentially, the main plot is affected by and affects the subplots.

Sometimes, I surprize myself by lusting after girly things.

I wouldn't wear these; they'd absolutely kill my crippled-by-youthful-folly feet.  But I WANT them.  Either will do.  S.E.X.Y.

I actually like these best:

Mrrow!  (But Hell will become a hockey rink before I lay out a few hundred bucks for shoes that aren't really cool over the knee boots--with buckles.)

I had a lush dream of gods and magick.

I had a dream last night the Old Gods were coming back, and, man, was it the most artistic and horrifyingly lush and gorgeous dream.  Now, bear in mind it all made sense when I dreamt it; and it sort of made sense when I wrote this down this morning.  But it's bizarre to read cold!

It started with me being lost and asking for directions. Then I had to sing to change a strange manifestation (which I now forget) into something mere humans could ignore/accept. But then, when I finally set off to go to work as my work shift was starting soon...I see one of my coworker's ski jets (we were at a bar, eating a cajun style crawfish boil) is coming adrift (we were at a beach), so I go out to grab it and realize it's a body in a canoe...and when I uncover the head end, see it's detached, the bones/neck are yellow green vaseline glass, and the head opens its eyes and STARTS SINGING! 

Now, I have been singing this beautiful off the cuff music throughout; and the singing corpse makes me realize THE OLD ONES ARE RETURNING...and humanity's reality and sanity might not survive it. I think in retrospect I spent the dream singing to subvert the manner of this arrival, though I only knew it was somehow my fault/responsibility. 

I sang in this dream all over the place when I wanted to change things. It was powerful, fun. And because I realized 'my kind' (whatever that means) were the ones somehow by existing anchoring or calling to these beings...and if we called them, it was our responsibility to adjust the manifestation.

I was just figuring out how to cause Hestia (or some gal linked to hearthfire) to be an old fashioned cookstove (which was shifting about and requiring my constant attention to get her to agree with my vision, and we were working on a compromise shape that would stop her morphing form or rotating the vent/stovetop like a turret or sprouting iron flowers) when the alarm went out. My last thought as i reluctantly left was I desperately wanted to find out how this ended, and that humanity wasn't going to deal well with this. 

And that's the sort of dream that haunts me. Haven't had one that emotionally haunting in a while. And in order to record it at all, I've left a lot out.

The singing and the emphasis on vivid color and surreal costume and art (including strange faerieland garb that generally manifested while i'd sing) was beautiful. Wish I could remember it.

Might I recommend a new urban fantasy read?

Spiral Hunt, a new urban fantasy by Margaret Ronald

This is a cool new world, set in an alternate Boston and starring Evie, who has a talent for finding things.  People call her the Hound, and it turns out to be more true than she knew...

All in all, new take on Celtic tropes and a different take on magic.  I think that if you liked Nancy Holzner's Dead Town, Simon Greene's Nightside books, or other urban fantasy reads, you'll like this one.

The sequel, Wild Hunt, is already available.

I've named Gall Bladder: Alotta Gall.
Thank you, pacatrue.

Because how can I resist the "You have Alotta Gall" vs. the "No, I don't have Alotta Gall" response. I mean, you can't say no to that!

So Paca winds something cool, and it's perfect, sort of, for a linguist:

A grammar peeve notebook.

The fascinating properties of silver

Patricia Briggs has an excellent article on silver, ancient beliefs about silver, and the difficulties in making silver bullets.

Entertain yourself here.

Made up words for your made up world

Liana Brooks has another thoughtful post about language in your fictional worlds, with particular coolness in her thoughts about how to make your fictional language relevant to the story and your characters. 

This made me consider my own use of made up words in my worldbuilding.  It's something I spend a good bit of time considering.  I try to give a 'flavor' of sound to a culture so that they show their uniqueness.  And I try to keep it fairly simple.

I haven't made any extensive study of languages, but from the smattering of French, Italian, Spanish and my knowledge of English (especially studies long ago in ESL teaching) I have a sense of things you can do to give your culture a unique feel, including

• plural structure.  In one story, I have -anin used as a suffix for plurals.
• common dipthongs (combined vowels).  I also use the diphthong ai to end many names, often nicknames.
• consonant blends unique/common to their language.  In the same story, I have jh used frequently (a dgza sound.)
• name styles (to include indicators of status and relationship.)  As you can tell the country where a name came from--such as Vasily is likely Russian, and Sven is some flavor of Nordic, and Jesus is likely hispanic--you can configure formal names for your society so that they have a unique sound and structure.

And then there's slang.
Liana mentions appropriate slang for the world.  This can be very important for realism.  Especially when your heroine drops a barrel on her foot and howls bloody murder and needs to swear.  If you don't have swear words, how can she unless you use real world curses?  and that wouldn't be very good, would it?

Slang is an interesting thing, usually developed from what a culture deems taboo, or often formed from a bastardization of what is held in esteem, which is frequently religious items, beliefs or diety.  Thus you have Elizabethans swearing 'Zounds! (for God's Wounds)--a bastardization of what is held in high esteem, e.g. Jesus' suffering on the cross for mankind's sins.  And taboo things, such as excrement,  sexual matters, or other things that cause squirming discomfort or which are not acceptable in mixed company (if you know what I mean) form many of our off color terms:  bugger, crap, shit, shit stain, skid mark, asshole, etc.

In her article, Liana Brooks mentions Anne McCaffery's use of slang in the Pern novels.  It's a great example of simple and telling slang that works:  By the shell, shards, by the First Egg, etc.

Forming your own slang.
How about considering a few quirks for your society.  What are your people embarrassed about?  thsoe are the things that a culture will inevitably turn into swear words.  Because curse words are meant to shock. So if in your fictional world it is not done to be seen eating, then food-related words will be turned into cuss words.  You can picture someone saying, 'Halitosis!" or "Rot!" instead of "Damn!" and "Hell!"

And from slang you can segue to insult.
Insults are a wonderful thing.  And if you can manage to be amusing with them it's even better. (At least, I think so.)  So where we might insult someone by saying, *"the best part of you ran down your daddy's leg," our food-phobic culture's native might say, "your mamma sucked the life out of your egg."  Not the same thing as cursing, insults often in their lowest, crudest form, are derivative of curses.  Not that they are curses, but the same words or concepts are used to form them. 

Your hero hollering, 'I'll get you, bacon breath!" would be a nasty thing to say in our fictional food-phobic society, because having the odor of food on your breath would be like calling someone a skid mark in our own.  

In any case, there's teh final requirement:  You can't make the language look like it's trying too hard.  Unless this is deliberate spoof, it needs to be subtle.  Far more subtle than my examples...although I rather like the bacon breath one.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on these matters. And happy writing, as always!

*This was one I heard in the Army.  I take no credit for it--nor do I want it.

Music didn't soothe the savage Simon breast

I like Didi Benami on American Idol.  I usually agree with Simon, but I disagreed with his commentary last night.  You can see her perform Terrified at the Hollywood audition here.  Just sayin'.

Weird book Wednesday: WTF?

Are They Human Yet?
tpb, 162 pages
Trafford Publishing

I read the product description of this book, and, frankly, I'm not sure what the hell this is.  I think the person writing the product description was suffering from schizophrenia or something.  Aaaaanyhow, a book that requests readers and researchers to provide input to the 'project' without precisely defining it?  Awesomely vague.  Weird book.  Not sure I'd be interested in it even for the curiosity factor (and if you knew my low curiosity threshold for book purchase, you'd know it was limbo-marathon-winning low) so I'll wait with bated breath for you guys to buy it and encourage me. 

Product description:
What is the essence of humanity? What would an integrated science of Homo sapiens, the human species, include? Would such an understanding allow the species to manage itself better? Is the species making any progress at all along these lines? Or is its burgeoning material progress the best, and most, that should be expected of it?

These are the kinds of questions that this modest little volume has the boldness to address. Presented as the draft report of The Homo sapiens Project, the book summarizes the current status of the human species, including its knowledge and management of itself. Written as a Consultation Draft, the book seeks feedback from readers and researchers interested in the future of humanity.

Although the report was allegedly written by The Homo sapiens Project, the manuscript was brought to us by a person who prefers to remain anonymous at this time. Neither that person not the publisher can validate its authenticity. "Its apparent strength, and robustness, as an hypothesis convinced us to proceed with publication," said the publisher recently.

Read for yourself how the difference (or is it war) between the sexes plays itself out in the human societies on planet Earth. Read where this species has come from, and where it is now, according to this ostensibly independent and objective analysis. Then, follow the hints towards the end of the book and muse about how the future of humanity might unfold.

For the basis for acting on a human future is here, too. But be warned. The knowledge developing from this line of reasoning can be put to both 'good' and 'evil' purposes. The choice will be yours - to find the right balance for the future of the species -- once you understand...

"Are They Human Yet?" poses a rhetorical question with a serious intent. Help choose a human future... read this book.

Mourning my soon-to-be passe gall bladder

Now that it's going away, I think I should name Gall Bladder. That way, I can mourn it more properly. Any suggestions?

I'm serious.  Really.  She (it has to be she if I name her, as I'm a she) has been with me a long, long time.  And really this is more like a divorce, a putting aside (with or without malice) of a bit of baggage which no longer serves my needs, doesn't scratch the old itch, is no longer young enough to handle the load, as it were...

But I draw the line at keeping her on the mantle.  Mostly because I do not have one.

And my surgery is on April 1st.  

If you come up with a good name I'll send you something cool.  Rules are, if I use your suggestion, you win.  That is all. 

And no cracks about unmitigated gall.  I mean it, wiseguys.

Monocultures in your fictional worlds

"The chances of having a single planet with only one culture present is low. Exceptionally low. So low that writers who resort to this better have a really good excuse or else." Liana Brooks

Ms. Brooks has an excellent article on monocultures in your stories.  In terms of worldbuilding, monocultures seem like an easy out for a writer.  Too easy, too glib, and possibly annoyingly so for readers, because the audience for spec fic is a lot more demanding in their expectations.  They are used to having an entire world shown, not a simplistic sketch.  They are reading in large part to discover the world the writer creates, too!

I have been working off and on on a story set in a world with ties between Faerie and Earth.  It occured to me right off that I had to have multi-national conflicts on both sides of the gateway for the story to work.  And it's both been a nightmare and deepened the plot considerably.  More is at stake.  Blame can be shared, spying can be attributed to more than one source, thus deepening the mystery/confusion.  Et cetera.

However, I can think of a few examples where books have a monoculture technically, but due to political factions it's as if there are multiple cultures.  Tinker and Stealing The Elf King's Roses are two examples of that sort of worldbuilding.  (Both are excellent reads if you haven't tried them already.)

 

The three stages of writing

Dani Greer at Blood Red Pencil has some great thoughts on the stages of writing a novel. 

The first stage in any writing project is getting the words down on paper, without regard to form, grammar, punctuation, or anything your inner critic might find to pick apart. This is where the writer dreams with reckless abandon – or in the case of a memoir - remembers without reservation....

The second major step in writing involves revising and editing. This is where we examine the holes in our stories, and as editors, poke in a few more before the author hunkers down to the business of repairing the flaws....

Finally, and particularly in today’s publishing environment, comes the third major component of the writing life – marketing. One cannot get around it.

You write science fiction, you should have this one memorized: Musical Monday does the elements

Tom Lehrer again.  Enjoy.

Senior Moment

Doubleclick to enlarge this so you can read it.  Hilarious.  From an email, source unknown.

Just what I needed!

And I say that in the most sarcastic way possible.  Okay, not really.  I sort of expected it. 

What I'm referring to is that I got the results of an ultrasound taken on the 3rd, and (as I kind of expected) I do have gallstones, and the surgeon will be calling me about it next week.  She's been on vacation the last couple of weeks, which explains why I hadn't heard from her office.  But as I saw my primary doc yesterday and asked her about it, I got the bad news. 

Kinda have to laugh.  I've apparently had gallstones for years, since I've been getting random and inexplicable heartburn and even nausea from a mere bite of something only a tiny bit greasy.  It's off and on, and unpredictable.  But since it's gotten dramatically worse post gastric bypass, and that's one of the common problems that develop after a bypass, I called the surgeon and got the scan.  Please don't get freaked out on my account, though; it appears that I will be losing my gall bladder, but I don't have gastritis and the bile and common ducts are not blocked even partially by stones, so we don't have an emergency here.  And it can likely be done endoscopically, keeping me off work less than a week. Go me.

All I can say is I'm not cancelling my vacation.  I leave in less than 2 weeks. 

Writing is going well.  Still working on an outline for Blood Shot, and as I figure I can milk the world for a series, I'm trying to plot it that way.  A bit money grubbing of me, but if you can present a series all mapped out, I hear it can aid you in your cause of getting additional books published.  If you have read and liked the Black Dagger Brotherhood, you have a good idea what sort of feel I'm going for.  But the plot elements and basis of the world are as different as I can make them. 

I'm still liking yWriter for plotting.  It's handy and you can double check your thoughts to ensure you don't forget some critical subplot halfway through.  And you can't beat free.

AutocompleteMe: an hilarious site. Go here and laugh at the screen captures. http://autocompleteme.com/

What's going on

Ironically on the heels of being given the Prolific Blogger Award, I am announcing a slow down.  Temporarily.  I am in the midst of a creative furor and I'm trying to steamroll myself into getting an entire novel plotted this month.  As a consequence, my beloved blogging has been and will remain subpar for a bit.  (And then I go on vacation for a couple of weeks in March, so that's really gonna help!)

I do have hopes of spending some time doing preposting, but I will not do more than every other day for that (e.g. 3 posts per week).  You might get more than that.  You might get less.  But do know that I will be back.  You have to be dedicated to blogging if you actually pay for the blog site like I do; so I have to be back, lol.

A few things I was thinking of doing were some more grammar related posts, and a few opportunities posts.  Perhaps low-content things like Musical Mondays and Weird Book Wednesdays.  We'll see.  But if you have any requests, you can drop them in the comments and I'll see what I can do.  No guarantees, but I get my ideas from all sorts of places.  Might as well use the 'audience.' :)

Aw, shucks...

I'm writtenwyrdd, and this is my 1402nd post on this blog.  And somebody has accused me of being prolific.  Probably with good cause.

So thank you to Bernita for naming me for a Prolific Blogger Award, because, well, my mouth over floweth on a regular basis.  (That's not the best image ever, is it?)  Aaaanyhow, moving on to the rules:

• Every winner of the Prolific Blogger Award has to shall, if they choose to participate, pass on this award to at least seven other deserving prolific bloggers. Spread some love!
• Each Prolific Blogger must link to the blog from which he/she has received the award.
• Every Prolific Blogger must link back to This Post, which explains the origins and motivation for the award.
• Every Prolific Blogger must visit this post and add his/her name in the Mr. Linky, so that we all can get to know the other winners.

And, avoiding those who are already named, I designate (with a bap on the head with my trademarked Genuine Fairy Razzle Dazzle Wand That Shoots Really Cool Sparks) the following Prolific Blogger Award recipients:

Colin Harvey
Editorial Ass
Ellen Oh at HelloEllo2
Natasha Fondren at Spyscribbler
Tyhitia Green at Obfuscation of Reality
Kiersten White at Kiersten Writes
Fairyhedgehog

Whew! One less thing to worry about.

Don't fret about exacting first drafts.  Even when I hold a copy of my finished book in my hands, all I can think is, "Well, it's less wrong."  Anton Strout on Facebook, 2/16/2010

yWriter

FYI, I've been working on the Bloodshot outline, and I tried yWriter. I really like it for organizing my thoughts. Plus it's free.  Click on the "software for writers" category to find the earlier post with the link.

My word outline is very dense and hard to read, and yWriter lets you pick which story item, character or keyword you wish. A bit more versatile in some ways.

The only thing I'd add is a means to track multiple subplots. But keywords will work for that if you make each subplot an 'item'.

(Jeez, every time I post via email it gets screwy formatting.)

Musical Monday says Dr. Demento isn't dead

Here's a lovely old song about pigeons...by Tom Lehrer.  If you haven't heard of him, be afraid...be very afraid.  Enjoy it here.

As this was a big hit at our Unitarian Universalist Mardi Gras/Valentines day fundraiser (it sold out fast and several people wanted the recipe) I thought I'd share.

The story:
I ate some soup at a little place on the bayou in Louisiana, and I thought it was remarkably like New England corn chowder but with stuff added. When I got home, I made it. Here's the recipe. It tastes exactly like what we had that day.

Ingredients:
3 uncooked slices of bacon
2 qts half and half (fat free is fine) (You can add more cream or milk if desired)
2 cups frozen corn
1/2 a green bell pepper, diced.
Large sweet onion, diced
1 stick of butter
Cajun seasoning (I use Tony Chachere's) about 2 tbsp
Carribbean jerk seasoning (Shillings) about 1 tbsp
One pound cooked, shelled shrimp, thawed. (Small is best.)
2-3 pounds yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced.
3 large cloves garlic (or diced garlic in a jar, 2 tbsp.)
salt and pepper, about a tsp each
2-3 tablespoons flour
about 2 cups water.

Directions:
In a heavy-bottomed pan, melt butter on low. Add onions, cook on low until onions are transparent/ clear. While onions cook, in a separate pan fry the bacon, remove from pan. Add flour to bacon grease, stir until blended smooth and continue stirring on medium heat until roux becomes brown and all bacon remnants are picked up from the pan. When the onions are cooked, add roux, potatoes, and enough water to just cover the potatoes. (Bacon can be chopped fine and added as well.) Simmer about 45 minutes or until potatoes are done. Turn heat to low, add half and half or cream. (As much as half of the cream/half and half can be milk.) Simmer, stirring frequently to avoid the milk scorching on the bottom of the pan. After about half an hour, add bell pepper, corn, garlic, seasonings to taste. Simmer one to two hours. (NOTE: This recipe is flexible. I don't measure that accurately and I season to taste. You should, too.)

Monster research on the web

I'm researching monsters, primarily because with the whole plotting out Blood Shot I have to come up with a list of potential paranormal entities that hopefully are new(ish) and thus fresh(ish) in the urban fantasy scene.  I'm trying to be somewhat unique and bring a twist to the story via the cast of characters.  One tries one's best, anyhow. 

I have several books on monsters and a ton of mythology books that are really useful to look things up in, but they don't have everything, or they take a lot of time to plow through.  And so I went trawling for web sites that can give you instant gratification.

Asian beasties, grouped by the animal upon which they are based at Himmapan; Wikipedia's list of legendary creatures with links; and of course Monstropedia, a huge database of the mythical and monstrous.

Airline charges - a list

Just got a link regarding charges for checked luggage for various US airlines.  I think that this is blatant piracy, but the companies have us by the short and curlies with this one, the bastards.  Anyhow, you might notice the ridiculous rates for in flight snacks/meals are listed, too.  (BTW, you are better off bringing food for yourself than getting their sandwiches, which now are usually stale/old/unappetizing.  Or so I am told by recent travelers.)

Jungian Archetypes and Characterization (repost)

Any archetype can do anything – the question will always be why. Tami Cowden

Reposted from January 14, 2008.  I get lots of hits on this one still.  Thought I'd share it again.

Probably most of you have, at minimum, heard the term 'archetype' as developed and used by Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, as well as the term 'collective unconsciousness'. I'm not going to define them myself, as I'd be really bad at it; but you should probably familiarize yourself with the concept in order to increase your skills as a creator of characters. Or, failing that, just read a hell of a lot of mythology, Joseph Campbell, epic poetry. Or you could listen to Jewel ad nauseum on your iPod...

What are Archetypes?
Per wiki: Archetypes are innate universal pre-conscious psychic dispositions that form the substrate from which the basic themes of human life emerge. Being universal and innate, their influence can be detected in the form of myths, symbols and psychic aptitudes of human beings the world over. The archetypes are components of the collective unconscious and serve to organize, direct and inform human thought and behavior.

The Sixteen Jungian Archetypes.
Jung outlined four main archetypes (Self, Shadow, Anima, Animus) but there are also symbols with layered meanings, and which for the purpose of creating characters are much the same thing (IMO). For these, Jung coined the term, primordial images. "Primordial images originate from the initial stages of humanity and have been part of the collective unconscious ever since. It is through primordial images that universal archetypes are experienced, and more importantly, that the unconscious is revealed."

Ripped from Wikipedia, these are:
The Self, the regulating center of the psyche and facilitator of individuation
The Shadow, the opposite of the ego image, often containing qualities that the ego does not identify with but possess nonetheless
The Anima, the feminine image in a man's psyche
The Animus, the masculine image in a woman's psyche
The Syzygy, a pairing of contrasexual opposites, which symbolized the communication of the conscious and unconscious minds. The conjunction of two organisms without the loss of identity.
The Child, is portrayed in literature in various ways. Often takes the form of a child who displays adult-like qualities giving, for example, wise advice to their friends or vice versa. (Linus van Pelt)
The Hero/Heroine, character that in the face of danger and adversity, from a position of weakness displays courage and the will for self-sacrifice, that is, heroism, for some greater good. (Gilgamesh)
The Great Mother, either good or terrible, is closely related to Mother Goddess figures in many mythologies. Represents fecundity, pregnancy, ripeness.
The Wise old man, or Senex, often appears as a wizard, foreigner, hermit, absent-minded professor type, or alien (e.g. Yoda), typically represented as a kind and wise, older father-type figure who uses personal knowledge of people and the world to offer guidance, thereby acting as a mentor.
The Trickster or Ape. The trickster is incarnated as a clever, mischievous man or creature, who tries to survive the dangers and challenges of the world using trickery and deceit as a defense. (Loki, Prometheus, Coyote, Reynaud the Fox)
The Puer Aeternus (Latin for "eternal boy) Some of the signs of the expression of the puer archetype in a person's life can include immaturity,narcissism, and a desire to escape into fantasy or idealism in preference to remaining with the reality of a situation. (Peter Pan, Bart Simpson)
The Cosmic Man is generally described as helpful or positive, and is also frequently the physical basis of the world, such that after death parts of his body became physical parts of the universe. He also represents the oneness of human existence, or the universe. (Adam, Horus)

Why are archetypes important?
In the development of a character, the recognition of the particular archetype which the character typifies is a useful tool in the writerly toolbox. You can see how the character falls short of your needs or doesn't fit based on aspects of archetype, for example.

I'm afraid that this is such a fascinating topic for me (and the language in which the sources are rendered is so high falutin') that I'm not able to do it proper justice. So let me quote the most accessible descriptions of archetype and characters in writing that I've found.

Tami Cowden says, "Archetypes are not stereotypes; they are not cookie cutters. They can be considered a framework, or even better, a lump of clay of a particular color and consistency. Use the archetype as raw material to create a full bodied character." Wish I'd said that!

She lists her take on the Hero archetypes, Heroine archetypes, and the Villain archetypes on her web page (and in her book), and I found these to be very accessible as a writer.

Translating this to your writing style.
Just because your character is a Gilgamesh-style Hero doesn't mean he is exactly like Gilgamesh. In fact, he may not seem anything like Gilgamesh. The question, as Ms. Cowden says, is to determine the rationale behind the character's actions. WHY? Why, why, why?

This is a valid point and why I led this rant with that particular quote. All heroes are not alike; and the reason for their actions is the reason they are different. So, when you define the archetype based on the character's motivations, you have another tool to help you frame a story that fits the character, or a character to the story. You can also gauge problems if you analyze your major characters this way. For example, if the villian of the piece is more the hero than the hero, you might find your reception is off.

So, now you can go out and drive yourself crazy over-analyzing your work! One more way to avoid actually writing...

Links:
Carl Jung, by Dr. C. George Boeree
Archetypes list, by Philip Wedgewood
Archetypical Literary Criticism, Wikipedia article
Jungian Archetypes, Wikipedia article

Reading:
Archetypes & The Collective Unconscious, by C.G. Jung
Man & His Symbols, by C.G. Jung
Awakening the Heroes Within, by Carol Peterson
Heros & Heroines, by Tami Cowden
The Power of Myth, Bill Moyers & Joseph Campbell
The Golden Bough, by James G. Frazer
The Hero With A Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell
The White Goddess, by Robert Graves

Any archetype can do anything – the question will always be why. Tami Cowden

Reposted from January 14, 2008.  I get lots of hits on this one still.  Thought I'd share it again.

Probably most of you have, at minimum, heard the term 'archetype' as developed and used by Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, as well as the term 'collective unconsciousness'. I'm not going to define them myself, as I'd be really bad at it; but you should probably familiarize yourself with the concept in order to increase your skills as a creator of characters. Or, failing that, just read a hell of a lot of mythology, Joseph Campbell, epic poetry. Or you could listen to Jewel ad nauseum on your iPod...

What are Archetypes?
Per wiki: Archetypes are innate universal pre-conscious psychic dispositions that form the substrate from which the basic themes of human life emerge. Being universal and innate, their influence can be detected in the form of myths, symbols and psychic aptitudes of human beings the world over. The archetypes are components of the collective unconscious and serve to organize, direct and inform human thought and behavior.

The Sixteen Jungian Archetypes.
Jung outlined four main archetypes (Self, Shadow, Anima, Animus) but there are also symbols with layered meanings, and which for the purpose of creating characters are much the same thing (IMO). For these, Jung coined the term, primordial images. "Primordial images originate from the initial stages of humanity and have been part of the collective unconscious ever since. It is through primordial images that universal archetypes are experienced, and more importantly, that the unconscious is revealed."

Ripped from Wikipedia, these are:
The Self, the regulating center of the psyche and facilitator of individuation
The Shadow, the opposite of the ego image, often containing qualities that the ego does not identify with but possess nonetheless
The Anima, the feminine image in a man's psyche
The Animus, the masculine image in a woman's psyche
The Syzygy, a pairing of contrasexual opposites, which symbolized the communication of the conscious and unconscious minds. The conjunction of two organisms without the loss of identity.
The Child, is portrayed in literature in various ways. Often takes the form of a child who displays adult-like qualities giving, for example, wise advice to their friends or vice versa. (Linus van Pelt)
The Hero/Heroine, character that in the face of danger and adversity, from a position of weakness displays courage and the will for self-sacrifice, that is, heroism, for some greater good. (Gilgamesh)
The Great Mother, either good or terrible, is closely related to Mother Goddess figures in many mythologies. Represents fecundity, pregnancy, ripeness.
The Wise old man, or Senex, often appears as a wizard, foreigner, hermit, absent-minded professor type, or alien (e.g. Yoda), typically represented as a kind and wise, older father-type figure who uses personal knowledge of people and the world to offer guidance, thereby acting as a mentor.
The Trickster or Ape. The trickster is incarnated as a clever, mischievous man or creature, who tries to survive the dangers and challenges of the world using trickery and deceit as a defense. (Loki, Prometheus, Coyote, Reynaud the Fox)
The Puer Aeternus (Latin for "eternal boy) Some of the signs of the expression of the puer archetype in a person's life can include immaturity,narcissism, and a desire to escape into fantasy or idealism in preference to remaining with the reality of a situation. (Peter Pan, Bart Simpson)
The Cosmic Man is generally described as helpful or positive, and is also frequently the physical basis of the world, such that after death parts of his body became physical parts of the universe. He also represents the oneness of human existence, or the universe. (Adam, Horus)

Why are archetypes important?
In the development of a character, the recognition of the particular archetype which the character typifies is a useful tool in the writerly toolbox. You can see how the character falls short of your needs or doesn't fit based on aspects of archetype, for example.

I'm afraid that this is such a fascinating topic for me (and the language in which the sources are rendered is so high falutin') that I'm not able to do it proper justice. So let me quote the most accessible descriptions of archetype and characters in writing that I've found.

Tami Cowden says, "Archetypes are not stereotypes; they are not cookie cutters. They can be considered a framework, or even better, a lump of clay of a particular color and consistency. Use the archetype as raw material to create a full bodied character." Wish I'd said that!

She lists her take on the Hero archetypes, Heroine archetypes, and the Villain archetypes on her web page (and in her book), and I found these to be very accessible as a writer.

Translating this to your writing style.
Just because your character is a Gilgamesh-style Hero doesn't mean he is exactly like Gilgamesh. In fact, he may not seem anything like Gilgamesh. The question, as Ms. Cowden says, is to determine the rationale behind the character's actions. WHY? Why, why, why?

This is a valid point and why I led this rant with that particular quote. All heroes are not alike; and the reason for their actions is the reason they are different. So, when you define the archetype based on the character's motivations, you have another tool to help you frame a story that fits the character, or a character to the story. You can also gauge problems if you analyze your major characters this way. For example, if the villian of the piece is more the hero than the hero, you might find your reception is off.

So, now you can go out and drive yourself crazy over-analyzing your work! One more way to avoid actually writing...

Links:
Carl Jung, by Dr. C. George Boeree
Archetypes list, by Philip Wedgewood
Archetypical Literary Criticism, Wikipedia article
Jungian Archetypes, Wikipedia article

Reading:
Archetypes & The Collective Unconscious, by C.G. Jung
Man & His Symbols, by C.G. Jung
Awakening the Heroes Within, by Carol Peterson
Heros & Heroines, by Tami Cowden
The Power of Myth, Bill Moyers & Joseph Campbell
The Golden Bough, by James G. Frazer
The Hero With A Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell
The White Goddess, by Robert Graves

Minor characters

Along the lines of the previous post, Liana Brooks discusses minor characters and deciding if they're pulling their weight.  (It's the 'gun on the mantlepiece' used for characters.)

How do you outline your stories?

I'm presently outlining (in some detail) a story, Blood Shot. It's both an experiment in discipline and to see if a detailed outline will be helpful to my pantser self.

Over the years I have seen a few varieties of outlining, and my vast preference is 4x6 cards, but they encourage me to keep adding plot elements...a Bad Thing. So I'm adapting a few key concepts and came up with the following format for each scene or chapter (depending on how much detail I've come up with already):

POV Character, POV type. Setting: ___. Description of locale. Action:  describe it in general.  Purpose 1: Main purpose. Purpose 2,3,4, etc.: Additional purposes.  (intended purposes: establish characterization, introduce new character, narrative/worldbuilding, backstory, motivation, action that moves plot forward, significant plot devices like Climax or Black Moment, red herrings, which plot or subplot it serves.)

I do this as a bulleted list using Word 2003.  I keep one plot point per bullet for now, but I use the colors to make finding the data simple. You can organize your outline however it makes sense for your process, but if you use Word's outline function, it's complicated and vastly more work than it's worth.

What I do find interesting about this experiment is that I am able to see just how much weight a scene is pulling. I read somewhere, and agree, that if a scene doesn't do at least three of the following-- further the action, provide important information (including worldbuilding narrative for spec fic), establish or develop character or relationships-- it shouldn't be there. The outline process lets me see where this does and does not happen, so I can fine tune it before I waste time on writing something I won't keep.

My slightly disconcerting finding is that I seem to toss all of the elements I listed into most scenes in the parts I've already written!

So I now have to consider what is TOO DENSE?!!

I love you...madly

From Post Secret, Sunday, February 7, 2010

This is a sweet idea.  I sometimes do or want to do random nice things, like putting a quarter in an about-to-expire parking meter--nothing too life altering, but just a nice thing that brightens someone else's day and makes me also feel good about myself.  (Let's be honest, being kind is in part about feeling good about oneself.)  Anyhow, onto the idea section of this little jaunt.  Seeing this particular card gave me the kernal of an idea.  An idea about misunderstandings.

The idea.
What if you have a nice, friendly, innocuous neighbor who sees a young gal over time, over random glimpses as she comes and goes.  This accidental watcher decides that the person, with whom he's rarely interacted except to exchange anonymous hellos or waves, is depressed or needs cheering up.  Perhaps he has seen her break up with her lover.  Perhaps he notices that she has had some other troubles.  But he decides to start cheering her up and to that end begins to do small things to make her life better. 

So say our one man cheering squad just sends her random postcards that say, for example, "You are loved."  Or, "Someone thinks your kind heart brightens the world."  Whatever.  A note like that can be incredibly innocuous if received from someone with a face, someone known; but the recipient might not take anonymous notes well if the phrasing is unfortunately such that it sounds like something stalkerish or related to some other issue is going on...such as, say, a crazy ex-boyfriend whom our recipient of cheer happened to murder to get away from.  If, for example, your kind neighbor drives her over the edge of sanity with his attempt to make her feel better, it would be an interesting set up for a horror story, especially one told from the perspective of a well-intentioned person who is too lacking in sense to see what he is doing to the poor woman/victim.  And even more interesting to write the story so that the old guy doesn't realize that he is the cause of her eventual breakdown.

Even better, what if the 'helpful' neighbor is revealed at the end to be doing all this deliberately?  Nasty.

Now, if I could only think of a speculative element to toss in there, it might be something I'd tackle.  Maybe there's a fairy tale that it can be cross-pollinated with. [Okay, spec element potential: a psychic vampire that feeds on fear is one possibility; but it's a bit overdone and I want to find something obscure.]

If anyone wants to use this sort of set up, I'd love to beta read.  Moi, I have enough on my plate.  (You know I just bring up these ideas so I don't go off and start one more project I have to abandon so I can work on the ones that are closer to my heart, right? So I don't care if someone takes an idea and runs with it?  Really.  Glad to be of service.  Besides, it isn't the ideas, it's the execution that makes the writing.)

Weird book Wednesday

Yep. How to Shit in the Woods.  That's actually a cool and informative book about environmentally friendly camping and wilderness usage.  And it's hilarious.  (I used to own a copy.)  You can learn all sorts of things your city slicker self didn't know, things that may come in handy if your characters end up in the wilderness, or it's a YA set at a summer camp or summer outing, or business rafting trip for 'group *shudder* bonding'...

Really.  You need to know terms like 'grover.'  Honest.

Check it out here.
 

It's official: Blood Shot is a novel

Fostered by the impetus of Koala claws, I've been really focusing on my writing these past few weeks.  I want to finish Magus of Athlinar and get it subbed out for an anthology market by end of March; but I hit the 'I loathe you madly' phase and had to set it aside for a bit before I go back to editing.

So I picked up Blood Shot, a vampire erotica tale that was intended to be a novella, or around 50k.  I decided to plot it out because while writing my muse invoked* about six sub-plots, which is really too many unless I am going to leave some threads dangling for a novel sequel.

And I came to the conclusion that, yes, this could become a series; and, again yes, I'm going to try and set myself up for one.  (Because you can't have too many vampire romance series, right?)

Question is, do I write this as a straight romance, or as urban fantasy?  I'm aiming for almost a coequal mix of romance and fantasy, stress the fantasy (because I think it's my stronger suit) but we'll see. 

After I finish writing up the plot for Blood Shot, I'll be doing the same thing for Magus of Athlinar, which still needs to get to the ending in a manner which works for me.  I want to use this character again...she's also from a novel start that's been lying fallow.  Two plot outlines will make the Koala happier, too.  

*It wasn't me, I swear.  They do just show up like demons, those sub-plots.  Hence, 'invoked.'  It fits.

Information round up for EMS and Fire information

Every once in a while I run across some really fascinating blogs, in particular those that are meant for a particular niche or group.  Today, via some Facebook comment or link (to a man who blew himself up by strapping what was essentially a pipe bomb to his back in order to rocket propel a snow tobbagan) I found the following to article-laden sites about EMTs and Firefighters. 

The reason I post this is that article from a while back where I quoted someone who said there are never any firefighters in science fiction.  I of course cannot find that post, but I vaguely recall some Great Voice in science fiction said something about that fact, meaning that mundane things like public services and general things we see every day can be overlooked in the worldbuilding department by authors.  And one place we all know that spec fic can fail big time is in the lack of small details that scream reality to the reader.  So by reading up on emergency responders' problems and travails, you might pick up some bit of business that can inform your story. 

Just a thought. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND A NEWS ALERT:  THERE IS A FOURTH DEED OF PAKSINARRION BOOK "OATH OF FEALTY" IS DUE TO BE RELEASED SOON. Woot!  If you like epic fantasy, this is probably the only epic fantasy series I would say is a must read.  It's better than Jordan.  Seriously.  (And, well, not so freaking endless.  I love Jordan's Wheel of Time, but it's daunting to try and reread it.)

You'll be glad to know I've 'wasted' the evening not writing but creating a few posts for the blahg. Especially spectacularly wasteful is my choices for Musical Mondays for the next month. (I bet you thought I'd forgotten that little affectation, didn't you?)

Space Opera: A definition

"We should probably first touch on what space opera is, before we discuss it in any detail.  The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction describes space opera as 'colorful action-adventure stories of inter-planetary or interstellar conflict,' while Jack Williamson in The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction refers to it as 'the upbeat space adventure narrative that has become the mainspring of modern science fiction.' And, perhaps getting closer to the feel of it, Paul McAuley in Locus refers to 'lushly romantic plots and the star-spanning empires tot he light-year-spurning space ships, construction of any one of which would have exhausted the metal reserves of a solar system...stuffed full of faux-exotic color and bursting with contrived energy.'  It is, in short, romantic adventure set in space and told on a grand scale.  According to Brian Aldiss, writing in 1974, it must feature a starship, the most important of science fiction's icons, which 'unlocks the great bronze doors of space opera and lets mankind loose among all the other immensities.'  It is the tale of godlike machines, all-embracing catastrophes, the immensities of the universe, and the endlessness of time.  It is also, to go back to Williamson, the 'expression of the mythic theme of human expansion against an unknown and uncommonly hostile frontier.'"  From the introduction of "The New Space Opera"

Amazon:fail roundup

Charlie Stross has an excellent explanation of what's going on with the Amazon/Macmillan book fiasco I fondly call Amazon:Fail. (Because, you know, Amazon still has Macmillan books delisted.)

Follow changes on any website with Google reader

Something that has been an annoyance is that I couldn't follow certain sites that were web pages instead of blogs.  Google has fixed that.

Feeds make it easy to follow updates to all kinds of webpages, from blogs to news sites to Craigslist queries, but unfortunately not all pages on the web have feeds. Today we're rolling out a change in Google Reader that lets you create a custom feed to track changes on pages that don't have their own feed.

These custom feeds are most useful if you want to be alerted whenever a specific page has been updated. For example, if you wanted to follow Google.org's latest products, just type "http://www.google.org/products.html" into Reader's "Add a subscription" field. Click "create a feed", and Reader will periodically visit the page and publish any significant changes it finds as items in a custom feed created just for that page.

From the Google Reader blog, in case you missed it.

Tsk, tsk, Amazon

Quel surprise.  Amazon is still playing fast and loose with the truth.  If you look up a Tor or Macmillan title of any flavor, the amazon links to buy new are still not there.  It's Thursday.  They capitulated several days ago, didn't they?

Novella length fantasy opportunity (Link added!)

Library of Science Fiction & Fantasy Press is pleased to announce open submissions for “Distant Realms”, an anthology of novella length Fantasy. Submissions close end of March.

Fantasy sometimes needs big brush strokes to paint a world, or room to spread and grow to show the entire picture, and that can make the novella the perfect length. It’s a length often neglected in modern genre fiction, but it has the potential to deliver incredible stories. We believe very strongly in that potential and invite you to help us find it.

The details:
There are a lot of different opinions on how many words it takes to make a novella. For Distant Realms, we’re looking for stories that run between 20,000 and 30,000 words. Those two numbers make fairly solid barriers and it makes us sad to reject things solely based on length.

We prefer your submission be in standard manuscript format and attached to your e-mail as an rtf file. For a good reference on what standard manuscript format entails, please see William Shunn’s web pageon the subject.

Payment for inclusion in this anthology will be $100, two contributor’s copies of the book, and the everlasting knowledge of being involved in something special. In return, you’ll be giving Library of Science Fiction & Fantasy Press two year exclusive print and electronic rights from the date of publication; not to the world you’ve created, just to the story.

Submissions are open and will close at midnight on 31 Mar 2010. This is a fairly large window, but we recognize the size and scope of a novella can require a great deal more time than a short story. If you don’t have one ready to go, we’d like to give you a chance to write and polish one from scratch.

Submissions and Queries should be sent to distanteditor@gmail.com with ‘Submission – Distant Realms’ or ‘Query – Distant Realms’ in the subject line, as applicable.

Caveats:
Strange Horizons provides a wonderfully detailed (yet certainly incomplete) list of overused themes and plots.  We’re not saying don’t do it, because it’s always possible to bring something new to a cliché, but if you’ve picked something from this list as your main focus, try to stand it on its head.

Because there is only room for 4 or 5 stories in Distant Realms, submissions will be taken in two stages, building a shortlist of possible inclusions. Rejections will happen, but final decisions on acceptances won’t be made until ALL submissions have been read. The speculative elements you choose, whatever they are, must be integral to the story. If you can write the same story without them, then it’s not a
genre story. That said, our definition of Fantasy is very broad. If you can say Fantasy when you look at your story, please send it because we want to read it.

Quoted from a post at Anthology News & Reviews, as there wasn't a site link provided.

A thought about plot and story

Story (n):  "narrative: a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events;"
Plot (v): "devise the sequence of events in (a literary work or a play, movie, or ballet);" and (n): "the story that is told in a novel or play or movie etc."

Despite the definitions above, I'm inclined to say that plot and story aren't the same thing.  Perhaps it never occurred to you to split that particular hair.  But, while helping a friend with his synopsis, it occurred to me that his crazy-but-good story was hideously difficult to describe as a linear plot, yet functiond as a story because story implies meaning and sense.  Nonsensical can make sense in a novel. 

One might make the mistake of thinking that the novel then was either not a workable spec fic genre novel (too literary, perhaps); of that it was totally unworkable.  But what ho! Not so!  Try reading Delaney's Dahlgren, a classic with an ouroborous for a plot, which I adored.  There's a worthwhile story there about a man who finds himself in a strange world with no memory, and begins to wonder if he's in a story himself.  I find some parallels in my friend's novel plot and its story, and it occured to me that it was worth a mention here.

So that's my thesis: The plot can be meaningless, but there needs to be meaning in the story...and the story is the characters' journey.  And I'm not talking literal plot points but the essential meaning for the characters (and thus the readers.)

You can have a goofy, strange, indescribable-in-a-linear-manner plot that blurs reality with fiction/ meta concepts/ psychodrama-- but the way you the writer share the characters' experiences makes the writing make emotional sense, even if it isn't logical.  If you make it make sense, feel acceptable, even the weirdest stuff will feel appropriate and even make a certain bizarre sense.  That's your goal. 

I'm sure not everyone will agree with me.  But then, that sort of odd plot isn't everyone's cup of tea, either.  I've read Dahlgren at least a half-dozen times, so you can guess my feelings. 

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this, too.  Maybe I'm just talking stuff. 

Charles Stross has a great article on the ebook market you might find enlightening:

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/03/why_the_commercial_ebook_marke.html

Revisiting another wonderful resource

via Overheard in New York, Jan 26, 2010

Guy #1: Wow, they indicted five cops in that beating last year in Shenandoah.
Guy #2: Yeah, it was a hate crime.
Guy #1: The victim was gay?
Guy #2: No, dude, he was Mexican.
Guy #1: What? Since when is it a crime to be Mexican?
Guy #2, after pause: Everyone on this train thinks you are a fucking idiot, and I agree with them.

Ah, yes, Overheard In New York, a blog that provides both humor and ideas for ridiculous, too-bizarre-to-work-in-a-novel dialog.  Still, I like to call it idea fodder when I peruse.

The easy bit

"The IDEAS are never the problem. Hell, I've got HUNDREDS of those. In fact, if you have to ask a writer that, then you are most definitely NOT wired like a writer." Erica Orloff

I'll just leave you with that thought for the day.  I also like Ms. Orloff's insights about how it's the execution.  But then, if you read this blog, you write, so you know what that's about.

Okay, people, find the time and park your butt in the chair.  Flex your fingers and get them churning out prose.

Have a lovely week.