The Writer's Digest Guide to Science Fiction & Fantasy

I have found very few how-to-write books purely on fantasy and few of those have been as useful to me and as inspiring as this one. It even breaks down the rules of some of those medieval institutions upon which so many fantasy novels rely - manoralism, feudalism, etc. A very cool read.

Thus quototh the book: 'In fantasy, more than in any other form of fiction, the reader must feel transported to the world being created, while at the same time readily comprehending what it is he is experiencing. When an otherworldly character is introduced, the reader must be made to see the differences, but must recognise the similarities as well. Dtails ground the story's larger images and keep the reader engaged'.

I thoroughly recommend this work.

Too Many Bits of Paper

Well, as I world build, culture build, identify and develop characters, possible plot arcs, develop possible plot arcs into sub-plots and plot-points, further refine such sub-plots and plot-points into a series of instances, re-develop characters in line with current thinking, strengthen culture, jot down points of history, consider architectural norms, draw maps, jot down notes for revision of prior chapters in Book 1 I find myself in a sea of paper.

Post-It notes, loose sheets, loose sheets in plastic sleeves, random notes, precisely laid out notes, computer documents, printed documents, notes on pads, lengthy detail on pads, detailed write ups of notes in a booklet with the cover ripped off... I'm sure the answer to what I seek is around here somewhere but where? It's enough to make me want to rip out my own hair!

How do I file it? I try to gather it up, but if I print it too early, then I'll just need to re-print it. I can file it in my physical folder but what about the soft copies on the computer? Where do they go? What about the sub-sections? How do I divide it up to make it easier to access? How do I rememebr what I've written down, i.e. with characters? In short, what do I do?

Anyone else been there?

Architecture: Blends Through The Years

Here's something about world building that I've never really consciously considered until reading this lovely TalkToYoUniverse blog: The architecture of a city changes over time, yes? But it doesn't just change whole-sale. No one takes out an eraser and says: 'Well, we're a bit over Gothic architecture, let's just pull it all down and start again'.

No, they just build new houses in the newer styles. Thus you can get a crumbling old Roman-era fort surrounded by, I dunno, wattle-and-daub houses with a Gothic-era church sat in the middle of the whole town*.

Sometimes they renovate older buildings, perhaps leaving the gargoyles, but replacing the Gothic windows with ultramodern tilted, computerised windows that adjust the darkness gradient depending on how much light should be let in (an extreme example, but I'm hyped up on sugar so there you go). More often they'll renovate the interior, or part of the building (especially if it's been damaged by fire or the elements) than the whole thing. Buildings in the midst of renovations would be interesting to see in Fantasy as would buildings that are very old and aren't up to code and might dump the inhabitants through three floors into the basement if they're not careful.

Sometimes they'll just build on top of / over the older construction. The blog post mentions a Roman construction underneath a small, ancient church, that can be found inside a bigger, more modern church! Sometimes it won't be that obvious. Sometimes it's only when the owners decide to open up that painted shut door, delve into the basement, renovate the property, that they locate old rooms and basements and sub-basements from where the building had been build on other buildings or rooms pasted over.

So yes, have a think about the next time you're designing a place, whether in Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Contemporary fiction, and think about just how likely it is that all the buildings in that village, town, or city look the same!

*This is based on examples to make you think. I haven't researched the architecture here and cannot vouch for the authenticity of these buildings sitting side by side! These are really, really, really not examples of my researcher credibility...

A fantasy variant of Hitchcock's description of suspense vs. surprise

The difference between surprise and suspense taken from a quote by Hitchcock and transformed into a Fantasy example by yours truly.

Let’s imagine that a rather perfectionist wizard is sitting in the dining room of his tower, playing with both his children and his familiar, and then, when the grandfather clock by the window fails to chime at the stroke of midnight, he goes over to a take a look. Let us assume that there is an assassin behind the curtains near the clock … suddenly he leaps out and slits the wizard’s throat before leaping out the window. The audience is surprised, but before that surprise, they have only seen a very ordinary scene without any significance.

Let us instead look at a suspense scene. The assassin is behind the curtain and the audience is aware of this because they have seen the assassin sneak behind it. They have also seen the assassin stop the clock from making a noise at midnight because the murder is to take place at midnight and up on the wall is the clock that is perfectly visible and it’s 11:45. In the first scene we have given the reader 15 seconds of surprise. In the second scene we have given them fifteen minutes of suspense.

Writing Exercise: List your Themes

One thing that I've noticed in my novel is that there are a lot of themes and sub-texts that are rolling about. I suppose that's because it's more of a character study than a plotted piece. I mean, there's a conspiracy bouncing around, but it's the characters that matter the most. So I decided to jot down a short list of themes and then round out what sort of things have happened / could happen / will happen that would fit under it. I won't include the Happen List here as it has a lot of spoilers in it for my *fingers-crossed* someday-published works, but themes are:

Self-Discovery
Loyalty to Family / Friends vs. Loyalty to Self
Trust vs. Paranoia
Broken Promises
Reconciliation v.s. Burning Bridges
Corrupted Families
Divided Loyalties
Struggle for Self-Worth
Family / Friend Obligation v.s. Personal Happiness
Hope v.s. Despair / Hope & Horror
Sanity v.s. Dissolution of the Self

And that's just to name a few. What are some of the themes in your stories?

How To Develop One's Voice

Well, there's a really cool quote in this blog by Katie Ganshurt. Basically, she was given advice by her agent to strengthen her Voice in Chapter 1 so that it sparkled as well as it did in the Prologue. She queried how she was supposed to do that.... Her agent suggested that she read the Prologue out loud, feel the mood, the pacing, the cadence, and then try to write Chapter 1 in a similar style. Very good advice. Now I just need to figure out which one of my chapters is a good enough example of my Voice.

Writing Exercise - 10 Top Villains - Part 1

Taking a leaf out of Alexandra Sokoloff's wonderful blog post on villains, I decided to list my top 10 villains and why. Be sure to tell me yours! My villains are largely drawn from videogames and movies just because I haven't read as many stories as I've played / watched (something that's changing now that I work out the back of a library). By the way, these are in no particular order.

Sae (Fatal Frame 2 / Project Zero 2)

In many ways, a representation of the Fallen Hero. This young woman was meant to be sacrificed by her twin sister in order to appease a great evil. When she fled with her twin sister, and only her twin escaped, she was sacrificed anyway but as the proper protocol wasn't achieved, she came back ... different. Now she's a twisted, laughing ghost whose touch spells death for the protagonist even as she begs the protagonist (who she's mistaken for her sister) for answers as to why she abandoned her. There's just something so tragic and yet so manic about the poor, broken soul that really pulls my heart strings.

Lucy (Elfen Lied)

This young girl was born a monster. Always an outcast in primary school until a group of bullies beat her pet dog to death, triggering a rage that slaughtered them all, she then roamed around killing people and living in their homes. That is, until she met a young boy who befriended her ... and who she rewarded by killing his younger sister (who recognised her from an earlier massacre) in a fit of rage and jealousy. Later on, she's hit on the head and develops Dissociative Identity Disorder - one personality is sweet, confused and can only say the word 'Nyuu' which I believe is the word for 'milk' and the other one is the predatory, cunning, and intelligent Lucy. I think I like most the contrast between the monster and the innocent, sort of like a ditzy Jekyll and a cunning Hyde, that makes her easier to sympathise. There's also a definite driving desire to be loved mixed up with a cold acceptance of her own condition. This tragic villain doesn't angst nor is she manic. She just accepts ... and that makes her scarier.

Sir Guy (Robin Hood television series)

I like this guy because he's unapologetically lawful evil. He wants power whatever the cost. He'll do what his boss, the Sheriff of Nottingham says, and doesn't flinch at torturing innocents, dumping his own illegitimate babies in the woods, or chopping off the hands of children. He also holds himself with confidence and just oozes calm but tough masculinity. His soft spot for Maid Marian also provides internal conflict to make him interesting as he wants her a little more than he wants to please his boss and has to constantly seek a way to juggle his two interests.

Alex Mercer (Prototype)

Alex Mercer is a disease-based mutagenic organism that reanimated the corpse of a scientist that dropped a vial of it on the ground just before being killed and collapsing on the shattered vial. The virus consumed Alex's corpse, reanimating his body in the process, using his cells to preserve its existence and creating a new entity with inhuman and assimilation abilities. While he's technically the protagonist of the game, and kind of falls under the mantle of anti-hero as he strives to halt the infection and save Manhatten Island from being nuked, his methods are anything but heroic as he consumes and absorbs random and not-so-random humans, murders hundreds, and at times assists the virus in his own need to learn what he needs to know. He's slightly emo about it all, which provides a little emotional depth, but his little shots of angsty irritation at the evil men who did this to him seems a little alien when you compare it to what he's happy to do himself! A delightfully convoluted bad guy and an alien mind to boot. What a guy!

The Faustian Devil (Many).

More of an archetype than a character but still my favourite. This is the evil con artist with the welcoming smile. This person is clever and cunning, though not very wise, and often will end up over-playing his hand. He'll play to the hero's faults, enshrining them, developing them, helping them grow, and thus is a lot of fun. He also tends to be at ease with himself, genuinely happy with his situation (at least while the going is good), and eager to gain more. What can I say? I like happy, conniving bad guys. Too much angst is bad for the skin.

And that's it for the ones off the top of my head. I'll start taking a look around, read a few more books, and do the next five over the next few months because - sadly enough, I've just realised that there are too few bad guys of interest for me to learn from.

So, do you guys have any suggestions of books I should read to find some of your favorite villains?

Two Awesome Links on Plot Building

Well, I just went and found yet another awesome couple of blog posts. This one is from Aleksandra Sokoloff and it goes into an in-depth diagnosis of what Act I should hold and takes a very good look at the characters. The whole blog seems really cool, in-depth and interesting and well worth a look and a Favorite.

Helene Boudreau's plotting OCD style is also a fun and very in-depth look at just how far you can go when plotting out your novel and ironing out the kinks. Again, well worth a look.

Cool Post on QueryTracker's blog

Learn From The Masters. We all try to do so but so often it's difficult to figure out just how we're supposed to learn their tricks and tactics. I mean, we could just read widely but we might not be able to learn by osmosis everything we need to know. This blog post on QueryTracker covers a writing / reading exercise we can do to improve our skills.

Endings ... I hates them

I always find novel endings to be the most infuriating. I mean, there I am, plugging away at my novel. The beginning rushes off full of inspiration and roses, the middle drags its butt for a bit and then lifts off and takes flight, and then at the end I'm trying to capture every one of the threads blowing in the wind and tie it into a pretty bow only to realise that I'm both athritic, drunk, and vision impaired.

Basically, endings ... I hate them.

I've written at least 3,000 pages worth of novels and it's only in this last one, The Curse of the Rose: The Butterfly Lady, where I've managed to write the ending. Only even then I hated it so much I wrote it in a very cruddy, rushed way that I felt even as I wrote it. Now that I've edited the novel a half dozen times I've realized that I always end the editing before the ending... Basically, I have a realtively polished manuscript with a First Draft ending. Now I've managed to edit my way partway through the ending. One could say that I've edited my way up to the Climax chapter.

And now?

Now I'm out of steam and want to start a new book or edit from the start again. *sigh* I guess I've gotta face my Endingitis.

What do you guys reckon? Are endings win or fail?