Telling. Don't do it! What is telling? Well, here's an example:
Jakko walked across the green and told Thaimis that the army was en route.
OR you could SHOW...
Jakko sprinted across the field, then pulled to a halt in front of Thaimis. He took a brief second to catch his breath, then spoke: "The army is en route."
See the difference? Whenever possible, describe the action, don't give an account. Granted, there are exceptions... You don't want to describe every second of a thousand mile journey between two countries, nor do you want to describe your character's morning routine every time he wakes up.
That being said, opt for showing whenever you can. It makes for a better read.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
S- S is For Secrets
Secrets. Gotta have 'em. I'm not talking about turning your book into a mystery or crime drama when it originally was a fantasy. No... I'm saying that one of the ways to add depth to your characters is give them secrets. Also, give them motivation to keep those secrets from each other. This will create... wait for it... Conflict! And Conflict is king, so make some of it.
The only hard part of the secrets game is keeping track of who knows what and who thinks what. The best idea I've heard is to keep a notepad with some sort of table on it right beside your computer, and make little notes as you go as to who knows what and how much. Right now I'm working off of my head because I didn't start said notebook early enough, but let me tell you, a notebook sure would be handy right about now...
So learn from my mistakes. When giving your characters secrets to keep from each other, use a notebook to keep track of them.
The only hard part of the secrets game is keeping track of who knows what and who thinks what. The best idea I've heard is to keep a notepad with some sort of table on it right beside your computer, and make little notes as you go as to who knows what and how much. Right now I'm working off of my head because I didn't start said notebook early enough, but let me tell you, a notebook sure would be handy right about now...
So learn from my mistakes. When giving your characters secrets to keep from each other, use a notebook to keep track of them.
Friday, April 20, 2012
R- R is For Research
Research. How do you do research for sci-fi and fantasy? Simple. By knowing your world. Knowing your world can be as simple as keeping track of all the 'rules' your characters encounter and then keeping them consistent, or it can be as complex as advanced map-work, creating languages, and developing histories and political systems. For me, it's somewhere in between. While I don't really go so far as to create whole languages with grammar mechanics and pronunciation guides, I do like to have an idea of the layout of lands.
Here's some of the things I like to know and keep track of:
1. Maps. I need to know the exact layout of a country. OCD thing, maybe.
2. Political systems. This affects everything. I need to know how much power the King has, how much governors and mayors have, if there's a caste system, etc. Pretty much the framework for every country you have.
3. Magic system. If there is science or magic in your book, it needs to be consistent. If a character needs ammo for a spell, then you better not have him ever cast it without ammo. Likewise, if a ship engine can only cover so much distance in one go, keep that consistent. Your readers will thank you by not bringing it up at every conference you go to.
This is the extent of my world building. I try and get most of this figured out beforehand, and then modify it as I go... The only rule is that everything has to be consistent.
Here's some of the things I like to know and keep track of:
1. Maps. I need to know the exact layout of a country. OCD thing, maybe.
2. Political systems. This affects everything. I need to know how much power the King has, how much governors and mayors have, if there's a caste system, etc. Pretty much the framework for every country you have.
3. Magic system. If there is science or magic in your book, it needs to be consistent. If a character needs ammo for a spell, then you better not have him ever cast it without ammo. Likewise, if a ship engine can only cover so much distance in one go, keep that consistent. Your readers will thank you by not bringing it up at every conference you go to.
This is the extent of my world building. I try and get most of this figured out beforehand, and then modify it as I go... The only rule is that everything has to be consistent.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Q- Q is For Quitting
Don't do it.
When you stepped onto the path, you knew that the journey would not be easy. Therefore, why do you hang your head when the rain falls and thunder rolls, why do your footsteps falter when the valley floods? You knew what you signed up for. You knew it would bring fear to your heart, tears to your eyes, sweat to your hands, and blood to your skin. You may be in the middle of the journey, but that is not license to quit. Before you began you saw the destination and said that it was worth it. Lift your eyes up now and see what you began in pursuit of and know that every tear, every drop of blood and sweat is worth it. You can win this. When you've fallen in the mud, and you can't seem to get up, look where your headed, dig down deep and force yourself to your feet. You're a warrior, and life cannot, will not, never will get you down unless you give it permission. When you fall, come up swinging, come up swinging hard. Soon the journey will be over and you will be home. You will be glad for every step you took, every pain you endured. Then will you look back and know that the journey was worth it.
Don't quit. 'Nuff said.
When you stepped onto the path, you knew that the journey would not be easy. Therefore, why do you hang your head when the rain falls and thunder rolls, why do your footsteps falter when the valley floods? You knew what you signed up for. You knew it would bring fear to your heart, tears to your eyes, sweat to your hands, and blood to your skin. You may be in the middle of the journey, but that is not license to quit. Before you began you saw the destination and said that it was worth it. Lift your eyes up now and see what you began in pursuit of and know that every tear, every drop of blood and sweat is worth it. You can win this. When you've fallen in the mud, and you can't seem to get up, look where your headed, dig down deep and force yourself to your feet. You're a warrior, and life cannot, will not, never will get you down unless you give it permission. When you fall, come up swinging, come up swinging hard. Soon the journey will be over and you will be home. You will be glad for every step you took, every pain you endured. Then will you look back and know that the journey was worth it.
Don't quit. 'Nuff said.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
P- P is For Prologue
Prologues. It seems people either love 'em or hate 'em. I love 'em. How come? Well, I'll tell you. Otherwise I wouldn't be writing this post.
A prologue is an excellent tool in the arsenal of a writer for one good reason: You can set up your world, hook your reader, and give an idea of the general direction of the plot. And then you can jump into a slower-paced first chapter without the massive risk of losing your reader after page 1. If they're hooked and wanting to know why the dude in the shiny black helmet choked the crap out of the pilot and captured the girl in white, then they'll be willing to put up with all sorts of whiny-ness from your farm boy main character just so they can get to the 'good stuff'.
In my humble opinion, a prologue that starts with the main character is--usually--a prologue wasted. Your main character will not--most of the time--start directly in the middle of the action. As such, you want your prologue to show someone who is. Maybe their wise future mentor who's going to turn them into a machine of magical butt-kicking, or maybe the snarky lancer who winds up being just boss enough to push them over the edge and into victory come the final battle. Perhaps you want to start with an elven princess transporting a valuable 'jewel', only to get kidnapped by a really, really nasty dude(s).
Prologues will also set the tone of the book. If it's going to be an epic, the prologue will need to be a bit more grandiose than a tightly-focused story about a small town. If your book is going to be gritty, then let the prologue convey that; we don't want a mother to pick up what she thinks is a 'nice fairytale book' for her 9-year-old son, only to find a witch-burning, a beheading, and a gory torture scene all within the first six chapters. Sweet dreams, kids.
When it comes to hooking the reader, here's how you do it. On the first page include action, a mystery, or a very, very tense situation(remember Conflict?). Mission accomplished. Not quite that simple, but you get the idea. Also: You want your readers to have questions at the end of the prologue. By the end of that bit, you want them starting a betting pool on whether or not you can deliver one the promises you make to them.
The prologue is the best place to drop Chekov's Guns. If you need the gun to go off in Chapter 12 that your main character is part of a prophecy, then have someone in the prologue mention a prophecy and people thinking it's close to being fulfilled. One thing that you can do that is rather risky is this: You can set up series-long Chekov's Guns/arcs in your prologue. Why is this risky? If poorly handled, people will think it's an aborted arc and you are a crappy writer.
If you start an arc or place a Chekov's Gun in your prologue that won't pay off until a sequel, keep it fresh on your reader's minds. Do not fail to mention it for the rest of the book. Find a way to assure them that you still hold that thread. If they see that the thread is actually being followed, then when the book closes with 'To Be Continued', or whatever words you choose... They will not think that you just dropped them on an island, promised them mystery and adventure, then brought them to a sorry excuse for a series conclusion that didn't even answer any questions, like "WHERE DID THE POLAR BEAR COME FROM?!" Sorry.
Point is, try a prologue, but remember: readers have long memories.
A prologue is an excellent tool in the arsenal of a writer for one good reason: You can set up your world, hook your reader, and give an idea of the general direction of the plot. And then you can jump into a slower-paced first chapter without the massive risk of losing your reader after page 1. If they're hooked and wanting to know why the dude in the shiny black helmet choked the crap out of the pilot and captured the girl in white, then they'll be willing to put up with all sorts of whiny-ness from your farm boy main character just so they can get to the 'good stuff'.
In my humble opinion, a prologue that starts with the main character is--usually--a prologue wasted. Your main character will not--most of the time--start directly in the middle of the action. As such, you want your prologue to show someone who is. Maybe their wise future mentor who's going to turn them into a machine of magical butt-kicking, or maybe the snarky lancer who winds up being just boss enough to push them over the edge and into victory come the final battle. Perhaps you want to start with an elven princess transporting a valuable 'jewel', only to get kidnapped by a really, really nasty dude(s).
Prologues will also set the tone of the book. If it's going to be an epic, the prologue will need to be a bit more grandiose than a tightly-focused story about a small town. If your book is going to be gritty, then let the prologue convey that; we don't want a mother to pick up what she thinks is a 'nice fairytale book' for her 9-year-old son, only to find a witch-burning, a beheading, and a gory torture scene all within the first six chapters. Sweet dreams, kids.
When it comes to hooking the reader, here's how you do it. On the first page include action, a mystery, or a very, very tense situation(remember Conflict?). Mission accomplished. Not quite that simple, but you get the idea. Also: You want your readers to have questions at the end of the prologue. By the end of that bit, you want them starting a betting pool on whether or not you can deliver one the promises you make to them.
The prologue is the best place to drop Chekov's Guns. If you need the gun to go off in Chapter 12 that your main character is part of a prophecy, then have someone in the prologue mention a prophecy and people thinking it's close to being fulfilled. One thing that you can do that is rather risky is this: You can set up series-long Chekov's Guns/arcs in your prologue. Why is this risky? If poorly handled, people will think it's an aborted arc and you are a crappy writer.
If you start an arc or place a Chekov's Gun in your prologue that won't pay off until a sequel, keep it fresh on your reader's minds. Do not fail to mention it for the rest of the book. Find a way to assure them that you still hold that thread. If they see that the thread is actually being followed, then when the book closes with 'To Be Continued', or whatever words you choose... They will not think that you just dropped them on an island, promised them mystery and adventure, then brought them to a sorry excuse for a series conclusion that didn't even answer any questions, like "WHERE DID THE POLAR BEAR COME FROM?!" Sorry.
Point is, try a prologue, but remember: readers have long memories.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
O- O is For Outlining
Talked about it before, but let's go more in depth. Outlining is an incredibly useful tool in the writer's arsenal that can save a major amount of trouble when you're sixty-thousand words deep into the belly of your plot. How do you outline? It's quite simply.
You know how when you write, it's more letting the words flow than thinking? At least for anyone like me? Well, outlining is the opposite. You aren't really describing anythings, you're just bullet-pointing the important bits. Like your main character moving to a new country, meeting an important side character, etc.
Some people like to outline on the computer, I prefer paper--it feels more hands-on. A sample would like something like this:
Prologue:
1. Talkan travels to ________
2. ______ runs into ________
3. Talkan __________
4. They discuss the signs that have been happening
5. They leave for ________
Yes, that is actually my prologue, just heavily censored to prevent spoilers. Point is, outlining will help you craft a master plot. Give it a try.
You know how when you write, it's more letting the words flow than thinking? At least for anyone like me? Well, outlining is the opposite. You aren't really describing anythings, you're just bullet-pointing the important bits. Like your main character moving to a new country, meeting an important side character, etc.
Some people like to outline on the computer, I prefer paper--it feels more hands-on. A sample would like something like this:
Prologue:
1. Talkan travels to ________
2. ______ runs into ________
3. Talkan __________
4. They discuss the signs that have been happening
5. They leave for ________
Yes, that is actually my prologue, just heavily censored to prevent spoilers. Point is, outlining will help you craft a master plot. Give it a try.
Monday, April 16, 2012
N- N is For Non-Linear
Let me ask you a question. What, in real life, is ever linear? Not a whole lot. Same should be with your stories. Not that you have to have your character run freaking everywhere to find a new outfit, but all outline-worthy problems should have a degree of non-linearity to them. The bigger the problem, the more work it should take to solve it. Bonus points if you can cause each side trip to relate to another problem in the story.
A prime example of this is the thread of the love plot in, say, a fantasy epic. The love story most certainly is not brought up in every scene. Most, maybe, but not all. Each time it's brought up, something is solved and more complications are brought up... Prince Charming finds her tower, but she's not at home right now. Unfortunately, the dragon is. Get the idea?
This all stems from the magical word: Conflict. As an author, you are the living embodiment of Murphy's Law to your characters. The more complicated you make their problems--assuming you can weave it all to a meaningful conclusion--the better story you're going to have. Another example...
If you have an epic battle, please don't let it get resolved in one chapter, especially if it's the final battle. Take your time with that stuff. Full on medieval offenses do not finish in one paragraph. It takes a lot longer than that to muster 500 infantry into a charge against a castle wall, especially when you take the archers and boiling oil into account.
I used to have this problem myself. Battles are fun to write, but being the minimalist that I am, they would often get over far too fast. Like I said, non-linearity will help you here. Cause complications for every tactic. If your hero is trying to scale the castle wall to take out the general, then have him run into at least a couple guards, and have his scaling equipment be a little sketch. And certainly don't make every attack successful. A battle isn't a straight win or a straight loss. It ebbs and flows.
Keep these things in mind as you are plotting. Your story will benefit greatly.
A prime example of this is the thread of the love plot in, say, a fantasy epic. The love story most certainly is not brought up in every scene. Most, maybe, but not all. Each time it's brought up, something is solved and more complications are brought up... Prince Charming finds her tower, but she's not at home right now. Unfortunately, the dragon is. Get the idea?
This all stems from the magical word: Conflict. As an author, you are the living embodiment of Murphy's Law to your characters. The more complicated you make their problems--assuming you can weave it all to a meaningful conclusion--the better story you're going to have. Another example...
If you have an epic battle, please don't let it get resolved in one chapter, especially if it's the final battle. Take your time with that stuff. Full on medieval offenses do not finish in one paragraph. It takes a lot longer than that to muster 500 infantry into a charge against a castle wall, especially when you take the archers and boiling oil into account.
I used to have this problem myself. Battles are fun to write, but being the minimalist that I am, they would often get over far too fast. Like I said, non-linearity will help you here. Cause complications for every tactic. If your hero is trying to scale the castle wall to take out the general, then have him run into at least a couple guards, and have his scaling equipment be a little sketch. And certainly don't make every attack successful. A battle isn't a straight win or a straight loss. It ebbs and flows.
Keep these things in mind as you are plotting. Your story will benefit greatly.
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